Fush 'n' Chups

'Be Rude Not To' Trail @ Redwoods

Had yet another visit to the Redwoods in Rotorua yesterday. Despite the rain, we had a good four hour ride and covered a couple of new trails, along with a couple of favourites ridden previously.

Creek, Dipper, and Tahi were as fun as ever, if looking a bit worse for wear due to the recent wet weather and the heavy traffic these trails get. How they actually stay in such good shape despite the hundreds of people who ride them is actually pretty amazing. Still, you’d think that when summer rolls around there are a few patches that are going to need some repair work.

I also decided to check out Be Rude Not To seeing as everyone bangs on about it so much. But let me tell you, it is actually all it’s cracked up to be, even if one or two of the downhill parts are just a tad steep for my liking. But apart from that, it’s narrow, it’s bumpy, it’s slightly dangerous in places, and is possibly one of the most enjoyable tracks I’ve ridden, easily worth schlepping it up the climb to get to the start.

The other new trail was Lion Trail. And it wasn’t that impressive, but it is a handy shortcut to the western side of the park. I wouldn’t go out of my way to do it again though, especially seeing as I managed a spectacular low-speed crash which resulted in a very ungraceful dismount down a bank (thank god for soft vegetation).

Also during the trip I checked out a bit more of the Craters of the Moon park in Taupo (covered previously). This time, apart from Tourist Trap, I also went around Squirt (twice) which is brilliant fun. You can go fast, but there’s enough to keep you on your toes. Also tried out Fast Eddie, which was okay, and then Bumble Bee, which leads you back down to the main road, and is a nice fun downhill track.

The Craters parks isn’t big by any stretch, but it’s really well constructed, and is definitely worth another visit to check out some of the further out trails.

So that was the last few days. The drive home was a bit of an adventure, as you can see below.

Napier/Taupo Highway after a fall of snow.

All in all, it was an excellent few days away. I still honestly cannot get over the amount of land set aside for mountain biking here in NZ, and the amount of work that people, a large proportion of whom are volunteers, put into building and maintaining the trails.

For the very few people who care about such things, over the past couple of months I’ve tackled a few new tracks at the Eskdale MTB park, and more recently at “Craters of the Moon” at Taupo.

Eskdale

Dingo & Ziggity

These tracks are heaps of fun, just a good fun ride that’s not too strenuous. Had one nasty fall on Dingo when my front wheel slipped over the edge of the track, but that was just through my own stupidity.Dingo ends with a nice fast run down to the map board at the Taits Rd end of the park.

Blackberry

A pretty short track, rated an intermediate level of difficulty. Few trick parts, most of the track is taken at low speed. Really fun, wish it was longer.

Overall, these three tracks, along with Sandpit, make a nice circuit. Enter via Taits Rd, ride around Sandpit, come back and do Blackberry, then head up Dingo. Come back along Ziggity, do Dingo again, then if you’re feeling energetic head up Zip, and then fly back down. If you don’t use your brakes you should almost make it all the way back to the car park.

Also, they Eskdale crew have put in some snazzy new signs (see below).

Taupo -Tourist Trap

After a big day the day before riding around in the mud in Rotorua, I only had the legs for a short ride at the Craters of the Moon park in Taupo. Decided on Tourist Trap as it sounded gentle, and let’s face, I’m still basically a tourist.

Now, this is only judging from one track, but this park makes up for it’s small number of open tracks (4-5, but decent distance-wise) by having some of the best maintained and laid out tracks I’ve ridden on. It was absolutely brilliant fun, and the few climbs were well worth it for the fast downhill parts you get.

Shall definitely be going back soon to try a couple of the other tracks.

Rain, mud, freezing temperatures, and some top notch mountain biking in the Rotorua redwoods.

Brilliant fun.

Also checked out the tracks at “Craters of the Moon” at Taupo, which was also pretty good.

Finally, I have had the misfortune to go flying over the handlebars before, but never as spectacularly as this poor sod, and certainly not when riding over rocks.

Ouch. Many plasters were needed after this one I reckon.

Took a detour onto a new trail yesterday out at the Eskdale park. Headed off Boulder onto Thistle as we had before, then at the top of Thistle went through the gate onto Lower Maggog, which runs parallel to the downhill part of Thistle.

However, Maggog isn’t just a straight downhill run, there are many more tricky parts that you have to navigate at slow speed. A few drops and twisty-turny bits, and a couple of steep sections that prompted the wife to cautiously push the bike down :)

In short, heaps of fun.