Part of the Pukete MTB track photographed from the air
Header graphic for Hamilton MTB Pukete page Animated Hamilton MTB Club logo

Pukete farm park (here's a map of where it is) is the place we go to train and race. It used to be a wasteland, (a dump really). Now that we have the council's permission to use it, we work hard to make it what it is today.
Working Bee of 24th May 2008
Not too many turned up to this one but we still got a fair bit done on preparing and testing new tracks.
These are cropped miniatures.
Click to see the complete pictures.		 A rider silhouetted between the trees. Digging new trails.
Passing riders
offered encouragement
and advice.		 Dave and Greg hard
at work on a new
section of track.
James Gurney, fully dressed and helmeted for riding, digging new trails. James Gurney on his bike moments later, testing the trails he's just built. James and others testing the new steps built by Russell.
First you dig the
new berm . . . 		. . . . then you test it to find out what modifications may be required. Testing Rusty's cool new steps near the new berm Gems and Doug worked on.
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Lefty the famous one-eyed Pukete kitty.
Click to see more of Lefty		 Lefty the famous one-eyed Pukete Kitty

Lefty is the real one-eyed black cat who has lived in the park since the track was first built there, so he's part of its history. He annoys the possums by thinking he owns the place - a bit like the MTBers. He eats the rats, mice and ferrets which is good. He likes MTBers which offends Patrick. He brings them good luck. BUT he also watches out for anyone who sabotages the MTB tracks and whenever he sees one he magically expands to black panther size and gobbles them up instantly. As you can see he has some very powerful magical qualities so even the possums have had to learn not to get on the wrong side of him.

Chris Moody is to be congratulated for finally getting this good close-up photo of Lefty clearly showing the blind right eye which originally conferred on him the name Lefty. The black panther photo above was also taken by Chris Moody. He should definitely get a job as a wildlife photographer.

The drawing on the left below the photo is the previous drawing of Lefty which was all we had to go on before Chris got the excellent shot above it.
BTW if you want Lefty to bring you good luck, you have to wait until he crosses your path in the park, then immediately spit on your thumb and rub it into the centre of your palm. Make a wish and it will be granted.
Cartoon of lefty the one-eyed PuketeKitty.
Click to see Lefty in the park with the riders.
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Working Bee of 27th October 2007
These are cropped miniatures. Click to see the complete pictures. Opal the dog carrying a huge branch in her mouth. Hard work under way on the track.
The recent gales had blown large branches on to the track. Luckily Chris Moody has trained his dog Opal to remove them. Clearing the High Road. Axes, hedge-clippers, weed-eaters all in full swing at once.
Another excellent turn-out and very energetic work going on, this time mainly to do those last minute vital preparations so necessary for the success and safety of the imminent summer series, such as removing dead branches from the track (thanks Opal), chopping back the vegetation that always insists on growing back over the track, weed-eating the tracksides, throwing more dirt down onto the boggy bits of the new track in the hope it will be a bit more usable on the day and all sorts of other general clearing and tidying.

Well done everyone - you efforts make it all possible. Those of us who couldn't resist stopping work to test the track, found it firm, fast and fun. Roll on summer racing!! This Wednesday Wooohooo!

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Aerial Photos of the Track

  1. This is the start area leading into the inner track area. It has transparent red lines showing the track with arrows for direction.
  2. This is the inner track area with track shown in transparent pink with arrows for direction and landmarks labelled.
  3. The inner track without markings and labels for those who know the track so well, markings may be unecessary and annoying.

We also have photos of the outer park tracks, (over closer to the river) These are tracks we only use when specially permitted for our race nights, so the council prefer us not to include them here in case anyone should mistakenly infer they are part of the official MTB track.

There are versions of all these photographs which are larger and better quality than is practical on a web site. They are available on request from Tui.
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Tree-planting Days
The club now has an arrangement with the council that we plant trees in the park every winter in lieu of license fees. License fees would otherwise come to thousands of dollars which would mean a considerable hike in our annual subsriptions. The council even provides the trees free of charge! So whenever you hear of a tree-planting working bee, it is the responsibilityof everyone who appreciates the park to get down there and help us. Then when our kids grow up, the park will have changed from the weed-patch it tends to be today into a beautiful native forest alive with the singing of native birds. The process is under way already - lets keep it going strong. We need to plant hundreds of trees - its not just one or two, so many spade-toting helpers are always needed for this big job.
Hamilton MTB members planting trees in Pukete Farm Park.
Here we are, (above) planting trees on a Pukete working bee. Sometimes we plant trees to disguise the wasteland origins of Pukete park. Other times we do upgrades and drainage on the tracks or build things to make the track better. (See below)
Club members install the tunnel so riders can cross without colliding.
Above, putting in the tunnel so riders can cross over while other riders are passing below. This working bee alone prevented a zillion collisions. Next time you ride through, or over the tunnel, appreciate the work that was done to make it better for you!