tomwoodwardvideos

Cheers man

Stunning video mate! I can imagine the hard yards that have gone into its production. Fantastic job!

@SuperHighBeam: Yeah I guess you're right. When making the video I'm assuming the viewer has prior knowledge of the track. I would probably change that if I could re-make it. Too late now.

@TobiasHandcock: Yes exactly right. As a matter of fact the head honchos had to tone down Milty and I a bit right in the beginning. We're mountain bikers and MTB track builders, if it were up to me I'd have Queenstown's Dream Line jump track sailing around the mountain. However it is not practical for a such a big trail project to be aimed at so few riders. This track is about everybody being able to access the back country on a bike and take in the pristine wilderness. Since Milty and I are MTB track builders dedicated this track to MTB. That's why all the bends are cambered and you can pump through everything. The Paparoa Track, The Old Ghost Road and other tracks are just waking tracks that you're permitted to take a bike on. The Pike 29 Track is different!

Yes of course that's where the money went, to pay for all the equipment necessary to build in such a remote location. You can't peddle up there to do an hour of digging after your day in the office. Have a look at this video to see how it was built and then you'll see where the money went https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlfNcpRq-Io

@SuperHighBeam: No, this is the first MTB track where walkers are allowed. Everything before this has been the other way around way around. However being an MTB track doesn't mean it needs to be a DH racer track with drops and jumps the whole way down. This is a different type of track built to allow everyone to get into the back country on multi day mountian biking trips.

There's nothing but wilderness for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. The entire West Coast is draped is rainforest with massive trees that go all the way up to the glaciers coming down from the mountains inland. As far as civilisation goes in this region, all there is a few grotty little mining towns which used to be bustling main centres 100 years ago when the mines were good. After that there's nothing for 100's of km. One of the main reason's for putting a track in this region is to give some industry back to these dying towns which sit in such a spectacular and remote location.

Hey, thanks for the props. Yeah I'm pretty sure a lot of the commenters are office bound and have limited experience with the wilderness. Also the track is built for everyone which it's why it is how it is, and not a DH track. I'm not worried, as I said in another comment, if we'd built a new cancer ward on the children's hospital they'd be criticising the new car park. Hope you get the chance to get over here and ride it some day :)

Thanks for the props