Progress Report #1

Every year we have tryed to upgrade the Airfield to keep the progression happening within the Auckland Mtb Dirt Jump community. And this summer is no different. Its only going to keep getting better. YES!!!(with a virtual hi-5).
Last friday we had the Bobcat arrive. Carl Sorenson from Sorenson Earthworks was definitly the man for the job. With a history in building MotoX tracks he had a good eye and the right equiptment to get the job done. Over the last month or so, Haydn has been sketching over A4 photos to get some realistic vision going on, and to life it has now become.
We are adding a new drop line to the start of the main line. The roll in landing has been made wider and this now runs into a new takeoff, which is a bigger gap than the previous 1st takeoff. The landing of the 1st has been widened by about another meter and abit to the left. The 1st landing has also been buffed up abit, and looks really steep at the moment, but this will pack down and will be alot nicer to ride.


So now that the first is alot wider you will be able to transfer your lines left to right or vice versa. Wicked. The second takeoff has been made wider by a whole new takeoff and the wooden ramp has been pulled out. The second landing hasnt changed but got a nice covering of dirt.


The third has had the takeoff buffed up. It had become really flat and had no pop left in it, so we have raised it slightly and given the face a slab of beef. This will shoot you niceley into the 3rd landing which has also been made stepper to compensate for the extra pop. No photos of the third landing yet, but its BOSS as.

So off the 3rd you can go three ways. down the side shoot the landing off the step down only really worked for the big drop off the top. This landing has been made about a meter wider each side and is now massive. This landing will work really well for those that like to hip left to the berm, and if your coming off the big drop, there is no way your gonna miss it now.


Off the third also you can break right and shoot off down the Monster Line. The Monster Step Down and Monter Double landings both got new dirt. Alot of new dirt. This line is prime and massive things are gonna go down this summer. Cant wait.




Other additions include a new landing on the double behind the wallride. People were over jumping this, so hopefully we have got it right and no more over jumping. the backs of the concrete tunnels have had more dirt shaped into them. The Intermediate line has been buffed and will now hold better flow (well i reckon anyways). and the horrible Grom line is gone and has been replaced with what resembles a small rythms section from a MotoX track. They ride awesome.





So i reckon for 2 1/2 days Haydn and Carl have done an amazing job. All the hard work is done. Now all we have to do is pack them in and clean up, then ride them in. they will be closed for a little bit longer but it will all be worth it.

So so happy, haha.

ITS ON!!!!

The suns shining alot more, day light savings is here, the tarps have come off and it time to ride.

Having ridden the jumps a few times in the last couple of days, its safe to say that having the Airfield closed was definitly a good idea. I literally removed the tarps, picked off an array of different slugs and worms, swept them down and bam, ready to go.

But even though they are riding there is still alot of work to be done and if the weather turns shithouse then they will be closed untill it fines up. If the cone is up on the roll in and the tarps are on then, NO, ride. But if not then they are all good to go. Just remember that you still have to register to ride the Airfield aswell. It is still part of Woodhill MTB Park.

Over the summer Haydn and I are going to be holding jams and mini comps which will have bbqs and spot prizes. On these days we will be doing mid morning dig sessions, then ride and jam, then some feed and prize giveaways. What we are trying to acheive with these days is to get more of a rider community going on in The Airfield. We all need to do our bit if we want a mint Dirt Park. Because more hand sget alot more done than just Haydn and myself.

But enough talking, this summer is gonna be off the hook and i actually can not wait. Hope to see you all out at the park. Sick.

Crowd Goes Wild

Spring Is Now Here.

Its been a while since i lasted posted anything here on Woodhill-Dirt. Its not that havnt been busy building and digging, it just hasnt been dirt work. Over winter we have spent alot of time out in the forest cleaning up the trails and making the best of the damp conditions. Wet Soggy conditions good for the forest, not for dirt jumps.
But spring is here and we will all soon get to ride dirt again. I want to thank everyone for respecting our reasons for wanting to preserve the integrity of the jumps over winter. Not riding them over this time just means that we dont have to do alot of work in getting them ridable. We are going to be making a few changes to the grom and intermediate lines as well as the main and the Monster lines over the next couple of months. Over Summer we will also be having JamsSessions with BBQ and maybe a few spot prizes here and there. I antincipate a good summer ahead.
So all i can say really is stay tuned to Woodhill-Dirt for all your Airfield news over spring and summer and get involved with the park. see you all on the dirt soon.

Heres a few stunners from the DJO back in april. Pics courtesy of Lance Pilbrow.

Well Winters Come.

Winter has definitly come out at the forest. Its damp, misty, its been raing alot and structures are wet. Did a pretty dodgy burnout on Crazy Train the other day.
Theres not alot going on in terms of new additional freeride stuff for now but we will be starting the next addition to The Barrel Run in the next couple of months.
I had a couple of dudes ask me the other day if they could scrub off the mossy build up on parts of Ho Chi Min. I think this is a great idea and am maybe planning a sunday morning trail clean up. All i will need is about ten keen guys with a few tools of there own. I will have more details on this in the weeks to come. So ill keep you all posted.
Haydz and I however have just added another 5.5mtrs of wall to the wallride on The Barrel Run. This now makes it 14.5mtrs long. Its impressive. Get up there and check it out.

And i want photos people. Photos of your mean hucks and big jumps. Ill chuck em on the blog at the end of every month. Ill stick up 10 pics so make sure you add your name, photographer and rider. Send them through to th_ragdoll@hotmail.com.
Heres the Bigg Boss mark harrowfield shredding the wall aprt on Amyl Nitrate. Go Boss.

Winters Coming. Back to FreeRiding For Me.

Okay so now that the comp has been and gone and the miserable weather patterns are gonna start to set in. Im thinking i may head back to the trails for the winter. There is only a few things that are gonna be going on in the Airfield over winter that arent going to be big jobs in the grand scheme of things, - we are gonna change the intermediate and grom lines so that we can get some good transfer lines going, - thre will be an additional line down the right side of the containers.... maybe and a few tweaks to the pump track. So really this is not going to give me alot to report on.

So Haydz and myself will be working alot more out on the trails. Tweaking tracks, cutting new trails in a newly secured block, building new structures, fixing old ones and heaps more. So this is what i am going to report on. Also I am changing the Header of the Blog to "Woodhill FreeRide". I will use this name for the winter and once Spring rolls round and we get back into dirt work it will go back to "Woodhill Dirt". See what im doing there, haha, but the domain name stays as Woodhil-Dirt.

So to all the FreeRiders of Woodhill keep an eye out for trail updates, pics and a whole lot more. Winter is gonna go off. And im keen to try and translate some new skills to the trails. Also just a convo in passing, what do people think about a slopestyle comp on "The Barrel Run". Message back on Facebook. Im keen. See you out there.

HOLY SH#T!!!!!!

Pretty EPIC. Shot Jed, that rocked.

Official Press Release

The Monster Energy NZ Dirt Jump Open this past weekend was… for lack of a better phrase…”OFF THE HOOK”. The event started off with a bang on the Saturday with 50 riders at the qualifying and nearly 200 people showing up to watch that. Amongst the big names to watch were South island legend Brett Frew, BMXer turned on the day 26 incher Paul Langlands and a host of other strong names in the NZ Dirt Jump fraternity hitting up the newly transformed Monster Energy “Airfield”, here at the Woodhill Mountain Bike Park.


Pics - Stephen Geddes Rider - Paul Langlands

The Under 16 Junior section was quite surprising and showed us all that these young guys could rip with Nick Dethridge (AKL) and Taniora Te Pou(CHC) firmly securing themselves in the “watch this space” category.

Pic - Adam Thompson, on Phil Mcleans Cam Rider - Taniora Te Pou
Pic - Thomas Lloyd Rider - Nick Dethridge

The main event on Sunday started in a relaxing manner in a new Jam style format as we wittled our way down to the top ten open riders and top 5 juniors. The first 45 minutes session had quality riding with every rider stomping some pretty sweet tricks.


Pics - Stephen Geddes Riders - bottom Adam Diggle top Matt Harris

Then things got all twisted, literally. The first of the Nature Valley Best Trick competitions got underway with the riders trying to get their hands on the first of the two CASH prizes for best trick in this 20 minute session. Paul Langlands (Cambridge) got back on his BMX for the session and started with a bang laying down a Superflip, Barrel Rolls and then tried endlessly to get his Flipwhip. Brett Frew (Southland) trademarked an Opposite 3, and other riders such as Lewis Jones(Raglan) with his One handed Pendulums, Conor McFarlane (Invercargill) with his massive 3’s. Alan Montifiore (AKL) with his Front Flip all tore it up and Brian Anzellotti (AKL) stomped a frontflip off the roll in ramp, impressive. But the cash belonged to Jed Mildon (Taupo) as he threw down a perfect 3Sixty double tailwhip…boom! The event just took a leap to a whole new level. The crowd responded and the Monster Airfield came alive.

Pic - Stephen Geddes Rider - Lewis Jones

Pic - Tammy Destructive Rider - Paul Langlands

From there on the lads realised to take home the Cash Prizes they needed to step up their game. They also knew they had to start hitting the new Monster Line, a 7½m step down followed by a huge 8½m double and then a jump over a 3m high concrete pipe.

Pic - Aaron Smith Rider - Elmo Cotter

But before the finals kicked in and the top 5 Open riders got to throw down, we had the 2nd of the Nature Valley Best Tricks. This one was over the Monster Jump, and we all thought the first one had the riders and the crowd pumped. Paul Langlands (back on his MTB), Jed Mildon, and 6 or so other riders (who were brave enough) took on the challenge. Amongst the Flipwhip, several Tailwhips, the Pendulums, the No Footers to Tuck No Handers, the 3Sixty turndowns and so many more Monster tricks Jed Mildon secured the cash again by landing a perfectly executed DOUBLE backflip and instantly came a favourite with the 1000+ crowd. INCREDIBLE!

Pic - Jacob France Rider - Jed Mildon


Pic - Stephen Geddes Rider - last 2 pics Paul Langlands

Pic - Stephen Geddes Rider - Alan Montefiore

The highlights continued in the last 20 minutes Final’s session with the remaining 5 open riders having one last chance to show us their stuff. An injured Phil McLean (CHC) started landing his tail whips combined into the runs with 360's and huge Tuck no handers. Elmo Cotter (Wanaka) showed everyone how to execute massive but perfect backflips over and over again including one run where he did 4 in a row. Never say die Conor McFarlane blew everyone’s mind when he backflipped the seemingly unflippable Monster Line Step Down, when the closest thing to a trick on this jump (designed to simply set you up for the biggie) so far had been a x-up or a whip. He then proceeded to nail a perfect 3Sixty over the Monster Jump to make that one of the best runs of the competition and jumping into 2nd place. Lewis Jones rode all of the different lines in the park throwing down combo after combo to secure his spot in 3nd place. But the day belonged to Paul Langlands with his consistent and seemingly bottomless bag of tricks executed at World Class level.

Pic - Taniora TePou on Phil Mcleans Camera Rider - Connor McFarlane


Pic - Stephen Geddes Riders - top Paul Langlands bottom Elmo Cotter

Haydn, Mark and Tim from Woodhill MTB park would like to thank:

Monster Energy

Nature Valley

Fox

Oakley

SRAM Rockshox

Accent Audio

Porter Access

Casey King, Rod Rila, Antony Pennington, Calum Hogg for judging.

All the volunteers for their tireless efforts getting the jumps ready and helping on the day.


Pic - Stefan Crabby Rider - Tim Hunter


Open Class:

1st Paul Langlands

2nd Conor Mcfarlane

3rd Lewis Jones

4th Phil McLean

5th Elmo Cotter


Junior Class:

1st Nick Dethridge

2nd Sam OHallaran

3rd Conor Benson


Pic - Nick 'Ginge' Hamilton Rider - Chris Beverland

Pic - Stefan Crabby Rider - Paul Langlands

Words by Haydn Shore
Article compiled by Tim Hunter

Night Jam Cancelled.

Due to a few things out of our control we are no longer able to hold the night jam. Bit of a bummer but this maybe something we can do later on down the line.

The course is running mint and looking pretty good. We want to keep it that way so please respect all signage in the Airfield and all taped off areas. The course will be open from midday onwards all week, reason for this is it just gives morning moisture a chance to disapate. We just want to keep it mint.

Looking forward to seeing you all there on Saturday, its gonna be a mean shred fest. Bring ya game face because competition is going to be feirce. Laters

N Z D J O 2010.

See you all there!!!!

Good Friday Arvo Jam Session.

Stoked. Was such a good arvo and i wan to thank evryone who came out. Thanks.
Changes to any jump line are always gonna be different at first but im glad everyone rode the course well. So a few more tweaks are gonna happen over the next couple of weeks before the Open, but they are much needed. But im amped for the open and its gonna be a mad Comp.
Next Jam is April 21st. UNDER LIGHTS. Yeah Yaaaa
NZDJO 2010 April 24th & 25th.










Pics courtesy of Nick 'th Ginge' Hamilton. chur budwah.