New to Melbourne, but not to MTB

nathtayl

Cannon Fodder
G'day all,

Been traveling Canada for a couple years, and come back to Victoria (eastern Melbourne) on a mtb high. Keen to keep the flame burning and hit the trails. Glad to see a forum dedicated to that.

Riding a Norco LT 6.1 2010, with a reverb dropper and '17 Guides. I greatly appreciate the Hammerschmidt. I've used and abused it and put it in places it shouldn't go, but a little TLC has helped this bike hold on. Struggling with the 26" wheels, though.

I'll admit that I got pretty addicted to Whistler dh, but I enjoy most trails anyway. So far checked out You Yangs and Smiths Gully, planning to do Lysterfield, Plenty Gorge and a weekend trip to Thredbo soon. Always keen for pointers on some good trails and happy to travel for it if anyone is happy for a tag along. And I've a ute, so if anyone's keen on some shuttles, I'm your guy.

Naz
 

kbekus

Likes Dirt
Welcome Naz, good to see you're checking out the local trails even though they're mostly XC. There's also Red Hill less than an hour's drive plus if you want to head inland Buxton and then Bright / Beechworth / Yackandandah / Mt Buller / Falls Creek....
 

nathtayl

Cannon Fodder
...Red Hill less than an hour's drive plus if you want to head inland Buxton and then Bright / Beechworth / Yackandandah / Mt Buller / Falls Creek....
Cheers. Red Hill is on the agenda next time I make my way down the peninsula. Looking at Trailforks, is it only pedal up, or can you drive up?

Bright looks mint, flicking through photos. I'll keep that on the priority list.

In regards to Buller; the lift and shuttles only operate on specific dates and weekends?

Also I started looking into Baw Baw. Anyone got experience and info on this?
 

yiannos18

Likes Dirt
Baw Baw isn't overly huge, I walked a quarter of the network in about an hour and a half. What I did discover in the bits that I walked though was that it is linked by fire road (which is nice should you ever need to bail) and some trail sections are tight, some are full throttle. Didn't check out any of the gravity runs though, it was already pushing it to walk a XC trail as opposed to riding it.
Here's the trail map that they provide on the mountain.


Sent from my CPH1607 using Tapatalk
 

Kerplunk

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Don't bother with Thredbo when there is Bright, Buller and Falls creek within 3.5 hrs. Nothing at Thredbo that you can't find at Buller or even Lake Mountain.
Close by if your are after steepish natural tech trails, Plenty Gorge is the closest to the cbd. It's more all mountain/xc where you pedal (hard) for the downs.. For the first go stick with the southern end near Kariboo grove and explore the trails that head down to the river.. Trail forks or strava is your best bet, just follow your nose as it is a maze of trails..
 

nathtayl

Cannon Fodder
...Didn't check out any of the gravity runs though, it was already pushing it to walk a XC trail as opposed to riding it.
Their gravity trails, do they close them off when it's not a shuttle day? Or can you pedal up and hit them? Or is it all a pipedream?

... Close by if your are after steepish natural tech trails, Plenty Gorge is the closest to the cbd. It's more all mountain/xc where you pedal (hard) for the downs.. For the first go stick with the southern end near Kariboo grove and explore the trails that head down to the river.. Trail forks or strava is your best bet, just follow your nose as it is a maze of trails..
Thanks, sounds like I should head to Plenty in the next few days. It seems like Plenty goes pretty north up the river. Is it worth to check it all out, or is the best of it down south?

Saw Lysterfield today and did the State Track and Aneurysm, which was a neat easy piece of fun.
 

Kerplunk

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Thanks, sounds like I should head to Plenty in the next few days. It seems like Plenty goes pretty north up the river. Is it worth to check it all out, or is the best of it down south?

Saw Lysterfield today and did the State Track and Aneurysm, which was a neat easy piece of fun.
The gorge is all worth checking out, just be aware it's very pinchy with a fair bit of rolling vert and no sign posts. It's all "unoffical" trail so you need a guide or use trail forks..
It's very different to Lysterfield, it's all natural with no man made berms, off camber etc. It's not hard, but the trails on the near sheer cliff edges, ie goat track, have a massive penalty for failure.
 
Top