We see the term in practice almost as soon as we set out for the trails with our guide for the day, Karl Young, a cheery rider who was also born in Rotorua with a wonderfully tendency to blend insightful history with hilarious commentary when he guides. Karl has been riding the Rotorua Redwoods, or the Whakarewarewa Forest as it’s locally known, since the 1970s. There are few people who know the trails better than he.

Rotorua has been reborn as a bike town in recent years. First impressions may still be formed from a scrutinising sniff of the sulphur in the air and that unmistakable scent of eggs, but with your eyes open you’ll see bike shops in abundance, locals pedalling rigs with suspension loaded and bike racks on plenty of the cars slipping through the scenic roads.

You’ll also see a lot of conversation. Driving through the city to the trails with Karl had been a pleasant process, if a slightly stop-and-start one. Near enough every passing face is another familiar one and a reason to stop and say hello.

“There are a lot of bikes and bike shops around, the coffee is always good and there’s always a scene going on,” Karl says as we roll up to the Mountain Bike Rotorua hub at the foot of the Redwoods. “When we first started out there were only maybe five of us and you could tell who was on the trails just by the marks they left on the soil.”

It’s a place where the easy-going nature of the natives and the beauty of their surroundings has defined the style of the riding, and allowed a vibrant mountain biking community to form unforced – one where the tight community feel extends and amplifies onto the trails.

The Dipper still stands today, though it’s evolved and grown with modern digging and now features a flow more commonly seen in bike parks than on forest trails. It remains one of the most iconic trails in the Redwoods; and while not technical, it’s scenic and perfect for families or beginners.

The re-build has retained the original shape and style of the trail, which is largely flat but incredibly flowy, and there’s an abundance of berms, rollers and jumps for you to get warmed up for the rest of the day – and trust us, you’re going to need that warm up.

The Redwoods feature a startling amalgamation of tree variety which has allowed trails to be styled in a fashion that feels like you’re flowing through eucalyptus-laced air to backcountry Britain before turning off into the forests of California, and this means that while there are plenty of trails available for beginners, there’s also an abundance of tricky, technical and downright terrifying options too.

“At the turn of the last century, in the early 1900s, the settlers’ livestock and cattle weren’t reaching a full expected stock weight, so the government were looking at another viable industry and they looked at forestry,” Karl explains.

“They got all the ships coming to New Zealand and encouraged their Commonwealth agents to put different types of tree seeds on the ships trading from North America and Europe and the UK to bring in seeds and tree species, so as a result of that you’ve got 70 different tree species from around the world in this gigantic arboretum.

“That’s why you’re seeing the Eucalyptus from Australia and the spruces from Europe and the Californian Redwoods and a lot of pines and other trees as well.”

The beauty of having such a variety of tree seed is that the terrain and tracks that grow up around them provide something for everyone, in near enough every shape, size and style. After starting off simple, it’s clear that Karl is keen to show us some of the more challenging options as soon as possible.

“The flow trails are cool, a lot of fun, jumps and whips and that, but that rooty, nasty, tiki shit… that’s how some of the old guys grew up,” he says. “We were riding that stuff because we were used to hiking and that’s what there was to ride if you got on your mountain bike. So we still like seeing that gnarly stuff!”

Intrigued, I ask more about the Maori involvement in mountain biking in the area. Of course, Tak and his brother Tu of Mountain Bike Rotorua have played a huge part in the scene. They started Mountain Bike Rotorua with 30 bikes and two staff members in 2011 and now carry around 150 bikes and employ 16 people.

“I’m born and bred in Rotorua and a lot of kids grow up with bikes here,” Tak tells me. “It’s a part of our lifestyle. I remember as a 12 year old going out with a bunch of friends for a ride and getting lost for about four hours riding the trails in the Whakarewarewa Forest. It was awesome and I’ve never really stopped losing myself in that forest.

“The mountain bike community in Rotorua is so much more wholesome than other communities I’ve experienced, and Crankworx is another excuse for us to come together.

“The fact we can ride all year round and have so many awesome flow trails to ride anytimes makes Rotorua just a mecca for riding. We’ve kept [the trails in Rotorua] our little secret for long enough and now it’s time to share it with the world!”

Tak did one hell of a job sorting out Crankworx Rotorua in March anyway, and doing so with a jaw-dropping tribal touch. Brandon Semenuk & co. were watched around the world dropping in on kickers and step downs featuring stunning Maori carvings.

“The carvings were gifted to us by the New Zealand Maori Arts and crafts Institute,” Tak says. “Our carving are our story telling devices that represent people and events. These people are our Tupuna (ancestors) and/or Atua (Gods). The importance of the carvings are to protect us and also to tell our history, as Maori don’t traditionally have a written language, our stories were passed down by song, storytelling or by our art.”

So are there a lot of Maori mountain bikers? No, not yet. But interest is increasing.

“I remember the days when the Maori mountain bikers consisted of either myself, Ra or Eugene – yup, I named all three of us – and now I couldn’t count the number that are going into their forest. There still aren’t that many involved, but it is growing.

“We’re still a minority though and look forward to working on getting more people, including Maori, riding in the forest.”

Karl adds: “When I first started riding the only Maori people that I knew who were riding in the forest were my girlfriend at the time and her family, and a few guys that thought that taking their bikes into the forest was a good way to sneak up on animals and go hunting. And you saw what happened today,” he laughs, referring to the moment when a wild boar ran out in front of my bike and almost sent me head over handlebars.

Between the boar, the trail variety and the stunning scenery shining under a sky as warm as our welcome, it’s certainly been one hell of a day.

We conclude our day on the ‘Puarenga Stream’ trail, a tame but breathtakingly scenic ride which criss-crosses between banks of a river and weaves under palm trees like a tropical paradise.

“This trail was actually built after Red McCail, a guy from the corrections department, got minor criminals from the corrections department and put them to good work as part of their community profile to restorative justice,” Karl notes.

The stories behind the trails in the Whakarewarewa forest really are unrelenting. And from the tales of the tribal landowners granting permission to the encouragement of the government and even that input from the corrections department, it always comes back to community in Rotorua.

Of course, none of it would have started at all if it wasn’t for the likes of Karl and Tak – the guys with a passion for the sport who just wanted to get out there and ride. And at the end of the day, that’s still what it’s about for both of them.

You May Also Like

In Pursuit of Paradise | Is New Zealand the Adventure Capital of the World?

Original Nutters | How a Trick Revolution Has Transformed Mountain Biking in Just 10 Years

The Laird Hamilton Interview | “I Always Believed I Could Do Great Things”