Words and pictures by Haydn Tilley

It’s easy to be a legend on your familiar “home trails”. I have been privileged, to have ridden in several different parts of the Globe, and it’s always the unfamiliar that makes me realize how much more there is to learn in this crazy sport we call MTB. It’s also one of the biggest highs to ride somewhere new…….

I first heard of Melrose, South Australia via a couple of magazine articles last year and thought it sounded unique enough to put on my bucket list. At 57 the list keeps on growing, and as fast as I tick one off, another is added. One of the other joys of age is catching up with old friends, especially ones that list Mountain Biking as their passion. Ciaron Rush was a Townsville teenager the last time we rode together. He is now in the SA Police force, married to a gorgeous girl called Mel and has a 9 month old son Jack. He managed to find me, by my 20 year old daughter’s Facebook page!

My wife and I had planned to go down to Adelaide for our son Nelson’s Nationals race in February. With some thoughtful planning, this would also be an opportunity to deduct a couple of items off our Bucket List. Gail loves wine, and wanted to tour the SA grape growing areas; only 2 hours up from the Clare and Barossa Valleys is Melrose…how good is that ? I didn’t have to ask twice!

We decided on a Campervan due to the convenience and flexibility it offered.  You need a big wagon to fit 2 bike boxes, bikes and gear .It’s also a great base for racing, with fridge, toilet and shower, all at hand. Within 10 minutes of arriving in Melrose, we were sitting at the bar of the 1850’s North Star pub sampling the local grape juice and chatting to the self proclaimed 85 year old “mayor” Laurie. Everywhere we looked, the age of the buildings and their preservation was impressive.

Richard Bruce, partner in Over The Edge Cycles was checking out some trail that hadn’t been ridden for a few months and offered to show us these the next morning. Much of the trail work around Melrose was started with SA government assistance and Nick Bowman now of IMBA Aus. The local guys now maintain and build all of the trail.

We experienced 2 types of trail at Melrose. Sheep pads (contour tracks, across steep side slopes, similar to cow pads, but much narrower) and flowing, sweeping, hand dug half bench in the foothills of Mt Remarkable. 
Day one was a very social 10am departure up the main street and 5k’s up some farm roads. As we had arrived at the end of their off season, some of the tracks on the sheep and wine estate, Bartagunyah were overgrown, and required a steady hand on the bars and the eyes of a hawk. Richard led us down some paths that would have been impossible to sight otherwise. Later in the season and after some grazing by the local flock these trails can be taken at a much faster rate and with less chance of running into a landmine! The guys at OTE have benched a lot of this trail; those who have built trail themselves will appreciate the huge amount of effort that has gone into making this a first class MTB destination.

I began by stating how easy it is to be a legend on often ridden trails, well I was soon “found out” with the wet grass, my Smallblock 8’s, and aged eyesight I struggled to ride with any degree of composure. It wasn’t till later in the morning, as the grass dried and the trails opened up that I started to relax and get my “mojo” back . Meanwhile Richard and Ciaron raced ahead giving me plenty of time to admire the superb scenery while I contemplated “which way now?”4 hours later we rolled back down to Melrose and into OTE.! We were satisfied in the same way one feels after a great meal. We had feasted on MTB “prime wagu fillet”.

Over The Edge is one of those rare LBS’ where you feel at home sampling the coffee, reading the latest bike mags, discussing gear preferences, sizing up your next dream machine and bench racing after that epic ride. The original concept store is still based in Fruita Colorado with another in Hurricane Utah and now for the last 3 years; Melrose SA. That night after a meal at one of 2 pubs in town, we played pool and relived our memorable day.

Day 2, and Michael, a local electrician, had offered to show us the famous town trails. There was no way Michael was going to let us miss Melrose’ best.  We began with a swooping roll called Twisting Camels less than 1 k from town. This switches back and forth thru the Melrose creek bed under some inspiring Red Gums and noisy cockatoo, that seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as we were. Then up we went, onto the half benched single track, rarely exceeding 10% grade but with some rock pinches, logs, and steep side slope to keep our attention. These guys know their MTB trail building stuff;(in fact the name of one trail is: TEXTBOOK 10%) although we had a lot of climbing initially, the trails had plenty of relief and fun sections in between the tough bits, to keep us whooping all the way up. We didn’t see a lot of berms but they had made good use of side slope in some big arcing turns, as well as some enormous compression dips. 2 hours later and we had ridden most of the best single track that Melrose had to offer.

Every place I have ridden has called for some different skill or improvement of one I thought I’d mastered. For me, Melrose was about learning to trust myself, the bike and the trails to carry me along some steep side slopes, with a narrow margin for error. Like any distant riding destination; I can only dream how well I could have ridden, with more riding time to improve my local knowledge and skills. Riding with new and old friends made it not only more enjoyable but also especially memorable and loads of fun. I think they started to “get” my warped sense of humour by the end of the weekend.

Melrose has some great MTB events, with The Fat Tyre Festival in June a highlight. If you prefer a quieter time then from March thru to November is prime riding. Middle of summer can be extremely hot. We were lucky to catch a really unseasonal cold snap in February. For those who are endurance minded, the most picturesque sections of the Mawson Trail  thru’ the Flinders Ranges, are only 2 hours North and there are numerous gentle wine cycling trails.

Oh yeah, I recommend the wine and food throughout SA as being World Class and the locals being especially friendly.