When the fat tyre fever hits you there’s only one thing to do.

Take a power-trip down a twisting, turning, gnarly mountain bike track in the New Zealand mountains, hills and forests.

Mountain biking is an adventure sport that has come of age in this country. Many local councils have provided superb purpose-built training tracks and challenge circuits close to urban areas. These tracks are customised with sweeping corners, stream crossings, steep descents, sudden drop-offs and big jumps. Regular competitive events are held to allow the host of happy bikers to hone their skills.

There is a whole new wave of riding opportunities for bikers, either riding independently using hired bikes or joining guided tours. Visitor Centres will point you in the right direction to find all the adrenalin-charged steep descents you can handle. New tracks have been established on awesome routes through native forest, over mountain passes, old logging tracks, tramping routes and along some very isolated coastlines. New Zealand pretty much has every mountain biking terrain you could desire. You can hire bikes from cycle shops in main centres for a full day or half day at reasonable rates. Commercial day trips and multi-day tours can take you to some remote mountain top locations by helicopter or 4WD vehicle for a non-stop joy-ride to the base.

Outstanding rides in the North Island can be found in Auckland’s exotic forests, Rotorua’s special challenge circuits and Tongariro’s 42 Traverse. The South Island has heli-mountain biking down ski field access roads, great rides on Christchurch’s Port Hills and alpine ridge tracks around Queenstown and Wanaka.

New Zealand pretty much has it all, even for the most discerning fat tyre junkies.