A road trip is a time honoured tradition, of going cool places and doing great things. Whether you hit the road for a surf trip, snow trip, climbing trip or of course a mountain bike road trip, one thing remains: there is a lot that goes into the organisation of a good road trip.
Where are we going to go? How long do we go for? Who is coming? Where will we stay? Who decides the playlist?
The list goes on. In the past, mountain bike road trips in Western Australia were easy. There weren’t as many places with great trails to choose from. Usually you just went to a race, then called through another location on the way home to ride the trails if you had extra time off work. But after the first Places that Rock Western Australia Road Trip in 2019, the list of places that missed out was bigger than the trip itself. There was unfinished business.
Cut to late 2021. As Mike and the rest of the east coast editorial team were out due to the hard border closure, we needed a totally Western Australian based crew to get the job done. With so many great trail developments in the past two years, there was a lot to go check out, with places to ride, people to meet, and burgers to sample.
After a heap of emails, messages, spreadsheets, and a Teams meeting, we had a crew, some locations and a schedule. On the last trip we looked at some of the favourite riding locations of the locals, places with established trail networks that rock. This time, the plan was to look at the proliferation of trail development that has been happening in the South West, along with seeing if we could find some new favourites. With Rod Annear, of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), along for the trip we had the perfect inside man to give us the scoop on anything and everything in trail development in Western Australia.
THE GOAT FARM MOUNTAIN BIKE PARK WHADJUK COUNTRY
On the 2019 Places That Rock Road Trip, we started in the Perth Hills riding some of the trails of the Kalamunda Circuit. Once again, we start with a trail network close to Perth – which is the logical launching point for any visit to Western Australia. Just 25 minutes from the Perth CBD, and 15 minutes from the Perth airport, the Goat Farm is the most easily accessible trail network in the Perth metropolitan area. As we pull into the car park at the Goat Farm, we can immediately see the effects of the new trail development that has been on going. If we had got here any later, we would struggle to find a park.
We unload the bikes from the Isuzu MUX we’ve been loaned, and meet the crew we are riding with today. It’s a big crew, with a group of trail builders from Three Chillies Design, Marg and Sam from the Goat Farmers (the community group that organises maintenance on the park), and a few other local riders that are also keen to come for a ride.
The Goat Farm has a long history with mountain biking, especially as a race venue. The early 90s saw Perth Mountain Bike Club races, with XC, DH, and even a dual slalom held here. There were also bigger events like combined State XC and DH Championships and a Downhill and Cross-Country National Round in ’99. Sometime after this, the park was given a much-needed upgrade, with new trails constructed, signage installed, a designated carpark built, and various infrastructure additions like toilets, trail maps, picnic tables and shelter sheds built. But since this midnoughties refresh, there has been no new work beyond a small amount of ongoing maintenance and trail realignments.
With the hill being sparsely treed, over time the network of trails became braided, and the demand for more technical trails has encouraged locals to build new lines and greater challenges. It got to a point that it was hard to navigate the hill, as there were cut trails and inside lines branching off the gazetted trails all over the place. A refresh was definitely in order, with new trails to cater for the advances in technical ability of riders and bikes, and a revamp of some of the older and unstainable trails.
RIDING THE GOAT FARM
We climb Wi-Fly, a green switch back climb on the northern side of the park that takes us to the top. It's an appropriately signed trail with a swooping Magpie on the trail sign. Fortunately, it’s not the right season so no one is attacked by the sky shark today. At the top, we drop into Flowtopia, and it feels like the road trip has begun for real. Here we get to experience what makes the trails at the Goat Farm so unique in relation to the rest of the Perth Hills: a lack of pea-gravel. The red earth is moist and grippy, and Flowtopia’s numerous berms and tabletops are the perfect run to start the day.
Following on from Flowtopia we head back up for a run down Legacy. I try not to bash the rear
