A representative from the app FulGaz visited the district last week to film two of the tracks from the "Gravel In Paradise" race series.
Gravel In Paradise is a bike series raced in three separate locations on gravel tracks in Otago during late March, April and May 2024.
FulGaz provides a virtual cycling experience where its users can ride real life tracks from their homes on an exercise bike.
As you progress through the rides, the app adjusts settings on your bike to make it a realistic ride.
The app even provides the option to enter competitions alongside other riders online anywhere in the world.
Two of the three courses from the series were filmed last week, with the third, the Gravel Muster in Middlemarch, due to be filmed when the event is held later this year.
The White Rocks Gravel Adventure in Elderslie and the Puketapu Gravel ‘N’ Tar in Palmerston are expected to be uploaded within the next two months.
Gravel in Paradise co-ordinator Terry Hannan came up with the idea to upload the tracks after he bought an exercise bike for himself.
Friends recommended he try the FulGaz app and he got hooked.
"It contains rides from all round the globe that people have submitted [to the FulGaz app].
"You can be riding around in Italy or Norway or Japan or America.
"I was sitting there watching it and I thought, is there anything from New Zealand on here?"
Among the hundreds of courses on FulGaz there were only a handful from New Zealand.
Mr Hannan then got in touch with FulGaz, which subsequently sent over its video engineer manager Aidan Buttigrieg, who is also a professional road racing cyclist, to film the gravel courses.
Seeing this as an opportunity to promote the region, Tourism Waitaki, Cycling Otago and Cycling Waitaki all chipped in with money to fund Mr Buttigrieg’s trip.
Mr Hannan lent a hand with the filming, but was surprised by all the information required for the app.
"It’s not as straight forward as you think. You do it with a GoPro and it’s mounted on the front of your bike.
"There’s a lot of considerations that have to be taken on board with how you shoot it. The type of weather conditions, the time of year, all this kind of stuff."
If you want to experience it in real life, the Gravel In Paradise series is running from March to May, but it will also be back again next year after being held for the first time in 2023.
