This time on Five Minute Rides I’m taking a rocky ride through the Loftus Mountain Bike Track.


See the trails map on Trailforks: https://www.trailforks.com/region/lof...



With 665 trails in the Sydney basin, the Loftus Mountain Bike Track backs onto the Royal National Park in the Sutherland Shire area of Sydney, Australia.

Since the industry I work in has pretty much stopped due to COVID, today I’m getting out of the house for some germ free bush air, and judging by the carpark, it looks like quite a few others are too.

So, it’s time to grab the bike and hit the trail.

Our ride begins with crossing an old tram line and heading down the Rawson trail. It’s an easy and fairly quick trail to warm the legs up, but the real fun starts with a right turn into this tight little single track called the Creek Trail.

Creek Trail is a narrow windy track and if you’re here before breakfast you might even spot a kangaroo or two. As you roll through, you can pick up some speed, but be careful of those sharp turns with trees at the end of them.

I like to look into the places I ride and it was interesting to learn the Royal National Park was officially proclaimed in 1879, making it the second ever national park in the world, after California's Yellowstone and the first ever national park to feature the words 'National Park' in its name. How about that!

As we approach a bit of a rock garden things are still going pretty easy and I always enjoy these types of natural features.

A little further down the hill and we reach the creek crossing where there’s a fork in the road. It looks likes the guys on my right are continuing on the intermediate track but I feel like stepping it up a notch and heading down the Holy Trail.

Holy Trail is a one and a half kilometer rocky goat track, and for that it’s earned itself a rating of “Very Difficult” on the Trailforks app. While it’s only a gentle 55 meter decent, it’s full of big rock gardens, technical sections and one very gnarly jump gap that you already saw me bite the dust on.

So as we get moving down the Holy Trail, it’s easy enough to pick up a bit of speed. But before long you’ll be hopping over all sorts of rocks, and for me, it sure was getting pretty bumpy on my hardtail. I took a good look into other riders reviews before heading out and there seemed to be enough riders saying you don’t need a full suspension bike to ride, but it would be nice.

As the trail heats up, so does the weather… and my tiny bladder is just not going to make it all the way home.

Back on the trail, you’ll find this nice little technical section to navigate through, and as we move on, we’re going to come across my old friend the gnarly jump gap. Let’s take another look.

On approach, I completely misjudged this. But the word to the wise is, if you’re riding a trail for the first time blind, don’t attempt a jump - no matter how small it looks, without checking it out first - because you just don’t know what you just don’t know.

Back on the bike, this single track gets a little narrow in some parts and you might have to look out for hikers and their babies… before approaching some pretty flowy steps… and a really cool creek crossing with some technical challenges and clear signs of where others have been before.

This is where choosing your line, and managing your speed and momentum is absolutely key to getting over that last rock hurdle. And while the wide angle GoPro doesn’t quite do it justice, I should say I had more than one attempt at this before nailing it.

We’re now almost at the end of the trail and it’s a long climb back up Temptation Creek Track to the carpark, but I’d have to say the burn in my thighs was well worth it.

I hope you liked this video. If you’ve also ridden Holy Trail, let us know what you thought in the comments below and remember to hit the subscribe button to stay tuned for more 5 minute rides.


Ridden & directed by
Ben Kumanovski

All music used under license.
© 2020 Ben Kumanovski