Nature | Ben Collins Outdoors

I had scheduled sinus surgery at the end of March, so I wanted to fit in a mini-expedition before then. As with most of my adventures these days, I love to start and finish from home, so the entire expedition is human-powered. Plus, there is so much to still explore from home that why would I need to go further afield?

I used the excellent MTB Project site to search for an interesting off-road route. This time, I found the Ten Mile Creek route that looked perfect. Somewhere new. Singletrack but not too hard (remember, I’m a middle-aged dad riding a loaded rigid bike. So, yeah, nothing too hard).

Conveniently, it was also close to Sugarloaf mountain, so naturally I included that ascent in my route and the superb gravel road off the backside of the mountain. To get there, I could utilize the canal and stay in one of the hiker biker campsites.

Perfect! Route done. Next was braving the chaos of the garage to dig out all my camping gear, since it had been a year since I last camped. With that done, I was ready.

Below, I share some photos from the 2-day trip. And even though the whole trip was less than 24 hours door-to-door, it packed in everything. Easy miles along the canal, a beautiful campsite, swoopy new singletrack, mountain hairpins, lovely views from the lookout, and, what I’m always searching for, the opportunity to push myself physically whilst exploring the great outdoors.

Day 2 was one of the best days I’ve had on a bike. Mega!