After the rants I’ve published recently, I think an actual trip report with good vibes is definitely called for!
Last weekend we organised a trip to Canberra, so that Marijke could visit some old friends. I was excited for the chance to bring my bike, and ride the famous ACT trails. I had a great time with our hosts, and Canberra is trying so hard to be real city these days (they had a food truck festival, and are even building a light rail, so you can get stuck in construction-related traffic, just like Sydney!)
Does your bike Stromlo, does it wobble to and fro
We got in about 11AM on Saturday, and it was a warm and calm spring day, with just a slight chill remaining from the cold front that had just passed through. I drove to the Mt Stromlo carpark and was immediately impressed, firstly with the size of the carpark (it’s not quite as big as the Perisher carpark, though that was my first thought!) and secondly with the bling on display. I’d never seen a SRAM Eagle twelve speed drivetrain in real life ($US 1,400, and literally gold anodised just to rub it in) and here they were decked out on carbon fibre Yetis. I guess no-one has anything better to do with their money!
I bumbled my way onto some singletrack and started climbing. There were many pleasantly graded easy switchbacks, though there were some annoying downhill bits that gave up precious vertical. I got to the observatory and had a snack, and enjoyed the view.
Then I set off towards the northern peak of the mountain, ripping down a short section of gravel road. I saw a little rock garden and decided to bump-jump over it. This excellent decision resulted in a loud bang. I thought I’d bottomed out the shock, but actually I had made the rear tire very, very unhappy.
The tire had smashed into a rock, and I think a sharp volcanic edge went through the tread, mangled the pinched sidewall as well, and flat-spotted the rim for good measure. I put a plug in the main puncture, but I didn’t realise there was also a leak along the rim, until after a couple of attempts at getting it to seal and lots of frantic air pumping. Eventually after a whooooole lot of faff I got the thing to hold 30 psi, and I gingerly set off on the trail again. I was glad I’d brought a backpack with all the tools and the kitchen sink.
This darn rear tire has 4 plugs in it at this point, and the next tire will definitely be something tougher. But I insist on getting my value out of this one.
I set off down the ‘hyperclassic’ of Western Wedgetail into Skyline. Then on to Luge and Old Duffy Descent. I took it pretty easy, riding blind, alone and with an iffy back tire. It was still great, lots of flow etc etc. I still can’t carry speed through a bermed switchback to save my life, and I still can’t turn left (I’m not an ambi-turner).
As an aside: it still blows my mind that people think rocks and roots are “technical”, while flow trails with berms and jumps are “dumbed-down beginner crap”. For me it’s the opposite! “Old-school technical” sections, actually have very little technique that I can see, you just pick the smoothest looking line, dig the heels in, and ride over it! And remember to stop pedalling if you’re going over a sticking-up-bit. A confident outlook and modern tires & suspension do all of the work for you.
The fast corners and jumps on an “easy” flow trail, on the other hand, require a dizzying combination of disciplined vision, inclination, angulation, pedal position, switch-foot riding, hip rotation, belly-button-laser-pointing, pumping, suspension preload, manual technique, and hop technique. It feels amazing when you bring it all together, and garbage when you blow it. As usual, when it gets down to it, the new school is a lot more difficult than the grumpy old school would like to admit.
Anyway.
After some recovery and mucking around, I headed up for another lap. This time I decided to not bother with the second half of the climb and went up a fireroad instead of the final ABC switchbacks, and finished up on the sealed road. For the second descent, I decided to find something rockier and went Roller Coaster – Magpie Rock – Slick Rock – bottom of Pork Barrel. Yes, it was rockier. I finished with Party Line and then the tour around back to the carpark on the XC trails. Good stuff, a great ride.
What is your Majura malfunction, numbnuts
I had reached out to Steve Hare to go for a ride, but unfortunately, he was out of town. I got an offer from Jonathon from the ski.com.au forums (he’s a splitboarder) for a tour around Majura, and was happy to take him up.
Now it turns out Jono is a hell of a rider, who’s been involved with racing and the Canberra club for a long time. As we were chatting on one of the climbs, he said that the standard of riding in Canberra is very high, and he never used to do very well in the local downhill races, but of course lots of the guys had raced at a Wold Cup level. Then he went to the National downhill race series and did quite well!
About this time I noticed the “totally awesome” trail that we were about to drop in to, Rock Lobster, had a little double black diamond on the signpost. But Jono wanted to reclaim his top ten place on the Strava leaderboard. On the king-line down-the-guts double black diamond at one of the country’s biggest trail systems.
Great, I though, I am about to die.
I didn’t die (it turns out Majura Pines black diamonds are SOFT brah, this would be blue square at Stromlo) though I did have a moment coming through a dip, that shot me up and out over some roots. One part of my brain said “Brake and squash, and ride smoothly over the roots at a controlled speed” and the other part said “HUCK IT BRU YOU CAN GAP THE LOT” and I ended up halfway in between, skimmed the roots, and flew off the next corner into the woods. Not a crash really, just a…navigational challenge.
So in the end we did two laps of climbing Mr Squiggle/Bat Cave into descending Pinot Grinio/Bombora, and two laps of climbing Boy Wonder/Larry into descending Rock Lobster. Then we finished with lower Planet Clair and the easy XC rambles back to the carpark.
I can’t thank Jono enough, it was a fantastic morning and he was really good about not leaving me behind. Though, the good thing about downhill riders, you can always keep up on the climbs, and the downhills are shorter, so even if you’re thirty seconds back, it’s still only thirty seconds! I also really appreciated the solid ten to fifteen minute rests at the top of the climbs. Fully rested for the descents, as you should be!
The bike and I had survived. I went and met back up with Marijke and we drove home.
So are Stromlo and Majura still the best trails in Sydney LOL?
No, honestly with Menai, Kentlyn, Wylde, Bantry Bay etc, there is plenty of difficulty and quality to be found here, and I definitely don’t think I’m going to start driving to Canberra or the Central Coast every weekend. I’ll admit it is harder to find downhill stuff, but, I’m getting to know the northern beaches stuff, and it can be found.
Next up I’d like to ride Knapsack Reserve up at Glenbrook and the Stringline downhill track (the Blue Mountains escarpment is begging to be descended). It’s apparently been dumbed down and everyone is whinging, so it should be perfect for me!
Huck & Dyno 