Mt Annan


flubberghusted's picture

By flubberghusted - Posted on 13 September 2010

Just curious as to how many mobbers got out to Mt Annan over the opening weekend?
Any feedback?

Thought it was good but it was very much an enduro training track with a lot of exposed single track, next to some huge tanning power towers.
There were a lot of very tight switchbacks which resulted in lack of speed being picked up which was my biggest criticism.
Bridges were great and the artificial rock gardens werent bad either. A lot of smaller branch stubs still exposed which resulted in 3 flatties in our group.
Hoping the advanced section could see some faster lines and to take advantage of the topography of the gardens. There are some good hills to bomb down and climb back up again from a glance.

Yes, I know advocacy wise we should be very grateful for new tracks but the biggest worry is that if they are looking for numbers (given there is an entry fee of $9 for cars or $2.50 for bike entry), but they may not get it if riders dont return on the back of "it aint that grand".

Some good ol constructive criticism wouldnt hurt ...

CROMERBOY's picture

Agree with your comment, very exposed so will be a killer in summer. I does not seem to flow as well as it could or maybe I can't ride burms as well as I should. It would be nice to get some flowy fast sections. Good thing is we met some nice folk from the Botanical Gardens who were more than keen to get our feedback. They are extremely proud (and rightly so) of what they have built. Their goal is to encourage people into the gardens with their families - have a ride, have a wonder through the garden and have a great day out. This suits me to a tee - I get a nice ride - kids get to run wild, we spend some family time in the gardens and have a nice family experience - I for one will be back.

PS
We had two flats

craked's picture

enjoyed the track but just couldn't carry the speed needed to make it flow ,it seems to have obstacles slowing you just when feel like you can carry some momentem and you have to accelerate back up to speed ,and this seems to happen the whole way.probably would be better if i was a stronger more skillful rider,having said that it was fun and i would def be back,keen to have a go at the log double jump .yeah i had 1 of the flats that CROMER spoke of.

darkmuncan's picture

Its a great start, but I think it still needs alot of work.

Some quick points

- I think very good use of the terrain, I was expecting flat nothing, but legs/body got quite a good workout on the switchback climbs.
- Not flowy at all, it seemed every time you would pick up a little speed there would be an off-camber corner or an obstacle just kind of put there for the sake of it. (I am not sure whether this is poor design, or intentional to keep speed down.)
- The small bermed downhill section (coming off the junction into the creek crossings) really needs some work as its far too narrow and god knows why they put the small dirt mounds in there you need to ride up betweem berms.
- I give it 1 decent storm and I think alot of the track wont exist anymore, I didn't see much armouring on obstacles/corners.

Whilst they are quite negative comments above, I must say I did really enjoy riding the trail and enjoyed the technical aspect of it. I will definitely be adding it to the roster as a good little training ground. I look forward to seeing it in a few months time when its had more traffic and the trails are bedded in a little more.

I do recommend everyone goes out and checks it out.

Flynny's picture

What is it with modern trails needing to be "fast and flowy"

What ever happened to the challenge of conquering a tight and twisty course, the joy of getting faster through off camber stuff?

Scottboy's picture

too all the comments, especially in the green track alot of beginners who the track was meant for I think are going to find it difficult but it is a very good cardio workout not a great fan on those little bumps in the track, as all have said you can't keep the momentum flowing , all in all in might get changed soon & it is not a track I will introduce to first timers as they won't go back again . I had fun there & same as cromerboy will take the family next time , I can't wait to see the video footage from Noel cam I will get a laugh I think .

Noel's picture

Each new trail I've ridden has gotten much faster and much flowed better once it beds in properly with a bit of moisture and traffic. I do think it could have followed contours a bit more, as it is a bit up and down. Would be nice to start planting some trees along it too as it's very exposed. I felt like there were lots of switchback syndrome to get up, a lack of carrying momentum and then the altitude (that we worked hard to get to) was then lost too quickly. These things normally get better pretty quickly. I'm confident if it gets the traffic, and a bit of flow tweaking and it will be great. I won't be planning to ride it in the middle of summer!

The footage I got was not the best. 1st SD card (1st hours) was pointing down too much. 2nd card not too bad. I should be able to scrape enough together to fill a 3 minute song. I'll be sending the raw stuff to Grant at Trailflix in case he want's some 640x480 footage (which he most likley won't as it's a bit low for his stuff) for his movie of the place.

I got zero GPS data. Turned up with a flat garmin. I left it on all night sitting unplugged so it ran flat Sad

Good on Mount Annan for building it. I'll be back for sure, and I don't really care about paying to get in. If anybody has built 10m, or 100m or 100km of single track, well, its time consuming and very hard work. Id rather pay $10 each day I ride it than spent 3 months out there building it.

spudatm's picture

Firstly haven't ridden it yet but comments from afar.
Im so happy that Mt Annan have built their track. Sitting at my CPU 6 months ago I was worried we weren't going to have anywhere to ride let alone a purpose built MTB track in suburbia. We seem to be entering a golden period {touch wood} where people are starting to finally listen when it comes to providing us with venues to ride at. With the latest NPWS release, Mt Annan opening, continued development of Del Rio, the revival of Dargle farm as well some positive talks being entered into in other areas the cloud would seem to have a silver lining and we might be finally able to catch up with the other states in terms of decent mountain bike facilities.
In regards to the nature of the track. I would suggest that the botanical gardens wanted a sustainable trail that required less maintence hence the low speed and obstacles. it makes sense if you put an obstacle in front of a berm or corner then the rider is going to have to wipe of speed to clear the obstacle and hence enter the corner at a lower speed rather than entering the corner doing their best Sam Hill impression and making a mess.
I also agree that most tracks need bedding in. I remember at the Shackster 6 hour in Nowra this year they had some cut some new track for the race and it was horrible to ride on the first couple of laps but by the end it wasn't to bad, give it time people.
I also think its good that the track does provide a little variety its good to have flowing st based trails such as Awaba and Ourimbah bt its also good to have tight technical trails such as Appin and the Dam.
We are extremely fortunate to have this new facility, how often do get a new trail with out a sustained advocacy effort. And also bear in mind that have another 6-7 k's planned and a pump track.

Bikeboy's picture

And i have ridden it a few times ( getted pegged by that bloody Magpie every time too) and find it a really good ride . Not flowy or particularly fast but fun and with a few rocks and rollovers to keep it interesting . For me it is a tough work out , and god knows i need it , and usually have nobody else to contend with there .

14orange's picture

I had the oportunaty to ride there several weeks back and enjoyed it. As previously mentioned in this post I also found that the track didn't really flow that well especially through the corners and considering that the whole track was designed and built by a company specialising in track building I thought it would flow better. But none the less a very enjoyable ride. I too was attacked by the Magpie and his/her friend, the heart rate was through the roof and I pushed very hard through that section, maybe thats why I had hoped the track flowed better. Does anyone here know when the Magies are due to return back to normal as I would like to ride Mt Annan again but I am not going to run cable ties from my helmet to scare them off.

Scottboy's picture

as cable ties don't work , you be better off riding that part no helmet . There is a thread on here with all the tests he didn't get attacked when not wearing a helmet !!!

Chuck's picture

There's a Magpie that attacks me when I mow the lawn and it's nest is 80+ metres away. So I may need to start wearing a helmet when I mow the lawn!! My son has to stand there watching the bird otherwise he swoops before you know it. Strange thing is that it just looks at me when I ride past. Crazy bird.

14orange's picture

Thanks smiley I wasn't sure if cable ties would work but I don't think I will be riding without a helmet for that section. I think I would rather the Magpie hit my helmet than my melon and would prefer not to be the "Test crash dummy"! I'm sure nesting season must be over soon, surely.

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