Kia Ora From New Zealand – Drop In - S1 NZ

I bet you’re all wondering how the International season 1 tour is going... I’ve taken some time away from the crew to sit here in an internet cafe in Queenstown so that I can quench your thirst for information about the biggest adventure in mountain biking yet.In case you've been living under a rock and don't know yet the Drop In crew of riders for season 1 in New Zealand is:

Randy Spangler (USA) - Santa Cruz Bicycles
Darren Berrecloth / Steve Romaniuk (Can) - Adidas Eyewear
Shawn Denny (Can) - Block 8
Nathan Greenwood (NZ) - Progressive Suspension

For production:
Mike Johansen / Tim Bieber - Producers
Toni "Milkman" Muendel - Director
Ambrose Weingart - Camera
Derek Frankowski - Still photographer
Jarrett Craig - 16mm
Tama Easton - NZ tour guide, shuttle driver, translator, and dancing monkey.
We flew into Christchurch, New Zealand after over 2 full days of travelling. It took so long because the group flying from Vancouver to L.A. to catch the connecting flight to New Zealand were de-planed and quarantined after the guy sitting in the seat next to Ambrose was considered a risk after uttering threats to the passengers and crew.

QuarantinedThere were other bomb threats in the Richmond/airport area as well and the airport was basically closed.
We finally made it to the south island and hit the ground running. We collected our homes on wheels which replaced the infamous Drop In bus for this international tour from Maui , then straight to the BBQ factory to grab our free BBQ which they gave us. The Kiwi’s love to BBQ about as much as Canadians and I have to say the BBQ Factory is a man’s dream come true!

Our first dinner in New ZealandWe spent Day 1 getting the bikes put together (all except Darren who’s bikes went missing upon arrival), doing our first grocery shop – getting used to the NZ currency, products, and accent! Everything fell into place amazingly enough, Darren’s bikes even showed up. Over a year’s worth of planning and here we were ready to hit the hay early and get up at sunrise for the first shoot of the season in the Port Hills of Christchurch lead by some local rippers.

Shawn Denny - day 1
There was plenty of riding in and around Christchurch. It’s only a short drive to the nearby mountains and some very cool freeride zones. Every day we head out into the unknown lead by unknown riders and each time we’re sceptical that we’ll find anything worth riding and filming and each time we are blown away by the terrain and scenery.

Scoping for Lines
We left Christchurch completely blown away by what we accomplished, and good riddance to the dodgy trailer park that we stayed in which suited the meagre budget. Headed south in a convoy towards Twizel for some heli biking. For a tourist town we found the local hospitality lacking and the weather wasn’t working in our favour for the helicopter drop anyway so we moved on in order not to lose any time on the tight schedule. However not before a full day riding whatever was ther which included a Dam, Sketchy skatepark that we almost lost Randy at, and lot's of Shawn-type rocks.

Dam Nice Whip
We have to conciously remind ourselves that we aren’t back home in B.C. Everyone agrees that the landscape and vegetation (aside from the odd palm tree), even the weather is so familiar to places in North America. The New Zealand people are very humble about the secrets their country holds in terms of riding or otherwise. There's nothing to be humble about, this place is XC, street, and freeride mountain bike heaven; their secret is out!

Keep an eye out for further updates.


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