This study was conducted approximately 5 km north of the
Sydney central business district and the Sydney Harbour, covering
an area of 561 km2 (Fig. 1). The study area encompasses several
local government councils, the Municipality of Lane Cove and the
City of Ryde. A variety of national parks are accessible to riders
including Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park (14,882 ha), Garigal
National Park (2150 ha), Berowra Valley National Park (3884 ha),
Lane Cove National Park (635 ha) and parts of Sydney Harbour
National Park (392 ha). In the study area, there is demand to increase
the number of authorized trails for mountain bikers in both
national parks and adjacent tenures (Office of Environment
Heritage NSW, 2011; Warringah Council, 2012) where numerous
tracks traverse lands managed by different authorities. Thus, an
important aspect of the study was to differentiate between riding
within and outside of national parks as a cross-tenure approach is
essential to planning quality mountain biking experiences with
appropriate track lengths and linkages