Spring is here, and with it come four new trails in the ever-expanding Rotorua trail system.
Two are on the east facing slopes above the new Forest Hub carpark at Te Putake O Tawa. There is the new Grade 4 hand-built Black House Down. Created by Velosolutions it is a quick run from the road near the picnic table and lookout halfway down Eagle vs Shark, to finish at the carpark. Heaps of fun, lots of off-camber and steeps coming at you the whole way.
Much mellower is the Rotorua Trails Trust rebuild of Whaki to make a fun and flowy Grade 3 descent to the carpark. Entered from the flat section of Direct Road just below Hill Road, the trail is fast and packed with rollers and corners. Casey and Lance have put their flow all over this new line. Trees whizz by very close to your bar-ends, so pay attention! See the clip above, courtesy of Jamie at New Zealand Mountain Biking.
Heading down the western side of the same ridge there are two new builds that are off the hook. Empire of Dirt's Te Poaka gives people an alternate route from the top of Apumoana back towards Waipa. Running more or less parallel to Hot X Buns, it is rideable by anybody. Wide, smooth and very open, a careful rider will get down it with no problems. Let go of your brakes, and it is astonishingly fast. You can get up to a very high speed very quickly, it is a grin-inducing speedway of a trail. Beware.
About 30metres along Hill Road from the lower section of Corners is a new Velosolutions build named Ma Te Wa. It is Graded 4, but it is not a difficult trail when its dry. It plummets through what feels like dozens of hairpins among old trees. Further down it pops out into newly planted young pines, and the dirt changes but the fun factor stays high.