Graeme Simpson: Undies on the run for a good cause

COUNTDOWN: Just over a month till the Nzo|Ride Central Nduro Winter Series. PHOTO/ALICK SAUNDERS

Polka dot undies aren't often the subject of stories about mountain biking.

Around this time last year a pair were front and centre and, well, behind when local pocket rocket, Lisa Horlor, did an undie run down the Challenge Roadside trail early one winter morning with frost on the ground and the temperature hovering around zero.

It was all for a very good cause - raising money to build Eagle vs Shark, a new trail from the top of the forest.

Donations were coming in at a steady clip. After the undie run they shot through the roof.

It won't be happening with Lisa, this year.

Unfortunately, she took a very hard hit a couple of months ago and still has a while to go before she is back on the bike.

She's one of the most enthusiastic people in our community. Get on the Rotorua Mountain Bike Club Facebook page she runs and you'll immediately get a sense of that.

Get fixed soon, Lease. There is another fundraiser and, yes, another undie run planned for tomorrow morning.

Jane Roberts will sub for Lisa, Trail TBC.

The Club Facebook page will have the latest news.

The fundraiser is for the rebuild of the Old Exit and Exit trails, from the top of Nursery Hill to Long Mile Rd.

Logging has scalped parts of these, though the lower sections survived. Old Exit was originally built in the mid-1990s as part of the first flurry of trail construction headed up by Fred Christensen.

"There'd been some incidents between riders and walkers on Nursery Hill," he recalls. "The forest managers back then, Fletcher Challenge, asked for a solution."

The section coming into the Redwoods was inspired by the course for the 1996 downhill world championships in Cairns.

"Switchbacks!" continues Fred. "I never got it finished to my dream level with a series of 180-degree wooden berms perhaps the new build could create some as it would hold the track surface up better."

Exit Trail isn't that new.

Dean Watson, Rick Todd and Rhys Cleverley built it more than 10 years ago as a less challenging option to get out of the Forest for the 24 Hours of Nduro, when race HQ was on Long Mile.

They were both excellent trails, with a lot of action compressed into short, thrilling downhills. They will be restored with your help. Own a piece of them.

The first of the new trails will be a grade 3, starting at the existing entrance at the intersection of Nursery and Tokorangi Pa Rd.

It will feature a shallow 100m climb in, followed by an open, flowing downhill - great for less experienced riders, still fun for the experts.

The second trail will be more challenging. It will start just up Tokorangi Pa, at the old Rat/NDO trail entrance.

There was a reason for that name. "It was a very humid summer when we built it and Exit," says Rick Todd. "A big rat was found dead by a tree near the trail and it just decomposed over about two weeks and disappeared."

-Entries are open for the Nzo|Ride Central Nduro Winter Series.