Australia Day this year was an ideal opportunity for me to get out of the house after all the rain rain and take a nice long ride on the bike to think about what this country means to me.

On the way, I got to enjoy some great trails at Bunyaville, Ironbark, Camp Mountain, D’Aguilar National Park, Samford Pony Trails and finally, Clear Mountain. I stuck to fire trails, so most of the ride was ok despite the recent rain.

It was great to meet up with my mate Graham who was riding with Jack along the Lanita Road Rail Trail. While I was there, I took a few minutes out to find a Geocache that was just a few metres off the track. If you like exploring, and the thrill of a treasure hunt, you might really enjoy Geocaching.

The steep climb up the short side of Camp Mountain is always hard work. The wet ground was softer than usual which made it even harder. I took a quick break before starting the climb to catch my breath and appreciate the beauty of the place.

14 minutes later I was at the top gasping for breath, and feeling slightly smug that I’d nailed the hill. Even though my time was almost double the fastest time anyone has done that climb. Legend has it that someone did it in about seven minutes.

The views out to Brisbane were spectacular.

There are some great views out to Moreton Island as well.

From there, the plan was to head up to Scrub Road and spend a while down in D’Aguilar National Park before heading home via Mt Nebo.

But I met Mike instead. He had two flat tyres, and only one spare tube. My big fat spare tubes wouldn’t have been much help to him, but I did have a patch kit, so I stopped and help him patch up his tubes. Since I’m not very fast at on-the-run repairs, this chewed up a bit more time than I planned, so I abandoned my plans for Scrub Road and just followed the bitumen to Mt Nebo instead.

From there it was a quick run down the Goat Track where I met Brock, a mountain biker who is lucky enough to live in Mount Nebo. The Goat Track is looking pretty rough at the moment. The rain has worn a lot of ruts in the track and some of the precipitous edges are looking dangerously soft.

Rather than head into Samford, I followed the Pony Trails up to Gibbons Road, and came across this little Keelback (or Freshwater) snake chilling out in a puddle. They’re not venomous, but one really cool thing about them is that they eat cane toads. Unfortunately they like living around creeks and swamps, which land developers seem to enjoy clearing. Interesting to think that Land Developers and Cane Toads are on the same side

So on Australia Day, I am grateful. This place is beautiful. We have some spectacular scenery and amazing animals. And the people are great. I can stop by the side of the road and say “G’day” to people I’ve never met before and become friends right away. And I won’t even start on how good our health and education systems are (even though we complain about their shortcomings).

We’re still the lucky country.

But on Australia Day I’m also uneasy. I think about what we’ve lost, and what we’re losing. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be an indigenous Australian and slowly watch my country taken away from me, with forests cleared, animals forced to the brink of extinction, huge quarries and open cut mines, and a massive increase in population.

I don’t have any easy answers, but I intend to keep on exploring it and enjoying it.

And I hope we can fully appreciate what we have, and care for it.

All up, this was a 75km ride, with about 1,450m of ascent, and about 4,300kcal of energy. I started running short of water near Mt Nebo, so next time I plan to take some water purifying tablets to make it easier to take on extra water at the emergency tanks in the forest, or in some of the cleaner creeks. Next time I hope to do a similar route, but add in Scrub Road.

This one deserves 9 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter because of the distance, and the tough slog up Camp Mountain in the soggy, strength-sapping dirt.

I enjoyed last week’s solo ride down Taylors Break in D’Aguilar National Park, so I wanted to share it with a few friends. About 20 of us set off from Samford, following the Pony Trails to the bottom of Mount Nebo.

The ride consisted of two big 500m climbs. The first one was up the Goat Track, then along a fire trail to the Lookout at the Summit of Mount Nebo.

From the summit we followed Hammermeister Road to the top of Taylors Break. But before starting that steep descent, a few riders took a detour into town to get some more water (it was a hot humid day), while the rest of us lazed around in the shade catching out breath.

Taylors Break is a lot of fun to ride down. The narrow track flows beautifully as it goes down the mountain. Unfortunately, towards the bottom it gets steep and slippery. Darb took a jump into the air over one of the water bars. While he was in the air, a stick went through his front spokes. As he hit the ground his front wheel slid out from under him, and he ended up on the ground. It looked painful, but Darb’s made of tough stuff, and after a few minutes he was ok and ready to keep going.

Tim approaches one of the steep sections of the track. Once you go over the edge, it’s pretty much a controlled skid to the bottom. There’s no stopping – you just have to keep your front wheel straight and try to stay on the bike.

Andrew also had a crash on the way down, and suffered a nasty bruise on his thigh (that photo is censored). He decided to strip off and wash his injuries in the creek at the bottom of the descent. Unfortunately, while he had all his gear off, Becca came round the corner. Both of them got a nasty fright, and poor Andrew had to hastily get his gear back on.

There are lots of inviting, quiet creeks like this down the bottom end of D’Aguilar National Park.

Once we reached the bottom, there was no way to go but up. Cabbage Tree Range Road was the second major climb of the ride, also rising about 500m. It takes about an hour to climb, and by the time we got to the top we were all feeling pretty tired…

…except for Tim who (amazingly) rode the whole climb in middle ring. For those who don’t ride mountain bikes, it has three cogs on the front to make riding easier: A big ring for going fast on roads, a middle ring for moderate terrain that requires a bit of effort, and a small (“granny”) ring for steep hills and narrow winding technical sections. It takes a lot of strength to nail a long steep climb like this using the middle ring.

Tim had a long wait while the rest of us mere mortals completed the climb.


The best thing about the climb up Cabbage Tree Range Road is the water tower at the top. Most of us had a delightful soak under the tap to cool off.

Adam took some great photos as well which you can view here.
Andrew also took some great photos which you can view here.

The ride was 52km with about 1,500m of vertical ascent. I burned up about 3,600 kcal. Because of the heat and humidity I rate it 9.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks so much to everyone who came on the ride. It’s a lot of fun being able to do rides like this in a group. Everyone had to work really hard. Some people were totally exhausted by the end. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

Booloumba Falls is a beautiful place in the state forest near Kenilworth, about 90 minutes drive north-west of Brisbane in the Conondale Ranges. Today I visted there with seven friends from MTBDirt.com as part of a ride organized by Eric.

We started the ride from Charlie Moreland Camping Ground, near Cambroon, and immediately started a long 12km climb which lifted us about 500m into the state forest.

Because we had people of variety of different abilities in the group, including some seasoned mountain bike racers, we stopped regularly to allow everyone to regroup. This way no one got left behind, and everyone had a fun ride.

Eric warned us that the initial climb would be a long one, which we were all prepared for. But I don’t think we fully understood what he meant when he talked about a few “negative downhills” which made us work a bit harder as the terrain continued upwards and downwards as we rode along the ridgeline of the range.

We had to cross creeks half a dozen times or more. Some of them were over causeways like this one, but some were wet fords which meant we had to keep our wits about us to make sure we didn’t get our feet wet.

The falls themselves were really enjoyable. We parked our bikes at the top of the hill, trudged a few hundred hot and sweatty metres through the bush, then jumped into a freezing cold pool under a waterfall.

Some of us enjoyed a natural “jacuzzi” made by water splashing in a rock pool above the falls.

Some of us just chilled out on the edge of the water.

The falls are up quite high (around 600m above sea level), so there are great views of the surrounding mountains.

It was a great day, with some really impressive scenery, and fun company. Eric and his wife Berny looked after us really well, providing a support vehicle, cold drinks, and home cooked food. This was a tough ride, but it was fun because of their care, and the great company of an awesome bunch of friends.

This ride was just under 40km with a moving time of just under 3 hours, and about 3,500 kcal. If you’re doing it by yourself without a support vehicle, I’d rate it 9.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. If you’re lucky enough to have a support vehicle, and friends like Eric and Berny, the ride is still hard, but I’d rate it 8.5.

A few days ago I went to the MTBDirt.com website and asked if anyone would like to come on a ride today from Ferny Grove to Mount Nebo. This morning, 14 of us set off along the Lanita Road Rail Trail on our way to Mount Nebo.

Rather than just head straight for Mount Nebo, we explored some of the many pony trails that meander around Samford Valley. They’re a bit like a blend between fire trails and country lanes, with a few rocky pinch climbs, and even one or two horses. For small distances they’re really pleasant and a lot of fun. But at the end of a long ride, or over large distances they can be quite tiring, so the trick is to use them early in the ride, and to not over-do it.

In a large group of people, it’s always a possibility that something will break (like it did today) so we made sure that there were plenty of opportunities for everyone to stop, have a break, and make sure everything on the bike was running smoothly.

We also had to slow down for obstacles like creek crossings and deceptively deep mud puddles.

Climbing the Goat Track was a challenge for a large group. Everyone has different climbing ability, and some people had to work really hard to complete the climb. We had a rest at the top of the climb to let everyone recover. The most inspiring performances aren’t from people who break world records, but from those who persevere at the boundaries of their ability…. and don’t give up.

We stopped at Boombana’s Cafe at the top for a break and a bite to eat.

We then had a quick downhill run down the Goat Track. It’s much easier to go down that to climb up

After a quick roll along the bitumen, we headed back along another part of the Rail Trail which is now used as a cow paddock.

We rode about 50km with about 1,250m of vertical ascent.

I started from home in Lawnton, so all up I rode about 85km with 1,380m vertical ascent.

No tough-o-meter today. The ride was different for each person. Some found it more difficult than others. What impressed me was that everyone was patient, and we all rode together. It was a great day with some great people.

I’ve ridden the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail (BVRT) a few times, but this time I did it with Josh and 11 year old Harrison. We wanted it to be a bit of of an adventure, so we decided to take a change of clothes with us, and stay overnight at Blackbutt before riding back down the next day.

We left the car at Linville and headed up the Rail Trail in the early afternoon.

For the most part, the trail is really easy, with a gentle climb that would have been flat enough for a heavily laden locomotive to go up. But the bridges have been removed, so when we came to creek crossings, there were a few fun descents into the creek bed, followed by a wild scramble up the other side.

The trail runs through several cattle properties, which means there are many gates to open and close. We worked out a system where one of us would ride ahead, and open the gate so the others could roll through without having to hop off the bikes.

The hillsides around Linville are covered with Grass Trees (Xanthorrhoea). These slow growing plants only grow about 1cm per year. Some of them are 3 or 4 metres high, so we guessed they were probably hundreds of years old.

Towards the top of the range, the rolling cattle properties give way to state forest, thick with Hoop Pines and Eucalytpus. In the middle of the Hoop Pine plantation we found this old Aboriginal Bora Ring. It’s still possible to make out the raised mound of earth encircling the ring. Areas like this were an important part of indigenous ceremonies.

After a hard ride up the hill, we stopped at the Radnor Hotel – the Blackbutt Pub for a game of pool and a great dinner. The pub was built in 1912, and is probably the only pub in Queensland that still has rings on the posts outside so you can tie your horses up. (That’s the pub in the photo at the top of this article).

We stayed the night at the Edelweiss bed and breakfast. It’s 4km out of town, but we were able to get from the B&B back to the trail by following mostly gravel roads, which is much nicer than bitumen.

On the way back, rather than just retrace our steps down the hill, we followed some forestry roads out the back of Blackbutt. One of these, Haynes Kite Millar Road, has some long descents which are a lot of fun to ride down on the bikes.

All up this was about 60km with 600m vertical ascent. I thought it was a pleasant, easy ride suitable for beginner – intermediate riders. It’s a great location for a social ride. I’m giving this one 5.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

P.S. One bit of advice about overnight rides: Travel light, take it easy, and if you don’t feel like carrying a tent, food, cooking gear and a sleeping bag, stay at a pub or B&B

My friend Derek organized a ride today with about 25 riders from MTBDirt.com to check out some of the great mountain bike tracks on the South Side of Brisbane.

That sounds so easy to say, but what needs to be said is that he spent almost two months planning the ride. His wonderful wife, Michelle, got up well before dawn to prepare food and drinks for the riders, spent most of the day driving around delivering it, and then got back home in time to cook up a delicious BBQ for everyone.

How often do you get to go on such a well organized and provisioned ride like that?

Our first stop was Daisy Hill – a large conservation park riddled with twisty single-track. I don’t mind single-track, but usually take it at my own speed – if you’re not careful it’s easy to crash, or hit your bar-ends on a tree trunk. But I found riding in a large group more challenging because I tried to keep up with the riders in front of me, while making sure I wasn’t going too slow for the people behind. The quicker pace made it a much more intense and exciting ride.

From Daisy Hill it’s not far to Cornubia. The tracks here are amazing. Built onto steep hill sides, the narrow tracks twist over the contours of the slopes through lush rainforest. It’s a tough ride, but well worth the effort.

Then it was on to Bayview with tight tracks winding through closely packed she-oaks, with a gradual rocky climb up to the summit with great views to the south and west.

Derek’s wife Michelle provided food and drinks for us when we arrived at Mount Cotton – the half-way point.

The climb up to the summit of Mount Cotton is quite steep, but it has some fantastic views. While we were catching our breath at the top, Derek asked who wanted to compete in the “Granny Ring Challenge” – a gruelling contest which basically involved riding to the botton of a very steep hill, then turning around and riding back up. Most people laughed or muttered abuse, but Jim and Jason fronted up and gave it a go… and they made it.

The steep descent from the top of the Eastern Escarpment towards Karingal is intense, but a lot of fun/

The last bit of the ride was in a forest reserve on the site of an old World War 2 rifle range in Cleveland. It’s all overgrown now, but has some fun drop-offs and creek crossings.

After about 9 hours, we made it back to Derek’s place, where he showed off the pump track that he has built in his back yard. The basic idea of a pump track is to roll around it without pedalling, gaining momentum by pumping the bike up and down as you roll over the humps.

We rode over 80km with almost five and a half hours moving time, climbing a total of about 1,500 metres. I burned about 4,500 kcal, consumed about 6 litres of water, 1.5 litres of sports drink, 3 chocolate bars, one meat pie, half a litre of fruit juice, and a load of fruit. The mid-summer weather, the distance, and the ascent made this a tough ride.

I’m giving it 9.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter, with five stars for the organization and hospitality shown to us by Derek and Michelle. Thanks guys!

The loop along Joyners Ridge Road, Goodes Road, up to Dundas Road is steep. I love the challenge of putting in maximum effort climbing Goodes Road, and making it to the top knowing that I nailed that 5km steep climb.

Today I took a couple of my friends, Simon and Tim, with me. Like me, they also found it hard work, but they didn’t give in, and we all made it back in one piece.

The derailleur on Tim’s front chain rings stopped working, so he didn’t have “granny gear” to make the big climbs. He had to do most of the ride in middle ring, which is really difficult in hilly terrain.

Simon had agreed to come on the ride not knowing what it was going to be like, so he did it trusting in me that it would be ok.

So I really admire these two guys for putting in a really gutsy effort on what was a tough ride.

By the time we got back up to Dundas Road water tank, Tim felt like freshening up, so he lay on the ground under the tap, and turned it on full-blast. The only problem was this made the ground under him muddy, and he ended up getting covered in dirt – so Simon had to help clean him up.

Simon and Tim deserve the title of “Hero” for persevering on a tough task (like today’s ride), even though it sometimes demands more effort than we think is possible.

Well done guys!

I didn’t realize you could ride 40km from Coolum to Tewantin on dirt tracks. Today Murray proved to me that it was indeed possible, and that the tracks were a lot of fun.

After following the tracks along Stumers Creek and behind Emu Mountain, we eventually came to Doonan Bridge Road North. Last time I was here, this “road” was just several kilometres of mud and flood waters. Today it was a quiet dirt trail with lots of shade and no traffic except for a few goannas.

At one stage our path crossed the Sunshine Motorway. But rather than going across the motorway, we went under it, via a storm water drain. The only problem was the drain was full of ankle deep mud. As most people who have ridden with me before will attest, I hate getting my feet wet, so I used a couple of garbage bags (which I always carry) to make a couple of waterproof coverings for my legs. This let me wade through the mud and get out the other side relatively dry.

After riding some single tracks through some beautiful forests, and feeling like a couple of ten year old kids mucking around, we eventually had to cross the motorway again, this time via a more user friendly tunnel that was actually intended for walkers and cyclists. Thank you Sunshine Coast council!

After about 30km of dirt tracks we arrived at Wooroi State Forest, Tewantin, which is full of beautiful flowing single tracks through lush rainforests that feel like something out of “Jurassic Park”. This forest is very popular with mountain bikers and has dozens of different tracks to suit riders of all different abilities.

The track that impressed me most was “Bloodwood” – a winding hilly trail through ferns and creek crossings, which gets its name from a couple of huge Bloodwood Tree Trunks that are laying down next o the track. I didn’t get a chance to photograph them because I was too busy grinning and yelling out.

After rolling through the ritzy avenues of Noosa, we eventually made our way back off-road on the eastern side of Lake Weyba. While there’s not much climbing here the tracks are really difficult because of all the sand. So even a relatively easy slope becomes almost impossible to ride. It’s really easy for your front tyre to slide out as you ride along, and for your back wheel to spin in the sand and soak up all your power. I found the best way to handle this was to keep my weight back as far as possible, to keep the bars as straight as I could, and to go as fast as I could.

The white sand looks nice, but it acts like a mirror, so in mid-summer it reflects the heat back into your face. This was probably the most difficult part of the ride.

I loved the views out to Lake Weyba (pronounced “Why ba”).

All up 65km with a total moving time of four and a quarter hours, with total ascent of about 500m. I burned about 3,500 kcal. It scores 8 out of 10 in the tough-o-meter. In winter I’d give it 7.

Thanks once again, Murray, for showing me around your home trails. I had a great time.

Last year I rode from Coolum to Point Glorious. Unfortunately at that time the weather was terrible, and I didn’t get to enjoy much of a view.

Today the views were spectacular. We were lucky to have blue skies and cool temperatures despite the gloomy weather predictions to the contrary.

Eric, Murray and I started at Yandina and headed up the Blackall Range towards Cooloolabin Dam. Not long out of Yandina, we found the trail head, and took off happily into Mapleton State Forest.

The only problem was we didn’t have a GPS plot, so we had to rely on old-fashioned map-reading and a bit of “dead reckoning”.

Thankfully, that strategy paid off, and I’m grateful to Murray for having the foresight to pack a map of our ride.

The forest is steep in parts. We had to work pretty hard at the start to get up the rocky paths. Thankfully that meant later on in the trip we would have some fun descents.

We eventually reached Cooloolabin Dam – a small artificial lake between Mapleton and Yandina. There are many trails around the dam – and it’s easy to get to by conventional motor vehicle which makes it an easy location to visit on day trips.

From the dam it was another gnarly climb up to the lookout. It’s always a good idea to bring plenty of snacks on rides like this to keep your energy up. During humid summer days it helps to have plenty of water too.

Unlike last time, the views today were breathtaking. You can see all the way to the coast, as well as all the lush green farmland in-between.

From the lookout, it’s a steep bone-jarring descent to Yandina. I was muttering words of gratitude and love to my bike all the way down. It smoothed out the bumps and kept a straight line all the way down. It’s during intense times like that when trees are flying by, when baby-head sized rocks popping up all over the place like land mines, and when the track drops away in places leaving your stomach in your chest, that having a strong reliable bike makes a big difference. It’s the difference between enjoying a ride, and being scared you’re going to be bumped off.

Part way down, we discovered this refreshing waterfall on Browns Creek, full of water from last nights heavy rain. It just made it even better.

After wet weather, it definitely makes sense to head for the hills to avoid muddy bogs.

We were rolling for just under 3 hours to cover about 35km. This involved about 900m of vertical ascent, with about 2,600kcal burned.

This one scores 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. The humid weather made it tougher. In winter it would be much easier (maybe only a 7).

Riding it with friends made the ride much more enjoyable, and easier.

Many thanks Eric and Murray for a great ride!

Much of the beautiful Gold Coast Hinterland from Nerang, down to the McPherson Ranges, and up towards Jimboombah and Cedar Creek is the traditional country of the Wangerriburra indigenous people.

There’s a sign at the start of Duck Creek Road written in the Yugambeh Language which says

Jingeri wallal wahlu, yahbelehla Yugambeh (Wangerriburra) Djagun

Which translated means “Greetings all of you, going walking in Yugambeh / Wangerriburra Country.”

“Jingeri” is the Yugambeh word for the bird we know as the “Willy Wagtail”. It’s also the word for greeting. By some happy co-incidence I heard a willy wagtail twittering away while I read the sign.

So while we weren’t “going walking” today, we felt like the welcome was intended for mountain bikers as well.

Duck Creek Road starts as a pleasant country lane in Kerry, south of Beaudesert. For the first few kilometres it’s relatively flat and even, which allowed us to warm up gently before the climbs ahead.

At the end of the bitumen the track rises sharply to the first of several lookouts. Franklin Bros Lookout offers some great views over the local farmland.

As you progress up Duck Creek Road, the vegetation slowly changes.  The forest becomes thicker, and there are more and more Grass Trees (Xanthorrhoea).  Many of them (like the one on the right of the track in this photo) are several metres high indicating an age of several hundred years.

The best lookout is about two thirds of the way up and has panoramic views of the McPherson Ranges to the South West.

Towards the top, the environment is transformed into a lush green rainforest.  It’s a pleasure to ride in the delightful lower temperatures, and cool off after the effort of the preceding climb.

At the top there’s a suspended walkway through the tree-tops  that lets you wander through the forest canopy, 20 metres above the ground.  The walkway sways gently so it’s important to hang on, try not to rock the walkway, and (if you’re intimidated by heights) don’t look down!

The cafe at O’Rielly’s serves delicious mountain-bike fuel.  It also has flocks of colorful birds such as this King Parrot.  We also spotted quite a few Crimson Rosellas.  The cafe sells platters of bird food, and the parrots will swarm you and eat out of your hand (and off your plate) if you let them.

Although it took us about two hours to climb from the valley floor to the top, it only took us 25 minutes to ride back down.  The fast descent was exhillarating.  We overtook over half a dozen four wheel drives slowly trundling down the track, and were grateful for them pulling over to the side to let us pass.

All up, 38km with 1,100m of vertical ascent, and 3,000 kcal burned.  Although some bits of the road are steep, I’m giving this one 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-metre.  It’s a pleasant ride.  All you need is half a day.  Most fit riders will be able to ride the whole way.  Just keep an eye out for on-coming 4wd traffic on the way down!