BikeNZ creates three-day 'Odyssey'

The Whakatane, Rotorua and Taupo District Councils and New Zealand’s national cycling organisation BikeNZ have teamed up to create the “Odyssey”, a new three day recreational mountain bike tour.

The Odyssey will start in Whakatane, and include the Rotorua Lakes and hills and finish in Taupo between February 16-18 2007. The new three-day mountain bike event that will take riders from Whakatane to Taupo along some spectacular unseen tracks that will, like an odyssey, challenge participants to explore untouched territory.

The Whakatane-Taupo Odyssey will be both a race and “fun” ride. The 300 plus kilometers of mountain biking will be tackled over three days, with riders and crews planned to bed-down in two carefully selected water-side camp sites. The February 2007 ride will take in Matahina, the hills behind Kaweraua, and the Rotorua Lakes, before heading south to the Great Lake. The Odyssey will welcome both individuals and teams and there will be event mechanical support.

“There’s a massive area of awesome mountain biking and stunning scenery between Whakatane and Taupo,” said Nicola Burgess of the Whakatane District Council. “A lot of that riding is usually pretty inaccessible - the Odyssey will be the ideal way to discover it.”

Riding around many of the Rotorua lakes, and dozens of kilometers of bush trails will make the Odyssey an incredible outdoors experience, she said. “Of course, if you want to ignore the view and race full-on, you’ve got 300 kilometres to give it heaps!”