46KM MOUNTAIN BIKE / E-BIKE
DUE TO A MAJOR SLIP ON THE 42 TRAVERSE, THERE IS A BYPASS IN PLACE FOR WALKERS AND RIDERS. Details of the bypass can be found HERE.
Based around the 42 Traverse track, known to many mountain bikers as one of the best single day mountain bike trails in the country. The mountain bike event will start on excellent gravel tracks, a fast farm section, and a scenic private road on a private farm before hitting the 42 Traverse track. (Big thanks to the very generous Taurewa Station farmers for providing us with a great start section to get you to the 42 Traverse track!)
The 42 Traverse is a historic logging road – undulating (but more down than up!) with a few technical bits and a handful of short river crossings. In summary… it’s awesome! The event this year will use the bypass to get around the slip this year and all riders will be required to dismount and walk/run their bikes through the bypass (more info about this below). The event will finish in the Owhango Domain, where there will be all sorts of good stuff going on.
Vertical Meter Gain: 880m
Start Time: 9:00am
Start Location: Taurewa Station, Whakapapa Intake Road off State Highway 47
Cut Off / Maximum Event Time: 6.5 hours
Aid Stations: You will pass 6 aid stations on the 46km Mountain Bike course. Please remember your own cup/bottle/hydration pack as there will be no disposable cups provided at drink stations.
Aid stations will be located at the following approximate distances; 14km, 23km, 27km, 33km, 38km, 43km
Water
Electrolyte Drink
Bananas
Sweets (likely to be jet planes!)
Vaseline
A basic first aid kit
The Top Track aid station at the 27km mark will have equipment to clean the mud out of your cleats if necessary
Compulsory Gear: All 46km MTB participants are required to carry compulsory gear items.
Detour: The 2024 edition of the T42 MTB (and Marathon) will have to use the ‘detour track’ to avoid a very large slip which took out a section of the 42nd traverse track around a year ago. We have had a number of good reccys and a good think about it and we absolutely still think the positives of this amazing event/course massively outweigh the negative - which is this section - there’s no sugar coating it, it’s a bit of a dog! (But hopefully an ever so slightly loveable one…. Like a new puppy who chews everything, never listens and pisses everywhere, but then at the end of the day… still gets ya with those eyes….)
This track is not at all like the rest of the course, it is a narrow clay track cut through the bush, rather than the wide gravel road which the rest of the course follows. It is very steep (200 meters vert over the 1.6km), rutted from the quad bikes and will get slippery - DOC states bikers must dismount their bike for this section (not that it is rideable anyway). Expect it to take you 25-45mins to push your bike through this section and expect it to be tough!
After the massive disappointment of having to cancel last years MTB event, because of the slip, we are super stoked to be able to bring it back this year. Bring on the 2024 “Adventure Edition” of the T42 MTB!
