MTB: Time to mount up for the Gloworm

IT'S BACK: 24 Hours of NDURO will test the mind and body.PHOTO/FILE

As the weather finally turns autumnal and the days shorten up, it is time to get out the lights for some night riding.

A real test for mountain bikers involves a lot of night riding: the Gloworm Lights 24 Hours of NDURO on April 25 and 26.

Nduro has been running events in the Whakarewarewa Forest for over 10 years. In 2014, it's under new management with Tim and Belinda Farmer taking over the business earlier this year.

Tim is an experienced 24-hour solo rider himself so he has insight into what it all means. "The 24 solo rider's main aim is to test the endurance of their mind and body," he says. "And for the team riders, it's all about fun - with a competitive edge - on a 12.5 kilometre course of single track with some gravel road sections mixed in."

The race is the WEMBO (World Endurance Mountain Bike Organization) New Zealand 24-hour solo championships. The top four solo riders get automatic entry into the 2014 World Championships at Fort William in Scotland, in October.

For Belinda and Tim, the focus of their first year in event management is the mountain bike community in Rotorua and all round New Zealand.

The Nduro Sustainable Trails programme will donate funds from each event to the Rotorua Mountain Bike Club to support trail building and maintenance. As event organisers, they already pay fees to forest management to use the trails and the donations will be on top of those.

"We've also set up the Nduro Dream Foundation," says Tim. "A percentage of our profits will go to help the people that enter our events chase their sporting dreams at home or abroad. If they are heading to the world champs or raising funds for a charity, Nduro will be along for the ride to make that dream come true."

There's a lot of hard work running any events, but a lot of satisfaction, too.

"In the build up to the events, you hear and see people training to achieve their goals," Tim continues.

"Then on race day there is something very special about being part of their triumph as they finish."

More information and online entry for the 24 Hours of Nduro: www.nduro24.co.nz

Hot X Buns - there's a story behind that trail name. Back in the early 2000s a group of local mountain bikers were in Zippy Central enjoying a coffee and wondering what to do on a drizzly Easter Good Friday. Instead of riding, a couple of carloads headed into the forest to start the build of a new trail at the top of Direct Road.

Annika and Rob Smail, Graeme Murray, Dean Watson, Carolyn Scherger, Rick Todd, Nigel Robinson were the team and we opened up the first section in half a day - the loop around the crown of the hill. Over the next 12 months, the rest of the trail was chipped out with spades, rakes and hoes, with a lot of help from Red McHale and the Department of Corrections crews and Claude Manihera who worked for the forest managers at the time.

Hot X Buns is rugged, challenging, ungroomed and not for everyone - which is why those who ride it regularly, love it.

Have a relaxing Easter break.