Hey folks long time no see! With all the recent ride cancellations and work on grants and the AGM we haven't had much time to do any write ups. [caption id="attachment_6479" align="alignright" width="300"] My mudguard worked well...
The Sunshine Coast Council has teamed up with our Go GIRLS and CORCA's Women on Wheels to offer the Get Out Get Active Women's Mountain Bike Program. This six week programme will offer you the opportunity to develop essential skills needed to make mountain biking a enjoyable and safe activity. Additionally you will be provided a hire bike (if you don't have one) and a one year Mountain Biking Australia (MTBA) membership through either club ($85 value). When: 17th April - 24 May 2018, Tuesday or Thursday afternoons. Where: Sunshine Coast - Kawana Sports Precint or Caloundra Cricket Ovals. Cost: $66.00 Registration: > HERE < Contact: Kurt Martin kurt.martin@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au (07) 5420 8671 Don't worry if you've missed out - we have a whole bunch of beginners coaching sessions planned for the next year so keep an eye on our website and social media for updates....
Bloody fatbikers!!
Hey Bushies’
33 awesome volunteers came out to do a bit of trail care and to help with the Clean Up Australia day activity at Parklands today. We filled two large bins with general waste and recycling and also dragged out around 5 ute loads of other rubbish too big for the bins. Tyres, engines, hot water systems, nappies (eiww!), car panels, batteries, TVs. It was both sad and amazing that all this junk just gets dumped in our parks.
As for the trail care there were two jobs to do with one team heading in to fix up the damage done to the new blue trail. The blue flow trail and the top of Road Rage trail hadn’t had time to harden before last weeks torrential rain soaked it through and turned it to slush. The other team grabbed the whipper snippers and did some much needed vegetation management on T-track and Lower NZ.
Great work today everyone, as always your help was most appreciated! A special thanks to Dave for cooking the BBQ – the sausages where superb! If anyone wants a Clean Up Australia Day certificate to brag how awesome they are, just let me know.
Thanks for the write up by Tessa Patrick in the Nambour Weekly and to Clean Up Australia Day for the bags and gloves and to Sandie Johnston and the Sunshine Coast Council for the big bins, rubbish pick up and mowing the grass along Radar Hill Road for us.
Michael Johns
Club Secretary
PS: Check out the photos below.
Clean Up Australia Day 2018
On Sunday March 4th we will be having a big clean up day at Parklands for Clean Up Australia day. Come meet us at the Radar Hill Carpark at 7am, grab a bag and start picking up all the rubbish.
Once we are done we’ll setup the BBQ and everyone can grab some food and head off for a ride if its not too hot.
Newspaper article in the Nambour Weekly
Hi Folks, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service have organised a community engagement session to discuss the recent trail closure within the Mapleton National Park. Could be a great opportunity to clear the air on both sides and show the need for advance level trails on the coast? Details as follows: Time: 3:30PM onwards Date: Friday, 9th February 2018 Location: Ground Floor Seminar Room, Mike Ahern Building, 12 First Avenue, Maroochydore Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/Fk3nqE3LeoE2 ...
Hi Folks, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service have organised a community engagement session to discuss the recent trail closure within the Mapleton National Park. Could be a great opportunity to clear the air on both sides and show the need for advance level trails on the coast? Details as follows: Time: 3:30PM onwards Date: Friday, 9th February 2018 Location: Ground Floor Seminar Room, Mike Ahern Building, 12 First Avenue, Maroochydore Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/Fk3nqE3LeoE2 ...
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services (QPWS) have asked us to help get the word out that they will be cracking down on illegal trail building in conservation areas. They have specifically pointed out the continued development of an unsanctioned trail within the Mapleton National Park.
QPWS have already warned against building this track a year ago but work has continued and the features along it have grown in number and size. QPWS will now close the track, remove all structures, and install surveillance cameras. Any continued building will be met with fines and legal action.
However the QPWS are happy to speak to the builders regarding current MTB opportunities they have and about future development in the Mapleton national park. Contact Senior Ranger Nat Smith on Nat.Smith@npsr.qld.gov.au
Stay safe, Keep Riding!
Bush Rangers Committee
The following are a few photos provided to us by QPWS of the unsanctioned trail.
[caption id="attachment_6068" align="alignright" width="270"] Give way to pedestrians and horses[/caption] Each Saturday morning one of the hardest Parkrun events in Australia happens in Parklands which is pretty awesome! At 7am a heap of runners and walkers will move along the fire road parallel to the new black track for a few minutes as they commence their 5km loop through the park. For these few minutes there is a potential risk of collision between a rider and a runner if: a rider flies out of the black or green tracks at speed; a rider rides back up the fire road in amongst the runners/walkers. However there is a clear line of sight for riders and runners so there should be ample time for a rider to slow down, stop for a rest and allow the runners to pass through safely. Please let new riders and visitors know that hikers, trail runners and horses use the fire roads and we need to give way to them....
Dodging horse poop and march flies as big as bricks
So the day is winding down and I’ve donned my slippers and smoking jacket and sit in my baby seal covered wing chair sipping brandy that was snatched from the wavering hands of a dying French cavalry officer in 1815. I think back to last Sunday’s club ride and relive the fond memories and chuckle again at all the clever things I said.
Did you know that Sunday’s ride was the first one for the 2018? And according to the large book in my lap called the Encyclopedia of Dodgy Chinese Proverbs and Mountain Biking, this is the year of the Gnar Rabbit*. Isn’t that interesting? Learn something everyday don’t you? But I digress, let’s get back to Sunday’s ride shall we.
I arrived early to get my bike ready so I could then meet and greet everyone and insult their tyre sizes, as you do. But lo and behold there were riders everywhere and carparks nowhere. It seemed the day’s ride was going to be a big one. We ended up with over 39 riders including our regulars, new members, guests from other clubs and some courageous first timers. Big hello to you all and I hope you had a lovely ride.
Ewen Maddock Dam rides are good for a swim afterwards
The weather turned out to be great and only started to warm up towards the end of the ride but this is easily fixed by a quick swim in the dam or pointing your car’s A/C vents at your crotch.
The large amounts of rain that had fallen previously had filled the dam and nearby creeks and left quite a few challenging mud areas along our route. This was keenly noticed by Bronya as she fell off her bike in a particularly wet section of the trail – I do apologise for laughing before I asked if you were OK Bronya, it’s quite a bad habit I have.
The day’s ride leader was our esteemed president Ben “I’m so lucky to have a cool brother” Johns. It was his difficult task to safely lead the group through the perilous obstacles on this ride. These nasty obstacles included The Horse Poop Dash, Horseshoe Hill of No Horseshoes and our old nemesis The Skanky Swamp of Skankiness all this while fighting off bulletproof, fist-sized march flies throwing sticks into our spokes.
But as always, through teamwork, skill and tenaciousness the Bushrangers persevered, conquered all and coolly strutted away without looking back at the explosions.
Thanks for the coffee Brewhaha, thanks for the trails SEQ Water and QPWS and thanks for the ride everyone.
Lovingly yours,
Michael “Brandy tastes bad” Johns
Club Secretary
* 2018 is actually the Year of the Dog – not the Gnar Rabbit …FYI.
Ride Map and Elevation
[caption id="attachment_4624" align="alignright" width="300"] 2017 Movember Results[/caption] So Movember has finished and the dust has settled. We can now relax our leg muscles from all the riding (and our neck muscles from counterbalancing our impressive moustaches all month). We successfully rode the 10000km but it did get a bit dicey there with all the rain in the last week hampering our efforts. According to our STRAVA group the total kilometres was 10402.9km. The individual total kilometres are below with the obvious winner being Pete Bigaila who rode 1958.8km with his regular 100km rides and the GBOMB 9hr endurance race. We raised $1764 for the Movember Foundation with the biggest fundraiser being Graham Reeks who raised $574 through good networking and selling bespoke bike moustaches. If you forgot to give a donation to the team you still can at https://moteam.co/moustaches-and-mountain-bikes-sunshine-coast-2017?mc=1 Who had the best moustache? Well that's a hard one to answer. There were some seriously awesome moustaches this month and we can't announce a winner as...
