Queenstown ski-cross athlete Mitchey Greig (23) is taking a
much-needed summer away from the competition circuit to
develop Pinewood Lodge into specialty mountain biker
accommodation. Photo by Joe Dodgshun.
Swapping snowy slopes for tracks and trails, Queenstown
ski-cross athlete Mitchey Greig is spending this summer turning
Pinewood Lodge into specialty mountain biker accommodation.
The 23-year-old is unused to summers - having not had one in
the past nine years while on the competition circuit,
including last year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
However, together with her boyfriend, Greig is this season
aiming to turn the lodge owned by her parents into a
"bike-in, bike-out" mountain-biking hang-out.
With a 50m trail running from the bottom of the Skyline
Gondola to the back of the lodge and 14 bikes already for
hire, she said the idea was to make it a "one-stop-shop".
"We want to make it the place to be for all bikers coming
into town to come, stay, hang out and be surrounded by other
bikers."
As such, they are offering a full rental service, with
workshop, cleaning facilities and "lots of space, which is
key, so everybody can hang out".
The summer-time project will not mean the end of Greig's
ski-cross racing career, just a warm respite after 18
back-to-back winter seasons.
In fact, Greig said that mountain biking was similar in many
ways to ski-cross racing, requiring fitness, speed and the
ability to react to terrain like berms and corners.
"It's perfect cross-over training, and it's huge, with a lot
of ski-cross racers doing it in places like Whistler," she
said.
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