‘It’s the people who make the place’

Words Justin Henehan | Images Mad Love Media

Growing up in Arizona, Ash Peters was a long way from the world of mountain biking. In fact, her mother had her on a path to a career in dentistry. But when a high school career counselor asked her what she was into, her answer was simple: “Not teeth.” 

“I told her that I’m into being in the outdoors and people.”

That passion for community and the outdoors became the foundation for everything she did. After 12 years in Wellington — where she helped build the women’s ride group Revolve and created the hugely successful youth mountain biking programme WORD — Ash moved to Queenstown in 2024. Now president of the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club, she’s bringing her community-focused mindset to the club.

We sat down with Ash to hear about her vision for Queenstown’s mountain biking scene and the changes and opportunities ahead.

Q. When did you move to Queenstown and what drew you there?

A. We moved to Queenstown in July 2024, but I’ve been coming to Queenstown for the riding and to see friends for the past decade.

Q. What is it that you love about Queenstown mountain biking? 

A. I love the proximity of the trails to town. The fact that you can be at the top of the Ben Lomond Saddle and ride a 900m descent through native bush on beautiful singletrack and arrive at Atlas for a beer is pretty incredible. 

But of course, it’s the community, right? It’s the people who make this place. It feels like there’s a massive legacy in Queenstown. You know, the club’s been going since 2003 but, gosh, it feels like a huge legacy. Big names have come out of this town, and while it’s about the trails, it’s the community for sure.

Q. So why did you decide to have a go at being president of the mountain bike club?

A. When I moved to Queenstown I wanted to be involved in the club so I joined the committee. A couple months ago Fraser, the 2024/2025 president, decided to step down. He had a lot going on work- and life-wise and he needed to focus on that. So, the committee got to chatting about who would be the best person for the role and I enthusiastically put my hand up. I’m stoked to say the stars aligned for it all.

Q. What do you see as the main issues facing mountain biking in Queenstown? 

A. This would probably be similar to a lot of other towns, but continuing to have a sustainable funding model for delivering trail building and maintenance is a huge issue. We need to be able to have money to build and maintain trails. So that’s number one. 

Number two: we’ve got a big wilding pine removal project happening on our key areas of Ben Lomond Reserve and Queenstown Hill and so it’s the question of how we’ll navigate that over the next five to 15 years. 

And then the third one is that we have a big gap in our trail network between the incredible cycle paths and our grade-4 and 5 trails. We’re really missing a few great grade-3 trails that help riders progress to more technical singletrack.

The mountain bike club has worked really hard over the years to have a close relationship with the council. And, for us, collaboration is key, right? Most of the trails we’re riding are on council land. And then we’ve also obviously got partnerships with the Department of Conservation for trails out in Seven Mile and the new trails out at Coronet Forest.

The Coronet trail network is an example of great collaboration between the club, council and a number of different trail building companies. That project is going to be more than 20km of new trails opening in 2026.

Q. I can’t wait to ride there. What’s your vision for the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club and what do you hope to achieve as president?

A. I want to uphold the legacy of all of these incredible humans and the aura of Queenstown while still being super welcoming. I want to help create an atmosphere where tourists feel just as welcome as locals. 

I also want this to be a sustainable trail network. And I want to see mountain biking integrated into the everyday life of Queenstown: kids riding to school on singletrack, taking the gondola home, a first-timer out experiencing a ride out on the trails,  pro teams from around the world raving about the trails just as much as they’re raving about the community.

Q. How do you plan to balance trail development with environmental sustainability in the region?

A. Over the past year we’ve been working really hard on pulling together a strategy and lifting the game of the club. We’ll soon have a sustainability portfolio so someone that’s dedicated to ensuring that we’re constantly focussed on that. That really ties into working with the other organisations – like Forward Whakatipu – that specialise in sustainability so things are running through that sustainability lens as we go.

Q. What are your top priorities for improving the rider experience in Queenstown?  

A. Whether you’re just visiting or local, it’s the small things that make a big difference. We’ve got a huge opportunity to do things like putting toilets in better places, adding bike wash facilities, integrated signage, and having bikes on buses. In Queenstown, you can catch the bus with your bike from Frankton all the way to the trails for just $2 – that’s incredible. 

Q. How are you planning to engage with and support the local riding community, particularly youth and newcomers?

A. I think so much of that is about listening and providing opportunities for new members to feel really welcome. Something that the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club does so well is having multiple social events during the week. So the Pedals and Pints ride with Glenn and Nigel, Dirt Town Queens women’s rides on Thursdays, dig nights on a Wednesday – those are all opportunities to meet people where they are and listen to what they’ve got to say.

We also have a member survey, which is going out in the next couple weeks. We’ve got more than 2000 members and that survey is a chance to hear about what they actually want. And while we have more than 2000 members, we are not reaching everyone with that survey, so we’ve got a bit of work to do in that space.

Q. What changes can members expect to club events, races, or social rides?

A. Alongside those weekly rides, we’ve also got women’s ride nights up at Skyline where there are cheap passes for women to come out and ride for four weeks in a row. That was a huge hit last summer. We had 60 to 70 women riding each night. 

There’s also the Wynyard airbag sessions that we do during summer. We do a couple downhill races, like one that raises money to get local young people out racing overseas, and the other one’s going to be like a fun, just a fun, low key downhill series. We’re bringing back seven seven hours at 7 Mile, which is going to be fabulous. 

We’ve also got the Queenstown Mountain Bike Festival. That’s our huge event from the 16th to the 25th of January, and that encompasses the McGazafest, which is from the 23rd to the 25th. This is the 10 Year celebration for the McGazafest, so that’s going to be huge.

And then there’s the Coronet Forest trails area opening. One of the main grade three climbs and descents there are built to the new accessibility-trail guidelines so I’m looking forward to that being open to a bigger audience.

Q. Tell me about the trail advocacy you’re looking at doing in and around Queenstown.

A. Most of that stuff involves us working with Queenstown Lakes District Council and a lot of that is navigating the removal of wilding pines. That encompasses the entire Skyline area and all of Ben Lomond Reserve. That whole area is Ben Lomond Reserve. So all those pine trees people see when they look up at the gondola, those are wilding pines that are scheduled to be removed over the next five to 10 years.

How we do that is work in progress. We’re working with groups that specialise in tree planting and reforestation space. And we’re already trying to get ahead of the game. For example, there are some big pines Wynyard and we’ve already started planting native trees knowing that it takes 10 to 15 years for them to grow.

Q. How can members get more involved in shaping the direction of the club under your leadership?

A. That member survey makes a massive difference to us, as far as what people actually want to be doing going forward. But we also need to make sure we’re actually reaching young people and families and people that may be overseas at this time of year. 

The other thing is just get in touch, send us an email. We also have monthly committee meetings, so definitely send us your ideas and we can chat through them.

We also have monthly meetings and everyone is welcome. It’s really important to us to make sure we involve everyone.

Head to the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club website to learn more.