Blue Derby

Blue Derby is arguably the benchmark to which every other riding destination in Australia is measured. With 125km of singletrack designed and constructed by World Trail, the mountain bike network saved the town, and has since attracted the EWS three times, since opening in 2016.

With massive rock features, fauna that looks straight out of the Jurassic Period, and some of the most magical dirt on earth, Blue Derby has trails to suit riders from seasoned gravity pros to families and beginners — and even a few one-of-a-kind oddities like the Derby Tunnel.

Derby on the whole, doesn’t require shuttles, but uplifts open up easy access to some of the network’s best trails.

From Flow Mountain bike site.

Blue Derby is a scene. There are cafe’s, pubs, distilleries, body-work providers (massage, dry needling, etc.), rental cottages and Air BnB’s as well as two camp-grounds which offer basic facilities and $5 showers (the showers were awesome). We arrived on a Saturday around lunch time and found a site beside the Ringarooma River for our van, and, after lunch, cycled along the green (easiest) trail – Riverside – which runs west to east and connects the western most side of town to the main trail hub.

What you soon learn about Blue Derby is that there is only one way to ride to the top of the main trail network. This isn’t strictly true, as there are some blue loop tracks, for example Wotchya Upta, which ascend and then descend, but the main track network is reached by riding up, in sequence: Axehead, Long Shadows, Long Shadows Upper. If you ride all these trails you’ll eventually arrive at the Black Stump where the shuttles arrive every few minutes and many of the downhill trails emanate from. The overall elevation change isn’t that large, under 300 metres, so it should be a pretty easy ride up, but, it’s not. Bear in mind that I am almost 63, on an analog bike (never give in) and not a great rider, but even Doug, who is about a thousand times better and fitter rider than me, found the uptracks difficult. Despite being an old lady, I can generally easily ride 300 metres uphill.

The first time I rode Axehead I thought “that was fun and unique.” Giant tree ferns arch over the track forming tunnels of greenery and the track passes Tasty Trout Falls on the Cascade River. The sixth time I rode, I was way less enamoured of this track that climbs a mere 50 metres and has at least two dozen switchbacks many of them very tight, steep and loose. At least three of those switchbacks I missed every single time I rode up!

Long Shadows gains another 100 metres and I could almost ride the entire trail. There’s a steep hill to start and then some more rocky switchbacks, one or two of which I missed every time (again). Finally, Long Shadows Upper. I only saw three other riders on this track ever and they were all on E-bikes. But, then again, hardly anyone rides uphill at Blue Derby. Despite the “doesn’t require shuttles” the majority of riders shuttle, even the E-bike riders. In fact, we met a family that rode Blue Derby all the time and they had never ridden a single uptrack! Long Shadows Upper gains a hard 100 metres. It’s very rocky and has at least a dozen tight switchbacks. Ironically, if you jump off Long Shadows and ride up the shuttle road instead (Cascade Dam Road) the ride is a cruise and does not even require the lowest gear. It was only on my last time up – I beat Doug up by a good margin because he came up Long Shadows Upper – that I realised hardly anyone rides Long Shadows upper or lower or any of the uptracks! Even the guided groups were riding up the access road if they weren’t shuttling! On our final day at Blue Derby, Doug performed an experiment, riding up the Axehead, Long Shadows, Long Shadows Upper route versus the Cascade Dam Road. The uptracks took three times as long and were much more fatiguing!

Unfortunately, on our first full day at Derby while riding Long Shadows Upper, Doug busted his derailleur. I continued on my own, while Doug managed to coast down Hazy Days – the bike was functional as long as no peddling was required – and spent the afternoon visiting bike shops! I continued and came down the same way inadvertently dropping onto the black track, Airyagarn, near the end and thinking “wow, this is steep for a green route!”

If Doug likes a track he will do it again while I always want to do something new so afternoons we would split up and I would ride off doing blue loops that were new to me. Some of these, like Rattler, were rocky and technical, while others, like Wochya Upta, were grippy dirt but had a lot – as in 25 to 30 – switchbacks!

We did one shuttle: the big one, the Bay of Fires trail which runs east from the Blue Tiers out to the Tasman Sea at Swimcart Beach. The statistics vary but my Garmin recorded just shy of 43 kilometres, 688 metres of elevation gain and 1450 metres of descent. I found the initial few kilometres a bit off-putting as there is a constant stream of shuttle buses bringing riders up to start the trail and everyone is jostling to go fast and get ahead. It is, apparently, quite popular to do the first 13 kilometres (mostly downhill) only and get picked up by another shuttle where the trail crosses a fire road. 

Part of the trail is on a fire road and that is where my derailleur blew up. Somehow, I managed to get my chain looped back on itself and the only way we could release the chain was to remove the derailleur. Doug, who is awfully clever at this stuff, managed to get the bike operational again with only two tools, but he was only able to restore a few of the lower gears so on the flatter sections my legs were whirling about and the derailleur rubbed on the chain the entire way! Luckily, by the time this happened, the crowds had thinned out. It’s a brilliant track and rideable even by old granny ladies on analogue bicycles. There is terrific scenery, beautiful forest, swooping descents, interesting climbs past big boulders and along ridge lines. Doug and I considered it well worth abandoning our purist principles and catching a ride to the top!