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New rider suggestions


maimed's picture

By maimed - Posted on 24 September 2013

NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.

Hey all,

My girlfriend and I made our way out to Glenrock recently and rode the beginners trail and seismic. We are new to the area and relatively new to mtb riding and wanted some suggestions for what tracks we should try out on Glenrock that are relatively beginner friendly but offer a challenge!

We both have relatively decent bikes (xc hardtails with rockshox/fox forks and the accompanying hardware that comes on bikes with such forks), so bikes can handle most tracks if they don't have drop offs (Not that we are confident to tackle any drop offs yet).

Also what are some other decent tracks outside Glenrock in the local area or up to a few hours drive that would be worth checking out? Some nice single tracks that are not overly technical would be nice, especially if they could be ridden for a decent amount of time and don't just end after 5 mins of riding.

Appreciate any input!
Cheers.

[Mod. moved to Newcastle & Hunter]

Matt P's picture

Both places have nice XC trails that could offer challenging sections. They also have other, harder trails with Awaba's DH being pretty tough.

I believe that Dungog also has a good trail.

dtm's picture

Awaba is awesome not far from Newcastle at all and has great loops are marked out nothing to hard and all single trail you and the misses would love it

Winco's picture

Singleton would be perfect for you both too.

maimed's picture

Thanks guys! I had checked out awaba online and it looks great! We are on uni holidays at the moment (if you can call it that when you have assignments due in the holidays..) so we will definately hit it up in the next few days!

Are there many tracks out at singleton?

Does anyone have any specific track reccomdendations at Glenrock? We started on Kennys, entering from the top of gun club road but after walking over two small drop offs at the start we both thought that it might be a bit too difficult (or it might just be that after these two drop offs it is smooth sailing from there on in haha).

It would be great to be able to plan out a loop around Glenrock, atm unfamiliarity of the area makes it difficult to know how to access some track beyond going off what the map says are intermediate tracks that may or may not be too difficult! (for exmaple seismic was easy and a nice short fun ride but the start of kennys seemed a little too technical for our current skill level).

As always, appreciate the input!
Cheers.

pharmaboy's picture

Kennys smooths out after that, About 150m after the paddock, you need to take the left option, then follow the rest of the trail network round. You would probably need to get off another 1/2 a dozen times - but that's how you learn.

Just a tip, although you may feel like you might go over the bars, you can only go over the bars by either turning the front wheel at he bottom or by braking. The latter is the problem because fear causes braking which is inevitably the worst thing you can do when going down small drop offs. Think how you wold ride off a gutter and the same applies ( weight back, don't brake)

MrSarcastic's picture

Awaba is a good track for starting out mtbing. There are three tracks of different lengths from about 6km-12km. The shortest lap at Awaba (yellow loop) would be a good track for you. The longer loops (blue and red) have a few steep sections both up and down.

There is only one looped track at Singleton which is about 9km long. Its a good track for beginners because there is very little climbing. There is also not really any technical sections on the track besides a few small logs which you can easily roll over.

Dungog is also a good trail but its probably not the best trail for starting out mtbing. It is reasonably hilly and has a fair few rocky sections.

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