Modderfontein Bike Park - what's happening

[OVERDRIVE]

On 1/24/2022 at 8:49 AM, madmarc said:

I been ridding Modderfontein (Taroko Trails) since the start many years back

I rode the red route yesterday Sun 23rd - and was really shocked at the condition and lack of trail maintenance. Even considering the recent rains and storms, ruts that have appeared over a year back have now become complete washed out dongas which are un-rideable. The grass has not been cut for so long that most of the single tracks are completely covered, you cannot see where you are going. in a lot of sections the grass and bush are higher than your handlebars - the only reason we got through is because we been riding there enough to have an idea of where the trail goes.

Trees that got blown over by wind over 18 months back are still laying across the trails - no attempt has been made to clear them.

We did come across a grass cutting team of 5 or 6 guys with weed eaters, but clearly they are under staffed and under tooled, and seem to be fighting a losing battle.

I'm all for the un manicured trails, muddy sections, a few natural ruts and waterlogged sections, they make riding more interesting - But what i saw yesterday was beyond insane.

To top it all they increased their day entry to 60 ronds and annual pass to over 1400 ronds. Taroko management need toget their act together - There is clearly no trail management in place.

@madmarc mate thanks for writing that. Really summarizes up my day, respect for finishing the whole route. Was horrible. 

[OVERDRIVE]

[madmarc]

31 minutes ago, OVERDRIVE said:

Call me a sucker but i rode there again last Saturday, saw about 1% mmmm no maybe 0.5% improvement on the grass cutting - Saw some of the trails blocked off with banner tape, maybe this is their understanding of trail maintenance, if its not maintained just shut it down. Some of the seriously rutted sections also blocked off with no clear detour around them, you kind of need to make your own way through the bush onto the the trail again.

Clearly they not concerned, especially in terms of MTB trails, even the previous management who skipped town eventually had better trail management skills and at least made more of an effort during summer.

So Taroko ! If you following this thread - Stop taking MTBers for granted either close the trails and refund the annual passes pro-rata or get a professional trail builder in to fix the place up so we can carry on supporting you.

[Danger Dassie]

28 minutes ago, madmarc said:

Call me a sucker but i rode there again last Saturday, saw about 1% mmmm no maybe 0.5% improvement on the grass cutting - Saw some of the trails blocked off with banner tape, maybe this is their understanding of trail maintenance, if its not maintained just shut it down. Some of the seriously rutted sections also blocked off with no clear detour around them, you kind of need to make your own way through the bush onto the the trail again.

Clearly they not concerned, especially in terms of MTB trails, even the previous management who skipped town eventually had better trail management skills and at least made more of an effort during summer.

So Taroko ! If you following this thread - Stop taking MTBers for granted either close the trails and refund the annual passes pro-rata or get a professional trail builder in to fix the place up so we can carry on supporting you.

We're in rain season with particularly heavy rainfall, the area has always had mud issues as that's the nature of the water table. Fair to say that the surrounding development could be having a compounding effect here as well
Taroko have outlined their plans going forward, it's also not uncommon to close trails for a period.

Personally have felt they've been far more proactive than the previous crowd with trail management. Along with comms, trails, opening up new sections and building up the clubhouse/shop.  

[OVERDRIVE]

3 minutes ago, Danger Dassie said:

We're in rain season with particularly heavy rainfall, the area has always had mud issues as that's the nature of the water table. Fair to say that the surrounding development could be having a compounding effect here as well
Taroko have outlined their plans going forward, it's also not uncommon to close trails for a period.

Personally have felt they've been far more proactive than the previous crowd with trail management. Along with comms, trails, opening up new sections and building up the clubhouse/shop.  

Who are the previous crowd who skipped town by the way, that should make an interesting read...

[Danger Dassie]

1 minute ago, OVERDRIVE said:

Who are the previous crowd who skipped town by the way, that should make an interesting read...

Long gone, more keen on what happens come the 18th. Contracting a pro trail builder may be worthwhile, but there's nothing to say they haven't already. A lot of increased traffic to contend with. 
 

[madmarc]

1 hour ago, Danger Dassie said:

We're in rain season with particularly heavy rainfall, the area has always had mud issues as that's the nature of the water table. Fair to say that the surrounding development could be having a compounding effect here as well
Taroko have outlined their plans going forward, it's also not uncommon to close trails for a period.

Personally have felt they've been far more proactive than the previous crowd with trail management. Along with comms, trails, opening up new sections and building up the clubhouse/shop.  

Sorry but I need to disagree with you to a point - I've ridden those trails since they were originally introduced, I have also lived in Edenvale my entire life and worked for a number of years at AECI in the very area that the trials are built, so i know the rainfall and the basic geography of the area. this year is a la Nino year, so yes we getting more than normal rain, but approx 5 years ago we had the same conditions and the trails were never in such a state of disrepair. Basic maintenance and complete lack of trail management is squarely to blame. if it had been on point they would have managed the current conditions without having to close the entire trail network. 

Yes trails all over the country are periodically closed for maintenance, but never an entire trail network. Not once have i seen them close a trail for maintenance at Modders and now it has come home to bite them. Now all the annual pass holder should simply suck it up and accept it. Sounds very similar to when the previous management went tits up and absconded with everyone's money. But at least they had a preventative trail maintenance program in place.

Many people think that because its called "Modderfontein" its a marsh, which is actually incorrect as the majority of the ground is made up of hard rock sandstone and granular material which drains fairly quickly into the various ravine channels and rivers feeding the dams. many of these ravines were originally designed by AECI to ensure drainage as the area was used primarily for storing explosives in the many bunkers you see there today.

Yes there there are places where it is muddy, but a lot of this is surface mud with hardpack below mainly in areas where water has been allowed to accumulate or close to the rivers. The few clay areas are not really anywhere near the trails. Every summer the trails have been rideable with maybe a few small closed off sections due to washouts.

Taroko have spent millions on the trial head and parking area, but they have completely neglected their core product offering as well as their customers. 

when its a spade then lets call it a spade

[Nakoota]

9 hours ago, madmarc said:

Sorry but I need to disagree with you to a point - I've ridden those trails since they were originally introduced, I have also lived in Edenvale my entire life and worked for a number of years at AECI in the very area that the trials are built, so i know the rainfall and the basic geography of the area. this year is a la Nino year, so yes we getting more than normal rain, but approx 5 years ago we had the same conditions and the trails were never in such a state of disrepair. Basic maintenance and complete lack of trail management is squarely to blame. if it had been on point they would have managed the current conditions without having to close the entire trail network. 

It's all about perspective, and at least you are living up to your name

I've lived in the area for 41 years, my house is built on the same **** Modder is built on, it's floating more now than ever and I have been in it for 11 years. Sure, maybe they could have done more trail maintenance instead of building a cool pump track for us and our kids, yes, I did crash on a wash out 3 weeks ago and went over the bars hard enough to crack my helmet. But the world hasn't ended, and neither will yours from a 3 week day trail closure to prepare for a 24 hour race this weekend. You should be at work like the rest of us, it is not fair for you to be riding on weekdays anyway!

[OVERDRIVE]

12 hours ago, madmarc said:

Sorry but I need to disagree with you to a point - I've ridden those trails since they were originally introduced, I have also lived in Edenvale my entire life and worked for a number of years at AECI in the very area that the trials are built, so i know the rainfall and the basic geography of the area. this year is a la Nino year, so yes we getting more than normal rain, but approx 5 years ago we had the same conditions and the trails were never in such a state of disrepair. Basic maintenance and complete lack of trail management is squarely to blame. if it had been on point they would have managed the current conditions without having to close the entire trail network. 

Yes trails all over the country are periodically closed for maintenance, but never an entire trail network. Not once have i seen them close a trail for maintenance at Modders and now it has come home to bite them. Now all the annual pass holder should simply suck it up and accept it. Sounds very similar to when the previous management went tits up and absconded with everyone's money. But at least they had a preventative trail maintenance program in place.

Many people think that because its called "Modderfontein" its a marsh, which is actually incorrect as the majority of the ground is made up of hard rock sandstone and granular material which drains fairly quickly into the various ravine channels and rivers feeding the dams. many of these ravines were originally designed by AECI to ensure drainage as the area was used primarily for storing explosives in the many bunkers you see there today.

Yes there there are places where it is muddy, but a lot of this is surface mud with hardpack below mainly in areas where water has been allowed to accumulate or close to the rivers. The few clay areas are not really anywhere near the trails. Every summer the trails have been rideable with maybe a few small closed off sections due to washouts.

Taroko have spent millions on the trial head and parking area, but they have completely neglected their core product offering as well as their customers. 

when its a spade then lets call it a spade

Ok this is very hard hitting and honest 

2 hours ago, Nakoota said:

It's all about perspective, and at least you are living up to your name

I've lived in the area for 41 years, my house is built on the same **** Modder is built on, it's floating more now than ever and I have been in it for 11 years. Sure, maybe they could have done more trail maintenance instead of building a cool pump track for us and our kids, yes, I did crash on a wash out 3 weeks ago and went over the bars hard enough to crack my helmet. But the world hasn't ended, and neither will yours from a 3 week day trail closure to prepare for a 24 hour race this weekend. You should be at work like the rest of us, it is not fair for you to be riding on weekdays anyway!

Praying your house won’t float away like in the movies 😳😳

 

They need to hire a proper trail builder and get it done. Simple. And it should never get here ⬇️

 

 

[TheoG]

19 minutes ago, OVERDRIVE said:

Ok this is very hard hitting and honest 

Praying your house won’t float away like in the movies 😳😳

 

They need to hire a proper trail builder and get it done. Simple. And it should never get here ⬇️

🙈🙈🙈☹️I can not and will not do that to my bike or myself EVER ..... 😀

[OVERDRIVE]

Ok, whose taking them at their word? 

[JK7]

Anyone ridden there since the changes?  What is it like?

 

With the lack of distance available, are there redeeming factors ?

[OVERDRIVE]

 

 

[Eugene Brown]

On 2/24/2022 at 1:20 PM, JK7 said:

Anyone ridden there since the changes?  What is it like?

 

With the lack of distance available, are there redeeming factors ?

In between the ridiculous rain and unnecessary expense of riding there in it's Jan/Feb state (unnecessary expense = drowned power meter, brake pads fubar after short muddy life, etc), I'll wait a few more weeks. Really sad though, it's on our doorstep!

[OVERDRIVE]

Basically, no change. sad

[thebob]

Something interesting on the proposed Chinese development of Modders: