Cycling near Long View
Pack your bike
& spin those legs
Long View is ideally placed for cyclists of all ages and every level of skill.
From road biking to brilliant mountain tracks and gentle seaside picnic rolls, the Ballina Shire has it all. Push the road bike up the escarpment to a local cafe for early morning coffee and a pastry, take a fast descent down the highway on the way home, and finish with the two-kilometre climb up Gap Road.
The famous Duck Creek Mountain Bike Park is only five minutes away. Pick your degree of difficulty and go hard.
Not so fast?
There are plenty of gentle, family-oriented rides close by. Tootle along the shore between Ballina and the northern beaches, enjoying ocean views and wildlife at a leisurely pace.
Pack your bike and helmet, and spin those legs.
Section One
Mountain bike parks
Four purpose-built networks within an hour, the nearest of them five minutes down the road.
All free, all signposted, all run by volunteers.
Duck Creek Mountain Bike Park
Alstonville | 5 min | 9 km of trails | easy to advanced
Your closest ride, and the reason cyclists come to this part of the shire. About nine kilometres of purpose-built cross-country and all-mountain single track, free to enter, run by the Northern Rivers Dirty Wheels club.
Every trail signposted with its name, direction and grade. Natural terrain with constructed features, bridges and drop-offs. Map in the car park, and the whole network on Trailforks.
Captain Rous Park
Wardell | 20 min | about 3 km | easy, family
Two short loops, north and south, both built to be ridden clockwise.
Opened in 2017 by the Richmond River Riders with Lismore City Council. Playground, picnic tables and a car park, which makes it the pick for younger children or a first time on dirt.
New Italy Mountain Bike Forest
Doubleduke State Forest | 35 min | 30 kim singletrack | cross-country
The biggest network in the region: roughly thirty kilometres of
purpose-built single track through sclerophyll forest, managed by Northern Rivers Dirty Wheels under permit from Forestry Corporation.
The New Italy Museum cafe is next door. Check the club's page before setting out, as sections have been closed for bushfire recovery and access has at times been limited to members.
Kyogle Mountain Bike Park
Boorabee State Forest | 55 min | 5 km built+5km fire | green to black
Three hundred acres of state forest minutes from Kyogle township, free and open year round, weather permitting.
Flowing trails on dark loam, with green and blue gravity and climbing trails and a black-grade jumps line for the confident.
Worth the drive if the family has a spread of abilities.
Section Two
Coastal paths
Sealed, flat and made for a leisurely afternoon.
Ocean on one side, a coffee at either end, and nothing steeper than a footbridge.
Ballina to Lennox Head Coastal Path
Ballina | 18 min | about 18 km one way | easy, mostly flat
The gentle picnic roll. A sealed shared path from the Ballina riverfront out through East Ballina and along the coast to the Lennox Head cliff tops, with ocean views most of the way and cafes at both ends.
Some sections are busy with walkers, so it rewards an early start.
Tweed Coast Cycleway
Kingscliff to Pottsville | 65 min | 24 km return| easy, flat
Sealed path and boardwalk running the length of the Tweed coast past Fingal, Kingscliff, Cabarita, Hastings Point and Pottsville. Shaded casuarina sections, creek and sea views, and no shortage of coffee.
A full day out with a swim in the middle.
Section Three
The rail trail
The old Murwillumbah line, reopened for bicycles. Gentle gradients, historic bridges and two tunnels through the Burringbar Range.
Murwillumbah to Crabbes Creek
Tweed Vallley | 60 min | 24 km of one way | Easy, gentle gradients
The showpiece section of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail, and the one to do first. Six kilometres sealed and eighteen of compacted gravel, over sixteen bridges and through two tunnels, including the 524-metre Burringbar Range tunnel. Past Dunbible, Stokers Siding, Burringbar and Mooball.
Gentle enough for families and made for e-bikes.
Casino to Lismore
Richmond Valley | 35 min to Lismore | about 29.7 km one way | easy, gentle gradients
The southern section, following the old corridor past open country, creek crossings and historic railway bridges. The 16.3-kilometre Lismore to Bentley leg starts at the heritage-listed Lismore railway station and runs out past Back Creek Bridge and Leycester.
When the whole 132 kilometres is finished it will run from Murwillumbah to Casino.
