Jindabyne Riding

A weekend up at Jindabyne was a perfect excuse to load up the mountain bike and spend a little more time seeing what the area had to offer. Even in winter the town of Jindabyne is usually still warm enough to get out on the trails, even though you will find plenty of snow 30 minutes up the hill.

Saturday morning I rode straight from our accommodation down to the multi use path that runs along the foreshore of the lake. The early morning sun reflected off the still water with not a breath of wind to be felt. It was a good morning for a ride. My destination was the trails just to the east of the dam wall, leading all the way to Tyrollean village on the opposite side of the lake. After losing the trail and having to ride a couple of km on the rode, I cam to the trail head.

There is one loop trail in this section that is all about flow. Wide single track with the odd rock jump around but nothing too technical meant that you could let things run out and really push into the manicured berms on display. It was ear to ear grin time!

There are a series of side trails with names like Felicity and She'll be Apples that saw the speed drop as you negotiated rock gardens both big and small and some tight squeezes through trees. All the time the views across the lake and to the snow capped mountains beyond gave plenty of excuses to stop and pause for a photo. I didn't take a map with me which meant that my ride was a little disjointed, but with map in hand and/or a few more rides there you could put together a really fun loop.

Riding back towards town I found the link trail, which again was wide and flowing as it skipped along the foreshore towards the town. I could see the traffic backed up all the way through town, skiers and snowboarders caught in a traffic jam heading for the mountains.

I had had the trails to myself, and it didn't cost me a cent!

There are big mountain biking plans in the pipeline for the whole area as powers that be see the dollar that the sport can bring. With some well maintained single track, the downhill at Thredbo and the options of heading back country for some epic all day or overnight rides, it has all the ingredients to become a mountain biking destination of choice.

Lets just hope we are not caught in a traffic jam heading to the trailhead in a few years time.