ORANGE WHIP

“We’re grateful for what we have here.” Grant Dowell tells me as we survey the softening light playing across the trails ahead of us. “It’s only a small parcel of land, but we make it work for us.” I’m at the base of the Lake Canobolas (pronounced Can-abol-as) Mountain Bike Park, an area to the south of the inland city of Orange, in the NSW Central Tablelands. A short distance away to the south is Mount Canobolas, an extinct volcano that towers up to 1390m above sea level at its highest point, and the one responsible for pushing up the area’s elevation over its millions of years of activity.

The Bike Park is situated next to the Lake Canobolas reserve which offers various recreation facilities, and is nestledCouncil granted access to the land to the local club.