Clarence Mountain Bike Skills Park & XC Trails

The Clarence Mountain Bike Skills Park is less than 10 minutes by car out of Hobart and serves as both the main entryway into the greater Meehan Ranges trail network and the place to go in Hobart for a bit of skills park riding with the addition of a pump track and skills park in 2018.

GETTING THERE

By car, head out of Hobart over the Tasman Bridge towards the airport. About 3.5kms from the bridge, exit left onto the B33 which is signed towards Mornington / Warrane.  As you exit the highway get into the right lane.  The Mountain Bike Car Park is on your right (the big open gravel area, surrounded by large stones) as you come off this exit.  To get into the car park, turn right into Flagstaff Gully Road and then there's an entrance into the carpark about 30 metres down the road.

By bike, the easiest way to get here would be to follow the recommended Hobart Airport Cycling Route out from the CBD until you get to the busy roundabout where you exit towards  Mt Rumney / Cambridge to get to the airport.  Instead of doing this, go left at this roundabout across the overpass (you're on flagstaff gully road) and as you come off the overpass you'll see the car park in front of you to your right.

ROUTE OPTIONS

If you're just here to play around in the skills park area then head straight into the park via the obvious trail behind the metal boom gate, and about 100 metres down the track you'll see the pump track area in front of you on your right.  Just head down here and follow your nose.

There's a plethora of trails in the park and you can follow the notes below, or over on the Meehan Ranges or Belbins trail notes for some route ideas to get you started.

WARNINGS

Please don't underestimate this trail network because of its proximity to Hobart.

ROUTE DETAILS

From the car park, go past the gate and follow the obvious gravel trail (heading east) parallel to the highway.  Less than 100 metres from the metal entrance gate you'll see a single track head off on the left, jump onto this and follow it for about 50 metres until it drops you back out onto the gravel road (it was just a short cut). 

As you come out onto the gravel road you will see the skills park pump track in front of you if this is what you have come to ride, and you just ride past this to get to the wall rides and whale tail.  The ride described below comes back out through the skills park, so if looking for a longer ride, you'll get to check this area out on your way back.

For those looking to do a XC ride, turn left onto the gravel road (you'll see a route sign) and follow it for another 600 metres until you'll emerge out into an open area near the monster bridge.  You'll see a set of dirt jumps in front of you on your left and up on the hill on your right you should a couple of flat areas where buildings used to be and also plenty of single track wending its way up the hill.

The cross country trail heads up the gully between the dirt jumps (on your left) and the open area (on your right).  You'll know you've gone the right way if you have the (usually dry) creek on your right and you find yourself climbing some switchbacks (The Green Core Climb) after about a hundred metres.

OK, this is a fairly hard section of the cross country course.  If you follow this, you will gain nearly 100 metres in altitude in just 1.6kms on some tough intermediate track,  and then you'll plunge down the XC descent and lose all of this height in about 500 metres.  I would seriously only recommend this section for intermediate riders.  For all other riders, keep your eyes open on your right at about the second switchback and you'll see a cutoff that drops down into the creek essentially bypassing this section.  If this is your first ride through the park, I'd recommend doing the rest of the course first then coming back to this new section if you found the rest well within your skills.

Either way, after either skipping or completing the new section, follow the track back down the gully on the other side of the dry creek, and then follow it as it switchbacks its way back up the little hill across the top of the open area and then follow the track straight ahead out onto the cross country loop (if you miss this don't worry, you'll just switchback down a couple of turns and realise your mistake).

Once on this bigger loop, just follow the track as it wends its way up and down and around for another 1.8kms.  Just past a big tree stump you'll drop off onto a track that heads both left and right. If you head left you'll climb up and be overlooking the highway after about 100 metres and if you continue on you'll drop down into Belbins Road and all of the tracks over there.  However, the route turns right and provides a fast, fun ride all the way back down to the dirt jumps site.   Keep you eyes out for little single track diversions on the way down when you get near the gravel road, but don't get too stressed about missing options ... Just go back and do it again.

As you come back into the open area (it will be on your right), you'll be on a gravel road.  If you're ready to leave, just follow this track straight ahead until it drops sharply off to the left down some single track towards the highway (this section is called Smooth as Butter).  The single track sweeps quickly around to the right following the highway back towards Hobart with a few different line options.  You'll go around a big sweeping bend after a few hundred metres and then find yourself on a flat section heading towards the back of a series of jumps at the skills park.  You'll see a turn off to the right here which you'll want to take.  This is a couple fo switchbacks and then a junction.  If you go left at the junction this will take you on the short run through the skills park, or you can go right and head back up into the park near the Monster Bridge.

From the skills park just head back out to the carpark.