G’day Ryan
I hope it goes well and that you get good weather.
If you get any photos, please send us a link 🙂
Neil

G’day Damien

Thanks for the comment. It’s an awesome ride, and well worth the effort. I did it alone in winter, so if you’ve got 20 years experience, I don’t think you’ll have any problems in summer if you’re careful.

I started and ended at the Weldborough pub. The guys there are great. You can leave your details with them and they’ll raise the alarm if you don’t get back by dark.

From Weldborough I rode up the bitumen to the Lottah turnoff, then to Lottah, left at the Caravan to Poimena. Once I got to Poimena the road forked. I made the mistake of taking first trail off to the left which was marked “Blue Tiers” and “Australia Hill”. I followed it, but it was pretty hard work. From reading the pedalbite forums I think I might have had an easier ride if I took the left turn. Further up that road was another trail that I could have followed to the descent.

Emu road is rough as guts. You’ll have to drag your bike up some really rocky bits unless you’re a super-hero. Take some spare socks because you’ll also have to cross a few creeks which were waste deep in freezing water when I did them.

Have you got a decent GPS? I’ve got your email address and will send you the tracklog / GPX of my ride. It’s only partial but it should give you an idea since it covers the more complicated bits.

I’d be really interested in how you go, so please write back with any info / photos.

And feel free to email me with more questions!

Just be aware that the climb up is the easiest bit. (And it’s a big climb) The “descent” is really difficult. This was the hardest ride I’ve done, and I ride a lot.

Neil

I saw your post on pedalbite about this ride.

You mentioned that you got lost or confused

“After that I had some problems though:

First one was that when I got to Poimena, I followed the first sign I saw pointing to the “Blue Tiers Mountain Bike Descent”. After reviewing the directions you guys gave me, this was obviously wrong. I ended up following a lot more winding route through some pretty thick forest until I got to Emu Rd. I almost took a wrong turn to “Australia Hill” since when I got to that junction, the only two signposted alternatives were “Australia Hill” and “Wellington Loop”. Nothing about a MTB descent, so since no-one here mentioned “Australia Hill”, I took a gamble and just followed the “Wellington Loop” sign. Thankfully this turned out ok, I eventually got to Emu Rd, and followed the signs to Weldborough.”

Was this because mudslut gave you the wrong directions?

I will probably do this ride by myself.I have been riding MTB for twenty years.

Should I not do this ride by myself?I have driven through there and it was pretty mountainous from memory.Should be abit warmer by the end of the month.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Damien