Heli-Biking

On my list of things that I wanted to try before I die was Heli-Biking. This is what I would consider the luxury version of being dropped at the top of the hill and not having to pedal bike to get back to the valley. The bicycle term for this is "shuttling". Normally I am of the mindset that you should ride up what you want to ride down and shuttling is considered cheating. I am also of the mindset that you should try anything once before you pass judgement. Based on price alone, this is once in a life time thing...

I had purchased a Mt Biking magazine as soon as we hit the ground in New Zealand. It was a New Zealand specific magazine with all of the stories based on riding locally. One of the features was an article called "Heavy Users" and it profiled riders that spent unusual amounts of time on bikes. Of the riders that were featured, one man stood out, Greg McIntyre of Queenstown. He is the owner/operator of Fat Tyre Mountain Biking (www.fat-tyre.co.nz) in Queenstown. He stood out because in the article it was said that in an average season, Greg would ride close to a million vertical feet! Even in my race days, that goes way beyond any amount I had ever achieved. Even if that is mostly downhill, that is an addiction that I will never match. It was also mentioned that Greg's Heli-Bike tours are on the list of things to not miss in Queenstown. I was now very interested.

When we arrived in Queenstown, I gave Greg a call. He was out walking his dog and I would have to call back when he was in front of his books. I called back around an hour later and was informed that he did not have any Heli trips in the next few days. He needed to have at least 3 people to make the trip worth while. Greg told me that he would take my name and number and call me if there were 2 others looking to go in the next couple of days.

On Monday, Carrie and I stopped by the local DOC (department of conservation) office to see if there were any cancellations on the Miford Sound Hike that we could jump into since it was fully booked. 2 spots had just opened that week and while we were making those arrangements, the phone rang and Greg had a Heli trip for me for the next day. Sometimes things just workout that way..

Tuesday morning at 9am, Greg picked me up in the sweetest company car I have ever seen. We then picked up the other 2 who on the trip. An English man and his Japanese wife. Now we were off to the Airport for the flight. We arrived at the airport and Greg gave us a quick briefing about how not to get your head cut off by the helicopter blades, we loaded the bikes, jumped on board and began to climb.

The view from the helicopter was magnificent, but the flight took less than 10 minutes. We touched down on the top of Pisa conservation area, unloaded the bikes and the copter left us to our fun. You could see for miles in every direction and I could see the trail running downwards from where I stood into the valley below. Of course there was some up hill, but it was very minimal and only opened up to more downhill.

The terrain was great. We were all riding great and the sun was shinning. The wind was a bit cold but that only hurt when we had to breathe. I was really impressed with Greg. Normally, a guide will ride at the front of the pack to lead and keep up the faster riders. Greg hung at the back of the pack and went the same speed as the slowest rider. This is great for both the inexperienced riders to feel more confident and not like they have been left to their own to find their way down.  It also keeps Greg from having to ride back up hill to help an injured rider or retrieve a lost piece of gear.

We were riding through farmland, so we weren't riding alone. Occasionally, you'd come across a sheep (there are way too many) or a cow or both or a bunch of them hanging out on the trail. The English guy was leading with me close behind. I came around a corner and the English guy had come to complete stop because there was a whole herd of cows standing in the trail and he had never ridden with livestock before. I shot past him and said "Ride at them, they'll move." and luckily, I was right. The panicked stricken cows ran off the trail we continued on our way. As we rode lower and lower, the livestock was more frequent and I had sheep and cows running every which way in front of me.

Soon, we passed through the last gate and hit the road. As we stopped and recounted the day, Greg's buddy pulled up in the truck, we loaded the bikes and within minutes, we sitting in the sun enjoying a cold beer. The total bike time was around 2 hours and it felt great. On the way back into town, I was feeling happy and tired. The English man started to nod off and I thought I might do the same.

This was truly a great ride. The Helicopter was just a small part of the reason why. Greg's personality and the way he runs his company are what made it great.