IMBA Australia

A Blog, thought that was a good idea and it still is, just didn't realise how busy this was going to get. i.e. Being National Director for a brand new national trail advocacy organisation - IMBA Australia. So here I am, 4 months in and it is easily the most challenging endeavour I have ever embraced. There's no finish line, no drinks station, just obstacles and paperwork extending on into infinity. But hey, that's what life is all about, pushing yourself to new limits to see what you can do. The main reward, as always, is to see smiling people out there, in the bush, enjoying the trails.

No, its not all work and no riding. Since I have started I have been lucky enough to have ridden some of Australia's best trails. Wanna know where they are...... well I am going to tell you. Soon :)

But for now, here is some news from Townsville

MEDIA RELEASE TO MTBA

TOWNSVILLE ROCKWHEELERS INVEST IN TRAILS

One of the Townsville Rockwheelers Mountain Bike Clubs long term plans has been to reinvest profits back into Townsville mtb. The most obvious way to do that is to secure access and build a quality sustainable single track network.

Rockwheelers have just completed a $20,000 trail building program funded by profits accumulated over the last few years from the clubs 2 major annual events, the Paluma Push and the HotRock8.

Expert mtb trail builder Adrian Marriner who has a wealth of experience building quality XC trails at Forrest and Stromlo was contracted by the Rockwheelers to carve out approx 4km of new XC IMBA standard single track at Lake Ross and at the recently formed Douglas Mountain Bike Reserve.

Rockwheelers Trail Committee co-ordinator Lee Williams said that
“Stumbling across the rough ground with Adrian, marking out the general route of the new trail with a clinometer. Then returning a few days later to ride the newly formed, beautifully crafted, sweet, flowing single track is simply a great process.
The days of busting a gut for many months and hand digging single track are behind us now. What Adrian can do with his mini excavator is simply incredible. We have been able to traverse across very rough terrain, with the result being single track that rides and feels as good as it looks. Features have been built in to the trail that would never have been considered possible if we were building by hand.”

The Townsville area is generally rough, rocky, steep side sloped terrain and is not an easy location for building single track. The costs per metre using the machine varies from between $5.00 to $8.00. Paying for a contractor and machine compared to 1 man hour per metre to build by hand, and considering the excellent result , is a much better deal by far.

The frustrations of running events and the time commitment pale into insignificance when you see the result that the profits can achieve. Club members who give up riding time to volunteer at events are effectively building new single track without getting dirty.

Each year Rockwheelers plan to build new single track and continually develop Townsvilles mtb network at the 3 main locations Douglas, Lake Ross and MT Stuart.

So there you have it, that's just one example of how things can work in the land down under....

bye for now

Nick