Blue skies...?
Red shirts...?
Stunning locations...?
Akshully (to quote J Key), there are probably a few but, to some of us in the Top of the South, the answer's obvious...
Kaiteriteri!
The Mountain Bike Park has figured prominently in all three recent publications.
First out was Derek Morrison's RIDE 2012 calendar. 12 superb pics (plus the cover) showcasing some of NZ's best riding talent and biking destinations.
2011 Downhill champs Harriet Harper and Reuben Olorenshaw spent a day with Derek at Kaiteriteri earlier in the year.
They now feature as Miss February, captured doing an impressive drift on Easy Rider, and Mr June (which doesn't have quite the same ring, sorry Reuben) - being creative on Rockface. That's as opposed to just surviving, which is how most people approach it.
Derek also contributed the photos to the feature article in the latest issue of NZ MTBer.
While blue skies and red shirts also make an appearance here, the emphasis is firmly on what a perfect destination Kaiteriteri makes for the family on holiday with a stack of bikes on the back.
Editor Carl Patton & Derek visited on a typically glorious day in late Autumn. If anyone thinks sussing out some new tracks for a magazine feature is a ride in the park, I can confirm these guys earn their money. Lugging 15kg of camera gear up granny ring climbs or holding spot lamps until your arms ache for that perfect lighting must soon become tiresome while all the locals have to do is play on their bikes.
That said, they were both sporting big smiles when I came across them. They were genuinely surprised & impressed with what the MTB Park was able to offer in just 3 years of existence.
Carl's only complaint was that the beach wasn't littered with "babes in bikinis", as pictured on a postcard sent by one of our committee. For that, he'll have to come back in January...
And then along comes the latest edition of Classic NZ MTB Rides.
Few people have as good a grasp of the biking terrain in NZ as the Kennett Bros. They've been doing it long enough now to know what people like, what they want to know and how to whet their appetites. The 8th edition has certainly whetted mine and, with 310 rides to choose from, a few people on bigbluemtb.com can expect to hear from me this summer :-)
About the only place I won't be heading for is entry no. 4 in the Nelson region: Kaiteriteri MTB Park. That's because it's my backyard and on holiday I want new track!
But if you're not local, its three star rating should be enough reason to load up the bike rack. We've completed two new tracks since the above publishing gurus visited and they will both be featured on our new map for 2012. Just quietly, we think they're the best work we've done so far...
And finally, just to show that not all mtb photos have to show someone with their weight back and a steely glint in their eye as they nail some gnarly downhill, here's Greg Buckett toughing out the final few metres getting to the top of the ridge. Given he's on Rockface, I suspect there was some bike-carrying...
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