The Timber Trail, New Zealand's best mountain bike riding secret

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live." Mark Twain.

The Kiwi bike hire bloke dropping me off deep into wilderness here in the dead heart of New Zealand's North Island must be channelling his inner Mark Twain. I'm itching to start the Timber Trail, an 85-kilometre-long trail through some of the country's oldest forests, and the relics of its timber industry.

But he knows if I crash doing something stupid, it's likely to be him who comes and carries me out.

"This is a wilderness track," he warns. "You've got to look after yourselves out here, where you're going there are no towns, there's no phone coverage. If you want to be a stuntman, wait till the very end, then we can get you out of here."

The Timber Trail is New Zealand's best mountain bike riding secret, in a country full of them. Overseas visitors make up barely 5% of riders who've completed the trail. And when you visit out of the summer months (I'm here in the heart of a Kiwi winter) you practically have it all for yourself. Today, I actually do.

I'm in Pureora Forest Park, a 78,000 hectare wilderness an hour's drive west of Taupō, and an hour north of Mount Ruapehu. I'll be riding right through one of the most ecologically rich areas in the country, following mountain bike paths built a decade ago out of old logging roads and tramlines.

Pureora Forest was one of the last areas in the North Island to be harvested for its timber. In 1946, loggers moved in and removed large tracts of native forest. When the mills shut down - in 1978, Pureora Forest was the site of New Zealand's largest anti-logging protest - many of the towns of the region shut down with them. The construction of riding trails (and suspension bridges) brought in a new kind of industry, one built around people like me in padded pants and figure-hugging Lycra.

I take off downhill on single track through mist forest at the start of the trail, but the terrain changes completely as I labour uphill to a look-out a kilometre-above-sea-level with views over New Zealand's largest lake, Lake Taupō. This isn't a particularly difficult ride, most of it is classified grade two (easy).

But there are testing sections, especially for those who don't care for heights. There are eight suspension bridges to ride across in two days, three of them are more than 100 metres long. The tallest – and longest – of them is the Maramataha Bridge, New Zealand's longest rideable suspension bridge.

It's 53 metres high and 140 metres long and the faster you go on it, the less it swings. The Punia River flows far below, gurgling its way down rocky cascades. It's so pretty down there that I double back to watch the river weave its way through the thick wilderness below. Beyond the bridges, the forest gets wilder still, till I'm riding through tunnels cut from cliff faces where trams lugged loads of hardwood timber.

After 40 kilometres of riding I make it half-way and stay overnight in a lodge built in the middle of what was once a timber working town (Piro Piro). I'm served lamb stew after a steaming hot shower, then finish the night around an open wood fireplace, looking out at the stars beyond the windows.

The ride's an evolving mix of terrain – from fun, flowing single track gravel paths to easy, sealed roads.

At times, it has me spiralling down trails on the edge of mountains, before it tapers off to trouble-free flat riding through the remains of old timber communities, long since grown over by forest. The ride's broken cleanly in two, so I'm never really scrambling for breath.

And besides, a growing number of riders opt for e-bike rentals these days, me included. By the end of day two, I feel totally lost in the Kiwi wilds; when I see the bike hire shed near the finish line I'm tempted to turn around and do it all over again., in reverse.

Fly to Auckland, then rent a car (all major hire car companies operate out of Auckland International Airport), drive 250 kilometres south to Ongarue where your rental bike company will take you 45 minutes to the start of the ride at Pureora.

Timber Trail Shuttle & Bike Hire will supply your bike and take you to the start of the trail, they can also arrange all-inclusive accommodation packages. See

Stay half-way along the trail at Timber Trail Lodge; rooms from $390. See

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