The Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club was formed in 2008 to promote mountain biking within Golden Bay. The club is an incorporated society and in 2010 became a registered charity.
The Club has an active and ongoing track-building and maintenance program. Regular working bees keep the tracks in good condition where possible, subject to weather extremes!
Up at Canaan Downs the Club has built some bike trails which have been completed in conjunction with the Department Of Conservation as part of the Canaan Downs Scenic Reserve. There maybe future opportunities to potentially expand the track network there.
Specifically, the club has been directly responsible for three major Canaan Downs projects:
The 15 km grade 3 Main loop trail. The 5 km grade 2 Gold Creek loop trail and the 2 km Rollercoaster Trail. The Club secured in excess of $40,000 to complete these projects and club members volunteered 100’s of hours of labour. These were built as DOC standard tracks with the support of the Local Golden Bay DOC Area office.
In 2011 the “Pack Track’ was formed as a natural extension to the existing Rameka Track. Following the paper road that was originally intended to be the main route into Golden Bay, the Club formed some 2.5 km of new track. This section of the track was built by Club Volunteers and with Club funding, and with consultation with local landowners. The Pack Track forms a crucial link between the Rameka Track and Jonathan Kennett’s "Great Expectations" track within the “Project Rameka” Track network.
The Club’s ongoing collaboration with Jonathan Kennett has been central to “The Pack Track” and the technical riverside “Two Klicks” tracks that also link in to the Kennett's “Rameka Project” tracks, "Great Expectations" and "The Odyssey"
At the end of 2014 The Golden Bay Mountain Bike Club received funding from DOC’s Community Conservation Partnership Fund to conduct work on the Kill Devil Track from Uruwhenua to Skeet Creek. The aim of the work is track remediation and erosion management with a focus on construction of water tables to direct water off track and remediation of deep water ruts in the upper sections. See the separate sheet for more information.
The Club has a variety of social rides, and social evenings, and has developed a Youth Fund to help young riders with entry fees and Bike workshops. Fundraising initiatives have helped support local riders in the past.
We have created two successful fundraising bike events. The Great Mystery Ride, and The Golden Bay Milk & Honey Race, are events that cater to both ends of the spectrum. The first being a family event, and with the Milk & Honey Race, a unique race that combines both Road, and Mountain Bike disciplines that includes two of Golden Bay’s natural landmarks, the Takaka Hill, and the Rameka Track.