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After navigating more than their fair share of complicating factors – from historic sites and hidden mine shafts to deterring Kauri dieback  – Ride Coromandel has brought a decade-old vision, and biking in Coromandel Town, to life on the West Coast of the peninsula The most recent recipient of a Trail Fund NZ e-barrow, Ride Coromandel has made the most of the past two tumultuous years, turning years of good intentions into bike park reality. “For more than 20 years, Spirit of Coromandel Trust trustee Keith Stephenson said he wanted to build a bike park for the kids in Coromandel,”...

Two of New Plymouth Mountain Bike Club’s longtime trail builders recount how the local network went from rogue to regulated (in the good way!) by bringing together the most passionate of people… the builders themselves Projects here, there and everywhere. That’s how committed trail builder Andrew Georgeson describes the state of New Plymouth’s mountain bike network up until five years ago, and previous club president and trail builder Hasely Lobb agrees. “About eight years ago I was the president of the New Plymouth Mountain Bike Club (NPMTBC) and working at a bike shop, so naturally there was a lot of...

There’s no question that interest in mountain biking in New Zealand has exploded in the past decade, with clubs and trails popping up at every turn (and berm). With larger funding requirements for many well-known networks being taken on by bigger funding bodies, such as councils, Trail Fund is thrilled to continue supporting up-and-coming clubs in smaller ways in all corners of the country – including Waimate. More commonly known for its local wallabies than winding mountain bike trails, the small town in South Canterbury now boasts a small but expanding trail network, thanks to committed volunteers from Whitehorse MTB...

Since its inception, Kaikoura Cycling Club has longed to add mountain biking to the region’s many attractions. With its first actual gravity mountain bike trail under construction and a club with ten times more members than it had a year ago, the idea appears to be catching on Twenty years after Dwayne Fussell moved from Queenstown to Kaikoura assuming the hills were laden with mountain bike trails, he is beyond stoked to finally be building the region’s first proper gravity one – a 4.5km-up, 3.5km-down loop on Mt Fyffe. “I’d been to Kaikoura a few times for surfing and other...

Written by Trail Fund co-founder Nessa Lynch Photos by Jono Baddiley A crew of 11 Welly folks (including three Trail Fund committee members) set out for the Paparoa Track on Wellington Anniversary weekend. We had been somewhat disappointed by the track not being fully open due to a major slip on the tops, but as penance the West Coast put on a stunner weekend, minimal sandflies, no crashes and only one minor mechanical. We set out from Smoke-Ho carpark near Blackball in glorious sunshine. There was general agreement that the climb to Moonlight Tops Hut was tough – the 10km...