Welcome to another edition of Pedal Talk from Bike Taupo
Issue #21

Kia Ora

Welcome to our slightly overdue Pedal Talk newsletter!  First off I would like to say a huge THANK YOU for becoming a member of Bike Taupo and supporting us through our membership phase, it has been a bit of a learning curve for all involved but its all onwards and upwards from here.  

We have some really exciting stuff coming up and now with winter upon us its a good time to drag out the merino layers and keep up the training so you dont suffer too much when the weather gets better!  Our mountain bike tracks are in primo condition and there is some fantastic riding to be had, we are so lucky in Taupo to have such a great riding surface that doesnt get too muddy. Read on for track updates including new bits on SH Fun and Tankstand!

Bike Taupō has been working as part of the Taupō Road User Group to create maps for Road Cycling Routes around the Taupō District.

This has been a partnership with local businesses and local authorities. They included Taupō District Council, Taupo Police, Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge, Transpower NZ, Seay’s Earthmoving, Central Transport, Tri-Sport Taupō, Shadz Trucking, New Zealand Forest Managers, Land Transport Authority, Taupō Cycling Club and Top Gear Cycles.

The maps cover risks associated with popular cycle routes on local roads, as well as being a guide for cyclists riding in our district whether they are local or visitors. You can print one out here http://www.biketaupo.org.nz/webapps/i/102565/336440/556034 We also have loads of our printed Craters and Great Lake Trail maps for $3 each you can order these online off our website and we will post them to you, or pick up from any bike shop around town.

Check out whats been going on as below and we welcome any feedback, comments, or if you have anything you would like to include in our newsletter please contact Melissa at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

You can't buy happiness....... but you can buy a bike :)

Words of wisdom from our Leader

As usual there has been a lot happening in the Biking world in Taupo, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those who have done there bit to make a Taupo a safer, better and more fun place to ride. A big mention must be made to the Taupo Cycling Club and their road safety initiatives with Fonterra and their ‘Tail Light Taupo’ campaign. Mountain Bike Taupo has been busy with the annual Craters Classic bringing in good numbers on a fairly foggy Sunday morning. The Cranky Divas have also been doing their bit getting women of all abilities out and riding on the Taupo tracks.

It is also with sadness that we saw the passing of Taupo cycling icon Keith Crate. Keith’s contribution to events and cycling in Taupo was huge, he has left a huge gap in the cycling community and will be sadly missed.

Bike Taupo has been fairly busy out on the tracks, in the Council chambers and in the District's Schools. One of the highlights has to be the opening, in April, of the Great Lake Trail by the Prime minister John Key. This event marked the culmination of years of hard work by the great lake trail team. This has been a huge project that has had a whole lot of support and effort by, not only the track crew, and team but also the wider community who made it possible for us to build a four million dollar trail for 2.3 million. The feedback we are getting is awesome and when we downloaded the trail counters a few weeks back we saw that we had 50,000 out on the trail over the last 12 months. Needless to say we are pretty stoked with the amount of people who are out biking and walking the trail.

Cath Oldfield has been out and about getting a whole heap of kids on bikes all around the District, she has been spending some quality time down in Turangi recently at Tongariro school. The Kids Bike Taupo van, ‘Bertha’ has had a paint job so keep an eye out for Cath, Bertha and thousands of kids on bikes all around the lake.

It has been over six months since we introduced the membership fees system. Since that time the world has not thankfully come to an end, the sun is still rising and we have also had thousands of people, young and old sign up to be a part of Bike Taupo. We know that are a few problems and we are currently reviewing the system to see what improvements we can make, especially as it relates to use of Craters. I am keen to hear any thoughts that you all may have, please drop us a line by email or facebook.

Last month we delivered our annual submission to the Taupo District Council. Our focus this year is on getting our urban road network safer for bikers of all ages. It will be interesting to see what the Council’s response is, but either way this will remain one of our priorities going forward. We are very keen for Taupo to live up to its ride centre status both on and off the tracks.

With the completion of the Great Lake Trail build, we were all looking for a bit of a break for a while before we get onto the next big thing, But it appears that there are few big things looming on the horizon which we will tell you about soon. None of us really needed any sleep anyway!!!

Till next time, keep riding.

Rowan

Some of our present and past committee with John Key at the opening of the GLT, what a great looking bunch

Track Crew News

Great lake Trail & Craters, what the boys have been up to.....                                                                     

Chad and Pete have built the track to a nice campsite up from Kotukutuku at Waihora Bay on the Great Lake Trail. The Campsite will be finished with new toilet etc when more funding is found.

Rotary ride's new bridge is in at Spa Park and already has enabled us to walk the digger across to fix a slip on a downhill, we can't see this one washing downstream as the old one did!

SH Fun has had the digger through making it nice and wide with a few more mounds and berms added to increase the fun, go check it out it's a great ride! This ws acheived with the support of the Taupo Mountain Bike Club was big Thank You to those good guys.

Steam fields is moving on, 4.1 KM of track has now been constructed. We have just about completed the junction point with the track coming in from the Wairakei hotel. The Digger will construct the link from the hotel it will then be a two way track. This link will happen in the next few weeks and we will have another working bee when it has been completed, we will advise closer to the date.

Craters has a lot of great people donating time doing some fantastic work including the old farts pruning SH Fun, working bees on steam fields, new humps and bumps on SH Fun and Tankstand. A great big thank you to all of you, it all helps and is much appreciated

Track Crew Contact Details

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

More info: http://www.biketaupo.org.nz/news/track-crew

Cheers Bruce Jaine

The winter term is not slowing down, although there is the odd cancellation due to weather. It is actually pleasant riding when it is not too hot and the kids seem to have more energy, I don’t have to remember to have water for the thirsty little blighters!

The main schools we are visiting are Mountview, Tauhara, Waitahanui, Tongariro and now Te Kura Kaupapa. This is particularly cool, because they are low decile, high percentage of Maori and the kids thrive on the opportunity to ride. I have been at Tongariro School several times to support them in their new Bikes in Schools project. We visit a different school every day. We notice the skill level improving and will be able to begin road safety training with 10 year olds now that they can actually handle a bike. This can progress further when we secure funding.

We received 6 new BMX bikes from Police Bluelight, also 4 new 20' little mountainbikes and x 6 helmets from a contact at Keith Crate's funeral. A nice story, Keith's friend won money on a Scratchy and wanted to buy bikes for the kids in Keith's honour!

We had 60 riders at Random Ratbags at BMX on Monday after school. 3.30pm to 5pm. If anyone wants to call down and be an extra, they are very welcome.

Big Thank You to all our supporters and all the wonderful feedback we receive

Van (Bertha) has been sign written too, looks great check out the photo!

For any info or queries in relation to our Kids Bike Taupo programme, please contact Cath Oldfield at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Taupo Mountain Bike Club  -  event update

2014 Craters Classic was well and truly revived last Sunday, 176 riders all took part in what was to be a demanding & challenging ride for all competitors , riders from Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga & Hawkes bay, combined with the locals attracted more than twice the amount of entries from previous years. The Double Glazing Company sponsored 45km Craters Classic certainly lived up to its name with the eventual Overall winner Garth Wienberg form Rotorua summing up the day’s racing saying that was one tough course, Nic Leary also from Rotorua taking the overall Women’s trophy, pleasing to see Local riders dominating the podium spots in the age group categories. A big thanks to our event partners, Bruce Mason & The Double Glazing Company, Wairakei Resort, & Hendon & Nigel at Pak N Pedal -Phoenix Cyclery and Giant Bicycles.

Many of the out of town riders commented that they had not ridden in the Craters MTB park for some years and were very surprised by the quality and quantity of awesome trails on offer, pledging to return to further explore Taupo’s hidden gems.

The Club has purchased a new My Laps Timing system with the generous help of the Lion Foundation The system was used for the first time at the Craters Classic, the system certainly demonstrated it’s worth reducing the shear amount of volunteers required to run and event of 180 riders The bonus was that it really made the registration duties & reconciling of results a breeze, as well as having real time results available for all the competitors, from a safety aspect we knew at any given time who was still out on the course, and from a riders perspective we were able to collate the results, making for a very efficient Prize giving

The clubs next event is the Crafty Trout Night series which is held on each consecutive Thursday evening, starting on the 7th August through till 13th August Races kick off at 6.00pm at the Craters MTB park Car park open to all abilities Lights are essential al kids must have an adult present. The evening ends with a race debrief at the Crafty Trout for Pizza & Beer

Craters 4 Hour Multilap race is planned for 27th September Race HQ is Craters MTB park, race format consists a mix of 4 x short 4km-8km varying grade loops, teams of 2, 3 & 4 or individuals, Complete as many laps as possible in the 4 hours with various points awarded for the loops completed with only one person per team on the track at any given time, This is a great race format ideally suited to Families, Corporate team building, School teams and bunches of Chums just wanting to have a bit of fun, Race HQ is a hive of activity all day with the music pumping and bragging rights on offer mark this event into your diary NOW 27th September 2014

Taupo BMX Club

Taupo BMX Club nights start back on the Wednesday 6th August at 5.30pm as we are currently on our winter break. When BMX resumes, we welcome new riders to our track at Crown Park. For new riders, the first three nights are free and if you don’t have a bike just yet we can help out with bikes and helmets for hire.

For those younger riders who are members of Taupo BMX Club and want to gain some new skills, Sprocket and beginner training is still running throughout winter on Monday nights from 5.30 till 6.30.

Intermediate coaching is being offered by two of our teenage members, Mark and Logan, over the up coming school holidays. For information on this, please visit: http://www.taupobmx.org.nz/news/mark-logans-coaching-clinic/

The first round of the Central Region BMX Association Winter Series was held on Sunday 29 June in Rotorua. The winter series involves Gisborne, Tauranga, Rotorua, Hawkes Bay and Taupo BMX Clubs with the club that earns the most points winning the series. Taupo BMX Club was well represented with 22 riders taking part. Taupo hosts the finals on the 7th September.

Photo is Taupo Riders Kevin Tamepo (382) and Steve Amrein (11) keep in front of Rotorua’s Ryan Gulliford at Central Region Winter Series.

Keep in touch with Taupo BMX Club: http://www.taupobmx.org.nz/ or Facebook.com/taupobmxclub

Taupo Cycling Club

Sunday Morning Bunch Rides: From the 1st June, these will commence at 9:00 AM from the normal spot outside Farmers, and end with coffee at the Suncourt Mall. These rides are NOT a race, so if you have considered coming out, but are afraid of being dropped or left behind, don't fear. We have (if numbers permit) 3 groups and have the motto "Leave no one behind" the first up the hill have to return and ride with the last, and we stop at most intersections and regroup.

Bike Taupo, safer roads

Bike Taupo in conjunction with some of our members have been working on mapping roads and rating the safety/risk level. This is a fantastic resource and one we are keen to see used. Feel free to download here and share.

Tail light Taupo #tailighttaupoUpgrade or purchase a new tail light and go into the draw to win your purchase price back!*

Taupo Cycling Club wants to turn the town red!

The club is keen on safety and with the nights closing in and the days darker as winter approaches it can be hard to identify cyclists on the road.

Often cyclists have bright fluro clothing, but it can be hard to pick up if the sun is hiding behind clouds and the day is dull.

That is why they are pushing the use of tail lights on a bike anytime that it is on the road, day or night.

Over the next two months Taupo Cycling Club along with the local Bike shops are running the “Tail Light Taupo” campaign. With the emphasis on getting cyclists in the habit of having a tail light operating at all the time.

In conjunction with this, the local bike shops are offering a variety of specials and offers, trade ins and upgrades on tail lights. To get the specials all you have to say is “Tail Light Taupo”

With the added incentive of one lucky person winning the purchase price back on the light, by tagging a photo on the clubs Facebook page.

The promo will run for the two months of June and July and will use their Facebook page Taupo cycling club and encouraging the use of the hashtag #tailighttaupo

Interclub Racing

The Taupo Cycle club are hosting Tokoroa and Rotorua clubs on Sunday 20th July as the final race in the Interclub Series. This will be held at the Huka Circuit and set into grades A-D, Taupo is lagging a little in points at the moment against the other clubs so would heartily invite any of the MTB club member to dust off their Road bike and come and join us. There will be a BBQ and light refreshments at the end of the race.

Entry will be $5, to pregister email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For more information contact Carl Smith on 021741903 or leave a note on thehttps://www.facebook.com/taupocyclingclub

Random selfies

These people have been spotted taking random selfies, they are an odd looking bunch, dont think they get out too often... does anybody know who they are??

Think they could be road cyclists!!

Great Lake Trail adventures

Chris Jolly Outdoors runs a boat shuttle service with pick up at Waihora Bay. During the winter months, Bay2Bay scheduled pickups on Saturdays and Sundays are 1.30m and 3.30pm. During the week, pickups are available on demand. Group discounts are available. Feedback from clients is that the new trail is fantastic and the Bay2bay pickup is the perfect way to finish the ride. Dropoffs at Kawakawa to continue riding, have also been popular.

Contact the team for more info/bookings at http://www.chrisjolly.co.nz/

Several good reasons to own a big shed!

                      Happy Riding :)

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