Rockhampton

Destination overview

Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia, but it should be known for its riding. Almost equidistant from Brisbane and Townsville, Rocky has two distinctly different trail networks.

Ride Mount Archer

Just outside town on the slopes of Mount Archer is the First Turkey Mountain Bike Reserve. Built around a trail node format, arterial climbing trails come to a hub where multiple descending trails begin.

The singletrack here lives up to its namesake location and is plenty rough and rocky, so don’t be surprised when you see lycra-clad XC riders running EXO+ casing tyres.

Rocky is bordering on being a metropolitan city, it has its own airport, and a wide variety of bars, restaurants, and shopping.

Watch out for the infamous giant bull statues around town, grab a steak at the Criterion Hotel, and visit the Zoo — it’s free!

Don’t forget Mount Morgan

About 40min up the highway is the town of Mount Morgan, with 25km of freshly built trails around Dam No.7. The network here opened in December 2020, and is made up of mostly green and blue trails, but there are a few black runs out the back.

With everything from flat beginner trails, flowy singletrack and exposed rocky descents, the trails at Mount Morgan are well worth the drive. If you do make the trip, don’t be a flythrough visitor, we had as much fun running around the quirky little town as we did riding the trails.