Catching the Biking Bug /
New mountain bike trails will have you jumping on your bike in Akaroa
Passionate about Akaroa becoming a favoured biking destination, Hamish Frew has extended the use of his private tracks to establish Akatrax Mountain Bike Trails, a labyrinth of single tracks with spectacular views and challenging jumps not for the faint-hearted!
DESCENDING INTO AKAROA, THE DEEP SOUL OF an ancient volcano and home to a tapestry rich in culture, history and geography, most eyes are drawn to the harbour, an everchanging sea of moody grey and cerulean blue … unless you’re Hamish Frew, and then you look to the hills!
A bach-owner and regular holiday-maker to Akaroa since 2016, the lure of a farm on the peninsula had been playing on Hamish’s mind for some time. When land on the outskirts of town came up for sale, it was an opportunity not to be missed, especially given its potential for mountain biking.
Three years on from the purchase of the Lighthouse Road property, the land is still farmed, but Hamish has dedicated a substantial acreage to a labyrinth of mountain bike single tracks and native bush regeneration. In a staggeringly gracious gesture, he has also formed a club, Akatrax Mountain Bike Trails, extending the use of his private tracks to the mountain biking public.
Hamish’s foray into the world of mountain biking began in 2013 when he ‘got fit’ on a cross-country bike and competed in the iconic Motatapu off-road mountain bike race, a gruelling 47 km ride through spectacular Southern high country that incorporates 1,214 m of climbing. However, a couple of trips to Whistler, Canada, saw Hamish change his mind about slogging his way uphill on a bike, deciding ‘gravity-based stuff is the way to go!’
On tour with a bunch of mates, collectively called the Land and Drainage Symposium (LADS), Hamish affirms the mountain biking culture in Whistler ‘was unreal. It was always good clean fun and everything ended up in a town.’ Combining biking, holidaying, coffee and the LADS, Hamish has not only seen the evolution of the Whistler mountain bike tracks, but also the opportunity that goes with them – the lifts, the bike mechanics, the bike hire and all the businesses that service a mountain biking destination.
While Hamish isn’t about to give up his other life, Frew’s Contracting, he is optimistic that Akaroa could also become a favoured biking destination, especially if the Christchurch City Council develop the shared biking and walking tracks that crown the hills high above Akaroa in the Misty Peaks Reserve, creating a ‘sensational run with 700–800 metres of drop’ if linked to Hamish’s tracks. It’s something he’s passionate about and something he believes ‘people will come to the township for. It would be a major drawcard for domestic tourism.’
While various groups, as well as Hamish, are lobbying the Christchurch City Council to develop and act as custodians of the proposed public mountain bike tracks in the Misty Peaks Reserve, Hamish’s private tracks are a constant and growing source of amazement and high-adrenalin fun! Starting with ‘Cruiseliner’, an intermediate-level track adjacent to Onuku Road, the majority of tracks have been designed and built by renowned mountain bike track builder Cam Bisset. Responsible for tracks such as those at Mt Hutt and the Porter Heights flow tracks, Cam is a mountain biker and professional track builder who ‘knows what works’ and Hamish enthuses he ‘found features I didn’t even know were
here, like the rock roll’, a gnarly vertical section for expert riders only.
So far, there are 12 named trails, all on the mountain biking trail database system, ‘Trailforks’. While the trails are expertly designed, ranging in grade from intermediate to advanced, Hamish is at pains to explain, ‘Nothing is really easy. It’s not a beginner’s playground. There isn’t an easy part.’ A jump track that’s over 500 m in length summarises this sentiment. Featuring two step-downs, two step-ups, one hip, two roller doubles and seven tables, all with an average length of five metres and with lips two metres high, this track isn’t for the faint-hearted, the risk-adverse or the inexperienced!
However, while a certain level of experience and ability is essential, Hamish loves to share his tracks with people, enthusing he has three types of riders: there are the older folk who ride uphill for hours; the kids who’ve convinced their parents to shuttle them up the hill in the car; and the 30- to 40-year-olds who’ve embraced technology and ride laps on their e-bikes. Laughingly, Hamish admits he falls into the latter bracket, unapologetically delighted to take the brutal sting out of the uphill ride on his specialised Kenevo downhill e-bike and giving himself the ability to self-shuttle. Ruefully, Hamish chuckles at the irony that while his family love spending time on the farm, his wife Sandy, sons Louis (17) and Wyatt (12) and daughter Eliza (15) haven’t caught his biking bug.
Opening the tracks beyond his family and to the public has been one beset with complexities. However, solutionsbased Hamish has implemented control processes that manage expectations and the use of the site and the farm.
The club, Akatrax Mountain Bike Trails, is a non-commercial entity that provides an effective form of communication with a rapidly growing membership, as well as means of controlling access to the tracks. Riders must have membership (annual or short-term), while walkers and runners are encouraged to use the public walkways developed in Children’s Bay, not Akatrax.
Hamish has dedicated a substantial acreage to a labyrinth of mountain bike single tracks and native bush regeneration.
Hamish’s enthusiasm and exuberance for the sport and the friendships he has made through mountain biking is compelling.
As Hamish points out, ‘When you have runners going uphill and bikers going downhill you have a clash of speeds.’ The potential for serious injury is amplified.
Right now, Hamish is loving the speed and the thrill of riding a combination of the intermediate trails ‘Mid Life Crisis’ and ‘Party Line’, as well as the unpredictable inventiveness of naming the tracks, often with a joke affixed and usually with a double entendre. A new technical double black pro line has recently been added to the mix. Still unnamed, Hamish beams as he eagerly describes the track as ‘steep and nasty with mandatory gap jumps’. Animated by the new addition, he effuses it’ll be a line for experienced technical riders. Hamish also has plans to develop a climbing track, one that will turn the tracks into a loop and provide a comfortably rideable uphill gradient, allowing bikers to shuttle up under their own steam.
The whole purpose of these tracks is for Hamish to have fun. Measured and calculated when discussing safety and logistics, he lights up when he’s on a bike or talking about biking. His enthusiasm and exuberance for the sport and the friendships he has made through mountain biking is compelling. The sheer volume of volunteers who arrive on the steep hills for a track working bee, armed with shovels, picks and rakes and willing to support Hamish and his tracks under the beating sun and 30-degree heat, is testament to Hamish’s positive commitment to sharing this incredible resource he has created.
Already a destination town packed with seaside fun, Hamish has added the landlubbers’ version of entertainment to Akaroa – adrenalin-packed fun without getting wet!