The Back of Beyond
Moerangi Mountain Bike Trail – this one has to go onto your wishlist!
Where is it? On the North Islands East coast, Ureweras, 2.5 hours from Hamilton, 1.5 hours from Taupo.
This is a stunning 35 kms of single track.
A good level of fitness is required. You can do it easily on one day or you can break it up and stay at one of the 3 huts on the track. Guidelines say allow 5-7 hours. A total of 580m of climbing.
Our group of three were of moderate fitness, good bikes, and did it in a ride time (and some walking) of 3.5 hours and total time of close to 4.5hours. This was in January 2015 with the sun shining. You are under tree cover most of the time but still need sunblock, did not notice any biting insects but lots of massive dragonflies that liked to fly along side you. There is a bit of cutty grass and stingy nettle so gloves essential and would possibly wear a long sleeve top next time. Definitely need at least 2L camelback or similar although there are streams along the way. It begins with a steep climb but that’s about as bad as it gets, and its just a short bit. The rest is ride able, wicked mixture of undulating single track, interspersed with GREAT downhills. There was a little pushing on some hills but if you were very fit could probably ride it all. If you are not that fit I would suggest wearing flats and shoes rather than clip ins as you will be doing a bit of walking and on/off bike. Don’t forget to soak in the views.
The best part? The 9 km downhill at the end (there is a little bit of uphill in the middle). This is all stonking good single track! I highly recommend a full suspension bike to really make the most of it.
The track is a one way so make sure you book a shuttle to drop you to the start (okahu road). We used the lovely Gary at http://jailhousefarmstay.co.nz/ $50 a person and well worth it.
An excellent blog can be found here on the Spoke website by Lester Perry:
http://spokemagazine.com/2010/06/09/track-day-tuesday-moerangi/
Also a map and info here:
http://nzbybike.com/regions/lake-taupo/regional-mountain-bike-rides/moerangi-track-whirinaki-forest/
http://www.riderotorua.com/trails/rotoruamtb79profile36.pdf
Tick it off
