Here’s some photos from a recent ride I did with some friends from MTBDirt.com.au at Clear Mountain.
The tracks are not far from my place, so I get to ride them once or twice per week. But I enjoyed this ride even more than usual because I was able to share it with friends. I suppose when we share with others something that’s familiar to ourselves, we experience it for the first time again – which adds to the enjoyment.
We started the ride on a couple of sections of tight twisty single tracks, followed by some steep lung-busting ascents and descents, then a climb to the summit of Clear Mountain, and finally a fast snaking down-hill run to the bottom.
Everyone got back happy but exhausted.
I’d rate a big loop of the tracks at Clear Mountain as about 9.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. You need medium to high fitness. If you’re going to try some of the steeper descents, drop-offs and downhills you’ll need at least medium technical ability or better. If you’re not confident with some of the more intimidating sections, there’s nothing wrong with playing it safe and walking those sections.
Total distance: 41.29 km Total climbing: 757 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 04:12:44
I slept in this morning and didn’t have a clear plan for where I wanted to ride today. I just knew I wanted to go for a long-ish ride and visit some places I hadn’t been before.
I eventually decided to head out into the hills west of Dayboro and see what happened.
It’s amazing what you discover on a bike when you have the time to look around and enjoy the view rather than focusing on goals. (That’s one of the main reasons I don’t do races) This tree stump had an odd mark on it: MP 4 1/2. “What the heck does that mean?” I thought to myself. After a short time I figured it out. It was a “mile stone” marking the distance to the nearest town. Mount Pleasant was about 7km back along the road, so this marker was telling me Mount Pleasant (MP) was 4 and a half miles (7km) away. This got me day-dreaming about what life would have been like here in the early 20th century…
… Not much further down the road I came upon this old building. My friend, Leith Barter, tells me this was the old Laceys Creek Community Hall. It doesn’t look like much today, but I’m sure it was the hub of local social activity on a Saturday night in days gone by.
Leith tells me that Wirth Road is named after the Wirth Family who grew Bananas at Laceys Creek after World War II. The road is a bumpy dirt track which leads up into the hills, so I decided to follow it. As I progressed down the road it became narrower and steeper and the surrounding vegetation became thicker and greener. It took me about an hour to ride to the top, where I discovered I was on one of the main Four Wheel Drive tracks in D’Aguilar National Park – Range Forest Drive. The climb is about 6km long and rises about 500 metres, so it’s hard work.
At this point, I had two choices. The easy option was to roll back down the hill I had climbed up. The more challenging option was to head north through the park until I came out at Mount Brisbane, north of Dayboro. I decided to head north.
“Butcher Shop Creek Road” is one of the roads heading off the main drive to the North West. It’s gated which means 4wds and Motor Bikes can’t drive on it. I would have checked it out but it was heading in the wrong direction for me. I’m not sure where it got the name from, but I’m pretty sure you can’t buy good cuts of meat at the end of this road š
Jacky Creek Road is another gated road heading off to the North West.
The main road follows the ridge line along the top of the range. Some of the views to the east and the west are fantastic. I found myself stopping too often wanting to take photos and enjoy the view, then reminding myself that it was mid-afternoon and I needed to get out of the park before dark.
As it turned out, Range Forest Drive is a fairly easy track to ride, so I had plenty of time, and stopped for a few more photos.
When I eventually got to Peggs Road I realized I had made it, and let out a few loud cries before zooming down the steep descent to Mount Brisbane Road below.
On the way back to the car I stopped one more time for a great view of where I had ridden. The track pretty much followed the top of the range in this picture.
55km with 1290m of ascent in almost 4 hours with 3,500kcal of energy. This one deserves 9.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. Do it in the cooler months. Some of those climbs would be horrible in summer.
Total distance: 56.34 km Total climbing: 1341 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 04:25:17
My friend Tony has been holidaying near the beach at Beachmere, so we decided to ride from there to Wildhorse Mountain and back. It involved about 80km of fairly flat trails through the pine plantations heading north towards a spectacular lookout that offered great views of the Glasshouse Mountains.
As its name suggests, Beachmere is right on the beach near where the Caboolture River meets Deception Bay. It’s a quiet place with beautiful views across the water towards Moreton and Bribie Islands.
Just north of Beachmere is the town of Ningi, named after the Ningi-Ningi – a coastal dwelling Aboriginal group. One of the most famous Ningi-Ningi people was Ker Walli, also known as “King Sandy”, who was born in this area in the late 1830’s and was leader of the local Ningi-Ningi from about 1864 until his death in 1900. He was a good friend of local settler Tom Petrie whom he helped in harvesting timber on the Mooloolah River. In fact, Ker Walli thought so highly of Tom, that he carved the letter “P” in a circle on his arm with broken glass, and rubbed some charcoal in it to make a permanent mark.
The pine plantations stretch northwards from here for almost 50km and the forests are criss-crossed by numerous dirt tracks and gravel roads. There are also several strawberry farms, and poultry farms.
We encountered numerous horse riders in the forest. They appeared to be competing in a cross-country horse race. The pace was relaxed enough for most of them to wave and greet us as they rode past.
Recent rain flooded some of the causeways in the forest, and made a few places quite muddy. When I came to this causeway, I decided to scramble along the log in the background in an attempt to keep my feet dry. Tony was a lot tougher than me and just waded through the water. He also used it as an opportunity to wash some of the thick mud out of his chain.
At the half-way point we stopped for a bit to eat at a cafe, then rode up on the only major hill of the ride – Wildhorse Mountain. There’s a lookout at the top with some great views of the Glasshouse Mountains. You can also see out to east Moreton Bay, and can even make out the sky-scrapers in Brisbane to the south.
On the way back we took a short cut along an old dirt road which eventually deteriorated into a cattle track through shoulder-high grass. When we came out the other side we found ourselves in a Nudist Retreat. The members were quite friendly and didn’t seem to mind us passing through. Tony and I decided to keep our gear on, as I imagine it wouldn’t be very comfortable riding a mountain bike naked.
Total distance: 83.97 km Total climbing: 1423 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 06:27:46
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This ride was about 83km, with about 500m of vertical ascent. It took about 5 hours, and I burned about 4,000kcal. I’d rate this one about 7 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. The weather was perfect (low 20’s). In drier weather it would be even easier. The mud made us work a bit harder than we otherwise would have.
For our Anzac Day holiday today, my son Lachlan and I rode through D’Aguilar National Park down to England Creek and back up to Mount Glorious. I’ve donethe ride a fewtimes in either direction, and I wanted to share the experience with Lachlan.
We started from the bottom of the Goat Track at Highvale, riding up to Dundas Road at Mt Nebo, then followed Goodes Road down to England Creek.
Goodes Road is a fairly steep descent, and I was worried how Lachlan (who hasn’t done much off-road riding) would handle it. Instead of his usual hybrid bike with slick tyres, we put him on a similar bike with more agressive tyres and more powerful brakes to make sure everything went smoothly.
England Creek, as always, was beautiful. The water was crystal clear. On this particular route it’s the perfect spot for a quick break, because after this point, it’s about 80 to 90 minutes of uphill climbing.
Lachlan nailed the long climb. I was very proud of him š
We took a bit of a breather halfway up Joyners Ridge Road to enjoy the view out towards Wivenhoe Dam.
The rainforest at the top of Joyners Ridge Road is one of my favourite parts of the National Park. It’s a wonderful feeling to ride through the tall piccabeen palms and ancient figs in the green light. It’s also a bit of a relief at this stage to realize that the long climb is finally over.
35km, with 1050m of ascent and 3090 kcal. With todays cool weather and the social pace, this one rates 7.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.
Total distance: 35.34 km Total climbing: 1061 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 04:05:04
Lockyer National Park and State Forest is located in the hills north of Gatton, between Ipswich and Toowoomba. Gillian Duncan and Mark Roberts mentioned it in their excellent book “Where to Mountain Bike in South East Queensland” so I thought I’d check it out today on a solo ride.
This was a “spur of the moment” ride. I woke up on Saturday morning without a plan, so I ended up picking a ride from the book that appealed to me, and set out rather late, not arriving at the trail head till about 11.30am.
I started the ride at Millers Road on the corner of the Gatton-Esk Road. It has the distinction of passing by one of the newest prisons in Queensland. Rather than stop by this impressive looking Lockyer Valley resort, I slowly made my way up the red dusty road into the national park.
The road crosses Redbank Creek Several Times as it winds up the hill for 10km. So if you try this ride, be prepared to get your feet wet. Today was hot (30C / 86F) so I didn’t mind cooling my toes in the water as I rode through.
It’s a 10km climb and takes about an hour to ride to the highest point – about 550m above sea level. There are one or two parts that are quite steep – especially towards the end of the climb. At the start of the climb, after crossing a few creeks, the road is quite dusty. This was a challenging combination as the water, sand and dust got on my chain making it crunchy and difficult to pedal. Luckily I always bring a rag and a bottle of chain lube in my backpack, and was able to give my chain a wipe down.
At the top of the hill, I was able to look out over some of the lush farmland towards the D’Aguilar Ranges to the north-east.
The ride down Wallers Road was a lot of fun. It starts as a gentle descent, getting steeper as you get towards the bottom. Apart from one short climb partway down, the whole descent is about 12km long. The steep bits towards the bottom are really enjoyable. They’re rocky with some loose gravel, and the gradient exceeds 30% in some places – it’s what mountain biking is all about. I had to hang my backside as far out over the back of the bike as I could and take a “controlled skid” over the rocks, trusting my wonderful suspension to smooth out most of the bumps. It was hard to stop smiling as I rode down.
The last part of the ride was through some quiet back roads near Gatton with some spectacular views towards the Great Dividing Range to the South.
This ride was 45km with about 850m of vertical ascent. It took me 3 hours (excluding stops) and I burned 2,500kcal. I think it rates about 7.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. There’s a tough climb and a technical descent, but it’s an enjoyable ride. The only downside for me was having to do the last few km on the busy Gatton-Esk Road.
I might come back here again and see if I can eliminate some of the bitumen road towards the end – I think it would make an excellent social ride.
Allow 90 minutes if driving from the Brisbane CBD – or 2 hours from the Northern Suburbs.
Total distance: 45.67 km Total climbing: 899 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 03:39:44
In my last post I mentioned that my friend Dean successfully completed the 90km Border Ranges Loop, and managed to match our 4wd speed-wise over the last 5 km.
This man is like a diesel engine – he just keeps going. Plus he has a strange ability to get out of bed really early to get to the start point of a ride.
Here’s some of his pictures of his ride on the same day. It overlapped ours for part of the way, but when the weather got wet – he decided to stick to the original plan š
Like its name suggests, the Border Ranges National Park is a mountainous area of rainforest on the border of NSW and Queensland, just south of the border. It rises above 1,100 (3,600ft) in places and is covered with thick lush rainforest, towering trees and fast flowing streams.
The area is the traditional country of the Githabul Aboriginal People. It covers some of Australia’s most scenic country covering a number of natonal parks amd state forests around Kyogle, Woodenbong and Tenterfield, such as Koreelah NP, Mount Clunie NP, Richmond Range NP, Mount Northofagus NP, and Mount Lindesay State Forest.
Our plan was to start an 80km loop at the north-western edge of the park, head south towards Kyogle, then loop back northwards through Lynches Creek. This was quite ambitious considering we had to drive two and a half hours to get there in the first place, and considering the fact that that I find it very difficult to get out of bed early.
We arrived at the starting point, Simes Road, at 9:30am – a little later than we had anticipated and were optimistic we could make good time if we kept the pace up.
The roads were muddy from the overnight rain. Being from the UK, Adi was used to wet tracks, and showed us how the Brits handle mud by popping a wheelstand while riding up one of the steep hills.
(Photo by Nick Mills)
After about half an hour climbing, farmland gave way to rainforest as we reached the entrance to the National Park.
We didn’t realize that we’d be climbing for well over two hours before we reached the top of mountain. Physically this was ok – we were all used to long climbs. You just sit back, turn the pedals, and enjoy the view š The problem was that it meant we made much slower progress that we had expected, and we didn’t get to the top of the range till about 12:30.
(Photo by Nick Mills)
It started to rain fairly heavily on the way up, so we were all quite wet by the time we got to the top. This, and the mist, meant that we couldn’t see anything from the lookout, but Brindle Creek looked spectactular. There’s something about a bubbling creek in the middle of a misty rainforest that stirs my soul.
At the eastern edge of the loop through the rainforest the track splits in two where Bridnle Creek Road meets Tweed Range Road. Our intended route was southwards. The other alternative was to take Tweed Range Road westward back to our starting point. This would shorten the ride by more than half. We talked about it for a while. It was getting close to 1pm, our intended route still involved 60km of muddy roads and heavy rain, and we still had a 3 hour drive home after that. So we decided to take the shortcut and head back downhill along Tweed Range Road. At least we’d end up getting home before dark.
(Photo by Nick Mills)
While it took us over two hours to ride UP the range, it only took us about 20 minutes to ride down. It was incredible fun. Riding downhill at close to 60km/h in a wet jersey makes you very cold, so I decided to put on a jacket to keep the wind out. One consequence of that is that the wind inflated the jacket, so by the time I reached the bottom I looked like the Michelin Tyre man š
Being a much tougher rider, Nick decided to give the jacket a miss. But he still ended up wearing a fine mask of mud all over his face by the time he got to the bottom of the hill.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was when we got back to the car, and met our exhausted and mud covered friend Dean grinding his bike up the hill from the other direction. He had actually started the ride two and a half hours before us. Unlike us, he slogged it out the entire way finishing the 80km loop at about the same time we finished our 35km loop.
What was most impressive was that he had parked 5km down the road from us at the top of Simes Road. So he kept pedalling on while we got in the cars to leave. 5km later when we had driven to the top of Simes Road, we looked in the rear view mirror, and there was Dean right behind us on the bike. After an 85km slog through the hills, he was able to go head to head with a 4wd over 5km in about the same time. Good on ya, Dean!
On the drive home we stopped at the Railway Loop Lookout. Just before it reaches the Qld / NSW border, the railway line has to climb several hundred metres in a short time. The engineers came up with a novel way of overcoming this obstacle by making the railway loop over itself in a big circle (see the google map below). You can see this unusual bit of railway from the lookout.
All up, 35km in 3 hours with 1,100m of ascent and 4,000kcal bunred. I can’t rate our intended loop as we didn’t finish it. I’m rating our actual loop 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. I would have rated it lower, but the rain made it more difficult, as well as the logistics of getting to and from the starting point. It’s a great loop for anyone who’d like to see some great views over a short distance. But make sure you do it in dry weather!
Total distance: 36.73 km Total climbing: 1118 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 04:04:44
