Kempsey Trails

Ends up I did manage to get back to Kempsey to try out their local track. So if your driving from Sydney to Brisbane and need a break halfway, Kempsey might be the trail fix your after. It is all located on the south side of the township just park at the golf course and the trail is located on the western side of the car park. You get a well built sections of single track linked together with short sections of fire-trail. Not being overly technical the trail is built for speed and there are no major climbs either. The trail twists and turns over the small amount of forested area available taking in many natural features. There is some nice switchback descending sections before you find yourself back on the side of the golf course. Ride up along the tree line to the car park for another lap. It is simple and plenty of fun, check it out on your next trip along the coast. The local bike shop in town can facilitate most of your needs and has information on the local MTB scene.

Training

What sort of training might you do when in prep for solo 24? There are some crazy ideas, the one thrown in this week was a hill-climb. A super steep, loose fire trail is easy to find in the Blue Mountains. The choice was the first hill at Bowen Mt. Mick Smith is working up for his first solo 24 effort at Easter, his idea was two hours of hill repeats, that was sure to do it. We punched out six climbs in the first hour and after a quick break at the top of the hill, four in the second. Mmmmm, hill-climbs.

Weekend ride

Sundays riding was a big four hour effort. I was lead around the 80km loop by some local knowledge. It included three massive hill climbs. In breif it was to Upper Colo, Whinney Ck then over to Kurmond. Looks like a great ride for those who want to ride/race 100km.

The fastest way to the top of Thredbo is by chairlift. The fastest way down is by mountainbike. From the top of the chairlifts are marked mountainbike tracks, downhill tracks if you will. You could ride any mountainbike down but a downhill (DH) specific bike is the easiest and the quickest. The main DH trail begins on the access gravel road and after an introduction to water-bars it sweeps into single track. This track is not for the faint hearted, even the B lines required technical abilities. Marked with boulders, tree roots and tight burms this gravity fed track goes only one way, that’s down. There is no need for a chain, as you can quite easily coast the entire way. If you want to go faster, remove your vice like grip of the brake levers, peddle a bit and do a sub 10min run.
Don't forget kids, to wear amour. After a couple of runs I had a grasp of the run, well that's what I thought. Then I found myself flying across the rocks. With claret oozing and a bit of gravel rash I thanked the full face helmet for saving my head, body amour and knee/shin guards for saving most of my skin. At pace there were some good rhythms you could get into over the boulders and also in the switchbacks.
Give a gravity run a go some time, it is real fun, just do it safely.

Thredbo XC

Nearing the ceiling of Australia the trails of Thredbo can cover a lot of altitude. The XC loop starts on the eastern side of the township and was well marked. It followed some multi-use trail firstly heading east then climbed the hillside for the remainder of the trail in a westerly direction. As these are multi use trails you have to be vigilant for walkers which used the trails in both directions. A part from the walkers the loop is not heavily used by MTBers, there is probably a few good reasons. Firstly the designated loop has a heap of climbing and I mean granny gear type of stuff. Also don't head down there with your super fast semi slick tyres either, a proper set of knobs were needed just for traction when climbing. The second reason for the lack of use would have to be the popularity of the gravity fed adrenalin rush, but I will get to that soon. Back on the XC loop, it crossed a variety of terrain from hard packed dirt to loose gravel, grass, rock and timber platforms The trails are graded for difficulty with most of the loop in the moderate category and it is not till you reach the heavily timbered section on the western end that it hits difficult. The technical DH sections of the loop are studded with large rocks, roll-overs and stairs, still all within the realms of a XC bike. I recommend getting out on the loop during the early morning or late afternoon as the trails are virtually empty. The XC loop at Thredbo is part of the National Series and makes a fun and tough track.