Queensland authorities are investigating after a mountain bike rider was injured in a collision with a motorcyclist on a one-way trail on the Sunshine Coast.
Beth Fairley was riding at Tewantin when she slammed into an off-road electric motorcyclist coming up the trail.
Fairley fell off her bike at about 35 kilometres per hour and sustained a broken thumb and a concussion.
She said ignoring one-way signs on downhill trails was extremely dangerous and was glad it was not a child who was hit.
"As I was coming around the corner, I came across a young man on an electric motorbike going up the hill," Fairley said about the incident last Saturday.
"I clocked him a couple of metres out and just threw myself off to the left-hand side of the trail as much as I could.
"I just dumped the bike and went over the bars a bit.
"I ended up with a concussion that I'm still feeling a bit scrambled from … and I gave him a quite passionate lecture on trail etiquette and how motorbikes really aren't allowed in national parks for very good safety reasons."
A Department of Environment spokesperson said rangers were investigating and called on anyone with information about the motorcyclist's identity to come forward.
The spokesperson said "several offences" were associated with the unlawful use of motorcycles in national parks.
Fairley, an endurance rider, said she had only just started riding after an injury and that her brand new bike was damaged.
"I'm glad that happened to me and not a kid riding down there and then going underneath the bottom of this bike," she said.
"It could have been so much worse."
'Very dangerous'
Noosa Trailblazers Mountain Biking Club president Andy Fellows said riders did not expect to see anyone coming up a downhill trail — "especially somebody on a motorbike".
"It has massive consequences … it could have been a lot worse," he said.
"It could have been a massive injury — you can imagine two bike riders going flat-out, having a head-on collision could potentially be fatal.
"It's pretty significant [and] very dangerous."
Mr Fellows said he hoped authorities increased signage in the area and said electric motorbikes posed an additional challenge for mountain bikers.
"There's no noise — you can't hear them coming so you can't really prepare yourself to get out of the way," he said.
"Whereas if it was a [petrol] motorbike it'd probably be less likely to be an accident, because the mountain biker would be able to hear the motorbike coming, but they're pretty stealthy on those e-motorbikes."
Fairley said the incident would "absolutely not" prevent her from getting back on her bike.
"I'm super keen to start racing again," she said.
"So once the head is unscrambled I'll be right back on."
