Beginner places to ride in west Auckland?

[gspiggs]

looking for a wide open area ( ie Field or farm ) to learn how to ride my KTM exc 200 properly. Live out near woodhill but is a bit sandy this time of year. Can ride a road bike just fine but new to the sport so wouldn't mind a bit more room to practise on. Any suggestions? I haven't tried dome valley or south of Auckland bike parks yet.

[Jay GTI]

Thundercross may be your best bet, a couple of tricky for a beginner sections on the B loop (well my missus thought twice about them, but rode them fine) but plenty of room to figure out the basics.

[nzspokes]

Thundercross may be your best bet, a couple of tricky for a beginner sections on the B loop (well my missus thought twice about them, but rode them fine) but plenty of room to figure out the basics.

Agreed. Thundercross is great for newbs. B loop a good start. Then later on MotoX central is fun.

[Dave89]

Go and stay at The Farm for the weekend, every type of trail , but more importantly big open fields you can just go and play in.

[Henk]

Just head out to woodhill, you know how to ride a bike anyway and as long as you remember to stand up you'll be fine. Good thing about the forest when you don't know what you are doing is you'll hit a tree before too long if it gets away on you, unlike an open paddock where you can pick up lots of speed before you put yourself through the nearest fence.

[gspiggs]

All good advice, thanks all. I also have a mate that has some land scenic drive way so will give that a go.

[barty5]

Better off to learn at sandpit that way by making it a little harder for yourself when you do get toother places that are harder you wont be afraid to have a go.

[Jay GTI]

Better off to learn at sandpit that way by making it a little harder for yourself when you do get toother places that are harder you wont be afraid to have a go.

The Sandpit is hard going if you don't know what you're doing, which is why I highly recommend getting a lesson for the first ride. I might be able to ride reasonably well but I can't teach, so a couple of newbies I've taken out there I got to have lessons from the Sandpit crew, they've both fully agreed with me afterwards. This even applies if you're a roadie, off-roading is backwards, so all your usual instincts will be wrong.

Trust me, 1 lesson out there will save you hours and hours of struggle, riding badly and trying to unlearn bad technique (I speak from experience, I'm still unlearning a couple of major bad habits).