Vic MTB park discussion.

[lone rider]

Always on the lookout to see new places to ride/bike holidays to plan so figured we could have a thread on places you've been recently that you recommend/advise to avoid. New trails, whatever.

Spent a few days down at Gippsland last week and did the major parks. Colqhoun is by far the best, the start of the main loop is awesome. No hard climbs. Nowa Nowa is not worth the trip, it seems nobody rides there too often, the trails were pretty overgrown, the climb up is fairly easy but the runs down are pretty boring. Blores hill is an oxymoron, the place is pancake flat, Dirt Art has done some recent work there on one section which is a lot funner if the loop is ridden clockwise. Most of it is kinda like riding on gravel paths between trees, gets boring quickly.

Falls Creek, went up on opening week this year and Flowtown was smooth as a highway, its now looking worse for wear, I dont think its that good especially if your riding back to the village. The other trails up there are superb. I gained a huge appreciation for granite trails after riding here. Be prepared for some elevation.

Mystic at Bright. Hero trail is the main reason people will be going here atm, there is signs up saying full face helmets and pads as a minimum. Im an XCer and had none of this but stuffed if I wasnt going down after riding all the way up. Awesome views but the upper section of the trail is rough as guts, I wouldnt bother with it again, the lower half of it is awesome, similar to the end bit of Buxton. Brights other trails are a bit hit and miss, there is good stuff there but you need an atlas or a tour guide to find your way around. Be prepared to climb. The signage is sometimes hard to follow too.

[Duck!]

I'll add my "home" trails, Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula. The trail network isn't massive, currently around 17km of singletrack, although more is going to be added. Although there are some difficult bits, nearly all can be ridden on a XC bike, but if you're a particularly good bike handler you could possibly do the hardest bits too. The current network is entirely hand-built, so you don't get that gravel footpath feel that some more developed trails have.

The trail network is all on the northern & western slopes of the Arthurs Seat complex, so be prepared for a lot of climbing, because there is very little in the way of level ground!

In addition to the dedicated MTB trail network, there is an extensive network of roadside trails as well, which are shared use with horses, so care must be exercised, which are good for getting some extra distance in.

The main trails are on well drained granite, so hold up very well in winter, but the roadside network is predominantly on clay, which does not behave nicely with prolonged rain, so isn't a great section to ride in winter.

[silentbutdeadly]

Technically not in Victoria but close enough to it so I'll add a couple:

Coomealla Mountainless Mountain Bike Park at Dareton NSW (over the river from Victoria) - as the name suggests there is a distinct lack of mountains or even hills but there's plenty of twists, turns, drops, logs, pinches and bermy bits. As long as you are prepared to pedal for them. There's a couple of simple loops around 6 km and 12 km.

Nine Mile at Moama NSW (over the river from Echuca) - another Dirt Art creation and another flat track. Bit more open, fast and flowy but not that long at 7km. Again you have to pedal for anything.

Mt Major (near Shepparton, which is well inside Victoria) - an open, windy, stony hill where some enterprising nutters have over the years carved few DH and AM trails out of old sheep tracks. Random, rough and occasionally hilarious.

[Calvin27]

I'll add Forest and buxton (already mentioned).

Forget about hans loop.

[rowdyflat]

Yackandandah MTBike park =yacktracks is good about 60 kms exceptionally well signposted, good in most weathers ,not very technical , hand built scenic.