Musings – Page 44 – Exploring the world with my friends

The Mulga Pub

by NeilEnnis 14 July 2013 6 Comments Shortlink

Every year in September, hundreds of Australia’s mountain biking elite take part in “The Epic” – a gruelling race from Hidden Vale Adventure Park at Grandchester, over the Little Liverpool Range to Mulgowie, and then back over the range to the starting point.

Today we wanted to ride the race route in reverse, at a more sedate pace, and enjoy the views along the way.

I usually end up at the back of the pack when exploring with my riding buddies, but today I was nursing a painful calf injury which slowed me down a bit more. Strangely, it was much more painful for me to walk than to ride, so I found myself pedalling harder on some of the hills to avoid the discomfort of having to push the bike up the hill.

As we rode higher up the Little Liverpool Range, the tracks became narrower, steeper and rougher. Rain and cattle made the tracks very muddy, then the sun baked the mud dry. This left a rough, crusty surface with rocks protruding through at the most inopportune places. Riding this section required a lot of concentration. I fell off a couple of times and head-butted a rock. Thankfully the rock was unharmed.

The Razorback trail became even steeper as we got closer to the top. Normally, during the Epic, racers would come rushing down this hill, with less experienced riders crashing, and bodies lying all over the place while the elite riders survived the treacherous decent. Today we had to push up this hill which was hard work. Darb took pity on me, and pushed my bike up the last part of the hill whilst I hobbled up, continually thanking him as I went.

The views at the top were stunning. We could see for miles in every direction. The deep blue sky arched over us, while the fog still covered the Bremer Valley to the east, and the water sparkled in one of the distant Hidden Vale dams. Why would you be anywhere else on a day like this?

We found ourselves frequently stopping to soak up the views…

… and eventually decided to take a snack break at a remote picnic table that seemed to have been placed there for the sole purpose of enjoying the beautiful vista.

Eventually we reached the western boundary of the Hidden Vale property, at the top of Brown Springs Road. Scaling the locked gate, we were now officially in the Lockyer Valley, at the top of a long fast gravel road which descended into Mulgowie.

After the intense ups and downs of the Razorback trail, it was relaxing to roll sedately through the surrounding famrland.

The food at the Mulga Pub was delicious. We propped the bikes up outside and chilled out for an hour. One of the blokes in the pub came outside and told us he was thinking of racing in The Epic this year. As I relaxed in the winter sun, I thought to myself – “Why would you race through a lovely place like this”. I’d like to come back to The Mulga Pub again sometime.

After lunch we took it easy for a few km as we made our way south along Mulgowie Road towards Red Gap Road. Red Gap is one of the few passes over the Little Liverpool Range. We had another fun climb ahead.

The smooth gravel road gave way to steeper more technical trails…

After reaching the top, we enjoyed another fast and bumpy downhill run along the eastern part of Red Gap Road. Eventually we stopped outside “Farmer Jo’s Place” to re-group. I could hear dogs barking in the distance, and then noticed the warning sign: Beware. Guard Dogs on Duty. The dogs were coming for us.

That is the cutest guard dog I have ever met. Farmer Jo introduced herself, and her dogs. I love the chance encounters we often have with interesting people (and animals) on our rides!

In order to link this ride up with previous rides on my Ride Network Map, everyone agreed to take a short detour south, so that we could meet up with Hodges Road – part of the Bicentennial National Trail, east of Edwards Gap. From there we thought we’d follow the Hodges Road reserve eastwards through a Eucalyptus plantation.

This involved crossing a few creeks which Eric boldly traversed while I stood prevaricating on the banks, wondering how I’d keep my feet dry.

The grass was high between the trees, but we were able to follow the paths worn by cattle. Cows have an uncanny knack of picking the most convenient trail through rough country. They follow the same trail continuously, until a nice smooth single track is blazed through the grass. So if you ever ride through cattle country, remember the adage – Follow the cattle, but avoid the cow-pats.

Our little detour eventually brought us to Franklin Vale Road – another enjoyable road reserve which is impassable to cars, but perfect for mountain bikes.

And this brought us back to the Hidden Vale property, and its almost endless network of single tracks.

I got a bit carried away. I rocketed through the winding trails, boldly leaping from drop-offs, flying over rocks. This was fun… until I crashed. After head-butting a tree, I lay on my back with my head pointing down the hill, feet uphill, bike on top of me, and stars orbiting my head.

“IS THE BIKE OK???” I yelled.

It was. And so was I, after Jason helped me up, then took a photo of me to record the event.

“Today is Saturday, isn’t it?” I said, trying to prove to Jason that I was still “with it”, and capable of finishing the ride.

With the winter sun lowering towards the western horizon, we made our way back to Hidden Vale via some lazy tracks.

What an amazing day. Thanks so much to Rebecca, Eric, Darb, Paul and Jason for a fun ride.

Eric thinks that this was an easy ride. He rated it 7 out of 10. I laughed at him. For mortals like me, this rates at least 8 and a half out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. Perhaps that has something to do with my injury. This would be a tough ride in Summer, so it’s best done in the cooler, drier months.

And to anyone who has successfully completed “The Epic” – well done!

Total distance: 59.73 km
Total climbing: 2083 m
Average temperature: 19.2
Total time: 07:40:09

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Cycling, South East Qld, xc

Lockyer Waters

by NeilEnnis 7 July 2013 4 Comments Shortlink

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered.
An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
? G. K. Chesterton

The aim of todays ride was to take a quick ride aound Vinegar Hill in Lockyer National Park near Adare, and then ride eastwards, looping through the Lockyer Valley to Coominya and back.

It didn’t quite work out as planned, and (as G.K. Chesterton would describe it) we had an “inconvenience” which ended up being an enjoyable adventure instead.

Spring Creek, north of Gatton, hosts a large Correctional Services precinct including farms and a prison. We started our ride near the prison, and set off hopefully into Lockyer State Forest.

Darb and I have ridden through parts of Lockyer State Forest before, making our way westward up a long climb to Wallers Road. Today we wanted to explore the northern parts of the forest near Vinegar Hill instead.

The flowing trails undulate through this pleasant part of the forest for most of the time, but there are one or two fun creek crossings where it’s important to take a bit of care. We decided to walk this log bridge although it looks like some of our motor cycling friends were able to ride through it without much effort 🙂

The route I had planned led off to the east following a track I’d seen on Google Earth. Unfortunately it was overgrown with Lantana and impossible to ride. So we optimistically decided to follow the main trail instead hoping it would bring us out at the right spot in the end…

But it didn’t 🙂 Instead of leading down the hill to the east, our track headed up the hill and to the west. But we thought the track was so enjoyable to ride on that we’d follow it and see where we ended up.

Eventually we started rolling downhill, but Eric was the only one who was able to ride this descent to the bottom. The rest of us scrambled down on foot, using the brakes on the bike to steady us so we didn’t fall over.

It was a delight to find this hidden trail with its tight single tracks, log bridges and rock gardens. I think we were all glad we’d decided to look at this “inconvenience” the right way and turn it into an adventure.

Darb showed us how to nail a creek crossing.

After about an hour, our little detour led us in a large loop back to where we had deviated from our intended course. We decided to backtrack to the main road and continue our original route.

When I originally planned the course, I tried to stick to unpaved roads as much as possible. Thankfully there are many tracks like this throughout the Lockyer Valley.

The terrain in this part of the world is quite flat, which makes it an easy ride, and also allows for great sweeping views of the horizon.

Northwards along another unformed road, Main Green Swamp Road, we had fun crossing a few creeks.

We stopped at Lake Atkinson for lunch, and to enjoy the sweeping views over the water. The serenity helped me understand why there’s an entire community of people living by the shoreline in houses, caravans, and small cabins.

Atkinson Dam was built in 1970 to provide irrigation water to farms in the area. Most of the water flowing into the dam comes from Buaraba creek.

Prior to the dam, there was a lagoon here – one of many that formed naturally due to the flat terrain and abundant water supply.

Today it’s one of many small dams in the Lockyer Valley, which is known as “Australia’s Salad Bowl” because of the large amount of vegetables grown in its very fertile soil.

After lunch we decided to alter our original route, and leave Coominya out. Our detour earlier in the day had added an hour to the ride, so we thought it best to trim off the easternmost part of the ride to save an hour. That way we wouldn’t be late, and would get back to the start within our allotted time.

So we rode south-westward from lake Atkinson towards another small dam in the area, Lake Clarendon.

What a pleasant surprise! As we rode along the dam wall, the views across this small lake were gorgeous.

Wide open spaces, blue skies, warm sun… what a perfect day.

We rode just under 85 km in six and a half hours.

We climbed just under 1,000m and I burned almost 3,000 kcal.

This is a pleasant easy ride. There are only one or two parts in the upper reaches of Lockyer National Park that are challenging.

I’ll rate this one 7 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks everyone for another fun adventure!

Total distance: 83.82 km
Total climbing: 1754 m
Average temperature: 21.2
Total time: 06:29:42

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BNT, Cycling, Family, History, South East Qld, xc

Toowoomba

by NeilEnnis 30 June 2013 1 Comment Shortlink

Eric and I had a couple of objectives today:

I had a few gaps in my Ride Network Map which I wanted to fill in. We’ve done a few rides in this area recently, and it would be satisfying to link them all up.

Also, Eric wanted to check out a few tracks near Toowoomba to help him plan an off-road route from Brisbane to Toowoomba.

Jaime from Toowoomba Mountain Bike Club kindly agreed to join us for the ride. When exploring new areas, it’s always helpful to bring a local 🙂

We started our adventure at Withcott – a small town at the bottom of the Great Dividing Range. While heavy traffic whizzes through here trying to pick up speed before climbing up the hill to Toowoomba, our plan was for quieter trails. We rode south from Withcott up some quiet back streets towards Tabletop Mountain. Berghoffer Drive and Tabletop Road are very steep paved roads. If you’re interested, have a look at the Google Street View link here. We slowly ground our way to the top of the road, wondering what we had got ourselves into.

But as any seasoned Mountain Biker will tell you (especially if Road Bike riders are within ear-shot), paved roads, even steep ones, are nothing compared to the challenge of off-road climbs.

We slowly climbed up the range – sometimes pedalling, mostly pushing our bikes upwards.

The views to the east were delightful.

My brother-in-law, Paul, lives in Toowoomba, and met us at the top. We carefully scurried across the busy Warrego Highway at the top of the Range and made our way towards Jubilee Park.

Jubilee Park is a mixed-use reserve which sits on the edge of the mountain stretching down the hill from Prince Henry Heights and Mount Lofty towards Withcott.

It boasts a variety of single tracks downhill runs, and a “bridle trail”. Because of recent rain, we decided to avoid the single tracks, and rolled down the hill along the bridle trail.

We had more great views on the way down, but the sticky mud quickly collected on my wheels and totally clogged them up. I had to pull out handfulls of mud from the wheel arches and chain stays just so I could get the wheels turning again.

When we reached the bottom we took a few minutes out at the picnic shelter to scrape off the rest of the mud and prepare for the next big climb. I was a bit worried about Paul. He had only ridden a bike once in the last year because of an injury, and I wasn’t sure how he’d cope with the next bunch of steep muddy hills.

Wallens Road winds back up the range from Withcott to the railway siding at Ballard. There are very few flat sections. It’s all either uphill or down. In wet weather, most of it is muddy.

We slid down several precipitous slippery tracks, and heaved the bikes up some equally challenging slopes before finally emerging to the luxury of reasonably graded dirt road. Jaime assured us we were only 15 minutes away from our lunch stop at Spring Bluff, so Paul put in a quick call to Karen to drive down to pick him up and meet us for lunch.

The short drive up to Spring Bluff Railway Station involves a nasty little 25% climb. The thought of lunch kept us turning the pedals. Paul had an added incentive as Karen was watching. Well done, Paul. That was a great effort for someone who hasn’t been on the bike much lately.

Eric often says “Hunger makes the best sauce”. I agreed with him as I inhaled my delicious burger.

The railway line up the Main Range was constructed between 1864 and 1867. Highfields Railway Station was important because it served as a watering stop for locomotives struggling up the range, and was a loading point for Timber and Dairy products from the Highfields area. Railway Commissioner Gray was particularly fond of the area, and renamed it “Spring Bluff” in 1890. In its heyday in the 1900’s, the station handled over 5,000 passengers per year.

These days it’s much quieter, although you can still sometimes catch a steam train to Warwick.

After lunch we enjoyed a leisurely roll down the hill towards Murphys Creek.

Then, heading into the bush along “Green Gully Road”, we made our way towards the Bicentennial National Trail (BNT).

It’s always nice to meet fellow travellers on the trail. I don’t often see bikes like this though 🙂

The gruelling mud on Green Gully Road made progress very difficult. We couldn’t ride much of it, because the mud stuck to the wheels. In fact even when I pushed the bike, the wheels became clogged with mud. So I carried it. It was hard work, but I laughed about it – even a muddy day on the bike is better than a day indoors.

We eventually reached the BNT on Stevens Road and enjoyed a few precarious downhills on the homeward run towards Withcott.

It might look like a quiet country lane, but this trail is an important route stretching from Cooktown to Melbourne down the great dividing range. I often wonder who has recently passed by on their way north or south.

Before finally arriving in Withcott, we washed the mud off the bikes in a flooded causeway. Eric seemed surprised when I joined in because it meant getting my feet wet.

We rode just over 50km in 7 hours. It was slow going. We climbed about 1,600 metres and I burned about 3,500 kcal.

I’d rate this one 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

A word of warning though – the mud makes it very difficult after wet weather. The climbs would be difficult in summer. This is probably a ride you’d want to try in the drier, cooler weather of early spring.

Thanks Eric, Jaime and Paul for yet another fun adventure!

Total distance: 53.86 km
Total climbing: 2508 m
Average temperature: 16.9
Total time: 06:57:58

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Cycling, Friends, Scenic Rim, South East Qld, xc

Glenrock

by NeilEnnis 23 June 2013 6 Comments Shortlink

Todays adventure was a point-to-point ride from Goomburra National Park (near Cunninghams Gap) to Mount Sylvia. I wanted to fill in another gap in my Ride Network Map, and Becca, Eric and Darb were kind enough to indulge my whim and ride with me. We’ve ridden in Goomburra before, and were familiar with the steep climb up to the top of the range, peaking at about 1,100 metres above sea level. This was going to be a long day, so we wanted to save some time at the start by driving to the top of the range and starting our ride there…

Unfortunately, the road to the top was closed to vehicles – a locked gate blocked the way. So we had to ride our bikes to the top instead.

I thought this was poetic justice. I had recently written an article for The Mountain Bike Life about Hill Climbing in which I enthusiastically described how wonderful it was to ride a bike up steep hills. It seemed like the universe was forcing me to practice what I preached 🙂

The climb had added an hour’s riding time to our trip, but it was still worth the effort.

No ride “to the top” at Goomburra is complete without a side-trip to the Mount Castle Lookout, so we left Eric to mind our bikes while we hiked a few hundred metres through the rainforest to enjoy the view. Despite dismal rain the previous day, and heavy fog that morning, it had transformed into a glorious day.

From the lookout we turned westward and followed a forestry track along a sharp high ridgeline, jumping a few locked gates as we went. Try doing that in a 4wd 🙂

Riding this ridge line is like cycling on a knife’s edge. On either side the terrain drops off steeply. As we rode, on our left and right, we could see the valley below us through the trees.

The views up the valley towards the waterfall were stunning. At times like this I’m so glad I’m able to ride a bike in the bush in this part of the world. Doesn’t it look fantastic?

Eventually we reached the end of the ridgeline. It was time to drop down into the valley. Our plan was very optimistic. We had based the route on faint track marks we could make out from aerial photos. We were aware that the descent would be steep (up to 50% gradient in parts), and that we’d have to be very careful.

Yep – it was steep alright. What impressed me was that we were actually able to ride any of it 🙂

The views were amazing. We stopped every few minutes to soak up the panorama.

Recent wet weather had caused land-slips which impeded our progress. Thankfully we were able to walk over the rubble.

One thing that was unavoidable, however, were the cobblers pegs. After bashing through the undergrowth for a few minutes, it looked like our legs had sprouted wierd hairs that had poked through our socks. I think it’s going to take ages for me to pick them out of my clothes.

Eventually we reached East Haldon “Road” which follows the creek along the valley. I use the term “Road” lightly. It was a rough track to follow.

The track took us past a place on the map known as “Top Yards”. I’m guessing this was a place where graziers kept cattle in earlier times.

We had to cross the creek many times. Initally I tried to “rock hop” and keep my feet dry. Eventually I just hardened up, and waded through the water.

Eric surprised us. He had told me that he was carrying climbing rope in his frame bag for our precarious descent. But actually he was carrying a gas stove and picnic blanket. When we caught up to Eric at the “Bottom Yards”, he had the water boiling, picnic blanket spread out, coffee and hot chocolate rady, and even some short-bread.

We were cold and hungry. What a pleasant surprise!

Thanks for being so thoughtful, Eric.

As an added bonus, we were sitting under a mandarin tree laden with fruit. We were able to pick some ripe mandarins to enjoy with our lunch. They were delicious!

Here’s Darb’s video of our lunch “surprise”:

Groundhog’s Bottom Yard Cafe from Darb Ryan on Vimeo.

As we rode out of the valley, a prominent rocky outcrop came into view. This is “Glenrock” – it’s what the state forest is named after.

After countless creek crossings and what seemed like an eternity of rough tracks, we finally made it out of the state forest.

It had taken us over 4 hours, and we’d only ridden 25km. Hard work. That must have been the slowest 25km I’ve ever ridden. In fact I’ve done faster hikes than that.

The rough tracks became smooth dirt roads. While we still had about 30km to go, the toughest part of the ride was over, and we were able to enjoy a smooth, fast, ride to Mount Sylvia.

It had taken us over 6 hours to ride 50km. We were delighted to reach our destination and relax.

We climbed about 860m during this ride, and descended about 1,400m. I burned about 3,000 kcal. We took a vote at the end of the ride and decided this one rates about 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

If you’re going to try doing it, be prepared for very rough country. There are no groomed trails out here. In places the track is difficult to see. And (of course) the descent from Goomburra is dangerous, so take care.

Thanks Becca, Eric and Darb for a great day out.

Thanks also to Mike for driving us out there, and to my dad, Bruce, for helping me get the Van out to Mount Sylvia the day before.

Point-to-point rides take a bit of extra planning, but they’re worth the effort!

Total distance: 54.14 km
Total climbing: 1543 m
Average temperature: 14.3
Total time: 06:07:27

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BNT, Cycling, Scenic Rim, South East Qld, xc

Egypt

by NeilEnnis 16 June 2013 1 Comment Shortlink

Queensland has its very own “Egypt” – a spectacular plateau to the south-east of Toowoomba with amazing views of the Lockyer Valley. Today’s adventure took us to the heights of Egypt following portions of the Bicentennial National Trail (BNT) as well as old tracks that were once used in the Flight Centre Epic mountain bike race.

We rode from Withcott with some new friends, Tamsin and Richard, who were familiar with many of the trails in the area, and were able to point us in the right direction when planning the ride.

There’s no chance to “warm up” when riding along the BNT out of Withcott. The hills start almost immediately. One of the first major climbs is “Silver Pinch” which takes you up to Silver Ridge, near the Toowoomba Golf Club at Middle Ridge.

As with most climbs, we were rewarded afterwards with a wonderful twisty descent down Horsfalls Lane towards Upper Flagstone Creek. It was a cold day, and I was grateful for the warm gear I was wearing as the wind whipped past us on the way down.

After following the creek for a short while, we left the paved road and followed the BNT up a dirt track leading up to Preston.

And this was to be the pattern of the day. Tough climbs. Short break at the top. Wonderful quick descent 🙂

Some of the hills were a bit too steep to ride in places, but it still felt great to be out in this wonderful part of the world.

We eventually made it up the climb to Preston – a picturesque hilltop village with its own Chapel and Vineyard. (Note to self, lets come back here in a few weeks with the family for a leisurely drive)

One of the hidden treasures of Preston is a lookout, not far from the winery. I only found out about this gem by reading Shannon Wall’s excellent blog “Biking the BNT” in which he describes his adventures riding a mountain bike along the BNT from Cooktown to Aratula (over 3,000 km). The panorama is worth the small detour from the main road. Thanks for letting us know about it, Shannon!

Richard suggested we leave the BNT at this point, and ride up to the Egypt Plateau via the small villages of Rockmount and Stockyard.

What followed was another eye-watering descent down from Preston in which we lost about 500 metres of altitude over 10 km.

Wow!

At the bottom, Paul pointed out to me that while he enjoyed the ride down, he was reluctant to give up so much altitude. Because as any intrepid mountain biker will tell you, you must pay your dues to the gravity gods. What goes down must go up. And so we met Kennedys Road.

It starts with a bit of a giggle. There are a few letter boxes at the bottom, and a rusty old fridge, that makes an effective letter box if you’re expecting large parcels.

But the climb is tough.

As usual, I was the last one up the hill.

I kept my legs turning over by reciting Banjo Patterson’s “Clancy of the Overflow” to myself. The rhythm and imagery kept my mind off the effort.

And so we made it up onto the Egypt Plateau, where we all collapsed on the grass opposite an old fig tree, and enjoyed our lunch. Eric (relaxing on his back) says the best sauce is hunger. I agree with him. Peanut butter sandwiches never tasted so good.

We stopped quite often to soak up the views. The rolling hills seemed to go on forever.

For some reason an old song by Elvis Presley starting going through my head. No prizes for guessing which one.

Each corner revealed a new vista…

… so we stopped quite often to enjoy the view.

Incidentally, this is one of the reasons I don’t do races. How could you possibly enjoy the view? (The other reason is that I don’t ride fast enough).

Great views with great friends. I can’t really thing of anything I’d rather be doing on a Saturday!

Eventually we hit the main road near Ma Ma Creek and started riding southwards. This imposing road cutting stretched high on either side of the road. There were warnings at either end alerting us to the possibility of falling rocks. Eric (ever wise) advised us all to keep riding. I couldn’t resist and had to stop and get a photo of it.

After about 55km riding, we stopped to fill up with water at this goregous old galvanized iron hall at Ma Ma Creek.

We then left the paved road, and started our way up a dirt track ominously named “Razorback Road”. This was the third major climb of the day. Good old Clancy came to lend a hand yet again as I re-recited the poem to myself.

This track was part of the “Epic” mountain bike race a few years ago. I thought about hardened racers grinding up this road. It was hard work at my slow pace. Imagine how painful it would be riding up this hill as fast as you could go?

The road passes through a couple of cattle properties on its way up to the Gap at the top.

The rugged landscape was stunning.

Jason kindly hung back on the climb to ride with me. He’s new to mountain biking, but his legs are accustomed to working hard on the road bike. It’s hard to keep up with him on the hills.

At the bottom of another exhillarating descent, we came across this gorge at Lagoon Creek.

It’s amazing what you find off the beaten track.

After one more climb, we eventually reached the top of West Haldon Road. In the Epic MTB Race, some riders were clocked at 110 km/h riding down this hill. It had a bit too much loose gravel for my liking, so I decended much more sedately today!

To the south we looked towards Glenrock National Park below the peaks of Goomburra. I haven’t been there. Yet 🙂

What a wonderful place we live in!

We enjoyed the relaxing doanhill coast into Mount Sylvia. Our generous driver for the day, “Wavey Davey” met us here and drove us home. Point to point rides are always logistically challenging, and I’m so grateful for the time “Wavey” kindly gave to us today. Thanks mate!

Thanks also to Tamsin and Richard for showing us around their specatcular back yard.

We rode 85km, and climbed over 2,100m in vertical ascent, in under 7 hours, including breaks. I burned about 3,700 kcal. It was a cold day, and we worked very hard.

This ride deserves 9.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

To anyone who rode this route for the Epic race – you are tough as nails. Well done!

Oh – can anyone tell me how it this place got to be named Egypt please?

Total distance: 86.06 km
Total climbing: 3053 m
Average temperature: 12.5
Total time: 06:41:49

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Aboriginal Australia, BNT, Cycling, Friends, History, South East Qld, xc

Murphys Creek

by NeilEnnis 9 June 2013 8 Comments Shortlink

There’s an unusual creek which flows down from the Great Dividing Range below Toowomba.

Aborigines used to hunt for fish in this creek, which could at times run dry, and at other times transform into a raging torent during the wet season. Once a grass fire swept through the area and burned the fishing nets of the local tribe. So from that day they called the place “Tamamareen” which means “Place where the fishing nets got burned by a grass fire”.

In the 1860’s, a shepherd named Murphy built a hut in the rough foothills near this creek.

Several years later in 1867, a water tank and railway station were built at the bottom of the range to service steam engines grinding their way up the range to the Darling Downs. They decided to name the station after the local creek, which by then was known as Murphys Creek after the shepherd.

In a short while, a small town had sprung up around the railway station.

According to historical writer, Van Derek, Chinese market gardeners camped by the creek in the 1860’s and 1870-‘s. They grew vegetables which they then sold to the men working on the railway line.

Disaster struck when a torrential downpour caused a flash flood of the creek, drowning the Chinese who were camped on its banks. Local rumour has it that there is a mass grave in the Murphy’s Creek Cemetery containing the bodies of the victims of that flood.

And as most Queenslanders will tell you, this fickle creek had the final word in 2011, when it broke its banks again, and destroyed an entire town.

A dozen of us rode off from Helidon to explore this fascinating part of the world.

Since Helidon was pretty much the lowest part of the ride, we started with some gentle climbs near Lockyer before having to work our legs harder as we neared Murphys Creek.

Heading down cemetery road, past the legendary mass chinese grave, we could see some of the challenging foothills that lay ahead. These hills comprised the “small climb”. We’d grind up to about the 600 metre level, and then enjoy a quick downhill run before taking on the “big climb” up Fifteen Mile Road to Hampton at almost 800 metres altitude.

It might have been the “small climb” but the hills around Murphys Creek are tough to ride. At times we had to push the bikes.

Some of the hills were so tough, we couldn’t even push the bikes up them. We let Steeve get halfway up this hill (so we could photograph him) before we decided to turn around and try an easier route. I don’t think Steeve minded too much 🙂

Thank, Jeff, for showing us an easier way through the bush. I think we’d still be in there fighting our way out if it wasn’t for you.

Eventually the monster hills gave way to undulating terrain, and we enjoyed the relatively flat tracks as we gave our legs time to recover. We had crested the “small climb”.

These trails were wonderful. For about six kilometres we wound our way down steep tracks on narrow trails, tyres sliding on the gravel, jumping over waterbars, and hardly having to pedal at all.

I loved it!

The trail spat us out, as steep trails often do, in the middle of some grassy fields at the bottom of a place descriptively named “Fifteen Mile”. We had a bit of a snack here, which was a good thing, because the “big climb” lay ahead.

Fifteen Mile Road is a nine kilometre ascent which rises about 450 metres. I was the slowest up the hill, so all I managed to photograph was Steeve ahead of me, snaking up the hill, trying to make the climb a bit easier while slowly wending through the blanket of green eucalypts either side of the smooth clay road.

But all hills eventually come to an end, and soon we were coasting over the rolling plateau at the top, near Hampton.

The cafe at Hampton serves delicious mountain bike fuel. The Lamb-burger, short black and Chocolate Milkshake hardly touched the sides.

“Now where’s a hammock so I can have a short nap?” I pondered.

With lunch over, and satiated riders back on bikes, we rocketed down the bitumen along Esk-Hampton Road towards the lookout. This is a busy road, mostly downhill, so we enjoyed the free roll down to Perseverance.

The sign says: “Small Cheer and Great Welcome Makes a Merry Feast” – William Shakespeare.

I couldn’t agree more 🙂

The hills out the back of Perseverance were hard work – especially after such a relaxing lunch. But the surrounding countryside was picturesque.

A couple of us ended up falling in the mud after coming across this muddy bog at the bottom of a hill. I thought I’d try and get a picture of Eric doing the same, but he gave us all a lesson in negotiating slippery terrain, and eased through without faltering. You da man, Eric.

Our tribe of bedraggled muddy riders emerged from the forest to Gus Beutels Lookout. Even though it was cloudy, the view didn’t disappoint. Even the rain clouds rolling in from the south didn’t obscure the panorama.

Rain clouds?

“Do you think we’ll get back before the rain hits us?” somebody asked.

Maybe 🙂

And so began the “big descent” down Seventeen Mile Road – a long (mostly) dirt road, stretching 30 kilometres back to Helidon, with only one or two uphill sections.

There were one or two near misses on the screaming descent. Dom took a corner a bit too widely and ended up colliding with some rocks. “You were a bit lucky there, Dom”, I said. It could have been a lot worse, but he only suffered a few scratches and bruises.

I took a slight detour so that this route would connect with the rest of my map. Half the group kept rolling down the hill while I did this, and few waited. Unfortunately this meant we copped the rain during the final part of the ride, while the others arrived back nice and dry.

But a little bit of rain at the end of a tough ride is almost pleasant.

This ride was 83km and took 7 hours including breaks. We climbed a total of 1,833m. I burned about 3,500 kcal.

I’d rate this one 9 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. This was in cool rider-friendly weather. I wouldn’t attempt it in summer.

Thanks everyone for a fantastic ride. Geeze I have some great friends.

Total distance: 84.87 km
Total climbing: 2597 m
Average temperature: 14.8
Total time: 07:05:13

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Cycling, History, South East Qld, xc

Down the Shute

by NeilEnnis 2 June 2013 6 Comments Shortlink

Maleny was built on timber – literally.

When the new Queensland Government repealed the “Bunya Proclamation” in 1859, they opened up large tracts of dense forest that had previously been protected for the benefit of local Aborigines. Timber-getters hungrily harvested thick forests on the mountains around Maleny.

The only problem was getting the massive logs down the mountain – which was where “The Shute” came in. The logs were slid down long steep shutes (that’s the old-fashioned way of spelling “chute”), such as McCarthy’s Shute, to waiting bullock drays at the bottom of the mountain. From there, the precious cargo would be lifted onto carts, and hauled to timber mills.

Today we followed the slippery path of the logs, and rode our bikes down McCarthy’s Shute.

Bernie kindly drove us up the mountain to our starting point at Mary Cairncross Reserve, on the outskirts of Maleny. Amid the damp mist and light drizzle, we headed westwards down the hill towards “The Shute”.

McCarthy’s Shute starts off as a picturesque hill gently winding down the slopes of the Blackall Range.

Even though they were wrapped in clouds, the surrouning hills looked pretty enough to prompt me to stop a few times for the obligatory photo 🙂

Eventually the road transforms into a “Shute” 🙂 It gets steep, muddy and slippery – perfect mountain biking terrain.

The “road” disappeared in one spot and we had to scramble over a gulf in the road a couple of metres wide.

We finally reached the bottom of the descent at Ewen Creek – a tributary of the Stanley River which runs only a couple of kilometres from here. (Yes, I got wet feet!)

The next physical challenge was a gruelling climb up Macdonalds Road. Thankfully it was paved, but this nasty little pinch reaches slopes in excess of 25% as it makes its way up one of the precarious peaks near Bald Knob. (Oh, why do cameras always make steep hills look flat???)

The sign says “No Through Road”, but once at the top of the climb, we followed a faint track down the hill again into the London Creek Environmental Reserve.

The track is steep, rough and muddy in places. At one spot, while riding over a steep drop-off, my front wheel got stuck in the mud, and I went over the handlebars in slow-motion. I was unhurt during this manouevre which seemed to take an eternity. But, sadly, I managed to break one of the spokes on my rear wheel. For some reason, the spokes on my Crank Brothers Cobalt Wheels seem to easily break – even though they’re advertised as tough cross-country wheels. On the up-side, it’s relatively easy to replace spokes, and I always carry spares in my pack, so we took a break for ten minutes while I fixed my rear wheel. This is the first time I’ve ever replaced a spoke – so I’m feeling very proud of myself at the moment 🙂

After putting the wheel back on the bike, we ground up another steep hill towards Mount Mellum. Hills are inevitable in Mountain Biking. The best approach is to get used to them. We normally arrive at the top out of breath, but the views are always worth the effort!

We made our way eastwards through Dullarcha National Park. Most people know this park for the “Rail Trail” which passes through it, but Dullarcha is much more than that. Nestled up against the Blackall Range, it’s very hilly in parts. We got a great view of the Glasshouse Mountains to the south as we passed over the railway tunnel on the North Coast line.

We followed the tracks from the hills above the railway line down to the muddy trails around Ewen Maddock dam.

The dam is full after recent rain, so we had to take one or two detours to avoid a couple of flooded tracks.

It had taken us over 3 hours to ride only 30 kilometres. This was hard work, so we stopped for a hearty lunch at Landsborough before heading back off into the forest.

The pine plantations near Landsborough are on flat terrain, so we enjoyed a leisurely after-lunch roll along some of the forestry trails.

Plantations gave way to National Park again as we rode through some beautiful (but boggy) Melaleuca forests near Beerwah.

Rolling past some of the strawberry farms, bustling with busy workers, I thought we’d temporarily ridden to another country 🙂

And just outside of our destination at Beerburrum, we stopped at an old aboriginal Bora Ring on the edge of a pineapple field. The sign said “Silent now” but sometimes I think if you use a bit of imagination you can hear the echoes of clapsticks and soft singing.

On the distant horizon, the heights of our starting point reminded us of where we had started the day.

After giving the bikes a quick hose-down, we hopped on the train for the quick ride back to Brisbane.

We rode 65 km in about 7 hours including breaks, climbing about 900 metres. I burned 3,000 kcal. The first part of this ride was the toughest. After lunch it was quite relaxing. Taking it all into account I’d rate it about 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks Becca end Eric for a fun day out.

Thanks Bernie for driving us to our starting point.

Total distance: 66.44 km
Total climbing: 1716 m
Average temperature: 18.4
Total time: 06:59:23

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Aboriginal Australia, Cycling, History, South East Qld, xc

Bunya Mountains

by NeilEnnis 26 May 2013 2 Comments Shortlink

The magnificent peaks of the Bunya Mountains are a three hour drive to the northwest of Brisbane.

Our plan today was to ride from Burtons Well – close to Mount Kiangarow, the highest point in the Bunya Mountains at 1,135 metres above sea level. We’d then follow forestry roads eastwards towards Maidenwell where we would have lunch, before climbing back up the range to finsih at Yarraman.

This was a point-to-point ride, which meant we’d finish at a different point to which we started. This always raises logistical challenges – bringing two vehicles, retrieving one vehilce from the starting point at the end of the ride, etc. My friend, Paul, kindly offered to be our driver for the day, dropping us off in the mountains, then driving back to Yarraman to pick us up. This saved us a lot of hassle at the end of the day.

We met with some of the guys from Toowoomba Mountain Bike Club in Yarraman before making the final drive up to the top of the mountains.

The Jarowair Aboriginal people call this place “Boobarran Ngummin” which, literally translated, means “mothers’ breast”. They believed that the creators of the land, people and animals lived here. These mountains were so important to the aborigines of southeast Queensland, that every three years they’d walk several hundred kilometres from places as far away as present-day Northen NSW, Brisbane, Moreton Bay Islands, Sunshine Coast, and Wide Bay.

The journey would take upto several months, and during that time they’d engage in trade, marriage ceremonies, spiritual discussions and gathering the nuts from the abundant Bunya Pines.

Even today, the Bunya Mountains is the site of the largest natural Bunya Pine forest in the world.

Burtons Well is named after local pioneers, Bob aand Geroge Burton, who dug the well in the drought of 1901 to provide water for their horses and bullock team.

On this morning in late May, at such a high altitude, and under clear skies, it was very cold. So we all rugged up in anticipation for what would be a fast, cold descent down the mountain.

This was the fastest descent I have ever done on a bike. The winding paved road drops about 500 metres in altitude in the space of about 5 km. At one section where the road dropped steep and straight, my GPS tells me my top speed was 99.9 km/h.

Bunya Mts Yarraman 2013-05-25 from Darb Ryan on Vimeo.

Here’s a video of that descent (and the rest of the ride) by my good friend, Darb Ryan.

The road whizzed by in a blur of howling wind, chilling cold, and my shrill cries of “On your right” as I passed a few other riders.

I still haven’t confessed to Liz how fast I went.

In little more than ten minutes we were out of the rainforest, down the mountain, and rolling through open farmland with frozen faces, and cold noses. A few of us took the opportunity to remove some of the cold-weather gear and prepare for the hard work ahead.

The dirt roads through Alice Creek are made of black soil. It’s nice and smooth in dry weather, but after rain it turns to sticky black goo. After a few minutes riding on it, our wheels caked up with thick mud. It was impossible to ride.

We stopped and scraped the mud from the tyres and our shoes, then pushed the bikes.

But in a cruel twist, the mud still stuck to the tyres while we pushed. So we had to carry the bikes for a couple of km.

It was hard going.

But wait… there’s more!

Not only was the ground akin to wet cement, some of those hills were impossibly steep.

Thankfully, even the steepest of hills come to an end, and soon we were enjoying some more bumpy descents through a hoop pine plantation.

We followed the trail along Barker Creek for a few kilometres, crossing it several times.

The road surface gradually improved as we got closer to Maidenwell.

Eventually we came out on the paved road we’d driven along a few hours before. The fields of sticky black mud that we had encountered earlier had delayed us by about an hour. Although it’s difficult for a mountain biker to admit, it was actually a relief to ride on the bitumen for a short while before lunch.

Ten hungry cyclists decended on the Maidenwell General Store and ordered mountains of food. A few of us took the opportunity to dry out wet, muddy footwear on the footpath outside. It took a while, but after about an hour, we had all eaten and were ready for the final leg of the ride.

We stopped by Coomba Waterhole on the way back. This picturesque location is a great spot for a picnic, and (in warmer months) a swim. The imposing rock formations are fascinating. But in today’s chilly weather we decided to forget about having a swim.

After a long climb up yet another nasty hill in Yarraman State Forest, we took a rest at the top and looked back towards the west. A long way distant, on the horizon, we could see the shadowy peaks of the Bunya Mountains. It was a great feeling to think “We’ve just ridden from there”.

We rode about 70 km in about 7 hours including breaks.

During that time we descended almost 1,800 metres, but we also had to climb about 1,200 metres, during which I burned about 3,000 kcal.

This was a tough ride, made more difficult by the sticky mud, and the logistics of starting and finishing such a long way from home.

The Bunya Mountains are stunning – well worth the effort of the visit, whether it’s on a mountain bike or in a car.

This one rates 9 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Thanks everyone for great company on a spectacular ride!

Total distance: 69.55 km
Total climbing: 1899 m
Average temperature: 17.1
Total time: 06:53:47

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