12 November, 2008 @ 9:56 pm | Comments (0)

The Highland Fling is an annual event held in the NSW Southern Highlands. Based in Bundanoon and comprising three stages, the 110km Full Fling rides through Wingello and Penrose State Forests.  There were a few other categories this year including the introductory Casual Fling of 14km in length, the 55km Half Fling and the insane 100 Mile Fling!

I rode the Full Fling this year after doing the Half Fling last year.
Registration was different this year.  Where last year I was able to drive down and register on the morning of the event, this year registration had to be completed the day before.  For many people that meant booking accommodation or camping overnight, but for me I drove the 100km down on Saturday to register, drove back home then drove back down for the event on Sunday the 9th of November and home again afterwards.  Each entrant was given a bottle of locally produced wine as part of the entry which was pretty cool.  Not being a drinker myself it may end up as someone’s Xmas gift!  :p

So Sunday I rocked up, got my gear ready and while waiting for my turn to use the 5 star port-a-loo, managed to see Bert from Phantom Cycles.  We had a chat and went to the starting line with about 650 other riders.  We were towards the back of the pack but I wasn’t in any hurry.

My aim for this one was similar to that when I rode The Angry Doctor: just get to the finish.  My training for this ride included The Gong Ride the Sunday before and that was it.  I’d been off the bike for two weeks with bronchitis but was determined to complete the ride.  Again, I knew my strengths were on the flats once I got the legs spinning, and on the descents.  Uphills would be viciously attacked in the granny ring! :p (Knowing probably 2/3 of the course was a help too.)

For nutrition, I had learnt from The Angry Doctor:  No weird wraps to eat, just plenty of cereal and muesli bars with a few gels.  Drink plenty of water and sports drink at the transitions and someone mentioned cheese and bacon rolls being good trail food so I gave that a try too.  It was much more comfortable for the stomach this ride.

The start was off and it took probably about 3 minutes to get through the timing gates!  650 people trying to  squeeze through an 8m wide opening will do that!  Pedaling off down the road to begin the ‘Vaude’ Stage and through a cloud of dust left by the riders in front set the scene for a lot of the day.  I was eating everyone’s dust!  It wasn’t really that pleasant still being a bit sick and all.  Riding through private property I knew that ‘The Rollercoaster’ was coming up and I was determined not to let it destroy one of my goals so early on, which was to ride up every hill in the first half of the race.

I conquered The Rollercoaster, but not before noticing the cool little sign naming the section.  There was either a competition amongst local school kids to create signs for each section or the Wild Horizons team have way too much time on their hands and produced all of the hand drawn and painted signs.  Either way they were cool and helped lift the spirits of a few tired riders as the day wore on. 

Just before the ‘Long Paddock’ I noticed Grant from Trailflix with his video camera, busy filming the event. I pulled over and gave him a quick interview.  Looking back at it now that interview time cost me a placing or possibly 3!  :p That was the last I saw of Grant for the duration of event though.

Riding through the paddocks we ended up on some fire road and followed this around ‘Penrose State Forest’.  This section had a little bit of singletrack, some of which flowed really nicely but again, like last year, I got stuck behind a slower rider who would not let me pass!  :angry

The PSF section also has a bit called ‘The Free Bike Wash’.  It’s essentially a small body of water about hub deep at the start of the event.  A lot of riders choose to stop, take their shoes off and carry their bikes through it, but come on, I’m a real mountain biker so I rode through it!  Bike maintenance be damned!  A bit further along comes the ‘Early Bath’. Fortunately it didn’t rain before the event this year and what was chest deep last year was only just below waist deep this year.

After the Early Bath was some more paddock riding into ‘Boag’s Draft’, past some nice rock formations on the left and a nifty looking dam too.  Getting back onto a gravel road I headed for the Wingello transition area.

At the transition area you had 5 minutes that weren’t timed.  I used this time to buy myself a sports drink and locally made slice before heading off for the ‘Forests NSW’ Stage.

The first half of the Forests NSW Stage consists of some excellent singletrack, fast fire road and it just feels really good to ride.  I hit my disappointing max speed of 60km/hr somewhere in here.  I also managed to see a lot of broken bikes.  Snapped seat posts and huge gaping punctured tyres seemed to be the order of the day.  One bloke got a massive puncture in front of me and it sounded like he’d snapped his frame but was instead a stick of about 30mm in diameter going right through the tread and sidewall of his tyre!  A new tube wasn’t going to fix that one.

The singletrack is the Wingello ‘Red Loop’ stuff and I was annoyed that I got stuck behind someone again who wouldn’t let me pass because I knew the track reasonably well and knew where I could go fast.  Bayliss’ Beauty wasn’t a bad section of singletrack and overgrown firetrail but I reckon whoever this Bayliss person is probably rides that bit of trail in the opposite direction to what we did.  Then I could understand the sections name!  It was part way up ‘Bayliss’ Beauty’ that I realised I’d turned the rebound dial on my rear shock the wrong way the day before and that was why it felt a bit harsh! :blush

Riding along at about the 40km mark I hit The Wall.  The Wall destroyed my hopes of riding up every hill before half way.  It was a killer.  I got about 1/3 the way up and watched someone get about half way but everyone else walked it.  I later rode with a guy who said he rode up it and by the looks of him he may have actually done it.  I managed to ride everything else heading to the ‘Virgin Lounge’.

At the Virgin Lounge I downed 2 cups of GU drink, ate 3 gummy snakes, refilled my Camelbak and then headed off.  It was around here that the track changed from the Wingello red loop to follow the yellow loop.  A quick downhill soon turned into a massive uphill named Halfway Hill and it was a killer.  I managed to get up it though. 

Now the ‘Yellow Loop’ is supposed to be easier than the red loop, but geez there were some big hills.  ‘Halfway Hill’ was followed by ‘The Kick’ and I couldn’t make it all the way up.  I was on and off the bike getting up The Kick.  It was starting to get a bit hotter too, I was covered in dust, the breathing was suffering and I was seriously  thinking about calling it quits at the transition area. 

Luckily for me the track leveled out a bit and followed some smoother gravel roads back to the transition area.  I was able to get the legs spinning again and was feeling pretty good by the time I reached the transition area.

At transition again I had a free 5 minutes so I bought another 2 sports drinks and kept one for the last stage.  One of the 100 Mile riders pulled in while I was there having already ridden about 135km!  I had just done about 88km. Scabbing some sunscreen from St Johns Ambulance service I was set to go and off I went feeling pretty good about the last stage.

Watching the kilometers tick over on the speedo can be a good and a bad thing.  Good because it’s always a little bit closer to the finish, but bad because it’s never close enough!  The Specialized Stage started off well with a nice run along some dirt road and through some paddocks.  There were a few creek crossings in this stage and photographers set up here to get shots of riders exploding through the water.  I reckon I gave them some good shots! 

I stopped at the top of what I remembered being a long climb from last year and chatted with a volunteer for a while.  He had a laugh when I called the 100 Mile racers insane because he thought we were all insane!  I set off again and managed to ride with a few blokes for a bit, including going through The Free Bike Wash again.  Two guys went through and I was really looking forward to using it to cool down so I yelled out “Coming through!” and proceeded to soak the other two guys.  One jokingly called me “you bastard!” and the three of us had a laugh before pressing on.

I had about 10km to go and I had been out of water 5km earlier with nowhere to fill up so I really had to concentrate on not killing myself or gulping down the last of my sports drink in one go, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Riding though the ‘Great Sandy Desert’ wasn’t much fun after 100km of riding and with ‘Your Call’ coming up I knew I was taking the shorter but steeper route because it was less distance to push the bike up!

From the top of Your Call it was all gravel road back to the Start/Finish and a good chance to get the legs spinning again.
I rode in through the timing gates and handed back my transponder, got back on the bike, had a quick look around for Grant, chatted to Bert for a few minutes to find out he’d beaten me by about an hour and rode back to the car to drive home a very tired, but happy rider.

It was great to ride with heaps of people giving a 110km ride a go and seeing some of the bikes that people ride.  One guy did it on a Nomad and I know I couldn’t have finished if I rode my Nomad, so good on him.  One poor guy snapped his seat post before the half way mark and rode the rest of the Full Fling standing up until his cranks also fell off and he was only able to roll down the hills!  There were even a few crazy cyclocross riders!

Overall, it was an excellent event.  It was extremely dry and I choked on dust for pretty much the whole ride but I guess that should be some incentive to get up the front.  Still, I enjoyed myself and was glad to make the distance and do the same time as I had for The Angry Doctor which was 10km shorter.  I finished with 7 hours and 8  minutes of riding time and 7 hours 45 minutes of total elapsed time.

Grant Byrne

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7 November, 2008 @ 11:14 pm | Comments (0)

Ben & Grant had registered for the Angry Doctor endurance race (run at Mogo, near Batemans Day), MONTHS before the event, and while both had encouraged me to enter as well – i.e. the “TRAILFLIX TEAM” - I’d never actually done an endurance race, so the thought of a 100Km actual race was a bit of a stretch.

By the time I made up my mind, yeah, of COURSE I could race for at least the 50K, the entries were closed, and anyway, I had had another crazy idea: that I could film the event, by myself, with a single camera. Talk about your going from one lunatic asylum to another… ah well, I love a challenge.

Then Ben told me his Dad was going to be there, supporting him, and had offered to help film, so I was set…sort of.

The week of the race arrived and it fair bucketed down in Sydney… for 3 days in a row. A check on Thursday night showed Mogo too had the equivalent of Noah’s flood so we were thinking it was going to be a - literal – washout, and possibly a potential cancellation, but then on the Friday Sydney’s weather seemed to clear. A bit.

With mild expectation, we drove down Saturday afternoon and the further south we went, the finer it got – still cloudy and LOOKING like rain – but nothing on the highway… so we kept everything crossed. In the end the Sunday turned out to be damn near perfect – both track and weather – so we hoped no-one had bought into the weatherman’s BS and stayed in Sydney…

Arriving round 5pm on Saturday we hit the main road at Mogo – all 30 houses and 10 shops & cafes of it – and found the rego / start / transition / finish area in a nearby paddock. While Grant headed off to register – this was to be his first 100K event so he was a little apprehensive about completing the distance - I wandered over to the bike manufacturer stalls.

Not much there, I thought, so I started filming people milling about, for use as background footage, only to find something kept screwing up video camera: the first 5 seconds of each clip were horizontal line garbage.  Luckily I’d bought 3 cameras!  (By next day the problem had disappeared so I never worked out what it was… i.e.: operator error ☹)

Fish & ribs dinner at the Loaded Hog in nearby Batemans Bay that night followed by a massive quintuple scoop ice-cream dessert each  & we were set for the race – well, Grant for the race and me, set for a day’s filming. (Hey, even a cameraman has to keep his strength up!)

Up at 5 to get there by 6 for a 7am start wasn’t an issue and at 8 degrees and clear, the morning was crisp, but not as cold as forecasted.

Grant – eager to get started on his first 100K - was raring to go and on the way from the motor camp to the race area he kept slowing down to turn left into every road and gateway along the highway - way before time.  Like a kid at Xmas!

Eventually we found it and were the 20th car in the car park. Massively early and over-prepared, but then I’ve been known to leave the passport on the kitchen bench on the way overseas (discovering this fact as I stepped up to the check-in counter at the airport), so you can never be too early…or apparently I can’t.

Being one of the first, I had time to do some more filming & photos and got footage of people prepping themselves and their bikes in the dew-covered paddock.

The actual start of the 100K was at a car park 15 minutes walk from the rego area so when Grant was ready, we wandered off.
Once there, he relaxed a bit and I interviewed him + 3 other riders who were equally early, and nervy, but all looking forward to the challenge.

My thought as I stood there, camera in hand, filming each one: Why the hell are we here doing this, again…? Each interviewee gave different reasons on the day, but all were relative newbies to endurance and ready for whatever the track threw at them, and just wanting to get to the finish line. The alternative of maybe spending the day reading the newspaper just didn’t seem to be an option for them.

I wished them all luck but thought, anyone lined up on a chilly morning to ride 100K through a forest for 7 hours must be mad! And the 50K distance guys are only half as mad. In fact, as I realised later, the interviews had gotten to me. These were crazy but inspired people and I wanted (now, too bloody late) to join them on their quest. Still, I had to film the darn thing and as I wandered around, I started to form the plan…

Gradually the car park started filling up and I got more good stills and some video. Ben & his Dad hadn’t arrived since their 50Km race was due to start 2 hours later, at 9am.

Then - about 15 minutes before the 7am start time – as if a dam full of MTB’s had burst somewhere nearby, the car park was suddenly awash with riders and bikes and became as cramped and noisy as a Parramatta night club.

The race co-ordinator turned up about 10 minutes to the hour, and megaphoned the instructions – though they were so detailed I could barely keep track myself, so heaven knows how the riders were supposed to take it all in - and as the start gun was being loaded, I dashed to get in position for filming.

And then they were off.

Between waves of riders, I repositioned myself to get different shots.

I realized I wouldn’t see these riders again for at least 3 hours. Good luck to them, I remember thinking…

By 10 past 7, the last rider was winding his way – slowly – up the first hill. No, not quite the last: a few riders rode in panic up the same hill at 7:30 just as I was walking back to the rego area. Didn’t think to stop & ask them why (hell, as if they’d have given me the time!)
After that I had 2 hours to kill before the next wave. On the way back I met Cameron and Greg’s wives & kids – both husbands were Trailflix riders from the 6-Foot Track vid I’d shot over a year before. We’d spent the weekend in the Blue Mountains on that film and I hadn’t seen them since then. Their two guys must have shot past without me even noticing.

Pretty soon I found Ben & his Dad and we sorted out that he would bike up the track for a few km and wait for the 50Km riders, while I would walk along after, and film them closer to the start line.

So, about 8:30, off we went, stopping to interview riders along the way. I realized later that my on-camera questions were not that inspiring. I think I was more focussed on getting the camera to work right (actually getting some footage) than what was asked although it turns out that putting interviews under live bike footage proves an good combination, so (a tip for the future) the visuals aren’t actually as useful as good audio. Interesting interview audio means not having to find so many music tracks too…

I walked up the track and the first section went through ‘Old Mogo Town’ – like an historic village set off the main highway – and it was moderately steep so I was relieved I hadn’t had to ride it.

In the end I walked about 700m up a long straight firetrail and stopped just before the start of the singletrack, arriving just as the first riders started riding up the hill. I set up the video and as these first guys passed me, barely puffing, I turned the camera and followed them, camera still running, into the singletrack and spun round to catch the next group of riders coming up.

And for the next 30 minutes I walked or ran between waves of riders – several hundred in all – along about a Km of singletrack, stopping at corners and shooting along straight sections, on rocky outcrops and from down on the ground…. And as I stood there filming, I felt a connection with the riders, although I suspect at least half were thinking WTF is this guy doing? (Hell, the same stuff as I get at work!)

Filming the 100km riders at the start and then the 50Km riders further up was the right choice for the video.  Together with Ben’s Dad’s footage and mine, I got about 2 hours worth of film in the can. Enough for a 5-10 minute video.

After the last of the 50Km riders had passed I ran back along and down the trail –burning up a few of the ice-cream calories from last night – and back to the transition point, and waited for the 100K riders to come through. And, about an hour later they did, variously:
-    Stopping to grab a handful of free gels & bars
-    Looking for the exit point
-    Rehydrating with the free Gatorade
-    Meeting up with their support crew to get their own pre-prepared food
-    Carrying out bike maintenance

-    Talking loudly with other riders and the crowd
-    Generally looking exhausted, but pleased to have gotten this far

Got some great photo shots of riders coming in & moving through the transition.

Thought I might have missed Grant since I was busting and had to go to the head. But he arrived about 10 mins after I sat back down & I managed to get video of him (and later, Ben) coming in.

Being his official support crew I had his prepared bag of sandwiches and he swapped out his now crushed bag of bananas & rolls – mostly uneaten – for the replacement meals and a few more gels and then did a maintenance check on the bike – his new Giant Anthem - which he said was going really well. When he sat down to rehydrate & recover, I ran along the outwards trail to catch him and other riders begin their second 50Km, most looking a hell of a lot better than when they’d arrived in transition.

After almost using up both movie camera batteries I plonked myself at the finish line and got some video and still shots (good ones to be found on the trail page) and waited.

Grant came in, 7+ hours after the start, not quite exhausted but full of tales about his race, pleased that he’d completed his first 100K. He’d apparently stopped about every 10Km on the last 50K to eat something – mostly gels – as he’d eaten little of the other food he’d carried. His last 15Km he rode with another rider and the pacing helped both of them.

He was quietly ecstatic and while he said he was tired, he didn’t look it – there’s the benefit of good prep – and was really happy with his time.

All in all it was great experience for me too, to have been part of the event. I again felt envious of the guys as they finished, thinking I could have done that, but I was equally pleased with the footage I’d shot. It had been a challenge for both of us in quite different ways. I really like filmmaking, and when combined with mountain biking it’s just a buzz I can’t get from any other activity.

Now downloaded into the Mac, the footage will sit in limbo until January before I have a chance to edit all that footage. I have a few other videos to get out before then, and then another race – Huw Kingston’s Highland Fling – to film in November – before I relive the Angry Doctor day all again in the editing process…

Meanwhile I suspect a lot of the guys who rode on the day would rather NOT relive the pain, but maybe a few will get to see the video and at least – like Grant – relive that sense of achievement in overcoming their own challenges on the day.

From all accounts, it’s hard to beat.

Check out the Mogo Trail Page at:
http://www.trailflix.com.au/tfx_new/trails.php?id=mogo
Grant S

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5 November, 2008 @ 12:00 pm | Comments (0)

A cute Web 2.0 site I learned though Bike Sydney is ‘Wordle’ - http://www.wordle.net/ - where you point it at any blog website, RSS or Atom feed and it collates the repeated words to creates a word art. Cool. Here are a few from the words off the Trailflix Blog & Vodcast pages:

Grant S

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30 October, 2008 @ 9:43 pm | Comments (0)

MTB on a tandem?

I admit I don’t think I’d never heard of it until we met a guy out riding who owns a Ventana (US bike that apparently makes great tandems). I was a bit surprised that these suckers exist and that plenty of bikers in Australia ride ’em. I’d love to hear more about them and how on earth you can tackle twisty tracks like Appin & Ourimbah.

Anyway, here are a few photos I found on the web. It appears you can ride most trails… Wow.

Grant S.

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23 October, 2008 @ 11:07 pm | Comments (0)

I’d been meaning to head to Bowen Mountain for some time. Located west of Richmond, it’s on the outskirts of the city, a long way from any other trail so I’d never got the chance to even pass by and check out the place on the way to somewhere else. So there it sat in the database, festering.

Situated at the northern extent of the Blue Mountains National Park, Bowen Mountain and the Paterson Range is probably one of the least well-known parts of the Park and that’s a shame, because, as I discovered, it’s got lots to offer.

And I sure picked the right day for it: the first really warm Saturday in September.

I drove to the trailhead, located most of the way up Bowen Mountain itself and turned right into Lieutenant Bowen Road (the left turn is also a no-exit and has trails at the end which are short but may also be worth exploring). At the end of the street is a turning circle with plenty of room for parking. The trailhead was at the end and off I headed.

About 50m in, lo and behold, I discovered Crago Observatory (an Astronomical Telescope) which, according to the website, offers a great ‘dark’ sky observing area – pretty special, being how close it is to the lights of Sydney. There’s a bit of an open area around the building and on the viewing night’s apparently there are a quite few amateur astronomers up there with their scopes – so if you’re like me and fancy yourself as a bit of a star gazer, it might be worth checking out after dark.

Just along from the Observatory there’s a rocky outcrop, which gives good views of the more distant Blue Mountains but not much else, since the valley you’re heading into is pretty much covered in bush.

Another 50m on and there’s a gate (one of several around the traps; useful for keeping out cars) and from then it’s into a steep-ish and really good downhill. The trails all through the ride are pretty much firetrail so if you prefer singletrack, this isn’t for you, but if you like fast, long downhills this place has lots to offer.

Or if not downhills, then maybe camping…

About 3 months ago a Trailflix reader dropped an email asking about MTB trails that have camping areas. I wrote back and told him outside the city limits you could probably park & camp somewhere along most of the trails; unless there are signs otherwise but few I know of have any sort of facilities. Well, the valley at the bottom if this hill has a designated camping area and toilet (as does Wingello, down south) and as far as I could tell, no fees are payable (unlike 6 Foot Track which has a fee-paying area). Burralow Camping Area is a huge, flat open bit of land which has plenty of room to swing a cat – or a Huffy - and several walking trails up the hills on both sides. The best bit was the trail to the Bulcamatta Falls – a 45-minute hike or 5 min ea-way ride. The day I rode was a warm 26 degrees, which felt hotter and drier in the valley. But once I got to the narrow dark pool that surrounds the falls, the temp dropped to somewhere 17. If it had a deep pool you could take a dip in, someone would have built a resort there, long ago (P.S. don’t given ‘em any ideas!). As it is it’s a welcome respite from the heat and one of the few waterfalls you can get to on bike.

Back out along the road and you cross a bridge to the right and head up the Paterson Range Fire Trail. From the valley floor it’s 13 Km to Bells Line of Road and mostly uphill. The first 1.5K is steep but relatively smooth, but is car-accessible (a tourist-filled minibus passed me) but gives good views of the valley on the way up.

After a lengthy climb, the top reveals a track to the left - Donna’s Track – and a continuation of Paterson’s Range Road, which continues mostly straight up a fairly consistent incline.

3 or 4 more trails off to the side are worth a bit of exploring. They’re narrower and offer a good slope so I fair whipped down them. Not much to see at the end unless you are prepared to leave the bike and find a viewing spot.

Apart from the minibus I saw just one other sign of life until I got to Bells Line of Road – an older couple out for a walk – but otherwise the whole trail & camping area was deserted. Which meant I had no qualms to speed back down the firetrail with the iPod blasting away. I hit 40+ Km which is good for me but I’m sure you could top that on an equally good day.

All up I spent about 3 hours on the bike exploring and 30 mins stopped for photos and walkabout; and it was a truly great day. Recommended.

Grant S

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23 October, 2008 @ 6:39 pm | Comments (0)

To whom it may concern,

I host a website (www.trailflix.com.au) that documents dedicated cycleways and off-road mountain biking trails in and around Sydney. The website provides maps, reviews, videos, and photos, and invites comments from riders who try out our local and state-wide mountain biking trails and cycleways. The site is used by both Sydney riders and recreational tourist mountain bikers form outside the state and Australia seeking information about new South Wales’ off-road mountain biking facilities and destinations, and by families looking for an off-street cycleway to take short, safe, fun family rides.

I would urge the Premier’s Council on Active Living who have been commissioned to prepare a new BikePlan to consider the needs of recreational riders as much as commuter cyclists in this review, to the following community and social benefits:

- Mountain Biking encourages fitness amongst young people. Given the growing attraction for indoor pursuits such as computing and gaming, local mountain biking facilities can provide socially responsible, competitive and exciting alternatives to indoor pursuits, leading to fitter, outdoor-oriented young communities

- Mountain Biking provides recreational activities to older age sports-minded people. I ride mountain biking trails with fit men and women in their 60’s. Mountain Biking provides significant benefits in bone and muscle building across all ages. The financial and social benefits to a healthier aging population are enormous. This group is generally unrepresented in the community and invisible to most of the population, who cannot perceive such a ‘dangerous’ activity as mountain biking could be undertaken at such ‘advanced age’ when it’s unrecognized that such challenges are a lifelong interest for some. Over half of entrants in Mountain Biking Endurance Events are over 35 years of age.

- Recreational mountain bikers now compete at Olympic level, since Mountain Biking is now an official Olympic Sport. Australia entered both male and female competitors in the recent Games events. In order to remain competitive over time, Australia needs to seed local clubs and the Australian Institute of Sport with people who ride early because they have both the desire and the opportunity to do so and develop skills and fitness at an early age. This can be more difficult without easily accessible Mountain Biking facilities

- Australian and global Mountain Biking magazines highlight leading Australian Mountain Bikers who have gained success in this field. Young people seek role models to aspire to and emulate the skill and lifestyle of these generally laid-back sports stars

- Australian recreational Riders develop their skills to go on to represent Australia in winning world Championships. The recent 24-hour World Champs in Canada saw Australians take the first 4 places. Increased exposure of Australians in the sport will attract young people seeking role models

- Tourism Parks in many global cities – Whistler, Colorado Springs, Moab – attract bike tourists from around their country and across the world. Sydney has plenty of areas that could be developed in this manner with appropriate local and regional government support

- With global warming, most ski field operators are seeking to extend their summer activities and a natural option is building parallel mountain bike trails. These tend to be challenging tracks for the most skilled riders so there is an opportunity to build more basic mountain biking parks, akin to skate-boarding parks, inside or adjacent to cities and towns that would feed into those more remote tourist facilities

- Most other states in Australia have made huge strides in establishing Rail Trails for recreational and commuter riding. This is shown to stimulate regional tourism and provide opportunities for increased businesses alongside such facilities. NSW has a swathe of unused train tracks, but has to date barely invested in such infrastructure

- Large tracts of land exist inside and alongside parks across NSW that go unused for years that could be relatively quickly remodelled to become mountain cross-country bike parks. A series of parks across the larger cities in NSW, such as the one built at the northern end of Central Park in New York on otherwise abandoned land, could attract significant publicity for recreational pursuits in areas that lack them and which today may be adorned with graffiti and garbage.

- Like major cities in Europe, the US and South America, Sydney could be recognised as a much ‘greener’ city if it had a ring of off-street cycleways and mountain biking parks. Mountain Bikers are generally also bike commuters and the cross-fertilisation of riding occurs with the expansion of each type of facility

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute information and opinions about opportunities and needs for recreational mountain biking in NSW. Wish you every success and look forward to seeing the result of your planning session in the coming months.

Regards
Grant Shatford

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16 October, 2008 @ 9:43 pm | Comments (1)

Sep 19 2008

Yesterday I gave away something very special.

One of the teachers in my faculty has decided to move to Queensland. We’ve known for a while that it was going to happen and have had time to think about what to get her as a going away gift. This is the same teacher  that, last year, rode the Highland Fling with me, and she managed to get her picture in one of the Australian mountain bike magazines doing it!

I’ve been tossing up for a while what I would do with my Norco VPS mountainbike. It was my first full-suspension bike. It saw me through many stages. It lead me to appreciate disc brakes. It started my love of Marzocchi forks and coil sprung rear suspension. I learnt how to service suspension forks using it as the guinea pig. I experimented with titanium riser bars using this bike. I found my favourite seat of all time, the SDG Bel Air, with this bike. I went from 8 speed to 9 speed gearing on this bike. My first clipless pedals were used on this bike. I used it to practise drops, North Shore, manuals, etc. It opened up a whole new world of riding for me.

I haven’t ridden the Norco for a while now. Not since i bought the Nomad, and while the Nomad is a better bike, the Norco was a lot of fun. I did have it set up for this teacher as she was the only one riding it over the last few years. So yesterday i gave her the bike. It was a bit sad and she said I could ride it down the stairs from the staffroom one last time, but it wasn’t mine anymore and i didn’t want to smash it up having just handed it over so I didn’t. A clean break is best.

She was very happy, especially now that her bike is heaps better than her partners.

But for me, the Norco is no more…

(Although this does mean I now have room for that internal geared hub bike I’ve been thinking about building up!)

Grant Byrne

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10 October, 2008 @ 9:24 pm | Comments (0)

“Exhausted, both physically and mentally, I rode only just far enough to find a campsite and rest for the day. Taking stock, I found I had churned through 9 litres of water on the bike alone, and not having taken a leak once, I knew I was in danger of dehydration…”

Imagine riding 80Km along and up rough terrain, lifting a bike and its 20+ Kg laden bike trailer over multiple fence stiles during the hottest and driest October Australia had seen for 40 years (42+ degrees in the shade most days), and then having to set up camp for the night. You’d be hanging for a cold beer – at least a couple – a shower, full meal and a comfortable bed, wouldn’t you?

If it was me, then no question! One of the best things after a days riding in summer is coming home to a long shower and then having a kip on the couch before a hearty dinner.

Alas, no couches or roast dinners (or even KFC!) in the outback, so I’ve learned from this 40-minute documentary, and the little water that’s there is often shallow & murky, hardly inviting, let alone the wildlife you’d be sharing it with. As for a comfy bed…how does rocky ground, flies and a 1-cm sponge mattress sound?

I guess we don’t really grasp how lucky we are living in our relative urban comfort. When you really get away from it all and give up the security of a house and the ease of our modern metropolitan lifestyle, it can be a shock to the system.

That’s to most of us. To a few hardy souls, the opportunity to head out on a multiday adventure is one of the pinnacles of modern life (look how quickly the 24 hour races fill up). Going out on your own or with a few mates, to take on a challenge few others would contemplate can be fulfilling and enriching. It sure makes you appreciate what you have.

Ben Hogarth is a keen cyclist and is one of those few who is obviously undaunted by the challenge of riding a 16-day solo trek. He set out to take on a cross-country adventure, to ride the Mawson’s Trail, from Adelaide to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, and to film it, to give insight into the trail, taking the Trailflix concept to the next level.

He’s a resilient bugger, but like most guys who take on these ambitious quests, he’s a skinny runt so you feel for him lugging his Kona and trailer uphill. When you truly ‘ride’ a bike for 3 weeks over 990km, you need to be a bit of mechanic (and a  MacGyver) to ensure you can overcome the problems brought about by wear and tear on machine parts that all have a use-by date. And he has more than a couple of these – including the 5 flats, coming at the most frustrating times - that shows the degree of compromise and patience you need to deal on such a trek. And there are probably a few more that didn’t make it in the final edit.

The journey is both inspiring and daunting. After watching this, you’d have to wonder why anyone would take it on.

But Ben also shows off the heart of Australia in its starkest and most breathtaking aspects, the expansive vistas, the red dusty clay soil, the unrelenting sun and heat and the miserly vegetation. A truly scorched earth. And one worthy of exploring.

What I found most fascinating was the glimpses of man & machine bound together – not always happily - in an epic and sometimes inexorable voyage across a pitiless and unyielding but ultimately fascinating and unique land.

Inspiring.

You can order the DVD by emailing ben@outbackexplorers.com

Grant S.

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4 October, 2008 @ 12:58 pm | Comments (0)

On one of the last weekends of winter, Grant & I headed out to Bundanoon, located in the Southern Highlands to ride the ‘Red Trail’ at Wingello State Forest again and to meet up with Huw Kingston, who runs the Bike Race & Tours company, Wild Horizons, to ask if we could film the Highland Fling race in November. (That’s a whole ‘nother story: but it reminds me that I’ve hardly begun to think about logistics planning…)

Anyway we went, we saw, we rode Wingello… and a good time was had by all.

We were due to meet at the café in Bundanoon at 3 and I was impressed with the warm welcome, the food and the bike-ness of the place to write up a brief review.

It was a relatively quiet Saturday mid-afternoon when we rocked up, sweaty & dirty after the ride. The concrete floors didn’t seem to mind muddy shoes, and the patrons eating a late lunch nary gave us a glance as wandered about the place reading the walls filled with old newspaper clippings, signs from the 1960s and bikes, lots of bikes, for hire, some standing and others, more antique-like, hung from the ceiling.

A notice board which we saw described rides - with times - that were planned that weekend that anyone could join. This is great if you’re up there solo.

As well, there’s a notice board about some challenging ride called ‘Constitution Hill’ which seems to offer some challenge such that riders put up their thoughts about the ride:

“It nearly killed me!”
“A tandem achievement”
“Only did it ‘cause my girlfriend did. [she] wanted to take the easy way round and very glad I did it [‘cause I] beat her to the top.”
“Last Years Tour de France was Easier”

As well as a few laughs and eyeing the history, we eyed the food. Typical café fare, they offer salads, pastries, sandwiches and cakes, soup, coffee and all the regular juices & softs. What we had – a salad & soup of flavour I’m darned if I can recall now – was pretty bloody good. As was the massive slice of banana cake to follow (they don’t call me the dessert King for nuthin’). Yes, those calories we’d slavishly burnt off came right back in just 20 brief but worthwhile minutes…

50 years ago this was an old bike shop business, which had 300 rental cycles at its peak. In latter years it fell into disrepair, until recently when it was refurbished & reopened as a café. Huw & the team have just bought the place and are now planning to make the café a hub for cyclists visiting the region, to revamp the bike fleet and run local tours.

The lady – Kate - who runs the cafe was so welcoming, asking us about our day and talking about rides and the history of the place.

If you happen to be out that way, great service great food in a bike-and-rider-friendly atmo awaits. Can’t get that in Sydney, can you?

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26 September, 2008 @ 12:30 am | Comments (0)

Grant Byrne and I were out checking out Wingello Red (Technical) trail one Saturday recently and we got chatting to a group of a dozen or so riders from Sutherland Shire. They were aged from their 30’s to much older (later found out they were mostly in their 50’s with a couple of guys in their 60’s).

 

They had a guy with a map on the front of his bike so they looked very prepared. More so than us anyway as we only had a fold-out map and the GPS and, hell, what did we know?

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A friendly lot, they headed off before we’d gotten our stuff together but when Grant said, “Hey, they look as though they know where they’re going: why don’t we follow them..?” we hastily threw everything off, on, in and out and took off after them. At least they appeared to be going the right way.

 

It wasn’t long before we caught up with them and they had no probs letting us tag along and thought in fact they might slow US down. I have to admit, the 60+ year-olds were slower in the uphills but hell, they faced the downhills like they were teenagers…

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And, while riding at the back, I got to thinking:  how old am I as a MTB’er?

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Yeah, I know you’re only as old as you feel, but have you ever thought what age you would be if you did think about it? I.e. how ‘old’ do you ride?

 

I’m sure when I muck about playing tag with my kids at the pool or round the back yard: I act like I’m 10 years old, but on the bike I think I probably approach riding like I’m in my teens or early 20’s. More reckless than I oughta be for my advanced age! So, why is this important?

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Well, we all know we need to stay fit (and eat right) to stay healthier, and as you get older, it’s even more important because sedentary people tend to wither away with diseases. The consensus amongst psychologists is that as we age, if we THINK young, and just go for it, we’ll probably BE younger, and be comfortable about taking more risks than our chronological & social age might say was best, but in doing so achieve a more positive outlook and healthier life.

 

Where my pondering on the ‘old’ guys came close to home was on a recent trip to the US for work. It turned out to be a major eye opener. I hadn’t spent any time in the Noo Joysee office for over 3 years with the guys whom I’ve met on previous trips and that I email every other week, so I have this picture in my head of them.

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And boy that picture got updated this particular week. The photos of them in my head are now bloated and wrinkled.

 

And it’s mostly because they’re fatter. A good half of the US guys have expanded in the past 3 years and all of them look older and unhealthier as a result. I’m lucky because I’m generally a skinny runt (only adding pounds if I stop exercising) but what scares me is so were some of these guys 3 years ago! I didn’t talk about it with them – hell, that’s their business - but I got the gist that work & family commitments had really taken their time away and they just had to delete something from their busy lives. Hell, some of them said at least they still jogged…but like 1-2 miles.

 

Slowly.

 

Around the block.

 

Or did the gym occasionally. But none are pushing themselves.

 

It’s scary.

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On the way back to Oz I thought about it and figured my age(s) as being a crazy 15 year-old on the bike; a slack 45 year-old in the gym and a soft and lazy 40 year old when hitting the pavement.

 

Thank God for MTB or I could be there, fattening up in my old age along with my US colleagues!

 

Instead I’ve made a commitment to restart my interval training when running and (when I get off this plane!) push myself at the gym. If I don’t see a difference in a month then I might take on a personal trainer to do the pushing.

 

At my age – off the bike – apparently I’ve become too lazy to push myself!

 

So, what bike age are you?

 

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