Eureka! Bikepacking the Goldfields Track

The Goldfields Track has been on my bikepacking hit-list for too long - and now I've finally got a rig with some beefy tyre clearance, I've decided now is the time to do a section.

The Goldfields Track is an off-road cycling track from Ballarat to Bendigo, traversing a variety of landscapes, including dry eucalypt forest, farming land, pine plantations and pockets of rainforest, and passing through historic towns. A lot of the route is quite technical, with significant singletrack and 4WD track sections. Check out this link for more info: https://www.adventurecyclingvictoria.com/rides/goldfields-track

The plan is to bikepack the track from Ballarat to Bendigo over two days. The itinerary will look something like this:

Friday 1st May:

• Take the 7:15am train from Southern Cross out to Ballarat
• Ride approx 80-100km (1300-1600m elevation) to either Mt Franklin campsite or Vaughan Springs campsite
• Have dinner, camp overnight

Saturday 2nd May:

• Ride approx 80km (1300m elevation) to Bendigo, get there in the afternoon/evening
• Take a train home (last train is at 9:14pm, but definitely aiming to not get there as late as that)

See the above link to Adventure Cycling Victoria for the route.

Don't underestimate the distances/elevations. I've set the difficulty of this ride as advanced as there are a lot of technical sections on this trail, which will mean quite slow going/hard riding. I wouldn't be surprised if we average approx 10km/h. Because of the technical sections, you will need to have a tyre clearance of at least 50mm/2 inches, and suspension is highly recommended. The perfect bike for this trip is a hardtail mountain bike, but a beefy rigid bike will probably do the trick. For reference, I will be riding this on a Surly Ogre (fully rigid) with 2.6'' tyres.

Please reach out to me if you have any questions, my email should be listed on the trip. Otherwise feel free to ask your question in a comment on this page.