Well, lots has happened since I last posted here. Goodie Gumdrop has been built - this is a section of track above the OCC (Outdoor Camping Centre), we hosted a round of the MTBNZ Cup and have recently tapped in to the Community Work resource.

When we scoped the Pines in 2006 we cleared a section of track but because it passed back close to itself we short-cutted it and thought we'd come back to it later - didn't expect it to be almost 4 years later. The Community Workers visit weekly and over 5 weeks they have turned that section in to a rideable piece of track. A team of eight Singletrack Club members went over today and built some of the more difficult sections, and the Pines extension is now ready to ride. We haven't measured it but it is about 300m we think. The berms and corners are really soft so take them easy until they have bedded in. Once they are packed down the big exit berm will be so much fun to ride. You can see a few photos of the work here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... cc324942cd. There are plans for the board walk to be longer than it currently is, but it is rideable at the moment anyway. It look really nice when the ferns have grown back up to the edge of the track.

Man looking at those facebook pics you guys shifted a LOT of dirt to fill that berm in !! Must have been an epic afternoon effort Well done that team of trackbuilders.

pedalingkiwi wrote:Man looking at those facebook pics you guys shifted a LOT of dirt to fill that berm in !! Must have been an epic afternoon effort Well done that team of trackbuilders.

Couple of hours of double teaming the dirt barrow. Berm was filled up pretty quick once we had the logs in place

A couple of laps around Living Springs for me today. The new section in the Pines is good, the big berm at the bottom is still a bit soft but just seems to go on and on when riding it. Tracks all riding well although a couple of the switchbacks in Zanes have broken up a bit mid corner.

Is always good riding over there away from Chch. Nice to ride on few sections I helped build too.

Looking forward to the network of tracks growing, could become the best place to ride in the future.

yeah, we totally enjoyed the crap out of it today too. was cool. the new bits were good, definitely need riding to pack in.

The bit of rain should help it all pack in too, and that long berm is likely to require a bit more filling with dirt once what there has been packed in properly.

Keep riding it people... many tyres will help pack it all in!!

We had a good session at Living Springs today with a team of 8 working on the new Bellbird Gully Track. It was our plan to continue working here next time but on the way home we stopped to see the slip on Zane's that Scott had told us about and we were filled with shock and awe . And and . It is no small slip. It's taken about 20m of track and moved it about 6 m sideways. It's just near a bend in our track and it is quite likely that the track just above the slip will be lost as well.

The ground is a sloppy gloop (technical term) so it will be too hard to rebuild at the moment (and it is still moving anyway) so we are going to put bridges across it in the meantime. We will aim to do this on 16th October if anyone wants to join us.

In the meantime, if you are over there, when you get to the top of the slip you can walk down the hill just before it and rejoin the track at the creek.

Here are some pictures...

This is what the upper track looked like when we built it


This is what the upper track looks like today - see the crack running along the side. The track is all undercut as well so not sure how long it will stay there


Looking up towards the upper track


The lower track used to be on the left of the picture, it has been pushed to the far right. You can see one of the box drains if you look closely

From the top looking down


The track used to go from near where I am standing to where the bike is


Sloppy goop






Retrieving a box drain

Looks perfectly rideable to me!

Sweet! More technical sections!!

Who would I talk to about gaining access to the DH track that's being used for nationals? I'd like to get a few shots of the scenery from up there (no riding, just scenery/timelapse stuff), and a few of the features for a promotional video of the nationals rounds i'll be filming, but not sure who to talk to

that's ok - I'll fix it monday evening. Yeah right !

OMG - and with such unstable gloop it is gonna take a while to "settle down". Am I right it's that section above the rock bridge, below the overhanging vines ?? (or as Rebekah said in original post - "near a bend". Um - there's quite a few bends on Zanes Rebekah )

wuffy wrote:Who would I talk to about gaining access to the DH track that's being used for nationals? I'd like to get a few shots of the scenery from up there (no riding, just scenery/timelapse stuff), and a few of the features for a promotional video of the nationals rounds i'll be filming, but not sure who to talk to

Hi Wuffy, all the DH trackwork is being done by the team at Gravity Canterbury so you will have to contact them.

pedalingkiwi wrote:that's ok - I'll fix it monday evening. Yeah right !

OMG - and with such unstable gloop it is gonna take a while to "settle down". Am I right it's that section above the rock bridge, below the overhanging vines ?? (or as Rebekah said in original post - "near a bend". Um - there's quite a few bends on Zanes Rebekah )

Yep, that's right, it goes from half way thru that vine section to 2m before your rock crossing. Well at least it did when we were there - could be bigger now as she was very much alive when we there - had clay moving down the slope right before our eyes

We managed to find and rescue all three of your culverts though They were 6m away from where they used to be.

I suspect we're going to lose the track above the slip too as it was only just hanging on when we were there and water was flowing out of under the overhanging track and there was a dirty great crack forming uphill of that section of track. Oh joy.