Illawarra Escarpment Mountain Bike Draft Strategy: Public Consultation

Worth noting that our plan was based around retaining and upgrading the existing black and double black trails (in most cases). It’s our understanding that in most instances this isn’t the case with the current plan.

The plan we developed had the support of indigenous groups, but this support was withdrawn without any notice (to us anyway).

oldcorollas said:
the original Dirt Art concept plan (2018) had....

Mt Keira. 1 Black (2.4km), 10 Blue (18km), 7 green (17.3km) (but Mt Keira is now a no go)
Mt Kembla, ZERO black, 6 Blue (18km), 1 green (3.2km)

Dirt Art 2018 https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/...warra-escarpment-mountain-biking-concept-plan

Synergy 2020 https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/...ra-escarpment-mountain-bike-concept-plan-2020
Mt Kembla, 2 double-Black (3km), 13 Black (5km), 22 Blue (16.8km), 14 green (5.7km)
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dirtart said:
Worth noting that our plan was based around retaining and upgrading the existing black and double black trails (in most cases). It’s our understanding that in most instances this isn’t the case with the current plan.

The plan we developed had the support of indigenous groups, but this support was withdrawn without any notice (to us anyway).
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The original concept plan was really good. Making use of the existing trails was logical in terms of less impact, already meeting riders needs and kicking up the network to the next level.

Once Keira was off the table then it would have made more sense to move to the drift area as there is already heaps of room there for parking and it is away from most other groups activities and residential areas.

Being a bit cyclical, The current stage 1 plan at Kembla seems more about fixing the issue of motorbikes on parks land, where the motobike club thought they had formal use of that land.

Moving to the Kembla area now puts more impacts on the heritage areas of MT Kembla village. The area has huge significance as the mine explosion remains as the worst industrial incident in Australia. there is not a lot of focus on this at all when it could be incorporated into the project to tell some of that story.

My observations was that the project working group is just a collection of interest groups that all think they own the escarpment and are all playing politics to get what they want.
I am not surprised if the stories keep changing as they land council claims they were left out of consultation. I have heard of lots of unfounded accusations of riders abusing walkers by the land council reps and bush walking groups.
One of the greens recently said that mtb riders could not be engaged to support the project. So not agreeing with them now means that riders are painted as the issue in the project to deliver mtb trails, go figure.

In my view National Parks are still biased against mtb. The latest example was describing the heritage assessments for the mtb trails as a license to destroy heritage. I have never heard them describe the same assessment for a new walking trail in the same way and have been in discussion for both. I see their approach to the project as fixing the issues rather than delivering a descent network where riders would naturally move to better trails.l and no longer need to develop and rode informal trails.
 
oldcorollas said:
Btw, DA did great with Cringila :) heavily used by wide range of riders all the time
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Cringila was great as it brought beginner friendly trails to the area, it complemented the trails in the escarpment which are mainly blacks and double blacks (or pro lines and rampage lines if we grade then on the same scale as Cringila :D ).

I'm worried there could be notable loss of challenging technical trails in the escarpment. There are some good people from the local community that have been involved in the existing trails that I'm sure are pushing to keep enough challenging trails. Ultimately if the new network and closures don't cater to the existing riders enough there will be more illegal trails built and we are back to where we started, but the transition will be frustrating.
 
What is happening or happened to the gondola that was planned to go up the escarpment.

So when the MTB trails come down and pass Wollongong Motorcycle complex it looks like the MTB trail goes out on the road. From my memory the MX track pretty much goes close to the road. Is there a big gap jump over the MX track for MTBs.
 
oldcorollas said:
there have been gondola plans for at least the last 40 years for various places around illawarra.. mainly from beach to train to uni + optional Mt keira

the "Mt Keira adventure playground" idea with potential gondola from 2016 got totally nixxed
the "Mt Keira summit park" plan ended up prohibiting further MTB development, outside of the "illawarra escarpment MTB strategy"... (which is where it is now, and making the new trails)

from 1984 :)
View attachment 407471

if they spent $50mil on a gondola.. imagine how much 1 ride would cost?
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When they shut down the steel works I reckon you will get a gondola. Govt will be chucking money at the Gong to transistion from steel city to tourist mecca.
 
bigdamo said:
Is there a big gap jump over the MX track for MTBs.
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i mean... there could be??
d1XjG2V.jpeg
 
oldcorollas said:
MX track maybe ok for Eebs? but otherwise? (yewtube of MX)

going to be pretty hard to prevent the MX riders from ripping up the MTB trails though... because so close...


Steelworks probably won't close for decades, and the main opposition to Escarpment development will likely be cultural significance...
and the guerilla orchidists ... ;)
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Nah I doubt the MX riders will ride the MTB trails. There focused on Moto-X there not enduro or cross country racers.
 
That looks like the MX track. There was a killer Down hill on the old MX track should incorparate that into the MTB trails. :D
 
oldcorollas said:
May not be ebikes?

To be fair, none of the current escarpment trails are sanctioned or legal.
So for punters that have been riding "illegally" for years and years, what is the difference between riding an illegal track illegally.. or a legal sanctioned track before it has been finished/opened? (Ie before it is "legal") apart from quaint notion of etiquette that they dgaf about?

Stil just punters riding in bush, and legal tracks won't stop some people making and riding unsanctioned tracks anyway..
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It is not apples to apples like you describe.
Riding the illegal trails was and still is a necessary evil. NPWS have not shut them down yet with the view that they need to get the new trails delivered first.
Riding the news trails now is entering a construction site and will just damage the trails, causing further delays.
there is heaps of stuff that can be ridden so anyone riding the new without the OK is just being a dick.
 
Halo1 said:
It is not apples to apples like you describe.
Riding the illegal trails was and still is a necessary evil. NPWS have not shut them down yet with the view that they need to get the new trails delivered first.
Riding the news trails now is entering a construction site and will just damage the trails, causing further delays.
there is heaps of stuff that can be ridden so anyone riding the new without the OK is just being a dick.
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I agree 100% with one hand. On the other hand we have "accepted" trails behind signs warning us of fines up to $44,000 that we are told we are kind of ok to go/ a blind eye is turned and spots across the road with the same signs that apparently we can't go ( and have no trails that I know of). I'm pretty sure the fine for riding the new trails is less than the 44k we are threatened with each time we ride the existing trails.

So I agree with you 100%, people should stay off the new trails until they are ready and open but the existing lack of system has warnings that make the existing trails potentially worse to ride in terms of warning signs.

I hope we don't lose the existing network. I love some/most of those trails.
 
LPG said:
I agree 100% with one hand. On the other hand we have "accepted" trails behind signs warning us of fines up to $44,000 that we are told we are kind of ok to go/ a blind eye is turned and spots across the road with the same signs that apparently we can't go ( and have no trails that I know of). I'm pretty sure the fine for riding the new trails is less than the 44k we are threatened with each time we ride the existing trails.

So I agree with you 100%, people should stay off the new trails until they are ready and open but the existing lack of system has warnings that make the existing trails potentially worse to ride in terms of warning signs.

I hope we don't lose the existing network. I love some/most of those trails.
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I see the difference here that it is in the interest of mtb riders to stay off the new stuff. Support the project and Make stage 1 a huge success and then push for stage 2 and even stage 3.
This is the only way to secure as much of the existing trails or trail areas in the legal network.
Trails will close but what and where I can only guess.

Riders can’t really use the old status quo as a means of justification when so much has changed.

The groups that did not want this project to go ahead have not gone away and are still active. Why give them easy ammunition to steer the project into a smaller and smaller outcomes and no future stages.

There are existing trails behind those $44k signs too. I believe you get life time entry to all the illegal trails of the world if you are lucky enough to cop that fine/ticket price 😀
 
It's such a dick move riding any trail until the builder says so. People need to always abide by the "My trails, my rules" motto. And people exclaiming they didn't know it was closed, trail looks finished, there wasn't a sign, the bunting was down. Fuck off, its so obvious when a fresh trail is clearly not open. And these arsehats that expose the good trails by putting their slow arse ride on Strava and / or Trailforks are some of the biggest cockheads out there. All of those shitty platforms need a revamp where only registered clubs / trail builders that pay to list a trail can submit the details so wankers can race their imaginary friends via a satellite reception.
Illegal trails is a shit term that do-gooders use. You're better off calling them rad trails in your head and never talk about them publically ;)
The Illawarra has some dedicated builders that need you to buy them beer. Keep them refreshed ;) There are some total douchebags around those parts that make for some shit vibes but the goodness tends to come through. I can't wait to ride the new stuff.
 
Halo1 said:
I see the difference here that it is in the interest of mtb riders to stay off the new stuff. Support the project and Make stage 1 a huge success and then push for stage 2 and even stage 3.
This is the only way to secure as much of the existing trails or trail areas in the legal network.
Trails will close but what and where I can only guess.

Riders can’t really use the old status quo as a means of justification when so much has changed.

The groups that did not want this project to go ahead have not gone away and are still active. Why give them easy ammunition to steer the project into a smaller and smaller outcomes and no future stages.

There are existing trails behind those $44k signs too. I believe you get life time entry to all the illegal trails of the world if you are lucky enough to cop that fine/ticket price 😀
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I agree with you 100%, that's a pretty clear unwritten rule to respect the trails, particularly while being built. I'm just pointing out that riding our awesome existing trails typically means you are already ignoring signs threatening massive fines already. Someone who is selfish and only cares for themselves could look at it as " ooh, 2 sets of illegal trails. Why not try the new ones". I disagree with it, but there are some fuckwits everywhere, even on a MTB (but only on Ebikes if you listen to Dozer :D )
 
oldcorollas said:
September update link

Mid 2025 opening of Stage 1 is disappointing but... sounds like someone wasn't gettin things done..
"The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has recruited new staff in the project team, with specialist expertise to support the delivery of the network."
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I got that impression too, makes me hope the whole thing doesn't get canned shortly after some flog decides to destroy all the existing trails meaning there won't be anything.
 
oldcorollas said:
September update link

Mid 2025 opening of Stage 1 is disappointing but... sounds like someone wasn't gettin things done..
"The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service has recruited new staff in the project team, with specialist expertise to support the delivery of the network."
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Too many secondments into other project teams in an effort to avoid actually employing people (which is frowned upon by department heads and Ministers) so they are robbing Peter to pay Paul. And the process of contract procurement and management is so micro-managed that it's insufferably slow to tender for and then engage a contractor and/or someone to actually do the job...

I still remember getting paid for two years to background and write a five year project plan for work that was aspirational and, at the time, unfunded but in accordance with internal government and departmental advice. Sure enough, the plan was launched and the government/department changed its mind. Plan remained unfunded and undelivered. My project was however a success because I delivered the plan...

All they've done is move the funding and expected deliverables into the 2024/25 financial year. Once its on the ground though... there's probably no more money because only the capital is funded. Not the ongoing maintenance...
 
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