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

[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


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[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