Toyota Genuine Adventure Accessories: mountain biking

Equipping your RAV4, LandCruiser 300, HiLux or C-HR with a ProRide Bike Carrier leaves your boot clear and reduces risk of your bike copping a spray on muddy drives. We call in an expert to prime you with destinations and tips for once you’re loaded up and headed for a peddle.

Todd Palmer has been fixing bikes professionally for over twelve years. He’s ridden everywhere from Melbourne’s hidden Yarra tracks to the wide-open plains of Mongolia. We sat down to talk about mountain bike adventure tips, for beginners and more advanced riders.

As someone who’s based in Melbourne, where would you drive for a beginner day trip ride?

The Warburton Rail Trail is really nice for more entry-level stuff. You can park in town, get your bike off the rack and go for a cruise and have a coffee on the way. That's a very nice time. If you don't feel like going the whole way you can do a shuttle. Just drop someone off and pick them up at the other end. Lysterfield is only an hour out of Melbourne, it has a skills park and easy family trails too.

What about for more advanced riders, where would you suggest?
The You Yangs are great. There’s also a place called La Larr Ba Gauwa, near Castlemaine. It’s really cool. You can leave your bike on the rack and have a picnic. And you can camp there overnight. That way you can use your car as a base camp and ride on smaller loops. I really like doing that as an easier option instead of a massive ride where you're miles away from anything.