Here is the profile of Webbs Ridge, steep pinch (shown in red) after steep pinch, it's one hell of a challenge, especially after you've already climbed over the Bindabellas to get here!
A brisk -2'C Canberra morning greeted us as we met at Uriarra Homestead, heading off towards Warks Road was painfully cold, hard to breath even! Al and I were trying out Toastie Toes, some shoe inserts that are supposed to have a chemical reaction and produce heat, keeping your feet warm... sadly they did nothing at all and turned out to be a waste of time :( On the upside though, 10 minutes later we were warmed up and cruising along Warks road feeling fine. It's always that first 10 minutes that's the killer, after that, it's all good, which is amazing considering ice was forming on the fingers of my gloves and the sleeves of my top as we rode along!
Warks road was the usual cruisey climb to the top, we stopped for a food break where it meets Old Mill Road, as it's sunny there, then hopped back on the bikes and rolled up to Brindabella Road, at the top section they have been logging and the machine had chewn the trail up a bit, and that loose dirt had turned to mud, making the last section a bit of a challenge, once we got onto Brindabella Road and rolled down to Picadilly Circus for another break, the roads were dry again, so Al and Simon cleaned up their incredibly messy drivelines (check out the photos of Simon's amazing mud collection :)), while I contemplated how it could be that mine was still clean.
With food eaten and bikes cleaned (as well as they could be) we decided to take the plunge and drop off the Western side of the Brindies down Gentle Annie's to Flea Creek. The trail was lined with snow, which is always a beautiful sight, but there wasn't much time to take it in, this descent is insane, really really steep, loaded with massive water bars every few meters and it just keeps on going. It would be wicked fun on a free ride bike! Being on XC bikes, we took it safely and gently to the bottom to ensure we got ourselves (and our bikes) to the bottom safely, as walking back up this steep hill was not looking like fun at all.
Flea Creek is at the bottom (the Goodradigbee River) and it a beautiful place to stop and let the brakes stop smoking, have a quick bite and contemplate the climb to come; I had looked at the topos for Webbs Ridge, and I had looked down on it from Mt Coree and figured it would be a very hard climb to get up onto of the ridge, but then a fairly consistent graded climb along the top, so my plan was to dig deep and get up on top, then cruise.
The first part of the climb was full on steep, very much like Rob Roy Range. Steep pinch, then a water bar, then steep pinch. It's all rideable, but I had to take a couple of breaks on the way up at water bars to catch my breath! When we rounded the corner and got on top of the ridge my plans would come undone, it's just as steep and nasty the whole way along this thing! I couldn't believe it and was starting to regret putting in the huge effort to ride the climb up here from Flea Creek. We regrouped here, and were all a bit amazed by what lay ahead, steep climb after steep climb...
Here is the profile of Webbs Ridge, steep pinch (shown in red) after steep pinch, it's one hell of a challenge, especially after you've already climbed over the Bindabellas to get here! |
Half way up one of the climbs two trail bikers were riding down towards us, the lead rider pulled over and shut off his engine... now this is not normal behaviour for a trail biker, they usually fly past us without a care, so I was cautiously curious and pulled over to say g'day. It turned out to be Glen Jacobs, the legendary mountain bike course designer, who has designed courses for the Olympics and World Championships, and also did the design for Stromlo Forrest Park. I hadn't met him before and he turned out to be a really nice guy (no real surprise there :)) and much cycling banter ensued. Before he continued his descent he warned us that there was much much more of this crazy pinch climbing to go and he thought we were nuts to attempt it... bugger! ;) Too late to go home and cry to mummy (something I had been contemplating!), we had to push on, it was the only way home.
Late on that very steep climb it started to get muddy in places; a dozen trail bikes flew past us going up, several of them nearly crashed as the rear wheels were snaking for grip in the mud on such a steep climb. Then for our amusement, one challenged trail biker, who was clearly out of control crashed right in front of Simon and I who had pulled over to let them go by. I tried to help him get going again, but the hill was just too steep, he resorted to running along side his bike while throttling it up the hill.
We pushed on, reduced to walking several muddy pinches as they were too slippery to get up. Al pedalled off into the distance, and it wasn't until we got to the Powerline Trail that we saw him again, machine that he is! I was pretty damn tired by this point, Webbs Ridge had taken it's toll on me, and I was dreading going down the Eastern side of it, only to have to climb up the Brindabella Range to get onto Two sticks Road.
Thankfully though, this descent and climb are really pleasant, and the forrest at the bottom was lush. Plenty of ice sheet covered puddles were around here, and I couldn't resist riding over them to hear the crisp crack of ice under my tyres, very cool :)
It was muddy in parts though and drivelines were starting to play up, granny ring was chain sucking on my bike, forcing me into middle ring and Al's driveline was starting to chain suck as well. I was able to keep going if used the middle ring, and Al pulled over a couple of times and gave his driveline a clean which managed to keep it going for the rest of the trip. Pedalling was hard through the mud, but before long we made it to Two Sticks Road, where we decided the planned Mt Coree summit was surely cancelled, we were exhausted and frankly, I just wanted to ride out to the cars the easiest way possible.
4WD'ers were having plenty of redneck sideways fun here, and pulled over to say hello. The cars were covered in mud and they had just come up the way I wanted to go out (North, down Two Sticks Rd). Based on the reports from these guys that it was muddy that way, we opted for the short run back up to Coree and to shoot down and out on Pabral Road.
Sadly though, Two Sticks was very muddy between Powerline and Mt Coree too, we tried to ride through it, but it was so thick that massive chunks of clay mud would build up on your frame and eventually the friction of it on the wheel would bring you to a halt.
It was amazing mud, like nothing I had seen. Even pushing my bike became impossible, the mud was so thick and sticky that while I was pushing my bike through it, it jammed both wheels and they would not even roll! I carried it some of the way and dragged it the rest, and we finally made it to Coree, where we had our final stop and spend some time with sticks getting the mud out of our bikes.
The descent down Pabral was hairy and dangerous; the mud was sticking to our tyres and become a massive coating, preventing rubber from contacting the ground, we were riding on mud with mud for tyres, down a slippery hill. Many a scary moment was had, but amazingly, no crashes! Thankfully, it's not far to where the sun hits the track and the trail became dry, and we could motor out of there, up to Brindabella Road and enjoy the bitchumen cruise back the car.
All in all a very tough day out, the toughest 70kms I have ever done. I'm keen to go back though, when it's not muddy; the ride was hard, but the mud just made some climbs (and even some flat sections!) impossible.
The crew:
| Jason | Giant Trance |
| Simon | Cherry Bomb |
| Al | Giant Anthem |
The Stats:
| Distance | 72km |
| Time | 8:00 |
| Climb | 2355vm |
| Date | 15/07/07 |