My how time flies. Whilst it seems like just yesterday since the AGM, we are now a third of the way through the year.
2012/2013 Committee
The new committee has been working away and it has been great to see some new faces come on board this year. Committee meetings are held the first Wednesday of each month. Meetings are open to all club members, so if you have a matter you would like to raise, then please
email Russel, the Club Secretary so it can be added to the agenda.
View the committee>>
Shuttle Days
The club is looking to run Shuttle Days at least once a month (weather permitting). The first two shuttle days at Long Gully have been a great success.
On November the 3rd we will be running a city focused shuttle day. This day will start in Miramar before heading over to Mt Vic. If you have mates who are keen to shuttle, but perhaps a bit daunted by the Long Gully Tracks, then this is the perfect intro to gravity assisted mountain biking.
Register for the 3 Nov Shuttle Day.
Women's Festival Of Cycling
Shuttle Day New Zealand's first dedicated Women's Cycling Festival is going to be held over Labour Weekend. The Welly MTB Club is a proud sponsor of the event, and helping out with the Shuttle day on 21st October. Ladies, this will be something special. The Polhill tracks, including the ever popular Transient will be closed to all other users. Now is the time to
register via the event website
Trail Building News
You may not know it, but the Welly MTB Club is so much more than just Long Gully. Club members have always been involved in projects outside of the Long Gully trails, and in the past few months the club has looked to formalise some of these arrangements with the City Council.
Long Gully
Tony Harvie continues to do great work on the Race Track, and Adrian Armstrong is still fettling away at the 420 line. Long Gully Manager, Jono Baddiley is in the process of getting a plan of attack together for the other trails, so expect to see some dig days advertised via the Facebook pages soon. Please remember that all trails at Long Gully have an overseerer, so please contact them before starting any trail work.
Long Gully Trails >>
Miramar Track Project
It has been a busy winter out in Miramar. Jail Brake has been recieving some some TLC, with new drainage, and an all new Pine Tree berm. The Miramar crew have also been working away at a new trail called Solitary. This will run on the ridgeline between Conviction and Jailbrake, and will be less groomed, but aimed to be as much fun as Jail Brake. The top third is currently open as a pilot track, take it easy on your first run down as this is still very much a work in progress.
The Miramar Track Project also recieved an accolade in the recent Wellington Community Awards with a highly commended in the Health and Well Being category (much to their surprise). Miramar digs run every Sunday at 2pm.
Check their facebook pages for digs >>
Mystic Portal
Eugene has been fettling away on the track and by all accounts it is running better than ever. Eugene posts dig days on the Club FB site, so look out for these if you are keen to help out.
Mt Vic Trails
Steve Wallace (former Makara Peak chair) has agreed with the council to manage the MTB trails on Mt Vic under the banner of the Club. Steve has already led a couple of digs, tidying up some spots on the Ridgeline/Super D track. Steve has got some great plans for the area, so like the
Mt Vic Trails FB page to keep up to date.
Brooklyn Trail Builders
Craig, Kev, Andrew and Chris have been going great guns over the past few years developing 12km of trail in the Polhill area. After discussions with the Brooklyn boys, they have now come on board a project of the club. The lads of recently set up a face book page with the future plans, which include a new downhill only option along side the bottom part of Transient. They are also working hard with the WCC to open up the other side of the valley to MTBs. We welcome the Brooklyn Trail Builders on board. They have regular Wednesday lunch time digs, and will be posting more regular weekend digs on the new descending tracks
up on the Facebook page.
WTA Diggers Summit
The Welly MTB Club is working together with the
Wellington Trails Alliance to host the first ever Wellington specific trail builders conference, the Diggers Summit. Spread over 2 days, there will be a mix of indoor and outdoor, theory and practical, social and riding activities. The idea behind the summit is to bring together all trail builders in the Wellington region and provide an oppourtunity to get to know each other and share knowledge. There are more details on the
Club Website, a
facebook event for registering your interest and a
twitter feed for updates.
Club Riders Overseas
It has been a bit of a mixed bag for our racers overseas. Unfortunately Sarah Atkin had a pretty good crash and did her collar bone that saw her out of the final rounds of the World Cup and World Champs. Brynn Atkinson has been whipping up a storm in Norway at the final round of the DH World Cup, where Richard Leacock qualified for the finals. On the Enduro side there were strong showings from Wellington locals, Jeremy Blake and Mike Williamson in the MegaAvalanche.
Mike the Hippy has moved on from Europe, survived a mugging on arrival in South America and started up work digging in Chile. We'll be looking to reproduce some of his updates (un edited of course) shortly.
If you have any updates from other Welly riders, please
drop us a line.
Reminder - Club Memberships Are Open Again
Joining up for the club has never been easier or cheaper. Just head along to the club website, and you can
do it all online, with a credit card or direct credit. For the super low price of $30, you'll not only get access to the trails in Long Gully, but you will be supporting all of our other projects city wide. If you sign up for the
Nov 3rd Shuttle Day, you'll even get a discount on your membership.
And remember, only Club Members are allowed to ride the Long Gully tracks outside of shuttle days. This is liability and saftey issue for the club.
If you enjoy riding the gully trails, then please j
oin up as a member. This ensures that you see, read and agree to the Long Gully rules. Please respect the fact that these are on private land, and that the club has worked long and hard to ensure these trails are there for members to use.
Membership Tags Are On Their Way
For those of you who have signed up and are wondering where your tag is, they should be in your mailbox shortly. The reason they are so late is due to a pretty catastrophic machine breakdown at our tag supplier. But we have the tags now, and you will be recieving yours shortly.
Well cheers for making it through this mammoth update. Here is looking forward to a great summer of riding ahead. Good luck to everyone heading up to Levin this weekend for the second round of the
NZDH series.
