NZ Travel: Why Arrowtown's Cyclorama is the place to be for e-bike fans

Dave Gibson is the co-founder of Cyclorama, NZ's first e-bike festival. Here, he chats about themed rides, stunning scenery, and why e-bikes are booming in popularity.

I haven't always been a keen cyclist, I cycled to school when I was at primary and then only occasionally rode until about 10 years ago, when I got back into it. But where I live now, just out of Arrowtown, there are a couple of hills and the idea of e-biking to town or out to dinner and not arriving sweaty and puffing was very appealing. So I upgraded to a Moustache e-bike.

Cyclorama co-founder Dave Gibson wanted the event to be fun rather than competitive. Photo / supplied

When I first started researching festivals online, I came across an interesting e-bike festival held in Verbier, Switzerland. Then recently my partner, Iri,s (who is our trail wrangler) and I were able to go to one in Flachau, Austria. It's been great to see how European festivals have grown in popularity over the past few years.

For the Cyclorama festival in Arrowtown, we wanted to ensure first of all that it's a fun event, not a competitive one. There are two main elements; a bunch of rides you can go on with self-explanatory names like Pedalling Pinot, Tour de Gourmet, Awake with the Birds, the Hop Trail and Ginology.

With e-biking booming in popularity, it was time for the country's first festival for e-bike fans. Photo / supplied

And there's also a festival village in Arrowtown with food trucks, about a dozen e-bike retailers, a band in the afternoon and, for less-experienced riders, a series of Tips and Tricks workshops.

We wanted to cater for a range of riders in terms of the complexity of the rides and the scenery. There had to be fun things to do off the bike, and we wanted rides you could do with your friends. Tour de Gourmet is our cornerstone popular ride, but they're all selling tickets.

The local e-bike scene has seen extraordinary growth, and it's a combination of people using e- bikes for day-to-day transport, weekend trail riding and for mountain biking. I think Queenstown isn't necessarily that different in terms of users but the trails and the scenery here certainly add a special something. Oh, and did I mention the wine and food?

Cyclorama will be held in Arrowtown on October 22-23. See cyclorama.co.nz for more.