New village link bike trail unlocks 900 kilometres of cycling adventure

A newly developed cycling trail linking Geurie to Manildra and Molong could prove to be a real drawcard for the booming bicycling tourism market.

The new 100-kilometre cycling route follows quite rural roads and links Geurie, located between Dubbo and Wellington, to Yeoval, Cumnock, Manildra and Molong.

More importantly, this new trail brings together the popular Central West Cycling Trail, radiating from Mudgee, with the Orange and Villages Bicycle Trail, expanding the mapped riding routes to more than 900 kilometres.

More and more bicycle riders are seeking these sorts of regional and rural riding experiences, says Ed Henry, a member of the local cycling group, the Orange Treadlies, who have helped map and road test the new trail.

“Regional bike riding is a very attractive leisure pastime in other parts of Australia, particularly Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania,” Ed said.

“But the Central West has been a bit short on these multi-day rides that are attractive to a fair proportion of bike riders from the capital cities, the urban bike riders that want to get out into the bush.”

It was just over a year ago that the Orange Treadlies, in partnership with Orange360 launched the Orange and Villages Bicycle Trail, 360 kilometres of trails that link Orange to villages in the Cabonne and Blayney Shires,

Realising that just 100 kilometres separated this route from Mudgee’s Central West Cycle Trail, the two cycling groups cooperated to develop the new link route, which Ed believes will see more and more people get out of the cities and explore the central west on two wheels.

“It's been a good joint project, the two bike riding organisations working together to put together a trail that helps bike riders and bike riding visitors to come into our regions,” Ed said.

“What we're doing, to some degree, is catching up with organised routes that have been tried and tested in other parts of Australia. The Central West has been a bit of a desert and we're playing catch-up.”

The new route complements the Orange and Villages Trail ( OVBT) which is outlined here: Orange360.com.au/Things-to-do/Cycling