Safety advice for off-road trails

Ride within your ability

  • The New Zealand Cycle Trail grading system will help you chose a ride that is suitable for your level of fitness and skills. Choose carefully to ensure you have an enjoyable and safe ride.
  • A number of the cycle trails under Nga Haerenga, The New Zealand Cycle Trail are still under construction. If a sign says that a trail or section of trail is closed, please ensure that you obey the sign and do not proceed beyond that point.

Don’t ride alone

  • Always ride with someone else – a friend or a guide. Let someone know where you’re going and when you’ll be back.

  • Use sign-in entry and exit books at trail heads if they are available, as well as hut books along the trail. Write down your name, the date, time, and your intended riding route.

Keep track of where you are

  • During your ride, take note of where you are. Remember the names of huts and signposts that you pass, so that it is easy to describe your location in an emergency. Some riders buy or hire Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) for traveling into remote areas. By pushing a button these immediately tell Search and Rescue where you are. A GPS is also helpful and these are now on some phones.

Weather reports

  • Check an up-to-date weather report before heading away for a long ride. The two websites most commonly used in New Zealand are:

      www.metservice.co.nz/forecasts/
      www.metvuw.co.nz/forecast/

  • In wet and windy weather, a trail will probably be a grade or two harder to ride. Also, rescue helicopters cannot fly in bad weather, so if you crash, you will not be rescued quickly.

Taking Risks

  • Cycling off-road, especially on grade 2-6 trails, is full of challenges and risks. Consider the consequences of those risks before taking them. If a section of trail looks difficult, and the consequences of crashing are obviously serious, then it is best to play it safe and slow down, or even walk your bike. Due to occasional storm damage causing slips/washout/tree fall on remote tracks, it is not uncommon for there to be short unrideable sections on many remote tracks in New Zealand.

What to take? -  Be prepared for an emergency

  • If your bike breaks down many kilometres from help, or you have a crash, you need to be prepared. Take a small survival kit (including an emergency blanket, torch and extra food). A small torch can be a life saver. Apart from being useful if you get caught out after dark, they greatly assist emergency services that use night vision goggles, even during the day, to find people lost in forest /back country areas.
  • The duration of a "rescue" can vary dramatically from minutes to hours and occasionally days. Take a spare warm top, and a rain coat. Lycra shorts and a cotton t-shirt will offer no warmth in cold and wet conditions.
  • Tool kit: At the very least, be prepared for a flat tyre and some loose bolts. A small multi-tool, a spare tube, a bike pump and tyre levers are bound to save you a long walk home, sooner or later. For longer rides, also take a chain breaker, a spoke tool and a puncture repair kit can be useful.

First aid

  • Cycling to accidents can happen, so it pays to take a first aid kit. Also consider doing a first aid course and regular refresher courses if you are a regular rider. Some First Aid providers have courses that are specifically designed for mountain bikers.

Food and drink

  • Drink early and often. Once you start to feel thirsty, your energy levels are already dropping. The best drinks during prolonged exercise are water, diluted fruit juice and sports drinks.On any ride over two-hours long, take something to eat. Favourite cycling foods include muesli bars, chocolate and bananas.

Maps

  • Don’t go into remote parts of New Zealand without a good map, such as a 1:50,000 scale topomap. A compass or GPS may also be useful.

  • Be aware that a completely new 1:50,000 topomap series came out in 2009. The NZTopo 50 series supercedes the old NZMS 260 series and are now used by Search and Rescue throughout New Zealand. Click here for further information on the Land Information New Zealand website.

Mobile phones

  • Although mobile phone reception is unreliable in most of the New Zealand backcountry areas (especially valleys), it’s still worth taking a mobile phone. Make sure it’s fully charged. To contact Search and Rescue in an emergency, dial 111 and ask for Police.