BEST OF 2020: Ashes to adrenaline: Part II

This is Part II of 'Ashes to adrenaline'. For the full story, read Part I here.

We pick up the tale having learned of the sheer destruction the summer bushfires caused and the Talbingo MTB Club's plan to lead the recovery. Not wanting to aim low, the club set out to build the biggest downhill descent in the country.

A long way down

It’s a pretty big claim but not without any substance. In fact, the club has physically mapped it out a dream that one day they would like to turn into reality.

“I’ve bought myself a drone and so have some of the other club members so we’ve walked the whole thing and flown the drone over all the key areas to make sure we get the track where we need,” Doidge said.

“So we’ve got all that footage to get people excited. Now is the time the town will need such visitation that the hills will be able to give us. If you look at the fact that I walked the same trail, it took me eight and a half hours to walk two years ago it only took me two and half now.”

That and the ability for riders to visit during winter have fuelled the club’s desire to get plans in motion.

“We get a little bit of snow over winter but it only lasts a day, it doesn’t settle on the ground. But that changes the aspect for anyone who wants to ride,” Doidge explained.

“It’s definitely not inaccessible so we’re actually looking at two options to get up to the top. One’s the shuttle option and the
other one is a drop off point on the highway where you can choose to either go to the east or west. 

“The eastern trail will take you down to the creek which basically takes you into town, it’s probably about an 800m descent or you can go to the left which is a 300m climb over a good duration which will take you to the very, very top which is 1400m and the town is below 400m so you’ve got all that descent to play with. 

“Our other trail, the 800 or 750m one has about three different locations where you can actually meet up with it off the highway so you don’t have to do the full descent and there’s also a climb trail where it meets the downhill descent every time it reverses so if you get too tired you can go back down.”

At the time of publication these dreams remain just that. The COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly delay any action, but the Talbingo MTB Club will be back.

After all, they’ve been through much worse.