Taranaki Secondary Schools Sports - MTB Events 2008

Date for TSSSA MTB events: Sunday 6th April 2008.

XC and DH events jointly run by New Plymouth Mountain Bikers and Sport Taranaki.

9 am registration for a 10 am start for the XC event followed by the DH when all finished.

Registration for those attending a secondary school in Taranaki at the main car park off SH3:
Mangamahoe MTB Park
New Plymouth

Contact your school's sports administrator for more details.

TET Masters Games - 2008

Masters Games programmes are off the press and are in the bike shops now.

Entry forms can be downloaded from here:

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/Entry_forms.pdf


This time there will be two classes, Expert and Recreational.

March 31st 2008:
9.30 am registration
10.30 am start

Mangamahoe MTB Park
New Plymouth

Updated MTB trail map for Mangamahoe

An updated map of the tracks has now been posted.

This has removed the area affected by logging and the bridal path that is currently being used by horse riders.

There have been some complaints to the NPDC re bike riders on the bridal trails, so best avoid.

The map can also be downloaded by clicking on the following link:

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/Manga.pdf

Best printed on a colour printer at this stage.

Vaguely organised rides during the week

Looking for some MTB riding with others?

Try these:

Some are meeting at Cycle Inn Tuesdays after work for a ride, 5.30 pm. You never know where you will end up!

or if Tuesdays don't suit:

Try meeting at Mitchell Cycles, Fridays after work, same time 5.30 pm and head for a tour around New Plymouth.

Kiwi Outdoor Rogaine Series Underway

You still have time to take part in the Kiwi Outdoors Outdoor Ragaine Series for either mountain bikers, runners or walkers.

21st Nov. Meet at TSB Stadium New Plymouth
28th Nov. Meet at Waitara railway station
5th Dec. Meet at 8 Kapu Grove New Plymouth
12th Dec. Meet at 78 Pendarves St New Plymouth

Registration from 5.30 pm to 5.45 pm. Events start at 6 pm and are finished by 9 pm.

Prepaid tickets available at Kiwi Outdoors, $6 per team member ($3 Juniors) if prepaid, $8 per team member on the night ($5 Juniors).

Teams must consist of 2 to 5 people. Bikes must have lights and riders wear an approved helmet.

Co-ordinator is Nick Collins (027) 249 5459
nick@bubbles.school.nz

July newsletter now available online

Here is the link to either view or download the last club newsletter (right click on link and do a "Save Target As") :

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/J.pdf

Have a look, this is a typical newsletter that is provided for paid up club members.

The next newsletter will be coming out shortly in early November. A membership application form is part of the first page of the newsletter but you can download a specific membership application form - see below in the contact details for the club.

Logging started at Managamahoe - Some tracks and access affected

The logging contractors for the New Plymouth District Council have started to log the northern area of the MTB part of the Mangamahoe Forest.

The attached map has the affected area coloured orange. Two of the tracks leading to the north have been trashed by the logging operations. These tracks have been taped off at their start.

The main gravel road out to the back is what the trucks are using to get to the skid site to be loaded. So when the main gate is open there will be logging traffic on it that is not expecting members of the public to using the road.

There are signs at the main gate, on the gravel road and within the Dress Circle/Samurai Set area of the track network.


Will try and find out from the NPDC when the operations will be completed and let you all know.

MTB Skills courses - get your application in for the ones in November!

New Plymouth Mountain Bikers Club in conjunction with the TSB Community Trust and Mountainbike Adventures are offering more of these one day MTB skills courses in November. Places are starting to fill up for these courses, especially the Phundamentals course on the Sunday, so get yours in now and don't be disappointed.

We are offering the courses on November 24th and 25th 2007.
9.30 am for a 10 am start through to a 3.30 pm finish.

Venue:
Lake Mangamahoe Mountain Bike Park, SH3, New Plymouth.

Courses:
Trailmaster #1 on Saturday 24th for those who have done a Phundamentals course.

Phundamentals on Sunday 25th for those who are new to skills courses or want to refresh the basic skills.

Groups:
Each course will have a maximum of 16 riders and the tutors from Mountainbike Adventures are happy to have a mix of skills.

Download the registration form from below and mail it in along with your entry fee to claim your place:

NP MTB Club
PO Box 139
New Plymouth 4340

These courses are bought to you with the assistance of the TSB Community Trust. The course will be cheaper to attend if you are either already a NP MTB Club member or you join the club as well as attend the course.

Contacts:
Email: graeme_mtb@clear.net.nz
Phone: Graeme on (06) 757 2062 or (027) 242 4842

Download the course application form (right click on link and do a "Save Target As") :

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/F.pdf


And get it in to be part of the fun!

Track working bee happened on July 1st

Seven brave souls made to the working bee on Sunday. So many thanks to these workers, they did clearing type work on the existing network of tracks to the east of the main ridge track. Agreement with the NPDC hadn't been set up for the proposed new tracks, this will hopefully be achieved in the next few weeks.

The image shows the proposed new tracks in the southern area that extend the recently developed tracks. The proposed tracks are shown in purple.

When is the next working bee going to happen? Keep a look out and it will be as soon as we get agreement with the NPDC.....

SO WHEN: See above!

New map of the tracks at Lake Mangamahoe available!

The current MTB trail network for the Mangamahoe Forest is currently being mapped using gps technology. The latest results of these efforts has been superimposed on a Google Earth view of the area. Some additional tracks have been added since the weekend.

The map can also be downloaded by clicking on the following link:

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/Manga.pdf

Best printed on a colour printer at this stage.

The first two MTB Skills courses happened in June

16 riders had the benefit of learning new riding skills over two days in June along with the Mountainbike Adventures tutors James and Gabrielle.

Both days were set aside for the first course in their series, "The Phundamentals" - a great time was held by all. More courses are to be run in November - see above.

TET Masters Games Race Report

The sun shone on the XC event that was part of the Taranaki Electricity Trust sponsored Masters Games for the first time. 40 riders turned up on the day along with a stream of spectators to the mountain biking facilities at the Lake Mangamahoe Forest just south of New Plymouth. There were 32 male riders and 8 female riders in the various age groups; 30 - 39 yrs, 40 – 49 yrs and 50+. The women raced around 3 laps while the men did 4 laps of the 6 km course. In use for the first time was a new single track section of the forest that has been developed over the past 12 months by the New Plymouth Mountain Bikers Club.

UK based New Plymouth Mountain Bikers Club member Jenn O'Connor, fresh from her success at the NZ MTB Marathon Champs at Colville, raced away with the women’s 30-39 yr old class proving that she is no slug with the sprint version of XC racing. With her doing a 4th “warm down” lap, she came in 4th of all those that completed 4 laps. It was great to have our NZ rep competing even though she was on holiday.

Jenn finishing off her 4th lap:
Lian Brownson from New Plymouth was coaxed out of semi-retirement by the rest of the club’s committee to ride and she won the 40 – 49 yrs class. Hillary Frewin from Inglewood competed along with her partner Newton and came in first in the 50+ yr old class.

Tony Brownrigg from New Plymouth, fresh from his 6th in the same age class at the Karapoti earlier in the month, completed the 4 laps a clear 4 minutes ahead of Brent Simpson in the men’s 30-39 yr old event. Brent distinguished himself with a great crash right in front of the event tent at the end of lap 1; it is a pity it wasn’t caught on camera! This grade had the greatest number of entrants with 17 lining up at the start and 15 finishing.

Tony finishing ahead of his dog:

The 40 – 49 yr men’s grade had 10 entrants and New Plymouth cycling stalwart Vaughan Smith came in ahead of the others. Plus he came in 3rd of all the men’s entrants.

Allan Caird from Wanganui came in first for the 50+ group – good to see our Wanganui neighbours coming up and enjoy our good weather.

It was fun putting on the event and the club looks forward to it next year again being part of the Taranaki Electricity Trust sponsored Masters Games.

Diane Stewart and Glyn Jonas heading off from the start line on Lap 1.

Here is the link to either view or download the complete results (right click on link and do a "Save Target As") :

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/TET.pdf

TET Masters Games 2007 had a XC event!

XC mountain biking was a late entry into the events calender for the Taranaki Electricity Trust Masters Games.

The games are an annual event for those generally aged over 30 that is organised by the committee of the Taranaki Masters Games who run the events throughout March 2007 with the aid of the participating sports organisations. The event is fortunate to have the support of the Taranaki Electricity Trust whose financial assistance ensures the games are possible. The headquarters for the Games will be the TET Multisports Centre, Portia Street, Stratford. Event website:
http://www.taranakimastersgames.co.nz/

Date for the XC event was Sunday 25 March 2007. See above for the race report.

Track reclaiming work continues at Mangamahoe Forest MTB park

Track reclaiming work has continued in the Lake Mangamahoe forest using the gear purchased with a grant from Ground Effect Clothing. The XC track that was in the area between the clay hill and Plantation Road (ex SH3) at the south end of the forest is in the process of being re-opened and re-developed.

The trees in the area closest to the lake have been pruned by contractors and the newly cut tracks had a lot of the pruned branches across them but these have now been cleared. Also the grass and blackberry has been growing back on the new tracks but this is being trimmed back during January also. However, if you are in the area, it would be great if you could spend a short time with a grubber or a weed-eater and do some blackberry clearing and grass cutting.

More track reclaiming work has taken place south of the water intake access road that leads down to the river. This work will continue in January taking advantage of the hopefully better weather. The committee are investigating funding the hire of rotary hoes or tillers to turn over the top centimetres of the cleared tracks to permit more effective grooming and shaping of the tracks.

Once a reasonable section of gorse and blackberry have been cleared and turned over, we will send out a call for help in grooming the paths – so watch out for announcements on this and the Vorb website and we will send out emails calling for assistance to those on the club’s email database.

January 2007 Newsletter

Here is the link to either view or download the last club newsletter (right click on link and do a "Save Target As") :

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/E.pdf

Have a look, this is a typical newsletter that is provided for paid up club members. The next newsletter will be coming out shortly in mid April.

A membership application form is part of the first page of the newsletter but you can download a specific membership application form - see below in the contact details for the club.

New web site for New Plymouth Mountain Bikers club!!

Here is the first post for the new site for the New Plymouth Mountain Bikers club.

This is a blog site, so you can add your comments as feed-back as you see fit.

New Plymouth Mountain Bikers

PO Box 139

New Plymouth 4340

New Zealand

Contacts:

President = Paul Hudson - Ph 06 752 7147

Club Captain = Graeme Lindup - Ph 06 757 2062

Treasurer = Lian Brownson - Ph 06 751 3534

Download the club membership application form (right click on link and do a "Save Target As") :

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/Rocket_Engineer/PublicFolder/D.pdf

And get it in to become a member!