Category Archives: Trails

5Zero Course Recce

Coming up in September is 5Zero, Bright’s newest bike event, a 50km Gravel Grind loop with a strong environmental theme. Obviously I’m signed up, so I took an opportunity to recce the 53km course a couple of weekends back.

I skipped the opening sally that all three rides take in – I’m very familiar with Mount Porepunkah Road, which climbs on smooth tarmac out of Bright, before giving way to rough chipseal and then outright gravel. On the day, that will be a harsh wake-up call for the riders, up to Quins Gap. After that, the routes go over Tom Briggs Road overlooking Porepunkah. I’m also pretty familiar with that section, so skipped it on my reco. There’ll be a lot of burning legs on the day by the time riders curve around the western tip of Tom Briggs and start heading downhill for the first time.

The riders then sneak around past Porepunkah’s water treatment lakes and onto Roberts Creek Road. 13km riders will throw a left here and head back to Bright via the Murray to Mountains Rail trail. Everyone else will turn right into Porepunkah and cross the Great Alpine Road at Porepunkah Bridge just near Buckland Roundabout, where the dirt -and the climbing – starts again.

There’s a short nasty firetrail climb up into the pines right after the road, which can be bypassed in quite a fun way by some singletrack that winds through the pines to its left, look out for the entry to the singletrack on your left, it’s quite enjoyable. Riders will then drop back down towards Buckland Valley Road before taking a hard left onto Longly Road. It’s all gravel from here until the 38km riders get back to Bright, or until the 53km riders reach Wandiligong, so get settled in.

There are some rather nice views over Buckland Valley from here, if you care to look back. Depending on how you’re treating the day though, you might be head down, smashing towards Royal George Road.

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There’s some more climbing here, and at the top a slightly confusing left turn downhill. Don’t turn hard left and head up the crazy steep bit – instead roll downhill a little way and take the switchback downhill. Even with the GPX file running on my bars, I nearly messed this up and my Garmin didn’t tell me until I’d slogged a decent distance up the steep climb.

You’ve got a few pleasant downhill kilometres now until the next corner, which is much more obvious on the GPX file, leading to some more down-then-up action taking you eventually to Dingo Ridge Road overlooking Buckland Valley. Now you’ve got an easy time of route finding until you reach Moran Road, where all riders will turn left and head up to Clear Spot lookout. I believe there’ll be a support station here with water and food, which will be a welcome sight indeed.

After Clear spot, the routes Diverge again. The 38km riders will drop down off Clear spot by retracing their steps to Dingo Ridge Road, doubling back around Eagle Peak and turning right to descend into Bright, where they’ll emerge onto Bakers Gully Road and Ireland Street, and from there back to the Brewery for a well deserved beer.

The 53ers, however, will continue left after leaving Clear Spot along Moran Road to Demon Ridge Track, which is followed until you spot a sign for Stans Road and Wandiligong. Fork left here, don’t continue onwards or you’ll be pedalling a lot longer than you need to.

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A nice brake-boiling descent into the valley ensues from here on, and you’re soon dropped back onto tarmac at Morses Creek Road. The parched may stop at Nightingales produce store for some apple-related energy top-ups here before hopping back on and heading towards Wandiligong proper.

Unfortunately, the official route doesn’t take you to Wandi Pub, as you turn left on Centennial Avenue before you get there, however clued-in locals will know about some extra gravel trail from Royal Bridge Track just after Wandi Pub, via the Chinese Bridge to rejoin Centennial Avenue near Alpine Park. I’ll be tempted to go that way after a refreshing ale at the pub, if I’m not worried about losing time.

At Alpine Park, we head left up a short steep pinch to join White Star Road. Local MTBers will be familiar with the trails around here and might optionally throw in some singletrack. We then go under the road and follow Morse’s Creek back to town via the Caravan Park and join the other triumphant riders for a post-ride beer.

My recce ride wasn’t particularly quick, but took 3h40m. I stopped for a fair few pictures and treated it as a pleasant afternoon out rather than a suffer-ridden slog. On the day, it should be a bit quicker. Those on mountain bikes will likely be a bit slower than dedicated gravel grinder owners. A road bike capable of running 30c tyres or larger should cope fairly well, though the final descent of the 53km might be a little hairy. I’m running my road bike on 28c tyres for the Tour of Beechworth in July, but I don’t think I’ll be risking that setup for 5zero. I’ll most likely be on my 29er hardtail for this one.

There’s still time to get entered for the event, so sign up now!

 

Mt Porepunkah Road Loop

Continuing my vow to post some interesting rides, here’s a local loop out of Porepunkah or Bright which is a pleasant couple of hours out on gravel – good for an MTB and also excellent if you happen to have a gravel grinder or CX bike in the stable.

The embedded strava ride starts out of Porepunkah, which is home, and takes the Rail Trail towards Roberts Creek Road, a slight uphill that features in the Tour of Bright TT course. It continues over the bridge and along a short stretch of gravel to a short, sharp tarmac climb up towards the crest at the start of the Apex walking track and the junction with Mt Porepunkah Road.

There’s a nicer start to this, if there’s no logging or maintenance activity, taking Tom Briggs road over the shoulder, which brings you out at the same spot – the foot of the Apex walking track. If there’s logging or maintenance activity going on, I’d strongly advise staying off that trail though. If you’re coming from Bright, you can get to the same spot via a steep road climb, ending on gravel, by turning off Back Germantown road at Mt Porepunkah Road.

At this point, you head Northeast and downhill along Mt Porepunkah Road for maybe a kilometre before the climbing starts. From here it’s a fairly constant 15km climb through the backcountry. There are no real pinches or challenges, but the climbing is fairly constant. Eventually you’ll pass a signposted junction with Smart Creek Track, which would take you down to Kancoona Road and offers a possible return route to Tawonga Gap – a ride I’ve got my eye on for later.

At about 11.5km from the Apex Track junction, you get a sharp, signposted left turn that continues upwards, and at about 14km from Apex, another left turn allows you to head either up to the bushfire lookout tower, or head downhill to the finish. I’d advise heading up to the tower, because there’s a lovely view across to the Mt Buffalo plateau and a good spot for a break and a bit of a munch (you did bring some food, right?).

From here, retrace your steps back to the junction, where you turn left and start down a good old fashioned rocky downhill. On my first expedition, I met with a couple of 4WD vehicles on this descent, so take care with who you meet and how you ride – don’t go blind into corners, because this road is used by vehicles, especially in the summer months. Eventually you’ll pop out of the trees onto One Mile Creek road, which heads down and meets the Great Alpine Road and the Rail Trail.

If you turn right here, you’ll find Boynton’s Winery. If you turn left, Ringer Reef winery – both are great places for a post-ride snack and a glass of wine – and thence to Porepunkah, completing the loop.

This is a splendid little afternoon out on the gravel – not too challenging, not too long and not so far from civilisation that you’ll need to pack a ton of kit. If you’ve got a few hours free and feel like some firetrail rolling, I’d say check it out.

Riding Update Jan 2018: It’s a biggie

So, it appears I haven’t blogged here for nearly a year. Doesn’t time fly? I guess it’s about time I posted an update.

When last I blogged, I was still trying to find my feet again after some time off the bike. I had officially declared I was quitting road riding, and was working with a psychologist to try and mitigate some of the worst effects and try to get back on the Mountain Bike at least.

It worked, partly. I rode one MTB race (retired) and did a few Zwift races, but there wasn’t enough momentum. I was still not where I wanted to be, though I was in a better place than I had been when I declared my retirement

As things turned out, mid-year I was offered a new job – and this proved to be the turning point I needed. This particular job offered remote working options, and so a plan began to form. A cunning plan. A plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it Mr Fox.

In October, it all came together, and I left Sydney altogether, and moved into the glorious Ovens Valley, NE Victoria.

Yes, I now live at the foot of Mount Buffalo, right in the middle of 7 Peaks country. Specifically in Porepunkah, a dormitory village for the neighbouring town of Bright, the famed cycling and tourist mecca.

Since I got settled in, I’ve been riding more often, in more scenic surroundings, with safer roads and nary an argument. I’ve had the grand total of one moderately close pass from a driver but – get this – it didn’t bother me in the least.

I haven’t hit the mountain roads in earnest yet (notwithstanding one ill-prepared, spur of the moment assault on Buffalo), but I’ve been riding the MTB on some amazing trails and doing a lot of flat-to-rolling road. I’ve been up and down the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail enough that I know every bump and ripple between here and Gapsted. I’ve thrown my hardtail down the one-of-a-kind Hero Trail, encountered snakes, magpies, kangaroos and wombats and generally had a great time of it. I’m slowly dropping the weight back off, and transitioning (again) from couch-potato-who-used-to-ride-bikes-a-few-years-back to masters racer and MTB explorer.

You might say I’m back.

Not being much of an early bird, I haven’t yet managed to get out for the famous 6am Bright bunchies, but it’s a new year and the mornings are clear, so that’s going to happen soon. I’ve met a few of the locals, I’m getting familiar with Mystic MTB Park and I’m planning lots of rides on the long local mountain trails, some sensible, some on the adventurous side.

And the blog? Well, I might blog a few local routes, and maybe get some picks at the upcoming Audax Alpine Classic, but I’ve also got a new project in the works, which I’ll announce here soon.

Lastly, for those readers who I know in person – I know some of you exist. Yes, I have spare rooms. Come on down!

 

I’m hoping Yellomundee survives the bushfires OK

Yellomundee, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, is my MTB club’s track. It’s currently closed due to the fires raging in the Springwood area, partly because of fire danger and partly because the heavy helicopter traffic in the area is likely to cause falling branches and downwash. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’ll survive the fires without too much damage, because a little later in the summer, I’m hoping to race in this

I don’t rate my chances of victory too highly – Yellomundee might be my club’s track but I don’t ride there all that much – but I think the series will be a great set of races. There’s a lower profile than the Chocolate Foot and Rocky Trail events I’ve been racing so far this year, so there should be an even more casual feel – though I don’t doubt there’ll be some guns smashing out hot laps too.

Hope to see you there…

Race season must wait another two weeks

My racing intentions for this year seemed clear back in October 2012. My plan was to race the entire Real Insurance XCM series (slated at the time to be seven 100km+ events), and fill gaps in the calendar with a few other races – some shorter XC, some enduro/all-mountain and perhaps some timed endurance.And another crack at Kanangra.

Oh, how that all fell apart. The XCM Series itself is now a non-starter, though the individual events remain. I’m racing Capital Punishment on March 16th, but am not confirmed for any other of the former XCMs. I am, however, confirmed for Round one of the Shimano MTB GP, which is what I’ve been stressing about for the last few weeks.

I get obsessive in race leadups. Continue Reading →