| This ride is not the lung buster that some of the others are. However it has taken more casualties than all of them put together. It's all good though! |
| The Daylesford area boasts some of the best single track riding anywhere. Apparently around 150 years ago gold was the big thing in the area. And because the gold, in a lot of cases, needed to be taken out in wheelbarrows, small tracks were cut right throughout the area. These small tracks are now used for walking, and in most cases, MTB riding. Daylesford and Hepburn Springs is now the trendy retreat for tired out Melbournians. The cafés and restaurants are excellent which is good 'cause you'll be feeling like a meal after this one. But what a lot of people don't know is that the single tracks range among the best in Victoria.
There are heaps of tracks everywhere, but the one I am going to describe is quite incredible. I have ridden it about 10 times, and not once have I made it the full distance. It's not that I haven't wanted to, it's just that someone on the ride seems to end up either in hospital or hurt badly enough that one of the crew has to ride back to get the car to rescue them. It's a pretty dangerous ride, with a massive cliff right next to the trail for just about the entire distance. So my first tip is, if you think you might not be able to make any given section - walk it. This ride bites back! To get to the start, go through Daylesford and into Hepburn Springs. As you drive into Hepburn Springs you'll go down a massive long hill, through the town and cross a river at the bottom of the hill. You'll do a hard right and start heading up a hill. Take the first left-hand road. It's steep and takes you through a little intersection and onto the starting point of the ride about 1 km along. There you'll see a car park. Get into your gear, onto your bike and start heading down the trail, which is right in front of you. This leads down the hill to the left, to a small walking bridge. Take it easy down here. Andy Poole, a VICMTB customer took this too quickly, hit the bridge and spent the next month on crutches! Once over the bridge, you'll be on a very technical and at times, difficult single track that eventually leads to a road. This track follows the river all the way to a main road. Turn left, cross the road and turn right straight after the bridge. The trail is now on the left hand side of the gorge and goes for about 8km.It's extremely technical and at certain times, you'll need to get off and walk. Another VICMTB customer, Herm, tried to ride a particularly difficult section on this part of the trail and fell into the ravine just managing to sop before going off a 20-meter cliff. He ended up in the Daylesford hospital with a cut from his ankle to his knee - and 60 stitches! As I said, do take it easy along here! The trail eventually comes out at a car park. This area has heaps of walking tracks but don't let that confuse you. Head left, go up the hill about 50m and take the first single track on the right. This single track goes all the way along the left-hand side of the river for about another 3-4km. Again, very technical and great fun. The scenery is beautiful and the riding, challenging. About 2kms along you'll go by an old mine - a reminder of the fact that MTBs weren't the reason these tracks exist. At the end of this trail is another car park. You can either keep going up the valley to a whole bunch of fire trails or cross over the river and head back on the other side. The trip back to the car on the other side is a single track that was cut for gold miners and is fast and fun. You'll eventually hit the trail that you rode on earlier. Then it's a matter of retracing your steps back to the car. The whole ride takes about 3 hours. There are not many hills, just a totally technical single track for three hours with lots of tough little tests of your ability. Talk to the team at VICMTB about this ride or any other. Diets |