Story:
Having some time off I headed for the hills to take in the recently completed and signposted section of the realigned Kalamunda Circuit. For those not familiar with the trail it used to be a loop walk off the old version of the Bibbulmun Track and when the new Bib Track went in over ten years ago, it was turned over to MTBers. The old alignment was pretty dodgy as it followed old firebreaks and tracks for quite a way and some of it was loose gravel and fall line tracks. Not much fun. About 5 or 6 years ago Martin Sherlock and others from WAMBA proposed a realignment of the trail to make it a purpose built, singletrack MTB trail. After lots of too-ing and fro-ing the new alignment was approved and Murray Wynne and a keen group of volunteers have got he trail up and going. There is nearly ten kms completed and its a real credit to Murray and his team. Congrats also to Clint and Jamie from DEC for their support.
I started from the Camel Farm as I wasnt sure where the new carpark was on Mundaring Weir Road. The camel farm guy came shooting out insisting that I use his carpark which was fine and probably not bad if you are worried about security. I rode toward Kalamunda and turned around when I got to the new Kalamunda Circuit carpark and followed the trail back and then headed east finishing at the Dell.
The track was great and has a really nice flow. While I am moderately fit, I am neither fast or very technically adept, however I managed to roll over most of the standard obstacles and trail features. That said there were a number that I took the chicken run on so still plenty there to challenge most riders. Also while I rolled over most of the "jumps" one guy came screaming past and launched off a couple of them reminding me how slow I was going! While there is the usual lateritic boondy fest of rocks along the trail, one huge relief for me was the almost total lack of log roll overs. I find these very annonying, no fun to ride and usually pointless trail features - so thanks Murray for not leaving many on the trail. Without them the trail has much better flow than many in WA I have ridden. Maybe I should start a "loose the logs" campaign!
The last section of the trail before The Dell follows the old Kalamunda Circuit and includes a steep soft hill - nice way to finish. I am guessing this will go when the trail is completed with a return loop back to the new carpark start point. As I was a bit short of time and it was getting hot I headed back on Mundaring Weir Road to the Camel Farm which was fine.
A good ride - looking forward to seeing it completed over the next year. If you want to read more check out this story at Australian Mountain Bike . If you are interested in volunteering to help complete the trail, visit Trail Talk to find out more and get contact details
Having some time off I headed for the hills to take in the recently completed and signposted section of the realigned Kalamunda Circuit. For those not familiar with the trail it used to be a loop walk off the old version of the Bibbulmun Track and when the new Bib Track went in over ten years ago, it was turned over to MTBers. The old alignment was pretty dodgy as it followed old firebreaks and tracks for quite a way and some of it was loose gravel and fall line tracks. Not much fun. About 5 or 6 years ago Martin Sherlock and others from WAMBA proposed a realignment of the trail to make it a purpose built, singletrack MTB trail. After lots of too-ing and fro-ing the new alignment was approved and Murray Wynne and a keen group of volunteers have got he trail up and going. There is nearly ten kms completed and its a real credit to Murray and his team. Congrats also to Clint and Jamie from DEC for their support.
I started from the Camel Farm as I wasnt sure where the new carpark was on Mundaring Weir Road. The camel farm guy came shooting out insisting that I use his carpark which was fine and probably not bad if you are worried about security. I rode toward Kalamunda and turned around when I got to the new Kalamunda Circuit carpark and followed the trail back and then headed east finishing at the Dell.
The track was great and has a really nice flow. While I am moderately fit, I am neither fast or very technically adept, however I managed to roll over most of the standard obstacles and trail features. That said there were a number that I took the chicken run on so still plenty there to challenge most riders. Also while I rolled over most of the "jumps" one guy came screaming past and launched off a couple of them reminding me how slow I was going! While there is the usual lateritic boondy fest of rocks along the trail, one huge relief for me was the almost total lack of log roll overs. I find these very annonying, no fun to ride and usually pointless trail features - so thanks Murray for not leaving many on the trail. Without them the trail has much better flow than many in WA I have ridden. Maybe I should start a "loose the logs" campaign!
The last section of the trail before The Dell follows the old Kalamunda Circuit and includes a steep soft hill - nice way to finish. I am guessing this will go when the trail is completed with a return loop back to the new carpark start point. As I was a bit short of time and it was getting hot I headed back on Mundaring Weir Road to the Camel Farm which was fine.
A good ride - looking forward to seeing it completed over the next year. If you want to read more check out this story at Australian Mountain Bike . If you are interested in volunteering to help complete the trail, visit Trail Talk to find out more and get contact details
Tips:
- Start at the new carpark on Mundaring Weir Road - see my map for location - or park at the Camel Farm or the Dell
- If you dont want to ride back on the road you can follow the Munda Biddi Trail back
- Keep checking theTrail Talk site to find out when more track is completed
- Carry plenty of water - start early if its going to be hot. You want to be finished before 10am
Tags:
Kalamunda Circuit, Mundaring, Kalamunda, Perth Hills, Munda Biddi Trail
Kalamunda Circuit, Mundaring, Kalamunda, Perth Hills, Munda Biddi Trail
Comments (0)
Facebook
