You are hereManly Dam update for 12 Aug
Manly Dam update for 12 Aug
I did two laps this morning and the track is certainly rideable.
However there is standing water in many places (mostly avoidable) and a lot of leaf litter about. The Monserra Quagmire is coming back and a new quagmire is forming after Nyrang. Plus pretty much every piece of wood or tree root I rode over was slippery. So I'm marking the track "amber/some issues" until it gets a few days of drying weather.
Also FYI: I was swooped, whacked on the head and scratched on the nose by a Grey Butcherbird cracticus torquatus at the corner of Gibbs Street and Arana just before the Manly Vale School - which left me slightly dazed and bleeding for my second lap. Beware!
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Argh yes when faced with a cracticus torquatus the best thing to do is swipus mini-pumpis. Which if lucky leads to Birdus interuptis
Still carring faint scars on my nose and top lip from that exact spot last year! Consider myself an animal lover but wouldn't be too upset if a great big hawk swooped down and ate our friend the butcher bird.
That bird !!! It was attacking me on friday buy i managed to escape unharmed. Earlier this year it managed to scratch my cheek though !
It's a shame how the trail was only dry for a week before it gets wet again.
The sad thing is that I am on excellent terms with the infamous Pine Street Magpie (who is actually several magpies) because I have put in dedicated and focussed time building up a good relationship with him (them).
Life Lesson for August 12th: excellent bird karma is not transferable
I could be wrong but I thought the naughty bird looked more like a noisy miner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noisy_Miner
Noisy Miners have yellow beaks, are smaller in size, noisier, and lighter in colour. Also they tend to attack in packs rather than as a single bird.
I have been noticing this new bird type around the Dam these past few weeks (along with more Brush Turkeys) and I had thought it might be a kingfisher. So after the attack yesterday I decided to look it up and my (admittedly, unscientific) conclusion is Butcherbird.
FWIW he had a Magpie watching him and I have a paranoid suspicion the Magpie was tutoring the Butcher Bird
I got swooped for the very first time there yesterday as well. Scared the friggin hell out of me as in 38 years of being on this planet i have never been swooped before by any type of bird. I also thought it was one of those Noisy Minors as i was almost certain thats what i saw when i looked back. Luckily for me i came away unscathed
Something i will note though is there was some branches that had fallen in some places that were quite dangerous. It would be greatly appreciated if we could all think of our fellow riders and remove dangerous low hanging, broken off branches from the trail.
I am not saying it was someone on here but i know there was quite a few people that had ridden through not long before me that hadnt touched the branch that nearly snapped my neck
I dont know the name of the place, maybe the 19th hole? Not long after that there are some really tiny pinch climbs that have large rocks in the middle of the trail. I was to busy watching the rocks and keeping the bike upright (wrong tyres for the wet condition on the demo bike i was riding) and didnt see a huge broken branch hanging across the trail at head height. It grabbed the front of my helmet and consequently pulled my head back as the bike went from under me
My neck is a little sore but i think i was lucky
As for trail conditions, its definitely rideable if you dont mind some mud. Personally i would say give it till the end of this week and it should be a lot drier.