We are also fortunate to be quite close to the vast Pureora Forest and some very good riding at Waitomo. Rotorua is a slightly longer drive away from our Waipa towns but is always a great MTB destination and the drive is pleasant and scenic. Many of us ride or race at Hamilton's popular Pukete tracks. There are also plenty of excellent training rides on gravel roads available to us, including some famously tough ones, but of course to get off-road as often as possible, is our true heart's desire.
The Waipa is a country district with peaceful country towns where you would expect to find plenty of good off-road riding close to hand, since there is so much beautiful open countryside around us everywhere. Unfortunately this is not the case as most of that open countryside is privately owned and off-limits.
So there is much work to be done to change the Waipa into a mountainbiker's heaven as surely such a spacious land should be. We must just get busy and work with councils and landowners to see what we can do to make the Waipa a better place for mountain bikers. Mountainbiking has been taking off in the wider Waikato with other local clubs experiencing surges of growth in membership.
We have an obesity epidemic - MTB can help sort that out. We have big need to attract more tourists to the Waipa - MTB can help sort that out. We have climate change - MTB can help sort that out. We have diminishing worldwide reserves of fossil fuels - MTB can help sort that out. In fact there is hardly a world problem you can't solve by jumping on a mountain bike. SO JUST DO IT!!
Haven't got a mountainbike? No need to even leave town to find one. As you would expect in a twown which has good reason to think of itself as the nations 'Cycling Capital,' there are two excellent bikeshops right here in Te Awamutu where you can get all the same bikes and equipment you'd find in the biggest shops in Auckland.
- Rush in to TeA Cycles in Sloane Street Te Awamutu and Brett will sort you out in a flash.
- Visit Mountain to Road Cycles in Rogers' Place Te-Awamutu or phone Callum at 07-870 6183.
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