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Hi - New Forum Member
Hi Everyone,
New to this forum, and to Australia in general. I'm a Kiwi, but we moved from Vancouver, Canada to Sydney in April last year (sometimes I still ponder why we left all that glorious singletrack and power snow behind....)!
I'm keen to get out and meet some locals and check out the trails around the Sydney area. I've been to Manly Dam a few times (it's close to where we live) but to be honest it's a bit tame for my liking. Would love to check out some more technical and flowy tracks. We've just brought some wheels this past weekend (4, not 2!) so i'm now able to get out further afield.
Speaking of Manly Dam, I wanted to ride there over the weekend/this week after work but I see the big red dot on the homepage from all the rain lately so I stayed away. A few questions: how current is that status typically? I guess someone has to go ride it to see the condition of the track, which i'm happy to do, but I want to do the right thing and don't want to be given 'the eye' by locals who think I'll be damaging the track by riding after rain. Let me know what the done thing is here.
PM me if you'd be up for taking a Sydney noob around a few tracks.
Cam
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If you want more technical single track, there is Red Hill. However it would be very wise to have a guide up here. That said, Red Hill suffers badly from rain and would take the best part of a month to completely dry out if the rain holds off. I be happy to show you around as its a favourite spot of mine however I won't touch it for at least a couple of weeks and even then I will expect to get a bit mucky.
If you want to get airborne, try Oxford Falls. If you have 6" travel bike or more this will see you fine around a lot of it although you'd be best to walk it first up as there are some big hits up there.
What floats your boat?
This maybe?
http://v.vitalmtb.com/19924/rapid-fire-brian-lop...
A key difference here compared to what yoi've become used to is the soil. It is much more sand/clay based, and therefore muxh more fragile and erodible. So we tend to be much more conservative about riding wet trails. They're also much harsher on your bike - wet sandy grit accelerates wear dramatically.
Hoping to get Manly Dam into a state where its much more wet weather tolerant but thats a long term project.
Hope that explains some culture differences that might otherwise be confusing
Thanks for the replies Matt and hawkeye.
Matt, the track in the vid looks like fun. I'm nowhere near as fast as Mr. Lopes, mind you. Tell me we have something like it near Sydney!
For lack of a better description, 'All Mountain' is what floats my boat most of the time. I don't mind huffing it up a hill if there's some big smiles to be had on the other side. Speed + technical descents + carvy berms + a bit of air all float my boat. That said, I'll happily ride along a firetrail/4wd track if there's some scenic views and a pub at the end!
I'd be keen to check out Red Hill for sure. Let me know when you'll go.
hawkeye: yeah i've certainly noticed the sandy soils. In terms of the red/green dots, is there a crew of folks who go out and check the trails or is it just a case of "it's been roughly a week after the rains, we'll green/amber light it" kind of thing?
If you like technical stuff then you'll enjoy the Old Great North Road, km after km of lovely rock gardens, drops, flowy trail, crazy techy descents, amazing views. IMHO the best all mountain/funnest trail in the area. But it's a bit of a hike to get there so you'll need your (4) wheels. It's pretty remote tho so don't go there alone.
http://nobmob.com/rides/greatnorthernroad
Phil
Edit: there is also a pub at the end
Nearly all the single track riding here is on trails that don't officially exist. Manly Dam and Hornsby are the only nearby official tracks.
The traffic light system is run by the users of the website. It's updated by whoever went there last.
I'm happy to show you around Red Hill, we have some great technical terrain. Enough to keep me hooked and one of the factors that kept me in Sydney. I'm from Levin originally via 10 years in Christchurch.
We are working with all the land managers to get more official track and formalise what we have.
The traffic lights/trail status can be updated by anyone. Locals to the trails would know the condition best and are most likely to do the updates but if you do go somewhere you can update the status yourself to give a report of the condition. The flags are not law in most circumstance and are advisory only. In the end its common sence. When a trail is green but its pouring down rain, its a fair assumption the trail is wet and shouldn't be riden. When a trail is flagged red after rain, at some point someone does decide it should be dry by now and goes for a spin and hopefully gives a status update.
Have fun on the trails
G'day mate, Ourimbah is excellent for all mountain and has a downhill track as well. Further up is Awaba, which has an awesome XC circuit and downhill.
Awaba drains well whilst Ourimbah can get boggy at the bottom after these kinds of rains
Cheers ChopStiR. That's what I had assumed - good to know.
A Red Hill ride sounds good Simon. I'm around this weekend or next. You can find my email address on my profile.
Simon, if you think (miraculously) that RH will be rideable, I'll be up for a plod this weekend.
list it on the social rides if you guys end up going
In my case with Manly Dam, it's experience. Don't need to ride it (and damage it) to be able to tell when riding it is a bad idea.
If soil conditions in the nearby streets and playing fields are saturated, it's a pretty clear telltale that the soil around the Dam will be in a similar condition. Depending on how much rain has fallen, it can take several days for gutters and stormwater drains to stop running with water. When the low-lying saturated spots are dry, you could *maybe* look at going for a ride.
Ridden it enough times when I shouldn't have to know now how the two relate.
Hope that helps.
Matt/Simon - if you're thinking of heading out to Red Hill this weekend let me know via email (on my profile). Else I think I'll try out Old Man's Valley
Hey
Heading out today to RH at 10am. Will mainly follow the rock.
Partly a ride, partly to check out drainage and reroutes.
Meeting 42 Cromer Rd, Cromer at fire trail.
damn! only just saw this... please update us with how its looking, might head up there later
Accessed via Cromer Rd, did Itchy and Scratchy a few times. Then rode up and down drop zone with a return loop to the lookout and also fire trail to Mr Motocross and back.
Ride through the puddles not around them to prevent widening.
I was mainly looking at soil types and water flows. Recently did a 2 day soils and erosion course.