Petition Need Sigs Petition for completion of Wodonga MTB trail network

Baz rides

Likes Bikes
G'day guys, I'm hoping you can help us Albury-Wodonga folk out with expanding the fantastic trail network on Hunchback Hill. We've ran into some grumpy residents and despite months of trying to work with them and ease their concerns to no avail, they've set up a petition against MTB use that they no doubt intend to use to persuade some council candidates. And since numbers don't lie, we thought we should make sure we have a much bigger one up our sleeve. If you could 'sign' our petition and perhaps give it a bit of a share around it would certainly be a huge help . Thanks!

https://www.change.org/p/wodonga-council-help-wodonga-reap-the-benefits-of-a-world-class-mountain-bike-facility


If nothing else this experience has certainly highlighted how strong the MTB community is - the support from other clubs and riders has been incredible!

Cheers,

Baz
 

Puddleduck

Likes Dirt
Mate recently told me that some anti-mtb trail group has started up in Wodonga regarding the Hunchback Hill trails. Anyone know what their objections are? Is it the local residents?
 

RapidRob

Likes Bikes
"Save Hunchback Hill" group

Hey Puddleduck, the group you've heard of certainly exists and purports to have reasonable objections to the proposal for further development of the trail network in Wodonga. They've listed a few objections and general complaints, even coming up with fair points about select recommendations in the proposal - many of which are opposed by mountain biking community too (eg. building car parks where they aren't wanted).
The group have stated that they want to engage in discussion with the local mountain biking club, on their page and via local media. Trouble is, they don't seem to be interested in actually having a mature discussion, choosing to delete comments from their page requesting proof of their claims and reasonable, civil questions about their motives. There's been some quite petty behaviour by the group and supporters at meetings with council and wild accusations made online and in the media, while continuing to delete inconvenient comments. A recent action by the Albury Wodonga MTB club (AWMTB) has been the creation of the above petition in response to the opposing one created by the SHH group; the anti-development petition stands at 140 signatures and the one from the MTB club stands at 858...
I've chosen not to engage with the group or their feisty supporters on the Facebook page as per the request of the mountain biking club to keep things civil and urge others to refrain from stirring the already bubbling pot of keyboard warriors, armchair experts and their dumb arguments. I don't speak for the club or community as a whole, but can share a link to the group's publicly available page, you can check it out and decide for yourself: https://www.facebook.com/savehunchbackhill/?fref=ts
 
Last edited:

Baz rides

Likes Bikes
+1 to Rob's explanation

Appears to consist of a few residents with nearby properties, a bunch of people with non-related issues with council/other organisations using this as a soapboxing opportunity, plus throw in a couple of election candidates using this as some way to build a support group. They are playing the environmental card to try and garner further community support, despite the planned trails actually all being earmarked for land that is used for cattle grazing.

It's a small group, but they are loud.
 
Last edited:

Puddleduck

Likes Dirt
Cheers for the explanation. I figured that it's most probably simpletons trotting out the usual unsubstantiated fluff. Hope the trail net work expands.
 
Top