Editorial: Biking has us on a roll

Rotorua is becoming a top cycling destination. Photo/Thinkstock

Rotorua's reputation as a top cycling destination is growing and growing.

Following a successful repeat of the Rotorua Bike Festival in February - and the news this year an international standard BMX facility could be built at Waipa, not to mention a range of other facilities - comes news the city is bidding to host a series of major mountain biking events.

Those involved say the local economy could be millions of dollars better off if our bid to host the World Cup events three times over three years succeeds.

Not only would we have the world's best riders here on display, but as Events & Venues events manager Martin Croft points out, the city could benefit hugely from the international media exposure.

This exposure in turn, in a virtuous cycle if you will, could encourage more major event organisers to seek out Rotorua as a host city, in the same way this latest bid came about thanks to the Bike Festival and Rotorua's growing reputation in cycling circles. And of course there's always the boost to tourism numbers to look forward to.

But one of my favourite spin-offs from these major events that Rotorua is so good at hosting is the amazing buzz in the city.

Perhaps it's because as a tourist town this is a city used to hosting huge numbers of visitors, so when something big like a World Cup comes along we know how to do it right.

Whatever the reason, the atmosphere of a big event can't be beaten.