Highlands Trails' Adam Cooper on petition to save Mount Gibraltar gravity biking

Southern Highland News was sent the footage, which showed a woman using a shovel to remove part of the trail built by a group of local gravity mountain bikers.

Her actions followed a petition signed by more than 2000 people to save the Highland's Mount Gibraltar mountain bike and walking trails.

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Mr Cooper said that although the resident in question probably thought she was doing something positive she was actually destroying the hard work of local kids and "putting their lives at risk".

"If one of those kids went to ride that trail only to come around a corner and hit an obstacle that was previously in very good condition, and it suddenly collapsed or was a big hole, they could crash and seriously injure themselves," he said.

ALSO READ: Youth petition the council to save their loved Mount Gibraltar bike trail

Mr Cooper described the campaign to save the Mount Gibraltar mountain bike trails as "complex" because the Wingecarribee Shire Council has zoned the area an ecological environment.

"There are people that have walked on that particular area for a long time that are concerned about damage to the environment, erosion and that type of thing so I'm sure the council is just trying to balance that out," he said.

"However, from our point of view although there are existing mountain bike trails in the area the ones that the kids are building are more gravity focused with jumps and things like that; and they're absolutely brilliant."

Mr Cooper and the trail advocacy group he represents want the council to create "formally sanctioned" trails in the Highlands.

"We would like to see trails that have the full blessing of the council or whoever the appropriate landowner is," he said. "And we would like to have them designed in such a way that they're considerate of the surrounding environment."

Those trails would be considerate of waterflow and erosion and sympathetic to other users, according to Mr Cooper.

"It's hard in the Highlands to find a place like that so ideally it would be great to have sanctioned trails on Mount Gibraltar but if not then we would hope the council would find a suitable place within riding distance for these kids," he said.

"Teenagers can't get in a car and drive half an hour to get to a mountain bike destination after school so it has to be somewhere relatively close by; whether that's Mount Alexandra or Mount Gibbergunyah."

Highlands Trails currently has about 100 members that both race and look after trails at Welby and Wingello.

"There are probably 10 times that around the Highlands that ride mountain bikes; they either see themselves as mountain bikers or as part of a family they go for ride of a weekend," Mr Cooper said.

"And as it stands we have nothing else like [the Gib trails]. We're really lacking."

ALSO READ: Letters to the editor: Use of Mount Gibraltar Reserve prompts readers to share thoughts

To the people thinking team sports would be a more environmentally sensitive option the Bundanoon resident pointed out that this also required "structure".

"They require big fields so while we're concerned about these trails damaging the environment think about what a sporting field does to the environment," Mr Cooper said.

"Trails can be built to flow through the environment at minimal impact and the fact that these kids are actually getting out there to build these trails; they're responsible for these trails. They're really taking care of it because they have a respect for the outdoors and pride in what they're doing."

Mr Cooper said mountain biking was a generally high cardiovascular sport.

"At a competitive level you're getting a massive heart rate up when you're sprinting," he said.

"It's the sort of thing that's a lot more fun than going down to a running track and doing a 100m sprint. And you build those skills too; you get a rush by going fast but when you take on some of the trails where you have to climb half an hour to get to the top you get a real sense of satisfaction. Then you get the fun of coming down the other side."

He felt compelled to speak in support of the Gib riders. He also wanted the community to consider it was not just teenage boys who use the trails.

"I've got two children aged eight and 10 and my daughter has juvenile idiopathic arthritis so she gets the pain that you would normally associate with arthritis. Cycling is really good for her because it's a low-impact sport that doesn't hurt her joints," Mr Cooper said.

"We were told from a very young age that she needed to stay fit and cycling has been brilliant for her. She raced at the national championships in February and she wasn't alone; she was one of probably half a dozen representatives from our area.

"Mountain biking in her life has completely turned around her outlook," he said.

On Monday a spokesperson for the council said: "We've only received the one complaint in relation to the kids being told they can't carve out bike tracks in the reserve while members of the public have made numerous complaints about them being there."

Despite this, at the time of publication the petition via Change.org to save the Mount Gibraltar mountain bike and walking trails had 2080 signatures.

Council acknowledged the need for recreational trails suited to range of uses balanced with nature and wildlife conservation.

"Neither the kids involved nor the community members removing the tracks have incurred fines," the spokesperson said. "Council's stance is that we don't support any unauthorised change to the reserve.

"Our team is connecting with the various stakeholders involved to facilitate a workshop and discussion for the purpose of understanding from the kids' perspective what is ideally needed; and helping them to understand important parameters for using public lands recreationally and why they exist; with a view to identifying where and how this might best be achieved collaboratively to meet the needs of the community."

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