Saturday 11th of May I headed down to Hokitika to drop Jason at the airport and thought I'd take the chance to check out the trails down there, safe to say if was impressed.
I have never heard of anyone talking about MTB in Hokitika, so I really didn't expect much, however I think I found some of the best trails I've ever ridden!!
The trails were quite different to anything I would get at home, they have a rugged un-used feel to them and all had a layer of pine needles laying on the dirt. It was quite wet, but yet the soil was some how still super grippy, and the pine needles added a layer of traction between my tires and the mud.
there was a mix of tight, steep techy lines, and wider fast trails with little jumps going down.\
even the uphill trail was enjoyable as it was a shallow enough gradient that you could pedal up at a decent pace without using too much energy.
I was headed down a trail called Bad Boys when I happened to stumble upon John and Liam, the head trail builders for the area, they were clearing out a drain on a brand new trail that was yet to be finished. I got talking to them about the trail work and found out that every Wednesday night they head up there with their head torches and shovels to have a group working bee, which I will hopefully be able to attend in the future. They then showed me around a couple of cool trails before pointing me in the right direction to get back to the car.
My route took me home via an awesome old mining tunnel dug out of the rock, this was a first for me, and just added to the awesome day out riding!