Top singlespeed mountain bikers take on Rotorua

New Zealand’s premier ‘one speed’ mountain bike event will bring 900 riders from more than 30 countries to Rotorua’s thermal forest trails next month.

Rotorua Singlespeed World Champs
23 October, 2010 

The Singlespeed World Championship - a race where cyclists are restricted to single cog mountain bikes - will raced through the Whakarewarewa Forest trail network, on the southern end of Lake Rotorua.

Event organiser Dean Watson said that the event was of great benefit to New Zealand.

"You know, we suffer a bit from the tyranny of distance. We’re a long way away, but we’ve always aimed all our events at the world and Australia, in particular, and we get healthy numbers of entries from there anyway."

Seriously fun
Watson said part of the appeal of the world champs is its accessibility to the general public, with entries being open to everyone, not just skilled riders.

"If your bike’s got one gear, you’re in," he said.

Some of the world’s best singlespeed riders are flocking to New Zealand for the event - including top American pro-riders such as singlespeed women’s world champ Heather Irmiger, and two-time singlespeed men’s world champ Travis Brown.

Rotorua has previously hosted two New Zealand Singlespeed championships, and is in good shape for the world champs. The championships will wrap up the week-long Rotorua Trust Bike Festival, which runs from 17 October.

The festival will include fun events such as a shweeb world record attempt at Agroventures, guided tours of Whakarewarewa Forest, treasure hunts, scenic rides and nightly activities, and special menus at selected eateries around Rotorua.

Whakarewarewa Forest trails
The Whakarewarewa Forest trail network is one of New Zealand’s oldest mountain biking tracks, and is considered to be among the world’s best.

The trails located on the southern outskirts of Rotorua are one of the region’s worst-kept cycling secrets.

The 100km trail network is set in a 50-acre forest and caters to all levels, from beginners to serious riders. The trails weave their way through native ferns beneath tall canopies of redwood, radiata, douglas fir, eucalyptus and larch trees - some of more than 150 exotic species in the forest.

Whakarewarewa Forest was established in 1901 as a ‘nursery’ for native and exotic forest species. It is considered one of Rotorua’s most beautiful natural assets and is just a short drive from the city centre.

The trail network is located in a part of the forest known as ‘the triangle’ - which has two mountain bike circuits, a BMX track and a labyrinth of custom-made single tracks with names such as ‘Check it Out’, ‘Gunna Gotta’, ‘North Face’, ‘The Tickler’ and ‘Be Rude Not To’.

One of the most famous features in the forest is a grove of giant coastal Californian redwoods. Whakarewarewa is sometimes referred to as ‘the redwood forest’.

Background: Singlespeed World Championships

The Singlespeed World Championships is an annual event that started in 1999 as a bike rally.

The race has a male and female winner every year, and is mostly held in the US.

The 2010 event will be the first time that New Zealand has hosted the world championship, and only the second time that it will be held in the southern hemisphere. New Zealand won the rights to host the champs in a game of smash-mouth basketball against Italy in Colorado last year.

Kiwi Clinton Jackson won the male section of the championships in 2003, when the event was held in Australia. The New Zealand event is being hosted by the Rotorua Singlespeed Society.