Georgetown mtb trails(tassie keeps building)

[ozzybmx]

So... when you ride Derby, you will know there is nothing else that will blow your mind the way it did, so you just want to drive past everywhere else knowing it will be a disappointment.

Penguin MTB park, has wooden berms and other wooden skill shit, worth a visit for an hour... anywhere else in Tassie (Maydena not included) spend your time in Derby or you will regret it. I've been there twice now, Derby is the bizz.

 

[Ackland]

It's great to sing Derby's praises (I love the place too)
... but it was still a big risk to build anything there at all.
Pre-mtn bikes it was a pretty bleak town.

Now with hind sight, it looks like it was a well planned surety.
But I think they took a big risk - I can think of a few reasons why it could have flopped in the first year or two.
The first EWS (2017) cannot be overstated for providing momentum.
If they hadn't secured that event it might have been a flatter froth profile for the project...

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Don't worry, it was a very very educated move to build in Derby, right down to the order that they opened trails (and continue to do so).

St Helens is the same council area and funded from a similar federal bucket of money but is being promoted as a separate project.

It's all part of a very well though out and delivered plan.

 

[Paulie_AU]

So... when you ride Derby, you will know there is nothing else that will blow your mind the way it did, so you just want to drive past everywhere else knowing it will be a disappointment.

Penguin MTB park, has wooden berms and other wooden skill shit, worth a visit for an hour... anywhere else in Tassie (Maydena not included) spend your time in Derby or you will regret it. I've been there twice now, Derby is the bizz.

Interestingly the guys I ride with reckon derby was cool but underwhelming after a bunch of days in Maydena. Reckon they should have done derby first to keep the stoke up. We all met riding DH 18 odd years ago so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[born-again-biker]

Don't worry, it was a very very educated move to build in Derby, right down to the order that they opened trails (and continue to do so).

St Helens is the same council area and funded from a similar federal bucket of money but is being promoted as a separate project.

It's all part of a very well though out and delivered plan.

No doubt.

I'm not saying it wasn't planned.

I'm not saying it was rushed or haphazard.

I'm not saying it's success is dumb luck.

I was paying respect and gratitude to the risks that were taken by the constituents.
Risks that are easily under recognised in the afterglow of huge success (it’s human nature to do so).
Large sums of money were wagered that "if we build it, they will come". Turns out the educated bet was a bloody good one.
It's a magic place and a magic story of transformation and progress.

But no project is without risk of failure or significant under-performance.
Especially FREE mtn bike trails in a remote part of an island at the remote end of the planet in a dead town in a litigious world drowning in bureaucracy and instant gratification.

To think that Blue Derby (or any public project of similar specifics) was a guaranteed success is very "optimistic"?.




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[herbman]

Interestingly the guys I ride with reckon derby was cool but underwhelming after a bunch of days in Maydena. Reckon they should have done derby first to keep the stoke up. We all met riding DH 18 odd years ago so maybe that has something to do with it.

The big thing with Maydena is that the town is like Derby was 5 years ago with limited food options, no where really to buy food or booze. And I can only eat so many burgers from the bike park and drink so many cans of gold from the RSL at 1984 prices. And the town really doesn’t seem that onboard with the bike park. It just doesn’t have that feel that you get when you roll into Derby.
Plus they I think Derby has more to offer to a larger group of people. I can take my 8 year old boy there and have a good time and I can take my experienced mate from NZ and they will also have a good time.
I can see that some people will enjoy the riding that Maydena has to offer more than Derby but as a % of the riders coming to TAS It will be a smaller %.

 

[herbman]

George Town was rough as guts when I lived on the other side of the Tamar. More recently, I spent some time at Low Head which is a great little spot.

Just wondering if they are catering to local demand, or hoping to draw people from greater Launceston area / those who are down that way for Derby etc.

George Town is interesting, as there is some ghetto spots but there also seems to be so upmarket areas there to.
Is it going to be the next Derby maybe not but give the number of new riders entering the sport here in TAS and on the mainland. More areas to ride can only be a good thing. And it being close to Launceston will also help given the limited riding options on that side of the city.

 

[Stredda]

George Town is interesting, as there is some ghetto spots but there also seems to be so upmarket areas there to.
Is it going to be the next Derby maybe not but give the number of new riders entering the sport here in TAS and on the mainland. More areas to ride can only be a good thing. And it being close to Launceston will also help given the limited riding options on that side of the city.

I'm really interested to see how George town goes. What will be the saturation point for trails?
I'm fairly involved with the Penguin MTB Park/Dial Range Trails and the new Wild Mersey Trails. The Penguin Park visitation has gone from a few hundred to 10K per annum (we have camera traps) in the past 5 years and we are have plans add another 20km to the trails in the next 12 months. The Wild Mersey trails have been very popular since the December 2018 opening and while there isn't enough trail just yet for a dedicated stay the locals have been smashing it and I'm seen so many new riders trying out the trails, people that probably wouldn't have tried mountain biking otherwise.

 

[clockworked]

Man, the camera traps part of your comment really stuck out to me. Are the riders aware of the cameras? I am really tin-foily about things like that, but that seems a little out of the ordinary

 

[Stredda]

Man, the camera traps part of your comment really stuck out to me. Are the riders aware of the cameras? I am really tin-foily about things like that, but that seems a little out of the ordinary

They are Parks and Wildlife cameras and they mainly use them to catch dirtbikes on the trails but we do count numbers of walkers and bike. Parks use them all over the place

 

[caad9]

The camera thing is funny, I sometimes wish they were used more often.
I know people are really concerned with having their photo taken, but the stats are so valuable to these places.

Even more so with illegal trail building or riding - people could easily identify the culprits if images are used

 

[D01]

Did that actually happen? Because I've been hearing urban myths about this for as long as there have been water slides.

I don't know if it ever happened, but I believe there are people out there messed up enough to do it. A guy at my high school in Sydney put a sharp piece of metal on the bottom of his school bag and then threw his bag over his shoulder and cut kids and uniforms up as he walked down the crowded hallways. He only targeted year 7's.


Slightly off topic, but there are no urban myths about this place, they are reportedly all true.

"the pool was eventually painted white to make it easier to spot any bodies on the bottom"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park

 

[Stredda]

I don't know if it ever happened, but I believe there are people out there messed up enough to do it. A guy at my high school in Sydney put a sharp piece of metal on the bottom of his school bag and then threw his bag over his shoulder and cut kids and uniforms up as he walked down the crowded hallways. He only targeted year 7's.


Slightly off topic, but there are no urban myths about this place, they are reportedly all true.

"the pool was eventually painted white to make it easier to spot any bodies on the bottom"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Park

Reminds me of mountain biking in general "a few scrapes and scars but they had fun and they cherished those memories"

We had Serendipity in Devonport, Tassie.

Ahead of it's time and probably didn't have the population and tourism numbers to support it back then

 

[Scotty675]

Reminds me of mountain biking in general "a few scrapes and scars but they had fun and they cherished those memories"

We had Serendipity in Devonport, Tassie.

Ahead of it's time and probably didn't have the population and tourism numbers to support it back then

Serendipity was awesome, went there a handful of times before it closed. The other place was penny royal (Launceston), nothing on serendipity though.

 

[ozzybmx]

Interestingly the guys I ride with reckon derby was cool but underwhelming after a bunch of days in Maydena. Reckon they should have done derby first to keep the stoke up. We all met riding DH 18 odd years ago so maybe that has something to do with it.

If you are DH rider, Maydena is the place to go hands down, 800vm drop all day long with quick turn uplifts, it's a downhillers paradise.

The only uphill is the 8-10m from the shuttle bus to the Eagles Eerie building and trail start.

 

[mark22]

Don't worry, it was a very very educated move to build in Derby, right down to the order that they opened trails (and continue to do so).

St Helens is the same council area and funded from a similar federal bucket of money but is being promoted as a separate project.

It's all part of a very well though out and delivered plan.

Break Of Day council at St Helens who is the applicant for the new trail from Blue Tier.

 

[Stredda]

Break Of Day council at St Helens who is the applicant for the new trail from Blue Tier.

Correct, and Derby is in Dorset council and they don't like sharing the MTB market. It will be interesting how the inter-council relationship goes once Break O'Day Council has a network that rivals Dorset.
I did hear that Georgetown council asked Dorset council for some advice for their trails and was bluntly told that they believed that Tassie should only have Blue Derby and Maydena as MTB destinations and they wouldn't share anything.
I think that Tassie as a whole should be promoted as a destination, not just one area.

 

[ozzybmx]

Correct, and Derby is in Dorset council and they don't like sharing the MTB market. It will be interesting how the inter-council relationship goes once Break O'Day Council has a network that rivals Dorset.

Yes it will be interesting.

Weldbourough is also in Break O'Day Council, but on the wrong side of the mountain to benefit much from the St Helens trail.

 

[clockworked]

Break o day council is the best council name ever

 

[Stredda]

Yes it will be interesting.

Weldbourough is also in Break O'Day Council, but on the wrong side of the mountain to benefit much from the St Helens trail.

At the moment Break O'day contracts the Blue Tier maintenance to Dorset council. This will probably change once the St Helens trails open, the two councils don't usually get along. Interesting times...

 

[ozzybmx]

At the moment Break O'day contracts the Blue Tier maintenance to Dorset council. This will probably change once the St Helens trails open, the two councils don't usually get along. Interesting times...

Over the 12 nights we spent there I tried to engage with people to get the feeling of the place as we have a very similar town called Melrose here in SA.

I don't need to elaborate on a public forum but there are a lot of very happy people in Derby and surrounding towns and a lot of very unhappy ones. Not necessarily with just whats been done but more the way things have been done...