For over a hundred years the West Coast was a rugged frontier where men have chased precious metals and valuable timber through landscapes that as a trail-builder, I couldn’t comprehend trying to access. Now, tourism plays an increasing role in the economy of the region and the development of absolutely unique mountain bike experiences in some of its remarkable landscapes is hoped to bring more visitors to the Coast.
The first time I visited the West Coast I was working as a mechanic for an XC stage race called Wildside that ran for nearly a decade on some of the old mining trails that litter the region. I attended that event every year it ran, riding as a sweep on some of the stages some years and doing my best to delegate that task most years, simply because the sort of riding that event was based around was not and is not what I was into. That said, there was one stage in particular that captured my attention and I was convinced there must be more like that which just hadn’t been found, or rather rediscovered…
Because of this one trail I’ve spent hours staring at maps, looking for lines on Google Earth, convincing people I’d just met to hand over hundred-year-old surveys of forgotten settlements and walked, carried, dragged and crawled with my bike to try to find more like it. For all the searching and hints of trails departing most of the roads I drove along, I actually didn’t find much.
While there were a couple of exceptions and these are the trails I continue to ride, the greatest product of this process was absolute confidence that the landscapes in which I’d been searching were an incredible place to develop mountain bike trails that, while not for everyone, would be unlike anything else in Australia.
Denne historien er fra Issue 57-utgaven av Revolution MTB.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 57-utgaven av Revolution MTB.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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