Club News - 1st Quarter 2018
Hello All,
By now you're all likely to be swapping or have swapped your tyres over to those extra nobbly mud tyres in preparation of the continuation of our 2018 summer rain and what is forecast to be thankfully, an above average winter....
Summer for us this year obviously saw a lot of wet weather, some perfect growing conditions for our favourite gorse and a resulting heavy hit on our trails with growth and muddy patches not normally associated with summer. This however hadn't dampened the spirits of local riders which is sobering to see such strong numbers riding locally.
It's also great to see the club holding a few club races over the summer months with Steve and Kevin's summer Xmas cracker XC race and the mini Enduro's organised by yours truly. Awesome to see so many people come along to all of these events with over 25 riders at each event. More details below.
In operational news, the club has been strengthening our relationship with the WDC and building off the massive success of the Rainbow Warrior and French Connection projects. The council has now approached the club to manage the Parihaka maintenance contract enabling us to get exactly what we want. As part of this, they have also started the project of replacing all our signage and maps and information boards in the park. This is a very big and positive move for both the WDC and the club enabling us to work closely with the WDC to deliver a solution we can all have and enjoy for years to come.
We must also take this time to welcome all our new club members. With the support of more and more members we are starting to get on top of things here behind the scenes with council, local authorities and other land owners who can now see that we aren't the club who cried wolf.
For now, and from the team behind the club, we thank you all for sticking with us and helping us grow this cool little club.
Mini Enduro Series 17/18
With many other clubs around the country offering a social weeknight ride and race scene, we thought it would be worth trialing a mini enduro series with the help of strava and Matesrace.
With the hopes to run 3 events (one per month for summer) the first went well with 26 official riders and a further 5 or 6 joining in for fun based at Parihaka.
Our second event saw over 30 riders turn up for the Glenbervie round over a fairly busy course which saw a fair few of the young guys heading for home rather early. (It wasn't that bad!)
Sadly our third round never eventuated due to the endless summer storms and horrendous weather for February and March but we are now looking to hold much more of these events next summer.
Congratulations to our series winners who were - Tracey Harvey - First Female and Alec Burnett, First male.
Forest Access - Whanui Forest
Recently, a non member of the club was found to be riding in the Whanui forest in whangarei and subsequently trespassed from the Hancock Tau Matua plantings forests and land by their new security provider.
This also highlighted the clubs needs to re-visit the forest managers and make sure we keep up our appearances towards our forest access permit we have had that has effectively been ongoing for around 20 years.
Forest access is currently permitted provided the rider is a current financial member of the club and they are using the forest out of production hours, avoiding any active forest operations and obeying the forest rules. (Almost exactly the same as our entry to Glenbervie) The forest managers have however, highlighted a recent addition to the use of their forests which they have had implemented upon them. Each rider or group ride leader is now required to file an entry or trip report to the out of hours service by phoning them on, 09 470 1300 and saying something similar like the below:
"Hello, my name is Steve the weirdo on a yeti and I will be accessing the Whanui forest from Oyster road and will be returning back to this point in approximately 2 hours, I will call you to confirm my exit when I return"
This is great that the forest managers are still happy to allow us to use their forest and they have even indicated they would be interested in allowing us to develop more trails in their land if we felt a need to. Possibly a scouting mission out around Ngunguru Forest in in order?
The basic rule here is please respect their land and be courteous to them. We intend to keep access to these places and our relationships strong like we have with Glenbervie forest also. The club will take a very strong approach towards any people who deliberately flaunt these conditions as we do not want to loose the area's for riding.
Membership Cards!
Jeff Oliver print in town have kindly donated their services to allow us to all have new membership cards and a few stickers.
These will hopefully be rolled out over the next month or so and mailed to everyone on our database who is a current 2018 member.
It will be advisable to carry these cards somewhere on your bike, in your backpack or in your bib shorts in case you are ever asked for proof from a forest security guard......
massive thanks to club member Luke Williams for helping us to sort these out.
Upcoming Events
Don't forget to keep up to date with our events coming up here on our Facebook page.
We have many events planed for this year with more group rides, an XCO race, A full size Enduro event and a fun orienteering styled event so be sure to follow along as we bring you these fun outings.
Club Memberships
To all our current members, new and old, thank you for supporting us through a time the club is trying to grow and allow us all to prosper.
Please support the club to support the parks and facilities we all use and abuse.
To join the club, head along to here! It's super easy and works a treat!
I'm assuming most of you have fallen asleep by now so I will round this newsletter out.
Safe Riding,
Ben Haselden
WMBC