Although we have had positive engagement with NPWS staff in the last six months, more recently I have become concerned that things are stalling at government level and am less optimistic about the process that started last year (see NPWS Sustainable Cycling and Mountain Biking Workshop).

Seems I'm not alone in this thinking, as below is some information one of the NoBMoB advocacy crew put together.

The bottom line is, it's time to get a concerted email campaign going. We need to show the powers that be we appreciate efforts to date, but that concrete results on the ground (in the bush!) are what is needed.

Please, everyone, do not leave this to chance. Do not expect that everyone else will be writing and your little bit won't make a difference. As we saw with Manly Dam, every letter counts and you can make a difference!

Even if you only string a short paragraph or two together saying you enjoy riding and would like to see legal single track in the Northern Beaches that would help. If you have time to include some background and a personal perspective all the better.

Below are the addresses of the current minister (Frank Sartor) and some DECCW management that need to hear our message:

office@sartor.minister.nsw.gov.au, lisa.corbyn@environment.nsw.gov.au, sally.barnes@environment.nsw.gov.au, alistair.henchman@environment.nsw.gov.au, gary.dunnett@environment.nsw.gov.au

Click here to email them all.

Read on for more information on this and ideas of what needs to be said...

Here's news just (well, it's been there a week, but I've been slow) in of a new trail advocacy groups getting started up in the Blue Mountains. One of the founders has described it thus:

The Blue Mountains Off Road Cyclists BMORC has been setup up to be a resource for riders in the mountains. Its aim is to bring together the large number of riders in the area into a more unified community that will improve the social nature of riding and the better sharing of information. Further it will try to become a common voice representing riders to work with council to try and improve the resources for sustainable riding trails in the area.

It's early days as they are just getting started, but at the very least please take a look and if you enjoy riding on the trails up there please give them a hand and show support. There is a 'Register your support' forum here:

http://bmorc.com/node/14457

P.S. BMORC.com (like NoBMoB, CTMBC and a few others) is part of the Global Riders Network - logins are shared on these sites.

Update: The outcome of this meeting is discussed here: http://nobmob.com/node/14541

If you have a look at the Warringah Council agenda for next Tuesday[1], astute readers will notice point 8.3...

http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/council_then/documents/2010042783.pdf

... with it's attachment...

http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/council_then/documents/2010042783attachm...

This point is titled, "Belrose Waste and Recycling Centre – Draft Future Use Concept Plan" and recommends against MTB use of the tip once landfill operations cease. The recommendations being:

A. That Council provide in principle support to Option 1 – Combined Passive Use (informal recreation), Belrose Landfill site.
B. That further investigation of options, available funding and opportunities for third party involvement in future recreational uses at the Belrose Waste and Recycling Centre be referred to the NSW Government for consideration.

Now - as discussed on the thread with the above graphic, the site was never going to be a large part of the MTB solution, but it could make up a small part of the overall mix of cycling related activities in the area. There is scope for trials, 4X, dirt jumps, perhaps even some short freeride runs.

If you care about riding in the Northern Beaches it would be best to write in to council and ask them to vote for option 3 (dedicated MTB tracks) or a combination of options 1 and 3 (both passive recreation with MTB areas).

It might be worth pointing out a few flaws in the options arguments. Eg:

1. The option doesn't consider 4X, trails, dirt jump or freeride - it mentions "800m" of DH or XC tracks with "2.5 minute ride". Now, the area is small, but it's not that small!
2. If XC trails could be linked with the nearby areas in Garigal National Park they would be beneficial to an overall strategy for the area. Land managers have to stop thinking alone, and work together.
3. The options state number 1 (passive recreation) is, "...least likely to be affected by land fill stability.". Hardly - some might argue a bit of instability would enhance a freeride track for example.
4. The options state that number 3 (MTB trails) would have a high initial and operational cost. How so? Are there not DH, FR, DJ areas at Morgan Road, Red Hill, etc? How much do these cost council? I'm thinking the answer is, "Nothing". How then, would the tip be any different?
5. Local bike riders have always been told that Belrose Tip would be suitable and once rehabilitated form part of the solution. If this option is taken off the table - where else is council (and other local authorities) planning to accommodate the growing demand?

The bottom line is: We should be working towards a cross tenure solution for riding in the Northern Beaches and the Belrose site can be a small part of this.

Please write to council with your comments on this. Here's a handy list of addresses to copy/paste:

mayor@warringah.nsw.gov.au, michelle.ray@warringah.nsw.gov.au, jfalinski@warringah.nsw.gov.au, vincent.deluca@warringah.nsw.gov.au, bob.giltinan@warringah.nsw.gov.au, christina.kirsch@warringah.nsw.gov.au, helen.wilkins@warringah.nsw.gov.au, virginia.laugesen@warringah.nsw.gov.au, julie.sutton@warringah.nsw.gov.au, conny.harris@warringah.nsw.gov.au

Or click here to email them all.

[1] http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/council_then/WarringahCouncil27April2010...

This is the title of an interesting peice from singletracks.com:

http://www.singletracks.com/blog/trail-advocacy/illegal-trail-builders-r...

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.

http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/cycling-at-lagoon-talks/

[Mod. in our calendar: Public meeting with NPA]

THE FUTURE of mountain biking at Narrabeen Lagoon will be debated at a public forum on Monday, February 22.

Hosted by the Friends of Narrabeen Lagoon Catchment, the forum follows the recent banning of bike riding from single-track sections of Manly Dam, the last legal ones of their kind in Sydney.

There has been some confusion about the extraordinary Warringah council meetings coming up but have had these clarified:

February 23: This meeting is only to cover the items that were missed on Feb 9 in their famous, meeting of disarray. The motion to re-instate volunteer maintenance days at Manly Dam is on the agenda, but the recent closure is not.

March 23: In this meeting council will discuss options for the future of riding at Manly Dam (ie. the recent closure).

Given council need to be shown immediately what a mistake has been made, and how many riders are effected, and as others have suggested it would be a very good idea to show up at the Feb 23 meeting for a silent show of support. Speakers are not allowed at this meeting and rowdy, insulant or other petty behavior would not help our cause one bit.

http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/council_then/meetings_council.aspx

Join up:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=307044107411

Also the show of support event:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=464919580074&ref=ts

Got this from the council and thought that by posting it here we could get some additional feedback to the council.

Hi all
Council currently has an opportunity to obtain a professional concept design for a off road bike playground.- ( BMX/Mountain Bike)
The most suitable area council has identified is off the end of Golden Jubilee Oval, Esk Street Wahroonga and the old quarry at the end of Clissold Road Wahroonga, both at the bushland edge....

...

If you would like to share you knowledge on community needs, please get back to me prior to me engaging the planners who would create Ku-ring-gai's off road cycling playground concept.

I'd be happy for a phone chat or reply in email.

Regards
Mary-Lou Lewis
Environmental Levy Natural Areas Program Leader
Ku-ring-gai Council

Announcing MTBSSN - the Mountain Bike Strategy for Sydney North!

This idea was born following from the NPWS Sustainable Cycling and Mountain Biking Workshop with NPWS staff and many cycling organisations from the Sydney North region and further afield.

This site has been created for the user consultation and planning phase of a project that will hopefully become, or add greatly to the overall mountain bike strategy in the region. It isn't just for mountain bike riders, but for anyone with an interest in trails in the region. Even opponents of riding are encouraged to take part in this consultation.

If you do not take part in these discussions then when things start moving, perhaps in a way you don't like, then you (no matter what side of the argument you are on) will have no-one to blame but yourself!

As I'm assuming most people reading here will be riders please take a moment to visit this site and add your ideas that will become part of a 'trails wish-list'. It doesn't matter how crazy, how unlikely your idea is, just get on over and post it up anyway. Of course it would help greatly if when posting you explained why the idea is a good one, from user, community and ecological point of view. Also consider the ease of construction and maintenance and sustainability of the idea (ie. straight down a fall line of a steep hill would be a big no-no: too easy for water to channel and cause errosion).

Hopefully the more ideas the community comes up with, the more likely it is some of those ideas will be found acceptable by all parties involved and some of them make it all the way from planning to acceptance and eventually implementation. Well - that's the dream, let's try and make it happen!

One last note: because the MTBSSN site is built on the same platform as NoBMoB, if you have a login for NoBMoB it will work on MTBSSN so there is no need to re-register to get involved.

If you value riding Manly Dam and would like to see more council initiatives for MTB then please don't forget to comment on Warringah Council Draft Recreation Strategy 2009. The document can be downloaded here:

http://www.warringah.nsw.gov.au/comment/documents/DraftRecreationStrateg...

According to Warringah Council Public Comment:

Comments on the Draft Recreation Strategy must be in writing and must be received by 5pm Friday October 23, marked 'Submission – Draft Recreation Strategy' and addressed to the General Manager, Warringah Council, 725 Pittwater Road, Dee Why 2099 or emailed to council@warringah.nsw.gov.au. For more information call Council's Strategy and Policy team on 9942 2716.

Personally, while I commend the council for operating Manly Dam it is clear that a massive user base exists and Manly Dam is under pressure with these rider numbers and the current, rather lacking management policies there. I'm of the opinion the council should properly recognised the importance of Manly Dam to the riding community, give more resources to MTB management at Manly Dam and make finding a second (or maybe more) riding venue in it's jurisdiction a priority.

If you'd like to see more riding and better planning for MTB then simply write into the council (at the address above) and state your case. You don't have to be a Warringah resident to do this - the council are well aware that their facilities are a draw card for riders from many other areas (and indeed they should be proud of this and the economic benefits it brings to their community).