silentbutdeadly
has some good things to say
...up in Broken Hill.
Burners may not be aware that many regional centres in the country boast their own MTB trail networks that are managed by a tiny group of typically under appreciated nutters and they are often well worth a visit if you happen to be passing through. And after the weekend I just had I though that these trails might be worth a thread on Rotorburn.
So here it is...if you spend a weekend in a different part of the world from your usual haunts and find something that you think is worth a show and tell (especially if there's some under appreciated nutters involved) then give it a go here.
We get together with the Broken Hill MTB Club http://www.bhmtb.asn.au/ as often as we can each year to share events and the like and they hosted us for a social training ride over the weekend on their trail network on the north side of Broken Hill within the Regeneration Reserve between the golf course on the Tiboburra Road and the Nine Mile Road out to the Living Desert and Sculptures. Their track committee has been insanely busy in recent months remodelling what has to be some of the best semi arid XC riding trails this country has to offer.
The feature track for the day was the Super Loop http://app.strava.com/segments/7282432 which is an 18 km aggregated track that takes in the flat tracks from the Nine Mile Road then links to the Golf Club Track including Rock Ridge, The Link and the rebuilt Fulman Hill Spur. A shorter 14km track cut out Rock Ridge, The Link and Fulman Hill to take some of the pain out of the big loop and a 4km loop on the flat country kept the kids happy whilst also providing a welcome warm up/warm down for the rest of us.
It has to be said that I truly enjoyed this trail despite it being substantially more vertical and rockier than what I'm used to. Whilst not overtly technical in terms of trail features, it has more corners than my lower intestine and they are nearly all decorated in stones. Rock Ridge is basically just that - rock slabs, knife edge step up/down ledges and tight sweeping berms. The master of the network is Fulman Hill with 18 magnificently formed switchbacks packed into the first 500 metres - I spent my climb of this thing in half wonderment at the amount of work that went into moving the tonnes of soil and rock to create this lovely heartbuster. The fact that a wheelbarrow and tools was parked in the middle of nowhere at the 800 metre mark and the top is signified by a pair of hi-viz vinyl oiler pants shoved over a mulga branch like a lunatic windsock merely adds to the show. If you don't manage to make the climb in one go then the trade-off is that you get to stop and take in the epic view.
The Super Loop will only take you an hour or so but it's a different world and well worth a stop over if you ever pass through...
So where was your weekend?
Burners may not be aware that many regional centres in the country boast their own MTB trail networks that are managed by a tiny group of typically under appreciated nutters and they are often well worth a visit if you happen to be passing through. And after the weekend I just had I though that these trails might be worth a thread on Rotorburn.
So here it is...if you spend a weekend in a different part of the world from your usual haunts and find something that you think is worth a show and tell (especially if there's some under appreciated nutters involved) then give it a go here.
We get together with the Broken Hill MTB Club http://www.bhmtb.asn.au/ as often as we can each year to share events and the like and they hosted us for a social training ride over the weekend on their trail network on the north side of Broken Hill within the Regeneration Reserve between the golf course on the Tiboburra Road and the Nine Mile Road out to the Living Desert and Sculptures. Their track committee has been insanely busy in recent months remodelling what has to be some of the best semi arid XC riding trails this country has to offer.
The feature track for the day was the Super Loop http://app.strava.com/segments/7282432 which is an 18 km aggregated track that takes in the flat tracks from the Nine Mile Road then links to the Golf Club Track including Rock Ridge, The Link and the rebuilt Fulman Hill Spur. A shorter 14km track cut out Rock Ridge, The Link and Fulman Hill to take some of the pain out of the big loop and a 4km loop on the flat country kept the kids happy whilst also providing a welcome warm up/warm down for the rest of us.
It has to be said that I truly enjoyed this trail despite it being substantially more vertical and rockier than what I'm used to. Whilst not overtly technical in terms of trail features, it has more corners than my lower intestine and they are nearly all decorated in stones. Rock Ridge is basically just that - rock slabs, knife edge step up/down ledges and tight sweeping berms. The master of the network is Fulman Hill with 18 magnificently formed switchbacks packed into the first 500 metres - I spent my climb of this thing in half wonderment at the amount of work that went into moving the tonnes of soil and rock to create this lovely heartbuster. The fact that a wheelbarrow and tools was parked in the middle of nowhere at the 800 metre mark and the top is signified by a pair of hi-viz vinyl oiler pants shoved over a mulga branch like a lunatic windsock merely adds to the show. If you don't manage to make the climb in one go then the trade-off is that you get to stop and take in the epic view.
The Super Loop will only take you an hour or so but it's a different world and well worth a stop over if you ever pass through...
So where was your weekend?
