He described the offending as "moderate" and that there had been no "negative effects" from the incident.
However, he said it was a "fall from the grace" for the athlete.
He said it was something that was "not likely to happen again" and Wright had sought counselling after he was aware of what he had done.
A number of factors, including his ride home falling through, safety concerns, a lack of food at the place he was at that night, led to this "unusual decision", he said.
Wright blew a reading of 1132 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath in December, a police summary of facts supplied to the Rotorua Daily Post stated.
The legal limit was 250 micrograms.
Wright had raced at an elite level on mountain bike circuits, both locally and internationally, for a number of years.
He had competed in both the Enduro World Series and Crankworx circuits.
About 2.30am on December 8, Wright was seen swerving from his lane into oncoming traffic while driving east on Te Ngae Rd, it stated.
A police officer coming the other way saw this and Wright was stopped for a compulsory breath test.
The test came back with a reading of 1132 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.
Wright told police that he had wanted to drive his friend home to make sure he was safe.
He had not previously appeared before the court.
