Haven MTB Park

May Dig Day

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:53:00 +0000

After an early week forecast of a rainy Armageddon, we were stoked to miss it all and we were able to get the first Digger session of the year underway!

We believe in recycling at Haven MTB Park. Old tyres on barb-wire patrol.

Col was pretty excited about getting on the Digger as well. I had a wee session on Friday night on one of the early extensions to River track that for a number of reasons got left behind on the trail developments. Since we had learnt a lot about what we wanted and what the Digger was capable of, we had a bit of tidying up work to do, dropping the incline of one of the climbs and widening and re-shaping the corner. Although we weren't able to get the corner as wide as we had originally planned, rocks that won't budge, the corner and climb is more manageable for a greater number of people. Job well done.

Col in action widening the corner.

Finished. Ain't it pretty?

Almost done, needs a few buckets, some sun & rain.

We then re-opened the traverse and cut in a nice swooping downhill chicane with a fast berm run-off to help build speed. Well that's how it's going to look after a bit of weathering and another digger session. The main line is in and feels great, now just some buckets of dirt and some delicate work by hand under the direction of the Berm Queen. It will be a wee challenge to ride up the "other" way but you are rewarded with some speed and berms as well!

Stage 1 done, ride line is in, still needs a lot of buckets of dirt and berm loving.

Traverse all done, almost ready to roll!

We had Jon help us out raking and smoothing after the Digger and I am sure he appreciates how much easier the Digger makes our toils. Lisa and Ali continued their fine work fettling parts of the singletrack up on the Upper Tracks.

We had a bunch of visitors as well, and they seemed to have enjoyed themselves. It's always good to see people riding the trails as we make new tracks.

Please heed our signage.

After a hearty meal, a couple of beers and a well earned sleep, it was back into Digger action, this time the other decision point on our journey up the river. With the big rain last year we had a bit of track underwater, so we tidied that up, re-opened the line and fixed the river crossing so that whilst it isn't going to be easy to ride over, it won't flood quite so often.

Fixing the creek, Yay for Diggers.

This track is currently stuck with a 2m ridge of rock that won't go anywhere. We have already had a go with the Digger, a rock breaker and the Digger again but it is 0-3 to the rock ridge. We had a quick look at switch backing up and over it, but decided it would be a bit steep and the terrain was reasonably rocky as well, so it would take ages. One of our neighbours have offered their skills at blowing stuff up to have a go at making space this way. At the moment, it seems the best way forward. With this, we continued on to the current end of this "unnamed" track, and continued the fun of exploring and building virgin track. We will open up the naming of this section of track to club members when it's finished.

A sweet corner amongst Native Bush, note the Tree Fuscia.

We cut inside one of the features at Haven - a fallen over pine that just keeps on growing, through an old fence line, around, up and then following the old bench along the fence line as it traverses over the waterfall through to the gorge. This section went very smoothly and looks great. We are now in an area I was originally nervous about, the tightest part of the gorge, which on our first explore seemed to have plenty of rock, but following along in our current direction, it looks pretty good and with great views of native regeneration, the creek and surrounds. We should be able to stay above the flood line as well, which would be great. Once we are through, this section, we should be able to build some really exciting tracks. I think we will call this section of trail - Fenceline.

On Approach to Fenceline.

I'm going to be a BIG corner when I grow up.

Current end of the line, kind of a After / Before shot.

We had another crew of riders out today and again there seemed to be lots of grins in evidence, so it was a busy weekend all round. I was pretty shattered at the end of the day, but very satisfied and excited about the work and where we are headed. Col had quickly gotten into his stride on the Digger, doing a magnificent job.

Next Dig Day we will be extending our tracks, making big beautiful berms and focussing on planting around 500 natives, so we would love to have your help and assistance, even it's just by riding around the tracks.

We are still experiencing beautiful weather and the tracks are sweet and tacky, it' can't last for long, call us or email us to make a time to ride our trails.

Mr Haven.

Sale Ends Soon

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:16:00 +0000

A little birdie told me that it was pretty grotty weather in Chur-Chur over the weekend and by comparison it was super duper here at Haven over both days. Whilst we can't boast summer temperatures, we did have sunshine, no wind and great riding conditions.

Night riding conditions are superb, pretty chilly but on the positive side there are clear bright skies where you can see the vastness of space - stars, planets and galaxies.

Of course this can't last, indeed the forecast says it may be turning to poo in the next couple of days.

So if you were thinking about coming out for a visit, we recommend you do so before the end of the month, real winter can't be too far off.

Here are some pics from last weekend, a nice autumnal day...

The riding won't stop then, of course, but it will mean a few more slippery spots, you will get wet, there will be mud and probably some blood, and the tracks all get a little bit harder in winter!
We do get periods of heavy rain which will mean the park will be closed for a few days.

Mr Haven is happy to show people round any time and we have a dig day coming up this weekend, where we hope to extend the trail network with our first Digger Action of the year and commence our planting programme for the season as well. You are most welcome to come along and help, pop out for a look-see and of course go for a hoon.

Membership is very reasonable, lasts for a year and it all goes into making new tracks, maintaining our existing tracks and planting a bunch of natives. People are welcome to "try before you buy."
Help out at two Dig Days and next year's membership is FREE!

Contact us to make a time to come on out - Phone 329-7399, Email or Stalk Book
Mr Haven

Introducing the Lower Loop

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 01:14:00 +0000

Now that we are getting a bunch of people coming out and we can't always show people around, it was time to map out a fun loop track of the "Lower Tracks" to allow people to session the tracks and take in the most of what is available and missing the dead ends as we work towards completing the trail network

So here she is - the Lower Loop all up a nice 2.4 km, only missing 1 & a 1/4 of all the tracks available on the Lower Tracks. What a bargain!

The Lower Loop!

A wee bit closer! So many wiggles, and berms!

No big climbs, but lots of chances to get some speed up!

From the car park, you follow the arrows to the "caravan" to sign in (of course) and then as you are rearing to go follow the arrows marked LOOP up to Anti Disestablishment, more arrows and out and up to the road for a 50m section and then pop down the wee short-cut onto the middle of Frank'N'Furter to take advantage of Lisa's massive berms, cross the creek and up and down and side to side and you end up on River Track, more smooth fast wiggles and berms and then onto Ssh Track, some real hand-built singletrack, one of my favourites. After Ssh Track, follow the arrow (missing out AYUNCT) down and cross the creek, around the fence and then onto the new Paddock Racer and then you're back at the caravan, so its time to do it again and again and again!

Of course, there are no limits, you can ride as little or as much as your like or take in all of Frank'N'Furter, just pay attention to the signage at the end of the track and/or climb AYUNCT to the trail end as well. So nice views up there!
Some people prefer to ride the tracks in the other direction, well that's just fine as well.
If you make a time with us, Shailer is very happy to give you the grand tour!

Shailer (Mr Haven) doing what he loves best! Showing people around Haven.

If you want to chill out at any stage, you can put your feet up in the Skills Area, try out the wall-ride/giant berm, have a feed and watch the world go by. Soon you will be able to test your skills on our board-walk!

Almost ready!

You can find out description of all our tracks on our track page --> http://www.havenmtb.org.nz/p/tracks.html

Unsolicited comments by new riders in the weekend were "this is a great wee loop," and "there is nothing like this around Christchurch." Come along and check us out.

Looking South, what a beauty of a day.

When you've had enough, don't forget to sign out!

And of course, there are still all the "Upper Tracks" to do as well!
We will put up a suggested ride order, as per our map up soon.
It's a bit trickier to have a simple loop track up there!

View of Paddock Racer from the Miners Track.

If you still want more, more more! Check out the Rail Trail, Living Springs, the Sign of the Packhorse, Mt Herbert, the Monument, and Double Fenceline. Gotta love riding on the Peninsula!

Email us or Facebook us to make a time for a visit.

Help Spread the Word
Mr Haven

April Dig Day

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 01:00:00 +0000

Postponed a week so I could arrive home and settle back in from my awesome European pilgrimage, it was great to be home at Haven again.

I was, however, slightly dismayed at all the growth that had been going on whilst I was away... What happened to winter?! The grass was rampant and one of our pear trees was in full blossom!

So much of the dig day was about clearing back the trail corridor, mowing the roads and Lisa had done a great job of spraying most of the tracks whilst I was away.

I am pleased to say everything is looking sparkly and manicured and with a week or two of settled weather on the radar, it's a perfect time for riding... If you fancy a bit of night riding, it's good fun here too, not too many possums to play with though. The long days of summer are definitely gone.

But wait, that's not all, we have a brand new track finished as well, the Paddock Racer, 338m of flat fun that cries out to be raced at full speed. See if you can get round the all corners at full noise without touching your brakes! The exit may or may have a fun obstacle built to get over the fence - we haven't decided yet. It's just been sprayed so will get faster and faster as the grass dies off. We have plans afoot to plant this out over winter as well, so it will be a forest in no time.

We have had plenty of visitors coming round and joining up and a bunch of people renewing their membership, thanks for the support, we appreciate it. We are just starting to hit our bootstraps, long may it continue.

We have an established network of trails enough to keep the most ardent rider happy and cunning plans for a lot more fun trails and the skills and picnic area should be completed this year.

Spread the word, make contact and come out for a hoon.
Mr Haven

March Dig Day

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:05:00 +0000

We had great fun on the March Dig Day. Allister popped over bright and early, so we headed off along Chicken Run and Scollywood, tidying up the trail corridor and after a lot of riders, we had a few hot spots to tidy up and improve.

It was good to be pruning back the natives, and there is less and less broom and gorse about the place. Super stuff.

We also put in a couple of bigger wiggles at the end of Chicken Run which will add some enjoyment.

This is the first time we have done any major trail work on Chicken Run since we originally finished it a couple of years ago.

Since I have been hitting the roads full time in preparation for my forthcoming Belgium trip, I was amazed at the growth on the trails.

It was super to catch up with Allister, who has finally retired and now spends much of his day helping out rising cycling stars and riding his bike. Sounds like an awesome idea. What a legend!

Lisa did a great job at pruning the naughty grasses that are growing a bit too big and pushing riders out.

We also had a bunch of riders trying out the tracks over the weekend, so I hope they enjoyed themselves.

Winter certainly seems to be coming along swiftly - plenty of rain, the days are definitely getting shorter, the nights colder and the autumnal colours showing themselves! So come out and enjoy the last vestiges of a warm sun.

See you out there.
Mr Haven

Visitors A Plenty

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:57:00 +0000

So we have been actively marketing Haven MTB Park and calling for new members over the last couple of months. As a result we have had a heap of people come out and try us out.

Just under 50 people have come out for a ride this month and it was great to show off our trails and to see the grins on people's faces as they enjoyed themselves. So it's been a pretty busy month.

A couple of schools, a bunch of night riding groups, and a lot of friends of club members as well as locals and the odd tourist have come out for a hoon.

Particularly with a lot of the Port Hills tracks out of action with the earthquakes, we are more than happy for groups to come and ride at Haven MTB Park. People are always able to try us out at one of our monthly dig days, and to "try before you buy" options.

Community groups, schools, tourists and large groups are welcome to ride at Haven, please contact us on havenmtb@gmail.com to make a time.

Membership is very reasonable, lasts for a year and it all goes into making new tracks, maintaining our existing tracks and planting a bunch of natives. Come and help at 2 Dig Days and next year's membership is FREE!

May Your Wheels Remain Forever True.
Mr Haven

February Dig Day

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:43:00 +0000

It was a fair weather day for our Dig Day. A number of events on so we didn't expect too many people to come out, so Lisa and I got stuck into refining some of the berms of Anti Disestablishment that after traffic have told us they needed some tweaking.

We had some great success extending and shaping the berms, we moved on to some of the berms on the flat on Frank'n'Furter. A great issue we had is that you can carry a heap of speed from the big berm and we needed to bank up the catcher berm to keep the speed up. Initially I had thought that these berms would be just for show.

Yay for diggers being able to leave great big mounds of dirt all over the place that we can come back and use as a quarry for a wheel barrow and a couple of shovels!

Just after we finished putting a bit more dirt on the culvert and a mini berm, we were about to call it a day, my arm was pretty sore, Jon and Sean turned up "just in time" for a helping hand.

We decided to go for a hoon first and try out the new sections then head up it to do some tidying up at the top tracks.

The boys had a lap while I got ready and hooned back down. I hurried a bit too much, as I came back without my helmet, so I went slowly. Jon had exacerbated a leg injury from too much riding (!!) so I did a hot lap with Sean and then as the boys went home I did a few more laps.

A great feeling to have the trails bedded in nicely.

Next Dig Day 11 February

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:05:00 +0000

It's the second Saturday of the Month and it's a Dig Day.

Meet at the car bay - follow the pink arrows from the Haven sign.

Any time from 10am.

If you don't know where we are, email info@havenmtb.org.nz for a map

On the cards for this Dig Day:

Hand sculpting big beautiful berms
General Trail maintenance
Planting and releasing of natives.

Stay for as long or as short as you want.
Bring a bike and some food/drink.

We've had lots of new riders enjoying the rails, so help spread the word. If you want to ride at Haven, contact us to make a time to try us out!

Set for Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:42:00 +0000

It's been a bit quiet here of late, we've been very busy round the Park making it ready for a summer of riding, plus with the great weather, we've been riding quite a bit too! Mix in a bit of festive celebrating and time gets by on you, so here's a update on what's been going on since November.

Trails.
All the established tracks have had the trail corridor cleared, the grass controlled and generally tickled up.
All the new tracks can be ridden, parts of Miners track and AYUNC track are soft in a few places so exercise caution.
The last berms on Frank'N'Furter and Anti Disestablishment have been sculptured and it shouldn't be too long before they can be ridden hard.
Signage will be going up soon for a fun loop of some of the Lower Tracks.
All tracks have been signposted and a map has been produced for club members.

Scolly boys ready to zoom zoom

Nathan railing this berm

Skills Area
This has been on the cards for some time, and it was a great moment when we cleared the proposed path.
We have materials to make about 20m of the close to 90m of boardwalk planned.
The giant Berm that will also be a giant natural Wall-Ride has been cut and is seasoning nicely. In fact it is child's play to ride!
Holes have been dug and the first piles for the board-walk have been completed.
There are a number of great picnic spots here and a BBQ and table are available on site.

Pest Control
With the wet spring, everything is growing, the natives, the weeds, and it would seem the pests are growing too. There are numerous Possum bait stations around the tracks in Yellow containers and sometimes in margarine style containers, please don't eat them. We have also had the annual migration of mapgies and we have trapped them already - ha ha! Native bird life is very noticeable and we regularly see wood pigeons swooping around the whole valley, especially round the house and the Skills Area.

So come out for a ride, contact us to make a time.
Happy Trails
Mr Haven.

Rain and Mud but the Show Goes On

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:37:00 +0000

We have just had our November Dig Day and whilst we still got on and did a lot of good work overall for me it was a bit frustrating, the weather didn't play ball at all. However because it was a long weekend, we kind of made up for it on Friday.

It started out well, working on clearing a slip on the gum road, then down to the next gum road where I promptly got the digger well stuck in the mud. Thankfully after many attempts and many hours of swearing Allan and I pulled it out with the truck in the wee small hours of the night. The Digger was caked in mud!

On Thursday night or rather early Friday morning it rained quite heavily, not quite sure how much, our weather station rain gauge has been playing up, the test tube back up had about 20mm of water in it, with the weather station saying 10mm. But either way it was enough for there to be puddles on the ground and enough for me not to be able to take the digger on any of the new tracks. Basically the risk of undoing all of our hard work to date it with heavy treads and soft soils. That and I only like to get stuck once a weekend.

But that's not to say there wasn't plenty of work to do! Much to the dismay to the Berm Queen, although I have to mention it was at her prompting, I piled up many large piles of dirt to be made into berms on both Frank'N'Furter and Anti Disestablishment, at last count seven of the baby corners now have berms ready to begin seasoning to match the many existing berms. On top of this, I piled up more dirt on the newly widened corners on the climb on Frank'N'Furter to make the descent a lot more fun.

Berm Queen in Action

After this, I decided to have a break from Diggering and go and try out the Rock Breaker on the cliff on the As Yet UnNamed Climbing Track. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the tool to fit in the slot (hur hur.) So after consulting the manual (yay for the internet,) and Colin that evening it seems that I had received the wrong size tools.

So with that setback it was back to Diggering and I was beginning to scratch my head about what to do next. I piled up some mounds of dirt on a couple of straights on Anti Disestablishment to be somehow made into mini rollers. Wasn't sure how, but I was sure it would work out. After this I decided to explore an old trail Col and I had built way back in the day and had meant to get back to but didn't. It was a bit overgrown but the bench was still there and it didn't take too long to get it back into shape. The biggest issue was avoiding all the Onga Onga which has sprung up. It was interesting to see how we had progressed in trail building particularly in corners as this was a bit short and steep by our new standards, we will come back soon and put the new learning into this corner. I struggled to find the rock cliff which stopped us last time as nature had come and taken over and everything was green and lush, but soon I was extending the track, the plan will be a nice sweeping set of corners to connect to the rest of River Track.

While I was beavering away, Lisa was working hard clearing the trail corridor on the Upper Tracks and then into the berms I had freshly piled up. A solid six hours of work!

Before

First Stage, need to dry before compacting

We decided to call it a day early and I felt good about the progress made, most of the recent tracks was essentially at the hand finishing stage and would now be off-limits to the Digger so it can bed in nicely for Summer.

Colin popped in after an assault on Mt Oxford and we were planning what we would do over the weekend. Unfortunately again it rained heavily overnight and much more than Thursday night. Again this pretty much meant no Digger on anything new. So Plan Z was brought out, and Col started to blade out the line for the proposed Skills Area.

I went off to vainly try to get the rock breaker to work then heading in to town to get the right size tools. Lisa and Luke planted out Anti Disestablishment with natives. I return and get stuck into the cliff with a now working rock breaker, but it wasn't terribly effective. Three hours later I had made a difference but not a significant one, in fact it was probably more effective with the digger. My shaken back and wrists would attest to this. So I head back to be Col's rock and rake boy. Col also hit a bit of a snag with another cliff face that was resisting the Digger. However after an afternoon of toil Col makes it through and we call it another day.

After

Before

More rain overnight but not as much as previously, but this still writes off any Digger Action on fresh tracks. So we head back to the Skills Area. At the end of the cliff section Col was working on, the plan was to build a great big timber wall ride, however after pulling off all the tangle weed and vegetation we discover that Mother Nature was one step ahead of us and left us a great big natural one for us! With a bit of tinkering on both the entry and exit, we should have a great big wall ride and a great big berm for people to play with. Of course the sun breaks out mid morning and turns into a lovely day and one where I got quite badly sunburnt!

We also bladed out the entire course for the skills area which we hope to get under way and potentially finish by Christmas 2011. Without giving too much away, we used the awesomeness of the Digger to collect all the random huge rocks around the area to be put to use as a rock garden. There will be whole lot of other tests for safe skill development...

Rock Quarry

Almost Finished. Big Rock has been moved

AD in Foreground, River Track in Midground, Wall Ride/Berm in Background

3x Rollers on AD. Don't really show up on Camera

New Culvert

We had another go with the rock breaker in another rocky area, with Colin confirming that it was pretty useless, so we may have to re-think our route in that area as well. From here it was driving over the mini rollers with the Digger which worked pretty well, and putting the culvert in on Anti Disestablishment and that was job done for another Digger weekend. Not a lot of new track completed however almost all the current tracks are at a hand finishing stage and should be ready to shred by Christmas.

We hope to see you over Summer
Mr Haven.

November Dig Day 12 November

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:26:00 +0000

It's the second Saturday of the Month and it's a Dig Day.
Meet at the car bay - follow the pink arrows from the Haven sign.
If you don't know where we are, email info@havenmtb.org.nz for a map

On the cards for this Dig Day:

Digger Action
Hand sculpting big beautiful berms

Raking out the new tracks.
General Trail maintenance
Planting and releasing of natives.

Stay for as long or as short as you want.
Bring a bike and some food/drink.

October was the Month of the Digger

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 08:54:00 +0000

October being a special month with five Saturdays prompted me to want to try and get the Digger out each weekend, well I made it happen. The weather didn't play ball the whole time, but it wasn't too terrible.

New tracks built:
Anti Disestablishment - Finished
As Yet UnNamed Climbing Track - Just under half way
Miners Track - extended & Finished
Eagles Nest - turning bay, stage 1 Finished

The recent great weather and wind had dried the new tracks sufficiently to allow me to head back to the AYUNC Track. At start of play I had made it to the third corner and fourth traverse. On the way up, I fixed up the odd bit of storm damage and then got stuck into more trail building.

I started to encounter a lot more rocky terrain and this slowed me down, I still managed to get a few dips and climbs and wiggles on my traverse. I found what I thought was the perfect quick corner, however as these things tend to be, it wasn't quite as perfect as I first thought and it took a lot longer than expected and still needs a bit of love.

On the fifth traverse, again it was pretty rocky and with a bit of a nervous time with loose edges and what felt like steep sections on the digger, I came to a major rock face, that I couldn't quite break through. Instead of doing something foolish, I decided to head back down and to tidy up the corners as well as clean up the mess from the traverse above. One of the side effects from building trails above each other, is that crap goes downhill. It does mean a lot of cleaning up each session, but it will be built soon!

Col came over for a visit as I was widening one of the corners and as I was getting a bit tired on the digger, he took over and soon finished this and another one, so they are all ready for the finishing touches by hand. We also fixed up a chicane that didn't work and then went for a hoon with the digger to Frank'N'Furter, where Col fixed up our worst storm damage in about 30 mins, which was a great relief!

So as I look back, and having ridden all the new tracks, it was a great month for diggerage!
Over 3 kilometres of new track have been built, and that's just one way!
They are also pretty good to ride now, and they will only improve as they settle in and harden up. I can't wait for the natives to bounce back and take over.

Here are the before and after shots from the worst damage from the storm on Frank'N'Furter

Here is a new leaner pine that happened after the storm.

And here is the AYUNC Track in it's glory and to the right, the 4WD Track & Miners Track.

The rock breaker and digger are booked already for the next Dig Day, we will need plenty of people to rake the new stuff, work on the trail corridor on the old stuff and to plant trees. Plus you can always ride your bike!

We hope to see you out here over Summer soon.
Mr Haven.

Miners Track Complete

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:30:00 +0000

Another weekend and another super session with the Digger.

A quick update on the storm of last week, thankfully everything has drained nicely and firming up again, we will start repairs on the next dig day (12 November.) The water receded very quickly thanks largely to the outlet on Lake Ellesmere being open. On the seal road, there was standing water over the wheels of cars during the day, but by evening it had gone.

Here is a during and after shot of the same location.

So back to Miners Track, I decided to get the digger again but couldn't use it on any of the recent tracks with them being too wet, the digger weight would just undo all the hard work, I had already completed a bit of a recce and the 4WD track was OK with no slips and the top of the land had drained nicely. There was forecast rain during the day on Friday and then good all weekend. So away we went.

The journey up the 4WD wasn't pleasant, I was terrified, it was super steep and the digger kept tipping and slipping. I'm pretty sure I freak out much much earlier than any potential trouble, but it wasn't fun especially as it was my first time up there. But we made it, a few more grey hairs, but safe and sound.

We had the forecast rain during the day and so I got stuck into a corner that we were coming back to on Eagles Nest, basically it had a bunch of huge rocks we couldn't break, so I was going to try and dig them out. After not much success, it started to rain quite heavily and I wasn't a happy chappie at all. I clambered over the rock and headed out to where we had got to on Miners Track.

For those who don't know Gold Valley supposedly had gold back in the mid 1880s and a bunch of Adits and a vertical shaft were made on our land. This benched "road" was access to the vertical shaft.I got a wee bit further than Col had made a turning bay for the quad bike and with it still raining I chucked it in. Curses to the weather gods.

The next day was as forecast, the existing tracks were a bit slippery but as I got into virgin territory, it was nice and dry and good to work in. There was a good news/bad news situation working with an existing bench that had overgrown over at least 15 years. With it being a rock wall bench, there wasn't too much dirt that had built up over time, so if I dug up too much soil, I hit a lot of rock from the original track that took ages to get rid of, and so I had to get used to working off-camber on a downhill at the top of our land with a nice drop off the side. With a reasonable high centre of gravity and no suspension it took some getting used to, but once I did, I flew through the work. A few sections of tangle weed and some bigger broom were the only things that really slowed me down.

It got kind of boring following a "road" being used to making wiggles and making fun diversions, but it was awesome being in another area that I have never visited. By the end of Saturday I was about 50m from the end and in an area that Colin and I had explored from a couple of years ago. The bench wasn't as visible in this section, so it was easy for us to think it was a track here already but not 100% certain. If we had kept bush bashing for another 50m we would have hit the road section.

One of the main reasons for me wanting to get this track completed was so that we could clear our boundary lines of broom and thus end our friendly letters from ECan about getting rid of it. Plus it should be a blast to ride, being pretty much downhill all the way, it affords some stunning views of Lake Ellesmere, the Pacific Ocean and of the Southern Alps, a magical land indeed.

I think I may have found a relic of the mine and potentially the mine itself, with a faded sign with an arrow and a vague trail heading up to the rock face. Definitely worth an explore!

On Sunday morning I broke through to the fenceline, bliss! I then decided to clear a nice turning circle, which would make it nice for the quad bike and trailer to park up, clear the necessarily broom from the boundary and set up the area for the AYUNC Track for when it would meet up and then where the proposed downhill track will go as well. It all went wonderfully. I discovered an old channel that fed a wee pond, which was quite deep, which was a very welcome surprise. I may have found a spring as well, as moving through the bench, I seem to have found a water source, that bubbles up from the ground. Fingers Crossed, it may be able to be used to irrigate the far end of the property.

After a hearty lunch, I finished by tidying up the corners and killing more broom and heading up to the next major challenge. In my head Eagles Nest will continue from where it is to Miners Track. The catch is the top of the mine is a very narrow and large cliff face and with our property boundary, we have just about 2m of space and very steep and potentially quite rocky for about 100m. I managed to build a track to the start of the steep section and decided to wait until more experienced heads and hands were at hand before progressing further. It should work...

And here is Miners Track in all her glory, 571m of mostly downhill with some killer views and nice regeneration going on!

On Monday, I made a turning circle at the end of Eagles Nest, tidied up some corners and then heading down the 4WD track which was much more comfortable than heading up. I then did some community service, opening up the drains on Gold Valley Rd and clearing a slip on our neighbour's land, since their digger is feeling poorly at the moment.

Not sure where to next week, potentially back to AYUNC, if it has dried up enough, maybe some maintenance, back onto Frank'N'Furter or maybe Eagles Nest! So much choice!

Mr Haven.

Spring Storm

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:11:00 +0000

Well it's being just over two years since our last 100mm of rain days and I am pleased to say that we again got off pretty lightly.

Two days later the river is finally safe enough to cross so I can have a bit of an explore. The river was pretty explosive turbulent and about 4x the usual high flow. Lisa captured our waterfall where there is usually a 2m drop but the river was so high there was hardly a drop at all.

This is another opportunity for us to thank all of our past and present trail builders and helpers at Haven and the weathering of this storm is another testament to the hard work, forethought and planning that has gone into the trails.

Here are some more photos Lisa took at the end of the rain day.

Bottom of 4WD Track

Looking across to new AYUNC Track

Valley Run-Off Waterfall in full steam

On Frank"N"Furter, part of track underwater

Trail update
All of the Upper Tracks are fine and can be ridden now.
Surprisingly was there was no damage to the super steep 4WD track, the recent work has paid off and the drains worked as well as staying hard pack.
All of the Lower Tracks, with their proximity to the River and at the bottom of the water run-off from our land are pretty sodden, but again I was surprised at how quickly it is draining.
SSh Track has gotten a bit narrower near the river, but is fine
River Track is fine, the high tide marks on the berms are pretty impressive
Anti Disestablishment is fine, some cosmetic damage to the new berms and to some of the softer tracks. The track is draining really well.
AYUNC Track is also fine, a couple of newer bits have fallen away and new dirt has washed off down the hill, but this should be pretty easy to fix up. I was conscious about putting in a lot of drainage humps and by and large they have worked. The track is pretty sodden.
Frank"N"Furter is ok, a few minor slips and parts of the track closest to the river were submerged, but again these should be pretty simple to fix up with the digger. This track is pretty sodden so it may be closed for a wee while.

More Digger Action

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:45:00 +0000

Another weekend full of Digger Action at Haven MTB Park. We continued working on the AYUNC Track.


As Yet UnNamed Climbing Track

By close of play, we had completed 3 corners and four traverses, a whole bunch of wiggles and 504m of track.

Although it wasn't all plain sailing this session, a few cliffs and massive rocks that couldn't be dug out slowed us down, the tangle weed was pretty endemic which made it quite tough to make progress. It was sad to knock down some of the older Mahoe that were regenerating, but I managed to get round all the established Kanuka. The good news is that for every Mahoe that died, there were at least 10 cousins doing well and I also put paid to the remaining gorse and broom, but there wasn't too much in evidence.

Lisa worked great guns on the messy second corner, where I put in a random chicane to get the necessary height to get passed an old Mahoe and a massive rock. There is a nice surprise for people on the downhill leg. I think when it beds down it will work out just fine. I rode up it OK yesterday and the down is already good fun. Like any climbing track, it sure is a blast on the way down!

Lisa also provided a sumptuous feast each day and hot beverages which were greatly appreciated. Nature also provided a very cool picnic rock. I have also added to the burgeoning rock collection, so we will make a mini stonehenge picnic area under the pine tree.

So onward and upward now, with the third corner mostly cut, the traverses will get shorter as we follow the property boundary, this edge is on a diagonal ending with a point at the top of the hill. Not sure if it will speed up now, with more corners and not knowing how much dirt is in there with the rocks, but it's been a blast so far.

Another digger session is on the cards for this weekend, although the forecast may mean it won't be shorts and sunnies time, I am sure looking forward to watching these new trails bed in and ride them in time for summer.

Mr Haven.

October Dig Day

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:58:00 +0000

Weather disrupted the Dig Day on Saturday with it being postponed until Sunday, however we had the Digger so Mr Haven had the waterproofs on and braved the hail and cold southerlies to build track.

This weekend's mission was to start on the as yet unnamed climbing track down the far end. The concept behind this is a climbing friendly and fun track will take you from the bottom of the land to the top and you won't mind. It will be so much fun, that you will love coming down it.

It was great to work in an area that I have never set foot on, it was pretty exciting to finally be track building on the "forgotten" corner of the land. Most people, including us, tend to think the row of pines is the end of the property but it extends a lot further. I did a bit of exploring in the rocky end in amongst the Kanuka and it was like being a little kid again rock and tree climbing...

Here are a few before and after shots.

We made steady progress on Saturday cutting and winding along the fenceline and dealing with broom and gorse of increasing age, toward the property boundary it was getting close to 20 year old gorse, and it was very satisfying to pull it out roots and all with the Digger. I also got my first jumbo rock out and made it to the first corner as night fell. There are lots of giant rocks that add to the scenic look.

Sunday dawned a better day and back into the fun on the digger. It was slower going as it was all jungle to traverse with many humps and hollow and cliffs to fill up and negotiate. Lots of established Mahoe shading out the broom and gorse in amongst some giant Elderberry trees. At close of play, we were about 20-30m away from the next corner having completed 358m of track.

Lisa was working away on the berms on Anti Disestablishment, this is firming up nicely and should be ready for riding by the end of the month. Lisa has sorted out two of the four major berms and Shailer has raked most of the rest of the track. The culvert has been purchased for the tributary crossing, this should go in over the next month.

Over the next couple of months, we hope to have Frank'N'Furter ready for riding and extended some more, reopen the Miners Track and, with luck, finish it, in order to meet up with the Climbing track which should be finished by Christmas. We have another allocation of natives from Trees for Canterbury to put in the ground as well.

We hope you come out soon for a visit and a ride.
Mr Haven

Digger = New Track in a Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 20:32:00 +0000

So I decided to have another go on the Digger.

My last escapade didn't go according to plan and after a "moment," I lost my nerve. The grand plan was to tidy up and widen some corners on the awesome benching that Col had done, but in the end I didn't do too much at all, and the other area I wanted to get to, I lost my nerve there as well. I did kill a lot of gorse and broom along the creek, so I felt good about that.

Well this session was a completely different situation. I ended up building close to 500m of track and felt awesome the whole time. Admittedly the terrain was a lot more benign and drier than the previous session, but I attempted a whole lot of stuff that would normally scare me silly.

Anti Disestablishment

So as the title suggest, I managed to build the whole track in the weekend! w00t!
I had this vague idea of putting a link track across the creek from the River Track and had left a gap in some plantings, just in case.

In the Forest, spooky

An "S" Pine

I have called this track Anti Disestablishment, as it breaks the rules, bucks the trends and is a nod to the current situation.

Starting in a paddock amongst baby pines, it wiggles and waggles and then climbs up to a three track terrace in an incredibly short space right by the creek, affording super views. You then cross a side branch of the creek and then climb and zig & zag in an established pine block, a bit of puff and excitement in amongst it all. You are rewarded with some more traversing wiggles and then the quick downhill and chicane back onto the "road" to the Skills Area.

Wiggles in the Baby Pines

Take that gorse!

Now that I write it, it doesn't seem that hard or big, but just try doing it by hand!

All that is required now is to rake and sweep the huge mounds of dirt into berms under the instruction of the Berm Queen and then a bit of water and a bit of sun and a bit of time and this is going to be one sweet track!

A chicane section I prepared earlier

Joining the Dots... Track = Complete

We have a Dig Day next weekend and there will be more digger action on offer.

May your wheels stay forever true
Mr Haven.

Next Dig Day 8 October

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:20:00 +0000

It's the second Saturday of the Month and it's a Dig Day.
Meet at the car bay - follow the pink arrows from the Haven sign.

If you don't know where we are, email info@havenmtb.org.nz for a map

On the cards for this Dig Day:

Digger Action
Hand sculpting big beautiful berms
General Trail maintenance
Planting and releasing of natives.

Stay for as long or as short as you want.
Bring a bike and some food/drink.

The grand plan is to get a lot more track built in time for Christmas and give the locals and not so locals some more riding choices with the Port Hills tracks closed.

Mr Haven will also be Mr Digger this weekend as well.

Access to Haven MTB Park

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:47:00 +0000

Lisa and I love to have visitors and show off the tracks

Haven MTB Park is accessible to individuals through membership of the McQueens Valley Mountain Bike Club. This is for a number of reasons:

1. It is about rewarding and recognising the efforts of those who are making this happen. The cost is not prohibitive and goes towards future development and maintenance of the trails.

2. This is private property as is all of our neighbours land. We all value the privacy and lifestyle that we all have here and no-one wants to be invaded by swarms of people.

3. The ability to control access will allow the tracks and trees enjoy the most benefit and provide us all with the most fun in the long term.

4. Please do not explore the Valley as most of the Valley and surrounds are not accessible to the public.

5. You must make contact prior to coming out. A very good map will be sent to you to ensure you get to the right place. Please do not distribute the map.

6. You can find out about joining here --> Join

7. Community groups, schools, clubs may use the park for no charge, please contact us for more details around access.

8. If you are visiting for a short amount of time or from far away please contact us for details around access.

9. We have dig days on the second Saturday of every month, so you can always help out and have a nosey at the same time.

If in doubt, please contact us. We are also on Twitter and Facebook

May your wheels stay forever true.
Mr Haven

Spring has Sprung September Dig Day

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:38:00 +0000

Another busy weekend at Haven.

The focus of this weekend was to work towards finishing up the last corners on FrankNFurter. When we were last there, we had a digger with a clock and only had a wee bit of time to connect up the two tracks. So we just barrelled up with the digger, with one corner too steep and too tight and the other too tight for most bikers.

Colin opened up another couple of corners on the way up and piled up some dirt (yay for Diggers and their buckets) for the Berm Queen and helpers to get stuck in. Recent club member David was introduced to the joys of trail building and Lisa gave him his initiation rock to dislodge, which he did admirably! Of course it was 5 times the size it was expected to be.

Fifth Corner
After - but not finished just yet.

Fifth Corner
Before

Colin then got straight into widening and opening up the two corners that needed attention. We have now pretty much gotten the hang of this and are now moving at least four times the soil we ever anticipated when we first started using a Digger. What this means is a nice flat big corner that everyone will enjoy climbing up and later when the berms are in, rail round them on the downhill as well.

Fourth Corner

"What rock?" says the Berm Queen.

Fourth Corner

David and his Initiation Rock

As this was a multiple terraced traverse track, we had a bit of an issue getting rid of the massive volumes of dirt, rock and vegetation from the top corner. Luckily just down the way, we had a clay spot that was a big boggy, so we used this fill to retain the edge and add in some rock and "nice" dirt to help. Whilst it worked a treat, Col deserves a medal for the number of trips he made, I reckon about 100. But it sure beats doing it with a wheelbarrow!!

Colin the Digger Master

Shifting some of the 'spare' dirt and retaining the boggy bit

The corners look great and now just need a bit of touching up with the digger and then handed over to the Berm Queen for the final touches. Will do some better before and after photos next month.

Thanks to the Rules who popped out to deal to a naughty pine that fell down over the River and onto an area I want to build on in the future. It was good to see Justin the Money Man out getting some blisters and neighbours Ursula, Alister, Andrew and Chris pop out and say hi. Andrew helped us out put one of the wayward tracks back on the digger.

Next month, it's finish up on FranknFurter, some rock breaking, another massive berm and then after some seasoning we should be able to open up another 600m of track. w00t.

We look forward to seeing you come out for a ride.

Mr Haven

More White Stuff & August Dig Day

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:31:00 +0000

Whilst this Winter has certainly had a lot less rain than last year (yay for no slips, not so yay for less water in the tanks) we got another good dumping of snow in early August.

Left Over Snow towards Gebbies Valley

Chook with Cold Feet

We had much more snow than July but it quickly washed away when the snow turned to rain, we were secretly pleased as I wouldn't want to be stuck up the hill for days on end in icy conditions. We had prepared for the worst by having one car at the bottom of the drive and the Quad Bike loves snow....

The August Dig Day was dominated by finishing up the berms from when Mr Haven had dumped fresh soil with the digger, trail maintenance and opening up the trail corridor. Ground conditions are a bit damp in places, but the spraying Lisa did mid-Winter is still looking great.

Close up Gebbies Pass

Close Up Haven

We are now watching great voluminous clouds of pine pollen explode from the trees around the valley and coating everything.

As spring is rapidly approaching we haven begun releasing the natives that are still too small to take on the grass and replacing any that didn't make it. Fortunately we are still having an incredibly low failure rate.

The first of our natives are big enough to have had babies and we having been potting up heaps of seedlings and also potting seeds eco-sourced for our own nursery. We continue to be supported by Trees for Canterbury, our friends and family. We don't say no to any natives!

Looking forward to another great summer of planting, digging and riding, with slightly less seismic activity thanks!

Mr Haven

Snow, more Snow and Snowed In

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 05:22:00 +0000

So we've been going on about an unusually mild winter, next to no rainfall blah blah blah. A couple of times I have suggested that we were in for a big dump of snow and well what do you know it happened.

In fact the night before as we were at the neighbours for Andrew's birthday party, Jo was telling us about how it used to snow heavily every couple of years but it hadn't really for the last seven years or so and we all thought that would be great.

Last night, it started snowing and then not, rain mixed in with sleet and hail but not really settling on the ground, temperature and barometer steadily dropping. Then we had a particularly long and nasty period of hail that covered everything then it snowed and didn't really stop for a while. The cars were soon covered, as was the drive.

The Drive

Looking towards Gebbies Pass

It got pretty damn cold and the fire was packed to the brim with Macrocarpa to cook through the night. In the am, it was nice and warm, well inside, but pretty brisk outside and rather white. I had a go at driving down our drive in light snow previously and the experience was so bad, I vowed never ever to do it again. The snow this time was about 5x times as deep, so no go there.

Lisa and I went for a walk mid-day and planted some of the new trail signs around the park, nicely camouflaged for winter riding conditions.

Loki was not impressed with the conditions and was pretty happy to be carried home it would seem.

Loki the Lap Cat

Loki in the Hot House (relatively)

We got 5cm of snow under the verandah and between 10 - 20cm everywhere else. Snow storms and flurries have continued through the day and the snow hasn't really gotten any lower. The valley and hills around us are snow laden which which is pretty impressive considering it's mostly gorse and scrub not low grassy farmland.

I hope it doesn't freeze tonight as we could be stranded (oh the hardship) for more than a day if it does.

Not surprisingly, all the trails at Haven are CLOSED. Follow us on twitter or check the twitter feed above to see when they re-open.

July Dig Day

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 04:12:00 +0000

Postponed for a week so Mr Haven could go play silly buggers on his road bike and gravel roads, it was a non-typical (but typical for this season) winters day - sunny, mild and fine.

The mission for today was cutting back the Trail Corridor, weeding and putting the finishing touches on the rest of the berms on the River Track that were 'tarted' up by the digger's bucket.

We soon got stuck in and people were coming out of the woodwork to give us a hand which was great.

The Old Man's Beard that we attacked earlier in the year was showing no signs of coming back to date and that was very encouraging, so thanks again to everyone who came and helped.

Lisa, the Queen of Berms and her new apprentice berm maker Luke did a fantastic job at finishing the remaining berms on the River Track. Lisa has a great eye for detail and all the berms are smooth and looking super duper. Now all they need to do is bake and season and they will be riding superbly by Summer.

We had recently sprayed the trails and it has paid off big time, little or no maintenance, a heap easier on backs and a lot more riding time. Thanks for the tip Wally!

We had a couple of new club members pop out too for their first visit and ride which was great. Luke and Mr Haven went for a hoon later on too. By all accounts all is riding well and will continue to do so.

Everything looks great. See you about.

School Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 04:23:00 +0000

We got a desparate email out of the blue from Matt, an outdoor education teacher who needed a location for his students after his initial location turned to snowy laden custard.

The only worry in my mind was that the Lower Trails were a bit soft after all the digger work, but after a few emails sorting out the details, it was all on!

The Crew minus Matt (photographer)

Matt and his crew turned up on time (always a good sign) and after introductions we were soon hitting the road down to the Lower Trails. It was pretty nippily but we soon had everyone warm, muddy and grinning.

Riding Along Ssh Track

Exiting Tear Drop

This was the first time I had been on my mtb since the Feb quake, what with the quake work and the amount of road cycling I had been doing to prepare for Belgium. It was a welcome relief to be back on the number one girl and the sport that is second nature to me and showing off trails we had built.

After a bunch of laps and showing off the new bits that were definitely not up to riding, some nosh we climbed back to the van and then the mighty climb up our drive and onto Tear Drop and the Upper Trails.

Admiring the view and looking staunch on Tear Drop

Matt tasked all the students to do at least two laps up Tear Drop and down another track, most people choosing to go all along Zig & Zag, out to Scollywood and back along Chicken Run.

Fun on Scollywood

After lunch, we then headed up and out to the mini Packhorse loop. Much groaning was had on the climb but this was soon forgotten in the swoopy forest singletrack and fast downhill at the end.

I'm sure they'll be back for more.

We are always happy to host community groups and schools to use the Park, contact us if you want to come out and play.

Dig Day This Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Haven MTB Park) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:04:00 +0000

What an amazing autumn we have had. The weather has been so warm that the tracks are in great condition, the bike has been out far more than expected and we even have spring flowers in full bloom.

All in all, perfect weather for track building! So come on out on Saturday 11th June from 10am. Don't forget to bring your bike (or your walking shoes if you feel like a more sedate tour of the park). The upper tracks are open and looking awesome, if I don't say so myself!

Last month we had the digger out for 5 days and managed to create some great new stretches of track and tidy up some corners from previously built track. Of course, while the digger takes the worst of the work away, it really requires the human touch to finish off the corners and surfaces. I also took the opportunity with the continuing dry weather to spray the upper tracks which is now taking effect and looking great.

As previously mentioned, the tracks have suffered no damage from the earthquakes (only one small rock jumped down on to the track from it's careful placement just above the track). There is also no sign of any potential danger from rocks waiting in ambush on the upper slopes, so it's a safe place to work and play.

I'm not sure if we have mentioned it, but we are now on Twitter and Facebook. So just look out for Haven mtb park and you too can be treated to the ongoing tweets of our very own Shailer...

Here's hoping that you are all continuing on safely and are thinking of getting back on the bike to beat the winter (and earthquake) blues.

See you soon.
Cheers
Lisa (aka Madam Secretary)