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Queenstown MTB Club Weekly Round Up |
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Written by Aaron Fernandez
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Sunday, 20 November 2011 20:36 |
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Whats on this week in QT
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November 20, 2011
There has been quite a lot of progress in the last few months towards enlarging Queenstown’s range of cross country trails. The recent mountain bike club trail survey showed there there is a real demand for more XC trails especially out in the fantastic back-country around Queenstown. With this in mind the club has put together a proposal to link the scattered existing trails into an extensive network of singletrack XC trails totalling over 75kms of trails. This proposal has been very well received by DOC and other interested parties and the club has started to rise funds to turn this into reality. The network would eventually stretch all the way from Macetown to 12 Mile delta. The club president Tom Hey has been working closely with the department of conservation and is very close to finishing the management agreement for the trails on DOC land.
It looks like one of the first trails to get started might be from the 7 Mile carpark up the 7 Mile creek towards Moke Lake avoiding the need to ride up the road when riding to Moke Lake from 7 Mile. This area is rich with gold mining history and Tom has already walked through it once with an archaeologist from DOC. Hopefully they will complete a second walk through in the next couple of weeks after which a report on how best to deal with the historic mine workings will be submitted to DOC. Once accepted we should be able to begin work.
Of course exact time frames are impossible to predict with a project of this size that is run on a shoestring budget. However we are hoping to start work this summer, permissions and funding permitting. Although we hope to employ professional trail builders, given the limited funding we have we will also be relying heavily on volunteers to help build the trails. Stay tuned for requests for volunteers, updates and a conceptual map of the network.
Part of an overgrown gold mining trail running parallel to Moke Lake rd and 7 Mile creek. This should be relatively easy to open back up to allow bikers to ride up to Moke Lake without riding on the seal.
There is a lot of mining history alongside 7 Mile creek.
There are many old trails that could be reused, this one could be used to help create a trail between Fernhill loop and Arawata terrace.
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November 20, 2011
The guys from Queenstown Bike Taxis with some help from Outside Sports took this slick video of a recent session from dirt park out Cadrona way. Check it out for some sick riding! Remember QBT are big supporters of the QT Bike Club so if you need some transport get in touch with them! Newsletter readers may need to go to the website to check it out.
QBT Dirt Park Session #1 from Jon Bokrantz on Vimeo.
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November 20, 2011
Outside Sports have got Justin Leov building them a new pump track out at their soon to be opened demo center at the bottom of the Queenstown Bike Park. While it is still under construction here is a sneak peak of how the track is shaping up so far.. ( newsletter readers: click here to go to the website and view the video)
Justin Leov/Outside Sports Pump Track from firstfloor on Vimeo.
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November 20, 2011
This week we will be joining the R&R guys for a loop around Moke Lake and Lake Dispute. Starting from Wilson’s Bay car park at 7 Mile. Meet just before 6pm to start riding at 6. We’ll ride through 7 Mile and then up to Moke lake to finish back at the car park.
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November 20, 2011
There are plans afoot to re-establish some old favorites in the Queenstown Bike Park, some old trails that have been unsued for some time may get a new lease of life in coming months. The club is supporting a proposal to re-open The Hobbit and WC98 with the majority of the work to be completed by volunteers. Although the club is focusing on enlarging the XC trail network at the moment we recognise that there is also strong demand for more DH trails and so sill be assisting in any way we can. Stay tuned here and on the Skyline Facebook page for more info as plans progress.
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November 20, 2011
Come along and help the club build a new trail out near 7 Mile. We are building a new longer XC entrance into 7 Mile from the town end car park. Meet at the 7 Mile car park at 6pm bring tools if you have them or just yourself is fine too as we have tools you can use. Afterwards we’ll be heading out to Harry’s for $8 pizza.
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November 20, 2011
The new XC trail that will provide a longer more gradual entrance into 7 Mile from the town end is well underway now. The club members who turned up to volunteer their efforts on Wednesday cleared a new section and built a switchback to turn the trail back towards 7 Mile. The trail will start at the 7 Mile car park and head east (towards town) for over half a km and then at the switchback the crew built on Wednesday it will turn back to wards 7 Mile. From here it will descend to the lake level at a more gentle gradient than the existing walking track. This will make it easier to not only get into 7 Mile from the town end but much easier to pedal back out!
Thanks for the great work to all those who turned up! Remember we are out there every Wednesday night from 6pm if you want to come help, the more volunteers we get the faster it will get build and the quicker we can move onto the next XC trail!
The guys hard at work with Matt trying desperately to bury James!
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November 20, 2011
The cult online video MTB show Jon Television is back for a second season in this first episode they escape the Swedish winter and come over to sunny Queenstown and enjoy the Queenstown leg of the Downhill Southern Series and the QMTBC bike sale. Newsletter readers click here to view it on the website.
JON TELEVISION S02E01 – Let’s go to Queenstown from Jon Bokrantz on Vimeo.
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November 19, 2011
There seems to be more trail building going on than you can shake a stick at at the moment. The crew that are oragnising the Queenstown round of the national DH series are hard at work at the moment building the course up the remarks access road. Check out their Facebook page for more info or to help them out.
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