Dangerous conditions on the Thunder Point mountain bike trails are causing injuries to riders due to lack of maintenance, Warrnambool’s mountain bike club says.
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The Warrnambool Mountain Bike Club has been unable to clear the tracks for nearly two years due to a hold-up in a permit from the city council.
Club president Brett Easton said events have not been run on the tracks for nearly 12 months because of overhanging branches and areas of narrowing along the tracks.
“At the moment we can’t legally prune the vegetation,” he said.
The club has received a number of images of “bloodied and bruised riders” because of crashes caused by branches and vegetation growing over the tracks.
While the club was trying to develop a resource for the community to use, the process to gain simple permissions is “quite frustrating,” Mr Easton said.
“It’s doing amazing things to my blood pressure.”
Mr Easton said the club was surprised by the time it has taken to organise a permit after they received a license to use the area in 2015.
The license issued to the club contained clauses requiring the club to keep the area in good condition, but the Warrnambool City Council has not issued the permit to allow for the maintenance of the vegetation.
Warrnambool City Council strategy and development manager Jodie McNamara said the council was “quite protective” of the Thunder Point area.
“It is a unique and special area environmentally, but we recognise that the tracks and the [mountain bike] club are there,” she said.
The tracks are on Crown Land, with the council acting as land managers on behalf of the state government. “We have to report everything to them,” Ms McNamara said.
Local rider Graeme Wines was injured while riding the tracks in March. A fallen branch dragged across his face, cutting his lip and cheek.
He feels lucky that the injury wasn’t more serious.
“If the track had of been maintained this accident wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
On a different occasion, Mr Wines witnessed another rider get a puncture wound in the side of his mouth from a trail side branch.
Once a permit is obtained, the club will prune the vegetation to 1.5 metres either side of the centre line of the track, and to a height of 2.5 metres.
Where there are environmentally sensitive species, such as the coastal bearded heath, the trails will move around them.
The club hopes to obtain a permit to undertake track side pruning before events recommence in spring.
