Category: Places

I didn’t realize you could ride 40km from Coolum to Tewantin on dirt tracks. Today Murray proved to me that it was indeed possible, and that the tracks were a lot of fun.

After following the tracks along Stumers Creek and behind Emu Mountain, we eventually came to Doonan Bridge Road North. Last time I was here, this “road” was just several kilometres of mud and flood waters. Today it was a quiet dirt trail with lots of shade and no traffic except for a few goannas.

At one stage our path crossed the Sunshine Motorway. But rather than going across the motorway, we went under it, via a storm water drain. The only problem was the drain was full of ankle deep mud. As most people who have ridden with me before will attest, I hate getting my feet wet, so I used a couple of garbage bags (which I always carry) to make a couple of waterproof coverings for my legs. This let me wade through the mud and get out the other side relatively dry.

After riding some single tracks through some beautiful forests, and feeling like a couple of ten year old kids mucking around, we eventually had to cross the motorway again, this time via a more user friendly tunnel that was actually intended for walkers and cyclists. Thank you Sunshine Coast council!

After about 30km of dirt tracks we arrived at Wooroi State Forest, Tewantin, which is full of beautiful flowing single tracks through lush rainforests that feel like something out of “Jurassic Park”. This forest is very popular with mountain bikers and has dozens of different tracks to suit riders of all different abilities.

The track that impressed me most was “Bloodwood” – a winding hilly trail through ferns and creek crossings, which gets its name from a couple of huge Bloodwood Tree Trunks that are laying down next o the track. I didn’t get a chance to photograph them because I was too busy grinning and yelling out.

After rolling through the ritzy avenues of Noosa, we eventually made our way back off-road on the eastern side of Lake Weyba. While there’s not much climbing here the tracks are really difficult because of all the sand. So even a relatively easy slope becomes almost impossible to ride. It’s really easy for your front tyre to slide out as you ride along, and for your back wheel to spin in the sand and soak up all your power. I found the best way to handle this was to keep my weight back as far as possible, to keep the bars as straight as I could, and to go as fast as I could.

The white sand looks nice, but it acts like a mirror, so in mid-summer it reflects the heat back into your face. This was probably the most difficult part of the ride.

I loved the views out to Lake Weyba (pronounced “Why ba”).

All up 65km with a total moving time of four and a quarter hours, with total ascent of about 500m. I burned about 3,500 kcal. It scores 8 out of 10 in the tough-o-meter. In winter I’d give it 7.

Thanks once again, Murray, for showing me around your home trails. I had a great time.

Last year I rode from Coolum to Point Glorious. Unfortunately at that time the weather was terrible, and I didn’t get to enjoy much of a view.

Today the views were spectacular. We were lucky to have blue skies and cool temperatures despite the gloomy weather predictions to the contrary.

Eric, Murray and I started at Yandina and headed up the Blackall Range towards Cooloolabin Dam. Not long out of Yandina, we found the trail head, and took off happily into Mapleton State Forest.

The only problem was we didn’t have a GPS plot, so we had to rely on old-fashioned map-reading and a bit of “dead reckoning”.

Thankfully, that strategy paid off, and I’m grateful to Murray for having the foresight to pack a map of our ride.

The forest is steep in parts. We had to work pretty hard at the start to get up the rocky paths. Thankfully that meant later on in the trip we would have some fun descents.

We eventually reached Cooloolabin Dam – a small artificial lake between Mapleton and Yandina. There are many trails around the dam – and it’s easy to get to by conventional motor vehicle which makes it an easy location to visit on day trips.

From the dam it was another gnarly climb up to the lookout. It’s always a good idea to bring plenty of snacks on rides like this to keep your energy up. During humid summer days it helps to have plenty of water too.

Unlike last time, the views today were breathtaking. You can see all the way to the coast, as well as all the lush green farmland in-between.

From the lookout, it’s a steep bone-jarring descent to Yandina. I was muttering words of gratitude and love to my bike all the way down. It smoothed out the bumps and kept a straight line all the way down. It’s during intense times like that when trees are flying by, when baby-head sized rocks popping up all over the place like land mines, and when the track drops away in places leaving your stomach in your chest, that having a strong reliable bike makes a big difference. It’s the difference between enjoying a ride, and being scared you’re going to be bumped off.

Part way down, we discovered this refreshing waterfall on Browns Creek, full of water from last nights heavy rain. It just made it even better.

After wet weather, it definitely makes sense to head for the hills to avoid muddy bogs.

We were rolling for just under 3 hours to cover about 35km. This involved about 900m of vertical ascent, with about 2,600kcal burned.

This one scores 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. The humid weather made it tougher. In winter it would be much easier (maybe only a 7).

Riding it with friends made the ride much more enjoyable, and easier.

Many thanks Eric and Murray for a great ride!

A few months ago I rode a loop down Joyners Ridge Road at Mt Glorious which included a tough climb up Goodes Road. Last time I had to walk up some of the steep bits, but this time I gave it all my effort, and conquered the hill 🙂 I think the weekly sessions smashing hills at Clear Mountain must be paying off!

I started at the bottom of “The Goat Track” and slowly climbed up to Westridge Outlook for a quick rest and some great views westward to Wivenhoe Dam and the Great Dividing Range.

The road then went higher up to Mount Glorious before the long descent down Joyners Ridge Road, through the rainforest, all the way down to England Creek at the bottom.

Joyners Ridge Road is wonderful to ride down. The rainforest at the top gives way to open forest with great views over the mountains.

You see quite a few of these fat goannas in D’Aguilar National Park.

England Creek marks the bottom of the 9km descent. It’s a good place to have a break because from this point, it’s a 4.5km, steep, slow climb up to Dundas Road, gaining 450m.

All up, about 35km with about 1,250m of vertical ascent and 3,300kcal burned. I’m giving it 8 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.