Hornsby Shire Mountain Bike Alliance

Mountain biking has been included in the masterplan for the Hornsby Quarry and Old Mans Valley. About 10 HSMBA members attended the community forums and 3 attended the final workshop. However, a huge response by the mtb community on the Bangthetable.com website was absolutely awesome. The power of numbers and genuine comments by you guys has really helped the process. If you didn't contribute then please check out the bangthetable website. There are another two forums there for comment that we need to have an impact on.

http://bangthetable.com/hornsbycommunityplan

NPWS themselves have arrange for World Trail to run a workshop on the 17 and 18 April 2010. Its exciting to see that NPWS are seeking to learn the best techniques available for trail building. The understanding that design techniques can be used to improve the wear resistance is vital in making judgements about trail locations and construction in the future. Research shows that it is generally not the type of use that ruins a trail, it is normally poor designs that ruin trails. At the moment a lot of the examples that have been presented to the council are unsustainable trails.

HSMBA members Campbell and Evan Mudge have met with STEP (March 2010) committee members to talk about mountain biking. It was a constructive meeting but highlighted that there is a lot of work to do. STEP also provided us with an article written by Jane Judd - the Chairperson for the NPWS Advisory Committee. This article again showed a lack of understanding about mtbing. Jane talks about there being three types of mtbers. Families that ride together, people that ride on firetrails and then extreme downhillers.

Fantastic news with Hornsby Council to host an upcoming IMBA workshop here in Hornsby. Joey Klein of IMBA USA and Nick Bowman if IMBA Australia will be running the workshops in late April. These will be aimed at land managers primarily although some mtbers will be going along. National Parks and Wildlife Service are the major sponsor for the workshops which is also exciting. NPWS are committed to understanding IMBA techniques. These can improve the sustainability of walking and mtb trails.

HSMBA were invited to speak the combined councils conference in Albury this April. The presentation based on Partnerships for Sustainable Outcomes was a co-presentation between Campbell King of HSMBA and Anthony Newling at Hornsby Council. The presentation helped further develop the relationship between Council and HSMBA.

In Dec 2009 there was much debate about whether Council should progress with the investigation of mountain bike trails. The main cause of the debate was the reaction of conservationist groups to the World Trail report. Emergency meetings were held, fliers spread around the shire and people flooded Councilors with pleas for Council to appose any further work on mountain bike trails. A scare campaign indicated that the Blue Gum High Forest would be cleared with tax payers money, no more wildlife and to act now as it was your last chance to stop the destruction!

Page 95 (INVESTIGATION INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOUNTAIN BIKE
TRAILS WITHIN THE HORNSBY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA) of the report tabled at the recent Hornsby Shire Council meeting can be found here: https://businesspapers.hornsby.councilsonline.com.au/Open/2009/OC_091220...

Lane Cove National Park has long been used by mountain bikers (and the recent expansion of LCNP into Pennant Hills took in a lot of trails). However, the tightening regulations as a result of the expansion has made many of these trails illegal. HSMBA and representatives from the mtb forum nobmob were invited to represent mountain bikers to ensure our needs were considered as part of this review. A large bunch of mtbers then attended the public forum and this sign of support and popularity for mtbing has made a big impact on NPWS.

World Trail have come to Hornsby Shire, met with Council and HSMBA and have reviewed the areas identified for potential mountain bike trails. The ideas put forward by HSMBA members were compiled in a report and provided the basis for World Trail's assessment. They are currently compiling a report that will be used as the basis for presentation.

In late April 09 a meeting was held between HSMBA, Council Management and National Parks and Wildlife Service Management (Park Rangers, Area Manager and Regional Manager). The purpose was for all parties to understand the desires and constraints each group has. NPWS appeared to have spent a lot of time getting familiar with mountain biking (and potential locations in the Shire) and were well versed in statistics, sustainable trail design and what mountain bikers want to ride on.