Mountain bike tracks, freshly carved into a hillside in Geraldine, are luring kids back outside.
The trails are one of Bike Geraldine’s many projects.
The group’s treasurer Syd Woods said the club had created the tracks not only for young people, but as ‘‘a family thing’’.
Mr Woods said within half an hour of standing at the top of the tracks on Sunday, he had seen two father-and-son duos and a father-and-daughter duo taking to the trails.
The trails were constructed in Riddell’s Reserve in Geraldine earlier this year.
However, the official opening would not be held till spring.
The lack of signs and publicity had not deterred the dads.
At the top of the hill was a new shelter, which had been built from reclaimed wooden piles, which had come from Timaru’s port.
From the seating area, five tracks wound their way downhill.
Mr Woods said until signs were installed, a quick rule of thumb was when riders looked down to the Geraldine township from the shelter the two on the right were the easiest, as riders moved to the left the tracks became more advanced.
Younger children could access the tracks, as the original steep roadway had been blocked off and a far more accessible track graded into the hill.
While it was ready to go, the clay paths were still settling so he discouraged people from using it when it was raining.
Mr Woods said with the price of fuel rising, the network of tracks had been completed at the perfect time.
‘‘You can stay local and do local things.’’
The cycleway from Geraldine to Woodbury, which set off along Templar St, also meant parents did not have to drop their kids’ bikes off anywhere.
He said the cycleway — which the group had advocated for — was ‘‘proving very popular’’.
He said every time he went past the trail there was someone using it, from cyclists, to runners and walkers.
In particular ‘‘grey haired e-bikers really enjoy it’’.
He said the cafe reopening in Woodbury had lured them on.
Group member and local father James Blok said it was easy for cycleways to become sensationalised.
‘‘But over time, many communities arrive at the consensus that these are wonderful shared assets.’’
Mr Blok’s 9-year-old son had ‘‘comfortably’’ cycled the 5km out of town to the bridge.
He said, as long as a family was ‘‘relatively active’’ they could make good use of the trail which was approximately an 18km return trip.
‘‘They might need to just take a bag of lollies for energy and some fruit and make a day of it.’’
His youngest who was sixyears-old had gone out to the Woodbury Domain with him on the shotgun seat.
She had told him it had made her heart happy.
The club had also made changes to the path along the stop banks from Bennetts Rd to Vance Rd.
And with the logging almost completed at the section on Gale Cutting Rd, tracks would soon be reinstated before being accessible again.
Those paths would link up to the golf course, giving families a safer way to get up to The Downs.
Once everything was achieved there were no plans to stop, as they had plenty of hopes and dreams for the future, such as linking Bennetts Rd river access up to the cycleway running down Templar St, and linking Vance Rd up to the high school, or connecting Coles St to Geraldine’s township along the river, but that would rely on the club maintaining a healthy membership.
Mr Blok said more members would ensure the longevity of the club.
Mr Blok said the club was building and advocating for new tracks so the community had high-quality assets for future generations of all abilities to enjoy.
