Dear Mr Baker,
Recently I have come across some of your videos on youtube which detail areas of bushland that have been damaged by the construction of bike trails. Although you have probably received many abusive and incoherent e-mails on the topic, I would like to explain the current situation which we are facing. I am a mountain biker and cyclist, and also work once a week in a large bike store in Manly. I am also a fulltime uni student and spend as much free time as I can riding. The issue facing mountain bikers in particular in all council areas (including Honrsby, Warringah, Manly, Pittwater etc.) right now are the huge gap between the many thousands of people who enjoy the sport, and the facilities which do not exist.
Myself and a number of others are currently doing battle with Manly council regarding a bike track called 'The Grove', which was built in a residential area mostly by clearing lantana bushes almost thirty years ago. Recently the council decided to demolish the track, only a few days after a charity fundraiser event there, that raised money for the Bridge of Hope charity. The reason for demolishing it, as they claimed, was naturally a liability issue; and not one of destroying endangered bushland (as it was almost entirely riddled with lantana, most of which was actually cleared in the process).
Now although these circumstances are somewhat different to what you are arguing, I illustrate them here to paint a very small picture of a very big problem. Right now, there are no legal places for mountain bikers to ride, apart from the road, and a small circuit called Manly Dam, which for most part is uneventful, crowded on weekends and only caters to the minority of cross-country riders, not to the many other tiers of mountain biking. What we, as a community, have long ago come to realise, is that local and state government is not interested in providing any offroad facilities for mountain bikers in the entire Sydney region. Currently, there are many people working as advocates to council and local government to try and free up some areas for mountain biking tracks, but over the last decade, NO facilities have been provided at all. In fact, many places are instead being sold off and re-zoned for development.
So you can now see a bit of our dillema. The many thousands of people who enjoy the sport have nowhere to go. Although there are hundreds of bike stores selling bikes designed for these activities, and thousands of users, there are no places (legally) to ride. That is why you have stumbled across trails in the bush, some well hidden, and some not so. In fact, there are many, many more bike tracks more secluded and more secret than the ones you have discovered. Unfortunately, however, this is the only way these thousands of people can actually enjoy their sport. They are shunned and cut off from any funding for ANY facilities, so they have long since given up on the idea that they may ever get a place to ride that is legal. The worst part is, many of these people took up the sport of mountain biking to get outside, enjoy our natural bushland and breathe some fresh air! Most of the people who build tracks (not all) do very little damage to the surrounding bushland, and never cut down trees or divert streams or runoff, as many of the more experienced builders follow IMBA guidelines for sustainable trails.
It is a shame that there is such controversy over the degradation of these natural pockets of bush, but it is an unfortunate circumstance of a large, frustrated group of people that have nowhere else to go.
Regards,
Oliver Smith
