As Disney’s Lion King once observed, ‘it’s the circle of life’. When Be Rude Not To was bulldozed into oblivion back on 2011, it was a heartbreaking moment for thousands of mountain bikers who’d run their tyres over this incredible old trail. A tough pill to swallow perhaps but that’s the reality of building trails in a working forest.
Rather than mope, the Rotorua Mountain Bike club grabbed this opportunity to work with a blank canvas. Their mandate was to retain the shape and length of the original pinball ride; no doubt creating a trail that had as much flow as the original was a mammoth task.
With contour lines that had previous been hidden beneath the blanket of ferns suddenly revealed, it wasn’t hard to envisage the kind high-speed, jump-infested freeway that could be sculpted in amongst the stumps of the pines and redwoods. B Rude Not 2 was born.
Brad O’Mailey from Mountain Bike Rotorua and local World Cup XCO elite racer Katie O’Neill nominated this trail as their favourite, taking the Flow crew for a rip through the berms, pumps and table tops on a misty morning. Already the redwoods are pushing their way back up and you know it’ll be only a few more months till ‘Rude is snaking through the trees once again. This one is a must-ride.
