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Central Coast rides?
Anybody any suggestions for rides in this area,there's got to be some decent trails considering all the bush in the area (fnarr fnarr) but searching the net there doesnt seem to be many documented trails.
I've explored over the Woy Woy / Pearl Beach / Ettalong trails,behind the tip and that might be worth documenting for the ride guide the next time I'm out. Any other areas to recommend? Have we any Central Coast Nobmobs that can share?!!
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Being a coastie myself I know of a few rides on the coast, but have never done them. They are hard to find information about and I have never been able to go riding with people that do know about them. The few I have heard of are Kincumber mountain, staples lookout(Kariong/Somersby) and one at Macmasters.
I would love to ride them as I live in the area. I think it will come down to just going and exploring myself and seeing wat I come across.
If so then call into the local bike shop on the main street. I was there a couple of years ago looking for somehwere to ride and the shop owner suggested next time I'm there with the bike he would be happy to show me some trails around "Boarding House Dam" and "The pines Picnic Area". At the time they were apparently riding up there every Saturday. I haven't been back with the bike so don't know what they are like. Try your local bike shop, they may be more willing to share local knowledge with their customers.
Central Coast - I was meaning around Gosford / Woy Woy / Terrigal / Brisbane Water NP area etc......Morrisett according to "Ride" categories would be "days away" if the others are to go by.......however I had heard The Pines area had some good ST riding...........maybe time to explore again!
I've heard there is some very nice riding to be had in Brisbane Water. An apparently good plan is this:
Park up at Hornsby, take the train to Gosford. Ride through Brisbane Water to Patonga then take the ferry from there to Bobbin Head. Ride back to Hornsby from there.
That said, no idea how good/bad this is. I'd be game for an exploration around Brisbane Water NP area first, without the ferry/train waiting around. It's not that far a drive after all.
Im always up for new rides especially ones so close to me! Brisbane water NP is one ( of many ) on my list , The only reason i havent explored there is i dont want to ride on my own in a new place! If anyone is keen maybe we could try to get a group together??? Or for that matter im up for any central coast rides!
Hi scottyB, I am keen for a ride around there. Is anyone aware of some places to go to?
Interestingly, I did a search for Brisbane Water NP in the NPWS site and there were no bike trails listed. Does anyone know if these trails are illegal ones? Or is there fire trails we can use?
NPWS maps are very bad (I have some news coming on this), but the basic rule of thumb is if it's marked as a fire trail on the topo map, it's legal to ride on.
And don't be put off, Great Northern Road is marked fire trail and look how cool parts of that are
I'm in for an exploration up in Brisbane Water - just yell out when.
I did a quick search for rides in the Brisbane water NP and the only things I found were guided tours. See address bellow
http://travelactivities.news.com.au/product_list...
They might be some rides to check out, except not on there tours of course. I dont know what they would be like riding wise , maybe a bit easy for guys like you, but its just a suggestion.
Scotty
Like you, I have also been trolling through various websites looking for decent rides in this area. There are scattered references about some fire trails at Umina Beach, and also going up towards Point Clare. But these were all pretty vague and not really reliable for planning a ride. I can find nothing about single tracks.
The Rural Fire Service has bugger all about the fire trails on their website. I guess they are not in the business of encouraging ppl to use their trails.
Does anyone out there have a topo map for the Gosford region? That would be ideal. I checked Geoscience Australia and the map is "Gosford #9131".
I will keep looking and see what comes of this.
Cheers.
If you're looking for topo maps, check this out:
http://imagery.maps.nsw.gov.au/
This is the Department of Lands Spatial Information eXchange (SIX) Viewer.
IE only for now (FF users grab IE Tab). Fire it up and select the topo maps layer, zoom where you want to look. Ta-da!
As long as you are not in a "Nature Reserve" or a declared wilderness you're going to be mostly OK with that rule.
Guys, there are plenty of rides on the Central Coast. Being a local, I have a pretty good idea of great places to ride around Gosford. I live at the base of Kincumba Mountain, so it's my local. If you're looking for places around Gosford to ride, Kincumba Mountain is one of the best. My suggestions:
Drive into Kincumba, and then head up to the top of the Kincumba Mountain. Have a look at whereis.com.au for directions. There is a picnic area where you can park your car. From there, head north along the fire trail towards Colin Waters lookout. Most of the better riding is on the North side of the mountain. you can easily spend the day, if you're up for it.
My other recomendation in the area is a little known trail (up to now...) known as the "Old Gosford Dam" trail. It basically runs from Somersby Falls, along the "Great North Walk" trail. It follows Mooney creek down to the Old Pacific Highway, and under the Mooney bridge (that's the big arse bridge on the F3 Freeway near the Gosford exit). Highly recomended trail, but it's a shuttle run, unless you don't mind the climb back out. It's mostly lovely sweeping single track once you start down (bit rough at the start). About half way down you pass the Old Dam, which is prety cool. I love this trail.
There are heaps of other options too. Let me know if you want to know more. I've riden a bunch of them. Kantara Reserver, Rumbalara, they are all not bad. Let's face it, it's why I live where I do.
Ah... yes indeed - this is an awesome trail, we've touched on it in the Mooney Mooney write up. Not that I've been to the falls, but have often wondered if it's worth the trip - now we know, thanks!
This Kincumba place sounds interesting... (looks up topo maps)... are you talking about stuff around the Sid Pulsford Trail? Or the stuff further South. Erm, is that around Macmasters Firetrail? Views from the later could be pretty spectacular I'm guessing. Nice challenging climb up there too?
Council have this: http://www.gosford.nsw.gov.au/cyclingguide/index... which is a good overview, although only a few of the rides are off road.
There's a lot of options on fire trail to the west of Woy Woy Rd between Kariong and Woy Woy. I park underneath the fixed speed camera (thereby ensuring I never drive past it to quickly!) and head off past the old quarry. Can be quite sandy in places, but not otherwise technical. Comparable maybe to the Perimeter / Long trails in Terry Hills.
Kinkumber mountain has an excellent long CLIMB up from behind Erina Fair shopping center, off Bronzewing Drive. Once you get to the top, there are great views and various options down. Some local kids I spoke to there said there was a good technical dowhnill but I couldn't find it (probably just as well with my hardtail).
I haven't explored too much further than that. I only get to ride around the Coast when visiting the in-laws...
Some of these sounds like they are worth exploring... I would go along to that... if someone wishes to post a ride??
How about kincumber? Maybe next weekend????
The downhill on Kincumba mountain is pretty good. It's not too technical and doesn't have any "stupid" drops, but it's a lot of fun. Best way to find it is to find the communications tower on the top of the mountain. It start just to the north of the tower. If you ride along the fire trail that passes between the comms tower and Colin Waters lookout you'll find it. There are a couple of ways down from here, both of them are single track. One cuts across the side of the hill, the other comes down the end of the ridge. They both meet up again at the firetrail (I prefer the first option). Once you get to the firetrail get off it. The downhill heads north along single track from here, where the firetrail turns downhill.
From this point it follows down through some really nice singletrack, a couple of drops and jumps, and then back to the fire-trail. It basically follows the fire trail down from here, cutting on and off it as it goes. There's a bunch of trails in this area, and it's up to you where you want to go from here. I'd explore a bit between here and Bronzewing drive. There's also some nice single-track on the North Eastern side of the Mountain, but some of it is a little over-grown.
Like I said, it's my local. There's a bunch of riding up there. Some really nice longish rides too, basically along the fire-trails.
Oh, and yes, it's a bloody long way up. Takes me about 20 minutes to get to the top, and about 5 to come down.
Happy to show some people around one day, if there's interest. But not this weekend, I can't make it.
Ride is now posted. Who wants in?