Rotorua - the Spiritual Home of Mountain Biking in New Zealand... AUGUST: • Saturday 23: The Highlander 80 kilometre MTB Marathon. One of 2008's NDURO Classics. The second is the Big One, the Whaka 100 on Saturday October 4. Both are sponsored by Red Stag. • MORE INFORMATION AND ONLINE ENTRY. • Sunday 24: Rotorua riders Garth Weinberg and Annika Smail compete in the 2008 World Singlespeed Champs in Napa, California. There will be regular updates on Ride Rotorua. NZ SINGLESPEEDS 2008 VIDEO. • Saturday 31: Mudbuster DH on the Taniwha. • MORE INFORMATION/VOLUNTEERS NEEDED. • ENTRY FORMS. • CHECK OUT THE EVENTS PAGE & EVENTS CALENDAR FOR LATEST INFO.... • WORKING BEES: There's always work to do so if you can ever help on the Rotorua MTB Club's the-first-Sunday-in-every-month working bee it'd be great. Meet at the Club container behind the Redwoods Information Centre at 9AM. Wrangled by Rhys Cleverley. DATES FOR 2008 are on the EVENTS CALENDAR WHAT THE TRAILS ARE ALL ABOUT • Whakarewarewa Forest on the southern outskirts of Rotorua contains one of the oldest trail systems in the country. These master crafted trails have an unbeatable blend of proximity to the city centre, riding surfaces, topography and they are surrounded by trees that have size & variety. Riding on the trails is free to all. The costs of building and maintaining MTB trails is met and informally shared by: • the Rotorua MTB Club through volunteer efforts. • the channelling of charitable trust funding into trail development (to pay contract part-time trail-builders since 2005). • enthusiastic freelancers who give up their own time to build and maintain trails like Old Chevy, Hot X Buns, Rockdrop, Pig Track, Gunna Gotta, The Tickler, Be Rude Not To and Mad if you don't. • Red McHale from the Department of Corrections who organizes PD work crews ("do the time" comes to mind but all power to their elbows). Notable work by them over the last few years: the "hard landscaping" on HXB and Old Chevy including the two bridge crossing on OC. • and a team of helpful staff employed by the local Rotorua District Council. The forest land is owned by the Crown; the tree crop itself is owned by a US investment company. The commercial forest management operations are conducted by a local private company as a production forest and they generously allow recreational use in the forest. The Redwoods is a trail system that has been growing since the late 80s, and it has been designed to pack as much fun into a small area as possible. You can take a 2.5 hour ride without any repeated sections, while never getting further than about 2 kms in a straight line from the trailhead. Even when the carpark is full, the mainly one way system keeps the forest from feeling crowded. The trails are ideal for introducing friends and family to the sport, as they are generally pretty mellow. But they have enough challenges if the speed is cranked up that expert class riders come back again and again. The trail system is continually being extended and enhanced. Further afield there are heaps more trails than a fit rider can do in a weekend and various groups are always building new ones. This is crown land, with recreation managed by Rotorua District Council. There is a legal right of access by the public for recreational activities but forestry management go far beyond their obligations to make the forest such a great playground for bike riders. There is a Visitor Centre on Long Mile Rd where you can get up to date information and a trail map. Call in and tell the staff how cool the trails are. The Redwood grove around this area is full of walking tracks, and horse tracks, and is off limits to bike riders. If you want to start your ride here, go to the far end of Longmile Rd from Tarawera Rd and cross the gate to head up the tarsealed climb of Nursery Road. The trail system has an entrance at the top of the hill. RideRotorua.com - live since 17 August 2007       • LATEST... BUNNY JUGS ...is a new Club trail that runs from Red Tank Road (from between exit of Hot Cross Buns and the exit to Chinese Menu) down to Pipeline Road and then onto the exit of the National Downhill/Taniwha. OLD(ER) TRAILS GET BETTER: • OLD CHEVY - this was built in 2007 by Rick Todd and a bunch of volunteers with major help from Red McHale and the PD crews. The OC is getting a bit of a tidy-up. Lines that weren't quite right are getting improved and refined, including big bypass of a very steep section that ran into a tight left hander. This was getting badly rutted out with braking lines. • GUNNA GOTTA is part of a cluster of trails built in the last 5 years on the northern edge of the trail network that are part of a great loop - the others are A Trail and Tickler - and lead to the Red Tank, Pipeline, Direct Road intersection. For trail builder, Dave Hutching, Gunna Gotta has been a constant work in progress to craft and improve the flow. He's been busy recently - check it out. • BALL & CHAIN is a track that links the south end of Nursery Road to the bottom of Hill Road taking riders off the tarseal and away from logging truck traffic on Mill Road. It's 2-way, well constructed and weather proof. It may not be spectacular, but it's the sort of thing that is needed with the increasing numbers of MTBers heading out that way. Great work by Red McHale wrangling the PD crews who did most of the build. Photo: Ray & Dave at the head of the new link to 8 Mile Gate and Hill Rd