Sydney Trail Conditions.

[mtb1611]

Greetings. Following a ride a mate and I did thi morning at Lucas Heights, was just wondering what conditions are like at other trails in Sydney. Lucas, as many of you will know, is loose and sandy at he best of times, but this morning sections of it were almost of talcum-powder consistency, very loose and sandy indeedy. We need rain! MX bikes at Lucas certainly don't help either!

So ell me farkiners, how are trails in other parts of Sydney holding up in the drought?

PS: there was a very large group still assembling at Barden Ridge Oval when we left this morn, was that a farkin group?

 

[shore_2]

I know what you mean about the condition of the trails at lucas. I ride there every weekend. The MX bikes are ruining the place, i don't know why they want to ride in the ansto/MTB/walking section when they have trails from the tip all the way to white rock, but they still insist on ruining the few good single tracks that are out there.
I notice thay are putting up some big fences near the playing fields, hopefully that will help keep em out.

 

[addradz]

Menai- not good for MTB for much longer

I took a quick one around the east side of Menai yesterday. Haven't been there since November last year due to the heat and other poor excuses. I have to say the trails are looking mighty sad. Tons of new or much bigger sand pits on loose corners, lots more small broken rocks. Tracks wider, shed loads of erosion and fuggin rubbish every where! May bee its just all the rain we've been having?

Its a fine line between a tight technical bit of single trail that we go there for and the bermed up sandy as rut holes these Moto guys love. The more they ride the east side of Menai the more it moves away from what appeals to us and over to what gives them good wood. Yes they keep the trails open...too bloody much! All these new trails have no thought in them they are just the easiest way through, once a bit of rain comes they wash away.

I reckon we are losing this place to people who have no right to be there, no respect for the bush, who couldn't give a toss about anything but ripping it up. They will ride the jumps, make vertical lines that encourage more erosion.

That piece of bush looks tough as but I guarantee its a matter of time before the area will lose its appeal for mountain biking unless the council, the cops, the NP steps in a shuts it out properly. If you doubt this you should go and check out around Crawleys road off the old princess highway. Its so rooted now there's 10 foot deep ruts that used to be fire roads 10 years ago.

Help! This place needs an intervention soon or its fooked.

 

[BM Epic]

I took a quick one around the east side of Menai yesterday. Haven't been there since November last year due to the heat and other poor excuses. I have to say the trails are looking mighty sad. Tons of new or much bigger sand pits on loose corners, lots more small broken rocks. Tracks wider, shed loads of erosion and fuggin rubbish every where! May bee its just all the rain we've been having?

Its a fine line between a tight technical bit of single trail that we go there for and the bermed up sandy as rut holes these Moto guys love. The more they ride the east side of Menai the more it moves away from what appeals to us and over to what gives them good wood. Yes they keep the trails open...too bloody much! All these new trails have no thought in them they are just the easiest way through, once a bit of rain comes they wash away.

I reckon we are losing this place to people who have no right to be there, no respect for the bush, who couldn't give a toss about anything but ripping it up. They will ride the jumps, make vertical lines that encourage more erosion.

That piece of bush looks tough as but I guarantee its a matter of time before the area will lose its appeal for mountain biking unless the council, the cops, the NP steps in a shuts it out properly. If you doubt this you should go and check out around Crawleys road off the old princess highway. Its so rooted now there's 10 foot deep ruts that used to be fire roads 10 years ago.

Help! This place needs an intervention soon or its fooked.

Your not robinson crusoe there mate, the mountains tracks have copped a hammering, some sections of trail have simply dissappeared, needs lots of work done!..420mm of rain in one weekend will do that!

 

[jaybe]

trail maintenance/work party start to get some organisation out there time.

 

[jaybe]

And Appin was a sand hell-hole in places today as well.

Still fun though

 

[crank1979]

And Appin was a sand hell-hole in places today as well.

Still fun though

Appin has been dumbed down too much. People cutting lines around 'tough'sections, or removing or adding rocks and logs. There's no reason to have a B line on some sections now that the A lines are so smooth. Add the sand on every corner and it's not that much fun anymore. It's better riding the loop in the reverse direction now.

 

[dcrofty]

Thing is the Motos have been out there for decades, well before MTB was ever invented. I hate what they do to trails but pragmatically speaking they need somewhere to ride too. I think there has probably been a little bit more pressure put into that area in the last few years as some of the crown land down near Sandy Point and White Rock became part of Georges River National Park too.

Otherwise, what looks like a single large chunk of bush is owned by a heap of different land owners with lines arbitrarily drawn on maps. From memory (and I used to work for the council so I had access to the land ownership records) there are bits owned/managed by Sutho Council, DECCW (ie NPWS), Department of Land and Property Management (Dept of Lands), ANSTO and Gandangarra LALC. Throw in a few private bits off Old Illawarra Rd and suddenly you can be riding on a heap of different pieces of land on some of the tracks out there which makes managing the trails over a whole area a chronic mess.
Edit. I believe the tip has bushland too.
Having said that it doesn't mean things can't be done. Rubbish cleanups are always a great idea, we could also improve drainage and do some basic trailwork to improve some areas but like I said earlier a lot of those trails are old moto tracks that MTB have taken over so I guess I'm saying that they are likely to still have a presence there for quite some time. Perhaps if there are any MTB specific trails there (that are tight and twisty and unappealing to Motos) they should be focused on as a matter of priority?

 

[jaybe]

Appin has been dumbed down too much. People cutting lines around 'tough'sections, or removing or adding rocks and logs. There's no reason to have a B line on some sections now that the A lines are so smooth. Add the sand on every corner and it's not that much fun anymore. It's better riding the loop in the reverse direction now.

Very true we were discussing that today actually. B lines are fine, but leave the A lines A lines. We actually ride it more often in reverse than forwards these days. Not really suprised to see we arent the only ones.


Justin

 

[jaybe]

Thing is the Motos have been out there for decades, well before MTB was ever invented. I hate what they do to trails but pragmatically speaking they need somewhere to ride too. I think there has probably been a little bit more pressure put into that area in the last few years as some of the crown land down near Sandy Point and White Rock became part of Georges River National Park too.

Otherwise, what looks like a single large chunk of bush is owned by a heap of different land owners with lines arbitrarily drawn on maps. From memory (and I used to work for the council so I had access to the land ownership records) there are bits owned/managed by Sutho Council, DECCW (ie NPWS), Department of Land and Property Management (Dept of Lands), ANSTO and Gandangarra LALC. Throw in a few private bits off Old Illawarra Rd and suddenly you can be riding on a heap of different pieces of land on some of the tracks out there which makes managing the trails over a whole area a chronic mess.
Edit. I believe the tip has bushland too.
Having said that it doesn't mean things can't be done. Rubbish cleanups are always a great idea, we could also improve drainage and do some basic trailwork to improve some areas but like I said earlier a lot of those trails are old moto tracks that MTB have taken over so I guess I'm saying that they are likely to still have a presence there for quite some time. Perhaps if there are any MTB specific trails there (that are tight and twisty and unappealing to Motos) they should be focused on as a matter of priority?

Its high time for the Menai area to be maintained/managed to some extent. The DH guys do a stellar job but the rest needs some looking after.


Happy to help.

Justin.

 

[Danos]

Just a thought . . .

Clean Up Australia Day - 7th March 2010

We might be able to round up a team for the day for a day of track maintenance in Menai/Lucas Heights. It would also give us a reason to be there with shovels & tools as we can be 'part of the cleanup' just in case people stop to ask questions.

Would be great to get rid of some 'sandy' corners. Maybe get some advice from Geo-Techs on how to firm up these sandy areas - Surely we could relocate rocks and get some firm soil into these areas.

I ran into three Moto guys about 2 weeks ago on the tip side at Lucas Heights. They were fairly nice, they asked us where we were riding. When we indicated down the valley, they noted there were alot of structures and rocks. They were not keen to go near - perhaps we need more trail obsticles to deter motos from using mtb oriented trails. They will probably just create new trails around them though.

- - who knows - but I'm willing to help retain these areas

 

[jaybe]

A good concept, I have no experience in something like this and I wouldn't know where to start. To get it right it will take some preplanning for areas and a plan otherwise it would be a rockshow. Anyone with experience here please chip in.