Outdoor Equipment: Merida Big Nine 20 MTB

 My current mountain bike...Merida Big Nine 20

Some of the trail sections along the Christchurch 360 are best covered on a bike rather than on foot. In particular the tracks from Brooklands Lagoon along the banks of the Waimakariri River would take an enormous amount of time and effort to walk. The same distance can easily be covered on a MTB in a mater of hours.... 

End of the Brooklands section of the 360 Trail

I have only one section of the 360 Trail left to cover between Taylors Mistake and Scarborough. However it is my intention to eventually cover all of the sections of the Christchurch 360 Trail again as I took no films or photos the last time I covered this ground. 

Getting back on a bike after 20 years...

Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's (before I got married) I was an avid MTB rider. I liked downhill riding, forest and flat trail riding and used to cover between 60-120 kilometers every week on my bike. As with most people jobs, houses, family and lack of time meant I hardly got out anymore and I did very little cycling through most of the 2000's. 

I did a lot of riding on the Port Hills in the 1990's

After the Covid lockdowns back in 2020 and 2021 I decided to buy myself a new mountain bike. My previous bike although good in its time was nearly 30 years old and not fit for purpose anymore. I was very envious of all the people cycling around so decided to invest some money in getting back on two wheels.

Riding up Kennedys Bush Track in the early 2000's

 My new MTB is a Merida Big Nine 20.......

The Merida Big Nine 20:

I had a good look around and decided to buy a Merida bike as it best fit my requirements without a heinous price tag attached to it. The model I choose was the Big Nine 20. It is good for road and off trail riding, has decent downhill brakes, a front suspension unit (and hard tail) and quality components. 

Here is some technical information about this Mountain Bike;

Technical specifications of the Merida Nine 20

It is interesting how far cycle technology has advanced since the 1990's. Back then things like disc brakes, aluminum frames and suspension units were in their infancy and very, very expensive. You had to fit them as aftermarket parts and they were hard to get here in New Zealand. A bike with the same specifications as this back in the 1990s would have cost $3000-$5000 dollars. 

Disc brakes as fitted to my Merida bike

Another feature of this bike is the 29" wheels...back in the 1990's only outlandish folk used wheels of this size but now it is commonplace. They take a bit more effort to get rolling but once you do they seem quicker and easier to pedal. 

The Merida Nine 20 in action:

I have used the bike to cover a couple of track sections so far and I have plans to use it on some of the cycle trails which have now appeared around the country. I used to be a mad keen cyclist and would like to get back into the pursuit if not with the same intensity I had for MTB riding in the 1990's. 

360 Trail logo at Canterbury Park

Here are some shots of the new bike in action...ha...there are no shots yet but I'll ad some soon!!!

Hanmer Heritage Forest: Easy Rider MTB track, 27 February 2021

 A weekend camping at Hanmer Springs....

Karen and I set off on Friday morning for a weekend of camping and tramping up at Nelson Lakes National Park. Karen has yet to sample its many splendors so we were going to base camp at Kerr Bay and explore the area. Sounds like an excellent idea doesn't it...unfortunately we never made it there.

A busy Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park....

There are road repairs underway between Lewis Pass and Maruria Springs (there always are...) and a large stone was thrown up by a passing truck into my windscreen. It looked at first like we were going to be ok but a crack started to expand across the windscreen. Bugger......

We stopped at Springs Junction to check it and decided that we had to turn back for Christchurch as it looked like the whole windscreen was going to crack. I could actually see it expanding as I watched. I taped up the window as best I could and we started back over the Lewis Pass once again... 

That window be buggered.....

It looked like our weekend was over but as we drove the crack stopped growing so I suggested to Karen that we just bail on Kerr Bay and stop for a couple of nights in Hanmer instead. So that is where we headed...

The Coleman Coastline 3P tent set up for our stay...

Late afternoon sun at Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park

There are two camp grounds at Hanmer and we got an excellent spot for two nights at the Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park on the edge of the township. The park was busy but as it was early on a Friday they still had some spots for the weekend. We set up camp on our allotted area and proceeded to relax for the rest of the afternoon. The Holiday Park is awesome and has a great level of amenity so it was actually better from a camping stance than the more basic campsite at Kerr Bay. 

Our car camping brew/cooking kit....

We had a nice couple of days in Hanmer...we didn't have our togs with us so no visit to the pools but we did go for a couple of walks in the forest and we went down to the village and had a walk around the shops. It was lovely and peaceful if not the action packed weekend we had planned for....

Delicious smoked chicken dinner wraps....yum!!!

One thing we did do was hire a couple of MTB's from the camp ground we were staying at and we went for a ride through the forest on the Easy Rider Track. This is the easiest of the various MTB tracks around the Hanmer Heritage Forest and is a combination of single track and forestry roads. 

All meals enjoyed with a refreshing beverage of course...

So...lets have a look at the Easy Rider track through Hanmer Forest.....

On the Easy Rider MTB Track: Hanmer Heritage Forest:

There are several places to hire MTB's in Hanmer most of them are located down in the center of town...all of them are freaking expensive with E-bike hire at $100 for two hours and MTB hire of $40-$50 per hour.

Hanmer Adventure Centre are one of the MTB hire companies...

 At Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park  the cost to hire a bike was $25 NZD for four hours (plenty of time for a ride in the woods) or $35 for the full day. They had a mix of Merida, Mongoose and Avanti bikes...we had a couple of Mongoose cyclocross bikes. For those not in the know a cyclocross bike looks like an MTB but has limited gearing...in this case one forward cog and 12 back cogs for a total of 12 possible gears. 

Hire bikes at Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park

The Easy Riders Track has several entrance points from Jollies Pass Road, Fowlers Lane and Bath Street. We started from Dog Stream Reserve right next to the holiday park and rode the full circuit in an anti clockwise direction. 

Hanmer Heritage Forest brochure side one...

Hanmer Heritage Forest brochure side two...

Anti clockwise is the standard direction to ride the Easy Rider Track as set out on the Hanmer Heritage Forest track brochure. If you decide to ride the track in the other direction be extremely careful as you are likely to run into other bike riders...

Dog Stream access point for Hanmer Heritage Forest

The track through the Hanmer Forest is a mixture of dedicated single track and forestry roads and several of the sections are joint MTB/walking tracks. The general state of the track was excellent with good signage right along the track pointing you in the correct direction. 

Hanmer Heritage Forest: near the start of the Easy Rider Track

Easy Rider Track weaves through the trees, Hanmer Heritage Forest

The Easy Rider Track is well maintained

One of the trail forks on the Easy Rider Track, Hanmer Forest

It is much more difficult to take regular photos of the track when riding a bike...it takes some effort to stop, take out your camera and take the pictures. I still managed a few decent shots regardless...I really need to get myself a GoPro or similar....

Series of humps along Easy Rider Track, Hanmer Heritage Forest

Approaching one of the forestry roads, Hanmer Heritage Forest

We cycled roughly halfway around the course of the track before stopping for a break at the junction of the Easy Rider and Forest Walk Tracks. We had a drink and did some minor adjustments to the seats on the bikes which kept moving around. 

Forest Walk/Easy Rider track junction, Hanmer Heritage Forest

This was not so easy without tools...back in the day I carried a small tool kit so I think I need to make one and stash it in the car in case we ever do this kind of trip again. One 10/12mm spanner, a set of Allen keys, a chain breaker and a adjustable ratchet screwdriver would be enough for 90% of maintenance jobs...

The Mongoose MTB's we hired for the afternoon

Forest Walk to left....Easy Rider Track to right...

The hire bikes had 29 inch tires on them...

Heading to Fowlers Lane on the Easy Rider Track

The track took us down to the Jollies Pass Road and Fowlers Lane road junction from where we rode along the inside of the fence on one of the joint use sections. It was damn hot even under the trees as it was a 30 degree day in Hanmer that day.

Mt Isobel from near Jollies Pass Road

All the longer Hanmer Heritage Forest tracks skirt Jollies Pass Road

We stopped down by the Pinus Nigra plot so I could point it out to Karen....we have walked many of the tracks in the Hanmer Heritage Forest but I forgot to show her the sign the last time we were here. From there it was down the track to the main Jollies Pass Road entrance in the forest opposite the carpark. 

The block of Pinus Nigra in Hanmer Heritage Forest

Approaching the carpark on Jollies Pass Road

The trust who administer this forest have re routed the start of all of the walking tracks at the Jollies Pass Road entrance...they have separated the walking tracks from the MTB tracks. This is a great idea as people were haring off down the walking tracks on bikes and ruining the track surface. Hopefully the new entrance will provide some separation for the different users of the track network.

Hanmer Heritage Forest: track map for the forest

The Easy Rider Track heads down to Dog Stream Track

The Easy Rider continues along the fenceline at the northern edge of the forest and then down to the Dog Stream Track at right angles to Jollies Pass Road. There is a lovely undulating single track alongside the Dog Stream right back to the Dog Stream Reserve and the back entrance to the Holliday Park off Bath Street. 

Easy Rider follows Dog Stream for part of the way

Willow trees alongside Dog Stream, Hanmer Heritage Forest

Picnic area at the start finish of our ride, Hanmer Heritage Forest

The whole ride took us about an hour with a ten minute break halfway around for a rest...not a massive ride by any standards but this was Karen's first ever off road bike ride and I didn't want to put her off future MTB riding. I am keen to do more MTB tracks...I brought myself a new Merida mountain bike after the Covid lockdown in 2020 so you will see more of these type of reports on the site. 

Back at Hanmer Top 10 Camp with the MTB's.....

The Easy Rider Track is a great introduction to the joys of riding around Hanmer...lovely track through mature forest with enough thrills to keep basic to intermediate riders happy. 

My MTB near the Forest Walk track junction

This was not the trip we had planned but still good fun...Hanmer really is a wonderful place to spend some time. We managed to rescue a portion of our trip despite adverse circumstances in the best tradition of improvising, adapting and over coming...

Cheers!!!

BTW: I am working on my Paparoa Great Walk trip reports...I took over 400 photos on the trip so I am in the process of selecting the ones I want to use for the post. This is my penultimate Great Walk...I have only the Kepler Track to walk in late March and then I will have completed the full set. 

It was a bit moist on the Paparoa Great Walk Track...

Keep an eye out for more details...

Access: Hanmer Springs is 135 kilometers north of Christchurch on SH 7 the Lewis Pass Highway. From Hanmer Top 10 Holiday Park we headed to the picnic area off Bath Street. The Easy Rider Track starts on the eastern edge of Dog Stream Reserve. Alternately start the track from the main Jollies Pass Road entrance. 

Track Times: Easy Rider MTB Track is 1 to 1.5 hours total (6.2 kilometers)

Miscellaneous: Toilets, water and map board located at the old Ranger Station/Park Headquarters car park on Jollies Pass Road. If on a cycle please stick to MTB tracks or Forestry Roads only. Watch for pedestrians at all times!!! No toilet facilities in the forest itself. Stay on the marked tracks as people have become lost in this forest in the past.