Category: Cycling

Cycling, Friends, Pine Rivers

Pedal Til You Puke

by NeilEnnis 2 October 2011 No Comments Shortlink

About 15 of us got together yesterday to ride some steep hills at Clear Mountain. The idea was to have fun, see who could ride up (and down) the most hills without getting off the bike, and to raise money for a friend of ours.

Graeme Ardern is fighting Hodgkin’s Disease. He needs some money in the next few weeks for neurosurgery that isn’t covered by his health fund or Medicare, so thought we’d all chip in a bit of cash to help out, and have a whale of at time in the process.

Here’s a link to their fundraising site if you’d like to help.

Thanks to Chantelle, Steve and Graeme for some great photos.


The course started out along some narrow trails winding thorugh the forest, across some steep creek crossings, then up onto the main fire trails. I’ve done this loop dozens of times before – I ride it at least once per week, but these guys rode it really quickly, and after 5 minutes I really started to feel puffed out.


We agreed to stop at the top of each hill to let everyone catch up. Towards the end, I was the one crawling to the top puffing and panting.


I was impressed with the skill of some of these riders. I was riding behind Mat (from For the Riders) and was amazed at how high he got into the air over some of the jumps, and how quickly some of these riders could get up the hills.


The last couple of hills were stupidly steep. Some of the guys put in a huge effort to make it part way up the hill. It was nearly impossible to even walk up the slope…


…so I just watched in awe as Graham “Wingadelic” Menizes smashed the last hill – riding straight up it, while singing at the same time. It was a sight to behold.

If you’re interested, Leanne has done a video of the event, including the last huge climb at the end:

I rode with a few friends afterwards to “warm” down, so the total distance for us was 20km (the course was 11km) with total vertical ascent of about 700m, and 1,400kcal. Considering most of that effort was in the first 11km, I’m giving this one 10 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. I didn’t puke, but I came pretty close.

Total distance: 20.78 km
Total climbing: 752 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 03:15:05
Download file: activity_118195835.gpx
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Cycling, South East Qld, xc

The Wall of Dirt

by NeilEnnis 24 September 2011 No Comments Shortlink

Today I rode to Walloon (west of Ipswich) via D’Aguilar National Park with some friends from MTBDirt.com.au.

One of the highlights of the ride was the “King of the Hill” contest to see who could ride furthest up a terrible hill we’ve dubbed “The Wall of Dirt”. Tony (“Darb”) won the contest narrowly but he only managed to get part way up the start of this hill, and everyone else didn’t even make that.
The Wall of Dirt
After that, we all had to scramble up the Wall, pushing our bikes.

Banks Creek Road
After finally getting out of the mountains, the trail dropped us out in the middle of Banks Creek – a farming area nestled in among the hills, with miles of dirt roads.

Chasing the Pack
There were 15 of us in all. With a large group it was difficult to keep everyone together. If you look carefully, you can see the “Pack” of riders off in the distance with a couple of the other riders chasing them.

Bikes at the Shop
Parking space for the bikes was limited once we got to the Fernvale Bakery.

The food and drinks hardly touched the sides on the way down.

Mountain Biking Mates
Thanks everyone for a great ride. I really enjoyed spending the day with you.

I’m grateful to live in such a beautiful place.

All up, almost 90km with about 1,750m of vertical ascent, and about 4,750 kcal burned.

It was a hot day, and the Wall of Dirt was really tough, so I’m giving this one 9 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.

Total distance: 89.64 km
Total climbing: 1828 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 08:13:46
Download file: activity_116562872.gpx
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Aboriginal Australia, Cycling, History, South East Qld, xc

Tour de Glasshouse

by NeilEnnis 17 September 2011 No Comments Shortlink

Glasshouse Panorama

Well it wasn’t a race, like other Tour de somethings, but it was a tour on a bike, and it was spectacular.

The Glasshouse Mountains looked stunning today in the early summer weather. Whatever happened to Spring? This is a really special place. It’s even more special when you think about the Gubbi Gubbi / Kabi legends of the place as you move around it. Basically they’re an ancient family, with a mum (Beerwah) a dad (Tibrogargan), lots of kids (the other mountains), a baby on the way (Beerwah is looking pretty big), and a long dramatic history. I won’t recount it here, but if you ever visit the place, it might be worthwhile reading up on the legends beforehand.

Mount BeerwahMount Beerwah
Here’s Mount Beerwah from a couple of different angles. There are some fun downhill tracks near Mount Beerwah. Like many of the dirt tracks in the area they have ruts from the many four wheel drives and motorbikes that use the area, which makes riding it on a mountain bike a bit of a challenge.

CoonowrinCoonowrin
The downhill trails near Mount Coonowrin are really steep too. I was very thankful for good front shock-absorbers. If not for them I’m sure I would have gone over the bars in a couple of places.

Bankfoot House
I had to ride along the bitumen for about 4km to get to some more trails, and was delighted to come across Bankfoot House. It was built in the 1860’s, and was used as a stage post for the Cobb and Co service for people travelling to Gympie to “strike it rich” in the gold rush. This road is called “Old Gympie Road” and is part of an old road stretching from Brisbane to Gympie through places like Kedron, Petrie, Kallangur, Caboolture… At some places along the route it’s still called “Gympie Road” or “Old Gympie Road”, but you won’t see many stage coaches on it these days.
Bankfoot HouseBankfoot HouseBankfoot House
More info about Bankfoot House.

Mount Tibrogargan
According to Gubbi Gubbi legend, Father Tibrogargan has many children, with one on the way. He reminds me of the cares, responsibilities, joys and sorrows of fatherhood.

With a hunched back like that, you’d think he had a lot of worries!

All up about 38km and 2,400 kcal in just under 3 hours. This one rates 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter because of one or two gnarly climbs, and one particularly knuckle-whitening descent near Mount Coonowrin.

10 out of 10 for views though 🙂

Total distance: 37.4 km
Total climbing: 835 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 03:47:19
Download file: activity_114871424.gpx
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Cycling, South East Qld, xc

Pine Forest

by NeilEnnis 10 September 2011 No Comments Shortlink

Last week I complained about how monotonous Pine Plantation Forests can be to ride through. Today I thought I’d rectify that by exploring the Beerburrum Pine Plantation for a few hours to see if I could find some more interesting tracks.

Forest Tracks
You’d be forgiven for thinking that they all look like this, with long straight dirt roads and rows of pine trees, but that’s not the case.

OasisForest Tracks
Some of the land bordering creeks and swamps is unsuitable for plantation timber, so it usually is just left as is – an oasis of biodiversity within a larger monoculture of slash pine. Riding along the borders of these sections I often found twisty narrow little tracks which were much more fun to ride on. Because of the extra grass, the tracks were less muddy than the big wide dirt roads.

Pine ForestLace Monitor
This was another section of pine forest bordering a creek. While trying to avoid some puddles, I looked down at my feet and spotted this magnificent looking Lace Monitor, or Goanna. He didn’t move a muscle – just stared at me and hoped I’d eventually go away (which I did).

Forest TracksForest Tracks
In between the large straight roads, there are myriads of smaller tracks like these. Some grassy, some just two lines of vehicle tracks. They’re all fun to ride – it just takes a bit of curiosity to find them.

Today I rode about 54km in almost 4 hours. I didn’t rush it – it was nice just to take it easy and see what I could discover. The tracks were mostly flat, and easy to ride. I hardly raised a sweat, so I’m giving this one 5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. But for enjoyment, I’d say it’s well worth the time.

Total distance: 54.67 km
Total climbing: 733 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 04:44:35
Download file: activity_113121594.gpx
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Cycling, Pine Rivers

Two Lakes

by NeilEnnis 29 August 2011 No Comments Shortlink

We’re lucky to live near two artificial lakes: Lake Kurwongbah which was created when Sideling Creek was dammed in 1955, and Lake Samsonvale which was created when the North Pine River was dammed in 1968.

I love riding the bike by these large bodies of water.

Pump House - North Pine River
The Pump House was built in 1955 as part of the construction of the Lake Kurwongbah Dam. It pumps water uphill into Lake Kurwongbah from the North Pine River to keep the Dam topped up.

Lake Kurwongbah was oriiginally built to supply water to the Australian Paper Manufacturers (APM) Petrie Mill – now known as the Amcor Cartonboard Petrie Mill.

Today if you walk along the Dam Wall at Kurwongbah you’ll often see a mass of air bubbling up to the lake surface. This is because the Pump House is operating, transferring water into Lake Kurwongbah. (It’s also a good reason not to swim in the river near the Pump House!)

[Source: “Pioneering the Pine”, Leith Barter. 2005]

Pelican - Lake Samsonvale

If you look carefully you can see a pelican drifting on Lake Samsonvale. I watched this one gliding in like a strangely shaped flying boat from years gone by.

Sunset - Lke Samsonvale

It doesn’t get much better than this! There are a lot worse things you could do than wander along the shoreline of Lake Samsonvale 🙂

Total distance: 23.66 km
Total climbing: 305 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 01:34:12
Download file: activity_110239829.gpx
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