In your own words: Andrew Black

In New Zealand.

Andrew calls the Horowhenua home when he’s not working offshore as a marine engineer. Not a lot of mountain biking on a ship but he makes up for that when he’s back on land. Andrew was one of the first to buy a Trail Fund NZ t-shirt and is now an advocate for the project in his local area. He’s currently somewhere off the coast of Western Australia but through the magic of Facebook we caught up with Andrew to ask him why he’s so keen on Trail Fund NZ.

You’ve jumped right into supporting Trail Fund NZ, what is it about the project that appeals to you?

My support for Trail Fund NZ is because I believe having a national body allocating funds and resources for trail building (and that can grow the sport) can only be a good thing for all mountain bikers. I also believe that a body like Trail Fund may encourage people that have not spent any time building or maintaing tracks to participate. My job means I very rarely get the opportunity to do any building/maintenance myself and I thought that supporting Trail Fund NZ would be a good way for me to show my support for all the people that build trails in an indirect way and hopefully contribute to the growth of our sport in a meaningful manner.

Where is your favourite place in the NZ / the world to ride?

That would have to be Rotorua followed very closely by the West Coast.

Long rides or short? 

I tend to go for 3 hour plus rides and mainly XC type riding.

You spend a lot of time on boats, unable to mountain bike. In those dark hours on the stationary bike where are you thinking about riding that you have never been to?

On the stationary bike I tend to just zone out but have a home made video of various tracks I have ridden for when I need the extra motivation to actually do some exercise. Often daydream that if money were no object I would love to have the opportunity to ride the Great Divide, however also dream of riding the Queen Charlotte track as I have not done it yet.

When you are on dirt what bike do you prefer to ride and why?

What bike I like to ride depends on the day and where I am riding really, but I have an old Yeti ARC which I love to bits and I really enjoy how good my Epic makes my riding look. Currently building up an NZone Slacker that I managed to buy off trademe as a frame only which I am looking forward to being able to ride.

Finally, what would you like to say to the trail builders of New Zealand if you had the chance (and you do!).

Thank you for all your hard work and dedication you all do an amazing job. Without your hard work the sport would be nothing like it is today and I am sure that I am not alone in wanting to express my gratitude to you all.