F

or proper mountain bikers, the mountain bike trails at Dalby Forest are a red rag to a bull. Actually a red-graded rag because the forest’s many mountain bike trails are colour-coded, much like a ski resort, according to their difficulty.

It’s the black-graded UCI Mountain Biking World Cup Cross Country Championships Trail (the WC trail for short) that’s top dog. Though the impressive £2.5m Dalby visitor centre - an eco-friendly, modernist structure with showers, toilets and café (all powered by the wind-turbine on the roof), isn’t bad either.

Add in the Dixon's Hollow area of the forest; home to a three-acre dirt jumping park (similar to a snow funpark in a ski resort); a four-cross track (a bike version of the snowboard cross as seen in the Vancouver Olympics); and several practice lines where riders can jump to their heart’s content.

Fans of northshore (wooden beams and obstacles all designed to test one's balance, skill and nerve) love the area, and often finish a day on the free-trails with a coffee pitstop at the Low Dalby Courtyard near the Visitor Centre, home to the Purple Mountain Bike Centre - which also has bikes for hire.