Graeme Simpson: 'Ground zero' getting bigger

New Zealand Mountain Film Festival - 'Best of the Fest' is coming to Rotorua on Thursday 10 August. Photo/stirlingimages.com

It seems that the more I try and get to ground zero of the Rotorua mountain biking 'creation' story, the deeper hole I dig for myself.

Feedback I received about a recent column about the foundations of the local mountain bike club has made me more determined to document it, definitively. I never set out to offend anyone, but some of that feedback was really disheartening.

There was actually a typo in that column - the club 'celebrating 20 years' in 2017, should have read 25 - so there's that, too, and my number dyslexia kicking in, yet again).

Two people, involved right from the get-go, were Mike Lee, who went on to be Club president, and Shane Collett, who moved to Wellington.

There are others who are big parts of the story - Evan Freshwater, Fred Christensen, Dean Watson, Mike Searle, Alden and Wendy Ardern, Rick Todd and Kate Thompson, Edd Serrallach, Rhys Cleverley and on and on.

You see the issue here? Name one and it'd be preferable to name them all. Which would take three months of columns and that'd just be the first generation...

A few things: a Rotorua MTB Hall of Fame and honours board is overdue (though, where to start? And it'd have to be enormous) and someone really does need to write that definitive history.

Graeme Murray has the photos since the mid-1990s, which is a very good starting point. If you have a yarn to tell, especially about those early days, write it down and email it to me: graeme@bluedogmedia.co.nz

I am going to do my best to get the story told and accurately.

No matter how big anyone's vision was 25 years, it's very doubtful that it fully encompassed or imagined how significant MTB in our region would become with around 250,000 people riding our trails every year and that's growing.

One of my favourite events of the Rotorua Bike Festivals 2014-17 were Brett Cotter's Big Bike Film Nights. Brett's a terrific, enthusiastic young guy and it was neat to help with some publicity for the nights. I'm lucky to be on the jury which helps decide the programme and the best films in show. I'm still more than happy to watch them again at the Blue Baths during Festival week.

Brett is also involved with the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival - 'Best of the Fest' screening at the Holiday Inn Rotorua on Thursday 10 August from 7:00pm to 9:30pm. Get your tickets online: www.eventfinda.co.nz/2017/nz-mountain-film-festival-best-of-the-fest/bay-of-plenty

It's too late to enter tomorrow's second Cyclezone Nduro Winter Series race online. However, you can still enter at registration at Cyclezone on Fenton Street this afternoon from 2 till 4pm and at race HQ at the Nursery Hill end of Long Mile Road tomorrow from 7.30-9am.

This three race series has become very popular keeping the cross-country flag flying high. Part of the reason for that is the range of distances meaning novices to elites can all have a crack.

Check out the website for all the details: wintermtb.co.nz