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Riding when the rangers have advised not to - Manly Dam
Hi guys,
Did any of you see the email from the Rangers this week (below):
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The mountain bike trail has been reopened. We were extremely disappointed with the level of non-compliance with the mountain bike trail closure. This was a particular problem on Sunday, with Rangers having to speak to over 50 riders on the trail. This was despite 17 trail closure signs along the trail, physical closure of the trail with a slip-rail gate, over a thousand emails alerts being sent, notifications of trail closure on local mountain bike clubs webpages and notifications on Council’s Manly Dam webpage. The Manly Dam mountain bike trail is only closed when riding will result in significant damage to the trail surface, and trail closures are kept to a minimum. The growing level on non-compliance with trail closures is unacceptable and we need some impetus from the mountain bike community to turn this attitude around.
Thank you to those who kept off the track during this wet period.
Regards
Manly Dam Rangers
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Do any of you guys have any comments - would be good to hear from the bikers that continue to ride when the dam is closed as well as those who stay away when the rangers "close" Manly Dam.
Cheers,
Dave
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http://nobmob.com/node/9870
Bit new to nobmob. Been some good discussions on this I see.
I'll make a couple of comments:
1. This email went to an email list of people who self-subscribed for information about Manly Dam closures: these would likely be people who have a concern about whether or not the Manly Dam track is open or closed, since that is the only information provided. It is extremely likely that the people who would have this concern would be people *who don't want to ride when the Dam is closed* as people who didn't care if the Dam was open or closed would not need to subscribe.
2. Subscribers to this email list are not responsible for the actions of others.
3. Nor are they (or NoBMoB) responsible for enforcing the Manly Dam rangers' rules, as that is the Rangers' job.
This email is offensive and it is abusing specifically that group of people the Rangers would theoretically want to have "on side" - if they were in any way supportive of mountain biking around Manly Dam.
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Now, my own personal observations are:
Firstly that the Dam was open for weeks while it rained lightly on and off every day, that intermittent rain ceased last Thursday, and then on the Friday our jolly Rangers emailed everyone that the Dam was closed (that weekend being the start of the School holidays). It hasn't rained since - indeed it has been sunny and windy. The last time the Dam was closed was the June Long Weekend.
Maybe it is just the weather and all a happy coincidence, but my personal suspicion is that the Rangers like to close the Dam when people are most likely to go riding.
I think the Rangers have no written policy on whether the track should be open or closed. I know they don't check the track because that "prepare to stop" sign is still there after 3+ weeks.
I think closing of the track is a random event, and I think these random closures could perhaps give the general public a reason to doubt whether the Dam is *really* closed.
Secondly personal observation: if these evil riders have caused any irreparable damage to the track, I'd like to see some evidence.
Thirdly personal observation: I subscribe to this email list and I did not ride the Dam while the track was officially closed - so please spare me the usual responses