Fush 'n' Chups

As I posted before, we took a trip to Rotorua a few weekends ago to check out the mountain bike park. The drive was a bit treacherous at times, but well worth it.

Arrived there after lunch on the Saturday, and the car-park in Mill Rd was completely full of cars. Would have been 70+ at a conservative estimate.

Something told me this was just a tad bigger than Eskdale.

There were busses towing bike trailers, and a bike hire crew set up on site with about 50+ bikes available.

There were dudes in full-on body armour and friggin’ motorcross helmets, and little kids that must have been riding almost $1000 worth of kit.

Told you Kiwis take their outdoor sports seriously.

Happy to report there wasn’t too much lycra to be seen, just the odd person here and there. Probably Aucklanders. I didn’t get close enough to see if they’d shaved their legs.

We checked out two of the tracks over the weekend. Rode one twice and the other just the once.

Creek Track

First one we tackled was the Creek Track. I can’t recommend it highly enough, it has a bit of everything. A few climbs, some great faster sections, and enough technical parts to keep you on your toes.

Only came to grief once on a bit of a tricky drop where I chickened out halfway down. The kids riding past giggling just after me wasn’t exactly ego-boosting, but hey, it was my first time there.

Dipper

On the second day we started by trying out Dipper.

Holy shit, how much fun is this track. Only a few little climbs, it feels as though you almost hardly have to pedal.

And the berms! Oh the glorious berms! They let you take the corners absolutely flat out.

Brakes are another thing you don’t need too much of on Dipper.

Happy to report I didn’t get laughed at by any kiddies this time.

Finished off by going ’round Creek again to end a top couple of days of riding.

Highly recommend this place to anyone hankering for a good fun ride. We didn’t even scratch the surface of the park on our visit, but it caters for beginners through to the experts. Christ knows where the guy in the body armour was heading, but it wouldn’t have been the kiddie’s track.

Only thing I would recommend would be that you drop $5 on a map at any of the local bike shops. There are so many tracks there, and they intersect quite a bit, and it’s pretty easy to get confused as to where you are and where to go next.

Whoever’s responsible for building and maintaining the tracks, you deserve a friggin’ medal. Consider yourselves Fush’n'Chups honourary Australians.

Shall definitely visit again, so if you guys have any suggestions as to what tracks to tackle next, leave a comment below.

One thing about New Zealanders is that they love their outdoor activities. Sports, exercise, I’d say they would have to definitely be above average worldwide in terms of the importance they place on keeping healthy and staying fit.

In one way or another (probably a combination of osmosis, shame, and a realisation of how unfit we were) this has prompted us to take up mountain biking.

For someone previously completely unfit, I am now showing signs of developing actual muscles in my legs. True story.

NZ has some seriously impressive areas of land set aside for mountain bike parks, not least of which is my local, the Eskdale Mountain Bike Park.

Top of the Thistle trail.

It consists of around 300 hectares of forestry land, with about 75km of purpose built biking trails, ranging from nice-and-easy beginners’ circuits through to hardcore downhill sections.

So far we’ve tackled the gentler parts of the park that don’t involve (too many) climbs, so I’ll give an overview of th tracks we’ve ridden below.

Pace

A hugely fun course, consisting of fast smooth bits, some slower, rougher, more technical bits, and one bastard of a dip that I just can’t get across properly. Definitely our favourite.

A dip on Pace.

Merv’s

A nice fun ride. Can do it pretty quickly, but you have to be careful of the sections where you need to dodge narrow gaps between trees or take the odd sharp corner.

Boulder

A lot more challenging, has a few more climbs and also some pretty demanding descents. Also part of the track you are on the side of a pretty steep hill that you definitely do not want to fall down. Brilliant fun.

Sandpit

A longer easy ride, takes you almost the length of the lower part of the park. Great one for beginners, or cross country riders.

Thistle

A good fun up-and-down track. Branches off Boulder, involved a bit of a climb, followed by a flat-out descent down towards the end of Merv’s track. Not as fun as Boulder or Pace, but worth doing.

Bottom of the Thistle trail.

Shall keep you updated as we tackle more tracks. Need to build up the old legs a bit before having a crack at some of the more challenging tracks though!