Mountain biking brings thousands of trail-riding enthusiasts to northern Tasmanian town

[Tequestra]

Mountain biking brings thousands of trail-riding enthusiasts to northern Tasmanian town
Landline By Pip Courtney - Posted 55 minutes ago


Photo: Estimates say the economic impact of mountain biking on the Derby region is between $15 and $18 million dollars. (Facebook: Blue Mountain Derby Bike Trails)

The trail network is being extended 200 kilometres down to the east coast seaside town of St Helens.

[Scintilla]

"Council CEO Tim Watson estimates the economic impact of mountain biking on the region is between $15 and $18 million dollars.

"We're talking really high yielding visitors. They are the tourists that you want as there's no limit to what they will spend."

In just a few years Derby, the tiny town that is home base for the trails, has gone from ghost town to boom town. It was on its last legs five years ago."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-21/w ... ow/9677344

[find_bruce]

"Council CEO Tim Watson estimates the economic impact of mountain biking on the region is between $15 and $18 million dollars.

"We're talking really high yielding visitors. They are the tourists that you want as there's no limit to what they will spend."

In just a few years Derby, the tiny town that is home base for the trails, has gone from ghost town to boom town. It was on its last legs five years ago."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-21/w ... ow/9677344

I moved your post to the existing topic

[RonK]

You can watch the Landline story on ABC iView. This is not just a superficial grab, it's an excellent in-depth story in true Pip Courtney style.

The change in the place is amazing. when I last visited back in 2009 the place was almost dead. I stayed in the two hotels which are mentioned in the story - the Welborough and the Dorset. The Dorset Hotel in particular was unforgettable because the owners reminded me so much of the Munsters. Although I most say the rooms look exactly as they were when I stayed there.

Here's what I wrote about them. Weldborough to Derby: blown away - what a day...

The trail scenes are very inspiring. Maybe it's time for a change of direction to more mountain bike trips instead of touring.

[lone rider]

Hopefully the Spirit of Tasmania operators have taken note. I found it impossible to plan a trip to get across and back in any kind of week long time frame.

[Mububban]

Well after watching this video, I'm now inspired to plan a trip to Tassie with my son in a few years' time:




The scenery is so different to what we've ridden locally, and the trails get rave reviews. Great to see a local council and forestry department working together to give people what they actually want. Build it and they will come, indeed.
Plans can change, but I think the plan will be Tassie in 5 years' time (when he's ~13) and the big one will be Whistler in 10 years' time (when he's 18 and has his own job to pay for some of it!).

We'll also have to explore the Margaret River region of WA as they're apparently doing great things down there, and it's only ~3 hours away from us.

[skull]

I did a couple of races there at derby in2010 and 2011. Then went back again in 2018. The change was unbelievable.

Such a great track system.

I went to Maydena at the start of this year too. Fantastic

[m@]

I rode the Derby, Weldborough/Blue Tier and St Helens trails on my December/January bikepacking tour, just after the St Helens trail was officially opened - bloody awesome!

Derby to Blue Tier
Blue Tier to St Helens

Can't wait to get back there with a bit more rubber and some squish (and an unloaded bike).


It'll be interesting seeing how the St Helens locals adapt - it's not a ghost town like Derby was so they may not like the idea of sharing their retirement village with thousands of mountain bikers!

Come to that some of the Derby residents also had a whinge (after they cashed in on their houses going up in value by more than 1000% and moving to Launceston or Melbourne)!