Mountain biking in Australia is a mix of dedicated mountain bike parks, ski resorts with mountain bike facilities, and other parks that have become popular with mountain bikers despite lacking dedicated facilities. The peak body for the sport is

Mountain Bike Australia Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA) was the peak body responsible for the governance, promotion and advocacy of mountain biking in Australia. MTBA gained National Sporting Organisation (NSO) status from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) in Novemb ...

(MTBA).

Facilities

Australian Capital Territory

Mt Stromlo Forest Park has international standard tracks including a downhill track, 60 kilometres of cross-country, four-cross track, and a dedicated

mountain bike trials Mountain bike trials, also known as observed trials, is a discipline of mountain biking in which the rider attempts to pass through an obstacle course without setting foot to ground. Derived from motorcycle trials, it originated in Catalonia, Sp ...

course. There is also a testing track known as "the playground" for training and testing demonstration bikes.
Sparrow Hill
part of Kowen Pine Forest, 11 km from Queanbeyan on the Kings Highway, and 25 minutes from Canberra CBD, has 50 km of world-class cross-country tracks renowned for being fast and flowing, popular with beginner and elite alike. All tracks are named and maintained, and clear signage offers numerous routes of varying length.

New South Wales

* Manly Dam in Sydney *

Thredbo Thredbo is a village and ski resort in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, situated in a part of the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, and has been operated by Event Hospitality and Entertainment since 1987. It is approximately s ...

* Oaks Fire Trail, Blue Mountains * Hunter Valley

Tasmania

Tasmania has a strong mountain biking culture with a large network of tracks around the state including the world class

Blue Derby Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ob ...

which hosted the in 2017. Hollybank,

Wellington Park Wellington Park is the protected area which encompasses kunanyi / Mount Wellington and surrounds near Hobart, Tasmania. There are numerous hiking and mountain bike tracks within the park of varying difficulty. Protection Although it carries ...

and

Trevallyn Trevallyn may refer to: * Trevallyn, Gauteng, South Africa * Trevallyn, Tasmania Trevallyn is a residential locality in the local government areas (LGAs) of Launceston (25%) and West Tamar (75%) in the Launceston LGA region of Tasmania. The ...

are other popular mountain biking areas.

Victoria

Since the early 2000s, investment in mountain biking facilities has produced a number of areas of high quality trails. The

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

in particular caused the creation of the

Lysterfield Park The Lysterfield Park is a public park located in the Greater Melbourne region of Victoria, Australia. The park is situated approximately southeast of the Melbourne central business district, adjacent to the suburb of in the City of Casey. When ...

mountain bike network, including the 6.4 kilometre race circuit. Nearly 60 mountain biking clubs are registered with Mountain Bike Australia. The trail network at Mt Buller is one of only three "IMBA Ride Centers" outside the US designated by the International Mountain Biking Association.

Parks Victoria Parks Victoria is a government agency of the state of Victoria, Australia. Parks Victoria was established in December 1996 as a statutory authority, reporting to the Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change. The ''Parks Victoria Ac ...

and the

Department of Sustainability and Environment The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) was a state government department that managed water resources, climate change, bushfires, public land, forests and eco systems in the state of Victoria, Australia. It was created in 2002 whe ...

(DSE) have assisted with the creation of trail networks in recent years, such as at Forrest and Lysterfield Park. In 2012, Parks supported the creation of a downhill trail in

Kinglake National Park The Kinglake National Park is a national park in Central Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated northeast of Melbourne and includes tracks (some with wheelchair access), and camping facilities. The national park includes Masons Fa ...

, the first mountain bike trail in a Victorian national park. The trail, Shepherds, follows an existing powerline easement to minimise environmental damage. From the mid-2000s, a large number of tracks began to be constructed, with support from government agencies, local councils and tourism bodies. Reasons for the growth included the need to replace shrinking or displaced industries (as with the timber industry at Forrest), the need to supplement short ski seasons (as at all the ski resorts except Mt Hotham), the desire to attract more visitors to the national parks (as with Kinglake) and the need for facilities to support a growing sport (as with Lysterfield Park). Formal trail networks: Other important mountain biking areas include: ; Great Dividing Trail:This 280 km hiking trail has several sections which are popular with mountain bikers, especially between Daylesford and

Castlemaine Castlemaine may mean: * Castlemaine, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia ** Castlemaine Football Club, an Australian rules football club ** Castlemaine railway station * Castlemaine, County Kerry, a town in Ireland * Castlemaine Brewery, Western ...

. ;

Wombat State Forest The Wombat State Forest (locally: Bullarook) is located west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, between Woodend and Daylesford, at the Great Dividing Range. The forest is approximately in size and sits upon Ordovician or Cenozoic sediments. ...

:Site of the annual 100 kilometre endurance event, the Wombat 100. ;

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just The Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ranges consist mostly of rolling hills, steeply weathere ...

; Avoca:Site of the annual Marathon Challenge.

External links

Bancoora website
extensive list of locations with photos and videos of a lot of Victorian trails.
Trailmate
list of locations.

Independent commercial organisation providing a relatively comprehensive list of competition events run by clubs and private promoters.
Trailforks
list of trails & locations across Australia.

Competitions

Major races and other competitions include: * Wombat 100 - 100 kilometre singletrack/firetrail course held near Woodend, Victoria, Woodend each year. * Marathon Challenge *

Mountain bike orienteering Mountain bike orienteering (MTB-O or MTBO) is an orienteering endurance racing sport on a mountain bike where navigation is done along trails and tracks. Compared with foot orienteering, competitors usually are not permitted to leave the trail a ...

events run by Orienteering Victoria * Otway Odyssey - 100 kilometre held at Forrest. * Granite Grind - 4 hour enduro event held at Lake Mountain. * Bike Buller - a 'festival' of events at Mt Buller. *Convict 100 - 100 kilometer held in

St Albans, New South Wales St Albans is a small and historic village on the Macdonald River, New South Wales, Australia, about 94 kilometres (65 mi) north west of Sydney. At the , St Albans and the surrounding area had a population of 305 people. History The origin ...

*Cape to Cape - Multi Day Endurance ride in Western Australia

Athletes

Successful Australian mountain bikers include: *

Cadel Evans Cadel Lee Evans (; born 14 February 1977) is an Australian former professional racing cyclist, who competed professionally in both mountain biking and road bicycle racing. A four-time Olympian, Evans is one of three non-Europeans – along wi ...

: competed at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics before switching to road cycling. *

Nathan Rennie Nathan Rennie (born 31 May 1981) is an Australian professional downhill mountain bike racer. He started riding at the age of 5. He was junior downhill world champion in 1999 and won the bronze medal in the elite category at the 2006 world cha ...

: downhill * Sam Hill: downhill * Bryn Atkinson: downhill * Jared Rando: Four-cross and downhill * Trent Lowe: cross country, switched to road cycling. *

Jared Graves Jared Graves (born 16 December 1982 in Toowoomba, Queensland) is an Australian cyclist who has represented Australia in BMX, four-cross (4X), and downhill mountain biking. In 2006, he finished second in the mountain bike 4x world cup series. ...

: 2009 Four-cross World Champion *

Caroline Buchanan Caroline Buchanan (born 24 October 1990) is an Australian cyclist who has won multiple world championships in BMX and mountain biking. She represented Australia at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics in the women's BMX event. Personal Nicknamed ...

: 2009, 2010, 2013 Four-cross World Champion; 2013 BMX World Champion. 2013 Australian Cyclist of the Year.

References

{{World topic, Mountain biking in, noredlinks=yes Cycling in Australia