Mt Victoria: Te Tuarā o Matairangi Sections 1 & 2

Section 2 of Te Tuarā o Matairangi opened in mid-February just as I was getting out of Moonboot Jail. This is my first time back on the mountain bike in almost four months!
I've always been a bit intimidated about riding the Mt Victoria trails (and I still am!) but having this Grade 3 option (and with a couple of others there too which I haven't ridden yet) it's starting to look like somewhere I can ride more often, which I'm pretty excited about!

[@thesingletracksurfer]

So awesome to see you back on the bike 😎. The new bit looks pretty cool aye

[@trailbogan]

It's heaps of fun - not the sort of rooty-technical-grade-5 fun that you normally associate with Mt Vic but definitely more my level of fun! 🙂

[@TheButlerNZ]

I REALLY need to get on my bike and give it a whirl... (but the shock has a click and I have used that as an excuse not to ride... That and taking up throwing plastic at trees...
I find some track building decisions quite odd sometimes...
Putting the track back out beside the vehicle traffic (2:28) when they could have juggled the walking track it crosses a little and had the MTB track stay OUTSIDE the fence away from vehicles Especially when they made this a G3... which implies they want low skilled riders to be able to use it (Kids etc)... so why then make a section unsafe (entering the particular section with your back to the traffic, and as a car driver I personally have cut that corner before it was a bike share... and even closer when I rode motor bikes).
Then there's the flow killer at 3:44 that they could have just avoided by going slightly to the left instead of the climb (Like the stupid climb on the Rollercoaster at Pol Hill that almost everyone stops before and rides back to the top.. all for a right hand sweeper round and back, there's a whole section of track that most riders avoid (... well that and the deadly abrupt end after it).

[@trailbogan]

It was definitely a bit odd popping out and having to ride along the side of the road before popping back into the second section, I wonder if maybe when all three are done they might do a bit more work to join them up properly?

[@TheButlerNZ]

@@trailbogan It will be interesting to hear all the yelling and screaming some locals complained would be a constant annoyance if the track went ahead.
I always thought those complaints were a little odd as generally you hear nothing from 95% of the riders on any track I have ever been on... and most of that other 5% is having to listen to me babbling on from my bike.