What it's like to live with motocross

I've been compiling a file for the last few months of people's experiences living with motocross in many different places, not just in South East Queensland but all over Australia.  Here are some selected quotes gathered from personal interviews, messages people have sent to me, and other sources.

I hope you will read all of them and think about the lives of the many people behind these statements - and then think about the impact on the community at Adare and Vinegar Hill in the Lockyer Valley.

“The loss of peace and quiet and our rights to quiet enjoyment of our property.”

“The barrage of threats from the owners and users of the establishment, toward us living here in the valley ...”

“If you are anywhere outside the house and visible from the road you are likely to get abuse hurled at you by passing motocross traffic.”

“We had people in passing cars throwing empty stubbies at cattle in the paddock.  There were stubbies, plastic bottles, bongs and other rubbish in the crops near the road so that after it was ploughed it was impossible to walk barefoot to adjust the irrigation.  In one paddock beside the road I picked up about 12 bongs, made from plastic soft-drink bottles and bits of hose, in one day.”

“The health and wellbeing of the community where the stress and strain ... put strains on marriages and people’s health.”

“The valuations of our properties dropping with nobody wanting to buy as soon as they heard the noise from the place or heard there was a Mx Park down the road.”

“After five hours of the noise you’d gladly take a chainsaw over there and have a go at them.”

“You’re saying, ‘God, are the motorbikes going to start up?’ So even though they’re not there, you’re on edge because you don’t know... you think, ‘next ten minutes will tell’ ....  And like I say, it’s not [just] when the noise is going, you’re on edge all the time.”

“Friends and family do not want to come and visit anymore as we never know if we are going to be subjected to offensive noise  .... No social life anymore.”  

“We live 7.5km from Echo Valley, luckily it only operates 2-3 times per month as the noise is sometimes incredibly offensive”.

I've lived near there [at Vinegar Hill] previously for the peaceful natural landscape and wildlife. I would like to think this is still valued and protected.  I've experienced the fairly typical behaviours and attitudes of dirt bike enthusiasts and have come away discouraged and dismayed about the self centered uncaring nature of this "sport".

“We have first-hand experience of the excessive noise created from 200+ motocross bikes after camping at the Western Trailhead at Wyaralong Dam in July this year for a horse trail ride. The Western Trailhead campsite is less than two kilometres from the Queensland Moto Park and the noise created from the motocross park disturbed the amenity and in many ways ruined the experience of camping in an otherwise quiet and peaceful location.”

“Living near a motocross track destroys your life in every way - emotionally, financially, and your quality of life.  It causes enormous stress.  This is your home, you have nowhere else to go.”  

“When I travel to the family farm there is constant traffic on the road which at times when groups [going to or from Qld Moto Park] are travelling on convoy and don't know the road has been very dangerous at times. Also there are the usual testosterone filled P-platers that can't handle the narrow windy road and there have been several near misses.”

“We’ve had people in the farm sheds, even driving in at 3am, looking around.  There have been fences pushed over and bikes riding around our property.”

“The traffic on the road is horrific - thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies - they drive the way they ride.  Four times I came very close to an accident because of them.  The creek crossing was a major risk area.”

“Kids without licences and on unregistered bikes would ride for miles on back roads and across country, cutting through fences if necessary, to avoid the coppers on the road to the park.”

“I've experienced first hand the impact that persistent motocross noise and activities can have on a community. ... The noise was insistent and unsettling for all neighbours, particularly as many had young families or had moved to the area for its' lifestyle value - quiet and peaceful. The end result was a lengthy (years) legal battle between Council, the Motocross enthusiasts and the surrounding landholders. Three families sold their properties and left the homes where they had intended to settle, including my own, because of the noise and disrespect of the motocross users and lack of action from Council. It is not a small issue that makes a family give up the home they have built and the place their children have grown up in. I would strongly advise Council to reconsider the application for the Motocross track at Adare and to listen to the concern of the local residents.”.

“Stressful, depressing, suffering physical & mental abuse, tension is causing me personal relationship conflicts, lack of relaxation is health threatening, (hypertension) violation of my chosen lifestyle & of raping me of my rights to enjoy my home in my chosen location. I have lost my composure on numerous occasions screaming out obscenities above the OFFENSIVE disturbing MX moto bike NOISE pleading for the NOISE to STOP. I DO NOT LIKE THE WAY THIS NOISE TORTURE EFFECTS ME> live on acreage & do not want to have to lock myself away from this offensive noise with radio turned up full blast to disguise this invasive torturous din that envelopes me on my own property.”

The magical motocross tour

The Lockyer Valley Regional Councillors are off on a tour this morning that will take in the Queensland Moto Park motocross operation at Wyaralong between Boonah and Beaudesert and the motocross track at Adare.

We did up a brief 'tour guide' for them, suggesting aspects of both sites that they might want to have a good look at or ask questions about.  You can download the tour guide here.

They'll have a much better trip out to the proposed Adare motocross development site than most people do.  The Council had a crew out there on Tuesday and Wednesday with a grader, roller, dump truck and a ute with a herbicide sprayer, and eight staff including the drivers and the traffic controllers.

Smoother, cleaner but still dangerous - check out that blind crest in the background.

 The workers said that they had been told the work was in preparation for a mountain bike event, and that they had to be off the road by 2.30pm yesterday.  In fact, there is a mountain bike event at Adare Homestead, but it's not until Sunday.  They were actually on site until 12.30pm today, Thursday 12 March.  They must have meant that they had to be out of there by 2.30pm today, because that's about the time the Councillors would be getting back from their visit to Wyaralong.. But the road has been graded, gravelled, rolled and buffed better than most unsealed roads in the Lockyer Valley Region.  Either the Queen is going mountain-biking on Sunday or this is all for the Councillors.

Actually we were out on Adare Road on the day of Race 1 of the Wild West Enduro Series  at Adare Homestead on 11 January this year. There were more than 150 riders at that, from Toowoomba, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Townsville and Armidale. Not a minor event, but there was no evidence of any roadwork having been done on Adare Road in preparation it.

Even the weeds were getting a wash.  Wonder if they polished the road signs too?

This is what the Redbank Creek crossing looked like last time with the mountain bike traffic.

You can see a video of the dust problem on the unsealed section between the crossing and the proposed motocross track entrance on the day of the January mountain bike Enduro event here.

Even if the roadworks were being done in preparation for the mountain bike event at Adare Homestead some questions need to be asked about the cost of the operation and the reason this bit of road got priority.

There are only two houses served by the section of road that was upgraded.  Coles Road, also in Adare and running off Redbank Creek Road, is only two kilometres long, is unsealed and serves four houses.  It's currently a rough, rutted and narrow track.  Residents have been trying for a long time, without any success to get Council to do some maintenance work on this road.  The money and effort put into this bit of Adare Road would have made a substantial improvement to Coles Road.

The Council might argue that the Adare Homestead mountain bike operation is providing an economic benefit to the Lockyer Valley Region, but if they did it would be interesting to see a justification.  Here's what prospective competitors at a 2013 event were told about the site:

Venue address: Adare Homestead, 583 Adare Road Gatton. Adare Homestead is located at the end of Adare Rd. Approximately 10 kilometres north of Gatton township and 70 minutes from the CBD.

Directions from the East: From Brisbane travel west out the Warrego Highway towards Toowoomba. Take the Gatton exit and follow Eastern Drive, right onto Old College Road, turn right into Allan Street, at the bottle shop, go straight ahead into Adare Road and head north. The sealed road ends and continue north on the gravel road over the causeway to Adare Homestead.

From the West: Travel east along the Warrego Highway towards Brisbane. At the end of Gatton Bypass, exit head into Gatton and follow the same directions as above. 

i.e. no one needs to go through the Gatton CBD, or even past any food outlets to get to the venue. (These are the same directions that would be needed to get to the proposed motocross operation on Adare Road.)

What to bring. Bring all the items required to support your race including track pump, spares, sunscreen, shade shelter (pop up tent), table, chairs, food and water (cup of cement is optional). Don't to forget to bring all your riding kit and a sense of humour!
We provide limited water, ablutions and mechanic service. If you run into trouble, you can purchase sports nutrition, tubes and spares from Sheryl from MTB Mechanic.

People are told to bring their own food and everything else they might need.  Water is available on site, as are a mechanic service, sports nutrition, tubes and spares. The accompanying map showed a site labelled 'coffee', so presumably that essential is also provided.  What reason would patrons have to to into Gatton for anything?

If the roadworks were for the benefit of the mountain bike operation and not just to give the Councillors a better impression of the access to proposed motocross facility, where is the economic justification for the expenditure of public money?

Me?  I think it was all to make the motocross operation look good for the Councillors - at public expense.

Motocross traffic on Adare Road - we stand to lose more than you think

I've posted before about the unsuitability of Adare Road for large amounts of traffic.

There's more to that issue and I'll come back to it in another post.

There are unsuspected losses associated with traffic on Adare Road that we face if the proposed motocross development is allowed to go ahead.

One of these relates to the Gatton Light Horse Troop.  You might be familiar with their role in the Anzac Day celebrations in Gatton and other localities in the Lockyer Valley.

The Gatton Light Horse Troop in the Anzac Day parade in 2012.  A friend in Germany sent this to me, which shows how far the knowledge of our Light Horse Troop has spread.

What you wouldn't know, unless you are out toward the end of Adare Road early on a Saturday or Sunday, is that the Horse Paddock beside Adare Road,on the right just before the Redbank Creek Crossing, is one of their training grounds.

It's a stirring sight to see them practising mounted military manoeuvres at full speed.

If there are up to 150 vehicles travelling down Adare Road on a Saturday or Sunday morning, the Horse Paddock will become unsuitable for Light Horse training exercises.

There's another group in the community (this time a much wider community) who know of the Adare Road Horse Paddock.  They are the birdwatchers, and the trees and bushes around the edges of the Horse Paddock are one of several regular birding spots for many visitors.

Adare road has been visited with increasing regularity by local, Brisbane, interstate and overseas birders over the last 20 years.  The location features regularly in online lists of the interesting or rare species which have been seen there.

Two of the visitors in this group were from Japan

It continues to be something of a 'hot-spot' where visitors can find a selection of scarcer species which can be difficult to locate elsewhere in the region.

There are many birdwatchers who visit Adare Road regularly, some every couple of months, some every week.  There are also bird clubs which make annual trips to the area.

A lot of the most interesting birding is done along the road verges, including along the sides of the Redbank Creek crossing.  Motocross traffic in the mornings and evenings (when most birders visit) is going to turn birdwatching along Adare Road into an extreme sport - not to mention being extremely unpleasant with all the dust and noise.  It can be pretty confidently predicted that the beginning of motocross traffic will be the beginning of the end of birdwatching on Adare Road.

Oh no. Not another cute koala.

Today's koala sighting.

Thanks to the sharp eyes of a member of our group (thanks John), this one was spotted beside Adare Road, near the intersection with Fords Road.

This sighting highlights the danger that koalas will be in from vehicle strike if the motocross track is approved at the end of Adare Road.  This koala has only two directions in which it can go from its tree without crossing a road.  The other two directions take it across roads that currently are relatively busy, but nothing like the traffic that will exist if the motocross track is approved.

With motocross traffic along Adare Road four to six nights per week, and a predicted (by the applicant) maximum volume of 150 vehicles per hour around opening and closing times, there will be absolute slaughter of koalas.

We're not talking city run-about vehicles.  The majority of these will be utes, vans, and 4-WDs, mostly towing trailers loaded with motocross bikes.  They don't stop fast.

Just about the whole length of Adare Road has some bush one side or the other.

The amount of remaining bushland along Adare Road is a big plus for koalas.  It means there's still plenty of connection between habitat areas.  Habitat fragmentation is one of the big dangers for koala (and most wildlife) populations.

But there doesn't have to be a lot of bushland alongside the road for koalas to want to cross.  Even where there isn't thick bush, koalas will still cross the road.

A koala was found dead on the road here a year ago.

In suburban areas such as those in and around Brisbane where at-risk koala colonies are getting a lot of attention in the media, vehicle strike has overtaken disease as the leading cause of koala death.  Luckily that isn't the case in the Adare-Vinegar Hill area at present.  There a few roads compared with suburban areas, and the majority of those roads have very low volumes of traffic, and mostly local drivers who are aware of the wildlife. We need to keep it that way - not just for the koalas, but for the safety of our community members as well.

Have a look at the map above.  That stretch of Adare Road, from Redbank Creek Road to the intersection with Ranger Road (where the Adare locality name is) is a school bus route.  School buses will be coming along this route in the hour before the motocross track will open Tuesday to Friday - when motocross traffic is at its busiest.