[bEn]

Lysterfield Lake is a HUGE place, with endless trails it isn’t funny, you could ride here all day and get lost. Blue_neon and I have been here a couple of times and each time it just keeps getting better and better, finding new trails and jumps.

Pics of the bikes before lysterfield.



This is the site of the 2006 Commonwealth Games mountain biking, with $3MAUD being spent on the track, it is tough, technical and challenging.



Lysterfield is a popular place now for Mountain bikers, and the name will be becoming more popular as well, with weekly competitions being held here (one next week), it’s a gathering for XC-ers.



We ride for about 2.25hour, although we were there all day, the conditions were great, blue skies and nice temperature, the ground was nice and hard too. Something new we found this time was amazing technical rock sections, these pictures just shows a small part of it.







I must say, we were both stuffed after doing about 1 lap of the 6km course, it is really grueling, especially an ‘olympic’ standard course



With nearly less then 100 days to go till the games, we can’t wait because blue_neon and I hooked up some free tickets to go to Lysterfield to watch the actual 2006 State Mountain Bike course with racers all around the world. It’s a one day thing and it runs from 10:30am till 4:30pm. The actual mountain bike course is supposed to be 6km and trust me its 100% XC. I’m not sure how many laps there will be, but I’m pretty sure the men’s race will have more laps then the women’s race. By spending more then $3million on the course they expect 10,000-12,000 people there on the day.

mrk

mmm... gatorade.

Looks like a fun place to ride.

chis51hd

Nice. Very nice.

blue_neon

Note the 4th picture from the top, it dosn't show the decent too well. Where the photo was taken, the course tightly curves 90degrees. The steepness is amazing, we didn't attempt it but that section of the $3m course is incredible. The last 2 pics arn't on the Games course although those tracks go on forever .

This really is the best XC place i have ever ridden at .

mtnbiker66

Great looking place but why no riding action shots?? I rode in the dark,cold and rain today, that is a nice change to see some warm sunny weather.

C Law

sweet tracks there.

RageoftheDragon

Damn those trails look fun. Amazing what some professional games can do to boost the upkeep of an area.

-RotD

dirtbikedude

In the sixth pic, those switchbacks look hell-a-fun and I bet if you really wanted you could launch off a couple of the boulders In the third pic, does the course take a right and go down or a left and up that smooth rock? There seems to be a lot of things you could do on that trail to keep it from ever getting boring.

DBD

Applehead57

Wow, I could get excited about that place.
Enjoy and think of the rest of us poor bustards, we'll be there in spirit with you.

zx108

niice. looks like a nice mix of techy stuff. and some smooooth singletrack.

and all i have over here is snow well atleast someone had some fun.

blue_neon

Good point, we were too busy riding i guess . The weather was great, a lot better then the last time we went there, cold and foggy, although the sun over here kills, both my arms are fluro red .

WannaGetGood

Thoughs are some nice trails.

Nice Giant!

harov3

Hey sS-bEn, I'll be over on the eastern seaboard most of next year and down mexico way in the last half of the year. Do you know where I can info on the trail, like location and access points? Over here in wait-awhile we havn't heard much about the games tracks. Yeah niiiiiice trails. And I see you went for a Yukon, good choice, good bike for little money over here.

Funkychicken

... wish i lived in melbourne

cryptid01

The red bike should have the red gatorade.


Those trails look really fun, I bet you guys had a blast.

blue_neon

It would have if he had let me trade my green one in, but nooo.

[bEn]

As soon as i took that photo i knew someone was going to say that and yes we had a ball there and we're going again very soon.

Tequila Joe

OK. I think I hate you now..... Lysterfield looks like an awsome place to ride. Is it close to Melbourne?

Below are a few shots from one of my latest rides. These were taken BEFORE it got snowy & cold!

T.J.

[bEn]

From the actual Melbourne city to Lysterfield it would be about an hour and 45 minutes. Its near the dandenongs. I've always wanted to ride in some snow, looks pretty cool.

MadMan2k

Awesome looking trail, I'd love to ride it. The trail I usually ride is nice, but it needs some maintenance since there's a lot of places the trees brush you in the face and a lot of loose sand from people skidding.

blue_neon

Never tried riding in the snow, is it hard?

Tequila Joe

Riding in snow is like riding in mud. It is sluggish, you don't have much grip and you put out much more energy. It gets really interesting when there is ice especially if it is hidden under leaves or snow. When I sense this, I ride unclipped to avoid having "close encounters" with the frozen ground.

I like riding in the winter almost as much as summer. There is hardly anyone on the trail and the air is very crisp.

I just purchased some Nokian Extreme 294's for this season of snow riding. They should work much better than my summer trail tires. I can't wait to get out and try them out.

T.J.

Nokians Extreme 294 2.1 vs WTB MotoRaptor 2.4


Pretty wide lugs w/ carbide studs. They should be good on snow & ice.



Ready to play!

blue_neon

Awesome tyres ... are they ashfelt friendly?

Tequila Joe

These tires have carbide spikes so they don't wear out very fast. I've read a test that said that they are 5 times harder than steel. Some of the dudes in the Commuting Forum have had 5 seasons commuting everyday on thier Nokian's and they are still running fine. As for the asphalt, I don't beleive that they rip it up. A 170 lbr rider on a 30 lb bike is pretty light considering cars weigh 3500 lbs +

T.J.

[bEn]

Spiked tires...hmm that would be cool. I guess if i was going to ride in the snow, spiked tires would be the go.