Suggestions for epic weekend ride - Victoria

[Megahead]

Hi All,
A few friends and I are looking at doing a decent 2 day ride this summer. Somewhere within an hour or two's drive of Melbourne preferred. We were thinking of driving up on a Saturday morning, riding until dark, camping overnight & then either heading back to where we started or maybe to another town and getting picked up from there.
Any suggestions from anyone that has done something like this?

[normdouglas]

I could think of a few where you could ride all day on 80% singletrack, then sleep in a 4 star accomm (or camp under the stars) then ride another epic the next day.

www.rideforrest.com.au

Happy to provide a route suggestion

[Megahead]

Thanks for the suggestion Norm but we've been to Forrest a few times and will be back for the Otway again next year. Its certainly a great place to ride.
We were thinking of something a little different. More exploring and camping out for the night and perhaps visiting a town or 2 in between. Anyone done anything like that?

[Hud]

Daylesford to Castlemaine via the Dry Diggings Trail. 50km each way.

[MrsH]

The Bicentennial Trail runs from Healesville to Cooktown. Maybe you could do part of it? (That said I am unsure of access post fires..)

[thematrix]

there is a walking trail next to the Mitchell river which is close to Bairnsdale.
we would paddle the river and then ride our bikes back up stream to pick up our cars but it could be a nice epic with lots of great swimming holes.might be a bit busy with bush walkers over the chrissy break.

or you could ride up to mount Stirling and then ride across to Buller and then ride down Howqua spur
or ride off Stirling to the north and ride down the king river valley


I am in Thredbo over Crissy break and we are riding from Guthega through the Schlinks pass and then down to Geehi dam. it is mostly fire type roads but covering that distance in a day with such awesome views should be fun.
there are some great maps of the area published by Rooftop maps and are clearly marked with what you can and can't ride in the alps. you could camp at Geehi and then ride further down to murray one power station to make it two days.

there is also a nice ride off the back of Hotham towards Bairnsdale that i have heard people have ridden with quite a lot of single track but you would need to research it.

[normdouglas]

Thanks for the suggestion Norm but we've been to Forrest a few times and will be back for the Otway again next year. Its certainly a great place to ride.
We were thinking of something a little different. More exploring and camping out for the night and perhaps visiting a town or 2 in between. Anyone done anything like that?

You could ride from Torquay to Forrest (would take you best part of a day) along mostly 4wd and Moto track... camp at lake Elizabeth then ride back via a different route.
The Otways... full of possibilities

[Elbo]

there is also a nice ride off the back of Hotham towards Bairnsdale that i have heard people have ridden with quite a lot of single track but you would need to research it.

Do you have any more info on this? I have always thought about going across the Dargo high plains and down to Sale. This might be another option. Any help would be much appreciated.

[thelankyman]

I was looking at doing a similar thing over summer as bikepacking. Definately check out Bikepacking.net. It is smallish site but has some good infor for newbs. I Will likely take the Great Dividing Trail as my mate has done it before.

let me know what you decide to do and let me know how it worked out

Also buy/borrow Keiran Ryan's off-road bike adventures book. Has some good ideas though is a little old. Does anyone have the first edition. Would love to see what trails are in it as its different from the second one that I have.

Australian alps walking track was thinking of doing this one but following the firetrack that runs adjacent to it cos you cant ride on the track
http://www.australianalps.environmen...map-guide.html

Great Dividing track - Daylesford area, can be done one way by catching the train

From http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/ind...opic,76.0.html
If you are close to Melbourne, I can recommend a few rides:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...-via-Alpine-NP
Catch Friday afternoon train from Southern Cross (pick up pizza from across the road), ride from Sale (or Stratford) to the National Park boundary by nightfall, ride Sat/Sun and catch train home from Wangaratta sometime Sunday. There are some fantastic trails and roads around Mt. Hotham/Buffalo and it works out to be a cheap weekend.

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...elbourne219392
Train to Ballarat, ride dirt roads and singletrack through Brisbane Ranges or Lederberg.

Train to Ararat Friday night, ride west to Grampians (some sweet hilly road or mtb rides), train home on Sunday.

here is another one
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...87f2293ca&z=11 from
http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/ind...pic,541.0.html

[solo]

if you go a bit further from melbourne you could go to mt buller
klingsporn is one of the best you will ever ride
the track from the top of mt stirling is also a pearler with something like 14 water crossings
we went there for 3 days in january camped drank beer and rode sweet singletrack everyday
there is an extensive trail network now with new stuff going all the way from buller to stirling
all you need is two cars 3 friends and good weather

-
-the great dividing trail is brilliant to ride also but the good bit of singletrack is in the middle you would be riding a hell of a lot of fireroad either side
the best part of this trail is definately from castlemaine to daylesford as someone has already stated

the other thing you could do would be go to castlemaine ride the pineys then ride the water race to great dividing trail camp halfway then ride to daylesford and onto ballarat where it ends at nerrina which is a fun play area that would be an epic two days for sure