AMB weekend to Canberra

What an amazing weekend! A total of ten riders headed down on Saturday 28 May from Sydney to Canberra. Mick Ross was our 'go-to' guy from Australian Mountain Bike Magazine. He has been with the mag for some 27 editions, he has been riding since hanging up his tap shoes (truth), been a 'pro' racer and is one funny guy. 


The bikes and riders were loaded in North Sydney and Moore Park and next thing we were in Goulburn at the Greengrocer Cafe. It was a tad cold and the ride from Goulburn to Sparrow/Kowen was rather foggy but everyone was 'amped' to hit up some flowing single track. 

First ride was Sparrow, originally 40+k of trail now only 12 ... I say only because it is still amazing track, hats off to Paul Cole and his crew for keeping it is such great condition. We did a brief skills session on how to 'J-hop' and Mick taught us about how to handle the bike in other situations - all great stuff. The lap was pretty hot in pace and it was a good chance to ride behind Mick to watch how a tap dancer rides.


Needing a little energy and before hitting up Kowen we stopped back at the bus for a bite to eat. A few adjustments by our guest Aaron Dunford - FUSION PEAK - and we were back out on track. The MTB trails over there are great especially after being used for the MONT 24 Hour a few months back it was certainly hard packed.   

After that loop we all looked a little shagged and it was time to refuel with a beer, yogurt and fruit, not necessarily in that order.


Check in at the AIS was short, before I could get the bikes out of the trailer all the riders were back at the bus and ready to ride again. It was coming on to dusk, most of us had lights, some riders had demo lights from RADICAL LIGHTS and before you knew it we were at Bruce Ridge ready to play in the spaghetti system of trails. 


The natural light went quick, a few riders decided to head back to the AIS but a few stayed out to play. One of those being Mick Ross, above I mentioned that MOST of us had lights, well Mick did NOT. We rode till around 6:30, completely dark, and Mick never missed a beat. Riding behind him to give him some light was quite the sight to see. It looked like he had ants in his pants as his legs were opening in all different directions so he could get the light to shine on the track! Oh and I was pushing it just to keep up with him! One word, amazed!


Back to shower and then consume some calories at all you can eat dinner at the AIS. Aaron takes the cake for being the human vacuum this weekend, for a tall lanky fellow the boy can put away a bit. After dinner, since we had all worked very hard, we head off to All Bar Nun down in O'Connor for some well deserved refreshing ales.

Bed and back up at 6:15 to hit up the trails of Bruce Ridge again. An hour out on track to loosen the legs up was just what the DR ordered before breakfast. The temperature was perfect, two weeks before it was ZERO degrees when all of the GEAR UP GIRLS came out for the Sunday morning ride, this time it had to of been 5C - almost balmy! 


Breakfast - all you can eat - well done Aaron - then off to Mt Stromlo. CORC was having a 7k race out there but that doesn't mean that the trails are closed, another reason why the MTB family are such great people. We did a warm up loop and then a climb to the top. No need to rush and you could see it on the riders faces that they had done some pretty hard work already this weekend. 


Once at the top for the obligatory photo it was time to descend. We reconvened at the bridge before the start of Luge, talk about smiles on faces! The calls of "can we do that again" were heard over and over and they still had luge to go. We all made it down safe and sound and then it was time to check out the Willo Track, Double Dissolution and some others on the back side of the Mt. We had one little spill which required a 'DNF' back to the bus ... it was a pick up but we all live to tell the story, some just have better stories than others from the weekend. 

Lunch out on course, it was great to reminisce about the ride/weekend and general good times in the glorious Autumn day - again Aaron going to WORK. Back to the AIS - shower, off to Dickson for a coffee, or beers and munchies for the ride home. A few sleepers for the ride back but there was also lots of other chit-chat about MTB'ing and general riding.


It was a great weekend, the trails, weather, riders and food were spot on. Thanks to all those who came along, Richard, Laurie, Greg, Aaron, Mick, Garth, Damian, Luke and Mark. Looking forward to having you along for other weekends in the future and another AMB weekend down the track.

Road Trip - Goulb > Canberra + Canberra > Canberra

What a weekend - it was great to head out on a roadie trip. The routes were set, the cyclists were all looking forward to doing some ‘big’ K’s and before you knew it we had departed Sydney and had arrived in Goulburn. After a coffee at the Green Grocer Cafe it was time to head out into the cool autumn day, heading to Canberra. 

The back way to Canberra really is a great ride, rolling hills and some wonderful scenery. The ‘crew‘ arrived into Lake Bathurst an hour after leaving Goulburn, setting a decent pace of 30kph. Lake Bathurst is one of those towns with popular trees aligning the main street, at this time of the year it is a beautiful sight. Next stop, after our one and only flat of the weekend, we were in Targo and up rolling through the undulating hills of the area. Coffee in Bungendore was well deserved and sitting in the sun added to the great morning. 

There is a nice hill out of Bungendore heading up towards Macs Reef Road but it didn’t even register on the cyclists legs. Before they knew it, after some more rolling hills, they were on the down hill stretch to the Nations Capital, Canberra. 

Lunch was at Tilleys in Lyneham a regular haunt for many Canberra-ites and it was such a glorious day to be sitting outside and reminiscing about the time just spent in the saddle.

It was time to check into the Australian Institute of Sport and relax, the pool was open and massages had been booked. We put the heater on, had time to read the paper and also a few cycle related magazines. 

‘All you can eat dinner’ can never come quick enough after cyclists have done 115k. Saturday night at the AIS is ‘fat night’ --- ice-cream and a few other treats to recharge the athletes stores after a week of hard work ... including cyclists!

We usually head to the pub on Saturday night but this time we had no takers, back to a warm room, a little TV, magazines and dark chocolate. It was not long offer before lights were out. 

The weather report for Sunday morning was for a chance of rain, they must have got the wrong day. Breakfast of bircher muesli and anything else you would like was consumed eagerly. Before you know it we were headed down the hill from the AIS and through a sparsely populated Canberra. 

The Cotter loop is a famous one if you are a cyclist from Canberra, not many cars, some rolling hills and some steep ones too. There was an option to head out to Corrin Dam (+50k) but we decided to head out to the Space Station instead (+10k). Out there we had a chance to tell some stories about the universe, the riders were all highly intelligent - aren’t they always? - then they were off to complete what they had started. The ride out of Cotter Dam was a long haul but a few other cyclists were on the road to make it that much more of a ‘race’. There was also an option to climb to the top of Mt Stromlo but we had no takers, “maybe next time” was the answer by one rider. On the last major hill of the day there was an unofficial KOM, congratulations to Caroline of taking the honours.  

Time for a Turkish coffee in the sun in Turner then back to the AIS for a shower before a big lunch. All up that days ride was 105k. 

On the drive home we usually have everyone asleep by Lake George, this time we had a great time of regaling the adventures they had just had. 

It really was a great weekend, thanks to the riders who provided many smiles and laughs. Looking forward to doing it all again sometime in the near future.