The most beautiful transition area you are ever likely to see at a mtb event.

And a pleasure it was. Despite the cold and slightly damp start, any weather induced misery was soon forgotten once your tires hit the flowing, grippy, bermed and well drained trails in the woods bordering the golf course. I was having so much fun that apparently it was hailing and I didn’t even notice.

It was a little bit muddy.

After about an hour into the 3 hour enduro it rained for 20 minutes which resulted in the track being a bit sloppy and skatey. Not in that boggy leg sapping sort of way but in a fun drifty through corners then ping of a well placed berm sort of a way. By the 3rd hour things had firmed up and the tracks personality changed completely to that of fast , grippy bush roller coaster ride which is always a great way to finish a race.

This event had an awesomely laid back feel. The volunteers were friendly and helpful, the MC  jovial and engaging and the competitors were all so friendly and polite. Although I knew only a few riders, the whole event felt  more like a social ride with your mates than a race.

The venue was exceptional. Staging a race at the Novotel Resort was an inspired idea since the amenities on offer from the change room/ showers to the bar and bike wash station were all first class.  A world apart from the stinky portaloos and getting changed in the back of your car that most MTBers are used to.

Brothers Jasper and Piper. Not afraid of mud.

Overall the Ballarat Sebastopol cycling club put on one fine event and have set the bar high for the rest of the inter winter series. If the other rounds can replicate the atmosphere of round 1 at the very least, then this will be one of the best mountain bike events around.

Round 2 of the Interwinter series will be on our home ground, the baco trails, on the 3rd of June.

Full Results Round 1

Last Sunday the club made the long trip to Buxton and Lake Mountain in search of new trails. Well actually we met Jim and Laurie from Murrindindi MTB Club in Buxton and they kindly guided us around the 2 venues.

Leaving from the Igloo Roadhouse in Buxton it’s a 5 minute drive to the MTB Park trailhead. Our guides told us of the rain that had fallen through the week and indeed we could hear water flowing in the stream alongside the carpark. Would it be a mudfest? (I didn’t want to get the bike too muddy this weekend as Paula’s shoulder injury would make it difficult for her to clean my bike when I returned). As we plunged down into the forest then up the valley we were please to discover how well the trails seemed to cope in the wet.

The Black Saturday fires swept through the area a couple of years ago however regrowth has been strong since. The Buxton trails have largely been built using bushfire recovery funding and the scale of the development is impressive for such a small town. About 18km of machine built trail winds back and forth along the contours with plenty of reverse grades for good drainage and switchbacks to test your skills. There are some awesome descents with big berms and a couple of gully runs including the final run home which begins in a beautiful forest of ferns. Basically the network is a big loop with smaller loops within it. All but one small section of trail is rated blue square in terms of difficulty and is rideable for anyone with a reasonable level of fitness. The trail tread was a little bit slippery given the rain and our bikes certainly got heavier as the sticky base gradually built up on our tyres however this didn’t detract from the fun of riding new trails.

Back at the carpark we loaded the bikes back onto the cars, signed the guest book and headed 20mins up the road to Marysville for lunch. It was great to see Marysville returning to what appeared to be some sort of normality after the devastation of Black Saturday. Many businesses have been rebuilt along the main street and much of the basic public infrastructure seems to be back in place. Houses are returning to the hillsides surrounding the town centre and there was a buzz about the place. Oh and the vanilla slice at the bakery was tops!

Part 2 of our adventure saw us drive to the top of Lake Mountain to ride the new Granite Grind loop. As we ascended the bitumen road the cloud closed in and the temperature plummeted…the car told us it was 2deg as we pulled up in the carpark. But we would not be denied! A few extra layers were added and we took off up the hill. Within minutes it became apparent why the loop is called the Granite Grind….there’s lots of granite and (up to Sherlock Lookout) it was a grind! The climbing at Buxton was relatively straight forward given the wide bench created by the bobcat. At Lake Mountain the trail designers have woven the first part of the course through the rocks in such a way that almost every section presents a technical challenge. There’s plenty of risk and reward stuff with most of the highly technical sections offering A and B lines. The trail passes by a couple of scenic lookouts including the summit of Lake Mountain…which we can only assume affords a spectacular view. The descent between Sherlock Lookout and Snowy Hill was the highlight of the loop, again very different to Buxton with technical features at every bend. The trail crosses the summit road at about the halfway point after which there appears to be some new trail being built. We stayed on the main loop which turned to 4WD/cross country skiing tracks for a while before returning to singletrack. The last 3kms is cut through the lush regrowth (following the fires) which was great fun albeit uphill!

The majority of the singletrack on the first half of the loop (before crossing the summit road) looks to be hand-built. It has more of a walking track feel to it compared with the machine built aesthetic at Buxton. The second half of the loop has more machine built trail however still seems to sit well in the landscape. The soil base is darker and more granitic than at Buxton and therefore less of it sticks to your tyres. Despite the wet weather over previous days there were only a few muddy patches and in fact the condition of the trail was excellent.
By the time we returned to the carpark we’d had 10kms worth of awesome mountain biking and had forgotten that it was still 2 degrees.

Thanks again to Jim and Laurie for their hospitality. We’ll be back for sure!

Profession – Teacher

Uphill or Downhill? Lots of both (as long as they are not too big!)

Most epic day on a bike? The 100km Otway Odyssey in 2007. I’m still waiting for the retrospective fun to kick in.

I’m currently riding… A Womens Giant Anthem X1.
Good points: It’s small enough that I don’t need to have the seat all the way down.
Bad points: I don’t feel ready to hurt its feelings by talking about any bad points.

Favourite trails (other than Castlemaine) – The Howqua track between Mt Buller and Mt Stirling

If I wasn’t mountain biking I’d be… much more grumpy

One day I’ll ride… through South East Asia

When I head out for a ride I never leave without… some money for a refreshment afterwards.

My race highlight – Competing in the first “Kristy Cup” at Beechworth in honour of a great friend, Kristy Chisholm.

Fiona in action at The Kristy Cup

The day is planned to start early – that’s 6:30am meeting at Castlemaine Cycle Concepts! We will pack cars and hit the road at 7am.  We’ll be on the trails at Lake Mountain (the main track is used for the Granite Grind race) by 10:30am. If you’re coming from Melbourne we’ll meet you in the carpark at Lake Mountain. Riders from Melbourne who need a lift can emails us at info@rockyriders.com and we’ll try and put you in contact with others.

We’ll break for lunch before hitting up the Buxton trails in the afternoon.

For those that want another challenge, the famed Buxton burger from the Igloo Roadhouse is well worth a try!  That should fuel us up for the trek back to Castlemaine. We should arrive back around 8pm, after taking in about 4 hours of riding. Of course, if you aren’t feeling quite up to that much riding, you could either just ride in the morning or afternoon.

It will be good to coordinate cars to save on petrol costs, so let Grant know in advance if you can make it (grant.schuster@gmail.com or 0418 627 731). Also, let Grant know if you have a car and how many bikes it can carry.

Cost

• Free for all Rocky Riders and MTBA members
• $5 day licence required for others. If you’re under 18 you’ll need a guardian to sign your day license.
• If you get a lift then please throw some petrol money at the driver

Please come self-sufficient and equipped with water, snacks and spare tubes.

Members and non-members are all welcome. Hope to see you there.