New Zealand, with a small population of only four million people attracts a staggering 350,000 people just in cycling based tourism alone. The stunning scenery, safety and ability to take in a half dozen climate zones all in one or two days, guarantees total sensory satisfaction, all without any snakes, bears, cougars, lions and poison oak, which is a plus if you are a mountain biker.

To get the most out of what enZed can offer, two things are key: one is a camper van, no matter how ghetto, like ours, you need to have wheels to explore, there is a Kodak , or in my case, a SanDisk moment around every bend in the road or kink in the trail. Sleeping where the ride ends or sunsets can’t be topped. An eskie box (cooler) and gas cooker means you can experience sundowner drinks and sunrise coffees with views that outdo any five star eco lodge that the Trustafarians are snapping up. The other Key enZed travel accessory is a rugged, preferably light, 5–6” all–mountain bike. Our carbon Santa Cruz Nomads (Ed: blatant plug) were perfect for 100% of the rides. My 1×10 with 35 tooth up front was not though. A 33 or 32 would have been better suited or even a dual ring with guide as more than a few rides began with the steepest shit I have ever walked or pushed up, or in the locals case rode up. Nelson and Queenstown spring to mind here, but more about those later. Yes there are a few rides and towns you wish you had a DH specific bike for, but for the most part the smaller bikes just made those trails that much more enjoyable and the remote access pedalling gives you opens up natural wild descents like none other.

Fresh off the plane and in our new spray painted wicked camper, we set off west for Raglan, New Zealand’s answer for goofy footed surfers seeking a left hand breaking version of Jefferey’s Bay, South Africa. After sampling one of the world’s longest waves it was off to Rotorua to ride the much vaunted trails we had heard about when we were over there last for World Champs and I made my TV appearance. While the DH track for Worlds in ‘06 was not bad, it would be like coming to race the Mega in Alp d’Huez, but only being allowed to road ride down the 27 asphalt bends the ‘The Tour’ wannabes ride up. It did Rotorua no justice whatsoever. Here just a short ride out of town was one of the most developed, well–built and well thought out trail networks I have ever ridden. Anywhere!

Who better as a guide than one of the original Rotorua trail builders, Jeff Carter, who also runs the shuttle business here and in Dunedin on the South Island. He built the stunning ‘06 worlds 4X track, which had riders like Eric Carter withdraw for fear of their lives. Yes, in other words he builds good challenging trails, even in public bike–parks. The riding was on another level; it felt more Jurassic Park than Lord of the Rings, expecting giant raptors or T-rex’s to pop out from behind every giant tree fern, instead there was just an overabundance of natural honest to goodness fast flowy trails. Each with their own character and feel. Every 15 minutes a shuttle bus serviced the steeper back section of the forest which has four dedicated downhill tracks offering solid four minute plus steep challenging World Cup level downhill tracks, and even more enduro style all–mountain trails that give you a longer and even more rewarding run back to the pick–up spot. Shuttles run on weekends and Thursday nights after work and all week during the holidays. No surprises that that there is a constant supply of fast young Kiwis on the World Cup scene of late. Must do trails for anyone has to be Billy Tee, Hatu Patu and Tuhoto Ariki. Jeff gave us the ‘brief’ three hour tour, never have I ridden so many ‘best ever’ trails in one day, in fact I couldn’t get enough and rode until I puked. Literally. Hell yeah #1. Sorry Jeff I did try double flush.

We spent a few days here exploring on our own waiting to meet up with Sam Blenkinsop and Clay Porter who was in the country filming with Sam for his newest film, Three Minute Gaps, out any day now. It was a treat to watch him light up the Rotorua DH trails that I had just barely been surviving on, hanging off the saddle and on the brakes on my Nomad. It is good to see the top riders in their home countries, observing the terrain that is responsible for developing their styles. Blenkinsop was right at home hopping and popping over roots, ruts and braking bumps in his loose ‘wildman’ off the side of the bike flat pedal’ style.

We could have stayed for longer but we had only just begun our trip with so much more to see. A quick stop off in Lake Taupo for some home and handmade hamburgers from Kiwi Legend John Kirkaldie himself, or rather, I should say from his lovely and highly pregnant wife ex US pro DH’er Kodie. Spoilt with a real bed and our first shower it was time to continue, we had heard of a rumour of two trails, Whirinaki and Te Iringa nearby. First up was Whirinaki (the Maori words with Wh are pronounced as an “f”). A drop off with a ‘shuttle’ company who used our own van for a half price rate had us set off on a one–way–no–way–out 40km ride of epic proportions. While Rotorua had planned trails this one followed the natural contours of two river valleys with a descent in the beginning, a hell of a never ending climb in the middle and a 10km descent in the end. It’s impossible to explain the natural, wild and remote feel of this ride. Almost 100% rideable, with bench–cut into some exposed cliffs make this one of my top five rides ever, with a smaller chainring that is. Holy Shit #2