Payson McElveen (Allied Cycle Works-Pink Bull) notched one other off-road profession achievement in New Zealand final yr, finishing a novel 242-mile (389km) journey with 25,000 ft (7,620m) of elevation achieve in underneath 24 hours. He did it with 25 minutes to spare.
On Thursday, a characteristic movie, ‘Crossings: New Zealand’, was launched on Pink Bull TV to element the journey, from pre-ride preparations to the precarious execution. The Colorado native grew to become the primary individual to attach three ‘Nice Tracks’ trails and end the experience in a single full day.
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“The Nice Tracks are New Zealand’s crown jewels, so to develop a route that could possibly be completed in a single-push experience was irresistible. These trails are so well-maintained and cherished by the locals, and I needed to honor them with one thing actually particular,” McElveen stated in a press launch.
“After I realized that every one three tracks have been shut sufficient to hyperlink collectively, I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime problem. Turning into the primary to take action in underneath 24 hours was the icing on prime.”
Again in 2022, he and Nichole Baker used 4 days to traverse the Paparoa and Outdated Ghost tracks, and it was then he started dreaming of linking these two trails with a 3rd Heaphy Monitor into one steady endurance experience. That New Zealand journey was additionally momentous for the duo, as “shortly thereafter Nichole and I hopped over to Tasmania (nonetheless our favourite island), and tied the knot”.
Two years later, McElveen took on the New Zealand experience, and it grew to become the topic of the third installment of his “Crossings” collection, the others that includes long-distance rides throughout Iceland and Tasmania.
“After Tasmania, I knew I needed to do one thing once more that pushed me, one thing with extra athletic ambition behind it,” he stated. “[2024] was a yr of consistency, of every little thing clicking. I actually felt like I used to be racing at a brand new degree.”
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McElveen’s 2024 season noticed him full a second season within the Life Time Grand Prix collection, and he completed third general. He was in prime kind and good well being, and took on the three Nice Tracks that fall.
Then in 2025, he suffered a displaced fracture of his proper hip whereas using by way of a feed zone on the first occasion within the Grand Prix, Sea Otter Basic Gravel, taking him out of that race. It additionally took him out of Unbound Gravel 200, which was a stationary begin with the race’s broadcast crew. The 32-year-old then went on a tear within the again half of the Grand Prix to complete eleventh general, boosted by fifth place general, fourth among the many LTGP subject, at Leadville Path 100 MTB.
With the movie launch, McElveen mirrored on his low season problem from a yr in the past: “I began the final leg of the journey considering I used to be too far behind, however then one thing clicked. I simply determined to go for it. And in the long run, I completed with 25 minutes to spare. It was a surreal feeling.”
McElveen will compete for a fourth time within the elite males’s subject of the Life Time Grand Prix in 2026.
