Just got back from about 4.5 hours at Blue following this loop. It's bloody brilliant - thanks for posting it up Jbogner!
The bad news is that the battery on my gps was flat so I have no data. I didn't realise until I went to turn it on there!
If you've not ridden there then here's my bestest description; There weren't any really long climbs but what there are, are steep and rocky - you need a good bit of grunt to get up them. I didn't use my granny gear and I had RD probs so was missing the lowest two gears on the back too but my only problems on the climbs were stalling as the front wheel jammed.
The trails aren't really rooty at all. There are more rocks, big buggers too, but for the most part you're looking at nice, smooth dirt that was the pefect consistency for me today.
I headed into the woods opposite the trail lodge, that got Neds Left Lung out of the way quickly. It's a steep, rocky fireroad but I got up it ok. It's probably worth giving yourself a bit of a warm-up in the car park to make sure you're ready to grind up that slope. MYX Monster was wicked - I loved that long, swoopy singletrack. The huge rocks were slippy so I didn't play around on them too much. The first loop back to the car took me probably about two hours, and that include stopping at every trail junction to check where I was going, stopping to watch a family of 8-10 deer for a bit, getting a tad lost as a massive tree had falled and hidden the trail, and stopping to trail-fix my RD as best as I could.
I chatted with a couple of people in the car park, chugged a coffee and some sports beans and then I was off again. I think the second loop is more technical and longer than the first - lots of large rocky acents but, again, the single track is just so sweet - this really is on the top of my list for the kind of riding I like. My out-n-out favourite was the green/white trail - Upper Sis and Sis. Well marked and just cool - like a pump track!
There were lots of rock drop-ins to jump from, log rollers, rock rollers and gardens - some more daunting that others, switchbacks, narow tree passes, basically everything!
I really wish I had my gps as I buggered things up Debacle and I missed My Favourite Trail, Rocky Glen, and Montrose Station Road as indicated on the map. I'd like to know where I went wrong. By that time I'd been out for another two hours and really needed to get back so turned towards the car. I really wish I could've stayed as the climbs didn't drain me and I had more umph to carry on.
So, a couple of notes;
-The leaves are falling and covering the single track. Not much of the single track is marked so if you don't go in the next couple of weeks then some of the trails could be quite hard to follow. If only my gps would've worked!!!!
-As mentined above, the numbers on the map are markings for trail junctions. Some were plainly obvious but I couldn't find others making it tough to understand where I was.
So, 4.5 hours with an average speed probably between 6 and 7 miles an hour, and I missed a few miles at the end, I would say that the loops are closer to 30 miles. That's a real guess though.
Shit, that was a good ride!
What? What did you say? This post is useless without pics? Hold on Tiger, how else was I to prove that I rode there today: