Carl Larsen

Gender: Male

State/Province: Hawkes bay

Date of Birth: 17/07/1977

What type of riding do you do?:

Cross-country trail riding, with the occassional race every now & then.

I used to race intesively (XC) for approx 5 years between 2000-2005, including the National Series, which took me to various trails all over NZ & to some venues only open for racing.

Your Local Trails / Where do you ride?:

Being based in Hawkes Bay, my base is Pan Pac Eskdale Mountain Bike Park (where I have personally built over 20km of the 80+km available trails for mountain biking within the 356ha privately owned forest).

Down in Central Hawkes Bay I created another mountain bike park 2 years ago, with just over 10km of cross-country trails suitable for the beginner/family-intermediate rider - ideal for a rural farming community reasonably new to the sport, at Pukeora Hill MTB Park.

Couple times a year I also ride the Yeoman's track - the only legal MTB track on DoC land in the Hawkes Bay, located at the base of the Ruahine's in Central Hawkes Bay.

There's also Te Mata Peak on my back doorstep, but I haven't riden the shared walking/biking trails up there in many years.

All the places you have riden:

Too many to list (& I can't remember them all). I've riden a vast majority of XC trails between Invercargil in the south of NZ up to the Coromandel. (I havn't riden any trails up at Auckland or further north).

I've riden various XC trails within the following towns/cities/districts: Invercargil, Wanaka, Alexandra, Dunedin, Lawrence, Christchurch, Hokitika, Nelson, Blenhiem, Picton, Queen Charlotte Track, Wellington, Levin, Palmerston North, Wanganui, New Plymouth, National Park, Turangi, Gentle Annie, Masterton, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, Taupo, Rotorua, Tokoroa (the old venue, not the new one), Whirinaki Forest, Pureora Forest, Whakatane, Tauranga, Coromandel & Hunua Forest & can now add to the list the Otago Central Rail Trail.

I also occasionally road ride for fitness now-a-days & for commuting to work, but have done some recreational road races in the past including the 160km Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, 100k Flyer (Rotorua to Taupo), 110km Tour of the Bay and the 100k Tour de Central Hawkes Bay.

Your favourite trails:

Flowing/undulating type XC trails are my favourite, such as Tui, Pond, Forest Gump & Dam Canyon at Eskdale, or Split Endz, Be Rude Not To & Dragon's Tail at the famous Whakarewarewa Forest in Rotorua.

I also don't mind riding up technically challenging hill-climbs (my carbon hardtail is setup for climbing) - as I used to compete in the national hill-climb championships & have a couple medals to proove it :)

Your local club link: www.hawkesbaymtb.co.nz

Local Advice places to stay, cool things to do etc:

For visiting riders to our patch in the Hawkes Bay, you will require a 'visitors permit' to access our 3 off-road venues of Pan Pac Eskdale MTB Park, Pan Pac Aropaoanui Downhill Park & Pukeora Hill MTB Park. These permits are only $7 each & are valid for 3 weeks, available from all local cycle shops, I-Sites, couple other retail outlets & on the club website.

Since the year 2000 I've been the club secretary of NZ's largest cycling club, now with approx 2000 members (was less than 100 members when I took office & Eskdale had less than 40km of trails)