Sneaking Orff

Work can go hang….. its time to go ride……

Where oh where are we off to……?

Stay tuned….😉

GoodnessGravel Glen Innes 2025

I have been trying to regain some fitness and hopefully shed some of these damn Covid kilograms that I have been lugging around for the last ~ 5 years. (5 years?!!🤯)

 

To this end I have been trying to get some consistent cycling action happening as observed by our recent Derby mtbing trip.  Of course,  another side of the equation is the "fueling" that occurs.... and Derby was definitely a case of "over fuelling" - well, in my defense it was a holiday too. 😉

But I digress. Partly inspired by my brother's training regime where he is cycling and swimming regularly (and has lost 10+ kilograms! Go Bro!) I have declared Alcohol Free April which should subtract a sizeable calorific intake from where it has been of late.  Apart from the loss of calories,  it has the obvious added benefits of not only leaving those beer credits in my wallet but I feel heaps better for it. 

Win WIN!

I also decided that I need to get back to the old (stupid) me.  The stupid me would work all week then drive somewhere far away to ride my bicycle a stupidly long distance - for no other reason than to see if I could do it. 

I did actually derive some sort of joy out of doing so.  

Not just the mind over matter stuff but the "being out there in the environment" fed my soul - the soul that Covid and my government's over reaction to it had killed. 

It has been raining a LOT in Brisbane this year which is making mtbing a dirty pastime, not to mention the damage to the trails.  Getting away from Brisbane makes sense so when I stumbled across a gravel riding series called GoodnessGravel I thought I had better investigate further. These guys started the series because they couldn't travel overseas during Covid, so turned to riding their bikes in long loops out of quiet country towns in NSW instead. Over the last few years they have built quite a following with the added benefit that all of these riders bring to the small towns that host the rides.

I saw that the next ride was coming up in a few weeks up on the Range at Glen Innes.  I managed a couple of longer rides into the city in the weeks prior to see if I was indeed capable of riding any sort of distance any more and was pleased to see that I could ride at least 50km and still function.

I had a four day work trip immediately prior to the ride so I loaded my bike and all of my gear into the car. That way if I decided that the weather looked good and I didn’t feel too flogged from work I would head straight from work on the Friday afternoon to Glen Innes. By the Wednesday I decided that it was a goer so paid my money and committed to the ride. Unfortunately there was no accomodation left in Glen Innes (see, these things are good for the local economy) but I managed to book a cheap motel in Tenterfield. I would just have to get up early to drive the remaining 100 kilometres to Glen Innes on the Saturday morning.

Up at 5am, I was into the car and knocked out the drive easily to arrive a bit after 6am. I found the showgrounds where the event was being held and quickly set my bike up. 

I had given the bike a bit of a birthday in the weeks prior with a damn good clean and a full brake bleed. It turns out that after owning the bike since 2018 and having pedalled just over 10 000km on it, I had never bled the brakes. Check the below photo for the new Dot 4 versus the colour of the apple juice that came out!

People were arriving and before long it was time to go. 

The riders doing the 125km course were first to start.

Then us 75km riders lined up and pedalled off five minutes later. There was also a 35km riders ride that departed at 0830. 

I sat at the back of the group and pedalled off slowly. I wasn’t sure how I would handle my lack of fitness with the added bonus of being at 3500ft (1100m) above sea level. Yes, slowly to warm up was a good idea.

My idea of slow and others idea of slow must be different because I passed a stack of riders in the first two or three kilometres as we left town. Heading east, we were riding into a pretty stiff headwind which made progress relatively slow but I soon slipped into a steady pace that I felt comfortable that I could hold.

We had quite a bit of sealed road initially which, given the headwind, I was fine with. I was still slowly reeling in riders but only every ten minutes or so now. The pack had thinned right out. 

Once we hit the gravel roads I instantly felt more relaxed. Less chance of traffic encounters and just much more interesting/challenging riding to take the mind off things. I realised I find (sealed) road riding so boring along here.

The event had a photographer who popped up here and there. His first appearance was along the gravel section just after a long steady climb. I was feeling good and gave the “ok” sign but he must have hit the shutter release a few milliseconds before I got it straightened out. 🙄😆

I had been riding solo for quite a while and had climbed up to around the high point on our course at 4000ft (1200m). 

I sped along a sealed section, with that wind now as a tailwind, into the little hamlet of Red Range. The organisers had set up a rest stop here at the 32km point which was peopled by some local ladies. 

The food selection was huge. There were Cliff bars, energy gels, bananas, donuts, energy drinks and of course water.

 

I already had my own banana in my jersey pocket as I like to be self sufficient but I did top my water bottle up and took them up on the offer of a donut.

As I pedalled off a couple had done the same not ten metres in front of me. I pedalled easily with the tailwind thinking they would pull away from me as they both looked pretty fit. I was a bit surprised that I was sticking with them and after a kilometre or so I shouted out that I hoped they didn’t mind me tagging on. (Tacking on and slipstreaming from other riders without asking is bad form in the cycling world. This is because you are basically getting a free ride as the leader breaks the wind and has to work much harder than the following riders) They said “yeah, no problem” so I sat on their tail.

We were making good time when we turned off onto gravel road again and we began riding side by side. Chatting, I found they were a couple from Armidale who were doing their first gravel ride on bikes they had borrowed from friends. Being avid roadies and mtbers they were loving it (and their Specialized bikes). 

The lovely couple from Armidale. 

We ended up riding the last 42km or so to the finish together. The second half of the ride just flew by as we chatted and I mentioned the Tour Divide Race to them, explaining what it was and suggesting they watch Ride The Divide to see what it looked like. (Knowing full well that that movie is responsible for getting so many people hooked into The Divide Race😏) The husband (sorry guys, I’m terrible with names) said he definitely would check it out as it sounded like something he would be keen on.

Anyway, we soon rolled back into town as the last ~10km was downhill with a tailwind.

I peeled off towards my car as we entered the Showgrounds gates and the other two went left, still rolling fast. I assumed that they were parked or camped down there. What I didn’t realise was that we were supposed to ride back around to the entrance to the parade ring inside the central oval. Here we would be given a completion pin, a ticket for a free sausage sandwich and a choice of a free alcohol-free beer.

I had packed my bike back into the car, got changed, stretched a bit, bought a steak sandwich from the bbq tent and went to sit on the grass near the start line. I was thinking “I wonder if I should let someone know I finished and I’m back” when I noticed people finishing on the parade ring and being handed all the things I just mentioned above!

I wandered over to the ladies manning the finish line and asked if I was supposed to ride through here. They said yes, if I wanted the finishers schwag. Seeing as I was standing there they loaded me up with it all. The pin and the free sausage sandwich I could take or leave but what was this Heaps Normal beer? I had actually seen it in a supermarket during the week (we can’t buy alcohol in supermarkets here in Australia) so knew it was alcohol free but they were asking full beer prices for it so I didn’t buy any. Here, I had the chance to try it for free!

And try it I did! Plonking myself on the grass, I washed down the steak sandwich with it. I was very pleasantly surprised to note that it tasted exactly like an IPA!

Nice!

So, while not a huge ride I had completed the 75 kilometres in a smidge over three hours. Considering that I’m not particularly fit and the route was all between 3000 and 4000ft above sea level I was happy with that. I was just starting to get some small niggles in the legs on the climbs toward the end but I was riding pretty hard to keep up with the couple from Armidale. I noticed some sustained 162 bpm on my Garmin which is too high for me at the moment so I backed of a bit to bring my heart rate down into the mid 150s which felt more do-able. And in hindsight sight the couple didn’t get away from me so they must have backed off as well….

I didn’t hang around much longer as I had an almost five hour drive to get home but I was glad I came to check out this GravelGoodness thing. I am seriously contemplating doing their next event. It is even further away so I had better sign up for the big distance next time. 😉

Cheers.

*All of the watermarked photos are by Outer Image photography.  Thanks in advance for providing us with quality images of the day!

Derby MTB Trip 2025

 

Well, we managed to herd some cats and assembled five of us for a flight from Brisbane to Tasmania for our now annual March mtbing trip. It was almost touch and go this year as cyclone Alfred hit Brisbane in the days before we were meant to leave. As it was, we only had power restored on the Sunday afternoon, then we flew out early Monday afternoon.

Arriving in Launceston with all of our bikes we grabbed two hire cars and hit the supermarket for a stock up. 

It was then on to Derby and our accommodation at the Lazy Queen Air BnB. 

Nice bush ummm....hedge. 

We were pretty beat so it was straight to bed. We will put the bikes together in the morning.

Once the bikes were together we pedaled the short distance to the shuttle pick up point.  No unnecessary pedalling uphill for us this trip! 

Up, Down, Around (UDA) shuttles was our company of choice.  We have found them to have the most regular uplifts during the day and the friendliest drivers.

After rain on the Monday afternoon the trails were in perfect condition - grippy as heck!

We did about six uplifts for the day with the last leading to a long pedal around the Dambusters trail to Troughty trail for the gun riders and Cuddles trail for Dan and I.

Dambusters 

Lunches were at the 2 Doors Down Cafe. It was a bit quiet for the first half of the week - which suited us just fine. 

Dinner at the Dorset Hotel finished a great first day.

Black Stump shuttle drop-off. 

Wednesday was more of the same until a thunderstorm decided to hit the town mid afternoon. 

Kingswall trail. 

 Dan and I retired to the pub for a cold one.......  

 

...while the others kept pedalling... and got their cold one in the form of a drenching. It also made the rock a tad slippery apparently.

It was a cold and gloomy walk to The Hub for dinner that night. Luckily it is only a 290 metre walk.

This necessitated some bike maintenance next day.

All good though as Derby trails handle the rain well and would be mint for the next day. 

Dinner tonight was at The Hub wood fired pizza place.  Great pizza washed down with excellent local Pinot Noir.  Mtbing does give you an appetite! 😉

There are some nice new accommodations in Derby these days. You don't necessarily need to opt for an old miners cottage.

More local riding was had on the Thursday before grabbing the big shuttle up to Blue Teir on the Friday for the trio of First 13, Blue Tier and Atlas trails.  

Blue Tier is like being on another planet.  The trail winds through mossy, tree fern lined gorgeous trail. (that I didn't photograph - apart from this growth on a tree fern.)

This was an epic day on the bikes with lunch at the self proclaimed "Worst Pub in Australia ", the Weldborough Hotel. There was a large group of dirt bikers in the parking area, who had also stopped in for lunch during their guided tour. That looked like fun too.

I think the monika for the pub came from a moto journo in another century - before mtbing brought tourists and money to the town via the Blue Tier/Atlas trail run because it is certainly an awesome little pub with great food and beers these days! There must have been fifty or sixty people enjoying the beer garden with us.

Though we were cursing the huge steak sandwich as we pedalled off down Atlas though, what with our now over-full stomachs! No photos were taken due to the discomfort and fatigue we were starting to feel.

That was soon forgotten however as we finished the day with a big downhill run into Cuddles trail and it's huge rock drop off, again. 😎

Photos don't do the drop on Cuddles any justice. That rock is at least 10 metres high and near vertical! It's an awesome feeling to ride it and survive! I'm pleased to say I rode it a couple of times this year - last year was a big NO.

Shane at the bottom of the drop. 

We rolled into town knackered but very satisfied. 

We rode the Saturday morning - because why not? -  and polished off a trail I hadn't ridden yet this trip, Roxanne, which was quite challenging but also much more fun than last year due to some new works on it's upper section.

Shane on Roxanne. 

Yep, Roxanne is rocks and rocks and rox.......anne... 

Will om Roxanne. 

All packed up we headed to Scottsdale for a beer at the Little Rivers Brewery. Unfortunately they didn't have a very extensive menu so it was off to the Scottsdale bakery, just up the road for a mighty fine pie.

We also called in to the Whiskey distillery which is located very conveniently at the airport in one of the old freight hangers. I'm not a whiskey drinker but it was interesting to look at the old aviation nostalgia on display.

And so it was soon time to check in and jump on our flight home. Almost five days of riding some of the best trails in the country had been a blast and I count myself lucky to do it with a great crew of mates who make travelling away a pleasant experience. We may have only covered 170km but they were all high quality mountain biking kilometres.

Cheers.