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If you know much about Annie Ford, you’ll know she rarely takes the direct route.
The Tasmanian marine scientist, mountain biker and adventure athlete is currently travelling from Hobart to Batemans Bay for Sea Otter Australia.
Called the Road to Sea Otter, the 25-day journey takes Annie through Tasmania, Victoria and NSW, stopping at some pretty handy riding destinations along the way.
This isn’t a continuous bikepacking trip. Annie is travelling in a Subaru fitted with a Thule camping and bike-carrying setup, then getting out to ride, surf and meet local communities at selected stops.
For the rest of us, there are a few opportunities to join her along the way.
Who is Annie Ford?
Annie only discovered mountain biking after Maydena Bike Park opened in 2018. Things escalated fairly quickly from there.
Annie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annieford01
She has since set a Guinness World Record for the greatest vertical distance descended by mountain bike in 24 hours and completed some enormous rides through Australia and North America.
In 2024, Flow’s Tom Wilson caught up with Annie in Vancouver during her 3,000km-plus journey from Mexico to Canada. She was doing the trip on a 170mm enduro bike, complete with flat pedals, proper mountain bike tyres and all her camping gear.
As Annie explained at the time, she prioritises fun over efficiency. Rather than simply getting from one end of the trip to the other, she wanted to ride the good trails and meet the communities along the way.
You can read the full story in From Mexico to Canada | Annie Ford’s bikepacking journey to Whistler.
The Road to Sea Otter follows a similar idea. The stops, rides and people are a big part of the journey, rather than simply covering the distance as quickly as possible.
Throughout the trip, Annie is also raising awareness for Go Beyond Gas and its work in Western Australia.
Maydena is where it all started
The Road to Sea Otter began in Tasmania, including a stop at Maydena Bike Park during its opening weekend at the start of October.
It was a fitting place to begin. Maydena is where Annie first discovered mountain biking, and it has since become one of Australia’s most recognisable gravity destinations.
The park sits in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley and makes use of a massive 820 vertical metres. Its trails range from fast, sculpted flow and jump lines through to steep, natural and properly technical descending.
From Tasmania to Victoria
Annie crosses Bass Strait on the Spirit of Tasmania before beginning the mainland leg of the trip on Monday 12 October.
She’ll collect a new Subaru in Geelong before stopping at Roof Racks Galore to have the complete Thule setup installed. From there, the route heads towards Torquay and the Surf Coast before turning back towards Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
The first chance to join Annie in Victoria will be at Lysterfield.
Ride Lysterfield with Annie
The Victorian community ride leaves Lysterfield Lake Park at 3pm on Friday 16 October.
Lysterfield is one of Melbourne’s best-known mountain bike areas, with 24km of purpose-built riding around 40km southeast of the CBD.
It’s a good place for a social ride. There are easy trails around the lake, a skills area, flowing singletrack, plenty of granite and the course used for the 2006 Commonwealth Games mountain bike event.
There’s enough variety to keep a mixed group happy, and it’s close enough to Melbourne that joining the ride doesn’t require planning a whole weekend away.
You can find the current trail conditions and map through the Parks Victoria Lysterfield mountain bike guide.
After the ride, the group will head to Alchemy Cycle Trader in Ferntree Gully for an event from 4:30pm.
Alchemy is a local bike shop and workshop specialising in new and high-end pre-owned bikes. The afternoon will include a meet and greet with Annie, a Q&A, product demonstrations and giveaways.
Next stop, the Snowies
Annie then heads north through the Victorian High Country towards Thredbo and Jindabyne.
Another community ride is planned for Sunday 18 October. The meeting point, time and route hadn’t been confirmed when we published this, so check the live journey page before pointing the car towards the Snowies.
Thredbo has been central to Australian downhill riding for more than 30 years. Its modern trail network includes around 40km of lift-accessed gravity trails, along with cross-country riding, jump parks and skills areas.
The community ride takes place before the bike park’s summer lift season begins, so this won’t be a normal day of chairlift laps.
For some background on why Thredbo matters so much to Australian mountain biking, watch 30 Years of Thredbo MTB – Part One, the 90s.
Narooma before the final push north
From the Snowies, the journey drops towards the coast for a stop in Narooma on 19–20 October.
There isn’t currently a public ride planned for this stage, but the route puts Annie beside another of the South Coast’s fast-growing mountain bike destinations.
Learn more about Narooma here: Flow rides Narooma!
Narooma now has 85km of trail across 54 trails and three riding zones. There’s a mixture of cross-country, flow, jumps and technical riding, while the Gravity Zone is accessed by shuttle.
The trails are free to ride, and the main trailhead is in Bodalla State Forest off Mitchells Ridge Road.
If you’re making a longer road trip towards Sea Otter, Narooma is an obvious place to break up the journey. You can find the trail map and current information through Mountain Bike Narooma.
Finishing in Batemans Bay
Annie arrives in Batemans Bay ahead of Sea Otter Australia, which runs from 23–25 October.
For mountain bikers, the event location is now a major part of the appeal.
The completed Mogo network has 72 purpose-built trails covering around 125km, with everything from green beginner loops through to double-black gravity trails and the remote 28km Burnaaga adventure descent.
There are three main trailheads at Mogo, the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden and Curtis Road near Batehaven.
We’ve already spent plenty of time exploring the network. Have a look through our Mogo coverage before planning your weekend:
- The best trails in Mogo, NSW
- Riding the Mogo mountain bike park
- Exploring the Mogo mountain bike trails
Find Annie at Sea Otter
Once she reaches Batemans Bay, Annie will be at the Thule x Roof Racks Galore expo stand at midday on Friday 23 October.
Caroline Buchanan will appear at midday on Saturday, and the stand will be open from 10am–5pm across all three days.
Annie will also be involved in Friday morning’s Thule Marathon.
The race uses a 27.7km loop, with one, two and three-lap options depending on how much suffering you’d like to purchase.
Thule Base Camp
Once the riding winds down, Thule Base Camp will run from 6–9pm on Friday and Saturday at the NRMA Batemans Bay Holiday Resort.
It’s a place for riders, athletes and the wider Sea Otter community to catch up away from the main festival site, with food, drinks and appearances from Annie and other Thule ambassadors.
Base Camp passes are limited. Visitors can collect one by visiting the Thule stand and signing up for the Thule newsletter while passes remain available.
Flow will also have a Base Camp pass to give away, with details coming shortly.
You can find the current information on the Thule Base Camp page.
Follow the Road to Sea Otter
Roof Racks Galore has created a live route tracker and journey page with Annie’s current location, community ride updates and a breakdown of the vehicle setup.
We’ll update this article once the remaining ride and competition details are confirmed. Seeeeee ya there!
The post Ride with Annie Ford on the Road to Sea Otter appeared first on Flow Mountain Bike.
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[[{“value”:”If you know much about Annie Ford, you’ll know she rarely takes the direct route. The Tasmanian marine scientist, mountain biker and adventure athlete is currently travelling from Hobart to Batemans Bay for Sea Otter Australia. Called the Road to Sea Otter, the 25-day journey takes Annie through Tasmania, Victoria and NSW, stopping at some
The post Ride with Annie Ford on the Road to Sea Otter appeared first on Flow Mountain Bike.”}]] Read More Flow Mountain Bike
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