MTB Trailcare

Way Point 44 is a steeper section of rocky trail that runs over lots of very exposed roots.  QPWS expect appropriate drainage and a line that will not continue to widen.  This is a section of trail re-built after the original trail turned ito a river.   Loved by some and hated by other riders, it offers ordinary climbing over loose gravel as well as the roots.  While good riders can bounce down between the dual tree choke, beginners cannot and have to walk or fall trying.

It has always seemed to be a hectic bit of trail, but fun.  How do you save it?  For years Ash and I have been trying to reinforce eroded and rooty sections of trail on Casuarina, Three Hills, Petes, Bailey's, Mongrels, Happy Valley, B&B's etc and it is almost impossible to get repairs to last.  By the nature of the stutters that roots create, augmented by the little holes waterfalls develop below the roots, even packing rocks below roots fails due to the effects of water flow and thousands of tyres smashing the trail.

So dig down between the roots and make the rocks fit, you say!  Tried that:  you dig and more and more roots have to be chopped to seat stones and ballast in a way that makes a trail tread.  It does not work.

You could do it, but it would require massive slabs of stone, jigsawed into position among the roots.  If the seams between the slabs were left open (rather than filled with pebbles and dirt as you have to do to prevent smaller boulders moving around), these slabs would stay put and allow the roots to grow into the cracks, rather than deform the trail tread.

We decided to close it and make a new section of trail to bypass the problems QPWS identified.  The decision was not made without consequence.  We have closed a tech bit of trail and not everyone is going to be happy.  Hopefully when we all get to ride from Brett's to the velodrome or vice versa on 3km of fun trail, this sacrifice will be remembered and forgiven.  Here's the closed trail from bottom, going up trail.

You can't just close trail.  You have to offer an alternative.  This is it from bottom up.

We had to close a trail with technical features.  We could not replace them with the same raw feel on the new trail.  So we built a jump.

Test ride

and another

and another

We would like some rain to fall on this bit of trail, but regardless, we will be back to re-tamp it.  Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped today.