Maydena Bike Park in the post COVID era
Maydena Bike Park has opened up again with lots of new trails - and mainlanders are invited!
Words: Will Shaw
From October 26 2020, Tasmania opened up their borders to select Australian states but as of November 27 all states within Australia will be able to travel to Tasmania. Keep up to date with who can visit, and what the procedures are via this link.
Maydena Bike Park has put itself on the map as the home of gravity riding in Australia. The park has received global recognition for its 60 plus trails with a huge 820 vertical metres of descending.
Maydena’s appeal lies with its huge array of trail styles, surfaces, and features. New to riding? No problems. There’s a top to bottom, family-friendly green trail that snakes its way gently through the changing landscapes of the park. More experienced? You’re in for a treat with Maydena’s diverse mixture of buttery-smooth flow, technical rainforest singletrack and jumps of all shapes and sizes.
Catch our other detailed features on Maydena Bike Park:
Places that Rock: Wilderness Trail, Maydena Bike Park
Places that Rock: Regans Ride, Maydena Bike Park
The Evolution of Maydena Bike Park
Steep and deep at Maydena Bike Park
A small detail of the park that really shows Maydena’s class is the trail signage. Gone is the traditional green, blue, and black structure. In its place, you’ll be told if your blue is a technical blue, a flow blue or a freeride blue (jumps). This kind of attention to detail is what really shines through at Maydena.
If you’ve visited Maydena in the past, however, the bike park that has opened up after a COVID and winter shut down is on yet another level to the Maydena of old.
To get an insight into what’s been happening at Maydena since their forced closure due to COVID-19, we had a chat with the main man at both Maydena and Dirt Art (who handle all of the park’s trail operations), Simon French.
According to Simon, COVID-19 meant an almost overnight drop off on the majority of the park’s customer base of interstate and overseas visitors. The crew turned this negative into a positive, however, and used the time to double down on their trail building schedule for spring and summer.
‘Whilst COVID has been rough in regards to the number of people coming to Maydena, if anything it’s accelerated our trail building program. By opening day we’ll be well on our way to completing 25kms of new trail. The new trails are a variety of trail styles, but one area worth mentioning specifically is our climbing trails. It’s probably fair to say they’ve played second fiddle to our gravity offerings in the past, but this season we’ll have an array of new climbing options, from tech singletrack climbs to meandering ascents.’
The climbing trails at Maydena are a nice touch. There’s a plethora of pass options to pick from when visiting the park, from all-day shuttles accessing the full 820 metres of vertical, as well as an option to be dropped off halfway up the mountain (about 400 metres of vertical). This coming season, the park will also launch a brand new, independent uplift service accessing 200 metres of elevation. There will be a range of new beginner friendly trails accessed from this uplift drop off. There’s also ride only passes that give access to the halfway point of the mountain.
The hot pick in our opinion is the ‘Enduro Pass’, which gives you an uplift all the way to the 1100m metre high summit. Once you’re at the top you’ll find the aptly named The Summit building. Before dropping in you can soak up the incredible vistas with 360-degree views over the Styx Valley and Mount Field National Park. Once you’re at the bottom, fuel up with some quality coffee, a gourmet toastie, and make your way back up to halfway on whatever style of climbing trail you prefer.
Don’t feel like heading back up the hill? There’s plenty at the base to keep you occupied. New for this season are the Dirt Jumps and Skills Park areas, and even an airbag jump. Maydena is also adding another dining option to the mix. There’ll be the grab and go option that’s currently there, or ‘gourmet toasties’ as Simon calls it, as well as a sit-down option inside that’ll be fantastic for when it gets bitey in the evenings.
Does all of this development mean Maydena truly has a trail on offer for every mountain biker, as well as non-mountain biker? You bet! If you haven’t visited Maydena, put it high on your must-do list. With Maydena Bike Park hosting the National Mountain Bike Championships in March, you can bet that there will be a truly national level downhill and cross-country course at the bike park, along with enough trails to keep us spectators entertained as well.
