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Bare Creek Bike Park Plan
Just spot that on http://www.trailflix.com.au
The Belrose Waste Management Centre (BWMC) in Northern Sydney ceases landfilling municipal solid waste no later than November 2014 and an exciting opportunity will emerge to redevelop the site for recreational uses. Previous (preliminary) planning investigations and community consultation have confirmed a demand for a bike park at this site and an Enhancement Fund of approximately $3.5 million will be available to turn this vision into a reality.
This Bare Creek Bike Park (BCBP) study has involved developing a Concept Plan for a bike park and providing initial directions for management and implementation. The BCBP study was required to determine whether it is appropriate to develop a bike park on the BWMC site and if so, to guide future planning for the facilities.
Read the really well written plan (all 70+ pages!) and say thanks to almost 60 people from the MTB community who contributed to this fantastic project...
(Still waiting to hear if it has been greenlit... fingers crossed)
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Sounds promising, its hard not to get excited
Just knowing you're biking on top of a pile of rubbish... I feel it's killing the great feel of being outdoor in the nature I personally cherish when I'm out. It would be hard to not think about it. But the plan of the park is quite appealing.
Yes... it's an old tip and is disgusting to most users, so give it to the bike riders! That stings a bit
Moreover, because of the gas situation I am lead to believe they will never be able to plant trees here (deep roots trees need will puncture the membrane that captures the gas). Obviously whoever wrote the report knows that cyclists like trees though, and like to ride through woodland, stop under a shady tree for a break, etc. There are many pictures of tree lined trails in the report.
That said, throw in some single track through what could become half decent 'scrub', some rock gardens, a steep slope and at least a bit of shade and facilities at the bottom, perhaps a skills area, some jump or pump features, etc. and could this become somewhere half decent to ride? If done correctly, I think so.
So I'm keeping an open mind. Let's see more plans and some commitment.
I used to live near golden jubilee (before they did the bike track, damnit!) and my understanding is that it used to be landfill as well..
they dropped 1 huge and another large oval, as well as a Rural fire service, on top of it... a quarry and plateau (possibly old landfill) to the end is where they put the bike track..
point being that the use of an old land-fill area seemed completely fine - you wouldn't know it was an old landfill site at all. there's plenty of baseball, soccer, dog walking, RC plane flying done there by many people in the local area.. you really don't think about there being waste below and wouldn't know unless someone told you.
Hopefully they'd do a similar level/quality of rehabilitation if this goes ahead.
admittedly to your point about the trees, golden jubilee only has a few sections (non-bush) of trees on the rehabilitated area, but they have built a few sheds and the RFS buildings there, so artificial shade is definitely possible.
i have high hopes for this area as my work is re-locating to the supacentre, so would be great for a lunch-time session!
Definitely time to get excited.
This has been the result of 5 years hard work by a dedicated few.
TrailCare, local clubs and riders put in a user group proposal which the planners have largely taken on board.
The idea is beginner to advanced Freeride, skills area and XC loop and connections.
Most of the site has a steep gradient and the user group dream goes a little like this similar but bigger site
http://youtu.be/a_h-GHai5Pg
There is a capping layer which will limit bush to scrub rather than bigger trees.
We met the state minister to show support for it and believe the concept was signed off. Council have also supported the rezoning for it. There are still some details to work through but looking very promising.
Don't be alarmed that this might be seen as a be all for all riding in the beaches. Government once thought it was but we have moved them on to understanding this is a great place for a bike park but will not replace XC and AM trails through the bush.
Mt Stromlo has very little tree coverage yet its still a lot of fun and has a lot riders visit the area
Only because a bush fire went thru there & now the trees are starting to grow back again , but on a landfill site there will never be any trees growing there....
Good news for Thredbo MTB. New flow trail is much improved with shorter meandering & undulating straights and more berms = less time on brakes.
Valley trail 17km down to Lake Crackenback is a decent XC flow trail with the return leg making for an epic-ish ride (620m net vert) worthy of a frosty schooner at The Bistro at the finish.
New XC "All Mountain trail" from Crackenback over to Merritts then down through trees to Fri Flat is the highlight. When it's top access from Crackenback is complete it will be up there with the best XC flow trails in Aust. Enjoy!