August 5th 2014: Vegas

If you haven't noticed there's a huge epidemic happening right around New Zealand right now. Mountain biking is undergoing a rebirthing of sorts. The barriers to entry are coming tumbling down and there are invites for everyone to this party.

Leading the charge in the centre of the North Island is Rotorua. Its pièce de résistance is 130km of forest trails ribboned throughout Whakarewarewa Forest. Some of these trails are so buff that you could ride a skateboard down them. Anyone can ride these trails – and that's part of the appeal – everyone feels like a hero out there.

But ever since Queenstown repurposed its gondola for mountain biking – and turned Queenstown into an instant MTB destination off the back of it – the demand for lift-accessed trails has soared. Now Christchurch has a chairlift in the works and I hear Nelson is grappling with the opportunity. And at the end of this week Rotorua will send its first gondola cabin of paying MTB customers up to its Skyline Rotorua top station. From there 8km of trails await them. They vary from super mellow to fast and lofty ... and for the plucky there's the Surgeon's Table – a step-on, step-off structure designed, like all the flowy trails in the 100-acre park, by Adam King and his Empire of Dirt trail-building team. It's an impressive sight. I had the chance to ride Hipster and I can only say that once is never going to satisfy anyone ... that trail flows so well and those jumps will make anyone smile.

During my trip north I also had the chance to check the coasts: flat as on the East Coast, but nice storm clouds rolling through. Raglan was onshore, but so sublime as always. How can anyone complain with a 2-3 foot session at Indicators and only me and one of my best mates out? Love that place.

Swell cleaning up today and should be all-time this afternoon straight out the front, then a big, clean pulse on Wednesday morning followed by another big, not-so-clean pulse on Friday (run for shelter).

See you at the beach ...

Derek

PS Do you like Dunedin's street art? We certainly do and here's your chance to get involved and help bring artist Dal East to town – click here to give a little.