Gnarly biking in Rotorua

The good thing about staying with the locals is that you get to go to the good places you’d otherwise miss. Paul took us out to the gentle slopes at the back of Rotorua for a quick mountain bike, and despite Caroline’s previous experiences, she still came along. The whole of the forest is a maze of tracks to be explored, and are designed for bikers with gentle slopes along with weaving downhills and jumps to test your balance. The bike’s lack of toe clips meant the bike and I parted company on one jump, gravity brought us back together with a bump though. Apart from that I only came off once, the pedal clipping a log and throwing me off onto the soft forest floor – haven’t had that much fun on a bike since my school days. Caroline chose to skip those crazy downhills, maybe she has really retired now, or is just more cautious when I say “fun mountain biking”…