Trouble brewing in MTB paradise?

By Taylor Clyne,
November 06, 2019

Trouble is brewing in mountain bike paradise after access was granted to commercial shuttle operator Vertigo last Friday to run riders down the new Bay of Fires mountain bike trail whilst it is still under construction.
The $4.5M trail is due to officially open to the public on November 22 however Break O Day general manager John Brown confirmed that he gave the go ahead to Vertigo weeks ahead of time after being advised by trail builders that the track would benefit from some tyres on it.
“World Trail advised us early last week that the Bay of Fires Trail would benefit from some tyres on it to bed it in nicely in readiness for the official opening,” he said.
“This is not an exclusive opportunity and the intent was always to be inclusive.
“Council is also facilitating familiarisation of the trail network through a series of Trail Famils for local operators and Trail Ambassadors.”
“If other shuttle operators want to access the trails, all they have to do is get in touch with us and we will send them through the guidelines and assess their application on the same basis as we have others.”
Heated queries have swarmed popular MTB social media pages surrounding the potential safety concerns and equal opportunities for all operators.
“Did you invite everybody equally to participate at the same time, did they know the opportunity existed?”
“It’s still a construction zone, are the trails safe?”
“These are publicly funded trails how can one business have access?” were among the many comments.
Mr Brown dispelled all claims that Council acted unfairly to other shuttle users stating that they did not invite anyone specifically and had only responded to requests as they came in.
“We are now reacting to requests from individual shuttle operators, we look forward to working with other active shuttle operators in this space and hope that all businesses can put their personal differences aside in order to focus on the opportunities at hand.”
“Please note to have access, shuttle operators have to submit a safety and hygiene management plan to Council to consider before allowing any access to the trails. Vertigo did this,” Mr Brown said.
Speaking on the claims that Vertigo offered the opportunity to ride the Bay of Fires trail to paying customers before the official opening, Council said they are not aware of any such promotion.
“We would not support this as we were not in a position to offer any operator access to the trails before now,” Mr Brown said.
Owner of Vertigo Buck Gibson was contacted for a comment but declined.
The official launch date of the trails is expected to go ahead as planned on November 22.