Where it started

Once we'd completed Varleys, Jonathan Kennett contacted me and asked if Johnsonville Cycles would like to become involved in the construction of a downhill track. I'm not sure how we decided on 'Vertigo', but it seemed appropriate at the time. Yet again, we spent several days staggering through gorse with a tape in hand (no inclinometer this time!).

Jonathan said at the time, that he envisaged a track where there was a constant barrage of tricky bits, and each time you successfully negotiated one, you were faced with another challenging section. I think we achieved this very well! Jonathan is also very knowledgeable regarding native flora so we routed the track to have minimal impact on the bush.  Modern bikes and tyres have made this descent relatively easy, but on the 26" wheeled hardtails we rode at the time (no dropper posts! 40psi 2.1 wide tyres!) it was a very advanced level trail.

The J'Ville Cycles crew, YMCA Conservation Corps and other Wellington mountain bikers built the trail in 1999/2000. I remember building the last few metres of switchback where the track drops down to the creek at the bottom on a very rainy, cold Sunday morning. I spent a considerable amount of time picking myself up after sliding down the bank! The whole section from the last seesaw to the spiral bridge was particularly challenging to build. My friend Tim Steeneken constructed the bridge using a pole that I had removed from our property in Wadestown.

The track has survived well apart from the very top section through the gorse, which, after 20 or so years, had deteriorated into a huge rut. It has since been reconstructed to be less erosion-affected. It is a track I really enjoy because it was built in an era when mountain bikers were recreating the challenges that we had experienced from riding technically challenging non-cyclist-specific tracks such as Rata Ridge and Tinakori Hill. Modern flow tracks have their place, but for me, the challenge of riding old school tracks like Vertigo, Towai Traverse, Deliverance, Mr X, etc. gives you a sense of satisfaction that you don't get from riding flow.

Francis Hoen