MTB community project

How we got involved.

I brought my first Mountain Bike about 30 years ago, I was still pig farming then and I found the bike to be very useful on farm when shifting sows.

My son Daniel and I started mountain biking more seriously together in 2012 training to ride the Mt Cook to Omarama section of the Alps to Ocean trail. Soon after it opened we rode with a group of fellow Waimate Rotarians taking 3 days to ride this section.

We enjoyed the biking and so did more and more. Waimate had a MTB track going up to the Whitehorse through Pine Trees, which we didn’t frequent much, however this trail was ruined after the September 2013 wind.

Early in 2014 my local electrician and MTB enthusiast Dave Hanson asked me to give him a hand to rebuild this trail and look at creating new MTB trails - which set off a chain of events.

Whitehorse MTB Riders Inc.

To receive funding, we needed to form a new club, which we called Whitehorse MTB Riders Inc. We started with a committee of 5, Dave as treasurer, my wife Shona - Secretary, Glenda Begg and Daniel were committee members and I was President.

Our Number 1 goal was to create a 7km shared-use trail, to be used by mountain bikers, walkers, runners and the like, from the end of Point Bush Road in Waimate to the Whitehorse. This trail was to have an average gradient of 5%, be 6-7km long and 2-3 m wide and to be called the Whitehorse Big Easy. This trail is aimed more at the intermediate level of mountain bikers.

As the Whitehorse Big Easy goes mostly through private property (at the time owned by Gary Dennison) we needed to have a legal Access Agreement to ensure that the trail will remain available and free to use for everyone.

Local lawyers - Hope & Associates and Gary’s lawyers - RSM Law, agreed to do this work on a pro bono basis. We also needed funding and thankfully Rotary Club of Waimate gave us $12,500.  Without this funding we would’ve struggled to get started.

Trail building has occurred

Dave, Daniel and I marked out the top 3km of the Whitehorse Big Easy from where the trees had been cleared. Landowner Gary Dennison paid for some digger time to get the project started and Gary Rooney agreed to cut the rest of the top section on a 50/50 basis, which meant he matched us dollar for dollar; this was done in August 2014.

Early in 2015 Daniel under instruction and guidance from his Grandfather Colin Welsh, learnt how to operate an excavator and with free hire of a 5 tonne digger for Fulton Hogan the section of Whitehorse Big Easy from the bottom car park to the bridge was built. In the winter of 2015 Shawn Thompson cut the middle section using 8 and 15 tonne excavators. We run out of money, however a private individual came to our rescue and gave us the $8000 that was needed to finish it.

During 2015 another section of the forest was felled and Gary allowed some of the skidder tracks to remain for our use (now called the Rosewood Loop). Laurie Forestry kindly paid for a digger to make them useable. We also had culvert pipes donated by Ipex Industries. Parts of the original singletrack (named DDT) were rebuilt with support from Leathwick Contracting. I also used the tractor for some sections and Fulton Hogan gave us additional 3 days free use of the 5 tonne digger.

In 2017 we personally brought 53 hectares of private land that boundaries onto this same area and we brought our own 5 tonne digger which Daniel has since used to build the public trails, Wriggly Beast, Filthy Animal and the open section of Twisted Monster.

This has been an incredible project and it’s not very often that you get the opportunity to be so involved in a community project that makes such a difference long term.

We get out on our bikes as often as we can. 2019 highlights included riding the Heaphy track, Mt Hutt, Christchurch Adventure Park and the Wharfedale near Oxford. 2020 bigger rides included Motatapu, Glendhu MTB Park and Coppermine Trail in Nelson.

We now have a few private trails on our wee hill block and I enjoy riding them as well as the public trails nearby. Riding the bike is a great time for thinking, reflection and planning or just chilling out. The quote “I don’t ride a bike to add days to my life. I ride a bike to add life to my days” is certainly true for me.

Ken