The Chronicle caught up with David Wright, President of the Raglan Mountain Bike Club, who is keen to encourage locals to make use of the epic tracks we have available.
Can you please describe the local mountain biking track to those of the community who may not be aware of it.
If you’ve not been, here’s a bit of a rundown. Raglan has a great network of tracks, providing users with roughly 6kms of riding. All the tracks are within a pine forest with one spot having an awesome view of the harbour entrance.
Access is at the very end of Riria Kereopa Memorial Drive (past the kite surfing area at the harbour entrance). Tracks are accessed from the end carpark. In total there is just under 6km of tracks.
Have there been any updates to the track in recent times?
Volunteers from the Raglan mountain bike club have spent time maintaining the tracks over the winter, with some nice improvements to enhance the ride. They have also removed track debris and are keeping the gorse and long grass at bay. In particular the kids loop area has had a lot of work applied to it lately, so if you’ve not been up for a while it’s worth checking it out.
What level rider do you need to me to access and make use of the tracks?
The tracks are designed for ages from 4 upwards, as a rule of thumb. If the rider can ride around the pump track at Papahua Domain then they will be fine on the easier tracks.
Once up there you will see a variety of tracks, from the kids loop through to some mid range trails and some more technical tracks with Jumps, sweeping corners and drop offs. All the difficult tracks have signs to warn you, so you won’t accidently find yourself out of your comfort zone.
Don’t be put off (or let the kids put you off) by the access track, it’s one of the most difficult parts of the trail network. We don’t recommend riding them if it has rained in the last 24hours as parts can get very slippery.
Is there opportunity to join a group? How do you get in touch to become members of the local club?
The Mountain bike club is always looking for new members to help keep the tracks flowing, social media posts and to plan and partake in social events. Just pop into Raglan Cyclery and Dirk will help you join. You can also check out our facebook page for more details: https://www.facebook.com/raglanmountainbikeclub/
Happy riding!
