In The Spirit of Mountain Biking

Gippsland MTB Inc has been operating for more than 9 years. When we first established there were no authorised mountain bike trails in Gippsland. It has always been one of our clear objectives to develop new trails for all of us to ride. Today, Gippsland has some 8 authorised mountain bike parks and GMTB is working hard to establish more. Here is a bit of an update:-

 

Blores Hill

We Need Your Help!

GMTB has a great partnership with Parks Victoria and we are working together to maintain and develop trails. We have recently acquired a pre-loved 1.5 ton excavator for a very generous price from one of our long time members. Thank you Pylie!

Adrian Schellen and his team of trail builders (Dan, Watty, Rodger, Lenny) together with Connor Wilson from PV have planned and are now making major improvements to the trail network using the excavator and a lot of hard labour. At present we are finishing work commenced by Dirt Art last year on BMT. We will progress to upgrade many trails throughout the Park.

Because of the nature of the soil type at Blores it is imperative that the trail builders control the re-opening of trails after improvement works. If this is not handled correctly all the hard work can be lost very quickly. Sometimes it may take up to 3 months after trail works commence before they can be opened to the public for riding. During this time the trails will be closed using bunting and signage.

It is imperative that all riders respect the trail closures and stay off the new trail work. We seek your help to keep any eye open and ensure that no riders access and ride the trails early. This will only cause longer delays and more hard labour for our member volunteers.

 

Pete’s Track

Working with DELWP, GMTB is well progressed in having Pete’s Track recognised as an authorised mountain bike trail. Initially this will require installation of signage and a number of measures to meet IMBA standards of safety.

In the medium term we will endeavour to address a number of drainage and trail sustainability issues by realigning sections of trail and introducing features such as berms, rollers, jumps, etc.

Soon we will be able to run the popular “Pete’s Track Sprint” once again as an annual event.

 

Haunted Hills Mountain Bike Park

Latrobe City Council has approved and endorsed the plans for the Haunted Hills Mountain Bike Park.

Nick King and Ian Johnston have been working hard making submissions to various government agencies for funding for the project. We will continue in these endeavours for as long as it takes to get funded.

 

Gippsland Mountain Biking Strategy

Again, Johno and Kingy have been hard at it making submissions to government agencies for funding for a whole of Gippsland mountain biking strategy.

If we can achieve delivery of an approved Strategy it should open up many opportunities for funding for new mountain bike parks and epic trails. DELWP and Parks Victoria are very supportive of having a strategy in place and are seeking this guidance for approval of new mountain bike trails.

 

Glengarry / Erica / Walhalla / Baw Baw / Mt Hedrick / Kilcunda / Omeo

All of these locations are places identified for the possible future development of mountain bike parks and epic trails. Collectively, if funded and built, they could really help put Gippsland on the map as a major destination for mtb.

We will continue to submit to government to achieve a Strategy for mountain biking in Gippsland.

 

Volunteers

If you would like to help out in any way with GMTB activities please contact us. We really appreciate all the help we can get !