MTB Trailcare

You might want to get a snack and drink before tackling this long story

I had the chance to take my bike on a trip down to the NSW Snowy Mountains and south coast and ride some awseome trails recently.  Here's some of the scenery and trail features.

As for all trail news stories, if you want to see larger pictures, read the story with the little pics, then click on the first pic to enlarge it and then use the arrows at top of page to scroll back to number 1 which is the last pic added to the file.  Or you can just click on any pic and then click back to the previous page.

I stayed with friends in Tyrolean Village, which is near East Jindabyne and home to a lot of older and really techy trails plus the new link trail from the dam wall, which is a masterwork of trailbuilding and a credit to all involved.

The digs were barely acceptable!

Here's an old trail.  Some of it is singletrack dreamland - even for Phoenix and Harry (the little one) who came for this trip.

Some of it is super-tricky, very raw and almost non-existant.  It runs over rock and sandy areas, right on the edge of the lake.  Bragging rights to any newbie who can ride it all.  Local knowledge is a good thing.

Tough trail, but great scenery - and yes, mountain bikers like a good view, not just a ripping trail.

Tasty as the old trails are, the "autobahn" is what most riders come for.  Check this out for fun and great construction starting at the lower trail sign (Jindabyne dam wall end) and working up toward Tyrolean Village.

All sorts of tricks are used on this trail due to steep terrain, large boulders, to prevent shortcuts as well as define danger and to address drainage issues.

Some places require significant construction features like bridges.  Horse rails define steep trail edges very effectively.

Beyond this rail live Hoodoos:

There seem to be concerns about anorexia amongst the Hoodoos

but Homer was looking well and not skinny at all.

We must look seriously at this type of bridge for Nerang.  

The surface drains, has coarse grit embedded for grip and simply clips to a "chassis" of square-tube steel.  Rails are used where there is risk, but as you will see further along at Lake Crackenback, there are little bridges without rails.  Those pictures also show how simply and soundly the bridge anchors to the ground.  I have never seen a better style of MTB bridge and by using steel most concerns about fire damage and decay that affect wooden structures are solved.

It is not hard to understand why riders love this trail system.

Amazing construction adds to the fun and flow while making the trail more sustainable.

I love the Jindabyne area.  You can ride almost anywhere.  The bike is part of the community, like the dogs.  However, Jindy is just one place to ride.  There's the alpine tracks, Thredbo's DH and XC trail system and between the two towns, Lake Crackenback Resort.  A previous trail news report showed the skills park at LCR, but have a peak at the other options.

Starting up near the skills park you cross the access road and start a series of looping down and uphill sections before flowing down to the Little Thredbo River.  The season is a little later up in the mountains.  Deciduous tress were less green and magpies were on the stab.  They were good at it too, chasing to the end of a section and then going back to wait for the next loop to come back into their teritory so they could stealth attack over long distances.

Most places don't require this sort of drain armouring.  Artistic and functional.

Simple wooden surfaces cover soft, low areas here.

Up the Thredbo River Valley above LCR, there are trails leading to the Thredbo Diggings.  In the near future there will be singletrack all the way to Thredbo.  Currently a new trail is being constructed from The Diggings to the Skitube. (Skitube is a cog railway that accesses ski resorts further in towards the main range.  It crosses the Thredbo River just above LCR)  Some simple bridges are being used.  They are made of the same materials as those in the Mill Creek area, but without rails.  These pictures show the simple and effective design.  I like.  I want.

Traversing well above the Thredbo River, this trail is in its infancy.  Boy it has potential!  So many animals live here including massive grey roos.  Amazing how such simple trail preparation can be effective and sustainable when correctly routed.

After going upstream it was time to do the Thredbo River trail downstream.  Along the Little Thredbo River to the main river offers relaxing and pumpy trail.  

This is a majestic piece of river.  Great fly fishing for trout here, but this season the water was high.  It looks still, but clarity can be deceptive.  At over 1.5m depth, this water is strong and very cold.

The trail runs right alongside the river most of the way.  In places there were almost as many wombat holes as turns.  They seem to make good grade reversals and nicks!  It is such a lovely trail.

After the ride it was back to the resort.  I had parked near the bike shop and been given really friendly and detailed assistance locating the riding.   A free map was offered - really welcoming.  Opposite the bike shop, hired Segways and bows and arrows were the go.  For me though, it was time to hit the Alpine Larder for a pizza and "are you having a beer?"  You bet!

After suffering 3 days of golf and festivities with 31 mates at Narooma, there was just enough time for Mogo before driving home.  Mogo and I have a history.  It's a good story and I should interrupt the trip to tell it.

In 2010 I was "rescued" from Mogo forest after becoming "lost".  Then also, I was going home from Narooma.  I was to stay with a friend near Bateman's Bay 15min north of Mogo.  Plenty of time for the 16km loop arriving at 3.30PM with daylight saving time to spare, although it was a grey day with no sun to be seen.  I was aware there had been a massive storm and the trailhead sign advised damage on the loop.  I was not able to find a map of the trails before leaving and while there is a map at the trailhead, I was going on memory.  My phone had been destroyed in a MTB crash a few days earlier and the all-I-could-get replacement had no camera.  

My memory is good for this sort of thing and I was confident in my route-finding.  Back then I am certain the trail markers had no trail names, only arrows.  Although I believe the next future of trail signage is QR code, in retrospect it would be great to offer simple paper maps via a dispenser at the trailhead if they can be protected from the elements.  

Anyway, I set off on Kick Start - the first trail.  It's a hoot.  At the bottom I rode back up the fire road to the start and did it again.  Next, Loopy trail. I had seen a lot of downed trees cleared from the trail and made my mind up before starting to cut off the western side of the loop by using a fire road across the middle.  That road is now part of the trail system and is called Baby Bear.   It starts with berms galore now, but that day it was just a mass of downed trees.  Thousands of them as it turned out - huge.  It took more than an hour to get across to the southern side of the loop and join the AST trail.

AST and Thru trails are great fun and my spirits were rising despite the cold rain starting to fall.  I crossed a fire road and entered another trail that was decimated by fallen trees.  At times I had to leave the bike and scout up to 100m ahead.  The trail was just invisible under the carnage.  After another 45 min of slogging in the rain - no riding , just hike-a-bike like Baby Bear, I came out of the bush to a fire road.  Beyond the road was - nothing.  No sign, no trail and almost no trees.  All gone - cleared by dozer?  This was very close to an intersection with another fire road I believed to be Maulbrooks Road - the road to the trailhead. 

After scouting for convincing clues, knowing I had lost my compass etc with the last phone and riding what I thought was 2km up Maulbrooks Rd, plus the other 2 roads, I returned to the point I lost the trail.  I saw no sign of the trailhead.  It was now quite late - darkening.  What do I do?

I decided to call the Eurobodalla Bike Club for advice, but I didn't have a way to get a phone number.  In Nerang I know that the police contact the bike club for similar advice, so I called them.  The Moruya police refused to call the club for a contact and told me to stay where I was and they would send a car.  I made it clear I had a good idea where I was, about 2.5km from the trailhead after AST and Thru tracks.  It made no difference.

After 10 minuters I had a call from a lady police officer in the car.  She said they would be at the trailhead in 10 more minutes and would sound their siren to see if I could hear it.  She asked about water, food, overnight equipment, and phone battery life.  "1l and plenty of rain to drink, none (I had nuts), waterproof DriBag for phone etc, minimal wet weather gear, 1/4 battery".  I was ordered to hang up and she would call from the trailhead.  

When they arrived and sounded the siren I was not convinced I could hear anything over the rain.  I was told I was not where I thought.  They had checked the map and I was 12km from my presumed location.  When I asked how that could be possible on a 16km loop I was told to turn my phone off.  In 10 minutes I was to turn it back on and expect a call.  They were going to drive "towards me" and sound their siren.  

I did hear it for a while and then not and then maybe.  The return calls kept coming and I also called my mate to say I would be late for dinner.  After another hour I was told to settle down for the night.  They could not locate me and a full-blown search would be started in the morning.  Great!  Solid and cold rainfall, water running over every surface, already fairly wet through my clothes and not particularly happy, I curled up on a gentle slope and waited.  

About 15 minutes later I heard an engine and a 4WD bounced down the track from the trail right side of where I exited some time before.  I sat up as the car crossed the creek below me and it stopped at my wave.  The middle-aged indiginous driver seemed genuinely concerned.  

"You OK?"  

"I'm lost, I said.  Can't find the MTB trailhead."  

"It's just a cuppla k up the road there."  

"That road I asked pointing at ??Maulbrooks?"  

"Yup"

"Would it be OK if I follow you, because I rode quite a way up there earlier and didn't see it?  I'll be pretty slow up the hills, is that OK?"

"Yeh, no problem"

"Oh, but I don't know if I should move?  The cops told me to stay here till they arrive."

"Cops?  Did you say cops?  Well, look, the trail starts just up the road there a cuppla ks.  Ya can't miss it.  See ya"  And off he went just like that!

I watched the tail lights slowly disappear and lay down again feeling sad.  A final call from the police at Moruya confirmed I was spending the night there.

About 40 minutes later another engine noise came over the rain.  It was old mate back again.

"Really sorry for what I did" he said.  "I should never have left you.  Just because I know where I am, doesn't mean you do.  Put your bike in the back and I'll take you to your car."  He was a nice guy and genuinely apologetic.

He was right; the trailhead was just one little climb farther than my ride took me.  As we pulled in off Maulbrooks Rd, another car did the same coming toward us.  To the left and past the trailhead, the police 4WD also appeared up the fire road I had used to do Kick Start the second time.

I got chewed out.  You have no right to be out here without knowing the trails, without survival gear and alone....  What could I say?  "You dick's wouldn't listen to me, tried to confuse me as to where I was, don't have any knowledge of the trail system, no contacts with the builders and then you GOT LOST YOURSELVES?

I turned to my rescuer, who was nervously talking to his "brothers".  I said hello to the other 3 fellas and offered my hand in thanks.  I also offered $50, something the police seemed particularly interested in.  I had already heard murmers from them about crops etc.  I think he got a surprise, but not as much as the lady cop.  I walked up to her (the guy was a jerk) and pulled out another 50.

"Thank you for trying to find me.  I'd like to offer you this, but I know you can't take it, so (putting it in my wallet) I'll keep it myself!

They watched me load my gear, change into dryer clothes, start my engine and leave.  I drove faster than them and that was the last I saw of any of them.  Before I reached my mate's place (at 10.30PM), I stopped to help a young woman whose car was pegging out in front of me.  I don't think she even saw me until I tapped on her window.  She looked scared.  Story goes she put diesel in her petrol car, but she was fine, needed no help, friends and family already on the way etc.  I hope she was OK.  It's sad enough needing help, let alone being too scared to accept it.

I did get diner and a lot of unhappy looks that night.  Seems my mate had trouble understanding how stupid I was.   I'm not surprised he came home from a family visit the night after I left the area this year!  What a mess.

Anyway, the story of this road trip must be completed.  Mogo 2012:

The trail map

Here we go

Loopy trail has a gentle start going up the Jeremadra Creek drainage, but it climbs fairly solidly to the start of Baby Bear.  

Ferns give way to cycads along the way.  The trail is perfect for climbing with rest sections that include fun little downhills.

The start of Baby Bear has amazing berms.  Some are made of large amounts of wood.  We don't believe wood has much of a place in solid structures like berms in Nerang.  Due to rapid rotting and instability, rock is better.  However, it is obvious the Mogo trails receive a lot of love, plus it is a logging area and the trails must have a finite lifespan.  Perhaps wood is a better option there?  There sure have plenty of it after that storm of 2010.

I love the Mogo trails, but there is a glaring issue on Baby Bear.  After all the initial berms there is a long and almost falline section of fast and flowing trail.  You can pedal out in middle ring on this section; it is fast.  

Why then this at the end of the "straight"?

Soft sand over multiple roots into an unrealistic corner at full tilt = "USE EMERGENCY EXIT NOW!!!!"  This corner is the best example of a flow-killer I have seen for ages.

The next picure shows the country available near this turn.  I love you Mogo guys, but you know what to do here!  Turn the trail left in a fast, bermed-turn, half-way down the straight section above this corner.  Then bring it around in a long right hander, possibly ending slightly slightly uphill into the exit of the existing corner.  That will continue the flow and also allow natural terrain braking to assist with the next corner which is also tight, but being bermed and turning downhill, can handle some pace.

Baby Bear also has some classy fire road riding.  Almost all the uphills in Mogo are on wide trail.

and some not so classy parts

Overall, Mogo is one of the best rides I have had.  I am sorry I don't have pics of Snake Trail.  What a trail.  I couldn't stop.  If it wasn't for a couple of flat to slightly uphill sections, Snake would send you nuts over it's length.  Permanently insane from the thrill!

One last picture from Mogo to end a ridulously long tale of trail.  I wish you could hear the Lyre Bird song.  Somehow the bush is completed by their sound.

This road trip has left me with 2 big problems.  First my bike needs as much work as what I gave it before leaving.  Second and worse; now I have the lust for trail, how can I bring myself to dig  instead of ride?  I will find a way.  Sorry for the long story...