Chainsaws. Big air. Screaming crowds. Dirt flying. Sweat dripping. Bikes whipping over the band smashing tunes from the jump gap. Don’t f*ck with us, they cry. We do what we want. And also, f*ck you!
It’s the week you’ve been waiting for all summer. A full ten days of bike-fuelled stoke, rides, comps, jumps and mountain biking events for the whole community. You rock up to the Queenstown Bike Fest and start the short walk to the McGazzaFest Dream Jam. It’s dusty, it’s hot, sweat is sticking to your back, the sun is high and the stoke is higher.
The beat of the drums comes drifting over the dirt as you get closer, the hard rock pied piper luring you into its weird bike cult like it’s Hotel California and you’ll never get to leave. Life is good.
The Queenstown Bike Fest is a celebration of stupidly big air and all things mountain biking. It’s a celebration of community, of our heroes and our mates and the next generation of riders giving it their all and leaving nothing behind. Just riders supporting riders, groms ripping it next to their idols, volunteers sneaking off to grab their helmets and join the McGazza Mega Train, and dirty rock tunes spewing from Powder Chutes parked up in the jump gap as bikes fly overhead. This is where legends are made. And it’s where legends are never forgotten. That’s you, Kelly McGarry.
MCGAZZAFEST
This year’s Queenstown Bike Fest, held on 16–25 January 2026, was an extra special one. It marked the ten-year celebration of McGazzaFest, held on the final weekend in honour of the late Kelly McGarry.
Friend to many, enigma to most, legend to all. One of the biggest names in New Zealand’s mountain biking community and across the globe, Kiwi cult-legend Kelly McGarry shaped the culture of mountain biking with out-the-gate rides, enormous energy, and a go-hard-or-go-harder attitude that few could match.
McGazzaFest is a celebration of that energy. It’s a way to honour Kelly’s legacy the way he did it best: by living large, riding hard, and bringing the stoke. Mons is proud to partner with and support McGazzaFest, as an early sponsor of the legend himself.
A Community to Bike For
Nothing rallies the local mountain biking community like two wheels, big tunes, and a whole heap of dirt. And did they ever rally.
Think sweaty crowds cheering on rider after rider. Big names, small names, no names and watch-these-names riding side-by-side. Robin Goomes backy-ing over enormous jumps, followed in the train line by a little girl in her bright pink raincoat and ten-inch wheels.
At the Queenstown Bike Fest, it’s not (all) about winning. It’s about the whole community coming together for no reason other than celebrating mountain biking in all its glory.
There are no limits on riders – if you’ve got two wheels, a hell-yeah attitude and the backbone to match, there’s an event for you.
The ten-day bike fest hosts a whole range of mountain biking events, run by an incredible team of volunteers with Emmerson Wilken at the helm. Truthfully, there wouldn’t be an event without the community’s help, and here, everyone pitches in.
Parents man the sausage sizzle, kids run the merch tents. Riders and volunteers groom the trails, and everyone does their bit to keep the weekend rolling.
Getting Shreddy
Events ran for ten days straight, with legends of bike lore from all over the globe showing up and putting down like their bikes depended on it.
Pump tracks, slopestyle, the great Whip Off, Dream Jam, the Coro1200, the Chainless Race. Iconic rides and gnarly jumps, kids tracks, adults trails, the works.
As always, it was a festival for the books, with riders of all shapes and bike frames giving their all and leaving nothing behind. Cheered on by stoke, sweat, and one helluva bike community.
Finally, well-spent and dirt on our faces, the weekend wrapped up with a Memorial Ride for Kelly McGarry as part of McGazzaFest. Honouring the legend ten years on and remembering the friend he was to so many, in true mountain bike style.
See you out there next year.
