One of the first trails to be built "out the back", Pondy New was a handcrafted line through a block of mature Douglas Fir, and a nice little grove of California Redwoods and Cypress to finish.
Built by Murray Avery, the master of the handbuilt flow trail, Pondy was a gently downhill run, tight, sinuous and fast, that deposited happy punters at the start of Rollercoaster.
Lately the block was felled, and that left riders who had descended Spilt Enz with nowhere to go beside down a foresty road.
Casey King from the Rotorua Trails Trust has created a link trail. It doesn't attempt to reinstate Pondy - it is impossible to capture the character of a trail through big trees once the big trees are gone - but it does retain the flavour of Split Enz.
Riders arrive at the end of Split Enz and are fired around a right hand berm into a clearfelled bombsite, but one with a view. Anybody who stops will be rewarded with a nice outlook, but most won't: after the hammering that arms and hands get on the last part of Split Enz the new Link Trail is smooth, and fast.
Take it easy the first time you roll down it, there is nothing that will bite you except the speed you can carry. Have fun!