Four of us recently rode most of Canberra’s 145km Centenary Trail (CCT): https://www.parks.act.gov.au/find-a-park/canberra-centenary-trail.  This project was a hasty Plan B “pivot”, after Cyclone Alfred spoiled our plan to ride a Ballina – Murwillumbah loop.

 

One of us, Greg, is a long-term MTB-er, including competitively.  He’d ridden the trail some 4 years ago and had been “selling” the idea.  We other three are senior, seasoned, sealed-surface cyclists, with occasional MTB dabbling (mainly in iNZid).

 

All four of us rode e-MTBs, unencumbered with luggage, and we weaker three would not have wanted it otherwise.  Greg would have been OK e-less and on gravel bike, with luggage(!), but we others wouldn’t recommend it.  Nikki rented her e-MTB hardtail from https://www.bigebicyclehire.com.au/, $150 for 49 hours, delivered to our Watson accom and collected there afterwards, timed to our convenience.  It was identical to my Merida eBig Nine with 400Wh battery.  Natalie had a Specialized hardtail with bigger battery.

 

CCT is a cobbling together of numerous components to form an approximate narrow rectangle from ACT’s northern border with NSW to its southern suburbs.  The terrain varies enormously from sealed shared-paths for which Canberra is renowned, to fire trails, to rocky and rutted single-track.  Some of the latter was steep and certainly challenged us fall-averse weaker three.  We all had abrupt leg-out stops that would have been nasty falls if we’d been cleated.

 

An approx. version of CCT is https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29689483.  Note that 60% is unpaved.

 

We drove Sydney - Canberra after peak-hour on a Monday, entering our Watson 4-bedroom airbnb after 2pm.  Despite looming rain, we rode to and partially around Lake Burley Griffin, including a (sealed) part of CCT.  The rain came when we were at the Australian Museum, which we visited until the rain abated.

 

I had generated two loops for us to ride most of CCT over two days.  On the Tuesday, we drove to Deakin for our 60km [+780M] “southern” loop, approx. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/49646429.  On the Wednesday, we rode a 62km [+790M] loop from our accom, approx. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/49902073.  [N.B. The cues on these routes have not yet been customized).  The advantages of our Watson accom included easy access from Sydney and the Wednesday ride-end “head-start” returning home.  We were able to freshen-up at the Ampol station on the drive out.  (Dickson Pool offers showering for $3).

 

My loops were tailored to minimize “range anxiety” and mental fatigue.  I skipped some trail riding past Ainslie and Hackett, although the other three rode some of that.

 

Comments

• a bonus was visiting the National Sheep Dog Trials, en route in Hall;
• -numerous large locked gates have “letterbox” openings for climbing thru and passing bikes;
• refreshment options and loos usually need diverting from the actual CCT;
• beware after significant rain – we had little mud from only minor rain in week beforehand;
• beware Canberra peak-hour traffic;
• beware Canberra parking restrictions, in the middle of nowhere/suburbia;
• some of CCT is very high, with corresponding spectacular views;
• despite its suburbia creep, the ACT is mainly bush;
• -navigation is challenging in places, even using RwGPS, with multiple trails/paths abounding;
• beware mental fatigue when the going gets tough (handling errors creep in);
• ride harder bits when fresh, end day with cruisy sections.

A great overall experience, given that we were e-MTB-ing unencumbered!

Richard Kelly