Hi, My friend and I are from Hamilton and will be heading to Nelson on the 27th for a weeks riding. We are keen riders who enjoy epic cross country day rides (preferably mostly single track, not on 4WD tracks / roads), technical (extreme) rides, jumps and structures, and for our days off shorter hoons - local tracks / trails ( 1-2 hrs)etc. We have never been before and would like some advice on the following (note: I will have my car):

- Must rides
- Longer Epic rides
- Any good purpose built parks / trails
- Where not to go in winter.......

Question: We will also be doing a ride between Picton and Nelson staying the night somewhere. We have been advised Wakamarina is one of the better rides and perhaps we should stay the night in Blenheim ........ Any better suggestions or reasons not to go there? We want the best ride for the time available.

Yeah the waka is a mint ride,a bit sketchy in the wet.Only ride it from blenheim to nelson way thou..cause then you can brew up at the trout pub at the end.
Peaking ridge is a sweet ride, it's off the back of fringe hill, about 4hrs.1hr to 2hrs of pedaling up fringe 4wd rd(only open in the weeknds,maybe not at all due to logging??) Then sweet native single track down to the maitai,then a ride out along gravel rd.
Codgers trails, real close to town, heaps of short tracks, that you can link up for hrs of fun!
Browning hut,which is up the aniseed valley,about 25mins from richmond,it's a super fun single track/walking track. About 3hrs of riding and sifting about!
Kill devil, it's just on the other side of takaka hill..it's a hell of a mission, can be a bit groovy in bad weather up on the tops....but the decent back down is wicked...call into the little revolution bike shop in takaka for full details on it.
Theres heaps more trails, and most bike shops should be able to point you the right way.

ask sam_hillz_the_man he's a pretty cool guy that lives in nelson. he's friendly and intelligent too. he gets around with some guy called physcho, who is 5ft tall and weighs 300lbs.

RIDER42 wrote:Yeah the waka is a mint ride,a bit sketchy in the wet.Only ride it from blenheim to nelson way thou..cause then you can brew up at the trout pub at the end.
Peaking ridge is a sweet ride, it's off the back of fringe hill, about 4hrs.1hr to 2hrs of pedaling up fringe 4wd rd(only open in the weeknds,maybe not at all due to logging??) Then sweet native single track down to the maitai,then a ride out along gravel rd.
Codgers trails, real close to town, heaps of short tracks, that you can link up for hrs of fun!
Browning hut,which is up the aniseed valley,about 25mins from richmond,it's a super fun single track/walking track. About 3hrs of riding and sifting about!
Kill devil, it's just on the other side of takaka hill..it's a hell of a mission, can be a bit groovy in bad weather up on the tops....but the decent back down is wicked...call into the little revolution bike shop in takaka for full details on it.
Theres heaps more trails, and most bike shops should be able to point you the right way.

Don't know if R&R and Supplejack are still open, in the Sharlands area. Supplejack is awesome.

The route the coppermine epic takes is meant to be a pretty sweet ride, I've only done Black Diamond Ridge and it was mind blowingly awesome

If you're doing Peaking Ridge or Coppermine-Boulder Valley route then take the [wide] singletrack to the top of Fringe rather than the gravel road. Much more fun. Heaps of info on these routes on the Nelson MTB Club site

Thanks you so much for the suggestions - keep em comin. I'll check out the Nelson MTB club website and try to make it all work. Any good bars / pubs to go out to at night, it will be during the week though Mon - fri

Sprig & Fern (either in Milton street or Hardy street) is a good mtb friendly bar offering a range of brews. Good to stop in for a post-ride cold one.

Thanks very much for your suggestions. We will collate the information and have a mean weeks riding, thanks to all involved. If there are any clubs rides during this period please let us know.

another vote for Peaking Ridge and Wakamarina...