status of OMV


commandokamikaze's picture

By commandokamikaze - Posted on 08 June 2014

Does anybody know for certain the status of OMV track in Horsnby? we were planning a ride there tomorrow but apparently there are signs up all around there saying track closed... can anyone confirm or deny this??

pancakes's picture
jp's picture

It's very strange that it's still closed. I live nearby and we've had very little rain and all the other local tracks are dry. Hopefully they will reopen it this morning.

hawkeye's picture

On the other hand...

Oaks trail is dry. And it has a very nice new section of singletrack trail done by the guys responsible for Stage 1 of OMV.

We rode there yesterday. Trail is in amazingly good condition.

Park at Glenbrook. Catch the train to Woodford. Ride back down the mountain. Smiling

jp's picture

Apparently there is quite a bit of damage to the stage 2 trails from people riding while the trail was closed. So it will be closed for a while now.

When I visited there yesterday there were "closed" signs on the stage 1 trails, but no signs on the entrances to the stage 2 trails off the main fire road. I rode one lap of what I thought was an open trail. It was dry, but I could see deep ruts from where it had been ridden in the wet, so I decided to stop. I then went back up to the main trailhead and could see many riders on trails that were clearly marked as being closed.

Slash's picture

Sorry, i'm going to say something other people must be thinking, but not willing to say it. If you are smart enough to post things on this forum, your smart enough to know OMV Stage 2 has not been officially opened, so why were you even doing one lap of Stage 2! This is why mountain bikers get a bad name with councils, & we all now have to wait longer to use this trail, hope you enjoyed your one lap, NOT.

jp's picture

Hi Slash,

The official opening ceremony has not yet happened, but the trails were unofficially opened a couple of weeks ago with all trail closure signage and satety tape being removed. Council were happy for it to be ridden and bedded in prior to the official opening. That is not the issue here. The issue here is that people rode it when it was wet and officially closed and caused damage.

The signage on Monday, after 2 days of sunshine, indicated some trails were closed and others were open. I did NOT ride any sections with closure signs, and never would.

So the section I rode on Monday had no closure sign and was 100% dry, and had previously been open for riding. However when I saw the trail damage I got off the trail. It appears now that the section I rode was officially closed on Monday, but not signposted. My bad for not checking the website, but I am also going to make a suggestion to Council that will solve the ambiguous signage issue.

Slash's picture

I apologise, i didn't realise it had opened yet, i've been going by the SNORC facebook site, & waiting for there go ahead to ride stage 2. Unfortunately no matter what signage is put on closed trails, there still will be selfish people who will ride & destroy the trails. This is one reason why councils are reluctent to spend money on mtb trails, destroyed before it's even opened.

jp's picture

According to the council the signage was not ambiguous - it had been removed by riders. So it appears that some people were not just riding past closure signs, they were also removing them. Very disappointing.

crank's picture

If there are 'trails closed' signs on stage one, riding along a different route to ride stage two and claiming you thought it was okay is rubbish.

jp's picture

Not correct Grant. There have been many occasions at OMV where some trails are closed and others are open. Most recently when the trails just below the pool works were closed while the other trails remained open. The problem on the weekend was people moving signs. I think the lesson here is don't rely in the signs - check the trail status online. That's what I'll be doing from now on.

jp's picture

The suggestion I made on another thread is that putting up a big "all trails closed" sign, perhaps over the main sign board, would make it very clear. At least to those of us trying to do the right thing.

crank's picture

It sounds like the council need to get their signage and how they display it sorted out better then.

In such a small area did any of the riders really think the trails would be okay once past the stage one section, especially new trails?

jp's picture

I like to think so. I thought I was doing the right thing obeying signage. But when I was there the trails were dry... The damage was most likely done a couple of days prior, when the trails were wet.

I have some ideas to fix the signage issue, which I'll document and pass on to council.

danielschipper's picture

It rains in Sydney, why not build trails that don't get destroyed after 1 shower and a couple of riders.... Just saying.

Carlosdjakal's picture

+1

flubberghusted's picture

Sorry, I tend to agree with those not seeing the ambiguous signage because I dropped into the trail in between the fire trail exit and the main entry.

Now for all intents and purposes, the stage 1 main trail was completely dry and fine but I did see the closed signs at the bottom of stage 2 and saw a clay-like doughy section that was clearly not ready so I avoided it.

It was only when I got back to main entry did I see the trail closed sign was shifted aside.
Had I known it was closed, I wouldnt of ridden it but with that said, there had been very little rain in the lead up to Sunday arvo and wouldnt of thought otherwise given the trail condition on my first lap.

+1 for more adequate signage and not all of us use twitter too.
But to stop people from riding it even in the wet will be like chasing rainbows. It will never end...

kitttheknightrider's picture

I not a twit either JP but do have a fb page (so I can spy on my kids pages that I know about)

Check on this one in future https://www.facebook.com/HornsbyCouncil?fref=nf

Carlosdjakal's picture

But true. People are still riding on stage 2.

Flynny's picture

The pavers we designed as trail armour on the Pony express have worked wonders at making Rydal weather proof. A couple of years ago a bit of rain at a club round and there would be sections of unridable bog appearing.

Now, well we ran the 3hr the other weekend had a damp lead up and got 2" of rain during the race. Next day trail was prefect.

Pavers

Mega Thunda entry armour

Matt P's picture

Apparently the people riding where shouldn't have had the decency to post their details on Strava!!

The relevant bodies are arranging fines.


http://youtu.be/jvcRQiOraGE

Andy Bloot's picture

those pavers are awesome Flynny

were they exxy?

Flynny's picture

Cheap as chips. Made enough moulds up to take a mixers worth.

I have some photos of them in the mud at Rydal
I'll try and find a link

Flynny's picture

trail armouring pavers

Bit of discussion and a few more picks here

www.nobmob.com/node/36697

Andy Bloot's picture

genuinely great idea Flynny
Can I poach the drainage photo to use elsewhere?

Flynny's picture

Yep.

Doddsy's picture

Must be devo'd

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