My friends and I spend a lot of time looking at maps. When we saw a remote place up in the hills behind Mt Sylvia called “Paradise” our curiosity got the better of us – we felt compelled to visit.

This was a challenging adventure to plan because some of our intended route crossed several private properties. It took a while to make contact with the land owners and arrange permission for us to pass through. After they all kindly said “yes” we were eager to proceed.

We’ve had many fun adventures which have either started or ended at Mount Sylvia.

On this mild winter’s morning we rolled out of town and slowly made our way up Paradise Road.

As we worked our way up the steep climb, the lower Tenthill Valley stretched out behind us – a patchwork of fertile farms, trees and hills with puffs of fog still clinging tenaciously to some of the hollows.

We eventually reached the locked gate, grateful for generous permission we had received from the local land owners. On our rides, every farmer we’ve met loves their land. They’re proud of it and take seriously their responsibility to care for it.

Whenever we’ve asked if it’s ok to pass through on our bikes, they almost always say “yes” when they realize we’re here because we appreciate the land too.

Past the gate, the road continued to climb as the valley dropped away below us.

After a quick descent, we crossed Paradise Creek. Eric couldn’t resist perching atop a nearby rock.

As we climbed out of the creek and up onto the Plateu, our path faded into a pair of faint tyre tracks in the grass. Althought it was difficult to see where we were supposed to go, our GPS kept us pointed in the right direction.

We followed the fence north along a rocky ridge – slopes dropping off left and right.

A clear path had been worn by cattle, but it was rocky and difficult to ride in places.

“This is mountain biking”, Eric declared.

“This isn’t boring”, I thought happily to myself.

We took a quick break to admire the beautiful views through the trees and get ready for the tricky descent.

The track was overgrown with logs and rocks hidden in the thick grass. We took it slowly, and were relieved when everyone got down in one piece with no mishaps.

Merv was waiting for us at the bottom of the hill. The track passed right by his back door. I was grateful for the precise advice he had given me over the phone, which ensured we made it safely down the hill.

After the rough terrain we enjoyed the relaxing pace of the smooth, quiet road as we rolled out of Mount Whitestone.

A field of tomatoes caught Paul and Tony’s attention.

We were able to increase our pace as we rode south along the tarmac on Gatton-Clifton Road towards our lunch stop at Ma Ma Creek. With its water tank and shady trees, this strange-looking galvanized iron community hall was a perfect place to stop.

Eventually we reached the turn-off to Razorback Road. This 5km climb will be familiar to anyone who rode the original “Epic” mountain bike race from Preston Peak to Grandchester. It’s also part of the famous Bicentennial National Trail.

The track winds up the hill through Razorback Station, owned by the Jackson family.

Although it’s a challenging climb, the surrounding property is very pretty.

Slowly we pushed up the hill, stopping regularly to keep everyone together.

The views got better as we climbed higher.

Eventually we reached the top, and enjoyed a fast downhill run, jumping waterbars, dodging rocks, and skiddig around bends as we rolled down to the cliffs at Lagoon Creek.

At the top of West Haldon Road we stopped for one final break to enjoy the view. The next 6 kilometres would be a scorching descent down to the Tenthill Valley dropping almost 500 metres.

I stood by the side of the road watching my friends race down from my left, while a car drove up the hill to my right. Neither of them could see each other. I waved franticly to both, and they safely passed each other. Although I think the car driver was a bit annoyed to be waved down by a crazy looking cyclist by the side of the road.

On the final stretch, I tucked in behind Eric and Darb as we effortlessly enjoyed the final 8km gentle descent into Mount Sylvia.

We rode a total of almost 50km, with about 1,200m of climbing. I burned about 2,500 kcal.

With two big climbs and some rough, remote terrain, this ride rates 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

As portions of this route pass through private property, it must not be attempted without first obtaining permission of the relevant property owners.

Thanks Eric, Darb, Becca, Paul and Tony for another memorable ride.

Thanks to John R, Peter H, and Merv S for generously letting us ride though your beautiful properties.

UPDATE:

Here’s Darb’s video of the ride:

Mt Sylvia Paradise Razorback from Darb Ryan on Vimeo.

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Ever since my first visit to beautiful North Stradbroke Island last year with Jonathan, I’ve wanted to return and explore it on the bike.

When Jason suggested we catch the ferry across this weekend, I jumped at the opportunity.

Any trip to “Straddie” involves crossing Moreton Bay, which meant we had to get to the Cleveland Water Taxi terminal before sunrise. I’m not too good at early starts, but it was worth the extra effort to watch the first rays of sunlight peak up from behind Minjerribah as we waited for the ferry.

“As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

As we arrived on the island at “One-Mile” jetty, just north of Dunwich, the mirror-smooth water reminded me of Coleridge’s poem.

Jason arrived the night before, and met us as we disembarked. He took us on a quick short-cut through the Dunwich Cemetery to a local bakery so we could grab a few snacks before riding off.

Paul was eager to see how his new fat bike would handle all the sand trails on the island. Jason and I optimistically hoped our normal 2.1″ tyres would handle the soft terrain.

As we slowly climbed the steep hills behind Dunwich towards Rainbow Cresent, a rainbow peaked out through the clouds. There was no easing into this ride – it was hard work from the start.

When planning our course, I wanted to avoid paved roads. On the map, the trail between Rainbow and Illawong Crescents seemed the ideal choice. In reality that was not the case:

“Gee I’m glad we don’t have to ride up THAT”, Paul said.

“Well…. actually we do”, I sheepishly replied.

Photos never do justice to steep hills. This sand monster had gradients of around 30% and consisted of soft sand. It was hard work just walking up it. This is probably one track worth avoiding in future!

After battling a few more sandy trails, we arrived at Brown Lake (or “Bummel” in the Quandamooka language) and enjoyed a short break.

There was barely a ripple on the lake surface.

We followed the trails around the back of the lake before coming face to face with a couple of large Kangaroos. Both of them were taller than I was. They stood staring at us for what seemed like ages, but bounded off as soon as I reached for my camera.

After leaving the lake we intended to ride north towards Amity, following some more trails I had identified from aerial photos. They were soft and steep, but we were optimistic the surface would eventually harden up…

At the top, the trails were still quite soft, but eventually became firmer as we rode along. I let some air out of my tyres, dropping the pressure to about 20psi. I discovered if I kept my weight back and maintained a reasonable speed I was able to ride on top of the sand most of the time rather than sinking into it. But at other times, even the fat tyres on Paul’s bike weren’t enough, and we all had to push.

On the other side of the hill we stopped at Myora Springs. This freshwater spring bubbles out of the sand providing some of the clearest water I’ve seen.

After following the paved road for a couple of kilometres, our course eventually went off-road again as we followed a fire trail along Chiggill Chiggill swamp. With the lagoon on our left, and steep hills on our right we followed the trail around the back of Welsby Lagoon towards Amity.

Amity is a delightfully peaceful spot on the north-western tip of the island.

We met Nigel, an old-timer who has lived at Straddie for over fifty years. Pushing an old bike he found at the local rubbish dump, Nigel told us a bit about his life on the Island.

“I came here when I was seven years old, and have been here ever since”, he said.

“Back in those days there were no paved roads and no electricity.”

“It was peaceful. People just left you alone.”

He seemed really contented.

Good on ya, Nigel

Leaving Amity, we decided to try riding along Flinders Beach. The tide had dropped sufficiently, and we were able to ride on a wide path of firm sand.

I was surprised how easy it was – even with my narrower tyres.

Everyone smiled. With gentle surf on one side, unspoilt bushland on the other, and a wide open beach in front of us, we relaxed and enjoyed the wonderful experience.

A Brahminy Kite perched on driftwood before leaping into the air in search of fish.

We met up with Craig at Point Lookout. He had been running a stall at some local markets, and showed us where we could get lunch.

The views from the headland at Point Lookout are always worth checking out.

The tide was getting lower, so as we headed south, we re-joined the beach for an effortless 10 kilometre roll with the wind at our backs. It was like rolling downhill for 45 minutes.

We had the wide beach to ourselves. We were able to relax and soak up the views around us.

As I looked out to sea, I saw a huge Humpback Whale launch out of the water and crash back down with an almighty splash. This happened a few times. I yelled out uncontrollably each time:

“Wow!”

“Did you see that!”.

Everyone did.

There were several migrating whales a few hundred metres offshore. Ever couple of minutes, they’d “breach”.

No – although I tried, I didn’t get any photos. But the whales will be back in September if you’d like to see them. Just sit on the eastern beach at Straddie for half an hour and watch the sea.

A little further down the beach, Craig yelled out to me “How would you like something to eat?”

He pointed out dozens of little mounds in the sand.

Scooping out one of them he triumphantly pulled out a “Pipi”, a bi-valve shellfish that was an everyday part of the traditional diet of the Quandamooka people. All over the island you can find large shell-heaps or “middens” where they’d leave the shells after a feast.

“Can you eat them raw?” I asked.

“They were usually cooked,” Craig explained, “but if you were desperate I suppose you could eat them raw”.

I took a playful bite at the shell, but decided it would be better to let this little creature live, so we threw him back into the sea.

Eventually we left the beach and rode south along Eighteen Mile Swamp. This freshwater swamp is the largest of its kind in the world, stretching behind the dunes for about 30 kilometres.

We crossed yet another spring, with crystal clear water gushing out. The water tasted clean and fresh, so I topped up my drink bottle. It’s a rare experience to be able to find such clean drinkable water on a ride.

We arrived at Blue Lake and had to cross another freshwater creek.

As we waded through, we could see small fish swimming around in the water.

The Quandamooka name for Blue Lake is “Kaboora”, meaning “Silent Pool”.

It’s a very tranquil place.

This whole area was damaged by fires six months ago. It’s good to see the vegetation springing back to life so exuberantly.

On the way out, we followed some pleasant single-track towards the carpark. The narrower track seemed firmer than the fire trail, and much easier to ride.

From there we followed the trans-island road back to Dunwich, taking in the great views of the harbour from the top of the hill.

We rode a total of 66km in about 8 hours including breaks, climbing about 830 metres in vertical ascent.

I burned about 3,500 kcal.

Because of the large sandy climbs, I’ll rate this one 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

If you kept to the coastal tracks and beaches, this would be an easy enjoyable ride – probably 6 out of 10 in difficulty, provided you chose a time when the tide was low.

And if you’re lucky enough to have a fat bike, it would be even easier.

Thanks Jason, Paul and Craig for another great adventure!

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The purpose of today’s ride was to explore some of the history around Jimna as we followed twisty forest trails high in the Conondale Range.


On a misty winters morning we rolled out of Jimna past the small weir which supplies water to the small town.

Overnight rain had moistened the trails without making them too muddy, leaving cool wisps of fog in the shady forest.

In the 1860′s alluvial gold was discovered in the headwaters of Jimna Creek. The first prospectors made reasonable returns in the early years. Eventually the gold in the creek beds ran out, and miners started digging for the precious metal with decreasing returns.

This corduroy bridge crosses the creek near where the original Jimna township was located, close to the first gold mining camps.

One of the last gold miners in the area was “Stumpy” Green, who eked out a simple existence in the area for over sixty years before he passed away in 2005.

His hut was located not far from here on the banks of Gigher Creek near Mount Rollman.

An amatuer fossicker who spoke with him in the 1970′s says this old miner had a simple approach to gold prospecting: “Seek and ye shall find. Don’t just dig the top stuff – dig down. Put the work in once you’ve found colour.”

We climbed out of the creek, eventually reaching Sunday Creek Road, and rode east for a few kilometres towards Buffalo Road.

Leaving the smooth and easy road, we pushed up Buffalo Road deeper into the forest. Eric decided he’d take it easy and walk his bike up the hill, so Paul and I followed suit and took it easy as well.

From there we found Middle Road and enjoyed a pleasant long descent to the causeway at Six Mile Creek.

The creek bank was the perfect spot for a rest and a quick morning tea break.

After climbing back up to the top of the range again, we enjoyed a gentle 5km descent down the western slopes towards the timber plantations around “Ponderosa” station.

There’s a small hut at the bottom of the hill close to a pretty creek. We weren’t trying to break any speed-records today so we decided to have another break on another shady creek bank.

Ponderosa Station is a large cattle property on the rolling hills at the western foot of the Conondale Range.

Cattle country gave way to Hoop Pine plantations as we rode through recently harvested plots.

Some of the terrain around here is very steep. Paul and I were grateful that Eric had ridden through here the week before to identify tracks that would be suitable to ride.

Several times we bumped over cattle grids passing from Farmland to State Forest and then National Park. Some of the land round here doesn’t see much sunlight, and moss grows thickly on any bits of damp wood.

We eventually reached Monsildale Road – a steep climb from the valley back up to Jimna on top of the range.

The Hoop Pine plantations around here stretch on the hillside as far as the eye can see.

I stopped to admire some “Old Man’s Beard” moss draped on the boughs of one particular pine.

“Why don’t you hug it?” Paul grunted as he pedalled past me, slowly working his way up the hill.

“Coz I’d have to push through too many weeds” I answered silently under my breath.

The hill climb brought us out at the top of the hill near the famous Jimna Fire Tower.

At almost 50 metres in height, this wooden tower is the tallest of its type on this side of the planet. Due to lack of maintenance it is fenced off, which prevented us from climbing up to get a view, but it still cut an imposing profile on the skyline.

We then rode down Donkey Falls Road to the “Peach Trees” camping area through more Hoop Pine cathedrals.

Although I didn’t hug any trees, I did fall behind Eric and Paul as I continually stopped to admire this magnificent forest.

Back at the visitor centre in Jimna, local action group secretary, Dave Wright helped put the history in perspective by showing us an old Aboriginal Stone axe.

This ancient tool had been made by continually rubbing the pointy end on a grinding stone, and used for cutting wood, vines and meat.

It predated Gold Mines and Timbergetting by centuries, and hinted and the rich indigenous heritage of the high country in the Conondale Range.

I felt an electric tingle as I held this special artifact in my hand.

We rode 49km in just over 5 hours. I burned almost 2,700 kcal as we climbed almost 1,500m in vertical ascent.

This ride rates about 7.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

I found it tricky in the winter weather as it was difficult to strike a balance between keeping out the cold breeze, and not overheating on longer climbs. A sleeveless vest over a woollen jersey seemed to do the trick. I imagine this would be a bit harder in the warmer months.

Thanks Eric and Paul for another fun ride!

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I’ve been camping before, and I’ve done multi-day bike rides before, but I’ve never done both. “Bikepacking” is “Backpacking” on a bike, and it’s completely new to me.

Here’s the story of my first attempt. I’ve included a summary of my discoveries at the end of the article.


As with most first-time experiences, my plan was to keep it simple, minimize risks and have fun.

The challenge with Bikepacking is that while you can travel a long way under your own power, you can’t carry much gear – only what you can fit on the bike or on your back. So it’s important to pack light.

I started by asking my more experienced friends lots of questions. What sort of gear did they use? How did they carry it? How comfortable was it?

Although I received some great advice from a few experienced campers, I couldn’t afford to buy all of the equipment I didn’t already have.

So I borrowed a tent, sleeping mat and pannier rack from a couple of generous friends, and bought a couple of good quality sleeping bags online.

I also did a trial run in the back yard the previous week, just to make sure it all worked. During the trial run, I decided at 3am that the ground was too hard, and came back inside to the tempting softness of my bed. It’s a bit hard to “come back inside” when you’re camping, so I decided comfort was important to me, and borrowed a better mattress from a friend.

I thought Harrison might enjoy the experience too, so I selected a familar spot, close to home. That way it wasn’t too far for him, and if anything went wrong or it was too much, we could bail-out and come home.

So we set off, along familiar paths, in the middle of winter (does South-East Queensland ever really have winter?) to our chosen spot.

A little over an hour later we started setting up camp. I pitched the tent and inflated the mats while Harrison found a few old bits of dead wood for a small fire to keep us warm.

The sun sets quite early this time of year, so we changed in to warm clothes while we still had daylight, and prepared for dinner.

With no TV or computers to distract us, we opened a packed of crisps and enjoyed the fading light as we talked about whatever crossed our minds.

The cold westerly winds whipped across the water, but the fire kept us warm.

There aren’t many restaurants around that would give you a view like this while you ate your dinner.

It was pitch dark by the time we finished dinner, so we cleaned up and went to sleep at the ridiculously early time of 8pm.

Despite retiring early, we didn’t get up till about 7.30am. I find it a challenge to sleep on a mat on the ground in winter, so I made up for the broken sleep by getting up late.

As with the day before, Harrison foraged for more dry fire wood while I got breakfast ready.

We cheated with the fire and used a bit of methylated spirit to get it started.

My little metho stove quickly boiled the water, and I was soon enjoying fresh plunger coffee from a combined plunger and cup that thoughtful friends Robert and Nerida had given me as a present. (Thanks guys – it’s perfect!)

After breakfast we packed the bikes and rode back home having only been gone a little over 19 hours.

Here’s a brief summary of the experience – hopefully it will help others in a similar situation

What Worked Well

• Getting advice from more experienced friends.  They had done it before – I could learn from their mistakes.
• Borrowing more expensive items from kind friends.  This reduced the budget.
• Borrowing a good quality air matress.  This was much more comfortable than my original “budget” matress.
• Buying a good quality sleeping bag.  My friend Andrew suggested a Deuter Exosphere +2.  I got it at a good price.  It was light, comfortable and warm.
• Doing a trial run of my equipment in my back yard before the big day. I knew what to expect.
• Making my first bikepacking trip close to home. This made it easy to bail-out.
• Taking a metho stove.  It was light, cheap and easy to use.  The metho helped me light the campfire too.
• Taking a cheap head-mounted torch.  This sat on a band around my head, lighting up whatever I was looking at while both my hands were free.
• Putting a silver reflective car windscreen shade on the ground under the matress, silver side up.  (Thanks Paul for this advice)  Sunshades are light and cheap.  They’re also great insulation from the cold ground.
• Taking good quality dehydrated meals.  We bought a couple of “Back Country Cuisine” meals.  All you do is tear them open, pour in boiling water and wait ten minutes.  They even have desert
• Keeping organized before it got too dark.  It’s impossible to find things when it’s dark, so we tried to keep everything in its place.  We washed everything as soon as we had finished with it, and put it away when we were finished.
• Wearing thermal underwear in the sleeping bag.  Thermals take up little space, and they kept me warm even though it was cold outside.
• Taking lengths of old inner-tubes to tie down my load.  I cut the tubes into strips which were strong, flexible and grippy.  The load stayed in place well.

This was a fun experience.  Harrison enjoyed it as well, and it was good to get some quality time with him.

Next time I probably would avoid mid-winter though, no matter how mild it is!

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Yielo Station is a large property on the edge of the Conondale National Park which was settled during the Jimna gold rush in the 1860′s. Today’s adventure took us on several unusual loops through Yielo as we explored different tracks that we could use in an upcoming social ride.

To allow us to cover more ground, Eric drove us to the top of the range in his car, then picked us up at the bottom a couple of times, dropping us back up on Sunday Creek Road so we could check out several different trails.

This meant we did a lot of riding downhill without having to push up hills. What a lazy day

Our first downhill run was along Langston Road. This 4km fire trail runns through the forest dropping 200m in elevation towards Yielo Station.

We heard that there were remnants of an Aboriginal Bora Ring towards the bottom of the road, so Paul and I had a look at one or two places to see if we could find it. Because the area is so hilly, there aren’t many wide flat places that could hold a Bora Ring. We think we found it about two or three hundred metres from the bottom of the hill.

On the way back up to the top of the range, we stopped at the Environmental Education Centre to look for Stumpy Green’s Hut. I mentioned the legendary old Gold Prospector last week. All that remains of his hut is a few burnt stumps and a clearing in the forest. Judging from the small holes in the ground, it looks like a few fossickers have visited the ruins and had a dig around in the hope that they might find a few old nuggets that Stumpy could have left behind. Somehow I doubt someone with as much experience as Stumpy would have been so careless with his gold.

The track past Stumpy’s hut winds through the forest along side the ruins of an old humpy, a rusty old truck, and numerous fallen trees.

After about a kilometre it crosses Gigher Creek which was a popular place for alluvial gold seekers in the 1860′s. After rain they’d sit by the creek, meticulously swirling mud in their pan, in the hope that they’d find a few flecks of the precious yellow metal.

Eric dropped us off a second time, higher in the Conondale Range at Gigher Creek Road near Mount Rollman.

This 6km descent drops over 300m down the hill towards Yielo. It was a longer faster descent than our first downhill run.

On the way down I couldn’t resist stopping at this burnt out old stump which had a “face” on it that resembled a lion’s head.

We had a look at a well-used campsite half-way down the road close to the creek which is popular with amateur gold fossickers today.

Gigher Creek doesn’t have much water in it at the moment, which explains why no one was panning for gold today.

Eric was waiting for us again as we rolled out at the bottom of the hill near Yielo Homestead. We packed the bikes in the car and headed back up the hill a third time.

“I’m starting to get a sense of Deja Vu”, Eric muttered as we trundled back up the range.

The third and final descent was down Summer Mountain Road.

This was the longest and prettiest of all of today’s downhill runs.

At this point we said good-bye to Eric, and arranged to meet back in Jimna in a couple of hours, about 20 kilometres away.

Summar Mountain Road undulates for over 5km through dense rainforest as it drops over 550 metres. It’s a long way down, and a lot more fun riding DOWN than it would be riding UP.

Because this road was a last-minute suggestion by Eric, I didn’t have a GPS route of the track. The plan was basically to follow the road to the bottom of the hill.

Unfortunately we reached a T-junction and weren’t too sure whether to go left or right.

Someone suggested that “Dan” should go right.

My instincts suggested left was closer to our desired destination, so we left Dan to his own devices.

As we rushed down this hill, the forest started to look familiar.

“I’ve been here before”, I told Paul.

Then I realized we’d ridden some of these trails over a year ago when we visited Summer Creek.

Although it was fun to revisit the site of past adventures, it also meant that we were a lot further east than Eric had intended us to be when he dropped us off. We had further to go than we had anticipated.

We emerged from the forest at the end of McAulays Road. “Road” is a bit of an exaggeration. It’s rough, rutted and hilly. It would be very difficult for any sort of vehicle to pass through here – except for perhaps a horse, or a mountain bike

The wide open spaces of Yielo Station were a stark contrast to the dense forest we emerged from a few minutes earlier.

Although we didn’t have a GPS plot, we just followed the track west. It became easier to ride the further we progressed.

Despite the dry weather, we still got our feet wet as we rode through a couple of creek crossings.

Eventually we reached Summer Mountain Road again. I think this was where Eric had intended us to emerge in the first place. It was just a little further than we anticipated.

We rode through several paddocks past herds of bewildered cattle who watched briefly then thundered off in a cloud of dust.

As we rejoined the state forest, we found ourselves in a plantation of Bunya Pines (Araucaria bidwilli). It’s rare to see so many of these wonderful trees in the same place. This was an experimental plantation established by Queensland Forestry several decades ago amidst larger plots of more common Hoop Pines. The maps say that deep in heart of one large plot of Bunyas there’s another Aboriginal Bora Ring. I could see the ring on the maps, but the terrain looked way too rough to attempt it on a bike.

So we just enjoyed the trees instead.

We crossed Yabba Creek as our straight track through the forest brought us back to Jimna surprisingly quickly.

View Larger Map

The Yellow tracks show where Eric drove us in the support vehicle.
The Red tracks show where Paul and I rode.

The individual track logs are here:
Langston Rd
Stumpy Green
Gigher Rd
Summer Mountain Rod

All up we rode about 32km in 4 hours. I burned about 2,000 kcal. We climbed about 700 metres in vertical ascent, and dropped about 1,300 metres.

This was an easy day on the bike because of the assistance we received from Eric driving the support vehicle.

I’ll rate it 6 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Paul and Eric for another fun day on the bike!

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The purpose of our ride today was to explore some trails around the headwaters of the Noosa River near Neebs Waterhole in Great Sandy National Park


We started the day riding north along the riverbank from Harry’s Hut.

Several of our more memorable adventures have included the beautiful Noosa River. It was good to be back on a cool winters day and soak in the serenity.

Our trail meandered through a strange looking forest of twisted eucalypts growing slowly in the sandy soil.

We eventually reached the boundary of the national park, with pine plantations on our left, and vast plains of native forest on our right.

“The Cooloola Way” is a rough dirt road heading north-east from here all the way to Tin Can Bay. It has some bumpy downhill sections which are a lot of fun to ride on a bike…

…We followed it back into the national park for a while.

We left the road and followed a narrow track through some spectacular open plains.

And then into some dense paperbark forests.

It was impressive to see such a variety of vegetaion and terrain in such a small distance.

Then disaster struck. A stick got caught in my derailleur, twisting and breaking it.

The derailleur is the mecahnism which changes the gears. The only way to repair this sort of damage while you’re on the trail is to remove the derailleur and convert the bike into a single-speed.

I’ve done this before, but the chain ended up being too tight, damaging my rear cassette, so I let Darb and Eric help me out and fix the bike.

With a single-speed, I didn’t have the luxury of changing gears when the terrain got rougher. Plus the slightly loose chain kept dropping down a cog or two. To fix this we attached a green stick to the chain-stay, inside the chain, to push it out and keep the chain on the right cog. It was a bit noisy, but it did the trick.

Not long after that we reached the waterhole.

Although the water is stained brown by tannin from leaves, it’s pure and fresh. On a warmer day we would have had a swim, but today it was too cold.

We had planned to return via Wandi Waterhole, but with my mechanical problems we decided to play it safe and return via the Cooloola Way.

There are many trails around here that we are yet to explore. I’d like to come back again (with a properly working bike) and see what we can find.

We made our way back through the paperbark forest near the river to our starting point.

There were still a few hours left in the day, so we decided to have a look at nearby Doggrell Tree Conservation Area.

Doggrell forest contains some majestic Gympie Messmate trees.

They tower upto 60 metres above the forest floor.

These huge trees are prized for their excellent wood, which explains why it’s difficult to find many mature trees still alive in the wild…

You can still see the cut marks in the old stumps where loggers placed boards so they could climb up and fell the tree.

You don’t often see Kauri Pines growing in the wild, so when I spotted this one I decided to hug it

Everything is big here, including the Cabbage Tree Palms which grow 15 to 20 metres high.

All up we rode 51km in 5 hours including about 90 minutes in breaks.

This is an easy and pleasant ride in the cooler months – I’m rating it 5.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. Take plenty of water in warmer months.

Thanks Darb and Eric for another spectacular ride.

Thanks too for an excellent temporary repair job on my bike!

UPDATE: Here’s Darb’s video of our ride:

Harry’s Hut Neebs Waterhole 2014-07-19 from Darb Ryan on Vimeo.

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Harrys Hut Adventure

Todays social ride was the culmination of several weeks work exploring some of the wonderful trails around Jimna. The ride was in two halves with the morning loop exploring the Timber history of Jimna, and the afternoon loop exploring the Gold Mining history.

Our first loop followed some single track south-west from Jimna though the forest up to Mile and a Quarter Road.

The road is about a Mile and a Quarter from Jimna, hence the unimaginitive name. But it boasts a wonderfully fast descent down the range towards Ponderosa Station.

Part way down we had some great views of the endless hoop pine forests stretching to the horizon.

We waited at the bottom for everyone to catch up while we said “G’Day” to a couple of friendly horses.

Our course led us from farmland to national park and back into plantation forest several times. The temperature changed abruptly with the various vegetation in one or two spots.

The forestry trail twisted through sections of trees all at different stages of their growth cycle from short saplings to towering giants.

We had several very strong riders with us who we afftionatlely dubbed the “Ninjas”. We sent them off on an extra hilly section while the rest of us mortals rode ahead. That way nobody got too far behind or in front.

The reset of enjoyed a relaxing ride our track slowly wound back up the range towards Jimna.

Back at the top we had a quick break at the fire tower as we waited for the stronger riders to catch up after their additional section.

I was amazed at the strength of the single-speed riders, Lassi and Glen, who rode those hills without the assistance of any gears. Lassi is a vegetarian from Denmark, which (I suppose) makes him a “Vegetarian Viking Ninja” Who would have thought radishes contained so much energy?

From there we enjoyed a scorching descent down Donkey Falls Road. I was amazed at how much speed we picked up, and was secretly relieved there were no vehicles coming in the opposite direction.

The forests around Jimna have one or two really fun downhill sections.

We all made our way down this treacherous section at our own pace. Some walked. Some raced. Others performed a half-controlled skid to the bottom.

Everyone had fun.

Back at Jimna, Dave Wright from the visitor centre had cooked up some perfect steak burgers.

“Can’t talk, eating” I heard someone say as I wolfed down the delicious meal. I don’t think it touched the sides.

After lunch we set off through the forest again past the weir to the gold fields.

I was quickly left behind by the stronger riders – perhaps the lunch was too good? Thankfully Darb, Mike and Tony stayed back and rode with me.

The roll down Gigher Road was thrilling. The trees closed in on either side, the track dropped, and whe rocketed through the undergrowth, a blur of green on either side.

We shot out of forest at the bottom of Gigher Road onto the bleak plains around Yielo Station.

This old farm has been here for over a century.

We followed the dirt road past brown fields and the occasional old Bunya back towards Jimna.

I love feeling of open space I get while riding through Yielo. The horizon seems a million miles away, and open plains make the sky feel like it’s huge.

Eventually we met up with Tungi Road and made our way back into Jimna about half an hour after everyone else.

I’m really grateful to the guys who hung back and rode with me.

UPDATE: Here’s Darb’s video of the ride:

Jimna 2014-07-26 from Darb Ryan on Vimeo.

All up we rode almost 65km in seven and a half hours, including breaks. We climbed almost 1,850 metres in vertical ascent, and I burned about 3,800 kcal.

I’ll rate this ride 8.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. You can split it in two if you like. The first loop by itself is about 35km, and rates about 7 out of 10 for toughness. The second loop by itself is about 30km, and rates 8.5 out of 10 for toughness.

Thanks everyone for a great day!

Related Posts:

Timber and Gold

Monsildale

Summer Creek

Yielo

D’Aguilar – Conondale Epic

Instead of a long all-day ride far away, today’s ride was a relatively quick three-hour adventure close to home. Would it be possible to have an exciting cross-country adventure in the suburbs?

With the winter sun just starting to peak over the horizon we cut across a local cricket field into some bushland behind a disused paper mill.

There are dozens of dirt tracks around here. We had the North-Pine River on our right, and a series of large lakes on our left, riding a thin bridge of land between the two. Apart from the low hum of Saturday morning traffic, it felt like the bustle of the city was far-off.

At one time all this land was part of “The Murrumba Run” purchased from the Griffin Family by Tom Petrie in the 1860′s. Around 1930 Tom’s son Walter planted this orchard of pecan and macadamia trees. The trees are still here. Dormant and leafless in the winter weather, they’re still healthy, producing a good crop of nuts every year. Macadamias are native to to this area. Called “Bauple” by the local indigenous people the tree grew in the forests of Queensland and northern NSW. The Petrie Family were among the first to realize their commercial potential.

Their property, “Murrumba” gives its name to the present-day suburb of “Murrumba Downs” where we were headed.

We left the riverside tracks of the mill and followed the river east towards John Oxley Reserve. Nestled on a hillside, this reserve contains a small diverse forest of remnant vegetaion. We followed a popular zig-zag dirt track down the hill to a mangrove swamp at the bottom.

A boardwalk kept us above the ground as we rolled through the trees. I always associate mangroves with mud, but there was very little of it here. She-oaks, paperbarks, and even hoop pines grew out of the thick grass.

John Oxley came ashore here in 1823 as he rowed up the North Pine River with the shipwrecked John Finnegan who he had rescued earlier from Bribie Island. One thing Oxley noted were the huge Hoop Pines. Thankfully one or two still remain.

As we continued eastwards, the river on our right grew wider, and the hills in Acacia Park grew steeper. At this point, the North Pine River abruptly ends….

… as it joins the South Pine River and becomes the “Pine River” for the rest of its journey to Moreton Bay. As we looked over the confluence of both rivers we could see Mount Coot-tha in the distance with its distinct TV transmission towers.

Our passage east was blocked by the Bruce Highway. Any good mountain-biker would prefer to ride on dirt rather than paved-road, so we followed an unusual strip of land northwards along the highway. With 4m high fences and mature trees on either side, this narrow reserve stretches for a couple of kilometres and provides a great off-road alternaive to riding through suburbia. Nothing says “Urban Cross-Country” like a dirt track barely metres from a busy freeway.

… and nothing says “Urban” more than neat houses in suburbia. Most weeks we ride in some rough and remote places. Today it felt strange to be rolling past neat well-kept gardens in front of immaculate brick veneer homes.

After about a kilometre we found a bike path which we followed for a while. We felt more at home as we had to scramble over some rocky drains with our bikes.

The path led north along some picturesque artificial lakes. There is an excellent network of bike paths through Murrumba Downs and Kallangur, and were were able to ride most of the way without having to travel on the road.

The friendly crunch of gravel under our tyres welcomed us to the bushland at the northen end of Marsden Road.

North Pine Christian College (NPCC) has built a wonderful network of single tracks in the bushland behind their school on Hughes Road at Dakabbin.

We raced around the bumpy twisty track likes happy kids. NPCC has done a great job with these tracks…

… they’ve got everything – berms, jumps, rollovers…

… even a podium. Since Becca has excelled in all of the races she’s entered this year, we thought she should get to stand in the gold-medal position.

On our way back home we rode along some motorbike tracks which followed the fenceline along the railway lines at Dakabin. It’s amazing what you can find when you decide you want to avoid busy roads.

Through a quiet park in Kurwongbah we headed towards the lake.

I often ride my bike solo through here during the week. Today I enjoyed being able to experience it with my friends.

And as the clock ticked over to three hours, we found ourselves slowly rolling back along the bike paths beside North Pine River.

Although it felt strange to arrive home early on Saturday morning – before morning-tea time, I was impressed that we could have such a fun adventure so close to home in such a short period of time.

What impressed me even more was that we could ride so far through the suburbs with so little of it on-road.

All up we rode almost 43km in just over 3 hours with total elevation gain of about 420m.

I burned about 1,600 kcal.

This is an easy ride, and parts of it are perfect for beginners. I’ll rate it 4.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Becca, Darb and Paul for a pleasant ride!

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Two Lakes

Harrys Hut

Dams and Rivers

Lakeside Epic

This was an enjoyable day of exploration which turned into an overnight nightmare because of Lantana.

Our plan for today’s ride was to start at the head-waters of the Western Branch of the Brisbane River, follow the Bicentennial National Trail (BNT) northwards to Elgin Vale, then return back to our starting point via Gallangowan and Yabba State Forests.


We drove over thirty-four crossings of the Brisbane River to get to our starting point at “Western Branch”. We then set off northwards on the bikes over the few remaining causeways of the upper reaches of the river.

It hasn’t rained here for a long time. The valley seemed dry and remote. It took us about an hour to get over the range towards Elgin Vale.

In the 1930′s Elgin Vale was home to a large workforce who ran the local sawmill. It’s much quieter these days…

…but the remains of the disused sawmill are still standing.

We played around on the rusty old equipment, and I turned over the crank of an old truck a few times.

“I don’t think you’ll start it” a wizened voice yelled out to us from the distance.

We didn’t realize the caretaker was watching us from his front steps.

Neville Spies and his wife look after the old sawmill. They told us a bit about the history of the place and that many people would like to see the sawmill turned into a museum. He also pointed out a great place down the road where we could top up our water.

The CWA hall was once a school. With comfortable chairs underneath and plenty of flat lawn outside, it is a popular camping spot for travellers on the BNT. It was the perfect place for us to stop for a quick bite to eat.

From there we headed west along the paved road to Manumbar. A couple of skittish kangaroos bounded across the road in front of Mike but he managed to evade them. The BNT meanders through the mountains from here towards Kilkivan, but at this point we decided to leave the BNT and make our way up into the forests at Gallangowan.

While the Elgin Vale sawmill might not be used anymore, the hills around here are covered with hundreds of square kilometres of plantation forests.

We slowly made our way up the hill to the fire tower.

I only made it to top of the second set of stairs before remembering that I am not too good at climbing high things. The wooden stairs felt creaky, the wind felt stronger and irrational voices inside kept shouting that I was going to fall. In this case I listened to the voices, stopped climbing, and sheepishly made my way down.

After climbing for another few kilometres to the highest point of the ride, we enjoyed a long slow 11km descent down to Moonarrumbi Creek. I rode through a mob of about half a dozen kangaroos who all started bouncing down the hill in the same direction as I was going. I grinned insanely as I rode alongside them.

“Did you see that???” I asked the other guys as we reached the bottom of the hill.

“See what?” they replied. Thankfully I was able to snap a couple of blurry photos on the way down while clinging to the handlebars with my free hand.

And then came the Lantana.

For those of you lucky enough to not know about it, Lantana camara is a noxious weed from South America. It grows in thickets up to 4 or 5 metres high and has thick spiky branches which form a lattice. To get through you have to break or bend the branches, while their small spikes scratch your skin.

It was about 3pm. Our course showed us about 15km from the end of the ride. All we had to do was go straight ahead and follow the forestry road I had spotted from the satelite imagery.

The lantana wasn’t too bad at first. We could walk around it at first, and we did. But it slowly got thicker.

Eventually we just had to push the bikes into it and walk behind. But that became difficult because the branches would get caught around the bike, on the pedals, through the spokes, around the seat. Meanwhile the ends of the branches poked us in the face, ears, eyes and mouth. Branches would get stuck between my pack and my back, making it impossible to move.

In some places we had to crawl under the branches, and drag the bikes with us.

In other places we tried to go around the Lantana, in the forest, but it was full of vines which were even harder to traverse because they’d wrap around our bodies and the bikes. And their spikes were larger.

Why didn’t we turn around?

We should have. On other rides when we’ve hit Lantana we’ve back tracked. But this time we were at the end of a long ride, and the thickets stood between us and home. Back tracking would have meant retracing the days ride which would have taken 5 or 6 hours. We had a vain hope that if we persisted we’d break through to a clear road and get back a couple of hours late.

That hope faded as the sun set. For an hour or so we could see very little until the moon rose higher. We took turns – a couple would plough ahead into the Lantana, breaking the branches to clear a path, while a couple of us rested. We’d then drag the bikes through the cleared path.

We were only progressing at about 200 metres per hour.

Mike, Eric and Paul worked bloody hard through the night, putting their bodies on the line, throwing themselves into the horrible weeds. I tried to help, but I don’t think I pulled my weight. Without these men, things could have been much worse than they were.

By 8pm we reached a spot where we were able to get phone reception, and phoned home to let our families know we were running late, we were ok, but we didn’t know when we would be home. I was also thankful I had my Spot GPS messenger which was transmitting our location every ten minutes via Satellite. Loved ones were able to watch our slow progress through the night.

At 3am the moon started getting low. It was pitch black. We had no torches.

We had no torches – can you believe that? I always carry way too much stuff in my pack but this time I had forgotten to pack a lousy torch.

But I did have matches and Eric had a lighter. He got a fire going. I shared out a couple of large garbage bags I keep in my pack so the others could keep warm. I was grateful for the space blanket I kept in my first aid kit. I lay shivering on the lantana branches under my space blanket next to the fire wondering how the heck we had allowed ourselves to get into this predicament. Then I drifted off to sleep for an hour or two.

Thankfully it was winter. It was cold, but there were no snakes or biting insects except for a couple of mosquitoes.

Morning came. We were all running low on water and snacks.

I’m not sure why we decided to keep pushing ahead in the same direction. After a couple of hours we came to a decision.

“If we keep doing this we’ll be in this forest for a second night” we agreed.

So we turned back.

It was slow going – but our progress was faster. We were following the track we had made the night before, so we didn’t have to break off as many branches. We were racing along at maybe 500 metres per hour.

By mid morning we had run out of water.

With dry tongues thick with thirst, it was impossible to eat anything. You can’t digest food without water. With thick forest either side, and lantana around us, it was impossible to go off in search of a creek. All we could do was push ahead.

We eventually emerged from the Lantana thicket at 3pm – 24 hours after we had gone in. After a quick roll down the hill we were at Moonarrumbi Creek. It was thick with moss. I could see insects swimming around in it, and there were cowpats on the egde – but it was the only water around, so we drank it. I have a LifeStraw filter which I keep for situations like this, but it didn’t work. Thankfully we also had some Ambipur water purifying tablets which we put in the water before drinking it.

The funny thing about dehydration is that even though we were guzzling down large quantities of water, we still felt thirsty. It’s a horrible sensation.

As the afternoon wore on, we slowly made our way northwards through the state forest back towards the main road. Bridges were washed away in one or two places. At other spots we had to climb over fallen trees, but these obstacles seemed insubstantial compared with the monster we had contended with during the night.

And then a miracle happened. When we got to the Manumbar cross-roads, a couple of farmers drove by in a ute. I stuck out my thumb asking for a lift, and they stopped. I think we must have looked quite pathetic, covered in scratches. They took pity on us and agreed to drive us back to our car, about 30km away.

So we piled in the back of the ute, with our bikes, and hung on tightly as we bounced around on the bumpy roads.

Leon Franz and his son Jamie are cattle farmers from Manumbar. I think they’re heroes. Leon’s great, great… grandfather was Friedrich (Karl) Franz, a german missionary – one of the first free settlers who came to Queensland in 1838 as part of the Zion Hill missionary station.

Leon’s grandmother, Emma Franz was a mother of nine and a midwife who’d go out in the middle of the night with a lantern to help women giving birth.

Leon’s father, Norm drove the kids to school in the school bus.

And today, Leon often rescues hapless travellers who are stranded with flat tyres, broken down vehicles or (as in our case), exhausted.

Leon’s family has been a cornerstone of the community helping people for generations.

We’re so glad you came long when you did, mate

Our GPS batteries ran out during the night, so the stats of this ride are not as accurate as normal.

All up we rode about 90km with about 2,000m of climbing. It took us 32 hours, and I burned 9,000 kcal.

If we had found a reasonable track back this ride would have only been 75km long with about 1,700m of ascent and would have rated about 8.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

As it turned out, it was much tougher – life threatening, in fact.

I am very grateful to Eric, Mike and Paul for the back-breaking effort they made to get us all home safely. It’s not till you’re in a life-threatening physically demanding situation that you discover the quality of someone’s true character. These guys were outstanding. I feel like I could trust them with my life – because I did.

Lessons Learned

Take lots of water, and refill whenever you get the chance.
Take plenty of food and snacks.
Take a jacket.
Take a good first aid kit, with space blanket and matches or lighter.
Take something to purify pond water if needed.
Take a torch.
If there’s an unknown / difficult section of trail, attempt it at the start of the day, not the end. It’s easier to recover from navigational errors when you have plenty of daylight left.
Have a “Plan B” route in case the first route fails.
Take a Spot GPS Messenger in rough country. Phones are unreliable.
Avoid lantana at all costs.

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East Meets West

Spicers Gap

Mount Kilcoy

Mapleton National Park

Conondale Range

Today’s adventure took us back to the spectacular country on the Border Fence along the top of the Border Ranges near Rathdowney.

This time we returned with a few more friends.


The forecast for the last few days had been predicting heavy rain, and a few people decided to cancel at the last minute, but we still had 14 excited adventurers who decided to “turn up” to see what would happen.

So we rode out under cloudy skies from Rathdowney along Running Creek Road.

Weather is a fickle thing. I figured we might have some good luck with the rain, but the only way to take advantage of that good luck would be to turn up on the day, and adjust our plans based on the conditions at the time. We decided if things got too wet, we’d just turn around and roll back down the hill.

The big climb of the day was Philp Mountain Road. I had offered a tee shirt as a prize for whoever made it to the top first.

A few of us took it easy on the climb while a few “ninjas” decided to test themselves out and climb the hill as quickly as possible. We joked that we might end up passing a few exhausted corpses on the way up, but (thankfully) that didn’t happen.

As we slowly ground our way up the mountain, the views to the west grew more stunning.

In one or two places the gradient was too much and we pushed the bikes upwards.

Tim made it to the top first, so he was dubbed the Philp Mountain Ninja. Top effort, Tim!

Once we had reached the top we dropped in to see Richard and Susan Zoomers, who run Wild Mountains Environmental Education Centre. They had kindly prepared morning tea for a dozen hungry mountain bikers, and Richard told us a little bit about his vision for the property.

Richard explained how experiencing the beauty of nature first-hand changes us more than any political campaign can. Our attitudes and habits change when our hearts change. And the best way for that to happen is to help people see the wonder of our environment face to face.

Looking out the window while Richard spoke, I saw a rock wallaby sitting peacefully on a log in the rainforest.

They have some great facilities up here for school groups, volunteers etc to stay overnight.

Leaving Richard and Susan we made our way up to the border fence in the Rain Forest.

“I imagine the view up here is pretty good on a clear day” someone commented as we passed the Finger Lime Orchard.

Some parts of the fence line are very steep. Our plan was to make a final decision on the course at this point. If it was raining heavily we’d turn around and retrace our steps. If not we’d push on. Amazingly there was no rain, so we continued.

I skidded my way to the bottom while a couple of other dare-devils released the brakes a and flew down…

… but we all had to work quite hard to push the bikes UP some of the sections.

I think this forest must often be shrouded in clouds. Moss grows thickly on the tree trunks. A few of us commented that it felt like “Middle Earth” from Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings” – giant mossy boughs reaching for into the clouds, surrounded by wisps of mist… I understood what Richard was getting at. Spending time here does affect you.

Russel got a stick through his chain which bent his derailleur up and broke his hanger. We weren’t able to replace the hanger, but Darb converted the bike into a single-speed while the rest of us watched, and Russel was able to ride out.

While we were standing around waiting, I noticed there were quite a few Gympie-Gympie plants around. These plants have horribly painful venomous stings. We made sure everyone knew about them and avoided them.

As we crossed the cow-paddock on the top of the range, we had our first bit of light rain. I was grateful for our good fortune. Against the odds we had managed to have a reasonably dry day.

The next section worried me. The descent through Palen Creek State Forest was dangerously steep. I made sure everyone knew what to expect, then gritted my teeth and started down the hill.

My front brakes were playing up, so I used my rear brakes a bit more agressively than I should have. Consequently I skidded down the hill, and was lucky to arrive at the bottom in one piece.

But by some stroke of amazing luck we all made it to the bottom in one piece. A couple of people came off once or twice – but the ground was covered in leaf-litter and was soft and forgiving.

We rode out of the forest in dappled sunlight and eventually jumped the gate at the top of Back Creek Road.

From there it was an easy roll past numerous cattle properties and quiet creek crossings back to the highway.

I had left my car on the highway earlier in the day with fresh water for people to top-up, and in case anyone needed a lift back into town.

Ruseel and I loaded up our bikes as the rest of the group rode off towards Mount Barney.

Mount Barney was shrouded in clouds as the rest of the group slowly ground up Barney View Road.

Jim shot up the hill with Jason a little further behind.

I was impressed how quickly these guys could climb.

I rode about 33km with 1,050m of climbing and burned about 3,000 kcal in five and a half hours including breaks.
The other riders completed about 53km with about 1,500m of climbing. I’ll rate the total loop about 9 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Darb, for helping me organize this ride.

And thanks everyone for turning up despite the weather predictions. You guys definitely aren’t made out of sugar

Update: Here’s Darb’s video of the ride:

Rathdowney Border Fence Back Ck 2014-08-17 from Darb Ryan on Vimeo.

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I had spent a long time planning todays ride, only to have those plans disrupted by heavy winter rain. Here’s what we did instead


We were all up around 5am watching the weather radar. Becca lived close to where we planned to ride, and messaged me saying it had been bucketing down all night and that we should cancel. I contacted everyone and cancelled, but Jason P called and told me his bike was already packed into the car and he was ready to go.

“Come round here anyway”, I suggested. “I’ll work out an alternative ride while you’re on your way”.

Riding on muddy trails isn’t fun, so we both agreed to follow some bike paths to some local state forests, and follow the fire trails. Fire trails are gravel tracks in the forest built for fire-fighting vehicles. Many of them hold up well in wet weather – the trick is knowing which ones don’t get boggy.

As luck would have it, the tracks along the South Pine River have been recently upgraded. Previously it was a fun challenge to ride over some sections of the rough rocky path. The new wooden walkway made the section along the river bank quite easy in the wet weather.

It wasn’t long before we reached the fire trails of Bunyaville. Jason has been doing a lot of training on the road bike which has given him a lot of strength for climbing hills. He left me behind on a few of the slopes, but kindly waited for me at the top.

We followed a few quiet tracks through an old farm to Samford Forest.

“Surrey Farm” was home to the Collins Family, one of the pioneering families who moved to the “South Pine” district around 1880. The farm was a hub of the local community with several high-profile weddings occurring in the farmhouse in the 1880’s. In 1887 Eliza Collins married Frederick Roskin. In 1888, Mary Jane Collins married Edwin Phillips. It was also the site of a gruesome murder in 1888 of a nine year-old girl who was taken while walking along a horse trail through thick scrub not far from the Surrey Farmhouse.

These days it’s a tranquil park and plantation with rows of trees standing sentinel over the secrets of pioneering days.

At Samford Forest, affectionately known as “Ironbark” to most mountain bikers, we followed the Bergin Creek Trail past sleepy bee hives to the top of the range. When I normally pass these hives I can often detect the unmistakeable smell of honey.

“Can you smell honey?” I asked Jason.

He bent over and put his nose close to the hive. I had the camera at the ready in case a bee decided to sting him. Thankfully they were all hiding placidly in the hive and didn’t trouble him.

A few trail runners jogged along the “Three Sisters” break in the light drizzle.

“Well you’re not made of sugar!” I commented, admiring their tenacity as they ran despite the rain.

“Definitely not”, one of them smiled as they puffed past us.

“Threeways” is a point in the middle of the forest where three trails meet. It has a small hill in the middle which is a lot of fun to ride over.

Leaving “Ironbark” we followed some deserted streets back to Bunyaville.

There’s a new log feature at the top of “Jurassic” trail. I think this has been placed at the trail head because it has been re-rated as a “Black Diamond” run – a difficult ride which should not be attempted by beginners. The idea is that if you can’t handle the log rollover, you shouldn’t attempt the rest of the track.

Jason tried riding over this “feature” a few days ago and ended up crashing as he flew over his handle bars.

“You’d think they could have put a warning up” he complained.

“That’s what the Black Diamond sign is for” I replied.

Somehow I don’t think my words soothed the memory of his recent crash.

We followed the AS6 and Northern Breaks through Bunyaville. All of the fire trails we rode in these forests were perfect in the wet weather. The ground was solid, there were no mud patches, and we both had a safe and enjoyable ride.

We followed some bike paths back to Cashs Crossing…

…under bridges…

…over bridges…

I was even able to test drive a new car which had been left out in the rain by a forgetful kid

The forest trails might have been nice and dry, but the local footpaths offered more of a challenge.

All up we rode 40km in about 3 hours. I burned about 1,400 kcal and we climbed about 480m.

This was an easy and pleasant wet-weather ride.

Even though we didn’t travel far from home I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun we had.

And Liz was pleasantly surprised at how early I got home.

I’ll rate this ride 5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Jason for “turning up” even when it was raining. I’m glad you didn’t go back to bed at 6am!

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Walloon Revisited

Australia Day

We’ve enjoyed several rides there before, so when my friend, Neil Bang (“Bangers”) asked if I’d like to join him for another adventure to Walloon, how could I refuse?

Walloon is a small town west of Ipswich, on the railway line to Toowoomba. Using as many off-road tracks as possible, the aim was to ride from home; meet everone at Bunyaville; ride westwards over the D’Aguilar Range to Walloon; then catch the train home.


In the crisp morning air we followed bike paths through Albany Creek to Bunyaville.

We met Bangers at Bunyaville then headed westwards through “Ironbark” in Samford State Forest.

The Ferny Grove Rail Trail is a great offroad way to get from Ironbark to the Pony Trails near Samford. We followed it westward.

I remember riding these trails about five years ago and thinking how difficult they were. These days I think they’re a lot of fun. A little bit of practice and fitness can make a big difference.

The Samford Pony Trails snake around the quiet rural properties of Samford Valley and Wights Mountain…


… they go for miles, and offer an enjoyable alternative to the busy Mount Glorious Road.

As the name suggests, they were originally intended for use by horse riders, but these days mountain bikers and walkers also enjoy them.

We eventually reached the Goat Track. This road up to Mount Nebo was damaged by heavy rain a few years ago, which caused land slides and rock falls. When it was damaged, we worked out a rough path through the debris. It has taken a couple of years, but now the road is nice and smooth again. While that’s good for the community, a few of us admitted to feeling a sense of loss that the fun trails through the debris were gone.

Despite it now being a “tame” road, the Goat Track still offers some great views of Moreton Bay to the East.

We slowly made our way up Mount Nebo Road to the Dundas Road fire trail.

There’s a great little camping spot on Dundas Road complete with Picnic Table, water tank and log seats.

Jason got a puncture so we all had a bit of a rest here while he made a few quick repairs.

We followed Dundas Road down hill to the west. As we progressed it slowly grew steeper…

We eventually reached “Whoah Boy” Break – a very steep descent which gets its name from the dozens of water bars or “Whoah Boys” that you have to roll of jump over on the way down.

It’s not the sort of place to ride if you don’t have good brakes

In order to avoid some steep climbs at a hill called “The Wall of Dirt”, we decided instead to cut through a small bush camp complete with caravans, satellite dishes and clothes lines. The people there are very friendly but unfortunately there was no one home today.

The trail eventually dropped us out on Banks Creek Road. The terrain changed abruptly from eucalyptus forest to open cattle country.

A few of us have commented before that if you want to see a number of different Australian landscapes in one day – this is probably the way to do it.

We all rolled westward at an easy pace, enjoying the conversation as we rode over the undulating hills towards Fernvale.

We eventually crossed the Brisbane River at Savages Crossing.

The crystal clear water sparkled under the blue sky. Somewhere east of here this sparkling stream morphs into a wide muddy river slowly winding through a busy city. I much prefer the rural version.

In Fernvale we stopped at the Bakery to refuel, then said “G’day” to a couple of riders from Austria who were cycling around the world. To date they had ridden over 20,000 km. It put our small “epic” into perspective.

From Fernvale we followed the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail southwards, past a couple of disused bridges.

The Fairney View section has been opened since we were last here. It was good to be able to try out a new section of the trail.

At Wanora we left the rail trail and headed west again along some more gravel roads.

We then followed a road reserve called “By Road”. It’s rough, and we had to push the bikes in one or two places, but we agreed we’d rather do this than ride on a paved road.

We then followed Coach Lane southwards. This old track is rutted in places. If you pick a wrong line you can end up in a ditch. I was at the back of the pack and played it safe by picking the line that everyone else took.

We then followed some dirt roads south, and crossed the busy highway to Toowoomba at Haigslea.

For me, part of the fun of planning a mountain bike ride is to try and get from “A” to “B” while avoiding as much paved road as possible. That’s why I love trails like these dirt tracks just outside of Walloon.

We arrived in Walloon with time to spare before the train arrived, so we stopped in at the “Walloon Saloon” for a few drinks.

Then we bundled the bikes into the back of a train for the two hour trip back home.

I always enjoy this ride – it’s a fun way to cover a wide variety of terrain and a reasonably long distance in a single day, without having to work too hard.

All up we rode about 85km in 8 hours including breaks. I burned about 4,000 kcal and we climbed about 1,500 metres in ascent.

This ride rates about 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Bangers for inviting me to ride with you today.

Thanks Geoff, Greg, Rick, Paul, Darb, Jason and Bangers for the great company – I really enjoyed it!

UPDATE: Here’s Darb’s video of the ride:

Walloon 2014-08-30 from Darb Ryan on Vimeo.

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Our adventure today took us from Eskdale, in the Brisbane Valley west of Toogoolawah, up the Great Dividing Range to Crows Nest, and back down again.


We’ve ridden through Eskdale a couple of times before, and were glad to return to the wide-open spaces and big skies of this wonderful place.

There are a number of ways up the range to Crows Nest: I had one or two alternatives, but we decided to play it safe and stick to a simple plan. There were only three of us today, and we didn’t want to take any risks with ambitious routes through rough terrain.

We followed a quiet dirt road alongside picturesque Anduramba Creek as it slowly twisted up the range. Of all the roads in the area, I think this was probably the easiest way up.

At the top we enjoyed some pleasant views of Lake Cressbrook to the south.

The road towards Crows Nest was lined with numerous wattles, bright with blossoms, as it undulated westward.

On the way we took a short detour into Crows Nest National Park to have a look around. It has some well-maintained camping facilities and walking tracks to several points of interest.

Our lunch stop was in Crows Nest.

This place was called “Tookoogandanna” by the local Waka Waka aboriginal people. It means “Place where the crows live”.

There’s a permanent water hole on the outskirts of town by which numerous large native “Crows Apple” trees (Owenina venosa) grew. Crows built nests in these trees. The freshwater well with its many fruit bearing trees would have been an attractive place for the traditional owners of the area.

In the mid nineteenth century, teamsters would haul logs from this area to Toowoomba, 40km to the south. The shady trees and reliable water hole provided a popular rest-stop for bullock drays who would refer to it as “The Crows Nest”.

After a leisurely lunch in town, we hopped back on the bikes and coaxed our reluctant legs to start pedalling again.

In true mountain-biking style, we avoided paved roads and sought out the dirt tracks around town as we made our way back to the edge of the range.

The Anduramba Range is closed to vehicular traffic because of land slips. My friend, Andrew Demack, recently wrote about his cycling adventures on the same road, so we took advantage of his experience and followed the road. (Thanks Andrew!)

I soaked up the vastness of the distant horizon and huge sky as we coasted down the range. This is a stunning part of the world.

Thanks to Andrew’s instructions we were able to easily navigate around the road blocks and avoid the hazardous land slips.

As with most enjoyable descents, we reached the bottom much sooner than we anticipated, so we had a quick break at Anduramba Hall with its unusual galvanized iron walls.

As we chilled out we heard a strange sound from across the road and noticed two amorous hares frolciking around. They seemed oblivious to everything else as they danced across the road in a whirlwind of fur. Minutes later they were still going for it in the middle of the field behind the hall. Spring is definitely here

Although the elevation profile said the final leg of our ride was mostly downhill, we still had to work hard to pedal up the climbs before we could enjoy the descents.

We arrived back at our starting point much earlier than I had anticipated having covered 70 km with 1,450 metres of climbing. It took us about five and a half hours including breaks and I burned about 2,800 kcal.

I’d rate this ride 7.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

This is a picturesque part of the world, well worth the visit, especially in the cooler months.

Thanks Becca and Paul for another fun ride!

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One of the good things about riding in the Glasshouse Mountains is that there are always more trails to discover. I never tire of exploring this huge scenic forest, only a stones throw from Brisbane’s northern suburbs.


We set out from Matthew Flinders Park under the brooding gaze of Tibrogargan.

I’m planning to bring a larger group of friends back here in a month or two. As we rode into the forest, I hoped we would be able to discover some new trails to use on our future rides.

The first part of our course followed familiar tracks through tall pine plantations towards the lookout.

We shared the trail with competitors in the “Glasshouse 100 Trail Run”. Some of these athletes were running up to 160km (100 miles) over two days. Their herculean efforts made our little jaunt in the forest seem miniscule by comparison. As we rode up some of the hills, runners overtook us.

“Gee it’s a bit of a worry when you ride a bike and can’t keep up with someone on foot” I commented.

But in our defence, the track up to the lookout is very steep. We had to push the bikes in places.

At the top of the hill we stopped at the lookout to enjoy the views.

At this point we made a change to the our previous courses through the forest and headed towards Mount Beerwah along Connection Road.

Crowds of people and cars lined the road to cheer on the runners. They kindly rang their cow bells and cheered for us as well. I’ve never seen so many excited people on Connection Road.

Mount Beerwah towered above us as we made our way northwards.

Eventually we left the main road and shot down a shady path between the pine trees.

A few years ago I stumbled upon this long snaking section of single track in the forest. It twists for about 6 kilometres along a creek, and is a lot of fun to ride.

This is one section of track I’d like to include in a future social ride. The smooth, shady track takes about an hour to complete as it meanders along the creek. It’s also popular with trail bike riders, so it’s important to keep an ear out for oncoming motor bikes.

We emerged from the forest near Trig Hill and took a few more minutes to enjoy the view and catch our breath.

At Millwood Road we met some riders from Bushranges MTB Club on their way back from Woodford. Whenever I meet other mountain bikers on the trail, they’re almost always smiling. I think we all secretly realize how lucky we are to be able to ride in such beautiful places.

As we headed south, some of the tracks got a bit muddier. In most of the places we were able to ride around the puddles, but in one or two spots we had to work a bit harder to avoid getting wet.

This little Quad Bike Rider passed us along the way. She showed amazing skill at getting those small wheels through the loose sand. I wouldn’t want to get in her way in few years time.

We met up with more trail runners as we rode back towards our starting point.

“Top effort, Superman” I yelled out in encouragement to a couple of runners.

“Wonder Woman” took a few seconds out from running to demonstrate her other super-powers

At Hennessey Hill we all enjoyed a few jumps at the downhill track.

From there we made our way back towards Beerburrum.

All up we rode about 43km in about four and a half hours.

I burned about 2,500 kcal and we climbed about 750m in vertical ascent.

This is a fun ride, close to home, which only requires half a day.

Although it has one or two steep bits, it can be enjoyed by people with a variety of skill levels.

It’s best done in the drier months, as this area can be punishing in wet weather.

I’ll rate it 6.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Jason, Kenny, Harvey and Os for a great day out on the bike!

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We’re exploring the spectacular Bunya Mountains at the moment. I’m busy taking heaps of photos and checking out new trails. I’ll share more on Monday. See you then!

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Our family decided to go to the Bunya Mountains for a short break, so I brought my bike and did some exploring of this beautiful part of the world.

The high peaks of this range have the largest remnant forest of Bunya Pines on the planet. The cool rainforests are home to many rare species of animals and plants. It’s the perfect place for a tranquil get-away.

We stayed at a cosy chalet on the side of the range at Dandabah overlooking vast forests of Bunya Pines with views that stretched forever northwards.

While everyone was still asleep, I ventured out into the crisp morning in search of new places.

Even though it’s late September, temperatures were similar to a cold winters morning in Brisbane. I was glad I’d brought my jacket as I slowly rolled through the forest.

The national park walking tracks are off-limits to bikes, so I avoided them and stuck to the quiet road as I made my way north towards Burton’s Well.

Burton’s Well is at the northern end of the national park, at over 1,100 metres elevation. Just over a year ago some friends and I enjoyed a fun ride to Yarraman from here, so I wanted to close up a gap in my map and revisit that spot.

Because of its elevation, temperatures at the camp ground can get quite low. I said “G’day” to Pia and her kids who had braved a freezing night in a tent on the edge of the range. They looked cold but happy to be enjoying the cool serenity.

I took a quick detour from there to the top of Mount Kiangarrow. At 1,135 metres above sea level, it’s the highest point in the Bunya Mountains with great vews of the plains of the Darling Downs to the west.

My friend and riding buddy, Eric, asked me to check out some westward tracks to see if there was a possibility of riding off-road from the mountains towards Dalby. So after returning from Burton’s Well, I headed west off the side of the mountain.

The track follows powerlines westwards through bleak wind-swept grasslands. I didn’t venture too far, but I’m sure if we asked a few of the locals they’d point us in the right direction. What do you think, Eric?

Nothing appeals to a mountain biker more than an unexplored track. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be coming back

Back at the chalet, the local birdlife decided to introduce themselves. Friendly Magpies, Crimson Rosellas, King Parrots, Currawongs and Satin Bowerbirds dropped in to see if we could spare some bread or seeds. They also performed some amazing acrobatics when we tossed morsels into the air for them to catch.

Local guide Alan Govan took us for a leisurely horse-drawn tour around Dandabah and pointed out some of the other things we could do during our stay.

We decided to go for a walk in the forest and hug a few Bunyas.

The scenic loop goes for about 5 km as it twists along a creek through the rainforest under the canopy of majestic Bunya Pines.

At Pine Gorge we looked back across the valley and could see our Chalet in the distance.

The path wound past rock pools past towering tree ferns and stinging trees.

The trees sheltered us from the gentle rain.

A Bunya Forest is a special place.

It’s an awe-inspiring experience to feel dwarfed by ancient trees.

This sculpture at the visitors centre captured the the struggle for life as plants in the forest reach up for light.

We loved our brief stay in the Bunya Mountains, and will definitely be coming back.

My brief adventure on the bike covered about 30km in three hours as I climbed about 800m in vertical ascent. I’d rate it 6 out og 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Our stroll through the forest covered almost 5km in aboyut two hours. It’s an easy walk.

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Riding in places like Cooloola National Park reminds me that we’re just kids in grown-up bodies. Every Saturday we get up early to ride our bikes with friends. But we always try to get home in time for dinner.

We started our adventure at Harrys Hut on the Noosa River and followed the river north into the national park through thick forests of paperbarks, cabbage tree palms…

… and scribbly gums.

We then followed the smooth clay roads of the Cooloola way northwards alongside vast pine plantations.

Clare and Anna demonstrated some “Bush Yoga”. Unlike the last time they did this on one of our rides, I didn’t try to copy them.

Since our previous visits, the surface of the road has been graded which made some of the downhill sections smooth and fast.

We stopped at Neebs Waterholes for morning tea.

This gorgeous chain of freshwater lagoons form part of the upper reaches of the Noosa River.

Recent rain has raised the water level in the creek. Tanins from leaves make the water look like weak tea – but it’s still beautiful.

The rain has also made the track wetter in places, so we were grateful that the creek crossings had been strengthened with rocks to make them easier to pass.

From there we started our return journey southwards via Wandi Waterhole.

The water looked inviting. It might be cold. Should we have a swim?

Absolutely! What else is a kid supposed to do?

The water was cold – but it felt delightful.

After this point the track became hilly and rocky in places – perfect terrain for mountain bikes.

Like hot snow on tropical mountains, the giant sand patches on the beach-side dunes loomed larger as we rode home.

We’d definitely get home in time for dinner!

We rode about 50 kilometres in 5 hours including breaks.

I burned 2,500 kcal as we climbed about 420 metres in vertical ascent.

I’ll rate this ride 6.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Clare, Anna, Eric, Darb, Paul and Simon for another memorable adventure.

Let’s not grow-up any time soon!

UPDATE: Here’s Darb’s video of our adventure

Harry’s Hut Neebs Wandi Waterhole 2014-09-27 from Darb Ryan on Vimeo.

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Soaking up the splendour of the hills around the Western Branch of the Brisbane River today, I wondered whether I have had more than my fair share of good fortune.


I had a flimsy reason for coming back to Nanango. There was a 400 metre gap in my Ride Network Map which happened when we parked the car in the wrong spot during our fateful adventure among the Lantana a few weeks ago. When we failed to complete that loop it left a gap in my map, which I wanted to complete. Russel kindly agreed to indulge my obsession.

We parked the car at “Uncle Bobs Cottage” – a delightful B&B / Winery in East Nanango. I met the owners, Rod and Celia Price about a year or so ago when Eric and I stayed there prior to our ride from there to Jimna. They kindly agreed to let me park the car in their front yard for the day.

After bouncing along some bumpy forestry tracks for about an hour we encountered an old green ute grinding up the hill towards us.

“How ya goin?” I greeted Ivy and Sam as they pulled up.

“I hope you didn’t mind me taking your picture while I was riding towards you” I said.

“Ah, is THAT what you were doing!”, Ivy replied while Sam grinned at me from the passenger seat.

I must have been an amusing sight: a crazy bloke on a bike poking a camera in their face as they drove by.

“Have you got cattle up here?” I asked.

“Yes”, replied Ivy in her warm rural Queensland drawl, “we’ve come here to check up on our cattle, poor things.”

Rain has been scarce around here for months. The grass is dry, dams are empty, cattle are hungry, and good farmers like Ivy and Sam are worried about their livestock.

After a few more pleasantries, Russel and I left our new friends and let our bikes shoot down the steep dirt hills of Mount Stanley Road.

As it drops to the valley, this road becomes very steep.

The rolling hills of the Conondale Range to the east caught my eye, but the bike was rolling so quickly down the slope that I had to concentrate on the road in front of me.

The river at the bottom is dry.

We bobbed up and down over numerous crossings of the “Western Branch” of the Brisbane River. The last one was Crossing No. 37. We were a long way from Fisherman Islands at the mouth of this river, a couple of hundred kilometres to the south-east.

We stopped for a quick break under a moss-covered Ironbark. Most of the old trees here are festooned with the khaki colored moss. Russel and I surmised that they only way the moss could survive would be from the moisture in early morning mist. There certainly wasn’t enough rainfall to water them.

The wizened old black trunks of Ironbarks poking out of dry grass reminded me of a Jackson Pollock painting. Perhaps if he had visited Western Branch, Pollock might have painted “Brown Poles” instead?

Before reaching the end of Western Branch Road, I noticed some tyre tracks leading off to the east. I’ve got a feeling if we followed these we might end up somewhere in Elgin Vale State Forest. What do you think, Eric? How about we follow this road some time, and see where we end up?

Eventually we reached a dusty intersection in the middle of nowhere. Our GPS told us to turn left

The wide plains along Manumbar Road are good for the soul. As I gazed at distant horizons under cool fluffy clouds, I grinned and realized I didn’t want to be anywhere else. Riding here was just fine.

We stopped for another quick break under a shady tree. The short stint along Manumbar Road had boosted our pace: we were well ahead of our schedule.

From there we followed Walshes Road southwards towards our starting point.

The only problem was that the road ran out. As sometimes happens, the map said there was a road, but when we arrived we found a rough stock route instead.

So we dodged the trees, ditches and logs as we followed a couple of faint tyre tracks home – perfect!

When we got back, our friend Rod asked if we’d like to sample some of his wine.

We didn’t need much convincing.

Uncle Bobs Estate makes organically grown preservative-free (and low-preservative) wines. We got to sample some Verdelho, Merlot and Cabernet. They were delicious. My only complaint was that I couldn’t sample more than a couple of mouthfuls because I had to drive home. Perhaps next time we should stay at the B&B here?

As a perfect epicurean end to a great day, we stopped at Vagabonds Cafe and Corsetree in Moore.

Laine, sells the best coffee, cakes and corsets for a hundred miles. What a delightful idea for a shop!

As I wolfed down a divine apple pie with cream and a coffee, I asked Laine, “Do you make them?”

“No, I make them happen!” she replied.

The next time we pass through Moore, I’m definitely stopping here!

We rode 68km in just over 5 hours, including breaks.

I burned about 2,500 kcal and we climbed about 1,200m in vertical ascent.

I’ll rate this one 7 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. It would be more difficult in hot weather and spectacular after rain.

Thanks, Russel, for a great day out.

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Today’s adventure took us in a big loop through Toolara State Forest and Cooloola National Park around the headwaters of the beautiful Noosa River.

We started at the Goomboorian Petrol Station: half-way between Gympie and Rainbow Beach – famous for its huge cactus and delicious pies.

Heading eastwards we passed through lush green farmlands towards Toolara State Forest.

This vast pine plantation stretches endlessly eastwards, and is crisscrossed with a wonderful network of dirt tracks which can take the curious mountain biker on a wide variety of rides.

We occasionally left the dirt roads in search of quieter tracks through the trees.

The State Forest borders the National Park, so we eventually left the plantations behind and headed into the rugged beauty of Cooloola. The wide swamps and tea-coloerd creeks around here drain into the Noosa River. It’s a special place.

We rode north-east for a couple of hours and eventually reached Cooloola Cove – a small town overlooking Tin Can Bay.

After enjoying the view from the lookout we rolled into town for a bite to eat.

The local Little Athletics club was holding a car wash and sausage sizzle. We explained to Tamara that we didn’t think it was a good idea to get our bikes washed, so we enjoyed their BBQ instead…

Eric wolfed down a couple of sausages. My BLT didn’t even touch the sides as I gobbled it down.

Jake showed off his new art-work. I suggested to Eric that he might like to get his face painted like a pussy-cat. He didn’t agree.

Rousing ourselves from our food-induced slumber, we bade goodbye to the friendly folks at Cooloola Cove and headed off down the “Cooloola Way”.

We crossed over the Noosa River on the way back. It is barely a trickle at the moment, but in times of heavy rainfall the raging torrent can do a lot of damage to the road…

… which is currently closed to motor vehicles while the council repairs the damage.

At the southern end of the Cooloola Way we followed Coondoo Creek for a while. The dark water of the water holes looked inviting – I think it might be an idea to come back here in summer for a swim!

From there we rode back through bleak plains where timber had been recently harvested. I recited “The Lorax” (Dr Seuss) to myself as I lamented the contrast between the pristine forests in the national park and the lunar landscape left by land clearing.

As we continued our way back through plantations in various stages of growth, my legs started to tire as I struggled to keep up with Eric.

We took a few detours back into the shade of the forest to try to escape the heat of the afternoon sun.

All up we rode almost 90km in just over 6 hours including breaks. We climbed about 870 metres in elevation, and I burned about 3,500 kcal.

I’ll rate this ride 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. It’s mostly flat – there are no major climbs, but some sections are very remote. To complete the loop in a day you need to keep up a brisk pace – our average moving speed was almost 18 km/h which is really fast on a mountain bike. Take plenty of water – especially in summer.

Thanks Eric for yet another fun ride!

Thanks Tamara and the friendly folks from Cooloola Cove Little Athletics for a delicious lunch!

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Darb has a goal to ride one thousand kilometres in the month of October as part of a fund-raising effort to support the Childrens Medical Research Institute and their fight against cancer in children.

So Simon and I decided to take him on a big long ride up to the Glasshouse Mountains and back.


We started on familiar trails close to home while the day was still cool. Kayakers paddled on the smooth water of Lake Kurwongbah as we rolled past.

We followed Dunlop Lane northwards along trails that are very popular with horse riders…

… and passed a horse rider who looked happy to be out in the bush on this beautiful day.

We were heading almost due north towards Wamuran. The road we were travelling on had a long and fascinating history. Dubbed “The Old North Road” it was used by the Archer Brothers in the early 1840’s as a way to travel from the Moreton Bay settlement to Durrundur Station near present-day Woodford.

This track was based on pathways used by Aborigines for thousands of years as a way of getting from “Meanjin” (their name for Brisbane) to “Baroon” – a traditional meeting / fighting ground among the majestic Bunya forests on the shore of Obi Obi Creek near present day Maleny.

We reached Gregors Creek after about 90 minutes. Simon and I had ridden through here a few years ago. It seemed much easier for us to ride it today than it did when we first did it.

In 1846 Gregors Creek was the site of the tragic murder of Rev Andrew Gregor and Mary Shannon which led to race-based reprisals for over a decade. Today the peaceful green hills seem to have swallowed up the sorry past.

We stopped at Zillman’s Crossing on the Caboolture River for a quick break. Simon indulged my vanity and agreed to photograph me showing off in the middle of the river. I think he was secretly hoping he could take a few photos of me falling in – but (thankfully?) that didn’t eventuate.

After about three hours we reached Wamuran for a quick snack.

The local medical centre has some great signs out the front

After refuelling at Wamuran we set off through endless pineapple fields towards the rail trail.

Based on a disused rail line which once ran between Caboolture and Kilkoy, the trail here has tracks branching off in a variety of directions.

Rather than following the easy gradients of the rail trail, we decided to drop into granny gear and grind up some of the steeper tracks under the power lines.

It was supposed to be a “short cut”, but it didn’t feel like it by the time we reached the top.

At the top of the hill we enjoyed some easy downhill tracks through our first pine plantations of the day as we rode northwest towards Woodford.

I grinned as I soaked up the freedom in wide open space around me.

Although we were having fun, we did have a few objectives. Foremost in my mind was the need to check that the tracks around Woodford were rideable. We’re planning a large social ride here in a few weeks with about 30 friends, and I wanted to make sure that our planned route would work.

I mentally ticked off a few boxes as we rolled over a couple of plank bridges in the cool forest.

We’ve ridden our bikes down The Giant Drop a few times. It’s a really challenging hill which requires total concentration.

Today I was impressed to see people drive UP it in their Four Wheel Drives.

The place was crawling with 4WD’s and trail bikes. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

We decided to give The Giant Drop a wide berth and rode down the hill the easy (and more scenic) way.

The great thing about the Glasshouse Mountains is that you don’t have to look very far to find alternative routes. There are trails going off in all directions.

As we neared Mount Beerwah we met a couple of vehicles coming in the opposite direction. Everyone must have had the same idea – that today was a good day to get out in the bush.

This was another section of trail I wanted to check out before the social ride.

It had lots of twisting tracks which snaked around puddles and over hills.

Perfect.

The final bit of trail I wanted to double-check was Sargeants Road. In the past it had been obstructed with fallen logs, but today it was just right. Steep descents, fun creek crossings, friendly log rollovers. I think we’re going to have fun when we all ride this

The final bit of trail on Sargeants Road is a very steep pinch-climb out. Previously I’ve had to push my bike out. Today I rode up it.

“FIG JAM!” I yelled out as I reached the top.

“Just. Ask. Me!”
“Just. Ask. Me!”

I was very pleased with myself. Simon and Darb were very gracious and let me enjoy my moment.

Back on the tarmac we made our way into town for lunch, as the titan Coonowrin looked mournfully down at us.

In Kabi / Gubbi Gubbi legend, Coonowrin was the cowardly eldest son who didn’t come to the aid of his pregnant mother before an approaching storm. Sometimes I swear I can see a sad face on the side of the rocky monolith.

Simon often tells me his favourite rides are those with a coffee shop or pie shop at the midway point. Today he was lucky: the pie shop served coffee as well as pie

We were now riding south on the homeward leg of our Epic adventure. My backside was starting to feel a bit sore, my legs had a pleasant ache to them, but I’d kept an eye on my hydration and electrolyte levels. Everything was going perfectly.

The dirt tracks morphed into quiet paved roads, which slowly grew busier as we rode through Caboolture.

Mountain Bikers don’t like riding on tarmac much – but they were a necessary evil as we headed home.

As we rolled along familiar bike paths close to home, we congratulated each other on a top effort.

As Simon and I rolled through Lawnton cemetery, I thought about how lucky we were to be alive. Above the ground, rather than under it.

Just then a Butcher Bird smacked me on the side of my helmet, as nesting birds often do, and roused me from my reverie. Simon waved his hand furiously above his head to ward off the aggressive avian. I just laughed.

We had started the day in support of a friend who wanted to do something to combat a disease which kills people, including numerous children.

We had ended it in a graveyard, pondering our own mortality, and getting attacked by a bird who was trying to protect the new life in its nest.

I was reminded of the late Randy Pausch, an inspiring professor dying of brain cancer. In his final lecture, he shared his thoughts on life and he battle we all face with the Grim Reaper:

We don’t beat the Grim Reaper by living longer, we beat the Reaper by living well and living fully, for the Reaper will come for all of us. The question is what do we do between the time we are born and the time he shows up.

Well said, Randy.

I want to live well.

All up I rode 134km in 10 hours including breaks.

Darb rode a whopping 150km.

I burned over 5,000 kcal, and climbed 1,700m in vertical ascent.

This ride was easer than we anticipated. We maintained a steady pace, kept well-hydrated, and enjoyed regular light snacks throughout the day.

I’ll rate it 8.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Darb and Simon for a memorable day on the bike!

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