Rotorua Redwoods trails voted Kiwis' cycling heaven - again

The Redwood Forest draws thousands of visitors every year.

Rotorua's Redwoods mountain-bike trail network through Whakarewarewa Forest has been voted New Zealand's cycling heaven for a second year running.

The Bike Wise organisation has named the 145km network "New Zealand's Favourite Place to Cycle" as well as the best venue for off-road or adventure rides, after counting almost 7000 online votes which closed at the weekend. More than 200,000 people head to the 5600ha forest each year with their bikes, amid compounding annual visitor growth of 15 per cent, says Destination Rotorua.

Central Otago's pioneering rail trail - now in its 15th year - beat off newer contenders as the favourite leg of Nga Haerenga-NZ Cycle Trail.

Cyclists appear to prefer to leave city traffic behind for their favourite road rides as well, giving Taupo a big thumbs-up.

The central North Island town hosted the winner of two other categories in the Bike Wise run-off. Its lakefront trails were voted favourite "urban trail or commute" and the town and its surrounds offered the top "on-road ride".

Although Wellington's bays were ranked sixth overall among 20 rides across the four categories, Auckland's bays just scraped in at 19th.

The Bike Wise contest, in which 6823 votes were cast, coincides with findings from a Health Research Council-sponsored study which said living in urban areas or in the Auckland region and being over 35 were among road injury crash-risk factors for cyclists.

Auckland University researcher Sandar Tin Tin has also found from a study of 2590 cyclists in the 2006 Taupo Cycle Challenge - of whom 35.5 per cent lived in Auckland - that "bunch" cycling may be linked with a higher crash risk.

That is despite a general "safety in numbers" effect suggesting if more people cycle pedallers will be safer.

The study found an average rate of 116 crashes per 1000 participants each year which come to the attention of medics or police, of which 66 occur on roads and 10 involve collisions with motor vehicles.

That is a similar rate to those found in Australia and the United States, but far higher than for European countries.

Overall placing (across four categories)
1. Redwoods, Rotorua
2. Taupo lake-front trails
3. Otago Rail Trail
4. Great Lake Trail, Taupo
5. Taupo and Surrounds
6. Wellington Bays
7. New Plymouth Coastal Walkway
8. Nelson urban trails
9. Hawkes Bay Trails
10. Wanaka lake and river tracks
11. Port Hills, Christchurch
12. Makara Mountain Bike Park, Wellington
13. Hauraki Rail Trail
14. Taupo trails, including Huka Falls and Aratiatia
15. Queen Charlotte Drive, Marlborough
16. Napier
17. Tasman's Great Taste Trail
18. Craters Mountain Bike Park, Taupo
19. Auckland City Bays
20. Hastings