It might look like just another weekend on one of Canberra's packed mountain bike trails.
Keen riders crouch over handles, puffing their way up hills, being slapped by flyaway branches.
Small bodies heave their bikes upwards to get spinning wheels airborne, before thumping to the ground and scattering dirt across the terrain.
But on Saturday morning, riders explored fresh terrain on four new trails at Cotter Pines in Coree.
They are set to revive Canberra's mountain bike tourism industry and ease traffic on the city's overused mountain bike paths.
Eagle Rock, Sneaky Pete, Start Me Up and Dazed and Confused were funded by a $25,000 ACT government grant.
Iconic Trails director Gareth Paton said the project would drive tourism to Canberra.
"The more bike trails we can offer the more we increase tourism in the ACT," he said.
"I know Canberra has trails and quite a few, but we still need more because they are getting so heavily used."
ACT Sports and Recreation Minister Yvette Berry said further investment in mountain biking in Canberra would boost tourism.
"The ACT government is committed to making Canberra a premier mountain biking destination and has identified the Cotter area for future trail development," she said.
Mr Paton hopes the investment will encourage more Canberrans to get on their bikes and ride.
"It's great for your mental health, physical health, and you meet a lot of nice people as well through biking," he said.
Before the grants enabled the use of machinery to build trails, 30 volunteers spent 16,000 hours building trails in Cotter Pines.
"Especially when Stromlo Forest Park first started, it was a huge tourist destination because it was one of the first places in Australia to have a commercially built mountain bike path," Mr Paton said.
Ms Berry said about 30 volunteers spent 1600 hours working on the trails, while staff at Iconic Trails dug paths with specialist machinery.
"Working in such a young forest with tricky terrain, huge blackberry infestations and thousands of branches to trim proved challenging and made for slow progress," Allan Vogt from Kowalski Brothers Trailworks said.
Mr Paton said the trails had something for beginners and experts alike.
"There's a little bit of everything," he said.
"The faster you go the harder it is and more challenging it is. There's something for everyone. It's not elitist, its not just for families."
Mr Vogt said there was now 16 kilometres worth of track at Cotter Pines, making it "one of the nicest flow trails in Canberra hidden amongst the trees".
"It is a mix of old school hand-tooled, a smattering of tight and twisty and a good amount of machine-made lovely to rail fun stuff," he said.
The project is a collaboration between Iconic Trails, Kowalski Brothers Trailworks and Pedal Power ACT.
A previous $45,000 grant went towards three new trails in the region and the group has been given an extra $25,000 grant to build a family-friendly beginner trail.
