Thank you, Lesley Hunter-Nolan (editor, Pine Rivers Press) and Nick Kuhn (photographer) for running this story in the Pine Rivers Press yesterday. I admire Nick for agreeing to come for an hour trek in the hilly forests of Clear Mountain with me so he could see some of the damage done by the DERM bulldozers.
Journalists get a lot of criticism from us at times, but I appreciate the job that the local press does – keeping us informed about what’s going on in our area.
Last week I tried to ride a large loop from home which took in Scrub Road and South Boundary Road… but didn’t quite make it. I tried again this week, and didn’t quite make it again. The problem last week was lack of water and time. This week the mud defeated us. The people from DERM have recently taken a bulldozer down some of the paths to clear fire breaks, and the roads have become impassable due to the thick mud caused by recent heavy rain.
Dean and I set out from my place at the ungodly time of 6am (he’s an early riser) and headed out to Bunyaville via some local bike paths.
From there we rode to Ironbark Gully in Samford Forest via Wongan Creek. The creek crossing was flooded, so I smugly let Dean know I thought we could ride across it without any problems. Halfway across the creek my wheel sunk into a hidden hole, I went over the handle bars, and and ended up sitting in water up to my neck wondering what was going on.
In the meantime, Dean did the commonsense thing and rode around the flooded bit without even taking a foot off the pedals.
I’ve really got to learn my lesson about flooded creeks I think!
(Picture by Dean)
From Ironbark Gully we headed up to Camp Mountain for the gruelling climb up the short track. It’s always a painful climb, but I love the sense of achievement when I reach the picnic ground at the top having beaten the hill.
The recent rain has cleared the haze from the air, so the views from Camp Mountain south to the Brisbane CBD were beautiful.
(Picture by Dean)
From there it was a quick ride up the bitumen to the gate at Scrub Road, and a fun descent for a couple of km down this steep firetrail to the creek and causeway at the bottom.
The only problem was the mud on the track up which clogged our wheels up so much they stopped turning. So the sensible thing to do (as Dean managed to convince me) was to turn around, climb back up to the bitumen, skip this section of dirt trails, and ride the road up to Mount Nebo.
I was disappointed. It’s annoying to be defeated twice in a week by the same stretch of track. But it forced me to face up to my main reason for doing all this anyway. And if I’m honest, it’s not about achieving objectives, it’s about getting to visit great places with good friends.
(Picture by Dean)
The views from the Mount Nebo Road looking down into Samford Valley were pretty special anyway, so I don’t think we really missed out that badly!
Just over 82km, with 5:30 hours rolling, and a tad under 1,800m of vertical ascent, and 4,800kcal of energy. The BLT sandwich at Jones Tea Rooms, Mt Nebo, was worth the effort to get there. Once again, this ride rates 9 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter for the hot weather, tough climb up Camp Mountain, and the mud on Scrub Road. Let’s do it again some time 🙂
Australia Day this year was an ideal opportunity for me to get out of the house after all the rain rain and take a nice long ride on the bike to think about what this country means to me.
On the way, I got to enjoy some great trails at Bunyaville, Ironbark, Camp Mountain, D’Aguilar National Park, Samford Pony Trails and finally, Clear Mountain. I stuck to fire trails, so most of the ride was ok despite the recent rain.
It was great to meet up with my mate Graham who was riding with Jack along the Lanita Road Rail Trail. While I was there, I took a few minutes out to find a Geocache that was just a few metres off the track. If you like exploring, and the thrill of a treasure hunt, you might really enjoy Geocaching.
The steep climb up the short side of Camp Mountain is always hard work. The wet ground was softer than usual which made it even harder. I took a quick break before starting the climb to catch my breath and appreciate the beauty of the place.
14 minutes later I was at the top gasping for breath, and feeling slightly smug that I’d nailed the hill. Even though my time was almost double the fastest time anyone has done that climb. Legend has it that someone did it in about seven minutes.
The views out to Brisbane were spectacular.
There are some great views out to Moreton Island as well.
From there, the plan was to head up to Scrub Road and spend a while down in D’Aguilar National Park before heading home via Mt Nebo.
But I met Mike instead. He had two flat tyres, and only one spare tube. My big fat spare tubes wouldn’t have been much help to him, but I did have a patch kit, so I stopped and help him patch up his tubes. Since I’m not very fast at on-the-run repairs, this chewed up a bit more time than I planned, so I abandoned my plans for Scrub Road and just followed the bitumen to Mt Nebo instead.
From there it was a quick run down the Goat Track where I met Brock, a mountain biker who is lucky enough to live in Mount Nebo. The Goat Track is looking pretty rough at the moment. The rain has worn a lot of ruts in the track and some of the precipitous edges are looking dangerously soft.
Rather than head into Samford, I followed the Pony Trails up to Gibbons Road, and came across this little Keelback (or Freshwater) snake chilling out in a puddle. They’re not venomous, but one really cool thing about them is that they eat cane toads. Unfortunately they like living around creeks and swamps, which land developers seem to enjoy clearing. Interesting to think that Land Developers and Cane Toads are on the same side 🙂
So on Australia Day, I am grateful. This place is beautiful. We have some spectacular scenery and amazing animals. And the people are great. I can stop by the side of the road and say “G’day” to people I’ve never met before and become friends right away. And I won’t even start on how good our health and education systems are (even though we complain about their shortcomings).
We’re still the lucky country.
But on Australia Day I’m also uneasy. I think about what we’ve lost, and what we’re losing. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be an indigenous Australian and slowly watch my country taken away from me, with forests cleared, animals forced to the brink of extinction, huge quarries and open cut mines, and a massive increase in population.
I don’t have any easy answers, but I intend to keep on exploring it and enjoying it.
And I hope we can fully appreciate what we have, and care for it.
All up, this was a 75km ride, with about 1,450m of ascent, and about 4,300kcal of energy. I started running short of water near Mt Nebo, so next time I plan to take some water purifying tablets to make it easier to take on extra water at the emergency tanks in the forest, or in some of the cleaner creeks. Next time I hope to do a similar route, but add in Scrub Road.
This one deserves 9 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter because of the distance, and the tough slog up Camp Mountain in the soggy, strength-sapping dirt.
I enjoyed last week’s solo ride down Taylors Break in D’Aguilar National Park, so I wanted to share it with a few friends. About 20 of us set off from Samford, following the Pony Trails to the bottom of Mount Nebo.
The ride consisted of two big 500m climbs. The first one was up the Goat Track, then along a fire trail to the Lookout at the Summit of Mount Nebo.
From the summit we followed Hammermeister Road to the top of Taylors Break. But before starting that steep descent, a few riders took a detour into town to get some more water (it was a hot humid day), while the rest of us lazed around in the shade catching out breath.
Taylors Break is a lot of fun to ride down. The narrow track flows beautifully as it goes down the mountain. Unfortunately, towards the bottom it gets steep and slippery. Darb took a jump into the air over one of the water bars. While he was in the air, a stick went through his front spokes. As he hit the ground his front wheel slid out from under him, and he ended up on the ground. It looked painful, but Darb’s made of tough stuff, and after a few minutes he was ok and ready to keep going.
Tim approaches one of the steep sections of the track. Once you go over the edge, it’s pretty much a controlled skid to the bottom. There’s no stopping – you just have to keep your front wheel straight and try to stay on the bike.
Andrew also had a crash on the way down, and suffered a nasty bruise on his thigh (that photo is censored). He decided to strip off and wash his injuries in the creek at the bottom of the descent. Unfortunately, while he had all his gear off, Becca came round the corner. Both of them got a nasty fright, and poor Andrew had to hastily get his gear back on.
There are lots of inviting, quiet creeks like this down the bottom end of D’Aguilar National Park.
Once we reached the bottom, there was no way to go but up. Cabbage Tree Range Road was the second major climb of the ride, also rising about 500m. It takes about an hour to climb, and by the time we got to the top we were all feeling pretty tired…
…except for Tim who (amazingly) rode the whole climb in middle ring. For those who don’t ride mountain bikes, it has three cogs on the front to make riding easier: A big ring for going fast on roads, a middle ring for moderate terrain that requires a bit of effort, and a small (“granny”) ring for steep hills and narrow winding technical sections. It takes a lot of strength to nail a long steep climb like this using the middle ring.
Tim had a long wait while the rest of us mere mortals completed the climb.
The best thing about the climb up Cabbage Tree Range Road is the water tower at the top. Most of us had a delightful soak under the tap to cool off.
Adam took some great photos as well which you can view here.
Andrew also took some great photos which you can view here.
The ride was 52km with about 1,500m of vertical ascent. I burned up about 3,600 kcal. Because of the heat and humidity I rate it 9.5 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.
Thanks so much to everyone who came on the ride. It’s a lot of fun being able to do rides like this in a group. Everyone had to work really hard. Some people were totally exhausted by the end. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.
A few days ago I went to the MTBDirt.com website and asked if anyone would like to come on a ride today from Ferny Grove to Mount Nebo. This morning, 14 of us set off along the Lanita Road Rail Trail on our way to Mount Nebo.
Rather than just head straight for Mount Nebo, we explored some of the many pony trails that meander around Samford Valley. They’re a bit like a blend between fire trails and country lanes, with a few rocky pinch climbs, and even one or two horses. For small distances they’re really pleasant and a lot of fun. But at the end of a long ride, or over large distances they can be quite tiring, so the trick is to use them early in the ride, and to not over-do it.
In a large group of people, it’s always a possibility that something will break (like it did today) so we made sure that there were plenty of opportunities for everyone to stop, have a break, and make sure everything on the bike was running smoothly.
We also had to slow down for obstacles like creek crossings and deceptively deep mud puddles.
Climbing the Goat Track was a challenge for a large group. Everyone has different climbing ability, and some people had to work really hard to complete the climb. We had a rest at the top of the climb to let everyone recover. The most inspiring performances aren’t from people who break world records, but from those who persevere at the boundaries of their ability…. and don’t give up.
We stopped at Boombana’s Cafe at the top for a break and a bite to eat.
We then had a quick downhill run down the Goat Track. It’s much easier to go down that to climb up 🙂
After a quick roll along the bitumen, we headed back along another part of the Rail Trail which is now used as a cow paddock.
We rode about 50km with about 1,250m of vertical ascent.
I started from home in Lawnton, so all up I rode about 85km with 1,380m vertical ascent.
No tough-o-meter today. The ride was different for each person. Some found it more difficult than others. What impressed me was that everyone was patient, and we all rode together. It was a great day with some great people.
Ocean View is a quiet place high up in the hills near Mount Mee. I thought I’d go for a ride there this afternoon, and try my luck at some steep descents and one horribly steep climb.
Some of the homes around here have amazing views over the forest and farmland towards the coast.
I followed one of the roads looking for this track that just disappears over the edge of the mountain and heads steeply down to Rocksberg below.
Thornhill Chase – the steep road down to Rocksberg was an intense ride. I skidded most of the way down this 2km road and had to walk the final bit to make sure I didn’t skid into the gate at the bottom of the hill.
Rocksberg was originally settled by the Zillman family in the mid to late 19th century. It’s the source of the Caboolture River which crosses the road at places with fascinating names like “Cockies Crossing”, “Ten Bob Crossing”, “Zillmans Crossing” and this one, “Five Pound Crossing”. The old photo is from the State Library of Queensland and shows some of the Zillman family playing in the water at “Five Pound Crossing”. Incidentally, “Ten Bob Crossing” – just a few hundred metres down the road, is still a great place to swim on a hot day.
Unfortunatley, what goes down must eventually come back up, and I had to start the long climb up Mountain View Road. This gravel road is a challenging climb. I rode all of it except for 150 metres which were in the middle of a bush fire (that was my excuse) and also happened to be a bit too steep even for a hill-o-phile like me. This view at the top is a panorama stitched together from several photos overlooking some pleasant farmland on the edge of the hill.
I made it back to Townsend Road just as the sun was going down over the D’Aguilar Ranges. As I saw it, I said out loud “Now THAT’s bloody beautiful”, and then happened to notice an old bloke at his letterbox looking at me. I think he agreed with me, so I didn’t feel too embarrassed.
All up about 24km with 750 metres of vertical climbing and 1,530kcal burned. I’m going to give this one 10 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. The descent was precarious, I was by myself, and it took all my concentration to stay on the bike. The climb was the toughest I’ve done – 4km with some sections having a gradient well in excess of 30% (according to my Garmin track log). It was pretty hot (over 30C) and smokey from bushfires, so in my judgement this short ride really pushes the envelope.
If you can ride Mountainview Road from the bottom (Moorina Rd Intersection) to top (Oceanview Rd Intersection), please let me know. I live in hope that this monster of a hill can be beaten!
I took Liz’s Canon Powershot camera on my bike ride today in the hope I might spot some wildlife near the dam. As though responding to some cue, these eagles started soaring overhead while I rolled along underneath with my eyes pointing upwards when I should have been watching the track.
Luckily I didn’t hit in obstacles 🙂
These two photos were a bit of a fluke. I hoped the eagles would drift between me and the moon so I could get both in the shot. By some great stroke of luck, that’s exactly what happened.
They were effortless – hardly any flapping, just slowly circling overhead. They seemed to be enjoying their flight as much as I was enjoying my ride.
And to top the afternoon off, this shy wallaby stopped long enough for me to get a photo. I kept the tree between me and him, so he couldn’t see me, got the camera ready, stepped sidways into view, and took the shot before he bounded off into the undergrowth.
It’s always a nice ride up by the lake.
Here’s how the “Pedal Til You Puke” ride looked from the bike, courtesy of Darb Ryan’s helmet cam. This might give you an idea of how much fun it is to zip through the forests of Clear Mountain on a Mountain Bike.
Another great video, Darb!
