February Dig Day

Another month has passed and lots of action has been happening behind the scenes.

Alister has been working hard on his track - he has cut a line through the jungle from top to bottom - which in itself is quite an accomplishment, but this month he has been working on making sure the corners work before finishing up with the bench. Mrs Haven has been helping with the trail corridor and I went and helped widen it with the chainsaw this week. It's looking spectacular with much of the track winding itself across the gully in total canopy under maturing Mahoe and the odd Elderberry. It's a magical magical feeling and I am very excited about this track and can't wait to get rubber on the track!

Widening the trail corridor with a chainsaw on AliTrack.

Mrs Haven and I have been working on the trail corridor, spraying and mowing and cutting it all back to make sure the trails are in pristine condition.

We have had a lot of visitors as well, which has been great. A couple of large sized groups as well, which has helped bed down a lot of the newer tracks. From all accounts, all the visitors have been enjoying themselves. We love showing people around and sharing our trails, you should contact us to have a go as well.

Earlier in the week, Colin came round to work on the skills area again. We had left it with about 8m of boardwalk completed, with a lot of time and effort spent determining what would be the best way of building the skills area and key measurements. This was going to be a key section as we lead into the most technical skill - the teeter-totter. But we were right back into it, this time with a generator to help speed up the processes. Colin got straight into building our first corner with a nice easy camber and then  a roller with a dip ready to set up for the next cambered corner. The day went extremely well, and only a small section left to build with the remaining wood - perhaps enough to build the teeter-totter and a couple of ramps. We couldn't wait until we had an opportunity to ride it, but we had run out of nails, so most of the tread wasn't laid, so tempting and exciting. Soon though.

State of play after session one!

Saturday dawned another beautiful day at Haven - I went off to help Alister on his secret track and Lisa led some final work on Project G and Fred. Another good hard working crew and soon Alister and I had extra company in the form of Colin to help out. I was continuing to widen the trail corridor with the chainsaw and then helping with some benching. Good honest work. Lisa had also done great work with Andy and Kev fixing the much too tight corner on Project G and then off to Fred with Kev doing a fantastic job on the chicane through the pines. Andy showed off his prodigious strength by pulling out the waratah that was in the way on the mighty chute. The crew then did a slap up job on rotten rock corner which unfortunately had lost a fair amount on the exit line with heavy rain not long after it was built. It looks pretty exciting and I can't wait to hit it at speed once it has seasoned. Colin and I gave the guys a hand with tidying up the lower traverse and fixing up the off-camber-ness. Great times. Then it was Ice-blocks and goodies at the Skills Area whilst Andy's son Amos showed off his skills on his electric trials bike. Amos also did a great job of testing out the new lines on Fred too! Afterwards Colin and I went for a ride, sticking mostly to the tracks under canopy as it was pretty damn hot!

Entry into the Pine Chicane on Fred

Birdseye view of the Pine Chicane on Fred 

Looking back on the exit of the Pine Chicane on Fred.

Nice view of top berm which sweeps into the Chute and out and up on Fred

Descent into Rotten Rock Corner - you should have seen the 'before' picture!

Saturday night we headed over to a neighbour's place to test out his new monster sound system - loud enough to easily hear a kilometre of so away - awesome. We also had fun with a quad bike convoy looking at the major deforestation under way near the Packhorse. Great fun, we should do it again soon.

Sunday, Lisa and I got stuck into nailing the remaining tread down on the Skills Area and of course the taste test! Fun times indeed, I can't wait until the first stage is finished and opened officially. I also had a quick go at putting a boardwalk over the fallen pine, but alas the angles were wrong from my attempt and will require a bit more carpentry skills beyond mine to get it right - next time!

It still looks like a lot of summer is here for a while, so you should make the most of it and come and try our trails out, we have lots on offer and something for everyone. Haven the best little intermediate mountain bike park in Canterbury.

Our next scheduled Dig Day will be Saturday 9th March 2013 from 10.00am (weather permitting.)

Happy Trails
Mr Haven

January Dig Day

Another great day at Haven MTB Park, Christchurch's very own intermediate level boutique mountain bike park nestled on Banks Peninsula.

All regular trail builders (except me!) were having a well deserved day off, although Allister did come out on Friday to work on his secret trail, as he said he couldn't leave it for a week. 

In typical Allister style, what seemed to be quite a big job (a singletrack trail from the bottom of the land up to the top across a gully in one of the valleys on our hill) has been reduced in no time with hard work and determination. The trail line has been found through the scrub and work has begun on the corners to see if they work - once this has been finalised, the connecting bench and general widening of the trail corridor will commence. Great stuff Allister.

However we did have a bunch of new members keen to chip in and to test out the trails come on out. A digger free weekend, so we can catch up on the hand finishing, plus with all the fine weather, the trail corridor needed a good trim.

We spent a fair bit of time of the River Track Extension getting a ride line through and getting the corners ready for the Berm Queen, then on to Frank'n'Furter, fixing up some holes left by the neighbour hares and trimming back the growth, plus raking out the freshly dug bench that completes the gap that we had in the trail. But boy it was hot work and I didn't want to wear out everyone before they had the chance to go for a ride.

A fun couple of laps, although my recent full time riding on the road bike seems to have made me a muppet on the mtb - oh well. 

After a quick lunch it was back on the scrub cutter, cutting back the side growth on Anti Disestablishment, Mrs Haven was back from her ride by now and she was spraying Frank'n'Furter. AYUNC also got it's first cut back and it's looking sweet and fast again. Fred & River Track (from the Other End) had their first trim of the grass.

New signage is going up for the new tracks and a fresh coat of paint on some of the arrows that get baked in the sun! Mr & Mrs Haven are happy to show you around if you aren't sure where to go.

Going through some photos for a new poster coming out soon, I was amazed at how much stuff has grown, see if you can recognise the tracks.

 

We are getting plenty of visitors at the moment and we are always keen for more, if you want to come out for a ride, please make contact now!

Happy Trails

Mr Haven

A Typical Ride

We often get asked what's a typical ride like at Haven MTB Park, Christchurch's very own intermediate level boutique mountain bike park nestled on Banks Peninsula.

Well it's a curious question as it's entirely up to you, how you feel and what you want to do...

This is a fairly typical loop for me at present - there are a few more tracks that I didn't do but this gives you an idea.

So as I can, I started from home and did:
Along Chicken Run -> Scollywood to the 4WD Track and back to the house as a nice warm up.
Up TearDrop, Down C1
Up TearDrop, along and down Zig&Zag, along ScollyWood to the 4WD Track back to Chicken Run
Up C1, down the Berm of Doom, continue up C1, down TearDrop
Down the Drive
Down Project G
Along the Road down to the Caravan to follow the sign posted Loop
Along Paddock Racer, Up Anti Disestablishment, onto FrankNFurter, River Track, Ssh Track (x2)
Then the other way (x2)
Up to the end of AYUNC and back down
Along Ssh Track, River Track, FrankNFurter, Fenceline to the end and back to connect to Anti Disestablishment, back to Caravan, up the road, check out Fred, up and around Project G
Grovel up the Drive.

Still plenty that I missed out, but this covers everything that is riding well as a loop, and a smattering of the new stuff that currently dead ends.

Each month there is more and more track added to as well.

Plus fun and adventure being developed in the Skills Area.

So you can see, you can do as much or as little as you want. Mr & Mrs Haven are happy to give you a tour or directions for the first few times until you get the network under the belt.

Hope to see you soon
Mr Haven

The Last Diggerage of 2012

Making the most of more fine weather and ideal digger conditions, we got a digger again this weekend.

Pleasantly surprised to get a brand new digger in all it's scratch free and freshly painted glory. - 27 hours on the clock, we usually get a digger with around 3-5,000 hours.

I decided to extend the Long Cut which we started at the beginning of the month.

I was feeling a bit better about the approach to the entry so gave it a go, it ended up pretty good, although it was a bit of work breaking through the old bench of the 4WD Track which had a fair amount of rock, from here it was a gentle climb and traverse along and around the contour - plenty of tangle-weed and old Elderberry trees to knock down.

I was going to cut in a corner but then remembered it was the Long Cut - from my vantage points I couldn't really see where the track was and how big the basin was. I ended up climbing on top of the digger and saw that there was still another reasonable sized gully to cross before we reached the envisaged boundary, so on I went.

The beers were earned that night.

Sunday and back into it, pushing the traverse along, and finally got into a narrow rocky section, this was going well and I was through but then got myself stuck that required the expert skills of Shane. Yay. The weather had turned a bit too, with quite a bit of rain.

The Track is in there somewhere!

Still plenty more track in there but can't see it from here.

After this I spent the rest of the day raking the track then clearing the 4WD track of the rank grasses, fresh broom and many loose rocks. I also filled in the wheel sized holes that were there. The good news is that the track is ready for bikes again. A very fast and loose downhill and pretty impossible uphill - it is extremely steep - have fun!

It was dark by the time I got to the bottom of the track, so I was glad to get back onto the road and pack up.

It's been a great year for trail building at Haven MTB Park - you should come out and see what's going on.

The Digger has many signs of battle now and just under 50 hours on the clock now!

Happy New Year
Mr Haven

Christmas Day Spin

You may have heard I publicly put my name up to host a challenging and testing hill ride round the Peninsula for the Longest Day Ride on Saturday 22 December. Long story short, I survived.
Short story Long go here --> http://agreatroute.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/ldr-2012-tour-de-peninsula.html

Traditionally I go for a hoon on Christmas. Until I met Lisa it would be a longer ride as I don't really celebrate Christmas, but with Lisa being the Christmas Fairy incarnate, I  now have other commitments. Yay, yes really...

Anyhow, I still manage to squeeze in a ride, this time it was a bit of an effort, as I was feeling the effects of the Longest Day Ride and indeed, the short and very easy recovery ride I had done the day before. So I dragged myself and Colin out for a spin, the draw card being the first ride on some of our new tracks.

So we warm up on Chicken Run and ScollyWood, hand-built singletrack that has been in place for over 4 years and is mostly downhill (kinda.) I was good and there were no real aches and pains, just fun and concentrating on the terrain. The canopy (now native) is growing over the track in a number of places, which is so cool. We head back to the house in reverse, hooting and hollering.

We ride up TearDrop mark 2, which is now an easier climb, it is seasoning extremely well and no issues going up. We then have the first run down. The corners are very different than before so I have to re-learn them, it was quite strange for me, having run down these probably a hundred times, however they all rode well and I can't wait to session them so I have them dialled in. A few of the tops of the berms higher up are still a bit soft, but a bit more rain and sun will fix that. Col came down with smiles too, so it can't be too bad!

We then hoon down to Project G and ride around the whole track, looking and feeling great, the tight corner is definitely way too tight, so we will have to hit this with grubbers and shovels old skool style next dig day. Other than that, it's great, the climbing traverses which I was worried would be too steep are easy! Yippee.

Then off to Fred, and again the bit I thought was too steep was fine, the lines are a bit messy at the moment, with the edges being soft, but this should harden up pretty quickly. The new berms and corners are riding really well, the chute is a blast - but be warned there is a waratah on the track, that we haven't gotten out yet. Two corners haven't been worked on, but you can still negotiate around. It going to be another sweet track when it seasons and beds in. w00t!

We then hit the "road" and speed down to the Lower Tracks for a spin and suss out on the new stuff there. The old loop is riding so well and it's a good roadmap to how the new tracks are going to season - in a few years you will hardly notice a digger had been through and the track surface is solid and smooth! The natives growing well. The Skills Area is looking sweet and Col has been doing some research on PinkBike and YouTube for our features. Can't wait to get back and finish Stage One. This will be an lovely oasis in summer when temperatures soar, offering plenty of shade, chairs, many picnic spots, table and BBQ.

We had a nosey at the new stuff, but it is still pretty soft to try and ride it, although I did ride the new downhill corner and berm that Lisa just made under the cavern (don't tell Lisa!) It's awesome!

Then we hit the road and back to the house - I felt great now, nothing like a spin to ease out the legs.

We hope you have a great holiday season and we like to invite you to come and ride out at Haven if you are in the neighbourhood.

Happy Riding from Mr & Mrs Haven

digger Digger DIGGER

With last weekend being too wet for any digger action, I had a hankering for more digger work, so with the balmy temperatures and nice firm soil conditions we were off again! w00t!

After all the recent work on Project G and Fred meaning that no more Digger Action was required it was back to the older stuff that was getting over their wet winter.

First up, I had a go on the culvert on Project G - my cunning idea to recycle material for the culvert didn't last long as the first bump with the digger bucket crumpled it up somewhat beyond repair, so it wouldn't have dealt with the volume of soil - oh well, may have to stump for a real culvert pipe.

Secondly, I was keen to start extending the River Track again and I made good progress, it was awesome being this close to the River and see and hear the uniqueness. Unfortunately I came across a reasonably solid rock ridge and as I didn't want to cross the creek I made a nice corner and traversed back, I had a couple of goes at making another corner but it wasn't working out. However third time was the charm with another nice corner made but then shortly afterwards I was stumped by another section of rock - which may or may not be breakable. In consulting the Digger Oracle, he gave me a couple of options to ponder over. It was frustrating, but I am confident we will get a good outcome.

After this, I decided to tidy up the exit from the rock ridge on our unnamed river track section that needed blowing up and made a fun wide corner that takes you right up and under a rock face cavern type thing which if I say so myself is pretty cool. I was also fortunate to be able to keep going and managed to connect the two tracks up after all, no explosives required, which is kind of good, kind of bad! A slightly steeper climb or descent, but nothing too long or difficult.

Then, since I seemed to be on a roll, I decided to tidy up another extension that we were coming back to, the 'rocky' switchbacks that will join the River Track to Frank'n'Furter, it didn't take too much to sculpt it out and plant some dirt and rock ready for some Berm Queen action.

I thought I would finish on a high, so just did a bit of house keeping tidying up a couple of river crossings and the overflow from the lake and then parked up the Digger after a good days' work.

Alister came out and is valiantly extending his line on his singletrack - the man is a legend. Oh yeah, that reminds me, Alister asked me to start the track at the bottom to help take some of the steepness out. It was actually quite difficult to be delicate with the bucket, I decided to do too little than go too far. I can always come back and do a bit more under direction from the master.

Ali Track on the Left

Sunday, we had a pleasant sleep-in and a lazy breakfast and then it was off to the AYUNC track, I was a bit anxious to say the least, as this is the track of my latest downfalls and is at the cusp of my experience and skills. But as with most things, the reality didn't quite match my imagination, the climb being quite uneventful and the corner with the slip was a doddle to clear, the narrow rock face has hardened magnificently and I was soon diggering and traversing away happily. It was slow steady work but considering the terrain it was good, I got stuck on another rock edge, making a silly mistake of not regularly resetting and thankfully Shane got me out easily again - I understand the principle of getting out but I haven't got the nerve to be happy with the soft edge and seeing all the dirt go downhill with me on a funny angle.

Angry Rock on the Right

I kicked myself for getting stuck again and promptly took my anger and frustration out on the rock that was in the way and I bashed it into submission and then suddenly it was easy and fast digging. Crazy really. I got to an area that should be the beginning of a near perfect corner in amongst some old Mahoe and ancient and old rock formations. Three quarters of the way round and this large rock that I thought was a surface floater turned out to be an iceberg. After much digging down and a small attack on the Mahoe, I have discovered that both the Mahoe and the rock have a symbiotic relationship and were tied up together. I was about to give up and cut a corner in front of them, I decided to give it another go and finally made the rock start to move. Another 20 minutes of bashing and digging and general swearing, I managed to make it wiggle. At this time I was getting dark, so I gave up. Hopefully a combination of time, an axe and a grubber will help get to those 'hard to reach places' that the digger bucket couldn't get into it. Or something else will come to mind.

Another potential frustration, but when I look back over the weekend, we have cut quite a bit of trail, opened up two gaps in the trail network which will help with the riding loop no end, these new additions should be in riding condition just after Christmas, which is fantastic news. Then when you consider this time last year, I was freaking out getting the Digger off the trailer and wasn't doing any track work at all, I should be pretty stoked, which under all the expectations I am ;o)

Another uneventful descent, yay! Another digger weekend over and a lot of work done, soon it will be time to test them under my wheels, I can't wait.

Lisa, the club and I would like to extend to you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I am happy to show you around and we would love to see you out and about on the trails at Haven MTB Park - there is nothing quite like it.

Digger action will resume on the 28th December - weather permitting.
The first official Dig Day of 2013 will be Saturday 12th January from 10am.

Happy Trails
Mr Haven