So after my last post and the excitement of DENR starting to engage with the MTB community more actively, things have slowed to a crawl.
Cobblers Creek in the Northern Suburbs was supposed to be getting a reviewed and revised trail network including some shared use stuff. But it has all gone a bit quiet to say the least.
Well, surprise! it turns out that Friends of Parks have stuck their oar in again. After a brief period of apparent acceptance that they can't have everything their own way all the time, they are now - again - jumping up and down and trying to bury the project in a bunch of red tape and on-going whinging.
Fortunately, it seems that the two clubs, BikeSA and SAMBA have got together and put their bit forward too - hopefully that will go some way to countering the selfish carrying on of the 'Friends' group - but ultimately, we, as individuals need to make sure that it DENR know we do want access to the parks on bikes, that we are happy to share, that we aren't all just going to go and roll tyres over every native plant in the park - so the usual stuff really.
I'm not sure about anyone else, but I'm pretty over having the same arguments everytime we want to go ride in a park: I absolutely wish that the Minister would pull his bloddy finger out and just rubber stamp a few things! DENR - or DEH, as they were - do the planning, get the feedback, create the plan, then nothing happens. Why? Cos the various Minister's fail to sign anything off. Total lack of balls. So much for being in office to serve the majority and make the hard decisions. Time for some of them to MTFU...
And exhale... sorry, mini rant over. For now.
However, whilst on the topic of writing to folks about getting access and stuff - get on to Mitcham council too; another Financial Year is approaching, which means another has ended. And guess what? Still no trails outside of Zone 2 - Lynton.
I've been digging down there since the Lynton stuff started and whilst I enjoy it and the trails, I'm getting a bit bored of doing the same stuff over and over. Time for Mitcham to be held accountable to the promise they made and get some action down there again.
I know that there were a few things which were beyond councils control with regards to some of the access due to changes in ownership of some of the land and such - but they divided the plan into 4 zones; I reckon that at least 2 should be up and running by now even if the other two are still having legal get up sorted out. To still only have one is a bit of a 'dropped the ball' scenario if you ask me.
So, what to do? Well, hit up Mitcham here, DENR here and the Minister, Paul Caica and let them know you want stuff to actually progress - not continue round and round in circles or at the snails pace it has so far. Remember, be nice - but be firm. They are all elected to serve the community, after all!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Some visuals...
Just a few random phone pics from riding around the hills in the last few months...
Hunting around Coach Road
Gandy's - one of my favourite trails at the minute
View from atop Greenhill
Get posting...
So after the attempt to make more effort to get posting here again on a regular basis, I've already let it slip!
Anyway, had to do some stuff for Uni recently, this one bit ended up being about bikes: thought I'd share, seems apt.
I ride a bike. Actually, bikes. I ride them everywhere, for everything: to work, to the shops, for pleasure. I ride hundreds of kilometres per week, thousands each year. Without bikes, my life would be very different.
Anyway, had to do some stuff for Uni recently, this one bit ended up being about bikes: thought I'd share, seems apt.
I ride a bike. Actually, bikes. I ride them everywhere, for everything: to work, to the shops, for pleasure. I ride hundreds of kilometres per week, thousands each year. Without bikes, my life would be very different.
Sometimes however, I hate the thought of riding my bike.
Often, this corresponds with being tired, or due to poor weather – be it cold,
wet or worst of all, windy. Usually though, I push through the feeling.
Invariably once I’m on my bike and pedalling, the negativity dissipates. In contrast,
when I drive rather than ride, or just leave the bike in the shed and sit on
the couch, a pang of guilt creeps into the back of mind. It’s almost as if
I’ve let my bikes – and myself – down.
I struggle to see a future without bikes in it. Different
experiences with them await. The most obvious of those involves my kids; their
first few wobbly rides, the first wheelie and the first jump (probably
coinciding with the first crash!). I can’t wait. I hope that I can instil in
them the same love as I have for the humble bicycle.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Been a while...
It’s been a fair old while since I last posted here – pretty slack really – but then again, been pretty busy too.
November was a house move to something bigger (closer to trails, too! Woot!), ready for our second child and a return to full-time work for me.
December was ‘on-call’ for baby, until Christmas Day (yes, really…) saw our son born.
Jan, Feb, March and April have seen work ramp up, birthdays get celebrated and Uni start to add to the bigger, and therefore busier, family life. Time for thoughts and theories, articles and blogs have been somewhat lost – as has riding time to some degree.
Yet somewhere in the blur, other MTB stuff did happen; a GPS was acquired and consequent Strava-ness has taken hold, new (to me) trails have been searched out and found – though arguably best of all on the MTB front, brand new trails have been put in the dirt over at Craigburn Farm.
I’ve still only managed a single ride over there – and the trails were still fairly fresh. They were also an awful lot of fun! However, perhaps more important than getting new trails (is that really possible? Hmmm…) is the fact that this is on DENR land. As in, Parks. As in, the biggest land manager in the state, who also happens to have kept most tracks and trails off-limits to MTBers to date.
So, from a few pootle-y bits of firetrail, some gravel topped shared use trail and lots of “no bike” signs, there is suddenly a trail network that is being actively promoted to the MTB community – this w’end sees the trails host the AMBC 6 hour enduro! – and that was built by an MTBer (Patto and crew at Trailscapes). Quite a change.
Even better is that more such trail is in the pipeline. Cobblers Creek to the north of town is getting a new shared use network in the same vein. Different soil type, different topography, but still trail to ride unashamedly. Pretty amazing stuff.
However, I hope the wider community doesn’t let this chance slip by and we are left with just two (small) trail networks; the original State MTB plan saw a bunch of reviews and targets and played a major roll in getting Eagle out of the ether and onto the dirt. But then it went a bit quiet. Everything was looking good and Eagle was exciting and new and fresh… now it is hammered by the increased numbers of riders out on any given day and needing the supporting cast of previously proposed trails to eventuate and relieve some of the pressure on it.
I know that SAMBA are trying to seek funding to allow for a review of the original State MTB plan and implementation of a new one, in order to drive the provision of MTB suitable infrastructure forward – and keep that drive going; I hope that the wider community gets behind them and helps to get such an agreement sorted; we’ll all benefit in the long term and really start to stamp Adelaide as a city with trail accessibility to rival the likes of Canberra or Rotorua.
November was a house move to something bigger (closer to trails, too! Woot!), ready for our second child and a return to full-time work for me.
December was ‘on-call’ for baby, until Christmas Day (yes, really…) saw our son born.
Jan, Feb, March and April have seen work ramp up, birthdays get celebrated and Uni start to add to the bigger, and therefore busier, family life. Time for thoughts and theories, articles and blogs have been somewhat lost – as has riding time to some degree.
Yet somewhere in the blur, other MTB stuff did happen; a GPS was acquired and consequent Strava-ness has taken hold, new (to me) trails have been searched out and found – though arguably best of all on the MTB front, brand new trails have been put in the dirt over at Craigburn Farm.
I’ve still only managed a single ride over there – and the trails were still fairly fresh. They were also an awful lot of fun! However, perhaps more important than getting new trails (is that really possible? Hmmm…) is the fact that this is on DENR land. As in, Parks. As in, the biggest land manager in the state, who also happens to have kept most tracks and trails off-limits to MTBers to date.
So, from a few pootle-y bits of firetrail, some gravel topped shared use trail and lots of “no bike” signs, there is suddenly a trail network that is being actively promoted to the MTB community – this w’end sees the trails host the AMBC 6 hour enduro! – and that was built by an MTBer (Patto and crew at Trailscapes). Quite a change.
Even better is that more such trail is in the pipeline. Cobblers Creek to the north of town is getting a new shared use network in the same vein. Different soil type, different topography, but still trail to ride unashamedly. Pretty amazing stuff.
However, I hope the wider community doesn’t let this chance slip by and we are left with just two (small) trail networks; the original State MTB plan saw a bunch of reviews and targets and played a major roll in getting Eagle out of the ether and onto the dirt. But then it went a bit quiet. Everything was looking good and Eagle was exciting and new and fresh… now it is hammered by the increased numbers of riders out on any given day and needing the supporting cast of previously proposed trails to eventuate and relieve some of the pressure on it.
I know that SAMBA are trying to seek funding to allow for a review of the original State MTB plan and implementation of a new one, in order to drive the provision of MTB suitable infrastructure forward – and keep that drive going; I hope that the wider community gets behind them and helps to get such an agreement sorted; we’ll all benefit in the long term and really start to stamp Adelaide as a city with trail accessibility to rival the likes of Canberra or Rotorua.
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