Opinion: Building a biking mecca all good

Tak Mutu, left, and Rotorua Lakes Council sports and recreation manager Rob Pitkethley at the Waipa mountainbike carpark. Photo/Ben Fraser

I WASN'T here back in the day mountain biking was in its infancy in Rotorua so certainly can't claim to know its history.

But I imagine the Waipa carpark at the entrance to Whakarewarewa Forest will have long been a meeting point for those in the know. As more and more trails have been built and developed to a high standard, word has got out around the world.

Rotorua has become the place to go mountain biking.

While the forest is by no means the only place to ride a bike and nor is Waipa the only entry point to the forest, the carpark at Waipa has developed into the main base for the activity. With hundreds of thousands of people per year passing through the gravel carpark and on into the forest, the facilities will have to move with the times.

The possibilities for the area are endless-which landowner Red Stag Investments acknowledges with its goal to eventually turn Waipa Valley into a tourism precinct.

For riders spending all day on the tracks, a cafe would be well utilised for lunch, while a bar would be perfect for catching up with a beer at the end of a day's riding and waiting for the stragglers in your group to head in and join you.

Prefer something a little more relaxing while your partner or friends go riding? That's where the spa could come in. As for retail and bike services- well, there's a captive market of thousands right there.

We last reported on proposals for development of the site back in 2013, so it is good to see these plans now seem close to coming to fruition- with the boutique spa a welcome addition to what was originally proposed.

The more complete experience our visitors have when they come here, the more our reputation as a world-class mountain biking mecca will grow.

The time frame Red Stag Investments has given for completion of the project appears ambitious-it hopes to have the spa complex built and operational in less than eight months.

But, where there'sa will there's a way, so we will watch progress with interest.

Whether it happens by Christmas, or whether it takes a little longer, the development can
only be good news for Rotorua.