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Nice chat
I did Narrow Neck with my wife on Sunday. Had a good chat with a couple of MTB riders we met at the end . It turns out one of them works for SCA and review trail access in the Area. We had a friendly chat , and out of curiosity I asked him what was the main issue with MTB access versus hiker access. Here is what he said:
1/ MTB are not necessarily more damaging than hikers, but they are more numerous and go further. He said on some week ends the Oaks can see some 400 riders. With higher traffic comes:
2/ Higher risk of fire
3/ Higher risk of pollution ( ie going to toilet).
4/ Higher risk of DH areas being trashed by small minority cutting new trails
I guess respecting the rules and being sensible would go a long way in helping free up new areas for MTB!
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Point 1: There are some (many I'd hope so as to justify the $2.8m that was spent on just 2 of numerous walking tracks in the Blue Mountains last year) walkers that do go a long way (multi-day hikes), with this...
Point 2: ...comes higher risk of fire from their cooking, etc. and...
Point 3: ... higher risk of pollution (ie. going to the toilet) because they are there for days, whereas bike riders are generally in the bush for hours and therefore less likely to do the type of toilet break that causes pollution, and...
Point 4: ... yes, there are a minority of riders who will spoil it for the rest of us, but there are these minorities in any group. Or are you telling me that all the litter and all the vandalism on all the trails are done by bike riders?
1: As a walker I rarely ever stick to formed walking tracks. Zero tracking is far more popular with walkers. Once a spot get popular zero tracking leads to trails forming. these trail are rarely thought out or designed let alone built to standards, they just form... Zero tracking on a bike leads to broken deraileurs and sticks in spokes and goign much slower. It isn't much fun. Give me a quality MTB trails and I'm not going to waist my riding time by building unauthorised trails or Zero tracking. Riding: trail = the point vs Walking: Trail=a way to get to the destination
2: If you are starting fires with your mountain bike you need to get off your brakes and let the rotors cool a bit
3: Before it gets anywhere near there the head waters of the Coxes passes several coal mines an two power staions. Farmers Creek, a major contributory runs straight passed Lithgow sewrage works, Where does all the storm water run off from Blue Mts towns go? Not to mention the km and kms and kms of farm run off.. Yep a couple of MTBers taking a pee in the bush is going to tip the scales. Forget that it's possible to get permission drive your 4x4 there. Forget the desiel trains that trverse through the top of the catchment area.
4: See last part of 1.
Actually SCA has opened up some great ares for riding recently. The only official excuse the give for not allowing bikes is that bikes are classed a vehicles under RTA rules. Vehicles are not permitted bikes are not permitted.
Some interesting things in the pipe work in t he area and here's hoping it all comes off and is done right the first time. Protecting the bush and water supply is important however there are other water supplies in major cities that have official mtb trail looped right around the foreshores with out all these fears materialising.
Things are on the change
Let's hope so.
There are some really nice areas in those catchments, and aside from a few who will do polaris-type overnight efforts, most mtb'ers will be doing day trips. No camping, fires only for emergencies, minimal waste deposits or products, minimal erosion to existing tracks. The only real issues will probably be the occasional rescue of the unlucky or underprepared. Not that bushwalkers are immune from that problem.
I would love to be able to legally ride from Hilltop to Thirlmere, through the magnificent Nattai valley, though the state of the tracks through there is questionable if there has been no maintenance in the last decade or two.
The guy from the SCA also mentionned there were a number of new areas coming up for reviews and possibly more would be open to MTB if hikers and other user group did not object. He is a MTB rider himslef and was quite sympathetic to the MTB access cause . I guess his views reflect the SCA perception to a certain extend, and in this case perception is reality because they are the one who controls the access in catchment areas.
I like that the wollondilly river runs right through goulburn
the wingecarribee runs through berrima / bowral / mittagong
along the hume highway there are 5 or more creek crossings that 100's of trucks travel over
Mittagong has a sewage treatment plant on the Nattai Ck/River
out in the scrub near wombeyan caves there is a naturist reserve for camping
to get there your 4WD would cross a low level bridge on the river
the blue mountains towns not only drain into the catchment area, katoombe/leura has a now dis-used sewage treatment plant down in the valley
all the areas of woodford in the sca area are in (old) zone 1 areas, lake woodford is only recently de-commissioned for use by the local community for drinking water
and on and on and etc ....
certainly does seem self counter productive to allow highway runoff and 60 ton petrol tankers but not allow bicycles.
ooooh, and finally < /rant >
All that is needed is a continuing, sensible message addressed appropriately and constructively to local and state government authorities. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but eventually the sport will be taken seriously and access increased once governments become properly aware of the incentives for them. A slow process, but we aren't going anywhere, are we?