Rowan has been beavering away in a digital manner and designed a new system to report track issues to the track crew. When asked about it he said:

"Bike Taupo’s online trail management tool will help us to keep our trails open and riding smoothly and safely.  You will be able to log a trail issue using the website form. Tell us the trail, where and what the problem is, maybe take a photo, and we will get the trail crew out there to fix it as soon as we can.”

The form is called Tell the Track Crew under "On Your Bike"

A wet winter has meant a few cancellations for the Kids Bike Taupō programme.  The good thing is that with the wind trainer that we now have on board, even on rainy days we can run worthwhile sessions at early childhood centres.  Putting a wee bike up on the wind trainer makes for very user friendly pedal practice.  They use it like a piece of play equipment and it works for children from around 2 years old.  If they have plenty of access to a balance bike as well, they are able to put the two skills together and have much more success.  It is much kinder on the adults’ backs too.

Thank you to Jenny Barnett for donating the wind trainer that we have.  A couple more would be fantastic so that we can leave one a centres for a few days/weeks and give the kids a good go on it.  Please, if you have a wind trainer in your shed that is only gathering dust Kids Bike Taupō could make good use of it.

Another popular rainy day pastime is pumping up tubes and finding the puncture.  It is much easier for the little guys to use the pump on a tube than on the tyre on a wheel.  They are fascinated by the bubbles when we use a bowl of water to find the hole.  At Playcentre the whole process morphed into blowing up long balloons and making animals!  We are very flexible.

Kids Bike Taupō is spending more time in Turangi, thanks to some funding from the First Sovereign Trust.  Tongariro School has a bike track and bikes in the school and we can help the teachers to make more use of the equipment.  The kids are so enthusiastic and energetic.  They have the Tongariro River Trail on their door step and it would be great to see the school make use of it.

We are definitely noticing that some teachers have more confidence around cycling and are organising their own sessions.  We cannot be everywhere but are able to support schools by providing extra bikes and helmets when they are running their own adventures.

We are looking forward to being able to use the BMX track again on Mondays, soon.  The club has rebuilt the second straight and once it has new lime applied it should be back in action.  It is such a popular activity and layers on biking skills while the kids have a blast.  Kids Bike Taupō appreciates the support we receive from the Taupō BMX Club for these Monday sessions.  Keep an eye on the Bike Taupō Facebook page for when we restart.  We are still at Spa Park on Tuesdays from 3.30pm to 5pm.  This is a quieter time and is great for those needing practice on two wheels.

The new van, Ricky Biker, is a real joy.  We feel safe, comfortable and professional in it.  We are working smarter and don’t take as many bikes, but better ones. The idea is to fill in the gaps so everyone gets to ride but at the same time, encouraging people to have bikes of their own that work. 

Enjoy the warmer, lighter days and thank you to everyone who supports the Kids Bike Taupō programme.

Cath Oldfield  -  Kids Bike Taupo Coordinator         This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Bike Taupo Funding Update June 2017

1)      Thanks to Trailfund who recently granted us $3500 to fix the big slip on the Te Iringa track.  This is scheduled after winter and the boys will tackle the slip that is currently blocking the trail for mountain bikers.

2)      We also received $5400 from the First Sovereign Trust which will go towards the fantastic work that Cath does with Kids BT. This funding will be utilised in the Turangi region, helping to get Turangi kids riding on two wheels.

3)      Craters of the Moon Trust have provided funding for the new improved signage in the mountain bike park. They have also granted $5000 for the construction of a gravel pathway from town beside the thermal explorer highway. This will be done in stages until there is a continuous pathway from town to the mountain bike park.

4)      We are progressing with the underpass project from the café under the highway to Craters. We now have sufficient funds to purchase the underpass and this will be delivered to site next month.  We will now be trying to fund “the hole” to install it…

5)      Membership news coming to the website soon, so watch this space.

Thanks to all the organisations above for their generous support.