Wairoa Gorge Bike Park

This park is quite possibly my favorite place to ride in New Zealand. That is a strong statement. #followcamfriday shenanigans with a mega-crew at the Gorge. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the Gorge is one of my favorite places to ride in the world. There is no other hand-built bike park that even comes close to the quality of this place. 5 Years and a crew of 50. Wrap your head around that stat. You can get more info in Wairoa Gorge HERE.

This park was paid for and built by the man who invented the styrofoam cup apparently. Legend has it that he loves to ride and has 12 of these parks around the world. He may, or may not own a country or two. If you own a plastic producing company, this seems like a good way to offset your carbon footprint. 

Wairoa was previously only open during races, dig days, and if you basically knew someone. It is now open to the public on the weekends, with booking in advance and can accommodate 30 ish ppl per day. The managers are balancing the numbers and trail use with sustaining business. Too many tires would ruin this place, too few, and it could close. An interesting situation to say the least.

For now, this place is an oasis. We basically had the trails to ourselves on this day. SRAM hosted some athletes, media types, and photo squids for a day of riding the 2019 Lyrik. Thanks to Chuck for manning the grill and cooking sausages to perfection. SRAM doesn't mess around. 

Sven Martin, aka Silverback is an absolute legend. In addition to being pinned as ever, he is basically yelling and crashing the entire time, making for some good times on the bike. Squid life FTW. When you can only understand half of what he is saying, things are getting good. 

Stay tuned right here for more NZ shenanigans, coming next week. CHUR!