Grade 3. Length 1.4 KM. Built in 1996 & extended in 2006 by James Dodds & RMTBC. Maintained by Rich C...
Starts from Chestnut & ends on Ring Rd (though there is a final section that ends at the Reservoir/Ring intersection - but it's crap).
Also accessible from Hill Rd - a ribbon of dirt unrolls before you that stretches out for 20 minutes of solid singletrack.
And Pondy New also intersects with the part of Rollercoaster extended in 2006.
Rollercoaster handles lots of water well and is fast and flowing with some hairy and exciting downhills, that will kick you in the ass if you're not on your game!
There was a legendary “maintenance corner”, on the section extended in 2006, that was never quite right and got boggy.
In 2009, Rich C fully dug this out, then layered it with a bed of largish rocks, followed by a mixture of imported metal chip, pumice & soil.
A lot of hard graft but this has lead to the once boggy corner being puddle free since - as well as being super solid.
At the same time, Rich put in several safe jumps and hips to pop - as well as doing a lot of general maintenance on the whole of R/C.
This has made it even more flowy, fast and revived back to it's status as one of the Whaka Forest classics...
Nice work, mate (and all in your own time!).
Don't do the final section just drop down Ring, right into Reservoir Rd, and you'll find the Chop Suey entrance.
Follow this into Spring Roll, then into Sweet & Sour. After some time you will climb to the start of the Rude, Bunny Jugs or Dragon's Tail...
Or go left at the intersection on Ring and Reservoir, onto Reservoir and the right about 20 metres down, you'll find the entrance to Old Chevy - a master class in trail building.
All of these are some of our favourite loops...
One of the pionieering “outback” trails. Noted for the unusual block of chestnuts, that aren’t faring too well. Whaka was a testbed for tree species, and some did better than others. There still there because it isn’t commercially viable to pull them out!!!
John Lavery - www.duffillwatts.com - 19/09/07 02:38pm
