Cross-country MTB
There are lots of quiet trails like this around Beerburrum.
I rode the bike for a couple of hours through the forest in light rain, without seeing another soul – except for a raucous Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo.
It was muddy in places, but perfect.
I’m planning a cross country ride north through the Peachester area and wanted to check out a few trails in the area before that ride.
Peachester is perched in the forested foothills of the Blackall Ranges with great views south to the Glasshouse Mountains.
Last time I was here I wound up in the middle of a bunch of Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos all happily squawking to each other and munching on She-Oak bark, but today I was delighted to see this rare Red-Tailed Cockatoo, also hiding up in the She-Oaks.
I almost ran over this two metre long Lace Monitor (or Goanna) on my way out of the forest. I spotted a couple today. As I approached, they just slowly waddled out of the way, looking for a tree to climb.
Of course a two-metre goanna seems tiny compared to the huge reptiles that Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, used to wrestle with. This beautiful memorial to him at the start of “Steve Irwin Way” always reminds me about Steve’s passion and energy for those huge reptiles. Passion and energy, in the right place they’re magical things!
If you’re reading this, and you’re free on the 29th of October 2011, and would like a fun 70km cross-country ride through some of this country, why not drop me a line or sign up for the ride here.
There’s a crazy loop from Mount Mee that heads down a steep dirt track called Williams Road to Wamuran, then winds through the course of a former rail track, then heads back up the mountain via another rocky steep track called McLeods Lane. I’ve done it before, but today, Tim and I rode it together.
The track down is steep. I was leaning so far back I was hanging over the back of my saddle, and yet I still managed to stall and go flying over the handlebars.
Tim decided a more challenging method – his rear brakes started jamming on, so in order to finish the ride, he had to remove his rear brakes. This meant he only had front brakes. Anyone who has ridden down steep dirt tracks will tell you that you need both sets of brakes to make it down safely.
But somehow the guardian angels of the foolhardy protected Tim from harm, and he made it down safely – with a bit of extra wear and tear on the soles of his shoes.
Note to self:
1. I will carry spare brake pads with me, and will learn how to replace them.
2. I will not try to scramble up McLeods Lane again – it is too steep and rocky.
Here’s some more photos that my friend, Andrew Macdonald, took of our ride to Walloon yesterday. Thanks for letting me share your pics, Andrew š You can see his entire album here.
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.
After that, we all had to scramble up the Wall, pushing our bikes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
More info about Bankfoot House.
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 š
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
I thought I’d try another A to B ride where we rode between two points, and caught the train back. This let me cover more distance, and allowed me to scout out some new trails that I might take some friends on in future. Today my long-suffering friend Simon came with me.
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