Archive for June, 2010

27 June, 2010 @ 9:54 am | Comments (1)

 I saw a brief article about opening your own MTB B&B. And I thought: hmmm, what would you need? What would be ideal, and where would you build if you had the money? And how would you run it?…

What a great career opportunity… Hell, if you’re service oriented, what a great life! Anyway, I started to scope up some options for such a business plan and for the sake of the exercise, this is what I would consider…

Location: Mt Stromlo area? Blue Mountains? Southern Highlands? Adjacent to Sydney’s next MTB Park? Cairns, maybe if you like it hot? Near one of the popular and more distant race venues like Yellowmundee or Lidsdale?

Accommodation: Twin beds? Bunks? Single rooms for guys or girls who may decide to come on their own…definitely with own bathrooms. Put in twice the number of hot water tanks. MTB is a dirty business. None of those dinky little motel soaps either: have a huge liquid soap dispenser in each shower like the gyms. 

Bike Storage: Secure garage or shed where bikes hang up & can be locked. Easily accessible, though, so riders can head out for an early one or do a night ride without disturbing everyone. Maybe a breath test on the locks to limit the, “Lesh go fuh a ride!” midnight drunken nudie rides.

Bike Cleaning Area: Rainwater Tank (gotta be green.. actually the entire business should be setup as a “green” tourism venue. It may take longer, but will bring benefits in time of more clients and lower costs); High & Low pressure hoses, over a draining grate so less clean-up, scrubbing brushes, vending machine with degreaser & lube…

Maintenance area with bolted down work stands: The ONLY place where you want people to work on their bikes (Maybe under a balcony or in a purpose-built garage with the bike storage?) This will keep lube and brake fluid out of your carpet (unless you’ve lived with bikers before, then you’ll probably already be planning floor to ceiling concrete).

Tools: You could provide a couple of captive (connected to something solid by a light cable) items - like a Phillips head and 4.5mm hex keys. Even the whole gamut … But you ARE going to lose them if they aren’t bolted down. OR you could rent out a fully stocked kit and it’s returned full or you start the deductions (Could be a very lucrative part of the business…) OR you sell tools from behind the counter or a vending machine. Or do a deal with the local bike shop to take bikes there. Nah, you’ll still need some crazy tool at 6am…and also, just buy a thousand you-branded tyre levers & mini bike pumps and give them away to each guest on check-in.  See Marketing.

Compressed Air: Nice touch. Not essential, but otherwise tie down your floor-standing pumps.

Rental GPS Units: Unless you are good friends with the local Search & Rescue or enjoy spending hours on the phone to guys on bad phone lines… “Yeah, mate, I’m back in that in a valley with those 5 trails around me: which way do I go, again?” These are a potential revenue earner…

Maps: Free your-brand-branded trail maps of the local area. You won’t lose on this one. It will prevent someone becoming lost in the bush at dusk plus be a marketing tool when they take them home & pass them round.  Don’t restrict yourself to MTB opportunities either. Trailflix website is frequented by runners and hikers all looking for similar trail info and they will be attracted to an outdoors-oriented weekend accommodation. E.g. if there’s a river nearby think about kayaking. i.e. ‘Safe’ kayaking…

Lounge with Fireplace & AirCon: Cover all the seasons. What a great place to sit back after a day on the trails & share war stories or wounds. OR set up your place near a couple of town bars. Don’t recommend serving alcohol yourself… that’s a whole ‘nother business…unless you do dinner in which case it’s obligatory.  Have a heap of MTB mags and tourist brochures in the lounge. TV’s, if you have ‘em, strictly in the bedroom. Maybe run a loop of top MTB Videos if you have a recreation room. An internet connected PC in the corner is a good idea for resolving those late night “who won that race in Yellowmundee..?.

Gym: Lots of  riders are sports junkies. Plus, unless you build it in Alice Springs, it’s gonna rain and they want some exercise before breaking open the 6-packs. In addition, riders will bring non-MTB partners who’ll want to do something. Have a couple of indoor bikes and maybe a few weights in a gym or have arrangement with a nearby gym… a few bits of kids play equipment in the back yard for families wouldn’t go astray. The Family Biker tourist might be a niche market which would call for a slightly different approach.

Rental Bikes: Someone will bust theirs on the first day of the long-weekend or will just want a change from their 10 year old rust bucket. Having 5-10 well-maintained bikes on hand (do a deal with a local bike shop or have a big brand sponsor their product) will be good insurance as opposed to arguing why an MTB Lodge “doesn’t necessarily have rentals and, no, you can’t “borrow” my Specialized Epic Pro…!”

Bike Shuttle: Dual use: At least some of the trailheads are going to be longer than a bike ride away and more importantly you need a way for guys to get their machines from the incoming transport hub (train/airport) to your location. Taxis won’t cut it.

Wi-Fi: These days the internet is essential. Everywhere.

Washing machine with a Drier: for the guy who brought only one pair of everything. Have branded or unbranded socks, nicks, shorts, suntan and insect repellent at the front desk or in a vending machine in the laundry. Overseas, vending machines are all over… we don’t have half of what they have over there but they can be a labour-saving and secure revenue generator. Coke and chips machine is obligatory. Free to set up too if you have enough revenue going through them.

Coffee Machine: Kick start in the morning or anytime.

Breakfast Bar: All you can eat buffet: cereal, milk, toast, juice, fruit. Then if they want they can pre-order a cooked breakfast. Have someone come in and cook only when you have orders.

Tours:  If you are as mad about riding as most of us chainheads then you’ll want to be out on the trails at least some of the time. So long as you are a good all-rounder: convivial, good rider, can fix most things on the fly, very, very safe with OTHER people’s lives… then this could be a highlight and is certainly lucrative. You need expensive liability insurance to do this so treat it as a separate business plan.

Conference Room: Now we are talking big money. You want the weekend guys of course, that’s your bread & butter, but the great growth area is in hosting groups for conferences mid-week. Main requirement is a room with one or more tables  & chairs for up to 20+ people, a projector and whiteboard and you’re away. Catering outsourced. This combines well with the bike hire, the tours, the gym, the breakfasts etc. You become part of the conference market AND tourist machine but service based industries are one of the fastest growing. Room nights is your key metric (Business reporting & analysis is another consideration). Again this requires a different “layer” business plan.

By now you are either getting interested, bored or backing well away from the computer. If you are in the former, don’t worry. You:

(a) can’t do this all yourself but

(b) can outsource a lot of this stuff  (cleaning, cooking, café meals, tours, maintenance, gym, bike pickup, etc) to free up your time to actually get out and ride … choosing to do as much as you (or you & your wife/hubbie) have time for. The first couple of years is about building a business and these days, building a brand and a reputation. Whatever you do, do it well. And get a great accountant: the best can make a good business great. 

Marketing: Plenty of opportunities:  your own website of course, the bike mags, links to and from the tourist websites, NSW Tourism, Facebook, YouTube, Overseas Outbound tourism operators, blogs like this one. These days it’s as much as you have time for or want to invest in with a marketing/PR company. Tee shirts and 3 - 5 branded items for sale at the counter is a great way to help get your name out there.

Take a look at the websites from round the world and decide the elements that seem to be the most common; plus what are you already good at (eg I actually COULD organize a piss-up in a brewery, but apparently there’s little call for that as a business skill) and how this is going to fit in to your life. Don’t be 2 years down the track and burnt out like most new sole traders: the more you plan the better the outcome.

Like Will Levy did when he started mtnbike.com.au tours, call around and talk to as many people in and outside the MTB & tourism for ideas and filter the input, and then if you do decide to commit, create a business plan for the first 2 years, because its quite possible your ideas will be unprofitable. You are in this to make money unless you already have money in which case this is a retirement hobby.

If you do get started then let us know at Trailflix, we’d be happy to help promote (just because we’re into bikes) and as I said to the guy who was looking to build an MTB park, we’d love to film a documentary of the development…

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18 June, 2010 @ 10:50 pm | Comments (0)

Flew over to a conference outside of Denver recently, near our Colorado Springs office, and through careful planning I managed to squeeze in a morning’s MTB before returning home.

The ride – organized by my mate – ex-colleague - Phil – was to head up, “The Chutes” Trail and then round Gold Camp Road and down “Captain Jacks” Trail. Just a 2-hour jaunt, this meant we could fit in lunch before I jetted my way home.

The Saturday morning was overcast and a chilly 8 degrees Celsius. Didn’t stop me from doing an early morning run along the “Pikes Peak Bike trail” that parallels Colorado Spring’s main creek. Actually, this was my second weekend creek run; I’d spent a night in Denver the week before and ran the “Cherry Creek Trail” which has a bike path on one side and walker-only trail along the other: a beautifully paved run & bike trail in the heart of the city. If you’re in Denver, don’t miss it.

But this Saturday we were up for a solid ride. It was still overcast and damp weather at 8am when Trev (also Colorado-based for a couple of weeks engineering) & I drove to Bicycle Village – where Phil had rented bikes - and after drooling over the latest $US bike prices, we headed to the trailhead.

Parking was on Ridgeway Ave in Cheyenne on the south side of town, and there in front of us next to the trailhead: a Pivot demo caravan with about 20 shiny loaner bikes..! Turned out we could have borrowed instead of rented, but who was to know… Hell, did they look good, though.

Denver & Colorado Springs are both “mile high” (2000 metres) cities, so riding up seems a tad more exhausting than on Sydney’s 500-metre-high Blue Mountains. The rarified atmosphere can cause altitude sickness* so we were puffing a little after riding just 2 miles up to Gold Camp Road, still managing to pass a couple of guys test riding the aforementioned Pivots (did I already say the bikes looked sweet?).

The views from the Gold Camp Road are spectacular but it was still overcast as we ascended, with just a little sun breaking through. Also great were the rental bikes; 3 near-new Trek Fuel EX machines. Beautifully tuned, with weight & height set before we left by the guys at Bicycle Village (www.bicyclevillage.com). I’ve had a Trek and wasn’t that impressed while I owned it but it may have been the setup (more likely the fool rider!) …because these were superb machines.

Gold Camp Road winds around “May’s Peak”, through Pike National Forest, going from tar seal to gravel, through a single lane tunnel

and then up to High Drive, about 8,000 feet. This last 1000 feet was accompanied by great views into the valley and by the time we hit the “High Drive ALT 7867” sign, our hill climbing was all but done.

Opposite this sign is a carpark, and ahead, parallel to High Drive you can see the trail:  a narrow single-track cut into the side of a steep hill.

There’s not much room for error in places unless you like tumbling down hillsides in which case, hell, you can go ahead and make all the mistakes you want! As such, this is not a trail for your acrophics (fear of heights) but most will find it a balance of thrilling XC, a little technical and twisty but ultrafast downhill sections. This being my first go on the trail I approached it carefully, but next time….

The trail has a couple of perfect pitstop areas where you can stop for a drink (or a pee. The higher up you go, the more you want to urinate, apparently). The guys went ahead while I stopped a few times for photos and then they slowed down to check where I was.

This was inspiring riding, reminding me of the best of Stromlo; outstanding views while riding a magnificent trail: All in all, an unbeatable excursion. What’s more, the cloud cover had slid aside and we had full sun for most of the way back. Felt like a mild summer’s day, though they’d had snow in town just the week before. Colorado is like that; the weather can change in a few minutes so if you’re going far, take enough sunscreen AND winter gear…just in case.

On one of our pitstops, Phil told us this was only a taste of what’s available in this part of the Rockies, right next to Colorado Springs. Phil & his wife live outside of Denver just an hour north, but he reckons the Springs has the better riding, mainly because it’s is accessible, close to the city. Next time I’m there he said we’ll make a day of it and ride out on the 30 mile firetrail and come back on the 30 mile (48 Km) of mostly singletrack. Hearing that, I was tempted to put in for a US transfer!

Towards the end of Captain Jacks Trail are some steeper drops but nothing unrideable for your average Joe (eg. me). But if this (or just the altitude) doesn’t get your heart going, then there are plenty of steeper trails in the area.

Finishing off the trail at a superfast pace, we were back on Gold Camp Road for a couple of Kms before heading back down the Chutes, slowing down some as this ones a two-way singletrack i.e. you meet people (like we had earlier) riding up. It’s wide enough in places for two bikes and the berms are stunningly formed, so you are tempted to just push it …but then you come across some dude taking a wide corner and you appreciate the need to take it easier. Phil said he’d done a night ride race where the trail was set up as only downhill and reckoned it was even better, especially in near-darkness on your second loop.

The boys from Pivot were still there in the carpark but we were running out of time so no chance to sample the shiny hardware. Instead it was off to town for Pizza before doing the 1-hour drive to Denver Airport. In the end I needn’t have rushed. I missed my flight & had to catch a later one back to overnight in LA, missing my flight back to Oz… (and who’d’ve thought spending the next day inside a crummy LAX hotel doing email while waiting for your next flight would be so much fun?)

If you’re heading to Colorado Springs, the bike shop is worth checking out and if you want someone to show you the trails, they have organized rides or drop me a line and I’ll pass your details on Phil.

I brought back a couple of maps of Colorado Springs trails – $5 each at the bike shop, but free to a good home, so if you’re heading over and wanting to scout out some riding before you go, drop me a line and I’ll send you out a copy.

The Bike Shop:

Bicycle Village

2450 Montebello Square Drive

Colorado Springs

CO 80918

www.bicyclevillage.com

*Altitude Sickness: The causes of altitude sickness are not fully understood. The term ‘rarified atmosphere is ambiguous because percentage of oxygen in air, at 21%, remains almost unchanged up to 70,000 feet (21,000 m). The RMS velocities of diatomic nitrogen and oxygen are very similar and thus no change occurs in the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen. However, it is the air pressure itself, the number of molecules (of both oxygen and nitrogen) per given volume, which drops as altitude increases. Consequently, the available amount of oxygen to sustain mental and physical alertness decreases above 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Although the cabin altitude in modern passenger aircraft is kept to 8,000 feet (2,400 m) or lower, a large proportion of passengers on long-haul flights may experience some symptoms of altitude sickness.

 

Dehydration due to the higher rate of water vapor lost from the lungs at higher altitudes may contribute to the symptoms of altitude sickness.

 

The rate of ascent, altitude attained, amount of physical activity at high altitude, as well as individual susceptibility, are contributing factors to the onset and severity of high-altitude illness.

 

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11 June, 2010 @ 9:35 pm | Comments (0)

It was late Friday and I’d just arrived in Hong Kong after a week of work & running in Singapore and was hanging out for a bike ride. After trying unsuccessfully to latch on an MTB tour (see http://www.crosscountryhk.com/  – turned out they were booked for the weekend), I dug into the local MTB org’s website – http://www.hkmba.org – to see if I could at least check out one of the trails.

Hong Kong is pictured in the media as this bustling jam-packed metropolis but there’s plenty of green behind the cityscapes and many places you can ride:

-       One of the outlying Islands, Lama Island, renowned for its seafood restaurants (a dozen or so, lined up in a row as you get off the 30-minute ferry ride)

-       Lantau Island,  home to the expats (Discovery Bay), where Disneyland put its HK Kingdom, and where they built the swish new Airport about 10 years ago, or

-       the largest part, the Kowloon-side of Hong Kong Harbour called the ‘New Territories’, that borders on greater China and where most people live (and most of the trails can be found).

Hong Kong island however, has just one legal MTB track: ‘Dragon’s Back’, part of the the Hong Kong Trail, a mostly hiking track that meanders along the ridge of the main island.

After a frustrating Saturday in the hotel doing email and writing reports - while the sun blazed away outside! - I eagerly headed off at 8am Sunday to nearby Wan Chai MTR station.

Now here’s a public transport system we should build in Sydney*: fast / frequent / reliable / efficient / cheap / clean… need any more superlatives? Sydney would be so much more liveable with infrastructure of this calibre. People might actually get off the roads, as they do in HK… (mind you I don’t know that they allow bikes on the MTR, so that could be a problem….)

I went all the way to Chai Wan in the North of the island. About 15 minutes for about $A70c… Sydney Rail take note!

Earlier I’d used the hotels Wi-Fi & my iPhone to take Google Map shots of the start of the track showing the English name: Dragons Back. The guys on the Hotel front desk then happily translated the English address, but looked at me twice because it happens to be the same road as the island’s prison… but is also the entrance to a National Recreation park.

SHEK O ROAD

The concierge was doing OK translating until he got to one of the names – sounded like he knew how to say it but it took 2 of his mates to work out how to write what is an ancient and rarely-used Chinese character (unless they were trying to write “Crazy Caucasian dude – wants to go to jail”)…

Anyway, they must have been spot on because the taxi driver outside Chai Wan station took one look at the card and shot off, hightailing it up to #110 Shek O Road in about 10 minutes (for $HK30, about $A4…. . In Sydney you’d be lucky to do the same journey for less than $A20.)

And there I was; at one of the entrances to Shek O Country Park. As the photo shows there’s steps, which should have alerted me to later challenges, but I eagerly marched up in the 28 degree/65% humidity.

It was still fairly early but there were 3 groups of hikers out already… compare that to your typical Sydney trail where it’s unusual to see another bod all day… such is life in a populous one-city-country (…well, it used to be before the Brits handed it back) rammed with nearly 6 million.

The trailhead was well-signposted and displayed that it was legal for MTB’s but also indicated you need some sort of bike permit which I hadn’t seen referred to in the MTB website. I wondered if it was for this one or for biking on any HK trail… must find out. In my case, I was hiking so no worries.

The trail starts with a bit of a climb and then quickly flattens out. You’re 300M above sea level but the track is bush-enclosed – reminded me of several Blue Mountains walking tracks - and you only get glimpses of the view from time to time. The wide single-track seems pretty easy until you get to the first creek crossing then it’s the first sign of how technical it can be on the flat. Not too bad.

There are 3 sections like this and between these the base is clay and leafy: easy as. I passed one other group on my way to the first intersection where the trail opened out and the sun shone on a steep series of concrete steps. Oh yes, they like their concrete in Hong Kong. The highways are made of it but the place is so hilly and they cut into the hillsides everywhere for housing and roads, so they need that spray-on concrete + these shabbily made concrete steps all over. I run along Bowen Road above the ‘Central’ business district and that’s concreted both up and down the cliffs keeping everything stable. They might be on the Pacific Ring of Fire but they can still build these 60-story monster towers up hillsides without blinking. And all using bamboo scaffolding that withstands monsoonal winds: try getting THAT past your NSW Building Safety officer…

The steps are not rideable uphill and

the path alongside was marked for bikes. Anyway, hiking them was good for the thighs because much later I felt like I’d been riding.

DRAGONS BACK

At the top, your first glimpse of the spectacular nature of the track. You can see across the harbour towards China, and on a misty but stunning day it was breathtaking, aided by the steep hillsides.

This was like my recent discovery: the Kiama Coastal Walk, but about 3 times higher, and with islands dotting the water.

I came to my next T-junction and there was a guy standing there looking official. I had a Trailflix T on so I must have looked sporty (heck, I should wear them more often!) and looking at my SLR camera in hand he asked, “Are you the official photographer?”

“Nope. Just hiking”, I said, looking at the sports-racing paraphernalia around him: “Is there a race on?”

“Yep. It’s a kayak and running event”.

It’d be a hell of a steep run…”What time are they coming through?”

“Oh about 20-30 mins…”

I thanked him and headed right, towards the peninsula. Here’s where the track really opens up to a series of peak ridges: the Dragons Back of the name. Here you can see both sides of the hill: the Harbour and the open sea. This section is the last of the Hong Kong Trail and presumably the least hiked which may be why they allow bikes. T’was not to be quiet today, though.

The view of the sandy beaches and harbours was stunning. Don’t let the water fool you though, for all the cleaning up they’ve done, Hong Kong Harbour water us still pretty filthy. When I spent a lot more time here several years ago for work I threw caution to the wind one weekend and went for a swim with some workmates who were locals… I felt none too good that night and the next day was like having the flu with no coughing, sniffing or sneezing; everything ached and I was nauseous, a condition that I never get. “The effect of toxins in the water”, my expat workmates told me 2 days later when I finally got back to work. My suggestion: stick to the hotel pools…

True to his word I encountered the first two runners halfway along the ridge track, running up a narrow set of stairs. Yep. Fit buggers. About 200 in all I’d guess came past while I was hiking.

Of more interest was the track itself. This is a XC track on steep rolling hills (like mini DH’s) with rocks & stairs – great for hiking but not my cup of MTB tea… I’d be hike-a-biking about 50% of the time if I rode it. I was fairly glad I hadn’t gone all-out to try and rent one for the day. Apart having to attempt to ride the roads in HK (probably a near-death-experience given the dominance of the taxi drivers over pedestrians) this track would have been a frustration.

But as a walk? superb and equal to any in Sydney.

Turning around at the top point I got to go the same way as the slower runners and indeed passed a couple when I packed away my camera and played a “pretend-I’m-in-this race” game. I must have been convincing too as a group of Japanese tourists with cameras clicking made way for me and I kept ahead of a couple of runners for at least 500M, enjoying the exercise but sweating a flood, ending up soaking my shorts & tee.. (cooled right down in the air-conditioned MTR on the return)

As a bike trail: recommended for experts only. As a sightsee: worthwhile checking it out if you like great hikes with views. There was taxi standing near the stairs when I exited the track so perfect timing…. I just had to say “MTR m’goi” (Cantonese for thanks) and he took off. 

Right now I’m looking forward to my return, whenever that may be, because I’ll definitely book ahead to explore more of the MTB side of HK life.

The 2 cities are similar size: Hong Kong has 6 million people inside 1000 km2 versus Sydney with 4 million people & 1800km2

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