The area surrounding the Limestone Plains, whether or not it crossed the minds of those in charge with picking the site for the future capital city, make for excellent mountain bike territory.
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With suburbs built close to nature reserves, ridges and mountains - and more terrain on offer only short drives away - Canberra riders often find themselves in prime position.
But encouraging riders to come to Canberra will not happen by accident and the ACT government is currently developing a policy to improve the capital's mountain bike experiences.
This week, Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury, speaking as his party's sport spokesman, said a little investment in Canberra could go a long way to confirming the city's status as a mountain biking destination.
"We are seeing places like Derby in Tasmania, Jindabyne, Thredbo, these sort of places, really putting some resources into developing their mountain bike facilities. And if Canberra doesn't put a bit of money in, we just won't keep up," he said.
Mr Rattenbury said tourism was an important piece of the puzzle but new investment in facilities was also needed to stop the ACT's mountain biking reputation slip.
"If we want people to come from other places, we need to tell them what we've got here and make sure what we've got is fantastic," he said.
In a submission to the ACT government's consultation on mountain biking in the ACT, the Greens called for an expansion of Stromlo Forest Park, along with more efforts to attract events to the site.
The president of Canberra Off-Road Cycles, Matt Battye, said the sport was exploding rather than simply growing and a diverse range of people were seeing its benefits. He said if Canberra did not evolve with the sport, the city would be left behind.
"Canberra is still recognised as really probably the home of mountain biking in Australia and I think it's more a case of keeping up," Mr Battye said.
MAKING TRACKS
Years of mainly volunteer effort to build mountain bike trails by hand have been lost as logging operations start in plantation forests around the ACT.
About 70 per cent of volunteer-built trails at Kowen will be lost by 2022 after the government clear-fells the pine plantation.
In 2017, the Majura Pines Trail Alliance successfully lobbied the ACT government to change its plans for harvesting timber at the site, where family-friendly trails remain popular.
Second-stage harvesting at Majura Pines will happen after a new long-term forest management plan is put in place with input from the alliance.
The Greens this week repeated their calls for the recreation value of plantation forests to be managed and recognised alongside the value of the timber.
Alan Vogt, who is the head co-ordinator of the Kowalski Brothers trail builders and has been building mountain bike trails around Canberra for 25 years, said a good balance could be struck between maintaining trails in plantation forests and logging.
But not all future trails should be in plantation, he said. "There's great opportunity in the hills and that surrounding Canberra to have trail both within plantation and native areas. I think the things that other destinations use to market their location [are] the strengths of those areas.
"They might have great vistas, they might have great elevation. We actually have both of those.
"We also have great roads, we have an international airport - and all of the other things you can do whilst not on a bicycle make a really good case for visiting for Canberra as a family," he said this week.
Mr Vogt, who also sits on the advisory panel for the government's mountain bike consultation process, said a marketing campaign should also focus on the lifestyle Canberra has to offer a mountain biker.
After two booked-out consultation workshops in July, a third was held on Wednesday, with the mountain bike plan expected to be finalised early next year.
Detailed trail design work is expected to start in 2019, as the effort to keep Canberra permanently on the mountain biking map continues.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
