Taswegian in Victoria. What are the must ride trails?

Stredda

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
G'day guys and girls. I'm heading over with the family on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry for a weeks holiday in Victoria on the 25th of September (in two weeks!) an we don't have any real set plans as yet. I am taking my Anthem and looking to get some riding in and would like to know what are the must ride trails and try to link as many as possible. Since I will be riding by my myself a lot of the time (unless anyone wants to show me around) probably need to restrict it to a 2ish hour ride. My wife did want to have a stay at Lakes Entrance but other than that it's fair game. It would be nice if there would be something interesting for my wife and kids to see/do as well.
Thanks in advance.
Chris
 
R

rednightmare

Likes Dirt
Well if you wanted to head over Great Ocean Road way, you could probably do something like You Yangs --> Anglesea (Eumerella scout camp) --> Forrest MTB park

I'd say Forrest would be the pick of the bunch, with some great XC trails, lots of accommodation options close by (incl. camping) and a brewery for that post ride beer to boot! You Yangs is a pretty classic location, lots of XC trails. That said, there isn't a great amount of elevation, the bush is pretty sparse and exposed and there may not be heaps for the family to do. The trails in Anglesea are nice, great setting and probably a good location (on the Great Ocean Road) for your family to kill some time. Hope this helps.
 
slowmick

slowmick

38-39"
hey bloke - do a search for lakes entrance on here. there is supposed to be a lot of good cross country riding down there.
 
pistonbroke

pistonbroke

Eats Squid
If your staying at Lakes Entrance there is a good XC mtb park 5 minutes drive out of town. It's pure XC with nothing too wild and the main loop takes about 50 minutes. There's a few more tracks that could easily fill your two hour window. Track is based at the corner of Princess hwy and Bruce's Track.
Plenty for the family to do as well. They could take a walk along the Lakes Discovery Trail which is right next to the mtb park. There's also a couple of mini golf parks and the beach. My daughter is only 4 and her favorite pastime is digging up crabs on the foreshore.
Half an hours drive up the hwy is Nowa Nowa. It also has a mtb. It's not as much fun as the Lakes course but is worth a visit if you have the time. But get directions before you go as its a little tricky to find the first time.
I do a bit of an epic and ride both parks in one day and link the two using the lakes discovery trail and the east gippsland rail trail. Starting at Johnsonville and going Bruthen-Nowa Nowa-Lakes tracks-Johnsonville it's not hard to hit 100km for the day. But this loop has plenty of ho-hum rail trail on it.
 
Stredda

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
Thanks for the info guys. Is it worth heading through Bulla and doing the Epic?
 
pistonbroke

pistonbroke

Eats Squid
Bulla is good but pretty full-on. If you're B grade or better it's worth it. If your a mug like me it's a long way to go to suffer. But it's spectacular riding. Bring a granny ring.
 
Haakon

Haakon

has an accommodating arse
Bulla's Epid Trail is, well, epic... Its the hardest 40kms I've ever ridden, and as mentioned bring a granny ring. I did it on a 2x10 26er Anthem, and it was what made me put that bike back to 3x10!!

Over christmas I intend to do it again on new Anthem with sram 1x11 and I am expecting to suffer...

I am bit biased because I grew up there, but Castlemaine has some great riding. The Great Dividing Trail from Daylesford to Castlemaine is a cracking 65kms ride (book your wife into a spa and massage in Hepburn Springs and with your newfound brownie points she will then drive over to Castlemaine to collect you ;-) )
 
Markee

Markee

Likes Dirt
Mt Buller will probably still be closed or have snow on it even.

If you stay in the city for a few days there's always the yarra trails to explore.
 
dunndog

dunndog

Eats Squid
Haakon said:
Bulla's Epid Trail is, well, epic... Its the hardest 40kms I've ever ridden, and as mentioned bring a granny ring. I did it on a 2x10 26er Anthem, and it was what made me put that bike back to 3x10!!

Over christmas I intend to do it again on new Anthem with sram 1x11 and I am expecting to suffer...

I am bit biased because I grew up there, but Castlemaine has some great riding. The Great Dividing Trail from Daylesford to Castlemaine is a cracking 65kms ride (book your wife into a spa and massage in Hepburn Springs and with your newfound brownie points she will then drive over to Castlemaine to collect you ;-) )
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I did exactly that a couple months ago with Matt on here, but we started at Castlemaine. She dropped us there and went back to Peppers at Hepburn Springs for a 'treatment' and we rode back. Was rad, hard work though. Safe to say I suffered more than Matt but we'll doable and thoroughly enjoyable. So are you saying the Epic is harder work than that?
 
Haakon

Haakon

has an accommodating arse
dunndog said:
I did exactly that a couple months ago with Matt on here, but we started at Castlemaine. She dropped us there and went back to Peppers at Hepburn Springs for a 'treatment' and we rode back. Was rad, hard work though. Safe to say I suffered more than Matt but we'll doable and thoroughly enjoyable. So are you saying the Epic is harder work than that?
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Its a bit more downhill starting Daylesford - plus it leaves the run along the water race from Chewton for last (and a bit downhill) which is a cracking finish to the ride.

Epic at Buller was much much harder.
 
dunndog

dunndog

Eats Squid
Yeah it was something like a 300m gain in the direction we took.. Still overall a wicked ride, plenty of fun descents, but the first few k's was a bit of a rude start!
 
Stredda

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
Will be sitting down with my wife on the weekend to work out where we will head. Like to get a few different rides in. Thanks for the info!
 
dunndog

dunndog

Eats Squid
Buxton re opens this weekend, well worth a look. Great spot, cant get lost.Well signed and mapped. Also Beechworth mtb park has a good variety and again cant get lost. Silvan trails, havent been myself but heard its good.
 
S

sukebe

Likes Dirt
You have mentioned you ride an Anthem and are looking to stay in Lakes Entrance. Do a bit of Googling on Blores Hill, Erica, Nowa Nowa, Mt Taylor. All fun XC trails, Blores Hill has some fun techy stuff. Also checkout gippslandmtb.com.au.

There is enough in Gippsland to keep you busy. Loads of other places to ride but not so accessible / lots of driving to be done to link up. If you are looking to head north east of Melb, def check out Buxton / Lake Mountain. The new descent on Lake Mountain is pretty rad and raw. A bit like a less groomed version of the Buller Epic final descent.
 
Knuckles

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
Can recommend the Dry diggings track as per slomick and dundog, however for max enjoyment start at daylsford and head to castlemaine, it flows much better. Once in Castlemaine if you're not knackered, there's a shit ton of single track surrounding it, and its a great touristy area to base the family. Or the great ocean road, there are trails from the Youies (just outside of geelong) right through to Portsea.
 
E

Emigna

Squid
sukebe said:
You have mentioned you ride an Anthem and are looking to stay in Lakes Entrance. Do a bit of Googling on Blores Hill, Erica, Nowa Nowa, Mt Taylor. All fun XC trails, Blores Hill has some fun techy stuff. Also checkout gippslandmtb.com.au.

There is enough in Gippsland to keep you busy. Loads of other places to ride but not so accessible / lots of driving to be done to link up. If you are looking to head north east of Melb, def check out Buxton / Lake Mountain. The new descent on Lake Mountain is pretty rad and raw. A bit like a less groomed version of the Buller Epic final descent.
Click to expand...

Please elaborate on the Lake Mountain descent?

Cant find a map, is this the trail going to Marysville?
 
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