Adelaide bike tours: Descend Mt Lofty on a mountain bike

For a mountain bike tour in Adelaide, try Escape Goat Adventure’s descent from Mt Lofty towards the city centre. This Adelaide bike tour combines nature and adventure in the South Australian capital.

Mt Lofty, about 15km south-east of Adelaide city centre, is only 727 metres above sea level. But it sure is better to start an Adelaide bike tour there than finish one. The winding, climbing roads to the top from Adelaide city centre quickly show that going down will be a lot more fun than going up.

Escape Goat Adventures has been running Adelaide bike tours from the top of Mt Lofty for a few years now. They start next to the landmark obelisk with a panoramic view of the city. Then, after the guides have checked everyone’s OK, there’s an initially gentle descent through the Cleland Conservation Reserve.

Adelaide bike tours via Cleland Wildlife Park

The fear factor is sweetened somewhat by an hour’s stop off at the Cleland Wildlife Park. This is a prime place to see some cute Australian critters. The kangaroos are more than up for a spot of hand-feeding. Meanwhile, the emus are up for aggressively pecking at the paper bag the food is contained in. There are also Tasmanian devils, wombats and plenty of birds, but the stars of the show are the koalas – Cleland is one of the few places in Australia where you’re allowed to hold them.

From the wildlife park, this mountain bike tour in Adelaide pretty much all off-road. The tour descends through Chambers Gully on a series of tracks that a 4WD vehicle could just about get up. The weird thing about them is that there’s no-one else there.

Escape Goat mountain bike tours

Escape Goat has been allowed to run tours down these tracks for a few years now, and they were treated rather warily as a test run. The authorities weren’t entirely sure about letting mountain bikers in, but eventually decided that opening up to all cyclists a couple of years ago wasn’t going to be the end of the world.

On the descent through the gully, lizards scuttle off into the bush, birds squawk overhead and those slumbering koalas in the trees occasionally raise their heads.

How hard is the Mt Lofty mountain bike tour in Adelaide?

The tracks are rarely steep – this isn’t a full-blown adrenalin experience – but they vary in quality. Some parts are relatively smooth and only mildly rubbly. Others have tree roots, large rocks and clanking great potholes to navigate. The level of challenge seems just about right – rarely thought-free plain sailing, but rarely potentially catastrophic either. Beginners will be tested, but not overwhelmed.

Towards the end of the journey, the tour heads through some of Adelaide’s richer suburbs and gradually freewheels towards the museum and heritage building-packed city centre.

The Escape Goat tours cost $129 and last around five hours. It’s the sort of tour worth considering as a gift experience.

For more sedate, flat bike rides, try cycling the Barossa Trail through the Barossa Valley wine-region.

More Adelaide activities

Other activities to try out at the end of a Melbourne to Adelaide road trip include TreeClimb Adelaide, climbing the Adelaide Oval, swimming with dolphins from Glenelg and bushwalking to Morialta Falls in the Morialta Conservation Park.