- Know the regulations and special concerns for the area you wish to visit.
- Schedule your trip to avoid times of high use.
- Visit in small groups.
- Account for your fitness level and those in your group.
- Always carry maps and know how to read them.
- Ensure that someone at home knows your itinerary.
- Prepare for extreme weather, hazards and emergencies.
- Where a helmet and carry adequate clothing.
- Check your bike before your ride and carry a repair kit.
- Carry food for longer rides and repackage food to minimise waste.
- Carry plenty of water/ water purification tablets.
- Ride only on the track.
- Don’t detour - dismount and walk instead.
- Brake gently before corners and avoid skidding to protect the track surface from erosion.
- Avoid regeneration areas and places where impacts are just beginning.
- Avoid cutting corners. Don’t widen tracks.
- Avoid mud and soft entrances/exits around water to reduce erosion.
- Camp only in designated sites along the track.
- Concentrate use on existing tracks and campsites.
- Camp away from watercourses.
- Take your rubbish home, including organics– “pack it in, pack it out.”
- Help protect water supplies by using existing toilets at campsites.
- Where there are no toilets, deposit solid, human waste in cat-holes dug 10-15 cm deep at least 100 m from water, camp and the track. Cover and disguise the hole when finished.
- Pack out all personal hygiene products.
- Wash 100 m from streams or lakes and if necessary use only small amounts of biodegradable soap.
- Keep your tyres clean from the start and help prevent the spread of diseases like dieback fungus.
- Avoid introducing or transporting non-native species.
- Check your clothes, bike and body for seeds before and after you ride.
- Leave artefacts and historical items where and as you find them.
- Leave rocks, plants and other natural objects where and as you find them.
- Clean your tyres when you have finished especially if you have ridden through areas suspected of die back fungus.
- Fires can cause lasting impacts to the bush.
- Check area regulations for fire bans.
- Use a lightweight fuel stove for cooking and enjoy a candle or gas lantern for light.
- Where fires are permitted, use established fire rings, fire pans, or mound fires. Do not create new fire-pits.
- Keep fires small. Wood is a habitat for fauna and birds. Use only small sticks that can be broken by hand.
- Burn all wood and coals to ash. Put the fire out completely. Clean out campfires rings after use.
- Consider using candles for light instead of fire. Don’t leave wax residue.
- Be careful of improper cigarette butt disposal. Take butts with you.
- Stick to the track.
- Observe wildlife from a distance. Do not follow or approach them.
- Travel quietly.
- Avoid wildlife especially during sensitive times: mating, nesting or when with their young.
- Never feed native animals.
- Protect wildlife and your food by storing meals and rubbish securely.
- Control pets at all times or leave them at home. Check regulations.
- Check with landowners/managers for permission, permits and regulations.
- Respect signage and follow rules.
- Respect other visitors and the quality of their experience.
- Travel in smaller groups.
- When descending, yield to climbing cyclists.
- Be careful and in control.
- Slow down where there are blind spots.
- Be courteous. Give way to other users.
- Stop, talk quietly and move off the track if there are horseback riders.
- Don’t race on recreational tracks.
- Take breaks and camp away from tracks and other visitors.
- Let nature’s sounds prevail. Avoid loud voices and noises.
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