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.