The Alpine Community Plantation will officially open new trail 'Shred Kelly’ in the Mystic Mountain Bike Park in Bright this afternoon.

Made possible by obtaining funding from Alpine Shire Council, the new flow trail was constructed by Garry Patterson from Trailscapes.

The whole process of designing and building the trail took 10 weeks to complete, but has resulted in one of the highest quality trails you'll find anywhere in Victoria.

“It's an incredible time for the sport,” Mr Patterson said.

“I've been doing this for 15 years – the first few years you were never too sure what's been happening, but the last few years there has been an explosion of new trails right across the country, especially in Victoria. 

“The high country has some amazing terrain, some of the best around.

“We call this new trail a flow trail which essentially means lots of berms, lots of corners, little rollers and small jumps.

“It  has been designed in a way for it to be fun for a range of different skill levels, but some experience riding would be ideal.”  

Alia Parker, executive officer for the Alpine Community Plantation, said the development of MTB trails in the area had come along in leaps and bounds over the last five years or so.

“There have been homemade trails here for decades, but it was only five years ago that they became official,” she said.

“We’ve had some investment in them since, with the Hero Trail and now Shred Kelly.

“It’s been wonderful to add new trails to the park, they’re helping us create a really strong mountain bike network here.” 

The impact on tourism in Bright and the surrounding areas has been undeniable.

Since opening in December 2016, the Hero Trail alone has had more than 50,000 individual rides, Ms Parker said.

“These trails have a big impact on tourism in the area,” she said.

“Mystic Park has seen an increase in mountain bike visitors over the last two years, in fact the sport as a whole has seen a dramatic increase in participation across the board.”   

The sheer amount of riders hitting the hills has led Blue Dirt Mountain Biking to offer shuttle services every weekend, increasing to a daily service from December 27 to February 3. 

Weather permitting, the official opening of the new Shred Kelly trail will be held from 2pm this afternoon.

Despite heavy rain in the days before, the machine-built trails have held up well, and organisers expected that they will quickly dry out in the Saturday sunlight.