Auckland adventure rides

[Crisis management]

Please don't ride illegally in Woodhill, it benefits nobody. As of recently there are also officers of the law patrolling in the forest and your bike will be confiscated if you're caught.

Thanks for that Chris, I was assuming whatever we do is being done legally, I'll bear that point in mind. I assume any private roads will be well marked as such, and that it is fairly obvious if you aren't supposed to be somewhere.

Do you know how we can find such info out?

[chris]

Thanks for that Chris, I was assuming whatever we do is being done legally, I'll bear that point in mind. I assume any private roads will be well marked as such, and that it is fairly obvious if you aren't supposed to be somewhere.

Do you know how we can find such info out?

Have you got route sheet holders?

[Crisis management]

Have you got route sheet holders?

I have, courtesy of a last minute panic before the Kaipara 200.......

[chris]

I have, courtesy of a last minute panic before the Kaipara 200.......

Do you still have the route sheets?

[Crisis management]

Do you still have the route sheets?

Only the last half, the first half had a disagreement with the ground as I recall.

Someone should invent a device where people can talk to each other without using a one fingered typist!!

Alexander Graham Bell where are you!

[chris]

Alexander Graham Bell where are you!

Who's he? My e-mail however is chris@kiwirider.co.nz

[Ixion]

Please don't ride illegally in Woodhill, it benefits nobody. As of recently there are also officers of the law patrolling in the forest and your bike will be confiscated if you're caught.

Interesting. Do you know where they were based. I'm interested in the fact that householders who are burgled are dismissed cursorily on the grounds that the police have inadequate resources. Yet they can spare resources to provide what amounts to a security service for a private corporation. I'll be interested to see how Mr Broad explains that.

Also, "confiscated" ? On what grounds. I know of NO law that would permit that and NO law that allows confiscation without the judgement of a court.

The legal grounds on which the public roads throught the forest were closed are also very shaky. Basically CHH just moved in and closed them unitlaterally. They are still marked as roads on most maps.

[Crisis management]

Who's he? My e-mail however is chris@kiwirider.co.nz

Some merkin bloke that invented the telephone.

Email sent.

[chris]

Interesting. Do you know where they were based. I'm interested in the fact that householders who are burgled are dismissed cursorily on the grounds that the police have inadequate resources. Yet they can spare resources to provide what amounts to a security service for a private corporation. I'll be interested to see how Mr Broad explains that.

Also, "confiscated" ? On what grounds. I know of NO law that would permit that and NO law that allows confiscation without the judgement of a court.

The legal grounds on which the public roads throught the forest were closed are also very shaky. Basically CHH just moved in and closed them unitlaterally. They are still marked as roads on most maps.

CHH don't own Woodhill any more. As for your other points, don't ask me, just passing on what I was told. I also know that they were on the beach, booking bikes that were not road legal. Surely it's easy enough to just not ride illegally?

[Henk]

I for one am glad that something is being done about illegal riders in Woodhill. I've had a number of near head ons in the place when marking out events. Last year one of our freinds young daughters had to drop her bike when she came round a corner and there were about 12 people who were too tight to pay to ride at the bike park coming the other way.
Illegal riders not only make it dangerous to organise events but also builds up immense ill will with other legitimate users that makes access more dificult to get. These guys could well cost us riding areas.

[korupt555]

Whats the deal with riding the 'main' forestry roads in woodhill and riverhead? are people allowed to ride them, as long as you dont leave the road and go into the forest?

[Ixion]

Those "illegal" riders may be more legal than you. When the government sold Woodhill to Alex Harvey (whence it was onsold ad infinitum), one part of the deal was that Alex Harvey were supposed to allow access to the forest for recreational purposes . As had been the case when the forest was owned by the pople of NZ. And for many years ALL the roads (which, when the forest was sold were PUBLIC ROADS) were open to the public , except when loggin operations, or fire risk, necessitated their closure.

Now the forests have been sold to off shore corporations and NONE of the roads , except the road to the beach, which was retained as public property in the original agreement , are ever open.

The "owners' of Woodhill are not doing people some sort of favour by their grudding allowance of a tiny fragment of the forest for recreational use. They are in fact perpetuating a massive ripoff and swindle on the people of NZ. If some riders are willing to challenge this corrupt and greedy misappropriation of OUR property, then GOOD ON THEM.

[windboy]

I'm not very familiar with the rules here, just want to get out there and have some fun!

I have been mountain biking for years in woodhill and as far as I know, from 7 to dusk, woodhill forestry roads are open to the public. Has always been the case since 1999. with the exceptions of wednesday and saturday when they are opened till 12 at midnight.

Now this includes the gates at woodhill bikepark and the one on rimmers rd. Not sure about the rest...

Anyone else in for Sunday morning then?

Cheers,

[chris]

Those "illegal" riders may be more legal than you. When the government sold Woodhill to Alex Harvey (whence it was onsold ad infinitum), one part of the deal was that Alex Harvey were supposed to allow access to the forest for recreational purposes . As had been the case when the forest was owned by the pople of NZ. And for many years ALL the roads (which, when the forest was sold were PUBLIC ROADS) were open to the public , except when loggin operations, or fire risk, necessitated their closure.

Now the forests have been sold to off shore corporations and NONE of the roads , except the road to the beach, which was retained as public property in the original agreement , are ever open.

The "owners' of Woodhill are not doing people some sort of favour by their grudding allowance of a tiny fragment of the forest for recreational use. They are in fact perpetuating a massive ripoff and swindle on the people of NZ. If some riders are willing to challenge this corrupt and greedy misappropriation of OUR property, then GOOD ON THEM.

So get off your high horse, stop moaning and challenge them in the courts.

[Henk]

The contract they have with the crown states that recreational access must be granted where it doesn't interfere with operations and that existing users have preference.
What that means is that they could conceivably set aside half an acre for walkers and that's your lot.
When you are in there trying to run events for the riding public with all the labour etc supplied by volunteers, riding their own bikes (and banging up arrows isn't easy on them) with multi million dollars of public liability and rural fire insurance, it's a bit irritating when you come within six feet of a head on and a trip to hospital because someone is too tight to pay $20 to ride at the bike park or $30 to go to an organised ride the following day.
As a rule if you have to go around a locked gate you shouldn't be there, note that a lot of the gates in Riverhead get destroyed by people seeking access. Ixions point about them being public roads only holds any water if the bikes concerned are road legal, and none of the illegal bikes I have seen in Woodhill or Riverhead in the past 6 years or so of running events have been.