So now I got a new bike..... Who wants to go for a ride on sunday!

[cheese]

Ok I finally got a bike (yay!!)

So heading out to the bike park as teh rain will probably make it too wet for Kimmies so I was thinking about woodhill for a blast.

Anyone keen to come along??

[jimmy 2006]

2 man CC, DO IT !!!!

[WRT]

Nice one bro - I like what you have done with your profile ;)

Enjoy your ride, I'll have to catch up with you another time for some CR madness.

[Danger]

I'm itching for a ride but think I'm going to be too busy this week end Cheese.

[FlangMasterJ]

Ok I finally got a bike (yay!!)

So heading out to the bike park as teh rain will probably make it too wet for Kimmies so I was thinking about woodhill for a blast.

Anyone keen to come along??

Got any pics of the new steed there cheese?

[cheese]

Yeah I've just got it in bits at teh moment ready for the new bits I'm getting.

[Firefight]

Ok I finally got a bike (yay!!)

So heading out to the bike park as teh rain will probably make it too wet for Kimmies so I was thinking about woodhill for a blast.

Anyone keen to come along??


few of us were planning on going out to WH on sunday, what time were you thinking ?


F/F

[cheese]

Probably first thing in the morning.

[cheese]

My cell is 021 233 59 80

[Buddy L]

A CR, a wise choice their chesse.
can't go rideing this weekend toupo track day with the KB clan. Going to thrash the 6 hundy and wear out my knee sliders:yes:

[T-Thunder13]

ah 2004 i see. nice
thinkin about one of those 2001 jobys aye.
but will the old lady let me put another bike in the garage, or do i just say nothing until it turns up! ha
will be keen on a ride in the near future but my xr seems momentarily in the process of shitting its self. so gonna go watch the two man on sunday

[T-Thunder13]

AND I JUST MADE IT TO FAIR WEATHER RIDER FUCK YEAH!:done:

[dammad1]

AND I JUST MADE IT TO FAIR WEATHER RIDER FUCK YEAH!:done:

Does that mean the mud should be no problem for ya next time Tom?

[T-Thunder13]

Does that mean the mud should be no problem for ya next time Tom?

ah mud shmud, i eat mud for breakfast.
thats why im so skinny!
i see your a weekend cruiser dan, ill have to catch up.

[dammad1]

ah mud shmud, i eat mud for breakfast.
thats why im so skinny!
i see your a weekend cruiser dan, ill have to catch up.

LOL if you want to catch up you'll have to ditch the old XR buy a 2 stroke!:rofl:

[jimmy 2006]

dammad, did you get my PM??

[cheese]

Well Woodhill was fuckking crap. I don't think that the tracks have been graded in months. The whoops are worse than normal. The dead forest (is that what its called) was so dry and just a fuckign mess.

So after 1 hour at woodhell we went to kimmys.

Kimmys is possibly the most fun place I've ever ridden. There is everythign there. Did some bitch jumps on the MX track (there is some freaky jumps there) and had a blast on the enduro loop.

not going back to woodhill till we have had a month of rain. I really think that they need a bulldozer to fix teh whoops.....

[Reckless]

Wondered where you went. I went to Thunder Vally Sunday was a good day. Went there cause my 17 year old wanted to do tracks he new. Just enough mud to make it fun but not so much it was a stuggle. Took us friggin ages to clean the bikes in the dark when we got home.

I agree with you about Woodhill. Its been like that for ages and ages! I hate, hate the constant whoops. We usually by-pass the place if we are going out there and drive over the sand hill at the end and down the beach 15mins to the bombing range. The tides gotta be right though. Good fun and free!

Although Thunder Valley is getting a bit chewed up. I've asked the last two times when I've paid, if he grades it but haven't seen anything done yet. 20 bucks per bike, 15 for my young fella and they have a ticket system, 6th ride free.

Kimis is the Best place but its 30 bucks a bike. So for me thats x 3 bikes plus petrol for the bikes and to get there and Maintenance. For a family outing its getting up to 200 bucks each time, and no ticket system, thats too much for a family. So only go there if I've won lotto that week.

[cheese]

Kimmys is got a concession ticket system. $300 for a year pass.

I think I'll give thunder valley of ardmore a go this weekend.

[Reckless]

That $300 would be per bike. I imagine?
Not to bad if you decided to make that your regular track, would pay for itself in 10 rides. I wonder if they have a family rate, as it would still be $900, 4 me, depending what they decided what the KX85 would cost.

[cheese]

Dunno give them a call.

Where is thunder valley? Is that the one that has an enduro loop too?

[cheese]

Oh and while I remember, they are going to trial being open this winter. slip and slide though.....

[Reckless]

Thunder valley-You turn off at Mercer then 20mins futher. Its basically farm land with bike tracks quite good though.
I'll try to suss the directions 4 you

[Firefight]

highway 22 just up from Glen Murray

have look here

http://www.yellowpages.co.nz/Pages/Map/0,2876,a6001_c1186_d5748905_l0_m0,00.html?business Name=Thundercross+Valley+Bike+Park&category=Motorcycle+Riding+Schools&mapKeyword=&location=New+Zealand#top


F/F

[Firefight]

[QUOTE=Reckless;1044441]

I agree with you about Woodhill. Its been like that for ages and ages! I hate, hate the constant whoops. We usually by-pass the place if we are going out there and drive over the sand hill at the end and down the beach 15mins to the bombing range. The tides gotta be right though. Good fun and free!



QUOTE]


Its a shame that it has got that way, I will pass on your comments to Greg, I know there have been issues with the land owner wanting more money for the use of the park plus Greg has been directing money into setting up a new Bike park sou east of the exsisiting park.

I used to spend about 2-3 days a week on the bull dozer once a month trying to keep the track up to grade, not much fun , but worth it once it was done.

I have some annual leave coming up will check with Greg and see if something can be done.

F/F

[Firefight]

have a read...


http://www.poweradventures.co.nz/bikepark.asp?id=153


will still ring Greg and see if anything can be done..


F/F

[jimmy 2006]

Cheese, should have done the CC ride at woodhill was not all that bad, but that many bikes going over almost any terrain creates woops.

woodhill needs rain. it sucks at the moment so wooped out !!

just hang out for winter and it should be great!! riding there in the rain is also worth doing. Also keeping off the main track gets you out of the worst bits of the woops.

last i heard was that the tender for woodhill was being negotiated and that power adventures probably would not be the ones that will end up running the park in the future. i guess we just have to see.

kimmies in winter i don't think will be any fun at all.

[Firefight]

for those intersted, copy of an email from Greg Power.



"Hi Dave



There have been two changes of owner and three of management for Woodhill Forest and the Motorcycle Park has been put up for Tender.

I have only had month by month leases on the Motorcycle Park and could have been kicked out at any time in favour of a new operator.

This has meant for the past two years, I have had a very unstable lease arrangement which has precluded me investing in upgrading the motorcycle park in any shape or form. I cannot afford to pay people to ride at the motorcycle park.

The only reason I have kept “minding” the motorcycle park is to provide at least somewhere for people to ride. We have to pay licence fees, wardens, insurance, GST, ACC, admin staff (office lady), vehicle fuel, quad fuel, vehicle & quad maintenance, etc, etc, paid out of somewhere so we have had to continue with the fees even though we know it is not up to the standard we would have loved to set. Had we not done this the park would not have been open.

Currently we are in the tender process and may not get the park again. The time and effort spent sorting out the park does not create enough return to warrant it as a stand alone business. We know this. Anyone looking at our figures would know that too. However we are keen to keep the motorcycle park as a service to motorcyclists, to Honda and as an integral part of Power Adventures. We are asking for a 5X5 lease (that is 10 years) to be able to have stability and the confidence to invest.

We are prepared to invest quite heavily in the motorcycle park should we get this long term lease.

As you may know, we invested $11,000 in getting the “NEW” park ready for opening only to have it abandoned by the then Carter Holt Harvey so we have been very gun shy about spending money without a watertight contract.





Dave, you may put this information up on the site if you like



Cheers and thanks for the info

Greg"

[cheese]

I better clarify that I've been a long time lover of woodhill and think that it's pretty good for the money (especially now I have a honda), but it was in a bit of a state. It is lacking in rain and it's a great place to ride when its really wet. It's just I've not seen it that bad in ages.

Who would be taking over the park if power adventures loose it?

Why can't we have a working bee, or a donation, or invest in the bike park or something? Or even a yearly fee that would give him the grealy needed revenue?? I'm sure that someone that rides bikes works for a place with a bulldozer!!!

[Firefight]

I better clarify that I've been a long time lover of woodhill and think that it's pretty good for the money (especially now I have a honda), but it was in a bit of a state. It is lacking in rain and it's a great place to ride when its really wet. It's just I've not seen it that bad in ages.

Who would be taking over the park if power adventures loose it?

Why can't we have a working bee, or a donation, or invest in the bike park or something? Or even a yearly fee that would give him the grealy needed revenue?? I'm sure that someone that rides bikes works for a place with a bulldozer!!!


WMCC, maybe ?, also a few adventure type companies have been after it for a while. We have had many working bees at woodhill over the last few years, pretty shit job track cutting, but have always had plenty helpers, always finish with a bloody good barbq and a ride.

I can understand Gregs point of view, he has already lost 11k, and would be silly to pour more money into the place unless he knows he will get the contract.

I still like it there, even when its a bit rough on the main tracks there is always some good not so used areas to ride if you know the place well enuff.




F/F

[Firefight]

I'm sure that someone that rides bikes works for a place with a bulldozer!!!


problem with that is most people with that sort of gear are using it durning the week(thats when we need to grade the tracks with the bully) we tried doing it in the week end, and would close a track off while we ran the bulldozer up the tracks, but from time to time a bike might get a bit lost and come barrling round the corner and find an 8 tonne bully in the way, both Greg and I had a few scares like that.

The other problem is the machine has to be pretty narrow, as you know some of the tracks are pretty tight.


F/F

[telliman]

heaps of tracks further down the beach guys, much more fun!

[cheese]

Man I'd go drive the 4 wheeler with the grader on for a couple of hours if they wanted!!

[cheese]

heaps of tracks further down the beach guys, much more fun!

Hey I went there once, they are wicked, but aren't you not allowed in that area?

[Firefight]

Man I'd go drive the 4 wheeler with the grader on for a couple of hours if they wanted!!




the quad is only for light touch up, really need the bully to get them in shape


F/F

[T-Thunder13]

there's an auction at mechinery equipment on saturday 12 and they've got a bob cat going. its at the mountain bike park entrance at woodhill, viewing on friday arvo. listed in the classifieds last saturday. im gonna go check the auction out got heaps of shit, chainsaws water blasters, bob cats what more could you want other than the cash to buy it all with!

[jimmy 2006]

i understand that it is alot of money to run the park.
some weekends i have been at woodhill there must have been close to (or over) 200 people. 200 x 20 = $4000 am i missing something?? if i am out with the numbers correct me please !!

i am not bagging the park as i think that it is a great place to ride, i would just like the tracks more maintained ......

[Reckless]

couple of things I've noticed.

First thing is we severly need another decent off road facility. Everywhere is packed by the sound of it with some of us spending mega dollars going to Mercer and Huntly.

Secondly. If the guy at Woodhill is getting shagged about with his future who can blame him for taking what he can out of it if he thinks all his effort is going to be waisted any day.

BUT if Jimmy is correct and its only one or two weekends takings to fix it up it should have been done a while ago.

Thats where point one clicks back in, there is NOWHERE else to go. So its still packed houses there. What motovation is there for him to do anything he doesn't have to cause even with a crap track it still full house every weekend.
Would you buy a secondhand bobcat if you had to possibly resell it tommorrow.

[cheese]

What about river head? why can't that be open more often?

[jimmy 2006]

maybe WMCC could open up some of riverhead??? more trail rides?
but it is really only for summer. Riverhead i think has the potential to be the best place around AKL to ride. AND it dosn't screw your bike as much as the sand at woodhill does.

[Firefight]

i understand that it is alot of money to run the park.
some weekends i have been at woodhill there must have been close to (or over) 200 people. 200 x 20 = $4000 am i missing something?? if i am out with the numbers correct me please !!

i am not bagging the park as i think that it is a great place to ride, i would just like the tracks more maintained ......



However, the costs to run the park are higher than you may imagine..

I know your not bagging the park, and this reply is only to give some balance to old misconception that the bike park was a licnese to pint money.., not a dig at you.

most of the high voulme numbers are durning winter and on sundays, when other parks are closed or unrideable, takings over summer were much lower,
and often would not cover costs of petrol and wages. never mind the $1000.. a month that Carter holt wanted for rent.. part of the Forest user contract with CH was to maintain the boundry fences around the bike park, from memory these were cut on a weekly basis, particulary the section that returns from the bowl to the metal forsetry road.. Both Greg and I would spend atleast a day durning the week mending fences, replacing signs and such like.. In the early days of bike park ops Greg would pay a contarctor to come out a spend two days grading the track cost NS$2500-3000., the tracks would be good for about 2 months max, and then would need doing again.

After that Greg bought his own bulldozer and tractor and we would do the grading ourselves.s you may imagine from your experince with bikes sand reeks havoc on machinery and maintence cost are also very high.

Blue Wing Honda donated the 500cc quad which as you know was there for response to break downs , accidents and would be used for minor track grading , the quad would often use upward of 60 litres of petrol a day..

Admin costs include a hefty insurance policy, printing of that dam data base for sign in, tickets for a rides (remember the ones 10 tickest = free ride)
cell phones, first aid equipment , loo paper , disinfectant(yes the wardens cleaned the bog before each day) may have missed some of the other costs, but I think you get the idea..


F/F

[jimmy 2006]

Point taken..... Pity really that it costs so much then. I guess it is also not a charity so therefore there are also wages taken out from somewhere.

I would have thought that the sponsorship of the park by honda would have also added money for general maintainance.

good luck to the people that take it over, i hope they manage to run it in a way that they can spend the money on keeping the tracks maintained. i guess we all will have to wait to see what happens over the next couple of months. I hope it absolutly pisses down through winter, since the rain is going to have to try to level the tracks for the peak winter months by itself.

[Firefight]

[QUOTE=jimmy 2006;1046054]Point taken..... Pity really that it costs so much then. I guess it is also not a charity so therefore there are also wages taken out from somewhere.

QUOTE]



I think this is one of the reasons that the smaller tracks have closed over the last couple of years, places like Steels at Ramarama and the Jam track at Clevedon ..

lets hope it gets sorted..

F/F