BVRT E2E X 2

 "Ok, so what the fig does that title mean" I hear you ask? 

Well, some dude (Paul Heymans) organised a MTB race/ride along the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail now that the whole trail is complete and without the missing link in the middle bit, that had existed for years. I have ridden various bits of the rail trail over the last 10 years or so but never the whole 161km length at once. But this race existed on the premise that "if a lot is good, then more must be better"! Hence the Times (x) 2 bit.

I recall scoffing at this ride two years ago when it was first mooted. 161km (x2) and bugger all climbing? "How hard could that be" I mused at the time. 

Roll on two years and with everything about 2020 pretty well FUCKED (technical term), about two weeks ago I thought "why the hell not". I mean, I'm not particularly fit and have done exactly zero training for a 322km-in-24-hours ride, so why the hell not? I need to salvage something from the ashes of this year.

I proceeded to get my Tour Divide bike out of mothballs as it runs a dynamo hub and can run a light all night long for free (virtually) - oh, did I mention the race starts at 7pm so the first 11 hours are in the dark? Upon close inspection one of the front wheel spoke nipples had sheared. A quick visit to Troy at Area 54 Outfitters (Troy built the BNT for me for the Tour Divide Race in 2015) and he had both my wheels fixed up and ready to roll. A quick Friday night camping trip with Deano the week before proved a handy shake down ride.

I have been working the warehouse job full time and squeezing in any flying the company are offering, so I have been pretty bushed each day for the last 2-3 months. In anticipation of a big night I took the day off (and spent all morning running around taking care of last minute race prep) but was still a bit rushed getting to the start at Esk on the Friday evening. I was there an hour before the start but a pre race hamburger took 25 minutes from the local cafe and before I knew it I was trying to find the race starting line in the dark. I told myself to just chill as what would it matter if I started 15 minutes late? After all, the race went for 24 hours.....

I ended up being ready to race at about 1845 so had 15 minutes to spare. I don't bother with the pre race gathering (nerves sessions) anymore and find it much more calming to just rock up very close to the start time anyway. You can always chat to people as you ride along after the start.

Now, the start actually came at 1858 (2 minutes early) and I was still right at the back of the 49 starters. I actually wanted to be a bit closer to the front because I figured those at the back would be chewing dust for the first few kilometres as it is SO dry here in Oz at the moment. 

So, after the start I just pedalled slowly and let the group get away from me. There was a bit of a breeze which blew the dust aside but when the trail turned into wind or downwind the dust was blinding and choking - so I just slowed even more. These races are finished by saving your legs for later.

I caught a few riders as they stopped by the trail side to adjust their gear. I caught one guy at Mt Hallen and said "g'day". Nothing. "Hows it going?" Nothing. Maybe he had ear phones in or maybe he was just rude. I couldn't tell in the dark. Anyway, about 500m further just as we crested a hill and we picking up speed I heard "ptsssshhh-shh-shhh-shhhh" as he got a punture in his front tyre. I asked if he was ok but got no response again - so I rode on. Gotta be a big boy and look after yourself on rides like this.

Shortly after I caught Troy, who was riding as a roving marshal/mechanic in the ride. Troy is normally in full on Iditarod training by now but with international travel on hold and no clear path in sight he was taking a breather from training (relatively - this WAS still a 322km ride!)

I dropped Troy after a while (or he backed of to enjoy the solitude) and leaving Lowood I caught Chevonne, who I rode with a bit last year in the Brisbane 500 ride. We chatted for a while before she dropped me on some gentle climbs. I was determined not to go too hard, too early but I also suk on climbs at the moment.

Coming into the Ipswich area the lead riders were coming back the other way. That put them about 15km in front of me so far (over about 60km ridden so far)! Far out!

I caught Chevonne again just before the Wulkuraka turn around point and she rolled into the station just a minute or two behind me. I ate some lollies, had a drink and took a photo before headeing back North. It was a warm night and I was sweating. I had not needed to pick up water yet and as usual this meant I was carrying too much. I had eaten almost nothing for the first 67km either....

Heading North I passed many, many riders rolling into the Wulkuraka turn around point and was a bit perlexed as to where they came from. I didn't recall passing so many others.

I settled into an even gentler pace, especially on the climbs as my legs were starting to hurt by now. I had taken the risky move of having a remedial massage on  my legs early Friday morning as they were quite tight/tired from a year of riding every day. The risk was that there would be no recovery day for my poor legs and right now it was hurting quite badly along my quads where the masseues had knuckled into them. Hmmmmm... not good.

The organisers of this ride had arranged for us to have our pre prepared drop bags delivered to Fernvale, Moore and Yarraman. As I rolled into Fernvale I only wanted the cheese and bacon roll and the can of iced coffee out of my Fernavale bag. Scoffing these down, I topped up my water bottle and filled it with my chosen electrolyte (Synabol Extreme) while chatting with the checkpoint volunteers. They were super cheery, which is always a great thing to pep riders up who may not be seeing the entire joys of the ride.

New Lockyer Creek bridge deck! Here is the old bridge deck in 2014.

I put my head down and just chugged along thinking I would reassess my plans once I got back to Esk. I had plans to change my knicks, eat and resupply before setting off again. I rode alone and saw no other riders for this section which was nice but being alone in one's own thoughts exacerbates all the aches and pains.....

Rolling into Esk I was right by my car (I had parked under a street light right by the trail so I could organise myself easily). I was a bit disappointed and surprised to see that it was just after 1am. Six hours for 134km?!! It was all dirt and I was on mountainbike tyres and not super fit, so it was ok I guess.

I put some fresh knicks on, slathering the chamois cream on very thickly ;), ate some stuff, drank some coffee milk and put my spray vest on as it was getting quite cold. In fact, riding out of Esk was bloody freezing! It didn't help that the first 7-8km of trail consisted of quite a lot of railway ballast and on my fully rigid bike it shook the heck out of a very cold me.

It was 18km to Toogoolawah, which was mostly billiard table smooth after the initial crappy section out of Esk. The next section to Harlin seemed to take forever and it didn't help that one of the roving marshals passed me like I was standing still (he was on an e-bike) while I was trying to eat a cheese and crackers pack as I bounced along, swerving all over the trail! 

Somewhere around here most of my aches and pains subsided! My legs stopped hurting! My arms stopped being sore from crouching in the aero bars and even my butt seemed to stop hurting! I think the genius of this ride is starting at 7pm and putting in the hard yards in the cool cold of the night.

I rolled into Moore looking for my drop bag and a coffee hit from it's contents. Apart from the cheese and bacon roll there was nothing else I really wanted or needed. 

I was slightly bemused to see my Moore AND my Yarraman drop bags lying side by side. Too bad if I needed it at Yarraman!

On the plus side, I would have a canned coffee and cheese and bacon roll on the way back South! I left everything else as I was still carrying heaps of stuff from my Fernvale bag, 90km earlier! (I was too cheap to leave it behind, so carried the weight penalty)

The next section to Linville is only 7km, then it is the climb for 22ish km up to Blackbutt - my favourite section of the entire ride. There were a heap of caravans free camping at the old Linville station. Awesome to see! Climbing the trail toward Blackbutt I started to catch another rider. After 5-10 minutes I finally caught him...or her. It was Chevonne again! We chatted for a bit then I slowly climbed away from here. There are a few big dips into creeks along here where the old rail bridge has been removed and I absolutely bombed down these. This is where I got away from Chevonne as I had noticed earlier in the night she is very careful on the technical sections.

Around here I was passed by the race leader, Joris, who was powering back down the hill toward the finish in Esk. This put him ~ 50-60km ahead of me!! These guys are animals!!

First light was breaking as Wayne Thompson, another RATS member caught me, about half way to Blackbutt. We chatted for quite a while as we hadn't seen each other all year. Wayne was rocking a single speed bike which indicated how strong a rider he is. I dips me lid to him!

I stopped in Blackbutt briefly to fill my water bottle, my first refill since Esk (I was running a litre or so in my Camelbak) so lost Wayne here. Chevonne also caught me and we too'd and fro'd, catching the first of the sun's rays, all the way to the northern terminus of the ride at Yarraman. 

As I rolled into the Yarraman station I was attacked by a viscious little magpie, my first of the ride (because it was night prior to this). Another few riders rolled in and were similarly greeted by the little bastard! A few of us chilled for 5 minutes but as I had no drop bag (remember, it was back in Moore) I decided to get rolling and hit the Blackbutt bakery for some breakfast. Before rolling out I attached a couple of lengths of silver strip to the back of my helmet. This is apparently the best magpie pecking deterent going around. It won't stop them swooping but it scares them off from making contact, which can be bloody painful!

Most of the ride back to Blackbutt slopes downhill, which was much appreciated. I rode into Blackbutt with Chevonne again but bid her farewell as I had the bakery on my mind. I was looking forward to a bacon and egg roll and a coffee but they didn't do rolls so it was a delicious curry beef pie, washed down with a chocolate milk and chased by a bit of caramael slice. 

No seats outside due to Covid restrictions.

Caramel slice.....YUM!

As I rolled down the trail to Linville I began passing other riders with a small white number plate. "What the hell were they doing" I asked myself? Two events on the trail in the one day? This trail is popular! Passing a rider a bit more slowly I noticed that the number plates stated "150km". Ahhh, yes, there was a 150km ride that started at 6am. I also noted with some slight bemusement a few 322km riders still struggling up the hill with them. These guys would have a long, hot day in the saddle before they got back to Esk!

(Turns out that a bushfire closed the trail shortly after I passed through and all these riders were shuttled by bus from Blackbutt to Linville on the return leg to avoid the hazard. I would have been bummed out to have missed the opportunity to do the full 322km under my own steam)

At Linville I ducked into the loo. When I came out a woman walking past began chatting, asking about the magpies (they are THE talking point on the rail trail such are their numbers and relentlessness) and we got onto fitness and being fit-for-life in general and it was refreshing to speak to somebody else who "got it" with what we were doing with this ride.

The 7km to Moore was mostly uneventful, until the outskirts of Moore where I was visciously attacked by several magpies. These things aren't just protecting their young. They get some sort of enjoyment out of "going" cyclists for sure! The silver tape seemed to keep them from making contact but I did wave my arm at them a lot just to be sure.

At Moore I raided both my drop bags and again, being a tight arse, I loaded up my bike with all of the bars, nuts and lollies that I could fit. I had waaaaayyy over catered for this ride and was eating nowhere near what I thought I might.

Heading out of Moore I was mercilessly swooped by the black and white terrorists for quite a while. Then, once they left me alone I began to notice that it was warming up quite a bit. The rail trail has no tree cover so there is nowhere to hide. Considering that it was about 9am and I had been riding for about 14 hours straight, I was feeling pretty good. Not tired despite being awake all night and no major aches or pains to this point!

I stopped at the service station in Harlin to get a cold Ginger Beer and a bottle of water to top up my supply. While stopped some guy in a car told me to be careful in the creek crossing as the ambulance had just carried another rider away with some serious head/facial injuries. "Yep, I sure would" I told him and wondered to myself if the lack of sleep had caused the crash. (Turns out he rolled his front tyre off the rim at the bottom as all the bridge-less crossings have a stupidly designed dogleg at the bottom, just as you hit maximum velocity for the climb out the other side. I bet these were NOT designed by cyclists!)

There are a few climbs out of Harlin toward Toogoolawah which are tough with around 280km already in the legs. I walked the steepest climb just to give some different muscles some use. The scenery was nice, if dry looking.

The rail tunnel was pretty cool, both literally and figuratively speaking!

After the tunnel is the section of trail that the E-Bike marshal passed me on last night. It seems to go on forever and ever. This morning was taking even longer as I watched the GPS tick up to the 300km mark. Eventually, it got there!!

Woo Hoo!!

Just out of Toogoolawah a family who were cycling the trail started hollering and hooting "only 18km to go!!"

Wow, only 18km more? I could do this!

In fact, I caught two more riders about 10km prior to Esk and dropped them like they were standing still. I must admit, that made me feel good as they were on cyclocross bikes and I was dragging my 2.2 mtb tyres along all this way.

Riding into the finish at the old Esk railway station I got a small cheer from the volunteers and from the racers who had just finished in front of me. Chevonne and Wayne were there, finishing about 40 minutes before me. My time was 17 hours and 10 minutes which I was happy with as I honestly didn't know if I could finish this thing. Even at peak fitness in the Tour Divide Race my biggest day was "only" 275km, so 322km in that time was great. Despite being up all night, I honestly felt like I could have kept going and if I had someone to pick me up at the southern end, I might have!!

Here is my Strava log of the ride/race.

Crazy stuff but you know what? I really, really enjoyed this ride. I gave myself almost no chance but I invoked my Number 1 rule - Never.Give.Up!!

Cheers!

Back To Blackbutt

With the weather finally acting "normal" again we decided it was time to ride some of the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail (BVRT) again. This time as a family.

The plan was- number 1 child and I would head from Linville to Blackbutt, trying to beat the growing darkness after our late start due to kids sporting committments. Number 2 child and The Boss would drive up to Blackbutt to meet us. We would stay the night then all ride down the trail to Linville again on Sunday morning. I figured that this would make an easy introduction to cycling for The Boss.

Kicking off at 4pm made for golden light along the trail as we turned the pedals out of the old Linville railway station.

Number 1 child was super pumped about the ride as well. A year older than the last time she rode it and on a larger wheeled bike I knew she would smash the 22km(14mi) steady climb up to Blackbutt.

We made good time but the sun soon slipped behind the hills and the air quickly felt chill.

This didn't mean there wasn't time to stop and smell the flowers though.

With Number 1 now having clip in pedals she was a bit hesitant about bombing down into the creek crossings where the bridges had once stood. She took it carefully but always with a grin on her face.

This year I had made a careful study of Google Maps and my old GPS traces to pinpoint the location of an Aboriginal Bora ring just off the rail trail. Last year I had tried to go by memory and had failed miserably thus enduring the wrath of a not-very-happy 9 year old!!

In defence of my memory, I had the correct area in mind but I just lacked the detail to nail it down. Not so this time around though! We found it!! This ring is in a pine plantation but to their credit when the pines were sown, they left the Bora Ring intact. They even went to a bit of trouble to fence it off from the forest road.

It is a little difficult to make the ring out in photograph. Lucy is standing on the mound that forms the other side of the ring and when I paced it out, she was 19m(yards) away.

Needless to say, she was CHUFFED.

We rolled into Blackbutt in a glare of AY-UP lights just after dark where we were whisked off to our accomodation and plenty of country pub food.

Next morning after a slap up breakfast we were all back at the trail head ready to get underway. The Boss, in her 50m ride from the car(the first in years), had already been swooped by a stroppy magpie! I hoped it wouldn't be an omen for the day....

We were soon climbing the 1 kilometre of uphill trail before the trail went downhill all the way to Linville. The Boss had Number 2 child for company along here. He was very excited to have Mum joining us for the ride.

This being her first ride with us and not knowing what to expect, there were a few moments of consternation until the trail did really go downhill. This is why this ride is great for beginners as it is 21km of gentle downhill where if you chose to pedal it just propels you even faster.

We soon rolled past all of the points of interest, including the Bora Ring again. 

Before we knew it we were back in Linville and the kids were straight into the old railway carriages to play.

I jumped on the bike and blasted back up the trail to pick up the car from Blackbutt. This made for a very nice social morning capped with a solid ride for an hour. 

Arriving back with the car I loaded up a hungry family for a pit stop at the Fernvale Bakery. All up it was a very pleasant way to spend a day and we might hit another section of the trail once the kids sports have fizzled out for the year.

Cheers.

SEQ Bike Packing Trip Part 3

....continued from Part 2.....

As I lay in my sleeping bag in “the unit”, listening to the rain on the roof, I was wondering what effect this might have on the river levels at the numerous crossings I was to negotiate today? I was also pleased that I was sleeping in a warm, dry place and not having to pack heavy, wet gear onto my bike. Yesterday taxed the legs a lot and I didn’t need any more weight to drag around.  Yes, it was a good call to stay in Jimna.

Heading out of Jimna this morning the legs felt a bit “doughy”. Yesterday was a pretty tough day with all of the climbing and I was unsure what today would bring. It might be 90km to Nanango, it might be 115km to Yarraman or it might be 140km to Blackbutt with whatever climbing that brought. The trouble with these plans was that it meant I would be starting from Blackbutt at best on the last day. That would give me about 200km to ride on the last day. Not really possible. The next best option would be to arrange a pick up at Fernvale, something I wasn’t keen to do for two reasons. One, I didn’t want to trouble anyone with having to pick me up and two, I really wanted to complete the ride from and back to, my front door.

As I warmed up on the few kilometres out of Jimna toward the Monsidale Rd turnoff I mulled over what route I should take. I stopped briefly to look at the Jimna fire tower. A very impressive timber structure.

Dropping into Monsidlae Rd I enjoyed the long downhill coast, but as always, in the back of my mind was wondering when I would have to “pay the piper” for this descent.

It felt a bit like England Creek Rd in Brisbane Forest Park and I notice that after the overnight rain I was amongst the first road users for the day.

The countryside opened out to farming land with views that went on forever.

I was expecting a lot of river crossings today and the first one was encountered just near Monsidale. It was a very civilised concrete crossing that was covered in sand so that it felt like pedalling in custard to get across it. Wet feet. Before 8am. Again.

Not to worry though. It was another cracking clear morning. I wasn’t at work so what could possibly be wrong with the world? (Apart from the Boston Marathon bombing which I was blissfully unaware of). Just a bike to pedal and lots of photos to take.

I had made a decision regarding the route for the day. I would turn left on the Linville to Murgon Road instead of right. That would see me tracking straight to Linville and save me about 100km(62mi). While slightly disappointed at missing this section, I simply didn’t have the time to include it in this trip. Another time perhaps?

As I came to an intersection that was signposted as Louisavale Rd I confidently motored past as my road map showed that road curling back up to the north. I needed to take Monsidale Rd to the west, along Monsidale Creek. Reinforcing the idea was that the Louisavale Rd sign had a “no through road” sign attached to it. This would be the first time I obeyed an advisory sign on this trip and I should have stuck to my "normal" policy here.

Yep, of course that was the road I was meant to take to get to Monsidale Creek! I could see a road on my gps that headed in the correct direction and fell into a basic map reading trap of making the map fit the surroundings and not the surroundings fit the map. A subtle but important point.

So, after pedalling for another 30 minutes or so, I began thinking that the Louisavale Rd turn had to be the one, but as I rocketed down a range of hills was reluctant to make the climb back up to find out.

Arriving at the “next road” that I had seen on the gps revealed it to be not much more than a track. I spent some time here on the corner of Tableland Rd ascertaining that it would link back to Louisavale Rd. It would, eventually, so I headed off along it all the while watching a guy on a horse trying to get a small herd of cattle through a gate, without much success. I thought I knew a few swear words but boy, was I getting an education! It also made me feel much better about being a bit off track.

The short version of Tableland Rd is that it slowly disappeared into a creek line with chin deep grass. Yes, that is the "road" below.

 I was feeling pretty vulnerable without gaiters in all that long grass so decided that the sensible thing to do was give the Monsidale Creek section of the ride away. I back tracked then headed into Kilkoy(with a nice tailwind) for a coffee and slice of carrot cake as big as a house brick.

Now you could look on the re-routing as a major disaster, however I just saw it as a bit unfortunate. I was still pedalling along on an adventure, along roads that I had never ridden, taking in sights I had never seen so I was still happy with how things were going. Again, these navigational glitches would highlight areas that I needed to pay more attention to at the planning stage and identify potential traps in my GPS operation. As I have understood for years, you learn much better lessons from your failures that you do from your successes.

As I inhaled cake I made the most of having phone service by checking my phone messages. Almost as soon as I had turned it on it rang! It turned out to be Neil, just seeing how I was going and why I had missed the turn at Louisavale Rd. I explained it and my intentions, then checked the other ten or so messages that I had received while incommunicado.

I headed out of Kilkoy via Georges Creek Rd toward Toogoolawah. It proved to be a quiet country road with nice scenery.

It also gave me an idea for a name for my bike.(not that I have names for my bikes, but Bertram he shall be!)

Rounding one corner I came up behind a koala walking along the side of the road. As I stopped pedalling the Hope hub ratcheting scared it back up the nearest gum tree. It just sat there about 4 feet off the ground looking at me as I passed by.

Rounding another bend and the Brisbane river was spread out below me. It was amazing how wide it was and how eroded it had become after the last few years heavy rain.

Making my way into Toogoolawah, I spied the sky diving centre. Veering off the highway I cruised across their landing ground to check out the jump plane, a Cessna Caravan. The Caravan is a real workhorse of the skys these days and its not every day you see one with such a garish paint job..

Rolling into Toogoolawah it was time for an ice cream. I had travelled through several sections of road works where the road was being resurfaced. The stop and go sign holders wouldn’t let me sneak past as “I might slip on some gravel and hurt myself!” After riding 350 odd kilometres and hiking a bike through some crazy country I found their nanny state mentality almost laughable. "More than me job's worth, mate" they all said. I was glad they were there to protect me from myself!

Out of Toogoolawah, I proved them right by taking the first railway bridge that ended in 8 foot high grass. Unable to find a way through and suitably humbled, I backtracked and took the main BVRT. D’oh!

The Toogoolawah to Esk section of the rail trail was new to me. It proved to be quite pleasant, apart from the long grass in places. I motored along across and past some old rail bridges.

Coming into Esk I made a quick stock up at the local grocery shop, where the check out chick was very pleasant to a smelly, middle aged mountainbiker. A quick hobo shower in the local park next to the cenotaph, then I was back on the bike to see how far I could get out the road before it got too late.

I particularly like the Mt Hallen section and was hoping to find a spot to camp along here.

Pressing on while the sun went down proved to be extremely beautiful riding. The colours, the flow and the temperature made for very pleasant riding.

I kept going, crossing various bridges as dusk turned to night. After a little more pedalling I found two likely trees to string my hammock up between and made camp.

I was soon rehydrating a surprisingly delicious chicken curry underneath a bright half moon. In a plus, by jumping around I could get a text message to send, but not make a call. Almost a perfect location! Another 134km(84mi) with 1400m(4600ft) of climbing and I was pretty knackered, so early to bed and all that…..

Stats for the day are.....

Only one more day to go before I needed to be home. I have done the Esk to home section of this ride before, so knew exactly where I was going. Still, it would be interesting to find out how much was left in the legs with the climb up into Brisbane Forest Park to come....

Cheers and thanks for checkin' in.