If pushing your body to its absolute limits whilst dodging trees and rocks at high speeds sounds like your cup of tea then I strongly urge you to read on. And if not I would urge you to read on anyway to try and find out why anyone in their right mind would object themselves to this.
I am talking about the sport of Mountain Bike Riding. And you will find nowhere else in the area better to indulge in this sport than the Awaba Mountain Bike Park
The Awaba Mountain Bike Park is situated on Mt Faulk Rd between Freemans Waterhole and Cooranbong, a short drive south-west of Newcastle and is maintained by the
Hunter Mountain Bike Association which runs club Cross Country and Downhill races regularly on the track. Just turn off Freemans Drive onto Mt Faulk Rd and keep following the road till you see the bright yellow sign reading 'Mountain Bike Park'.
There is the main cross country track that starts near the top car park that has a series of other tracks that stem off and are graded according to their technical difficulty and the level of fitness required (or hurt factor as I like to call it) to complete the track.
Cross Country
The single track zigzags its way up and down the mountain, through gullies and across creeks. You will encounter several obstacles such as narrow wooden bridges, berms, boulders and hill climbs that will well and truly test your pain threshold. But it's not all lung busting, leg hurting torture. Remember what goes up must surely come down and for every uphill section you are rewarded with a fun high speed downhill run.
Downhill
The terrain starts off on a rocky mountain side with tall standing gum trees and works its way down into gullies and a beautiful rainforest then back out again and it makes the riding as scenic as it is fun and challenging. There is also a dedicated downhill track which caters for the brave and is definitely not for the faint of heart. And as if all this doesn't sound good enough, then wait for the best part. It's absolutely free to use by any one. All you need is a bike.
