Captains Blog, Wednesday 29th March....
We loaded the Starship Laser hatchback and pointed it in the direction of
Taupo, in search of mountain bike galaxies as yet undiscoverd by such humble time travellers. After a day of rain in Welly it was nice to see sunshine and clear skies. Armed with mum's saved up Shop-a-Dockets, we scored a half-price deal at the
Wairekei Resort, the kind of place that usually would turn away common scum like us! But we had a docket... So in we rocked, and promptly made good of the gym, the spa, and the bar. We passed on tennis, golf, and room service. Next morning, another awesome day greeted us and we pedalled up the highway to the Craters Of The Moon MTB park.
More of a trail system than a park really. After the fruits of Makara we didn't know what to expect from this new location, and we were soon more than pleasantly surprised as we rolled on buff, twisty singletrack through lush pine forest. A bed of soft pine needles caressed our knobbies, soaking up the previous day's rain and providing perfect traction through the fast, sweeping bermed corners and tight switchbacks. The trails were all signposted, graded by difficulty and direction to ride. Signs I'd like to see more of were the 'No Horses' and 'MTB Only' ones which were prominent at every junction.
We railed 'Tank Stand', 'Young Pines', climbed up 'Grinder', bombed back down 'Buzzard' and 'Missing Link', up 'Incline' down 'Coaster' (awesome) then across the road to 'Corkscrew', and 'Tourist Trap' before cutting another lap up 'Grinder' and down 'Buzzard' and 'Missing Link' again. These were the best trails in there, with tight bends, fast flowing straights, a few drops, some rutted corners and steep sections all the way down.
After 55km of this, I wondered would the pleasure ever stop. We just wanted to keep on riding, but weary legs, empty stomachs and some crap in Christian's eye sent us back down the highway to our humble digs for a relaxing soak in the spa... tough life, but someone's gotta do it. That night we inhaled some of the best Indian food I've ever tasted, and discovered another top notch NZ beer,
Mac's Wicked Blonde, a limited edition pilsener that has a fruity, hoppy flavour that is way too easy to drink, elevating it to new 'official beer of the trip' status. Would we discover a better beer, and better trails, in Rotorua? We had some doubts...
We loaded the Starship Laser hatchback and pointed it in the direction of Taupo, in search of mountain bike galaxies as yet undiscoverd by such humble time travellers. After a day of rain in Welly it was nice to see sunshine and clear skies. Armed with mum's saved up Shop-a-Dockets, we scored a half-price deal at the Wairekei Resort, the kind of place that usually would turn away common scum like us! But we had a docket... So in we rocked, and promptly made good of the gym, the spa, and the bar. We passed on tennis, golf, and room service. Next morning, another awesome day greeted us and we pedalled up the highway to the Craters Of The Moon MTB park. 
More of a trail system than a park really. After the fruits of Makara we didn't know what to expect from this new location, and we were soon more than pleasantly surprised as we rolled on buff, twisty singletrack through lush pine forest. A bed of soft pine needles caressed our knobbies, soaking up the previous day's rain and providing perfect traction through the fast, sweeping bermed corners and tight switchbacks. The trails were all signposted, graded by difficulty and direction to ride. Signs I'd like to see more of were the 'No Horses' and 'MTB Only' ones which were prominent at every junction. 
We railed 'Tank Stand', 'Young Pines', climbed up 'Grinder', bombed back down 'Buzzard' and 'Missing Link', up 'Incline' down 'Coaster' (awesome) then across the road to 'Corkscrew', and 'Tourist Trap' before cutting another lap up 'Grinder' and down 'Buzzard' and 'Missing Link' again. These were the best trails in there, with tight bends, fast flowing straights, a few drops, some rutted corners and steep sections all the way down. 
After 55km of this, I wondered would the pleasure ever stop. We just wanted to keep on riding, but weary legs, empty stomachs and some crap in Christian's eye sent us back down the highway to our humble digs for a relaxing soak in the spa... tough life, but someone's gotta do it. That night we inhaled some of the best Indian food I've ever tasted, and discovered another top notch NZ beer, Mac's Wicked Blonde, a limited edition pilsener that has a fruity, hoppy flavour that is way too easy to drink, elevating it to new 'official beer of the trip' status. Would we discover a better beer, and better trails, in Rotorua? We had some doubts...
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