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How difficult is Mt Annan?
Looking for an Easter Tuesday Family outing and was interested in heading to Mt. Annan Botanic Gardens. However, I'd like to know how easy the green route is? My 3 year old is a maniac on his BMX and is putting in some decent k's (10+ on bike paths) at the moment, not to mention spending every other second jumping off gutters and rolling down other people's terraced gardens so I wonder if he is up to the challenge?
Are there many/any tech sections?
Is it fairly smooth?
How are the hills?
etc.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
[Mod. moved to Sydney South]
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I'm not sure which the green route is, however, I just did the Rocky Trails 4hr out there. It was my first time there and it's a great area. There was a lot of smooth trail riding, and some rocky sections on the loop I rode. The rocky sections weren't long (maybe 5-10m each from memory). There were some steep little pinches, but generally a really fun track.
If all else fails on the dirt, there's always the rest of the botanic gardens to explore.
I would say it would be ok.
I rode the green route with the 7yo daughter just today. Although I wouldnt call it technical I was a bit suprised that it was as difficult to ride as it was. My girl spent a lot of time walking, but she does most of her cycling on a road bike or on the velodrome. I would probably compare the green route to Awaba, twisty and turny but not much in the way of drop off and challenging ascents. There were a few log roll overs to watch out for.
The blue route didnt seem too different to the green, but there were some quite steep sections of descending swithback which took some careful breaking.
Its signature dish are the twisting descents with big berms. When you got it right it was so good, but some other sections I would find myself slowing to almost a halt and feeling like a complete clutz.
So take the 3yo on the green, you never know he could carve it up. If he finds this too hard there is an abundance of wider shared trails which would still be a good ride.
Good place to take the family. Even took Grandad who only had his bypass operation 5 weeks ago, he had a bit of a walk (shuffle) around the park. Must have been the only mtb track near Sydney where it didnt rain.
I had my 7 year-old son and 9 year-old daughter out on the green trail and they loved it. You can walk/ride around the trickier parts, and the humps and berms were fun for them. Most of the skull-and-cross-bones sections were also doable for them - they have pretty good speed control.
I think the biggest issue would be the modest hills. My 9 year-old did much better as she had a triple on the front (3x7) for the climbs - she spent most of the time on the granny ring. My son struggled a little with the climbs as he was riding a 1x7, and the lowest gear was still a little much for him on a lot of the climbs, especially after he got a little tired. He walked many of them, at least in part.
I suspect with a 3 year-old on a BMX, you'll be walking (or carrying him) up all the hills, for the next fun decent. If you are patient, you could get him around - though suspect you'd be better off jogging along with him.
In a nutshell, I reckon a 3 year-old wont have the stamina to get round without a lot of help. He needs to be able to control his speed on the downhills as well. He'd probably be better off just riding around the roads/paths at Mount Annan, unless you are really enthusiastic about shepherding him around the course.
- Kevin