A few weeks ago I rode several of the trails at Fox Creek.  I rode the ‘Fox Creek XC’ track, then west on ‘Human Projectile’, through the Kangaroo Creek Campgound, up the ‘Thomas Hill Climb’, then around on some of the tracks in the middle, then to the east side on ‘The Big End’ and finally back up  The Guts’ and/or ‘Ridge Run’.

From my first ride, I’ll say that the east side is a lot more interesting than the west. The ‘Fox Creek XC’ track is pretty good, but it is easy to get lost and end up on a fire track or in a loop you didn’t intend to repeat.  Overall, Fox Creek is a nice area, but I’ll have to ride it a few more times to get a good impression.  The first photo is a panorama from the top of the Thomas Hill Climb Lookout.  Here are a couple more photos:

Thomas Hill Climb Lookout

Somewhere in the middle?

The first post Reba rebuild ride was at Mitcham Hills near Lynton.  This was the first time I’ve ridden at Mitcham, and as a result, the fork took some larger than expected hits.  Having sufficiently exercised/abused the fork, I think it is safe to say that the rebuild was a success.   The Reba has regained full travel and the poplock is once again functional.

Anyway, back to the trails.  From what I’ve been reading, MTB access to Mitcham is a relatively recent and many of the MTB trails are still under construction.  My first-ride impressions are that there are a wide range of trail types from easy fire roads to fork-killing downhill runs.  I rode several (most?) of the open trails.

The green/easy fire roads are used to connect many of the more difficult trails.  There are also some sections of green/easy singletrack that is mostly smooth and fast.  The  blue/modeate XC trails are fairly fast with a mix of loose rocks to smooth dirt singletrack.  The black/advanced trails have some nice drops, steep climbs and technical downhill sections.  There are also some double-black trails, but I haven’t made it to those.  If the black trails are any indication, the double black trails are probably not very rideable on the hardtail Eriksen, but I try anyway.

Overall, Mitcham has some fun and challenging MTB trails and I’ll definitely be back many more times.  I’m going to ride the Erkisen there the next few times, but soon I’d like to get the cyclocross bike on the trails and see how if works — I haven’t even had the knobbies on the Gunnar since leaving Maryland.  The last post showing the Gunnar with knobbies was all the way back in November ’08.  Anyway, based on my first ride, Mitcham seems to be more cyclocross-bike-compatible than Eagle.  I think there are some green and blue trails that will be fun on the Gunnar, but I’ll bring a couple spare tubes.

I got the Eriksen out to Eagle Park a couple times this weekend. The first day I rode a short distance with some local riders who showed me the tracks and gave me some tips. The rest of the day was spent making minor adjustments and getting the Eriksen (and myself) back into decent riding condition. Now that the brakes, derailleurs, bottom bracket and headset are happy I should be able to ride without carrying a full toolbox around with me.

The second day was a much longer ride and the low clouds made for some great photos. Overall, Eagle seems to have a broad range of trail types. There are easy fire road tracks, mild to technical xc tracks, a ‘skills park’ and even some downhill tracks. The terrain is varied enough that this will be a good park for regular rides and shouldn’t get boring.

The Forester is a great car for transporting bikes around. The trunk is large enough for all of the gear, the roof is long enough that rear-hatch to bike tire clearance isn’t an issue, and the roof line is low enough that getting the bike on and off is easy.