Derby in Tassi

binner

Hath shat hymself
Black diamond

Another big rise today,
Slayed the black dragonkunt trail...it needed to be blown apart ....

Really got off on it.....
No cromag needed
 

Delazy

Got a new bike!
Looks epic.
How long would you need to do it justice? 2 days?
2 at the very least....3 if possible....

Although I only spent one day riding big chook/atlas and the bottom half of dambusters on Sunday and it more than justified the 8 hours worth of driving to and from hobart
 

Delazy

Got a new bike!
The Maydena proposal is no toe-in-the-water kind of approach either – what has been slated dwarfs any Australian mountain bike park to date. Proposed features include:

- 100km of purpose-built mountain bike trails (developed over multiple stages)
- A focus on gravity trails (all mountain and downhill) offering up to 600m of vertical descending
- The showpiece trail will be a 20km descending all mountain trail, through stunning alpine rock scree and dense rainforest
- Stunning myrtle forest environment backing onto the Styx Valley, home to some of the worlds largest trees
- Commercial shuttle service accessing the summit of the site
- Free-for-use access to the proposed cross country trail network, with paid shuttle access to gravity trails
- Restaurant, cafe, bar and bike shop retail
- Tours, skills coaching, bike and equipment hire
- Proposed future stages include a range of adventure activities, such as; zip lines, four wheel drive tours, eco tours and bush walking.
not sure if people have been following this development in southern tasmania :) but wow...
 

kbekus

Likes Dirt
Just got back from 3 days in Derby, a big thanks to Mitch and the Ballarat MTB club for making it happen. Another big thank you to a great riding group in no particular order, Dallas, Waz, Clint, Tanya, Paul and Moorey. And the biggest thank you of them all to Derby itself, Buck and Jude from Vertigo and World Trail for providing an outstanding set of trails to ride.

Heading off early Friday and after a really warm week in Melbourne the weather was looking utterly shit.. not cold but lots of rain (up to 50mm on Saturday alone). Buck and Jude picked us up at the airport and after a quick stop in Launceston to grab another group of 4 from SA we drove the hour and a half to Derby, a town was obviously once prosperous and busy but had struggled with loss of industry. We built up our bikes and rode from the parking spot straight onto the trailhead and really enjoyed some introductory green and blue trail under the native temperate rainforest in the warm and humid (!) conditions. Meeting back at the shed we loaded up the trailer and shuttled up, up, up to the head of Atlas. Of course at this point the weather turned to shit but such is life, we rode off through the swoopy, bermy top section and into a switchback laden climb through dark, misty and wet Beech forest. At this point the trail turned a bit more technical with decent but short rock gardens and tree roots that came out to play... to show my appreciation I decided to get up close and personal by going over the bars.. my way of giving the trail a hug. Soon enough the trail turned groomed and we rushed down hill on classic World Trail: swoopy, bermy machine built stuff of dreams. We rode out on Sawtooth and Berms and Ferns to a great bike wash and showers then up to the cafe for dinner. I don't want to write too much about the accommodation for the night but suffice to say I've never had a hotter, more sweaty evening alone with 5 other blokes in a single room cabin as I did that evening.

Woke up Saturday expecting the worst and unbelievably we were greeted with clear skies! We jumped in the bus and shuttled up to Blue Tier along some serious back country, off the beaten track 'roads'. We were lucky to be riding this old miner trail with some locals and they guided us down this very natural alpine path laden with creek crossings and rocky outcrops. I really loved this trail, it was quite technical (read: I carried my bike a fair bit) but there were no real gotcha moments even on the steep and rocky descents. Even stopping off the side of the track to allow a group of 4WDs to pass we were soon at the bottom and climbing a grindy uphill to the start of Big Chook. Fark, what a track! I've written it more than I should already, but bermy, swoopy. Sigh. Lots of grip on the red hardpack except when there wasn't, some wild jumps for the brave and almost the whole thing descending through gorgeous rainforest.

Lunch stop, the Weldborough Hotel. Simply great food, the steak sanga was stuff of dreams. And craft beers on tap, OMG. I almost wished for rain so I could stay there the arvo. Almost. Either way we loaded up and shuttled the 15 minutes up to Atlas for another blast down this spectacular wilderness run. Yesterday's effort I just didn't enjoy, it was dark, gloomy and wet with a lack of familiarity of the grip on offer I rode stiff and unhappy. Today though it had dried out just a touch and was perfect, the rocks were granite like the Youies and were tacky like rough concrete combined with the granite sand style base mixed with just a touch of leaf litter was fabulously grippy. The boys felt the call of the Black Dragon so down we went... this was a fairly serious down hill track over big boulders and required a fair bit of commitment to ride properly. Regrouping at the bottom half the group went back up to have another crack at the Dragon while the rest of us took the more casual Long Shadows and Flickety Sticks loop for a more gentle roll. Again the bike wash got a solid workout and at this point it was pretty clear that some of the group were pretty handy with the polishing rag. Dinner at the Branxholm Hotel then back to the cabin for an early evening with the gentle sounds of snoring and farting keeping the wildlife at bay.

We were totally kissed by the weather gods on the Saturday with not a single drop of rain falling but we couldn't continue the lucky spell and we woke up to a downpour on Sunday. Some of us kept positive thoughts though and it cleared just enough that we headed out for a run of Kruska's after brekky and coffee. Half way up the tough but rewarding climb it started to belt down but we were too far in to turn back and when you're wet you're wet so onward we continued. This was another track that just delivered with fast flowing downhill, again with jumps and obstacles for the eager and B lines for folk like me. We sessioned a few of the jumps and I'm looking forward to a video edit because some were spectacular. We finished off Kruska's and rode back into town utterly spent and satisfied. A third date with the bike wash and showers and we packed up for the journey home.

Now I'm sitting here at work with a distant look in my eye reliving various pieces of track and working out what I can steal to flog off for another Derby hit. Half the group came home nursing minor injuries of one kind or another but everyone rated the experience highly. The combo of natural Blue Tier trail with the machine built stuff of Big Chook and lower Atlas are an amazing full day ride experience and I want to spend another 3 or 4 days there to try Dambusters and the other smaller loops in the area.

tldr; get your ass to Derby ASAP if you like groomed cross country loops or all mountain descents.
 
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Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
Just got back from 3 days in Derby, a big thanks to Mitch and the Ballarat MTB club for making it happen. Another big thank you to a great riding group in no particular order, Dallas, Waz, Clint, Tanya, Paul and Moorey. And the biggest thank you of them all to Derby itself, Buck and Jude from Vertigo and World Trail for providing an outstanding set of trails to ride.
.
Unlucky with the weather, we have just have had the driest 12 months on record, the Hyrdo dams are nearly empty.

Cool trails though hey? Big Chook is my current favourite trail, it's just so fast and flowy.
 

moorey

call me Mia
Unlucky with the weather, we have just have had the driest 12 months on record, the Hyrdo dams are nearly empty.

Cool trails though hey? Big Chook is my current favourite trail, it's just so fast and flowy.
Too cool quite frankly, they've almost ruined mountain biking for me now. Yeah Big Chook was my fav too.
Good write up Kman. Utterly superb tracks and well run mini tour. Will be back again..and again..and again. Big chook, atlas, blue tier, black diamond, flickety sticks, krushkas...and the rest, all winners, but yeah, big chook is sweet.
 

Delazy

Got a new bike!
Good write up Kman. Utterly superb tracks and well run mini tour. Will be back again..and again..and again. Big chook, atlas, blue tier, black diamond, flickety sticks, krushkas...and the rest, all winners, but yeah, big chook is sweet.
the rumors im hearing are big chook is a small example of what the new blue tiers trail will offer when it opens later this year...

big chook x2 or x3...yes please!
 

moorey

call me Mia
the rumors im hearing are big chook is a small example of what the new blue tiers trail will offer when it opens later this year...

big chook x2 or x3...yes please!
Heard similar. We rode it with Rob, the trail designer. Hoping he continues the input.
 

kbekus

Likes Dirt
the rumors im hearing are big chook is a small example of what the new blue tiers trail will offer when it opens later this year...

big chook x2 or x3...yes please!
That's mega exciting to hear and I might have to order an extra size box of tissues in that case. It's gonna be a wicked two days riding Blue Tier + Chook + Atlas then on day 2 the new track + Chook + Atlas. As much as I loved Big Chook and would happily ride trail of that style all day I also think Blue Tier is a track completely worth my time... sure it was basically fire road but the amount of exposed rock made it challenging in a very fun way.
 

Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
That's mega exciting to hear and I might have to order an extra size box of tissues in that case. It's gonna be a wicked two days riding Blue Tier + Chook + Atlas then on day 2 the new track + Chook + Atlas. As much as I loved Big Chook and would happily ride trail of that style all day I also think Blue Tier is a track completely worth my time... sure it was basically fire road but the amount of exposed rock made it challenging in a very fun way.
Blue Tier is gnarly, raw, sketchy and sublime.

In short, a fuck off perfect contrast to groomed porpoise built ST. And the type of trail we should all ride regularly to remind us what its all about. Hopefully it'll remain as it is, running parallel to the new trail.
 

nakedape

Likes Dirt
Blue Tier is gnarly, raw, sketchy and sublime.

In short, a fuck off perfect contrast to groomed porpoise built ST. And the type of trail we should all ride regularly to remind us what its all about. Hopefully it'll remain as it is, running parallel to the new trail.
Ditto - I'd hate to see anything happen to that ribbon of old school gnar

Sent from two tin cans joined by string
 

red_d0g

Likes Dirt
Over the years I've ridden blue tier countless times and also had a few weekends worth of riding at Derby and the trails there still blow me away. Make sure you get out to Hollybank also as it's a great contrast on the well groomed trails that derby mostly consist of currently.

A bit of self promotion but I think it is valid in this situation.

I wrote an article (that never got published) a few years ago on the blue tier trail! enjoy.

http://www.pinkbike.com/u/redd0gg/blog/tasmanias-produce-blue-tier.html
 

mitch_302

Likes Dirt
[video=youtube_share;1L9lJlHcAIY]https://youtu.be/1L9lJlHcAIY[/video]

A little bit of GoPro footage of Atlas in perfect conditions from the weekend.

I want to go back right now
 
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