Category: South East Qld

A couple of years ago I rode up the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail from Moore to Benarkin. I rode it again today with Lachlan and Isaac. The trail follows the route of an old railway line up the mountain to Blackbutt.

Today we started at Linville. There’s a train at the station, but it’s not going anywhere as the railway line on either side of it has been removed.

Although the trail climbs about 500 metres, it’s a gentle gradient, which makes the ride really easy for most of the way.

There are a couple of places where the railway bridge no longer exists, so there’s a steep descent down to the creek bed, and back out again. It just adds to the fun.

Eventually we reached the top and had a great lunch at a cafe in Blackbutt. Then we explored some of the dirt tracks that ran through the forests to the west of the town. This was fun as the slopes were much steeper than the easy gradients we experienced on the way up, so we were able to pick up a lot of speed down some of the long hills.

The trails finally met up again with the rail trail, and we enjoyed a pleasant 20km descent down the hill back to the car.

Last time I did this ride (Nov 2009) I found it a bit of a challenge as I’d only just started riding. This time I found it really easy. I’d probably give it a score of 4 out of 10 on the tough-o-metre, but 10 out of 10 for fun.

I’ve been reading Gillian Duncan’s book “Where to mountain bike in South East Queensland” and decided to try out one of the trails in that book today. Starting at Mt Mee, I followed some dirt tracks down to the Wamuran Rail Trail, then rode back up the mountain again via some more dirt tracks. All up it was a tad over 31km, but it was hard work, which made it a lot of fun!

I started from Pedwell Road, Mount Mee, which winds down past a few farms with excellent views like this one.

Eventually Pedwell Road turns into a dirt road, which turns into Williams Road:

Williams Road is incredibly steep in some parts. I was going downhill, and if I was riding with some buddies, I would have attempted it, but an over-the-bars out here wouldn’t have been much fun, so I walked down some of the steeper inclines.

At the bottom of the hill, it wasn’t far to the Wamuran Rail Trail which meanders through some beautiful rain forest following the trail of an old railway track.

Eventually it was time to follow the “Trail” signs back up the mountain along McLeods Road. I think whoever nailed up the signs had some new understanding of the word “Trail” because it was more like a scramble up a very steep rocky hill – difficult to walk up with a bike, let alone ride up. Even so, it’s worth the effort.

All up a loop of 31.3km, with about 750m of vertical ascent and just under 1800 cal. On the Tough-O-Meter, I’d rate this 9 out of 10 because of the really treacherous downhill on Williams Road, and the crazily steep “trail” back up on McLeods Road.

We decided to have a long weekend break up at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast.

As usual, I pondered over maps of the area to see if I could discover any new places nearby that I could ride to.

I had my eye on a few dirt roads that meandered around the back of Mount Ninderry, especially a couple that seemed to disappear into forest on the map, because that meant there was a possibility of exploring some fire trails.

Eventually a came across the familiar “Forest Reserve” sign and disappeared down a dirt track gleefully, like a child with a new toy…

I saw a forest trail I’d never ridden before and thought “Why not?”

Rainforest, trails, steep hills… The Eumundi Forest Reserve at Verrierdale, in the hills west of Coolum, has everything including a few km of muddy swamps.

The tracks are delightful – mostly fire-trails. They wind through some lush green rainforest, with some challenging hill climbs in one or two places.

Recent rain has made some of the clay soil quite sticky, which makes it a bit tough around creeks. But I suppose the most surprising bit was the swamps – I didn’ count on having to drag the bike through a few kilometres of wet muddy creek beds. From the look of it I think these large wet patches are a permanent fixture. If they’re like this in dry weather, imagine what it’s like in the rainy season 🙂

But it was great to get out on the bike and explore some new places!