About Our Club

Our club was formed in 1993 and incorporated in 1995 when mountain biking (MTB) in Australia was in its infancy. Since then the club and the sport have gained popularity through advocacy and participation. The Bushrangers MTB Club is a volunteer based organisation run by enthusiasts, for the benefit of promoting and supporting mountain biking across the region.

We do regular rides all over Sunshine Coast and SEQ from Cooloola to Brisbane, in national parks, state forestries and council parks. Check out this website for more information on events, news, and for places to ride.

Latest News

Rides

GoGIRL Sugar Bag Summary

Due to the increasing summer- like temperatures, we met at Ben Bennet Park, Caloundra at the earlier time of 7:15 and I surprised even myself, I was spot on time (which is 15 minutes earlier than the start time). In fact, it should be noted I was the second car there- see Sonja I am full of surprises. Recently at the Wild Women’s Adventure race, Sonja and I found out I’m a wiz at a sling shot and not bad at Slack line, who knew? If you haven't done anything like this before, I can highly recommend it (Adventurre races). Grab another kindred soul and jump right in! Even though we got lost trying to find the bike drop (google maps fault), we made up lots of time in the MTB leg (not surprising) and came in early with nearly a podium finish for our first one together! Note to self : Train for the trekking next time. Going down...

Club Night Ride Summary 25/10/2017

Rushing home only to be sneaking out the door, bike in tow, moments later has become a monthly ritual for me and probably the others who came long on the ride this evening.

Eight intrepid souls were ready to go at just past 6pm although that would soon be seven as Boaz had a suspect wheel with a slow leak so he turned back to avoid a walk. Following the usual 10km loop around the western side of Parklands we dodged and weaved through the undergrowth trying to avoid running over the cane toads that were out in force after the rain. Cancer Tree was in top form with both creeks full of water which makes it fun to ride. It’s amazing how well the old tracks hold up to the environment but there’s a few spots that might need some attention.

The grip on the hills was good as the rear tyre of the trusty single speed stayed glued regardless of the strain I was putting on it, only coming unstuck on a ‘baby head’ rock. Personal records gained by the others was further proof of the good post rain dirt and clean rocks.

I managed to collect two orb weavers this ride, luckily for me they’re inclined the drop off you than crawl around. No snakes though, probably killed by the spiders.

Always fun riding at night, suggest everyone give it a go at least once.

Ben Johns
Club President

Away Rides for 2018

[caption id="attachment_4320" align="alignright" width="300"] Everyone loves a camp fire![/caption] Hey Bushies! As you may have read recently Cortney and I are the new away ride coordinators. For 2018 we are looking at organising around 6 away rides. In the spirit of Christmas giving (or to give you a good excuse to escape for a bit), for the first one, we are planning a camping trip from January 3rd until the 5th. We’ve cooked up a couple of options… listed in no particular order: Mt Joyce near Beaudesert. Camping will probably be at the Liliybrook Camping area. We could ride a day Hidden Vale and a day Mt Joyce. Promisedland near Bundaberg. Camping and other accommodation (for those not keen on the pleasure of an air mattress) is available in Childers. A rather nice benefit of this option is Woodgate Beach is not too far away, so we can go for a swim at the beach after a ride. A refreshing idea for expected...

Wet Weather Alternative Ride Summary 21/10/2017

Stumers Creek Pathway

It’s not often we have to activate the WDR protocols (Wet Day Ride) – I’d like to say it’s an involved process where I open up a suitcase, snap a plastic card called “the biscuit”, then two committee members have to turn their keys at the same time to open an armored vault which holds our ride options. But unfortunately it’s not – we just wait to see what the weather does, choose a nice pathway ride and then update the calendar accordingly and the automatic notifications get sent out 5pm.

Like most trails around South East Queensland, Wooroi was still recovering from the torrential downpour the week before (we’ve receive over 400mm for this month). It does have a reputation for draining quickly but no trail can shed that much water in less than a day. Thus the choice was made to put on an alternative ride on more resilient paths.

The wet day ride choice (even though it ended up being a beautiful cool day) was the Maroochydore to Coolum ride that takes us over the Maroochy bridge and along the northern beaches to loop around Coolum and then back down again. There’s a few variances on this route – this time we took Stumers Creek path south from the Coolum Peregian sports complex and around the back of Mt Coolum.

We decided to stop over at the Cuba St Cafe in Marcoola, opposite Surfair, for a coffee and a chat. Afterwards we set off again to Twin Waters. This time we headed to the Maroochy river and rode over the bridge at the mouth of the canals as the tide was cascading in. Some of us took a gamble and crossed the Paddock of Potential Puddles which was actually not that bad.

45km and 3hrs and 30min later we were back a the cars.

Thanks for the ride everyone.

Ben Johns
Club President

Maroochy to Coolum Route

Sunshine Coast Bike Week Ride Summary – Parklands 08/10/2017

Coming out of the Gumby track

Hi Folks,

This week is the Council’s Sunshine Coast Bike Week and in previous years we have put on rides for this at Ewen Maddock Dam, Ferny Forest and Mapleton. This time we decided to take advantage of the new ‘easy/green’ trails at Parklands and by all accounts it was a success. Also don’t forget to register for Wednesday’s #ride2work day and go into the draw for prizes (and get a free breakfast too).

The weather was great, the trails were perfect and the Fast and the Intermediate groups shot off at 7am (thanks Toby, Alf, Murray and Rod for leading). I briefed the ‘rookies’ using the map board and we set off at 7:30am. Note that now that there is demand we will have a group ride for rookies at every Parklands club ride (once a month).

The rookie group started along the new Rookie Road access track and then continued down Detour onto Road Rage before heading up Grand Canyon. We rode up to Coobong firebreak and up the Gumby Loop. From there we continued along Rocky Creek Road and then hopped onto Cancer Tree primer (the start) and then down Rocky Creek Road to the proposed skills area and the beginners loop start/finish.

We did a lap of the beginners loop (keeping in mind that it isn’t finished yet, this was a special ride where we pointed out all the work done (and work which will hopefully be finished real soon so we can open it up). After completing the loop we headed back to the car park via Rookie Road. At this point we gave the option of trying out some more trails and a few of us headed up around Radar Hill Road and then down Ho-Chi-Ho. We even stopped and did some skills building on the big log rollover and showing the various trail features on the way down.

After the rides we went to the Bli Bli Bakery for coffee and a chat.

Notable events:

  • Rod entered the recent Love to Ride Sunshine Coast competition and won a 2-night stay at Noosa – lucky bugger!
  • Di and new riders Matt (or Mark?) and Timmo had a go at the big rollover at the start of Ho-Chi-Ho and nailed it.
  • Di, Emma, Jason and Nathan were practicing their new skills learnt at the recent free skills workshops.
  • Intermediate group got a bit mixed up with their multiple definitions of “the top of cancer tree” but it all worked out.
  • There are no photos of the “Fast” group – because… well, they were too fast I guess.
  • Scrolling through STRAVA there are a heap of PBs and Top 10’s – nice work everyone!

Finally a big hello to all the new riders today (sorry if I’ve stuffed up your names) and as always hello to all the regulars.

Thanks for the ride everyone!

Ben Johns
Club President

Ewen Maddock Dam/Ferny Forest Ride Summary – 01/10/2017

Hey there everyone,

Sunday was our monthly community ride and this time we were back at Ewan Maddock Dam again. I like riding here as it’s a nice area with beautiful trees and views… and it’s mostly flat.

We had a good turn out with 27 riders including 9 new riders and some guests from CORCA and beyond. Big welcome to you all and I hope you had fun.

We started from Maddock Park and went through the pretty trails that ran along the edge of the water. I offered a Clif Bar to the fastest male and female to get over Horseshoe Hill (named because the trail is the shape of a horseshoe – not because it is a hill made of lots of horseshoes – I know! Sucks huh?). Of course the e-bikes smashed the climb but John Searston was the first unassisted rider over the hill with Kerry the first female – both of them are the proud winners of two Clif Bars we scored from Unique Health Products.

A few of us split off from the group to have their breakfast at some cafe at Landsborough (called the Flatulating Duck or something?) and we caught up with them in Ferny Forest later. But the rest of us crossed the secret “Skanky Swamp of Skankiness” and worked our way to Steve Irwin Way.

We all knew that coffee was on offer at the Brewhaha coffee van so the pace was starting to pick up. I chose the time honoured practice of cheating and stayed on the bitumen for the last 100m and sprinted for the Ferny Forest carpark to get the first coffee. I almost killed myself but Murray still beat me there by microseconds and got the first order in (however somehow I still got my coffee before him anyway – probably because I’m charismatic or something).

A lot of us stopped and had coffee while others did a full lap of Ferny Forest first then came back for their coffee later. Afterwards we all went back to the cars along the Mooloolah Connection Road and the ride was over.

Thanks for the coffee Brewhaha, thanks for the Clif bars Unique Health Products and thanks for the ride everyone – here are some pics and videos.

Adieu, adieu, adieu!

Michael (Not a Roadie!) Johns

Today is International Ride Leader Day!

OK, it's not really Ride Leader Day, but we think it should be because our ride leaders are pretty cool and we wanted to give them a shout out and a big thank you. Two years ago at the AGM in an effort to ease the workload of the President a heap of members signed up to be on the ride leader list volunteering their time and expertise to lead our club rides if need be. The benefits of this list is two-fold because: we now have a collection of seasoned riders with great local trail knowledge who are able to suggest and lead new or classic rides. and we now have a pool of experience riders who can step up on the day and be the Ride Leader, Tail-end Charlie or take a sub-group on a separate ride (e.g. the fast group) etc. If you are happy to be on this list and help out on the day or find some new...

Terry’s Cooroy/Pomona Adventure Ride Summary – 24/09/2017

Hello Bushies,

The Kangaroo coldly stared in disgust at Brad’s old, skanky sun sleeves

So first up, a bit of an apology for a technical glitch with the Google Maps link. It seems the link worked correctly on a computer (which I checked) but not on a phone (which I did not check). So a few riders rocked up on the other side of the dam and missed the ride off time. But all things worked out in the end with this smaller group going on their own adventure ride and catching up with the main group later on.

17 riders showed up at Mary River Cod Park (with 5 more meeting us later on the ride). Big hello to new riders Sally, Timmo, and Jonathan and Angie – I hope you all had fun.

The weather forecast said today was going to be hot but it was not that bad really. Riding through the trees gave us some shade and the wind on our faces from the 20-metre gap jumps kept us cool.

We saw a bit of wildlife on this ride with sightings of a tiger snake, a big goanna and a pretty big kangaroo who was giving us the evil eye!

Thanks for leading the ride Terry and good job with the corner marking everyone (there was lots of pizzazz!).

But enough talk! Here are some pics.

Kind Regards,

Michael (The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated) Johns
Club Secretary 

Glasshouse Mountains Ride Summary 17/09/2017

Power Line Access Road

Power Line access road near Tunbubudla Mountains

The last time we rode out this way was in January when it was like riding around in a sauna with high temperatures and humidity. This time it was quite pleasant with a nice breeze and good temperatures. The only issue being, that like most parts of the ‘coast, it’s pretty dry out there.

Firstly a big hello to our new riders and our visiting riders from CORCA and beyond – we hope you all had a good time.

We had 31 riders gathered just south of the Glasshouse Mountains township. Everyone ran through their usual pre-ride rituals of checking tyre pressures, checking out any new bikes, saying g’day to new members, and just chatting about the week’s happenings. We set off at 7am and followed the path down to the Mathew Flinders rest area where we turned down Caves Rd to head into the Glasshouse Mountains park to gawk at some hills at the Jack Ferris Lookout.

After sorting out a slow leaking tyre we continuing west along forestry trails crossing Old Gympie Rd and found some rad single track to the Tunbubudla mountains. John pointed out that there’s a track that runs through the middle of the two that we could include in a later ride. After skirting around the mountains we followed the power lines and took a turn eastward towards Beerburrum and hit the township in good time.

From Beerburrum we split up into two groups with one continuing along the path parallel with Steve Irwin way back to the cars and the other taking the Soldiers Settlement track that heads back to Caves Road where we hopped back onto Steve Irwin Way path back to the cars.

Overall the ride went well with only a few issues with flat tyres causing the group to be split up thus there were a couple of longer than expected stop overs.

Notable Events:

  • The two people that were having tyre issues were both called Graham – that’s a bit “twilight zone” right there.
  • Andrew and young Darcy had a bit of a rear-wheel-flick contest. Hard to say who won due to the corresponding dust cloud.
  • Michael got lost – again. He found an unmarked dead-end trail that was fun flying down but crap coming back up (it has now been put on the map for future reference).
  • Toby brought along his new steed. Trek Stache 9 with the 29×3.0″ plus tyres. Photo below.
  • The ladies at the Glasshouse Mountain’s CJ’s Bakery did a great job getting all of our post-ride coffee and treats to us in short order.

Ben Johns
Club President

Parklands Ride Summary – 10/09/2017

Another big ride at Parklands today. 30+ riders with 3 groups criss-crossing the trails. No pictures I'm afraid as we were all being too hardcore and awesome to stop and take pictures. Thanks for the ride everyone, we hope you had fun. Toodles, Michael "Converting dust to oxygen" Johns Club Secretary [gallery link="file" columns="1" size="large" ids="4055,4054,4053"] * This photo is actually from the Redbull Rampage - pretty awesome stuff!!...

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