Castlemaine Rocky Riders Mountain Bike Club

This weekend Dylan McKenna is riding the Otway Odyssey 50km Kona Shorty. Like all the best riders he decided to check out the trails before race day. This is what he had to say.

Otway Bike Adventure
By Dylan McKenna

Designed around the village of Forrest the Otway MTB trails showcase the natural beauty of the Otway ranges. They pass through tall eucalypt forests, dry heathy scrub and dense fern gullies. These trails have been built with real mountain bikers in mind. Luckily for our family, there are trails for beginners as well as hard-core dirt fanatics, so there is a trail for everyone.

Day 1
All of the 16 trails have different names and ratings. A green circle means easy and two black diamonds means extremely difficult. We went for a ride on Roller Coaster, Third Time Lucky and Follow the Dog. These trails showed us some of Forrest’s best forests. They were really smooth and flowing, with fast, steep descents and sudden pinch climbs. They also showed us that Mum’s mountain bike skills are a bit rusty. She stacked five times on the first day.

Day 2
I rode to Lake Elizabeth on Trail 2, Barlidjaru. Unfortunately it was not very well marked and I got lost between Trail 2 and Trail 3, the Red Carpet. Finally I made it to Lake Elizabeth and the views were amazing. Later that day we went to Apollo Bay Beach and then went on the bumper cars at the carnival.

Day 3
We went for a ride on some of the trails for the Otway Odyssey 50km Kona Shorty. I did a loop that included Trail 12 the Yo Yo, which is a black diamond, Trail 10, Foxtail, and trails 7 and 14.  I didn’t find the Yo Yo too difficult at all. Trail 7, the Yaugher Super Loop, was very sandy and I greased it on a slippery corner. The weather became really hot and muggy later in the day. I discovered that riding Trail 5, Vista, in these conditions isn’t a good thing to do. In the undergrowth it felt very hot, with sandy ascents and overgrown tracks.

Overall, it was a great holiday and the Otway trails have to be second best in the world (after ours, of course!)
www.rideforrest.com.au

With perfect conditions, and many a rider needing to work off some christmas cheer, we had over 20 riders hit the trails on the Castlemaine Cycles wednesday night ride. A surprisingly high pace was kept up for most of the night, taking in Forest Creek, Dirty Dicks, the Welsh Village and back through the pineys to finish with an ale and tucker at the Theatre Royal . Same time next wednesday – 6pm – Castemaine cycles.

Top of the pineys

Recovery!

Hi All

I just added a write up and a bit of art inspired by the rather eventful ride to my blog. If you don’t like reading then here’s the picture.

Some 25 rocky riders and friends joined a great christmas ride out to the expedition pass reservior for a quick swim followed by some sweet single track through the pineys. A great BBQ, a couple of kegs and outdoor movies thanks to the Theatre Royal topped off a great year for the Rocky Riders.

Next formal club ride will be to the You Yangs on 24 January – Further details real soon.

Club member Courtney Shinn finished an amazing 2nd in the solo womens category at the Kona 24 hour Mountain Bike Race. Courtney completed 21 laps in  wintery conditions at Forrest. It was her first 24 hour solo race, and she has now qualifed for the Word 24 hour championships in Canberra next year.

Courtney Racing the Gravity 12hr