Editorial: Act now before a rider is killed

Mt Parihaka mountain tracks become dangerous to ride in winter.

A mountain bike track up the back of Mt Parihaka is temporarily closed while small pine trees are being milled.

Whangarei District Council has closed the Cooper Track, for safety reasons. Mountain bikers and chainsaws aren't a good mix.

The council should also consider closing tracks that aren't being milled, for safety reasons.

For example, an exit track - one of the main routes down the mountain to Abbey Caves Rd is dangerous. Mountain bike tracks are generally given a grading according to difficulty, some tracks require special skill to ride.

This track usually doesn't. I think it is either the lower part of the Resurrection track, or the White Tail track.

The only skill required to ride this track - in summer - is the ability to stay relatively upright on a bicycle.

In winter, it is a different story.

The track is clay, hard clay, and is covered in a green substance. I'm not sure if it is a slime, as such. I got quite a close look at it recently, after falling off my bike.

If you ride any bike, if your back tyre slides around a wee bit, you can control it.

On this track, in winter, your front wheel will slide out from underneath you.

Generally, you can't control it.

I'm of the humble opinion someone will break their neck or kill themselves on a Mt Parihaka track. I have fallen off my bike three times now, over the past five years, because Mt Parihaka mountain tracks become dangerous to ride in winter.

Especially after rain. Especially because of this slime.

They are not "all weather" tracks.

In Whangarei, a BMX track has been fenced off after a sudden, tragic death.

I'd like to challenge a safety-minded person to inspect the mountain bike tracks, to close the dangerous ones, or help the well-meaning volunteers who build them to lay some form of gravel or cover that makes them safe.