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.

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Rides

Ewan Maddock Dam/Ferny Forest Ride Summary – 02/07/2017

Greetings Bushies!

It is my honour to once again do the ride summary write-up this week. I apologise for my absence and even though I was sick for weeks I still feel like the lucky one because you’ve been having to read Ben’s dispassionate drivel. It has no romance! No pizzazz! He used not a single metaphor nor even glanced at a thesaurus! I was thoroughly flabbergasted! But seriously though, superlative job Ben, you did good.

Sunday’s ride was around the picturesque Ewan Maddock dam and through the Ferny Forest trails. It’s always a good social ride with something for everyone and lots of chatting. The meet-up point was the Maddock Park carpark and I arrived early to give me time to make sure my bike still worked after 5 weeks. Toby was there already and even though it was a chilly 7°C he was obviously enjoying this Scottish summer weather as he strolled past in a t-shirt saying something like “Och Aye! Guid mornin Michael. Havenae seen ye for awhile?” (or something like that anyway).

7:30am quickly came around and it was up to me to decide on the ride. So we through the dam trails as normal but then go into the Boggy Path of Multiple Directions and cross the Skanky Swamp of Skankiness using the Slippery Log of the Cursed Cleats. We then got onto Steve Irwin way, zipped down to Ferny Forest carpark and stopped for coffee at Brewhaha. Once we were suitably caffeinated we rode through Ferny Forest and back to the cars along Mooloolah Connection road.

This ride is great in that it can be customised for everyone really. Some of us did more laps of Ferny Forest, others had a quick look at the BMX track and others rode from across town to get a longer ride in for the day. Big thanks for Toby for leading at the front while I stayed at the back.

Some interesting points:

  • Paul Hume’s new Kona is very cool and a 29er too! (I just don’t know who you are any more Paul).
  • Horseshoe Hill has been graded and now has a lot of wicked waterbars across it. They look almost custom designed to kick the back of the bike up over your head.
  • We lost Mike in the Boggy Path of Multiple Directions but we found him again and he hadn’t been driven mad yet so that was good.

It was a good ride on what turned out to be a beautiful day. Thanks for coming everyone and a big hello to our new riders and the CORCA crew.

Michael “You know you missed me!” Johns
Club Secretary

Ride map and elevation

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July 4, 2017
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Coolum to Tewantin Ride Summary 25/06/2017

Sandy trails made things interesting

It was a mild foggy morning on Sunday but it cleared into a beautiful day. 21 of us, including guests from CORCA, gathered at the car park anticipating a good long ride. We set off at 7:30am and headed towards Peregrine Beach along the pavement before crossing David Low Way and heading into Noosa National Park south east of Lake Weyba. This area consists of open eucalyptus forest with sandy soils which can be a little bit challenging at first but makes for good riding once you’re used to it. From here we sneaked across Eumerella Road and skirted the Weyba Nature Reserve – there’s an access track that runs through here but it’s rarely used and it’s pretty overgrown.

We rode under Walter Hay Drive through a single lane underpass that is used by the occasional cyclist and looks popular with the graffiti artist. We continued straight through until meeting Noosa Eumundi Road where the RSPCA animal refuge is. This is the only ‘hairy’ section of the route where we have to ride along this busy road for 200m before turning into the southern access track into the Wooroi trail network for a loop or two.

The group got mixed up a bit in Wooroi but in the end we all met back up at the bottom of Milkmaid and set off back home. Some of the group deviated onto Old Emu Road past the Peregrine Springs Community College before popping over Emu Mountain Rd and back to the cars.

Once back we headed over to the soccer match that was taking place and exploited the coffee and donut vans.

Thanks for the ride everyone!

Ben Johns
Club President

Ride map and elevation

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June 26, 2017
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Parklands Night Ride Summary – 21/06/2017

[caption id="attachment_3579" align="alignright" width="169"] Amazing how bright a little light can be[/caption] It was the nightiest of nights as it was the winter solstice and because we don't do things by halves we chose to ride in this  cold inky blackness. The soon-to-be haunters of the Parklands trails materialised out from the shadows, hungry for dark gnar! They rode their mechanical steeds of metal, carbon and rubber, with their lights fighting to burn away the dark and expose the single track ahead. It was particularly quiet on this mysterious night, as if the creatures knew something we did not. This stillness was soon shattered by the sound of our tyres on rock and jovial banter as we rode the tight and twisty trails into the unseen. But alas it was an uneventful ride with nay a scary beast or ghost to be found. Ride ended up being 10km and everyone was back home in time to don their slippers and watch the State of...

June 22, 2017
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Kenilworth Ride Summary – 18/06/2017

That was a big tree

Today I learned that the ‘e’ in e-bike really means ‘elevation’. The four e-bikers along for the ride spent most of their time admiring the views while the rest of us couldn’t see with all the sweat dripping into our eyeballs.

Driving down into the valley from Obi Obi to Kenilworth, through the early morning winter fog, the sun beaming through the trees was inspiring. I would’ve stopped to take a photo but being foggy and the road popular with motorcyclist I didn’t want to risk it.

The sleepy town of Kenilworth is one of my favourite places to go for a drive/motorbike ride out to for a coffee. I highly suggest heading out that way and checking out the local attractions such as Borumba Dam (near Imbil) and Canondale National Park where we rode today.

We gathered at the Charlie Moreland day use area and set off just past 8AM. We went up Sunday Creek road where the majority of the 1300m total climbing was. We stopped at the lookout half way up to give ourselves a bit of a breather and the views amongst the foothills overlooking the plantations was great.

Next stop was at the top of Summer Falls Road where people wanting a shorter ride could head down to the falls to chill out before making their way back. Whereas the others can continue on to come back from a different direction.

We reached the end of the loop (650m above sea level ) and then started heading back via a forestry management track. There is amazing rainforest over this north western side of the park and this was well received by the group. It was along this section that we bumped into Quinton who was in the middle of his ride (all the way from Mooloolah). Afterwards we continued on to Summer Falls were we took our break and appreciated the waterfalls.

Heading back up to Sunday Creek Road we hopped across and headed up to the Mt Allan Fire Tower. A bit of scrambling was required in some places but we all made it and were grateful that the tower was once again open for climbing. There’s awesome views from the tower with almost complete 360 degree views of the surrounding area (as one would expect from a tower meant to observe potential bushfire activity).

View from Mt Allan Tower

By this time I think no one, not even the e-bikers, wanted to see another hill so the ride back down to the campground was a nice change.

We got back to the cars at 12:30PM which was about an hour longer than anticipated but everyone loved the ride. Lunch was at the Kenilworth Bakery.

Ben Johns
Club President

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June 19, 2017
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July ’17 – March ’18 Calendar Update

[caption id="attachment_2457" align="alignright" width="225"] Sugarbag trails are now on the list for our easy community rides[/caption] Hi Folks, You may have noticed the club calendar has been updated until March 2018. There are a couple of changes but the main one is that our easier community rides are now at three different locations with the additional location being at the Sugar Bag trails. So please double check the first Sunday of the month rides as it will alternate between the three locations, next month is Ewen Maddock Dam, August is at Sugar Bag, September is Mapleton and so on. The Parklands Conservation Park ride will continue being on the second Sunday of the month, swapping between Atkinson and Radar Hill Road sides. We have also included the Bunyaville Conservation Park trails into the mix of our Sunday rides. Before these were treated as an 'away ride' however since they're not that much farther than many of our rides time wise we'll give it a go. Additionally...

June 14, 2017
Bushrangers Admin
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Mapleton Community Ride Summary – 04/06/2017

Ubajee Walkers Camp lookout

I came to this ride without a specific route in mind so when Will suggested a the route from the Ubajee Walkers Camp to the Lookout track I said done and off we went just past 7:30am. It was a small group today with 12 starting off and 11 making it to the lookout as Nick had another appointment (I know right, what’s more important than riding??). Many of the others were at the club camping trip in Hiddenvale. Since it was a smaller group of good riders the pace was turned up a bit with probably a few less stops than usual.

Di was on her new bike so we made sure to ride every stick and rock strewn trail between the two lookouts. Actually it wasn’t too bad and QPWS have been keeping the access trails clear of debris. Although a few of us risked a stick in the spokes doing a little bit of exploring of a possible shortcut that would have prevented back tracking but it stopped 80m short of lookout trail…

We took the perimeter track around Lynda Garret Park which had quite a few trees laying across it and was slow going. Turning left at the end took us along the cleared access track to the walkers camp. This track is pretty cool as the undergrowth has been cleared but the larger trees left with the track winding between them making for a scenic ride without having to concentrate too much on the track itself.

There were campers at the walkers camp so we made sure to skirt around it to the lookout where we rested up a bit before continuing along the access track towards the lookout road. As with many of the tracks around the area it was a bit up and down and probably a bit more up than we wanted on a community ride but the group handled it without complaint.

The rest of the way to the Oaky Creek Lookout was uneventful and we made good time getting there so we stayed a while to sit sun ourselves on the rocks like a bunch of MTB lizards while enjoying the view on a perfect day. After a few happy snaps we smashed our the way back to the cars for coffee and cake at the Mapleton bakery.

Ben Johns
Club President

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June 4, 2017
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Beerburrum to Woodford Ride 28/05/2017

The first of the long distance winter rides taking advantage of the cool dry days. Expect more of these challenging but worth while rides between now and when things start heating up again.

The fog was still rising over the highway and the temperature reading outside was a fresh 13°C. After being thankful for the modern marvel known as a heater I went back to the critical decision of whether I wanted a bacon & egg roll or a ham & cheese croissant when we arrive at Woodford. Still undecided I arrived at the Mathew Flinders Park rest area where I found Rod and Murray getting ready and a couple of cars that looked like they took advantage of the free overnight stay (be smart, don’t drive tired).

I began to unload the bike as the rest of the 14 riders trickled in and also started to get ready. Here Gary from Bendigo asked if he could tag along which is always fine for MTBA members. It was just before the ride off that I realised that I hadn’t copied the route onto my Garmin… so John and Mike managed to improvise the route – thanks guys!

The improvised route took us along Caves Road, around the northern side of Mt Tunbubudia over to Twin View Rd. Riding along the road for a little before heading back into the forestry where we met our first set of climbs. Reaching the top we followed a mix of forestry access tracks and a bit of single track and passing a recently felled forestry area which was kinda eerie in that it looked like a war zone with the morning mist still drifting around.  We then popped out onto George St, Woodford, completing the first leg of the ride.

We b-lined straight for CJ’s Pastries for a well earned coffee for around 30 minutes. I decided on the croissant. We were lucky that we just beat the motorcyclist rush hour as there was a line out the door and motorbikes everywhere before we had finished.

From Woodford we headed back via Old Cove Rd before turning down Dunning Ln and back into the Forestry. A few more climbs later we took a rest to watch a 4WD negotiate a technical climb which was kinda interesting, video of it available here. We then skirted a hill via some single track and then headed over to the Glasshouse Mountains Lookout. It was along this section where Gary from Bendigo suffered a catastrophic rear derailleur failure with both the cage and hanger getting bent up in the rear wheel. A bit of bush mechanics and we had upgraded Gary’s bike to a single speed.

We did the usual happy snaps of the views from the lookout and then headed back to the cars to call it a day.

A long ride with a fair bit of climbing but it was worth it for the great weather and views.

Ben Johns
Club President

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May 28, 2017
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Wooroi Ride Summary 21/05/2017

The weather and trail conditions couldn’t have been better. We split into two groups, 14 in one and 8 in the other, with the fasties speeding off up Cross Cut to take advantage of the hero dirt on Snake and Spectator while the casual cruisers meandered up Birdwing to start off with Milkmaid and inched our way up Cross Cut to do the Snake/Bloodwood combo and then splitting up to do Secrets or Turn 10 + Secrets. A little bit of confusion in the fast group as some split right after Snake and others went straight. Then the casuals picked up a few of the fasties and… everyone had fun in the end anyway.

Today we were joined by a couple of locals, Cortney and Martijn, and a Gold Coast visitor which my sieve of a brain has forgotten his name – thanks for tagging along guys.

Brunch was had at Cafe Doonan as usual.

Distance awards goes to Pete – 126km and Andrew – 80km. They must hate sleeping.

Thanks goes to John for leading the fasties group and I lead the casual group.

Ben Johns
Club President

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May 21, 2017
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More Slippery than Buttered Jelly – Parklands Ride Summary – 14/05/2017

Ride map and elevation

Despite some of the trails being a bit slippery in places Sunday’s Parklands ride was awesome! The rain held off, the temperature was perfect, the company was great, so yeah, pretty awesome!

Ben led the group down Phoenix first (also awesome) and then up Red Dog. We then went over and toodled around the Meadows for a bit until we got to the Komine fire road. We then went down T-Track (my new favorite track) and right down through Cancer Tree. A tree was down next to one of the creek crossings which blocked the normal line to take through the rocks, so that made things a bit of a challenge. We then did the Gumby track and a part of Road Rage.

We then rode up Ho Chi Ho (much better going down it Ben, just saying!). By this time we were getting pretty buggered so after that tedious fire road climb we were keen to head back to the cars. Andrew provided his super-secret-not-too-hard selection of trails to get from the middle gate across to Phoenix. Nice work Andrew and thank you M1 trail!

I forgot to take photos but luckily new rider Lumir took some good ones which he has provided for this summary. Thanks Lumir!

Thanks for the ride everyone. See you next time!

Michael “Purple bikes rock” Johns
Club Secretary

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May 16, 2017
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Ewen Maddock Dam Community Ride Summary – 07/05/2017

We had a big turn out for Sunday’s ride despite the cold, cloudy conditions. I thought I’d lead a small group over those initial steep hills and I’m not sure why I did that now. Maybe I just wanted to watch the guys on e-bikes toodling past me with their snide grins. But after this abrupt heartstarter the group rejoined and cruised through the dam at a crisp pace.

There wasn’t much water on the trails so we took a risk and took the the sneaky shortcut over Addlington Creek. The trails were only slightly damp in areas but the creek was definitely full so we had to put our gymnast hats on and tiptoe over a conveniently fallen log.

We all got to the Ferny Forest trails where most of us had a coffee and a bite to eat at the BrewHaHa coffee van. While others kept going to get some extra loops in. Ferny Forest was riding beautiful, such an amazing little gem that place.

Thanks for the ride everyone. I hope you all had fun!

Michael “Bridge Troll” Johns
Club Secretary

 

Ride map and elevation

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May 9, 2017
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