You are hereAwaba State Forest update for 07 Jul
Awaba State Forest update for 07 Jul
Area:
Awaba State Forest
Status:
Red/Closed Heavy rain of the last few days has left the track pretty boggy. Did one lap this morning but declined any further, just finished cleaning the bike.
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So the race was wet then?
One big puddle on a fire trail they drained about 2 hours in. There were a couple of short boggy sections that didn't dry up. Most of the singletrack was "damp" but rideable.
The fire trails, and roads, out there are a pain. As soon as they are sorted, rain falls and the 4WD's find the smallest puddle to turn into a bog hole. I think that will be a perpetual problem as it was at Killingworth.
The way you describe it ps is exactly how I thought it would be. Those few boggy sections will be like that for a while I suspect. They are pretty much ground water issues.
Build day on tomorrow for anyone keen.
I rate it as being pretty bad. The section prior to Camel Back is good but after Camel Back it's a mess. Towards the 4 hour mark is was pretty slippery and sludgy. On my last lap I passed heaps of riders who just stopped from sheer exhaustion. It was a tough day out there today. It'll take a good few weeks before she dries up
The last couple of laps were pretty good. The fire trail climbs after the camel back just got worse though. When the lake on the fire trail got drained it caused a small creek to form on a section of single track near to the end.
Had just got the bike running smoothly after upgrading a heap of components, so I did one lap and thought "nup" and called it a day. It has just taken too long to get the bike right. My son face planted at about 3 hours on the narrow single track at the top of camel back, he left me a phone message saying he had just fallen off a cliff. He was okay though and up for the next event.
It would have been a definite 50:50 call whether the event was held. If I had a better idea of the track condition I would have given it a miss.
Real shame though - a great track and I felt really good on the bike for the first lap.
Well my opinion is very different. I thought the track just kept getting better as the day went on. For 99% of the track all those wheels across it was the best thing for it. For the few small sections that stayed wet, they didn't get any worse. It seemed to me that the biggest problem with the short down hill sections after Camelback was caused by people trying to go too slow, ie trying to fight the slippery surface and no letting the wheels roll over it. I enjoyed the track.
I wasn't there but maybe an amber then???
Agree with Steven P. Can't believe the other posters are talking about the same track that I rode. Only 4 small mud sections - A short section just after the shute, the short slippery downhill bit after camelback, the fireroad just before the salad bowl and a short boggy bit after auto alley. Track got better throughout the day. Great fun. Maybe amber at worst at the start of the day.
Red wouldn't be a bad place for it to be for at least for a week after the race, and I don't think anyone would disagree. As a comparison I visited Ourimbah a couple of weeks ago and reported it as amber, and Awaba was a good deal worse. If it wasn't a race I would really hesitate to ride a track in that condition, out of respect for the trail builders.
I thought the track reports and weather reports posted in the days leading up to Saturday didn't fit with the condition of the track or views of locals. But maybe I just have a different view given my lack of experience.
So how do we grade tracks? Weigh the bike before and after a lap, if its gained more than 10 g we call it amber, more than 500 g red?
All this aside this was my first rocky trail event and I loved the format. They have grabbed some good people in key roles. Paul's commentary is always a good laugh - this is the guy who invented the "fat mans wheel race" at Dunc Grey Velodrome RAW track series, which is for track cyclists with a BMI>30.
Will be there at Mt Annan.
If anything, HMBA would have the final say as to it being red. Personally, if I had gone there on a none race day and did a lap I would have stopped after that due to the conditions. One thing is for sure, the days racing would have caused some maintenance issues for the HMBA trail fairies to attend to.
Has anyone been out there over the last few days?
I thought the track was in extremely Horrible condition on my first lap and wanted to quit but I did find it improved later in the day.