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Northern Beaches Trail Advocacy
A sad day for mtb, the loss of OBR
Damn despite a positive report and encouraging recommendations BMCC Councillors last night voted to close down the long established trails along side Old Bathurst Rd, Blaxland.
Standing alone in support was Clr Luccetti.
The construction and continued use of "Candy bar", a poorly constructed and thought out trail at Mt Riverview condemned by senior riders since it's creation, was a contributing factor in this decision and those riders responsible need to take a long hard look at themselves.
Draft Warringah Bike Plan, Public Submissions Needed!
Draft Warringah Bike Plan will be on Public Exhibition: Saturday February 27 to Wednesday March 31, 2010
http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/comment/comment....
View the Draft Warringah Bike Plan and Bike Maps:
http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/comment/document...
The Draft Warringah Bike Plan and Bike Maps can also be viewed at the following locations during the public exhibition period:
Council's Civic Centre, 725 Pittwater Road, Dee Why
Warringah libraries: Dee Why, Belrose, Warringah Mall, Forestville and Terrey Hills
Have your say
Partial Win for Down Hill Single Tracks at Old Bathurst Road, Blue Mountains
The Door has been opened, but nothing is offical yet. Check here and read the reports.
Bike week funding opportunities
Just in case some one has a project that might be of interest
* Promote the use of shared bicycle/pedestrian facilities in your community
Might well apply to both Manly dam and OBR???
NSW BIKE WEEK FUNDING
Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) NSW
Health and Wellbeing
To raise the profile of cycling as a healthy, easy, low cost and environmentally friendly transport alternative to driving for short trips. The key objectives of NSW Bike Week are to:
* Raise the profile of bicycle use for short trips
* Encourage community participation in NSW Bike Week Events
Illegal Trail Builders Ruin It For Mountain Bikers Everywhere
This is the title of an interesting peice from singletracks.com:
http://www.singletracks.com/blog/trail-advocacy/...
The writer says, "...renegade mountain bikers had secretly cut up to 30 miles of trails... Despite having 255 miles of trail access in national forests around Tahoe, that isn’t enough for the free-riders."
These guys overseas have 255 miles (410km) of local trails, and I'd assume much of this would be dedicated to MTB. Looking at our own back yard, we have 187km of trails (this includes some, known illegal trails) and only the recent action at Manly Dam makes around 2km of them dedicated for MTB riding.
The writer goes on, "On the spectrum of things that are bad for the reputation of our sport, building illegal trails has to be one of the worst (if not the worst) things we can do. So if you’re thinking about putting a shovel to dirt this spring on land you don’t own or have permission to use, give us all a break and volunteer with your local club to improve existing trails."
You have to agree with this and that the only way forward is by doing things the legal way. It's a nice idea to channel energy into clubs, but the issue here is that our local clubs don't have the authority to maintain trails so in reality there is no outlet for those wanting to do the right thing.
So while I completely agree that illegal building is damaging, local authorities need to look overseas and realise that in order to prevent it they must engage local riders. What this also shows is that no matter what utopian trail network that exists, sadly there will always be a rogue element (100% compliance is an unrealistic goal), but that the majority of riders will pitch in to undo any damage rogues may do given the chance.
Petition to retain Old Bathurst Road and Nichols Pde (DH tracks in the Blue Mountains)
Hello
As brief intro I am Alan David and have been involved in some trail advocacy work with the Blue Mountains City Council where we are working toward legitimate trails in the Blue mountains area.
We are initially focused on two Downhill tracks at Old Bathurst Road (Blaxland) and Nichols Pde (Mt Riverview).
Council has taken the initiative to commission a report on feasibility by council employees (Bushland Management) who have been working with volunteers and a small group of representatives (myself included).
De Luca gets slammed over defending why mountain bikers should not have to pay
We might be getting dragged into a fight we might not want to be part of here, but if you have strong views I'd encourage you to have your say.
De Luca's line has been: since we're only recovering a nominal rent from Sea Eagles, and are in effect subsidising a commercial operation to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, where do we get off proposing to charge mountain bikers to access parkland or surf lifesaving volunteers for using clubhouses?
Seems to me it's a fair line of reasoning.
Clean Up Australia Day at Oxford Falls
Just letting everyone know that the local riders are hosting Clean Up Australia Day focussing on the Oxford Falls DH tracks this Sunday 7th March. More info here: www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/Oxfordfalls+Downh...
We will be cleaning up the track areas themselves and also along Morgan Road, which is where most rubbish tends to accumulate through illegal dumping and littering. If you could spend a couple of hrs this Sunday morning to lend a hand it would be greatly appreciated.
Manly Dam opened again
Quick update.. just got home from council meeting.
1. Dam is to reopened until the plan of action is sorted. (6 months ish).
2. Walkers are being prohibited from using the trail. (not great.. )
3. They will be looking to re-instate volunteer days again.
The general consensus is to cancel the protest rides. If people are going to ride on the 6th go for it, but perhaps it will be best to spread out so we don't cause any issues.
More updates to come once we get the minutes (and I have had my dinner!)
Northern Beaches Trail Planning for NOBMOB and MWMTB
Lets keep the ball rolling!
So where to from here...im happy to see mwmtb and nobmob taking the lead with this on a public level, so i guess with so many members on nobmob and mwmtb combined, they need to join forces unofficially and stay on the same page and not go of in different directions
This will make sure all decision making is done to the benefit of all disciplines of mountain biking.
Mike Baird said "show us where you want the trails, and i will push for the funding that is available"