Nix-Tracks

The Vision Thing

I live in north central Victoria. This area is not currently recognised by many as a cycling destination, including by local government.

However, I think the extensive grid of local gravel roads that now get less traffic because of farm consolidation and loss of irrigation water, are an opportunity for cycling. Particularly when combined with rarely used clay roads, scenic river tracks and tracks through National and State Parks.

Gravel cycling and bikepacking are the biggest growth areas in cycling at present, and northern Victoria is well placed to benefit.

The big advantages of this area are the low vehicle traffic, most roads are already in good riding condition, and there are many small towns nearby to provide food, accommodation and other services. No big infrastructure spend is necessary, it is rideable now.

Twelve train stations provide easy access from Melbourne and allow many different start and finish points for rides. This and the fact that all the routes are loops means riders don’t need to ride back on the same routes (unlike rail trails). The GABCY Network area also has a climate advantage over much of the rest of Victoria in spring and autumn.

I have a vision of a gravel cycling based micro-economy and ecosystem. A network of interconnected day-routes and through-routes across this area. The routes are supported by a corresponding network of small towns, farm stays, farm gate sales, pop-up cafes and farmers’ markets.

That is what I am working towards, and it is steadily taking shape.

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Thought for the day (and any day): Riding on sealed roads is like kissing someone wearing a face mask.

Comments and Interaction

Comments are open without requiring logins or registration as this is easiest for readers.  I have no agenda to capture readers’ details or try to sell them things.

However, play nicely!  Any comments that are spam, trolling, offensive, gratuitous advertising, overly confrontational or unrelated to the topics will be removed.  If managing comments becomes a problem for me I will have to set up a registration process, which will be sad.  Anyway, we will see how it goes.

Content and Photo Policy

If anyone believes I have used their images or content without proper acknowledgement please contact me.

Website Technical Details

This website was upgraded in July 2022. The major changes were to the back end, readers will not notice much difference to the interface and pages you see. These are some changes you may notice:

• New name and URL. The website is now Nix-Tracks.com which is much simpler and easier to remember. All pages will include this in their URL.
  • However, don’t worry if you have saved or bookmarked old links that include the previous URL prefix (nixtrader.wordpress.com), these will still work forever and be redirected to the pages with new URLs.
• No more ads! If you do not use an adblocker you would have seen advertising in the body of posts and pages on this website. This was nothing to do with me, the ads were inserted by WordPress. However, with the upgrade to a different website plan, there will be no more external advertising to interfere with reading! Yay!

To Contact Me

If you have any questions or comments, post below. I get an email whenever there is a comment; you will get a response within a day or two.

Or contact me directly by email (nixtrader AT yahoo DOT com DOT au).

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