MTB: BSCC MTB Trip to Mt Buller

{from the pen of Phil Timpano}

BSCC Mountain bike trip to Mt Buller

After months of waiting, the weekend finally arrives!  

{The following is an account of what the main group did, there were a couple of smaller groups that due to time limits elected to do their own thing, but pretty much everyone that come along rode most of the trails described below}

FRIDAY
After 4 and1/2 hrs on the road, we arrive at our accommodation just before 6pm.
Within 15minutes, car is unloaded, bags piled up, cycling clothes on, and bikes ready to roll.
With about 2 hrs of daylight, there's plenty of time to check out the trails around the village and hunt out the infamous new Copperhead Trail

First Up was a loop of the Gang Gangs, a short 3km loop around the bottom of the village, that became a medium technical trail, as it wound it way around the north eastern side of Mt Buller. A nice teaser for what lay ahead over the coming days. It was a short walk up a gnarly little fire road, past the amazing atmosphere of the sewage works and back up to the ski village.

With Paul in the back ground saying...copperhead....copperhead, like his daughters would do to him 10years ago, it was now time to hunt out the new mtb trail being promoted by the Bike Buller team. The Copperhead trail officially opens early December 2011, but we figured, it must be close to finished, and worth a look.

Well a bit of web research during the week before, revealed it started somewhere near the start of the Klingspone trail...so off we went, hunting trails.

It wasn't hard to find, but unfortunately, the first kilometre or so of the trail was unfinished, and pretty wet after the 60mm of rain received over the previous few days. It was amazing to see the amount of rock armouring being laid-out across this section of trial, this trail is being built to last. We skipped this unfinished top section, and discovered the bottom half of the trail was graveled and basically finished. It was a hoot rolling down this trail. Although it was a downhill trail, this section is best described as a roller coaster ride, as the trail smoothly and safely rises and falls, twisting it's way down the mountain. A great trail with lots of earthy, grippy turns. It finishes close to the bottom of the Horsehill chair lift.

Given it's November, and late, the only option home was to ride back up the 300+m in elevation. A nice warm up for our big day tomorrow.

Copperhead Trail


SATURDAY
The Plan was to ride to the Stone Fly loop, via the Corn Hill trails, up to Mt Sterling and back. And maybe even do the Stonefly loop twice.
With a 9am start planned, everyone was up and about early, eager to get rolling for the big day ahead.

First up was another run through Gang Gangs, then out toward the Corn Hill Trails. The Picnic Trail was a pretty straight forward single track, preparing you for the challenges to come. Picnic trail leads you past the Deletite River trail turn off, a legendary trail, not on our itinerary this weekend. After this turnoff, the trail steps up a notch in technical demands and is now called the Corn Hill trail. There were several tight uphill rocky switch backs to test the interaction of balance, leg strength, control and lung capicity. Not sure if anyone managed to ride through these without touching down. Then, onto Silk Lane, a fire road that was fast, pretty rough and rocky, and lead to the quote..”watch out for baby heads”..aka rocks the size of baby heads hitting your shins. Silk Lane ended with a nice contoured, earthy, berm section of single track, before stopping at Howqua Gap, and the start of Stonefly. After flying through these berms, we waited for the arrival of our fellow riders....but no sign of them for a few minutes, mmm something has happened. Yes Paul Mathers came down on the very first turn off the fire road onto the beautiful bermed trails, landing on the camera in his pocket, and corking his leg. He looked like he was in pain, and pretty stiff.

Now for Stonefly, labelled the best mtb trail in the country. Once you get past the initial steep pinch of the trail start, the trail eases into a manageable steady climb, with the odd interesting downhill section. The long steady uphill section had a number of technical features, such as long narrow bridges with technical rocky approaches, and a waterfall, that had a tricky slippery rocky trail to traverse. Our group spread out a little, as each rider paced themselves up the climb.

Taking a break half way up, we learnt that Paul had had another fall, and wacked that corked leg again, Anthony Rogan slipped on an off camber boulder approach to a narrow bridge, claiming a few scratches on his shoulder and wrist. Richard Day was also carrying a graze of unknown origin on his shin. The Stonefly accent was claiming a few riders.

Finally we arrived at Bluff Spur Hut, and the start of the Stonefly decent.

After some lunch, and a chat to a group of horse riding city slickers, it as time to take on the best trail Australia has to offer...
The start of this trail was like any other trail, then there was this particularly tight, corner around a tree with the trail dropping very steeply into a valley below.....this was the start of the main decent. The trail was now dropping elevation very quickly, with huge earthy berms that turned back on themselves while dropping away very steeply....it was a three dimensional roller coaster ride, with berms so tight, with g forces not experienced before on a bike. There is nothing quite like it. It became a test of nerve and skill, as the trail demanded you release the brakes, and soak up the fun, but releasing the brake created such an acceleration, it was difficult not too jump on them.
Before you knew it you were back at the bottom. Everyone was disappointed in how quickly it was all over. After over an hour of climbing, it only took less than 10 minutes to descend back to the start. Not everyone like the three dimensional aspects of the steep bermed corners.

One thing is for sure, there's nothing quite like it,

Coming home we were back on Silk Road, climbing back up to Corn Hill. This section of Silk Road has the highest number of uphill switch back corners I've ever seen on a trail. Tough work after about 3hrs in the saddle. Silk Lane takes you onto Misty Twisty, and around the back of Corn Hill. This trail was a rewarding find. It had a gradual downhill run, with lots and lots of high speed hairpin corners winding they way around the snowgums. A fantastic ride and another must do trail in this area. After climbing back upto Corn Hill, this trail turns west, and is now called the Corn Hill Trail, and heads back to Mt Buller. This is another fast fun flowy descent. One thing is for sure, the World trail folks definitely know how to reward a rider, who puts in a bit of effort to climb one of their trials.

Stonefly – Mt Buller Loop

SUNDAY
Goal for today, was to ride the Klinsporn trail, from the Mt Buller village to the pay booth, at the foot of Mt Buller, at Mirimbah. About 1000m descent.

This trail was simply awesome, a fairly narrow single track, cut into a steep mountain slope, so there was quite a steep drop off, on the right hand side, most of the way down. This was a demanding trail on brakes, with a steep grade on the trail, it was difficult to let go of the brakes, as the acceleration of the bike was vicious. It was the first time I can honesty say, I used every bit of engineering and design feature of the 203mm front disc brake rotor on my bike. As the brakes got hotter, they seemed to work better and better. I could hear riders both in front and behind me with squealing brakes, as the heat became too much.

Another must do trail, being steep and narrow, ride it at your own pace, and you will be rewarded with an exhilarating ride.

Klingsporn Trail

Mt Buller Rd

Only 2 riders decided to ride the 16km on road from the Mt Buller summit to the bottom, 1000m of elevation, why would you not?  Checkout the average speed, 48km/hr, probably the best average speed you are likely to see on a MTB. 

Mt Buller, this might just need to become a regular fixture on our annual social riding calendar, thanks to everyone who came along and made it a fun weekend.

Phil Timpano

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