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Best rides for a novice on Nthn Beaches?
NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.
Hi all
If you've seen any of my previous posts I am a novice getting into XC. What rides on the Northern Beaches do you recommend for a relative novice? Not looking for anything too technical (yet)or too physically punishing!
Been riding Ryland (out & back) the single track that joins Ryland and the St Ives Showground, done Perimeter and Long (enjoyed that a lot). I live very close to Heath and cascades - enjoy that except for the climb out! 
What else would you recommend I try?
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Duck Holes and Centre is another, you just need to keep your bum off the saddle as you crest the waterbars on the Duck Holes descent.
The Cowan Trail out-and-back, off the left of Long Trail about halfway would be a good entree into some more technical climbing and descending to grow your skills. The trick to tech descending is to keep your weight back and down over the rear tyre and stay off the front brake until you've got a flat smooth bit to use it on.
Manly Dam could be considered in a couple of months once you are more comfortable with your bike, if you walk the techy bits like 19th Hole and the rocky descents along the Wakehurst Parkway singletrack to start with. There are some newby gotchas at the bottom of these obstacles for first-time riders, but the rest of the circuit is a lot of fun. Just use your common sense and if you can't see a line you can make, walk it.
Perhaps a beginners skills course by AMBC would take some of the steepness from the learning curve.