Revisting Rotovegas

Words: Mike Blewitt

Photos: Cam Mackenzie, Mike Blewitt

While there are countless epic places to go and ride your bike around the world, both of these locations were well-known to mix trails, accommodation and services all in good proximity. Sure, you could scope out other places, ride park in Morzine, hunt our trails with the good ol’ boys in America’s deep south, or traverse ridgelines and valleys in Switzerland. But both Rotorua and Whistler were easy – rock up, check in and ride. Ride lots.

Times change of course, and while both Whistler and Rotorua have world-class riding, we have countless more options as well, including closer to home. Tasmania has stolen a lot of New Zealand’s limelight in the past 5 years, given travel there is typically faster and cheaper, and you don’t need to scrub your bike to oblivion on the way in and out. The riding in Derby, Maydena and the West Coast and beyond is pretty epic to boot. But I’ve had New Zealand on my mind since I last visited in late 2018. On that trip I flew 3 hours, from Brisbane to Queenstown direct – making for a faster door to door trip than Blue Derby, and similar to Maydena, given the drive times from airports. I was invited to go and take part in the 2022 Whaka 100 in Rotorua. About 3000 riders are signed up for the 2022 event, and I was stoked to be one of them. While the headline act is a 103km mountain bike marathon, there are also 10km, 25km and 50km events, a kid’s event, eMTB race, and even a 100 miler! In 2022, The Whaka 100 was also the New Zealand Cross Country Marathon (XCM) National Championships, it will decide the Elite men’s and women’s National Champions for the next three years as well. Keen as mustard to be part of the event, I booked my flights and threw my bike in a bike bag.

On the dirt in The Redwoods

As I accelerate down the ridgeline trail with the lake a dazzling blue on the near horizon, my mind wanders from the task at hand to the trail names in the Whakawerawera Forest. A gap between two trees quickly grabs my attention, while adding a burst of speed as the trail starts to get a little steeper.

‘Box of birds’ I ponder. ‘Was it due to birds nesting here?’

The trail is really getting going, with greater speed opening up a few more line interpretations, and there are a couple of distinct line choices, with more side hits built into some tree stumps.

‘Or is it a euphamism of some sort?’

The trails drops into the forest and turns into instant loam. Everything gets a little narrower and my focus is pulled to the narrow chutes cut into the hill – just squeezing my 760mm bars through the earth for the corner and the root drop that follows.

‘Maybe it’s a nickname for a trail builder and has a backstory?’

There’s more contouring benched singletrack to work and more glorious loamy soil follows before we’re spat out merely a few hundred metres from the AirBnB we are staying in. My thoughts on trail names disappear – instead wondering whether we should climb back up on some more trails, or head home and freshen up ahead of race day.

I ended up coming to Rotorua about 4 days ahead of the Whaka 100. The event has run for over 15 years, and it spans the entire weekend so the different course distances don’t interfere with each other. In 2022, the event team also hosted the New Zealand Eliminator National Championships, taking place on Eat Street in the CBD, with qualifying and heats leading up to the flood lit finals. While that’s something I put my name down for, I came early to ride the trails. The event is over 80% singletrack, including trails upto Grade 4, so it pays to spend the time checking out some of the course ahead of time. I don’t know about you, I don’t need much arm twisting to head to a globally recognised riding destination for a few more days.

The Whakarewarewa forest has about 200km of purpose built mountain bike trails, all in a working forest. There are patches of native forest, but a lot of the area is plantation pine – or Redwoods like at the front of the park on Nursery Road. The scope of trails is vast. From the new 35km Forest Loop trail, through to demanding Grade 6 trails and a national downhill course – and plenty inbetween. With a few days up our sleeves before the Whaka 100, we pre rode the trails we could, but often ended up riding some favourites a few times over, laughing in delight at the traction that was on offer on the pumice soil.

My time at the Whaka

I’ll save you stories of woe, but ot be clear – this was the biggest mountain bike marathon I had entered for a few years. The start line was a mix of New Zealand and Australian talent, with a number of riders making the trip over from the East Island. While I put the reverse lights on from the Elite men’s field pretty early on – that did nothing to diminish my experience on the trails.

Make no mistake, the trails at the Whaka 100 are truly world-class, and boy we rode a lot of them. The Grade 3 and Grade 4 trails keep you on your toes, especially on an XC bike with some mental and physical fatigue building up. But that’s what you travel to races for! Ben Oliver and Sammie Maxwell won the race, and therefore New Zealand’s Elite National Titles. It’s a tough race and anyone who completed it should be proud. My tip for a riding holiday would be enter the 50km event, so you’re not too trashed to ride some more trails for the rest of your visit.

Riding the shuttles

After the event, we made the most of our extra days in Rotorua, buying a 10 lift pass on the Forest Shuttles, for $NZD80. Shuttles in the forest are not the statright up, straight down experience you may expect. The main pick up is in the forest, and the drop off during the week is at a central high point. While you can point straight down from here on a few trails, you can also opt to climb further, using the shuttle as a way to helpa ccess the more remote trails in the back of the forest.

The upshot of this, is while we rode the bus with plenty of other riders – we rarely saw anyone on the trails. There’s a mix of heavily sculpted trails to those that are far more natural. You can ride jump lines through to raw tech, or cruise the Loop Trail with friends – it really is a diverse trail destination. Next time we’ll look to hire an eMTB though, to take out some waiting time, and build in some unique loops.

What lies beneath

The thermal activity is what put Rotorua on the map. It attracted Maori to the area, and later it kicked off spa style tourism in the 19th century – tourism is still a major driver for Rotorua to this day. That thermal and volcanic activity hasn’t just shaped the history and literal presence of Rotorua – it’s a driving force behind what makes the riding there so good. 

The soil in the area is mostly pumice, from a huge volcano eruption. Paired with the high rainfall that the region receives, and that’s why the working forest is where it is. The dirt not only drains well, the grip is astonishing. It’s also relatively easy to work with for trail builders, who can rebuild trails after logging operations. This is all managed by the Rotorua Trails Trust, and I spoke to Kris O’Driscoll, the Operations Manager, and Casey King who is the Trail Leader while in Rotorua.

While the logging activity will wipe trails from the map, it does mean they have a blank canvas to rebuild, which means trails in the forest will always evolve.

‘When we’re building where it has just been logged, we have 20-25 years until it gets logged again,’ Kris tells me. ‘So you have to think long term. So we think about what we need in an area, and the best use of the land – not just rebuilding what was there after a coupe gets logged.’

One example is the Soak Hole loop. Given its proximity to the main trail head with eMTB hire, it has been optimised for eMTB use, climbing higher with bermed climbing corners, and a windgin, flowingdescent that lets riders work the terrain – and not their brakes – which Casey highlights.

‘Our soil is light and fluffy, it washes away quickly and braking bumps appear. We’re always thinking how to flow it, so people can ride the trail with less braking.’

There are plenty of hard trails in the forest, and calls for more, but both Kris and Casey are aware of where the biggest demand lies.

‘You have to be observant of who is actually riding,’ Kris says. ‘People may ask for grade 5 trails – but how many? Maybe 10% of riders will ride a grade 5-6 trail. At the moment we’re looking at gaps. So if we have a grade 2 rider on some trails, how do they get to the grade 2 trails somewhere else? How do they get back? It’s about the full experience, not just one trail. We’re working on a 5-10 year plan where we look at the whole forest, making sure we look at what gaps there are for any different demographics of mountain bikers.’

Casey points out that getting it right involves ebing out on the trails a lot, to see who is riding the trails. ‘It’s about riding on the weekends, and meeting riders from all sorts of abilities. That way I can understand the variety of trails different riders need. People need the wow factor, but they need to get home safely.’

Always next time

With tired legs, I packed my bike up after 10 days in Rotorua. I hadn’t really made a dent on the riding available, and I didn’t get to lots of the trails I rode for the first time in the event – which I wanted to ride again. While the travel connections to and from New Zealand took a little longer than a trip to Tasmania, the riding experience and the amount all in one location made it a great trip. There are plenty of events on in Rotorua, and tying a visit into a longer riding trip would be a worthwhile way to eek more out of the travel time. And I never did find out whgat Box of Birds is all about, so I know I’ll be back.

Beyond the Redwoods

Rotorua is a tourism hot spot, so there’s all sorts of stuff you can do. From a visit to the Polynesian Spa or Te Puia, or zorbing down a hill, or even taking an eco tour. We visited the Polynesian Spa at least twice, and did the night time tour at Te Puia to get a greater understandig of Maori history in the area.

We took a day trip with Foris Eco Tours, going for a hike in remnant native forest and learning about the flora and fauna, rehabilitation, and even the role that hunting plays in preserving biodiversity. They can put custom tours together, and I’d recommend one for getting a greater understanding of New Zealand.

MTB Events in Rotorua

Crankworx Rotorua: 18-26 March
crankworx.com

Volcanic Epic: 23-26 March
volcanicepic.co.nz

Whaka 100: 20-22 October

whaka100.co.nz