Five Rad Days in Rotorua, Part 1

Early mornings aren’t so bad when you have epic views like this. Rotorua’s famous geothermal activity is never far from the surface.

A must-visit for mountain bikers in Rotorua, Zippy Central cafe! Great food and even greater coffee! This is the best place to start your day.

And they stock you up with M&M’s too. Perfect.

Getting my bike setup for the week ahead. Cheers to the team at Mountain Bike Rotorua!

Mountain Bike Rotorua is the place to go for bike hire, guided MTB rides and all other things bikes in this rad little town.

On the way up at the Redwoods thanks to Southstar Shuttles. It’s always a great vibe on the bus.

Throughout Crankworx the shuttles are running overtime to keep up. They run seven days a week during school holidays and most days throughout the rest of the year too. Check out the schedule here.

Local Kiwi, James Carley, leading the way. The only way is down.

Lachie McKillop heading down the legendary Taniwha downhill track.

Jackson Davis tipping it in in perfect Rotorua loam.

Turn bar Tuesday, on a Wednesday?

The boys lost in the greenery on the way to find some jumps.

Unreal views are everywhere you turn on these trails.

Jackson Davis and Dave McMillan provide the sweet timing, Rotorua provides the stunning backdrop.

Dave sending it in the green.

Dave sending it pt.2

Snakes on a train.

Something you can’t tell from these photos is how nice the climate is in these forrest, on a 22 degree day like today, the forest was absolute perfect temperature for a day of riding.

How good are the ferns here too?

Dave McMillan, all angles in the loam.

For a different look at the forest, we spent the afternoon at Rotorua Canopy Tours, who specialise in awesome zip lining tours amongst the trees.

The guided zip-line tour is heaps of fun, but also a great way to learn more about the forests of New Zealand and some of the conservation projects that the tourism company are also tackling.

More epic views, this time from above trail level.

The three- hour course takes you on a variety of zip-lines, the longest of which is more than 200m.

The nature around here is seriously something that needs to be experienced in the flesh. Everything is growing. Unreal.

If you don’t know what the geothermal nature of Rotorua smells like… Well dirty riding socks don’t come close. But you forget about it quickly, and everytime we come back it brings a big smile to our faces, knowing how much shredding there is to come!

We finished off the day with an MTB trivia night, all for charity. Anyone know who won the 1992 XC World Champs?

Points being doubled checked from the nights fun.

The all important points tally. Quiz On Your Face…. great team name.

Local councillor and long time mountain bike advocate, Dave Donaldson supporting the Trails Trust charity event

Congrats, don’t drink it all at once.

And the winner is…???