Ferns 'n' Flow...

Tracks used were Salivater, Sidewinder, Swamp Monster & Half-Pipe.

Mega thanks to Ian Patterson.

Kaiteriteri MTB Park Update

An excellent turn-out for our Volunteers picnic last Sunday! It was great to see so many families present and to watch them heading off on their bikes to explore the tracks.
Despite the numerous switchbacks and little grunty sections, the smiles at the end seemed pretty universal, even amongst the little ones with their heavy, single-speed bikes who must have had to do a fair bit of pushing. For some of our most regular volunteers it was their first time riding the complete circuit, starting at the Trailer Park and exiting at Bethany.
Others used the arterial route to link up some of the firebreaks for some more challenging riding.
It's now possible to put together a good couple of hours riding based on the Park's trail network - not bad for less than 12 months work! And, of course, there's the beach & cafes to slope off to afterwards...

The Pump Track also provided a real focus for the morning. The PT team have done a great job in a short time and it's packing down well with the bike traffic. Fine tuning will go on for a while as user feedback refines the berms & pumps but the skilled riders have already demonstrated a full circuit is possible. Here, Mike Kirkwood & josh Fitzgerald consult over the slopes on the staircase pumps....






while, here,Jay Nelson shows how it's done.



We're pretty close to publishing our 3D Google Earth-generated map thanks to Steve Newport. We'll put it up as soon as it's ready (see Tracks) so check in soon if you're planning a ride.

Pump track update

Kia ora team. The pump track is really moving along from the sitting room table now into reality. We have spent a few days on the diggers firstly clearing the area then getting the basic outline and shape. We are now into the sculpting and creating the "pumps and hopefully after good working bee assistance we will be up and pumping for the summer season. see you out there Mike k

Pump Track Plans

In a photo that doesn't do justice to Mike Kirkwood's sculpturing skills, we have a 3D design model for our planned Pump Track!
It will be located in the Trailer Park, the MTB Park's main entry point. Here, the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve Board has allocated us a substantial area to create a skills playground guaranteed to entertain bikers of all ages & abilities.

Overseeing construction of the Pump Track with Mike are Stephen Hailes & Andy McFarland, at least until their sea kayaking operation swings into season again.
The KRRB are generously providing a 7t digger to start shifting some soil into place next week so we can expect some fairly rapid progress. There'll be plenty of opportunity for a bit of hand-tooling of the berms & kickers once the main design is outlaid so, if you'd like to help out, drop Mike a line: gabmike@clear.net.nz

In other news, Glade Runner is now benched as far as the grassy meadow. There are some stunningly beautiful sections to this track which will only be enhanced as revegetation occurs. Andrew will continue benching the final length to the Bethany Park exit in the first week of September.
You can follow digger progress via the Tracks link.

MTB Park Logo

This is the winning entry to our recent competition to find a logo for the Kaiteriteri MTB Park.
It was submitted by Zoe Morris-Trainor and judged best design by the MTB Park committee.

The competition was open to all students at Motueka High School and the local Reliance Retravision store generously put up a handy MP3 player for the winner, as well as some consolation prizes for the runners-up.

Local artist and graphics designer Matt Tait has offered to tweak the design up to professional standard and from there it won't be long until it starts appearing on all of our publications. Caps & t-shirts won't be far behind to kit you out for the summer and maybe a car decal or two to spread the word...

Glade Runner

Thanks to all of you who voted on our poll and helped select Glade Runner as the name for our latest track. We hope you now get a special buzz every time you ride it and we anticipate that will be ALOT !

Those of you familiar with director Ridley Scott's 1982 classic, "Blade Runner", (adapted from Philip K Dick's 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?') will get the filmic reference for this name. Although after riding it, you won't be dreaming of electric sheep but of sunlight filtering through stands of kanuka, sweeping under the drooping fronds of pungas and meandering alongside streams through dappled glades. Sound tempting...?
The benching of Glade Runner began this week and should be finished by the end of August. It will complete our first arterial route and allow riders to do a complete circuit entirely within the Park boundaries. The added bonus is that Glade Runner intersects with several other existing tracks, allowing those equipped with a map to throw quite a few different route options together depending on their skill level & fitness.

Already, with some helpful input courtesy of the Corrections Dept., the track is groomed up to a point, about 150m in, where it is joined by another track currently being hand-benched. This connection will allow riders to link on to Kimi Ora's old network of walking tracks that are now within the MTB Park. As soon as this work is completed, we'll update our map (under Tracks).

Below, Andrew Spittal works his way past a pair of gateway pines...

The track with no name...

Work has started in earnest on our next section of track and an excellent turn-out of volunteers saw great progress made.

Rearing to go at right are Lenny, Ian, Ross, Andreas, Niclas, Mike K, Robin, Jacob, Mike N, David L, Rod, David Y, Tania & Sebastian (with Guy weilding the camera).

This promises to be a sweetly flowing track that sweeps through kanuka stands, past sentinel pines, visits one or two gullies (always welcome on a hot day) and crosses a couple of small streams. At least, that's what we've surveyed so far...

What we're now looking for is a memorable name for this track. From the wildly eccentric to the eminently prosaic - all suggestions are welcome. Email them to morristrainor@slingshot.co.nz and we'll select the best five to put up in a blogspot poll.

Check out the map under Tracks to get a provisional idea of where it is - it starts just above Kimi Ora and exits at Bethany Camp.

The way this track is shaping up, this could be your chance to name what could become the most iconic track in the Park!