| |
MAPS, DOCUMENTS
& VIDEOS: Click to go to... |
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Trailflix: Kentlyn - Trail Description |
|
This description is by Grant Byrne, one of the Trailflix Riders and a long-time resident in the area.
Minto Heights
This track starts at the end of Newman Rd, Minto Heights. At the very end of the road, ride over a small mound to the right and you are on the track.
The trail starts as singletrack and it is fairly technical from the beginning. In about the first 50m you hit a short rock garden and some small step downs followed by a nice sandstone face to ride down on into some nice sweeping bends that are a little sandy before hitting some more technical stuff and eventually a tricky little chute leading into a creek bed. The chute can be bypassed by going left at the top and following some switchbacks to the creek. If you aren't used to technical singletrack you might get some arm pump by the time you reach the creek bed due to excessive braking and lifting the front wheel.
Ride across the creek and get over some slippery tree roots. You come to a widened section of trail and should see some singletrack going off to the right. Ignore that at the moment because you come back this way again. Head up the firetrail hill to the left instead. This firetrail has a loose surface that makes climbing a bit more challenging than your regular firetrail. Ride to the top and you'll see a gate. Turn left at the gate and look into the bush on your left as you ride along to find the singletrack. Turn left into the singletrack and start your descent back to creek level. About 15m in you'll get a choice of going right or left. Either option is good with left being a bit more DH style that starts off flowing nicely with some berms built up, then becomes a bit more rocky with some drops, chutes, jumps and a steep rolldown, before joining onto the creek trail by turning left at the end and coming back to that large open area again. I come back here and do both tracks. They are worth the uphill effort. On both trails there are a few drops and jumps, some brief technical descents and almost no climbing. Near the end of the second track there is an area of ground that appears to be covered in succulents and then a track branches off to the right. Ignore this track and take the left fork until you arrive back at the original creek bed crossing.
Once back at the open area for the third time take the singletrack to the right. This singletrack is slightly up hill but can be sprinted fairly easily. At one point there is a nice little rock gap to jump if you have enough speed. This section of trail will lead you across another creek crossing with a few ways to get across using bridges or just trying to ride over the rocks. Keep taking the singletrack branches going left and that is the most fun way of getting across. At the end of this trail is a section of fireroad going uphill to the left/straight or downhill and then uphill again to the right.
Unfortunately you want to go left/straight and up hill! It's a killer of a climb with the surface being really loose and rutted. Ride/walk/push the bike all the way to the end, which is a T-intersection with another firetrail. The entry to the singletrack descent is right on the left hand corner of this intersection. Follow it through the bush down some drops, jumps, small rock gardens, etc and you will end up at the little rock gap jump you have already been on. Follow this section of trail back to the fire road climb.
Don't go up the climb this time. Turn right, but don't go into the gulley and try to ride up the other side. Just before the gulley and on your left is an entrance to the next section of singletrack. Enter here and again this is some nice fast singletrack. You'll come across a few down trees that need to be hopped over and a creek will run parallel to the track on your right at one point. You'll come back to this section and cross the creek bed to get to Peter Meadows Road.
Keep following the fast singletrack until you come to a sandstone face to ride down. It's not steep but is a little bumpy. Ride up the chute on the other side if you can, it's really sandy. At the top of the chute the singletrack turns left or goes straight. Take the left turn and follow the rough, technical singletrack up and down. Some parts might have to be walked but it is worthwhile. Follow the singletrack through a series of twists and turns that are not all that clearly defined so you'll have to watch carefully where you're riding.
Eventually you'll ride down a sketchy singletrack into a gulley. You need to get up the other side and there is a track to ride up. I nearly always get up. Traction is the big problem, plus it being steep. Once at the top the track goes left or right. It's more fun to turn right and follow the singletrack through more twists and turns, not as technical as the previous twisty section, and over some rocks. You'll feel the track start to head downhill and feel like it is flowing better towards the end. This is a little misleading because you are coming up to a steep rock face to ride over and then down into a rough area where keeping your weight over the back wheel is the key to not going over the bars. This steep section is only short so you'll soon be at the bottom one way or another. Once at the bottom you'll hopefully recognise the creek running parallel to the singletrack you rode before. The track you came down crosses the creek and continues into the bush.
Stick to this main section of trail. It's slightly wider than singletrack but is not firetrail. Eventually you'll come to a very rocky area and a track that goes to the right. If you want to go home now then take this trail to the right and you’ll come out on Hansen’s Rd again. This is about a 10km loop. Continuing past this rocky trail and taking a right fork will bring you out at Peter Meadows Road and is the best way of joining this track to the Kentkyn track. The trick is to not use your brakes at all once past the rocky section until you reach the road!
When you hit Peter Meadows Rd you'll see a gate on the other side of the road with some fire trail leading away from the gate. Cross the road and get onto the fire trail, there is a little gap to the left of the gate. Follow the fire trail all the way to the end. It's pretty slow, with it being a bit sandy, but at the first sign of the fire trail going downhill get as much speed as is safe, to help get up the other side. There is also one massive hill to walk up about half way through.
At the end of the Firetrail is another gate and Old Kent Rd. Turn right on Old Kent Rd and then left onto Darling Ave. At the end of Darling Ave is the gate to enter the Kentlyn track. This is about 800m of road riding.
Kentlyn
This section is about an 8km loop with a few internal variations. I've seen wallabies, echidna, a lyrebird and other wildlife while riding through here.
Enter to the side of the gate, between some rocks and onto the fire road. When you reach a large open area with some dirt mounds on the left the fire road splits to the left or straight. Best to go left because straight is a dead end unless you want to bush bash down to the river.
Follow the fire road around some bends and down and up two dips. After the second dip the track gets a bit sandy and goes around a right hand bend. This is the place to start pedalling a bit harder. You go downhill here and speed is good. You come to a bit where you can't see the downhill past the top. The track goes left slightly, once you're past the crest. At the crest there is a bit of a jump on the inside of the bend. It's fun to jump off!! This short downhill is very fast and smooth at the moment because a grader has been over most of the fire roads. There is a left hand bend at the bottom of the hill. It's a little sandy but still nice and fast. Hammer around the bend as fast as you can then back off to recover for a little bit because there is some climbing to come.
Follow the track around a nearly 180º bend and start climbing the gradual hill along the sandy track. Coming to a T-intersection of trails turn left and ride up the pinch. Granny gear time. At the top of the pinch turn right and use this section to recover on. Nice and slow, following the twist of the trail until you get to another branching of the track. Go right again.
Along this right turn trail used to be a very fast section with some waterbars to jump off, but it's gotten a bit sandy and is only firm enough to sprint on if it is still a bit wet and the water is holding the surface together. Keep following this trail until you get to a sharp left turn that is a bit of a sand pit. Ride through this and after another waterbar the trail will climb up to the left or go flat right. Take the right hand turn and pedal along until you hit a trail branching off to the left and climbing a bit. It's a reasonably tricky climb because the surface is golf ball and tennis ball size chunks of loose sandstone. Once at the top there will be a fence with a nice, big German Shepard on the other side. It's best if he stays on the opposite side to you because I really don't know how nice he is.
Ride straight up the track, over the broken roof tiles and plasterboard that has been put there as traction for a car and you'll hit a sealed road. Turn left on the sealed road. At the end of the sealed road is a gate and a right hand turn along more sealed road. Take the right hand turn and head towards another gate.
After riding about 30m there is a singletrack entrance going over a small hump on the left side of this road (well before the singletrack entrance just before the gate). Take this left and ride along this fairly easy singletrack until you come out on a fireroad again. Turn right down the fireroad until you see the singletrack entrance (about 100m) on the right. Turn right down this singletrack (which is fairly overgrown) and sprint all the way along to the sealed road again. During the singletrack there will be two forks. Take the right on the first one and the left on the second one. Once back on the road go left and just before a property on the left is a massive tree. Turn left and on the left side of this tree is the start of some more singletrack. Follow the singletrack around to the right and up across a small paddock then back into the bushland. Keep going and on the left you'll see a small and not often used section of singletrack. Ride along this as it's a good bit of twisty fun. This ends in a bit of a clearing and looking left you'll see a nice tabletop to jump if you want. There are some ladders here that I muck around on sometimes and some drops.
When you've had some fun on the ladders and drops go back to the tabletop and follow the trail down past a gap jump and to the right. This will take you back on the fireroad at the top of the first fast downhill. Follow the fireroad back to the large open area with the dirt mounds. Go around the corner to the right leading back to the main gate. Near a big tree you should see a small open area of bare earth. Go into this patch and you’ll see a bit of singletrack going over a small hump. Follow the singletrack, go over a jump and continue along the singletrack going left. You should go around a few bends and eventually find yourself riding parallel to a road. Continue along until you see a gate on your right exiting the trail onto the road.
Go through this gate and head left along the road towards a roundabout. This heads straight past Airds and opposite College Road is the start of the Smith's Creek Reserve track.
Smith's Creek Reserve
This track is all fire road. At a reasonable pace it is an excellent beginners track and at a bit of speed and with a few little variations along the ride it can be pretty fun for a more experienced rider.
Enter the gate opposite College Rd and follow the fire trail to the end. Smith's Creek Reserve is a bushland area separating Ruse from Campbelltown and the fire trail is there to provide access for fire crews in case of a bush fire so it is fairly well maintained and not too rough.
The fire trail is sandy in some areas, firm in others and rocky in others. It is well defined and has some little tracks branching off but there's not really much to them so I don't bother riding them. The track has a few little dips to spice things up. The first one is the steepest up and down section that is a little bit loose and gets rutted after rain but is fun to blast down, plus the more speed going down the easier it is to get up the other side. The second one is tricky at speed because the surface is loose gravel and while going down it turns right slightly then when going up it twists left. The third one is just a fun blast, jump a few waterbars. At the base of the dip is a causeway that turns right and then starts to go up. Again, the more speed going down the easier it is to get up.
The end of the firetrail is signified by a grassy hill. Stop at the top of the hill and you should see a creek running perpendicular to the direction you have come from. Turning right at the creek the track becomes singletrack and rails around to the left and then another grassy area until it leads you down to a road leading to the Wests Tigers Campbelltown home ground. Once you hit this road turn right and ride up the hill. You'll go through 2 roundabouts and at the third one (which should have Leumeah HS on the right) turn left. This is now Hansen's Road and you should be able to find your car within 2 minutes of slow riding along here.
This makes about a 27km loop.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
