1.7 miles
Distance
64 ft
Climb
-476 ft
Descent
781 ft
High Point

Starts with an old bully track that turns into a quick gravel sprint before dropping into Douglas Drop for some twisty singletrack. Douglas Drop drops straight into Shoelace trail where you're gonna have to get pedalling A efw ups and downs, a skinny bridge, then a quick sprint down the lower section of Bluff to the finish.

Detailed Description
AES Stage 5 is a 2 mile moderately popular intermediate route located near Whangarei. This mountain bike only route can be used one direction and has a moderate overall physical rating. This route includes 6 trails. This route climbs 64 ft with a max elevation of 781 ft then descends -476 ft.
Local Trail Association
Local trail association
Whangarei Mountain Bike Club (www.bikenorthland.co.nz)
Please consider joining or donating to the local riding association to support trail development & maintenance.

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Trails in Route

Firewood Rd2,247 ft
Douglas Drop2,051 ft
Firewood Rd62 ft
River Rd115 ft
Shoelace2,438 ft
Bluff1,808 ft

Details

  • Riding area
    Whangarei
  • Primary Activity
    Mountain Bike
  • Difficulty rating
    Blue
  • Route Type
    Point to Point
  • Bike type
    AM
  • Direction
    One Direction
  • Physical rating
    Moderate
More Stats for AES Stage 5 mountain bike route
  • Avg time
    15 min 20 sec
  • Altitude change
    -412 ft
  • Altitude min
    369 ft
  • Altitude start
    781 ft
  • Altitude end
    371 ft
  • Grade
    -4.7%
  • Grade max
    -25%
  • Grade min
    18.5%
  • Distance climb
    1,490 ft
  • Distance down
    1 mile
  • Distance flat
    571 ft
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Photos

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37 | 2 comments
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Videos

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Shoelace Trail, Northland, NZ
Shoelace Trail, Northland, NZ
trail: Shoelace
7:38 | 635 | comments: 0 | favs:
May 16, 2018

Recent Trail Reports Along Route

statustraildateconditiondescription
Bluff
Mar 11, 2025 @ 2:29pm
Mar 11, 2025
Oh... Someone cut the fallen tree, but... No trail report, so... Nobody knows. This trail is no good anyway, some dipstick on a motorbike ruined it by riding it in the wet and caused a permanent rut which is hidden by grass and hence pretty dangerous. Also there's plenty of gorse.
Douglas Drop
Feb 25, 2025 @ 2:55pm
Feb 25, 2025
Cleared most of the big dead tree but there's a widowmaker hanging up there now, pretty big actually, I'll wait till the weather knocks it down then tidy it up [again] then. You can duck right under it but it'll topple over without warning so...
Shoelace
Feb 6, 2025 @ 3:59pm
Feb 6, 2025
Just that one annoying mud hole remains, everything else can be ridden under [trees!]
Firewood Rd
Feb 6, 2025 @ 3:59pm
Feb 6, 2025
Good for climbing right now - it's dry and the horse pock marks have been buffed out
River Rd
Jun 8, 2024 @ 4:57pm
Jun 8, 2024
more reports »
  • By David-R WMBC & contributors
  • #12018 - 792 views