A BRIGHT TRAIL RIDE
WHERE TO BEGIN:
All local rides start at Cycle Path, the genuinely friendly local bike shop opposite the supermarket in the heart of the town. All 6am road bunches leave from here and so does the all-important Wednesday arvo MTB group ride at 6pm - no matter the weather. This winter there were times I would be walking to the gym in the rain and dark as at least 8 guys headed out for the ride!
WHAT TO EXPECT:
Locals don’t ride the Hero trail that often. Some stay well clear of it. Bright had previously been known for its steep, technical singletrack, and that’s what the locals still prefer. Machine built trails are fast becoming what Bright is also known for, and the current mix offers a little bit for everyone. Be careful riding Hero trail, it may seem easy to ride, even to roll over all the jumps, but the strike for visits to the hospital is very high.
A shuttle fee. The corporation leasing the land for harvesting has come up with a fee for the public to use the shuttle road. Approximately $138 a day isn’t cheap, and nor is it fair. There has been a substantial amount of uproar amongst the community, which I imagine will continue into the foreseeable future, however if you’re riding up, which this article is about to suggest, you so far are free to continue to use the park as per normal.
A LOCAL LOOP:
New(ish) to town, Kathryn McInerny has picked her favourite trails for you to try out. Full disclosure here, Kath is my girlfriend, she is also a two-time cross-country champion, overall marathon stage race winner and all round XC bandit, so when we go for a ride a ride, it involves a good mix of climbing and descending. This is her pick of trails.
Once you’ve made it to the trailhead, take the River Trail which winds itself along the outskirts of the park. Head up the short section of fire road into Up and at Em. It’s a brief but punchy climb that switches back on itself, which helps you gain height quickly. I can ride it with ease on my enduro bike while Katho generally rides off into the distance on her XC bike.
Next choice is to head down via Tree Huggers. A short but twisting section of singletrack covered in tree roots that weaves its way across the face of the mountain and places you at the bottom of Shred Kelly, a different, machine-built jumps trails that comes across from the other side of the hill. Then head across to Gorilla Warfare which will take you up to the base of Up DJ, keep on climbing this machine built, easy to climb trail, which will drop you at the beginning of Down DJ which we will come back to later in the ride, but for now roll down to Hades, which will climb for another 2kms.
This track will pop you out at the start of the Hero Trail, keep heading out on the fire road which is the Mystic Launch loop that brings you to the iconic social media shot of the valley, and the top, which is the Mystic Launch Pad.
There aren’t that many options down from here, but Katho has chosen the least extreme out of the three, which to be fair, doesn’t do justice to how rowdy this track is. The Elevation Trail has evolved since it was first put in, now it’s a mix of broken up ruts, tree roots and rocks. So, if you’re coming down this trail and feel like it’s getting a bit too rowdy for your liking, just remember that a local chick on a XC race bike uses this as her regular.
Once you’ve made it to half way, this is where you can switch it up and head just up a fraction to Down DJ, this is a fast and flowy machine built “flow” track, one where you can really hang it out if you are feeling up to it. It lets you carry speed without having to work for it, and it pops you out right into Shred Kelly, which keeps up the fast and flowy feel, mixing in the odd jump here or there, finishing with a well built set of jumps that will put a smile on your dial if you’re willing to hit them.