Awaba DH Trail - Picture Thread ***New Section after Wombat Gap***

[sammydog]

The trail and venue will be complete for the final state round on Sept 2/3.

A lot of work still to be done on the trail, car park, road, pit area, pedestrian access and safety equipment.

We will be putting out an announcement when the trail is open to the public.

 

[timmo]

Just out of interest (as an ex-Novocastrian) is this track in State Forest at Awaba or on private land?

 

[Old Shagger]

photos????

I cannot see the photos....any one else??

 

[thecat]

Lenny I think we broke your stinking bandwidth..

 

[sammydog]

Yeah, I noticed the bandwidth was broken, I was toying with upgrading the site, so maybe the time has come.

Timmo, the land it State Forest that the club has taken an Operational Permit out over it.

 

[sammydog]

It seems people are having a lot of trouble not riding the track. Today people were seen out there riding that had not been at any build days, and Saturday had a number of people riding as well.

From this point there is to no [size=+2]NO[/size] riding of the track at any time, with no exception.

And to entice people to not ride, anyone caught riding will not be eligible to enter the state round. We have tried to be nice on the issue, but enough is enough. Its disrespectful to those building, its a safety issue for those building so stay off the trail.

[/rant]

Sorry to be an arsehole (well I'm not), but thats the way it is.

If you want to come out and help, sweet. I'm assuming people are thinking that the trail is nearly done so it is fine to ride, thats not the case.

The state round will not happen without the car park areas cleaned out and the pit area made usable.

It also seems that riders have been modifying lines (without approval of the club or its build day coordinator) to suit themselves. This is most evident in the rock garden where the Stairway to Heaven section has had its entry modified to make it easier. Just as a note, the rock removed will be replaced by a suitable rock, concreted in, in its place.

Again, I ask people to cease works without asking first if its needed, and ask people to stay off the trail.

 

[Xmetal]

Unbelievable. People can't help themselves can they?

Since I'm unemployed at the moment I should go up there with a tent, rations, amusements and a shotgun to guard the trail until the state round rolls into town.

 

[sammydog]

Nope people can't help themselves. I think Stromlo had the same issue.

You try and create something legal and people don't care about anything beyond themselves.

 

[The Law]

Sammy,

Might also be worth noting that the club (HMBA) have not only invested significant labour resources, but have also invested significant amounts of money into getting permission to make use of the land .... flora and fauna studies, etc ... The sort of stuff that nobody wants to know about ... BUT the club has a responsibility to address with the relevant government authorities if this whole project is to be a success.

The granting of access to these tracks comes at a price and with certain conditions, which if not adhered to, may ultimately restrict access for ALL riders.

The Law has spoken!

 

[sammydog]

The granting of access to these tracks comes at a price and with certain conditions, which if not adhered to, may ultimately restrict access for ALL riders.

The Law has spoken!

Actually that is a very good point, and State Forests have already commented (negatively) on people sitting in the back of utes for shuttles.

This is something they don't want, and as such we don't want. It is a public road (relatively popular and frequented by State Forest Rangers) and simple things like road rules will have to apply.

 

[sammydog]

Just for peoples information, because of the rain in the last few days, and the fact there is some work still to be done, the trail will not be open for riding until the Friday of the race.

 

[Dozer]

Tell us straight out Lenny - Has the hill washed away this week? If the rain keeps up will it harm the running of the event too much? I'm asking this because I know how this type of thing rolled in Coffs last year............

 

[sammydog]

To be honest, I haven't been out to look.

The shuttle road to the top won't be an issue (I hope I haven't jinxed that). And I think the trail should be fine, but we will check it this weekend.

 

[mullan2304]

I'll be going up to the track tomorrow afternoon to check on how it has held up. I'll post up how it is tomorrow in this thread and the thread in Downhill.

 

[mullan2304]

The track held up beautifully after the rain. There are only minimal ruts and they will be easy to fill in on the weekend.

Also, I decided that the uber berm needed to be firmed up a bit as the rain only penetrated the first centimetre.

So; After a little bit of work I ended up digging out all the soft dirt and replaced it with a mixed hard pack composite of clay and dirt. The whole thing packed down nicely and is now ten times as solid as before.

Walking up the track the whole thing seemed nice and hard underfoot apart from the top layer of mud and if there is minimal rain from now untill the race day then I think we can look forward to a similar surface to the Coffs state round (with the opportunity for a litle more roost to fly in the of camber corners).

Look forward to seeing everyone there and don't forget to pre-enter as early as possible.

 

[daanhilla]

I agree with mullan, the track was surprisingly solid, even after the heavy rain. The layer of loose, soft mud on top of some of the more "excavated" sections of track is very minimal and won't impact the track at all, as long as it isn't ridden until it's fairly dried out.
The access road in to the finish and pit areas was another thing. The recent grading of the road left a fair amount of unpacked soil on top meaning that with a little rain it's become a bit of a slopfest (I had trouble keeping the van moving and pointing in the right direction.)
Hopefully, with a little bit of strategic planning, we can get some water diversions in on sunday and have the track relatively rideable by the end of the day. Thumbs up and here's hoping all builders will get what they deserve....

 

[sammydog]

won't impact the track at all, as long as it isn't ridden until it's fairly dried out.

Well no one is supposed to be riding it anyway, so we should be sweet. Was there much (if any evidence of people riding, as there has been a few mid week warriors in past weeks.

Great to hear that there is minimal damage to the trail. This weekend (supposed to be nice weather) we also need to clear out the second carpark area (don't think the first one is big enough) and just do whatever maintenance needs to be done after the rain (including to the access track).

 

[Squidly Didly]

Build a bridge ...

Rick on top of Awaba's latest construction

Note the off-camber entrance

Yeow

Please note that despite the construction of the bridge, the track remains CLOSED until Friday 31st August. There have been reports of riders hitting up the track straight after the recent rainfall. This is not acceptable and any riders caught on the track will be banned from the upcoming State round and all future races in the Hunter area. So one more time...

Don't forget to get your entry submitted as this is a pre-entry ONLY event. Rego closes Wednesday 29th.

 

[daanhilla]

Build Day - 26th Aug 830am

Last chance to help out getting the trail ready before the race. Focus will be on second car park (bring your mowers) where some storm shrapnel needs to be relocated. Should only take a couple of hrs with 5 or so people.
Also, we'll be getting some barricade in place and doing some repairs/modifications to the track, where water corrosion is going to be an issue.

Meet at the bottom. The second carpark location is not concrete yet, so just look for the other cars or go to the finish area.

There's still a few little things to be done, but with enough helpers i'm sure we can have most of it ready by early afternoon.

See ya's there.

 

[sammydog]

Might as well keep this thread going with the ongoing works to Awaba.

Today a small crew (thanks to the seven who turned up to help) armored and retained the bottom of the rock garden. Still more works planned for this section of track, but what went in today gives a lot more breathing space when exiting the main chute.

Next up is fixing the exit of the B-Line and adding some width to the side of the trail.

We also have worked out exactly what needs to be done at Lenny's Lefty/Wombat Gap and what fencing needs to go in at the half way point to keep out moto's. Then the trails should be right to re-open. Keep an eye out for another build day in the weeks before Christmas and we can try and get the trail open sooner rather than later.