UPDATE: PanPac Eskdale MTB Park
Just a brief update on progress with the development of the new "Mill Block", at Pan Pac Eskdale MTB Park, Hawkes Bay.

Built, maintained and operated by the Hawkes Bay Mountain Bike Club (HBMTBC) on private property, 19.5km of new MTB trails have now been completed within this block, since starting construction in early 2012.
Some of these trails have been voluntary built by hand by our club members, the remainder by contractors (Baywide Dingos and Southstar Trails), paid for via funding grants and trail sponsorships/donations.

Watch a video of MINT - http://vimeo.com/95338657
Helmet cam of the first half of Grand Traverse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt6h-WnpKO0

Completed trails include: Tinker, Mint, Grand Traverse, Escalator, Skyline, Blowhole, Kamakazi, Shags Landing, Sleepy Hollow, Dragonfly, Centipede, Tigger, Stingray, Tumeke, Boars Nest, MrWhippy, Gateway and Whippett.
Trails currently under construction include: Spoon, Lorax, Northface, Uphill, Tardis, plus a few more

The club have planned many more km's to be built (over 40km more) within this 440ha "Mill block", that we'll construct as funds are secured (for contractor work), or time & volunteers allow (for hand-built work).


The HBMTBC also have access into part of another Pan Pac owned forest, known as the "Pakuratahi Valley" block (approx 850ha), where the club have already built 1 downhill trail, with this block allocated for future DH trail development. (Just need to note, that the HBMTBC need to co-exist within this block with the Moto-x club as well).
Currently access is only allowed for official club events/shuttles, until a new carpark is built - which is happening later this month, then club members ONLY will be able to access this block at their leisure (no shuttles)


In mid-late 2016, the existing Tait block (with approx 40km of trails) will be closed for logging, with the Waipunga block (approx 45km of trails) to be harvested the year after; though due to lots of windfall, the Waipunga block is currently CLOSED, where the HBMTBC will re-assess the situation in early summer (ie: the block might be opened over the summer months only).

Due to this 2150ha off-road facility being privately owned, ALL mountain bikers and runners require to be members of the HBMTBC.
Locals & anyone who frequent the venue more than 4 or 5 times a year are recommended to join the club. For visitors, we have a MTB Visitors Permit, which is valid for 3 weeks (effectively a "short term membership") at $10 each - available from all local cycle shops, Napier I-Site, or the Bayview 4 Square, or on the club website.

More info at http://www.hawkesbaymtb.co.nz
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/HawkesBayMTB

Wow, that's very impressive! Well done HBMTBC.

I'm curious as to what reasons the landowners cite for the access fee. I understand that it is private property but surely it's in their interests, as well, to have this relationship with your club to help ensure block closures, logging operations, maintenance work, fire danger notices, etc. are disseminated amongst the mtb community.
Given the size of Pan Pac , I find it hard to believe the revenue from the permits is a factor.

I appreciate Pan Pac aren't alone in charging for permitted entry to forest blocks. But apart from needing to cover the costs of policing the permits, why charge at all?

It said Membership . All those new Trails supposed to pay for themselves ?!

In reply to Kaiteri's question.
Pan Pac don't charge any fee for their access permits. Due to the size of our club, they allow us to manage all our permits/membership internally.
For all the other recreational activities that use the forest (there's over 30 different organisations that access the forest for various activities each year), they get their event permits directly from Pan Pac.

The fee's for MTB'ers & Runners is the HBMTBC fee for club membership.
MTB Visitor Permits are issued by the HBMTBC (not Pan Pac) and is effectively a short term membership - with gst content, maps and the ID cards expenses taken from the $10 fee, doesn't leave much income for the club.

Approx 70% of the annual income raised from memberships and permits goes back into our Parks general running/maintenance/operating costs (this does not leave anything for new development - hence requiring funding grants, donations & sponsorships & volunteers to build our new tracks). The remaining 30% goes to Admin expenses (maps, ID tags, insurance, gst, website/online rego, stationary, trailers WOF, misc expenses, etc).
Events & Social trips are all self-funded, ie: entry fee/cover charges need to cover all expenses for that activity.

Hence why the HBMTBC have contracted the local forest security this year to randomly check riders/runners membership/permits. He spends about 5 hours per month checking everyone who comes and goes from the forest, to try & eradicate those who illegally enter without membership/permit (which has been a big issue in the recent past).

As the HBMTBC permit with Pan Pac, is that ONLY hbmtbc members are allowed access to ride/run.

I hope this has explained & answered your query.

HawkesBayMTB

Thanks for the thorough & informative reply!

There's a lot to absorb there - some of it obviously specific to your relationship with Pan Pac, some of it increasingly relevant to other 'bike park' venues.
It seems that, as HBMTBC has entered into an agreement with Pan Pac, you can control access, at least for bikers & runners. In some other areas, mtb clubs have also entered into similar arrangements with local forest owners/managers and link the permit with membership. In fact, it can become their chief recruitment tool.
Meanwhile, other clubs, groups or individuals investing their efforts into trails on council or DoC land - and, in some cases, crown-lease forest - charge nothing. In the past, a sort-of "You ride mine and I'll ride yours" courtesy extended but that seems to be becoming increasingly undermined by these more formalised access arrangements.

As those of us at the coalface are aware, as more riders take to the hills (and forests), the demand for more tracks increases, as does the need for more maintenance. While sponsorship, advertising, map sales , event proceeds, etc. can fund a lot of good work, unless it can cover the cost of a trail manager, it puts an increasing burden on volunteers that may or may not be sustainable.
So is the future that we all end up running our clubs like businesses (with all the overheads that entails) and devise mechanisms by which we can ensure every trail user pays for the privilege..?

We have known that our situation here in the Hawkes Bay has been a bit different to the normal, by having a monopoly on the local mountain biking scene - hence why our membership numbers are larger than anywhere else (grows to about 1850 each year) - but we do realise, that if our local venue didn't require membership for access, we would probably only have about 100 members or less & therefore possibly not have created what we have done over the years - so we have been lucky.

We have had our arrangement with Pan Pac since 1995, with their main requirement being that only club members are allowed access, hence why we set up the Visitor Permits for non-members to be able to enjoy what we have here. (that was one of the 1st things I created when I became club Secretary 14 years ago)

On the financial side of things, the HBMTBC have been GST registered since mid 2012 (as we had crossed the annual $60k threshold), and that side of things has pretty much been treated like a business since (creating invoices, all payments made on the 20th of the month, 6-monthly gst payments, chartered accountant to produce the annual accounts, etc, etc).

During the 23 years that this club has existed, we have been totally self-sufficient, funding our own way, or successfully obtaining gaming trust funds for specific projects. We have had zero help/funding from any of the local councils - mostly due to the fact we are setup on private property, plus havn't really asked for anything from them either. It's only been over the last 12 months that we've started asking for trail sponsors/donations to help create our new trails at a quick rate, so that we have a good amount of quality trails available to replace the existing trails when they are lost to logging.

Recently, the HBMTBC have also hired a Maintenance Contractor, to work 1 day per week, just on keeping our existing trails tidy (brush-cutting, pruning, spraying, etc), as even though we have over 1800 members, its really only a dozen regulars that do any work (all voluntary) for this club, and over the last year or so, our time has been fulltime (in the weekends) on the new block development, therefore the existing trails were getting a little neglected.

Carl
Secretary
HawkesBayMTB

"...even though we have over 1800 members, its really only a dozen regulars that do any work..."
Yep, and how much is that ratio reflected around the country!

Thanks, again, Carl. It sounds as though HBMTBC has a good model that accounts for your success in both negotiating access to privately owned forest and developing what sounds like an impressive array of trails.
Looking forward to visiting one day

If I accidentally bring the Carbine on the trip up to CX nationals, are there any loops that make it easy to take in some of these super hot looking trails (MINT, GrandTraverse, Ninja, etc)?

Just saw the article in Spoke, keen for a trip to Hawkes Bay soon so also would like to know about loops.

Today's article & video in SPOKE magazine about our new 3.1km "Grand Traverse" trail - http://spokemagazine.com/2014/07/29/sou ... awkes-bay/ , mostly built by Southstar Trails (the first 600m was hand-built by club volunteers).

These new trails are all within the 440ha "Mill Block" at Pan Pac Eskdale MTB Park, generally accessed from the new Ken Ross Reserve carpark (at the northern end of the Pan Pac mill on SH2). You can also access the Mill Block from the Tait Rd carpark, riding thru the Tait block & the Replanted block into the Mill Block.
(NB: the Waipunga Block is currently closed to general riding/running during the winter months, due to large amounts of windfall). Also, the Pakuratahi Valley block (850ha) is where we will develop DH trails. Currently only 1 DH trail so far - currently only accessed for club events, no general riding until we complete the new carpark soon.


NB: Access is only for club members or visitors with a MTB Visitor Permit (which is valid for 3 weeks) - list of outlets who sell our permits on the JOIN page at http://www.hawkesbaymtb.co.nz
With your membership/permit, you will get the latest colour/waterproof trail map (printed in June, so it includes everything that is currently open to ride).

A suggested loop for intermediate (& above) level riders within the mill block could be: (this will make sense when you are in the park looking at your trail map)

Start from Ken Ross carpark - up Gateway, left up Seaview Road, veer right up 4x4 track & immediately left into Sleepy Hollow, exit sleepy hollow & cross over electric fence, cross over Tinker Road & go up Loop Rd to start of Tinker trail; ride first 140m of Tinker, veering left thru link to Mint, down Mint, left up Shags Landing, right along Loop Rd to Escalator, up Escalator & down Grand Traverse. (Stingray is currently out of the way, but this is where you can go over to ride it by riding up Tinker road, down Stingray, back up Tinker Rd, then along Loop Rd, back down Escalator, along Loop Rd to the start of Tinker) If you don't want to go over to Stingray, then turn right up Valley Road after exiting Grand Traverse, then up Shags Landing again, left on Loop Rd to the start of Tinker trail.
Now ride down Tinker, exit into Dragonfly, exit right onto Seaview Rd, right into Tigger, climb up to McCleland Spur, then right & down Centipede, right onto Seaview Rd again to its end & straight into Boars Nest, climb to Map Board on Seaview Rd.
From here either exit down Gateway back to carpark, or right up Seaview Rd again, then opp Sleepy Hollow turn right into MrWhippy, continue past map board & exit at bottom of trail onto Seaview Rd (opp Dragonfly), either turn right back up Seaview Rd, or left to ride up via Boars Nest again to the map board - repeat all, or part there-of as many times as you wish!

This above circuit covers all but 2 trails in the Mill Block that are currently completed & open to ride.
NB: The Uphill trail is shown on the maps, but isn't completed yet, only the lower 2/3rds built so far.

hawkesbaymtb

I also need to add from the below post that the last section of "Grand Traverse" is currently CLOSED - due to wet & boggy conditions on this very fresh track (we want to let it dry out & firm up before letting everyone ride it, otherwise it'll get ruined). The temporary exit brings you out at the same point as the completed trail exit onto Valley Rd.

We now have over 100km of MTB trails, plus over 40km of forestry roads spread thru the 1350ha area of Tait-Waipunga-Replanted-Mill Blocks.
There are approx 40km of these trails, currently closed within the Waipunga block.

hawkesbaymtb.co.nz

Thanks - looking forward to checking it out!