Farmers and public relations.

Derrick from Thames

Among our local cycling communities there are some highly respected farmers, so there is no anti-farmer vendetta in these comments.

Cyclists on the so-called RailTrail still endure the utterly stupid 57 gates and their dangerous judder bar cattle stops on the section between Thames and Paeroa. Fortunately, newer sections built along the stopbanks have enormously fewer cattle crossings and these were built wider and with much safer metal bar grids. Thus the sections from Kopu to Pipiroa and onwards to Waikakaruru have been recommended within the wider cycling communities (i.e. Auckland Hamilton, Tauranga and further) as excellent sections for beginners and even school groups.
Yet to the dismay of the Thames Cycle Group, on Tue 3 July, large sections of the cycleway between Pipiroa and Waitakaruru had been deeply corrugated by enormous tractors gathering grass bales from alongside the trail. I found them very uncomfortable to judder over and at least one cyclist was so concerned for her safety she took photos of the corrugations and emailed them to me. See, www.facebook.com...

These ALL TERRAIN vehicles are fully capable of traversing the paddocks alongside the cycle trail, thus the damage caused to kilometres of the cycleway is totally unnecessary.
Evermore businesses are benefiting from the RailTrail, so it has growing importance to many locals. It is certainly time to give much more thought to the cycling community.

www.facebook.com...