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A riding holiday I was thinking about
Hi all,
Based on some of the good chat I hear from other riders about MTB riding tours in the snowies, I decided to spent some time researching MTB riding holidays. So far, Thredbo seemed to be the most professional looking outfit with their 'Cannonball Run' downhill course, plus some other dedicated XC trails. You would definitely want to do a bit of everything.
Some handy info I located was here:
http://www.thredbo.com.au/thingstodo/summer/acti...
and here:
http://www.rawnrg.com.au/rawnrg.net/default.aspx
From my reading, the cost for a few days away would be pretty competitive with any other holiday you would go on, on a day-by-day basis. I estimate that this would be between $500 to $1,000 for at least a few days away - cheaper if you have been there before.
I am thinking of going there later this year, after I have properly investigated it. Anyone else here would be invited to come along, but more info would be posted at a later date. Looks like this would be an absolute blast!
My questions are:
- Has anyone else been on these holidays / tours before, and what can you recommend about them in your experience?
- What are the pitfalls to avoid?
- What are some "must do's" when you are there?
Hope to hear from you. 
Cheers,
Liam.
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last year down through Albury to Beechworth then across the mountains to Thredbo and home via Albury (Sparrow Hill)
All in all a relly good trip except for our time in Thredbo / Jindabyne. Cannonball had already closed for the season so this wasn't an option but we had intended to ride the new bike park near the Tyrolean Village east of Lake Jindabyne. Unless your a mountain goat I wouldn't bother, not our scene at all. The worst thing was we went to two bike shops and the National Parks office looking for somewhere to ride and noone could suggest anything except for Dead Horse Gap, a great ride if you can organise shuttles to pick you up, long ride back to town otherwise. We found an outdoor shop that sent us to a place called The Golden Age Fire Trail. A nice ride but certainly not worth the effort to get to it, and its all on private property. Talking to Bruce the other night, I think he is a Jindabyne local, he reckons there are a few places to ride but you've gotta know where.
Anyway, while in Beechworth we met a group of guys from Queensland that were there on an organised tour. They had used this company www.adventureswithaltitude.com.au that had been recommended to them by RAWNRG as Thredbo had closed for the season. This guy basically organised what you wanted, downhill, xc, or a mix of both. He had a troop carrier and purpose built trailler to take all the bikes around, as well as lots of armour. He is a mountain biker and they all said they had picked up lots riding with him. Might be worth a look, the Queensland guys highly recommended him. Look at the Beechworth section on this site, from memory I put up a couple of useful links.
For my money, I'd miss Thredbo altogether and just head further down the highway to Victoria. That area around Beechworth has lots of great terrain and if you want to you can really do it on the cheap. I'd also make sure I came home via Canberra and spend a couple of days around there. Too many good trails not to ride it. I know my comments about Thredbo will upset some but hey, that my opinion only.
Make sure you give me plenty of notice please
Stuart
Thanks Stuart, good comment. I will take it all onboard.
My main reason for mentioning Thredbo was that I was keen to ride the slopes and get the chairlifts back again. It sounded like a great idea, reminiscent of Whistler. Plus I was thinking that Thredbo is easy to travel to from Sydney, was cheap for accom (while out of ski season), and we would not have to hire much gear. Just the full-face helmet that is compulsory. But I am only investigating the details at this time.
This "tour" would not happen until later in the year, like around December, when I had the moolah available. I would post something definitive with many months to spare.
I had already seen the Beechworth links on this site. It looks excellent. Anyone that is gung-ho would kill to spend a day at that place. I was really keen to get down there - but had no idea how and when. It is almost like you need another reason to be in Vic, before you could make the trip out there.
Anyone else with info?
(Otherwise, watch this space)
Liam
Thanks for the Terry Hills ride on Saturday. The name of the MTB park I went to in Auckland recently was Woodhill. Here is the link and another useful one:
http://www.bikepark.co.nz
http://www.bikewise.co.nz/Site/rides/top_rides.aspx
See you on a track soon.
Greg
hmm im keen, have always wanted to do the downhilling stuff at thredy..but when and for how long is an issue..also sparrow hill looks awesome to me and i have an excuse to go there if its in albury (in-laws
so can anyone verify the scale of worthwhile sparrow hill is?-but yeh thredy sounds good if its for a couple of days only...(like max 3 days)
Three days at Sparrow Hills might get a little monotonous(?) but there is heaps with a short drive, if only you didn't have to live in Canberra I'd think about moving there.
Yes it is worth the drive!!
actually upon google earthing i noticed beechworth is just a bit south of albury...hmmm might have to do sparrow, beechworth and thredbo
drive from Beechworth / Albury across the mountains to Thredbo. We went this way last time, it took forever and I reckon youd be faster going back up the highway and then back down to Thredbo. Could be wrong on this one though.
Hi Liam,
I have spent alot of time in the snowy mountains & found it near imposible to find any info on trails from any of the shops in the area. Some of the locals are pretty cool & will show you the way if your lucky!
Your best bet would be to book a tour with one of the tour companies, the raw-nrg people are realy only interested in the cannonball from my experience.
With the cannonball you will have to do a couple of runs with a guide before you are allowed to ride by yourself, they will show you how to use the chair lifts with your bike & make sure your riding skills are up to scratch.
I have a book somewhere with alot of trails in it, both the national park & private property have some realy nice trails marked, can lend you the book when I find it!
A stop over in Canberra on the way there or back would make it a realy nice trip, recon you could spend a couple of days there.
cheers
Bruce
Thanks Bruce. The 'pre-set' tours was some of what I intended to research over the following months. Such as Raw-NRG mentioned above. The Cannonball Run does interest me a lot. These tour organisers are good places to start because they give you additional ideas on what else we could do on a riding trip away. We'll see what that part can turn up for us.
A Canberra stop off (even if it is just for one day, or overnight), sounds like a good finisher.
Hi Liam,
Found the book I was looking for the other day with some of the rides in the snowy mountains, most of the rides in it would not be of interst to most, but it does have a couple of good ones in it.
Will give you a copy when I next see you.
Outstanding! I look forward to reading over it, thanks.
Liam.
Hi all,
Justin and I have done a bit of riding near Thredbo... I can recommend Threbo to Cascade Hut as a nice day trip - requires a bit of fitness because of big hill half way between Dead Horse Gap (where the ride starts) and Cascade Hut. Lots of good downhill with waterbars on the way down to the hut though.
We also did Dead Horse Gap to Pinch River a couple of years ago. Its about 60km.. we did it as a day trip and arranaged for a pick-up with trailer at the Pinch River. Some very big and scarey downhill (about 6km) at the end.
The canonball run you can do as a day event. The run is right in the middle of the town. You buy a ticket ($200 for lift pass and gear as you have to hire all the body armour) and then you can do the run as many times as you like during the day. It takes from between 15 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on your skill level. Very technical.
No need really to join organised tours as you can just go out and do it yourself.. just get a good map.
Cheers
Liz