🌟🚵‍♂️ WHAKA WEEKLY 🚵‍♂️🌟

🌤️ Weather: Pretty wild rain and wind during the week... let's see what happens this weekend, but ya should get a couple of windows of sunshine to enjoy those trails!

🌱 Dirt: Soft and sweet! Avoid dragging your brakes to preserve those trail surfaces. Be tree-aware and report any finds with a wide-angle picture (so we can see the scope) and GPS location (Trailforks screenshot works perfectly). 🌳

🙌 THANK YOU LEGENDS!

Starting off with a MASSIVE thank you to our absolute heroes:

-1,770 Rotorua Trails Trust Members contributing $35,400 to forest maintenance and development (absolute legends!)

-226 generous souls who've made direct donations through www.rotoruatrailstrust.co.nz (our slick 3-click donation portal) contributing $17,310 to the forest.

That's $52,710 so far this year! 🎉 EPIC!!

Now we just need to get the other 398,004 forest users to kick in a few bucks and all our dreams will come true! If you know one of 'em, give 'em a nudge, eh!

🛤️ TRAIL REPORTS

Corners

Sitting over there in a forgotten corner of the forest, feeling all lonely... still getting love from the trail adopter, but it misses you! Please go ride Corners - it needs some wheel love!

Te Poaka

The complete opposite! OMG, I've never seen so many people ride this trail! We measured it back in summer and more than 2,000 riders a day were hitting it. Crazy, huh! Massive thank you to the Rotorua Rinkly Riders for looking after this awesome trail that we all love so much. You legends are keeping the magic alive! ✨

⚠️ TRAIL SAFETY SPOTLIGHT⚠️

Te Poaka and Hot x Buns Exit Awareness

Quick safety reminder! When exiting a trail like Te Poaka, don't wait for your mates at the exit.

Exit speeds can be extremely fast, so move well away and check your surroundings - make sure you're not standing in the exit of a different trail (like Te Poaka's speedy neighbor, Hot x Buns).

If you see someone loitering in an unsafe spot, give them a friendly heads up. No need to yell - we all get brain fog after riding and do silly things! They'd rather be informed than be the cause of a crash.

🔧 COMMUNITY HEROES IN ACTION

Tarawera Returns

Drains got re-dug by a volunteer who saw a need and pitched in to do the mahi. Chur! 💪

Mudpool Road

Another volunteer legend found a tree they could clear without a chainsaw, so they stopped their run to tidy it up and give back to the forest that gives us so much. We should all be more like this. One Team, One Dream!

Trees Down Reporters- You Absolute Legends!

The quality of tree-down reports has really stepped up! The majority now come with a picture AND GPS location, which means we can log them into our trail management system immediately and assign a crew ASAP.

Shout out to everyone who's reported trees over the last month - 38 trees cleared in just 4 weeks! Epic work!

How to report:

🍴 Trailforks reports are best (volunteers can see them and respond quickly)

📧 info@rotoruatrailstrust.co.nz

📘 Facebook messages work perfectly too

🌟 SPOTLIGHT: DIVINE WIND TRAIL ADOPTERS

Amazing mahi worthy of highlighting in greater detail!

Rotorua has incredible gold dirt - perfect for digging and riding. But trails become victims of their own awesomeness! The more traffic, the more wear and tear. That's part of the game.

You can complain about it, or you can step up and put in the mahi (and it is serious mahi!) and be part of the solution.

Recently we've had incredibly talented riders step up to look after Divine Wind, Yeet Street, Heckle and Ride... We owe you such a debt of gratitude.

Looking after trails is tough work. You get everything mint, then it disappears after a storm and heavy traffic, and you start again. But you legends get back out there, do it all over again and again, because that's who you are.

Without all the legends throughout our community who step up, we wouldn't have such amazing trails. Everything would be worn out and knackered, and we'd be begging for "new" trails. Let's focus on looking after what we have.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! 🙏

🛠️ GET INVOLVED!

Wanna join the legend crew?

📧 Email: comms@rotoruatrailstrust.co.nz or come along to...

THE FIRST SUNDAY WORKING BEE 🐝

When: 8:45am-12pm, Sunday 8th June

Where: Meet at Planet Bike

What: We're heading up to Te Mounga, Happy Ending!

The mission: Vegetation cutting, erosion control, fixing slipping lines, and clearing sight lines. Basically the full trail resto work to get it running mean as for winter!

Bring:

- Close-toe shoes

- Clothing for all weather

- Snacks and water

- Trail tool and/or silky-style hand saw if you have one (no blades)

We provide: Shovels, rakes, and high-vis

Bonus: Coffee and cake at Planet Bike afterwards! ☕🍰

🏁 DUAL SLALOM UPDATE

More epic work from the trail adopter! The Dual Slalom is looking AMAZING! So amazing that people are riding it backwards... which is super dangerous!

Please don't do this - it's not an uphill trail! (hence the "No Entry" signs)

Also, friendly reminder:

RTT recieved a number of reports of e-motorbikes in Dodzys and the Dual Slalom and throughout the forest over the long weekend. Here is a reminder:

-THROTTLE POWERED VEHICLES ARE NOT PERMITTED IN THE WHAKA FOREST -

This includes but is not limited to electric motorbikes, motorbikes, ebikes with throttles, electric scooters, electric skateboards, single wheel "hover boards" or Segway's.

The only exception are mobility enablers like wheelchairs.

This is the law.

If you encounter a motorbike or ATV in Whakarewarewa Forest:

Commercial Forestry area:

-Report to FIRST Security: 0800 347 787 (handles trespass violations and forest security)

-If immediate safety concern or feeling threatened: Call Police 111

Roadside Reserve (Dual Slalom, Tank to Town, Mokopuna area)

- If immediate safety concern or feeling threatened: Call Police 111

- Non-emergency: Call 105 or log online at police.govt.nz/use-105 (after it's happened, video helps)

Rotorua Trails Trust pass on reports to RLC but are not empowered to enforce any laws or bylaws.

💫 SPREAD THE LOVE

We just need to get the other 398,004 forest users to kick in a few bucks and all our dreams of new trails, rebuilt trails and mint condition trails will come true!

Donate in 3 clicks: 👉 www.rotoruatrailstrust.co.nz 👈

Already donated? You're a legend. 🙌🌲

Keep riding, keep smiling, and keep being awesome! 🚵‍♂️💚