Kila had a plan. How about we meet up in Naseby for a weekend to dig some trails, have a few drinks and go for a hoon on some Yetis. Excellent idea!

So fifteen of us found ourselves in Naseby last Saturday, a rather grey and drizzly morning.  As it was raining in Dunedin everyone thought they had escaped the wetness for the predictably hot climate of Naseby, err wrong… Oh well. We followed Kila by bike and a few jumped on the back of his super cute Suzuki truck and  ventured into the Naseby forest.  By the time the morning was over we had cleared a bunch of tracks in an area of the forest that had just recently been felled and had a good catch up with each other.  After lunch we got stuck into a new section of trail, building some berms and cut in some climbs.

The new Naseby forest manager, Heath Lunn, is a passionate Mountain Biker and has been managing forest in both Rotorua and Hanmner Springs. So there was lots of talk about how we can turn the area into a trail mecca. Its certainly exciting times for this little town which has one dairy, a camp ground, a church, two pubs and Kila’s bike shop.  One of the two pubs is the Royal Hotel, which Kirsty (Kila’s partner and a great chef) had been running for the past two years, and this weekend happened to coincide with their lease ending.

By the afternoon the rain had set in quite well.  Many of us had only turned up in Naseby with tents, expecting a sweet night at the campground.  We had arranged accommodation as we weren’t organised enough to camp with our 5 month old, and this turned out to have been a blessing as it was freezing and wet.  But the wet didn’t dampen our Saturday night too much, we joined the locals in the festivities of the final night of the Royal Hotel lease.

On Sunday morning the rain had stopped and we set up the demo area.  The first people to arrive were some very cold campers! Chris Mancy’s tent had flooded and had to sleep in the front seat of his van. Nick and Anthony also had a cold sleepless night and bailed home first thing in the morning. So, despite the rain having stopped, I was a bit unsure about the turnout for the demo day.

Kila had marked out a little 30min track and told us the conditions were okay and shortly after a few keen riders showed up willing to give the bikes ago. In the end the 6 bikes we had available were out on the trails for most of the day and we got heaps of amazing feedback, so that was super positive.

My wife Roshni, who later asked what the difference between single track and single ring was, even jumped on one for a while thanks to the encouragement of Anja McDonald, Merrin Brewster and Morgan Blance. The girls all went out together and Roshni came back so excited and even had a nice scar on her leg as a trophy.

So, as always, Naseby put on a great weekend for us. Thanks Kila for the help and we’re bound to be back soon for some more digging, drinking and riding.