The Tasmanian Visitor Survey data for the period July 2014 to June 2015 has been released and in headline news the number of visitors that undertook some form of mountain biking in Tasmania leapt 39.2%, compared to the same period last year, to just over 11,000.
Jason Unwin, of the Meehan Range Trail Groomers (MRTG), has announced an exciting range of new trails to be built in the Meehan Range over the next ten weeks, here's what he had to say on facebook:
It may be winter, but if you pick your day then the riding can still be darn fine (as per the attached photo). Even if it is windy, cold and raining ... some of us can still find stupid reasons to go riding.
Looking at July's event updates, I'm super excited to see that the Dirt Devils MTB Club have kicked off their Cyclocross Winter Series 2015 with the next event (the State Champs) to be held on the 19th of July. For those in the north of the State, the Launceston Mountain Bike Club is organising another round of Winter Social Rides with their first ride to Ben Lomond on the 12th of July.
Also up north, Tbug has some interesting social rides coming up including a ride up Mt Barrow on the 26th July.
Rounding out the July events, for the runners this month there's the Glenorchy Fun Run and Endorfun's Russell Falls trail run.
Is it just me, or has it been awhile?
OK, it's been awhile (although I have been keeping the Events Calendar up to date, and have been working on a new Major Events page).
Anyway, let's put that behind us, and look forward ... now you'd think as we head into winter that things would be quieting down, but it seems to me that quite the opposite is true with lots of new event dates being set. We've got the Corporate Multisport Challenge in Hobart and the Kellevie 4 Hour Enduro coming up this month (both on the 14th) and there's a 200km (and 150km) Dark Bikefo audax ride on offer on 20 June to celebrate the solstice.
The Wellington Park Management Trust have approved the conversion of Old Farm Track to a single use (bike only) and single direction (downhill only) track. This is an exciting project for the City, which will contribute to the development of a cohesive mountain bike track network within Wellington Park.
Last year, the City of Hobart Bushcare program trialled a Trackcare activity at Tip Top and it was a huge success. The new Bushcare Coordinator at the Hobart City Council is now looking to extend this program by setting up a "Trackcare" group. Full details are below.
The Blue Derby Trails are open (and awesome). If you didn't get up there, then my advice is to change that as soon as you can. In the meantime attached is Vol 1, issue 3 of the Blue Derby Newsletter which basically celebrates the opening of this first section of trails ...
A new feasibility study looking at the economic opportunities of the Ben Lomond Ski village area looks like it got the go ahead at a recent Northern Midlands Council meeting (See 19 January 2015 council minutes, P197 onwards).
Did you say free access to download (and keep) Mountain Biking Australia and Australian Mountain Biking (AMB) magazines?
Yep - this isn't one of those tricky false adverts that get you to click on the link only to find out there's a catch (OK, there is one small catch - you have to be Tasmanian and go get a library card), it's just something cool I stumbled across this week which I thought worth sharing.