VIDEO: Nine Days in the Rotorua Redwoods

Aussie Surfers travel to Indonesia, Hawaii and the Maldives. 
Aussie Snowboarders travel to Cananda, USA and Japan. 
Aussie Mountain Bikers travel to … Rotorua. 

Outside of MTB circles Rotorua is known for its boiling mud, geysers and other geothermal features but for mountain bikers Rotorua is the promised land .. and here’s why.

The Whakarewarea Forest, otherwise known as the Rotorua Redwoods, Whaka Forest, The Redwoods or simply "The Forest" is actually bigger than the ENTIRE skiable area of the Perisher Resort. In fact .. it’s not just bigger it’s almost DOUBLE the size.

Let’s think about that. The Eyre T-bar on Mt Perisher and everything all the way to the far end of Smiggin Holes, then North Perisher, all of Blue Cow and don’t forget Guthega. That’s a WHAK-EN BIG FOREST!!

The Redwoods has 5 main peaks that kinda form a big semi-circle. The biggest peak (up Tawa Rd) has a greater vertical metre descent than any ski lifts in Australia with the exception of Thredbo, it has shuttle access almost to the top of the hill .. and ... it's a big AND ... there are six different ways down. Yeah I said 6. YES 6!  That’s not counting all the double black downhill trails, Under Billy a short alternate start to Billy T, a number of off shoots, parallel alternatives and some of the lower mountain trails that can turn your descent into a XC epic. From the top of the shuttle (and walk up a bit further in some cases) there are 6 different single track descents you can ride on your trail bike.

Corners – At absolutely BOLLOCKING fast speed from top to bottom no stops – 10 minutes. Most people take a few breaks on the way down.
Compare: It’s like riding Stromlos Luge … for 10 minutes!

Little Red Riding Huck and Huckleberry Hound – Huck-a-thon that requires way more balls than I have to ride at full pace. Runs adjacent to Corners but gets there a lot quicker and bigger with a far more time in the air.

Under Billy / G Rock / Chestnut Link / Roller Coaster - 20 minutes .. take out the XC section of the lower Roller Coaster its 15 minutes with almost zero pedal strokes. Replace Under Billy with Billy T and there’s an extra few minutes of fast descending, Ride Te Tihi-O-Tawa instead and you have an extra 6 minutes of steep rooty rutted madness.

Then there’s Eagle Vs Shark, 6 minutes of park style super-fast descent (less corners than Corners but a butt load faster and bigger)

Tuhoto Ariki will put more roots in your day than you’ve seen in a year and it’s off shoots Katatore and Hatu Patu were too good for many of the EWS riders at Crankworx.

For more photos from this trip check out our Facebook Gallery

There are some of you that have pulled out your phones and checked out these trails in the Rotorua Trailmapps App from the Apple App Store or Google Play App store. I assume you’ve already booked your airfares. For those of you that just glossed over the detail lets quickly recap: all that stuff was just 1 of 5 peaks. That’s a truck load more than any gravity trail centre in Australia and all I've mentioned so far is the 1, shuttle accessed peak.

There are roughly 100 single tracks in The Redwoods, that’s about the same as East Kowen but most trails are kilometres long and I count only 6 dedicated climbing trails, 10 XC trails (that typically have a reasonable descent) and a few trails that go both ways. The rest .. are designated descents and the reality is the Kiwis will ride most of them on whatever bike they pulled out of the shed on the day.

Allow me to briefly run through the other peaks.

Peak 2 - Tokorangi Pa / Katore Rd has 6 descents. Tokorangi/Turkist Delight (7 mins), Gunna Gotta (28 mins mainly because I was shitting myself a more reasonable time would be half that), Corridor, As You Do, Tank To Town and K2. Then you can also throw in Katore Jumps, the Tickler, Paddy’s Run and No Can Do. But there’s a more descents that continue down on the lower slopes like Exit Trail (3 mins), Old Exit, Challenge (2 mins), Challenge Roadside, Boulderdash .. and more. And the view .. oh!

Peak 3 - Moerangi Rd – Kung Fu Walrus and Kung Fu Walrus Extension (14 minute first run on a slippery track) and the "World Famous in New Zealand" Split Enz (3.5 minutes) followed by Pondy DH which is the fastest I’ve ever ridden on single track (2 minutes). Plus a few Black runs featured in the EWS.

Peak 4 - Direct Rd with Hot X Buns (8.5 mins) followed by a number of descents including Be Rude Not Too 2 (8 mins), Mad if you Don’t (3.5 mins), Dragons Tail, Bunny Jugs and Te Ara Puna.

Peak 5 – Lookout Rd is out in the boonies and No Brains runs down from the top of long climb. It’s like North Perisher, it’s there, it’s a descent and a great view but not entirely sure why you go there more than once but it lends itself to developing great bullshit stories like "I remember back in 2015 when No Brains was so wet you could refill your water pack from the vapour coming off it". Gotta do it at least once.

There is no question that The Redwoods is an amazing place to descend but there is plenty of pedally action and I encourage you to look at some of the trails I did on my 2^nd trip for more info. Also check out the Whaka 100 trail routes if you are serious about your XC kms. There is a HUGE array of forestry roads to get you around to the various single tracks and if you want climb then .. well .. there’s 5 peaks with dirt climbs that will bust your bits!

So that’s the facts .. what else can I say? The story of The Redwoods is in the facts.

This was my 3^rd trip to The Redwoods in under 2 years and the truth be known 2 days after I arrived back I booked my next trip in January 2016. It’s really that good! However so far all I’ve talked about and all I’ve visited is The Redwoods, Rotorua has a WHOLE LOT more to offer mountain bikers.

Skyline Rotorua is a gravity park accessed by Gondola, a favourite with downhillers and people who generally like "park style" trails with berms and jumps.

Rainbow Mountain - talk about Rainbow Mountain to ANY Rotorua local and their eyes glaze over as they quietly get aroused. Apparently it’s a pretty serious climb and everyone has to hike-a-bike a bit, but they say the descent is amazing! Details of this trail is included in the Rotorua Trailmapps App from the Apple App Store or Google Play App store.

Then if you want to get remote there’s a bunch of other stuff like full day 1 way rides, over-nighters, rail trails and bike packing etc. Google it if it’s your thing but here’s a good starting point www.riderotorua.com

Taupo is 1.5 hours down there road .. there’s a few trails out there (like over 100km of single track) or head north to the Motu and there’s a brilliant long flowy 20km descent along the Pakhi Track.

For more information on mountain biking in The Rotorua Redwoods check out my previous blog posts and videos.

Rotorua - A Mountain Biker's Journey	Rotorua Redwoods - Create Breathing Space
Return to the Redwoods Full Feature (Parts I, II, III & IV)	Whak-en Outrageous My Last day in the Redwoods
Return to the Redwoods - Part I WE'RE GOING TO THE REDWOODS	Return to the Redwoods - Part II HEAVILY ROOTED
Return to the Redwoods - Part III XC LOWER MOUNTAIN PEDALLY DAYS	Return to the Redwoods - Part IV EAGLE VS SHARK

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