Snowy Mountains Ride Report

On the weekend before uni started in 1998 a group from Bikesoc travelled to Thredbo for a bit of downhill mountain biking and a long day ride. On Friday night Dan, Dave, Chris, Rory, Adam, Mike and I drove down to Kosciuszko and camped at Thredbo Diggings.

The next day we headed to Thredbo village for some serious downhilling - taking the chairlift up to the top of Crackenback and then riding back down. Chris opted not to join us in paying for potential energy and rode some singletrack, while the rest of us spent the morning on an initiation tour of the mountain. Mike showed heaps of courage by taking on the rough track without any suspension, while Dave had it made on his duallie. I had an intimate moment with some native flora in some of the singletrack when I hugged a tree at high speed. My shoulder ached, but the thrill of the riding was enough to block this out.

 
Dave gives the thumbs up to catching a chairlift up the mountain
 
In the afternoon we were let loose on the mountain, and 3 hours later we were all exhausted, and our fingers ached from using our brakes so much. A great day of gravity assisted action and huge air off waterbars was had by all. My shoulder was so sore that I could barely lift my bike into the car. In the evening we dropped two cars at the finish point of the next day's ride, and drove back to the campsite in the third for dinner and some well deserved sleep.
 

       On the skitube on our way up to Mt Blue Cow                    Outside the Skitube terminal at Blue Cow
 
We woke early the next morning, piled all our camping gear into Rory's car and rode over to Bullocks Flat to catch the Skitube up to Mt Blue Cow. After admiring the view and eating breakfast we left at 10 o'clock on what was going to be an epic ride. We cruised down to Guthega Power Station, where we had a short break before beginning the long slog upwards. After the first particularly steep section we stopped for a break before a short downhill stretch and the first of a few punctures for the day. After another 8km of almost entirely uphill riding, we finally reached Schlink Pass, the highest point of our ride. We regrouped and continued on to the "Schlink Hilton" for an extended lunch break.
 
The Schlink Hilton
 
Battling apathy, we eventually left the hut behind us and made good progress on predominantly downhill access trails. Chris used the opportunity to take a few action photos of us. Unfortunately the downhill couldn't last, and we came across the first of a series of ~100m (vertical) climbs which would drain our energy reserves. It was starting to get late, and the breaks became longer and more frequent, with Mike and Adam particularly feeling the pinch.
Mike on one of the downhills
 
At last a sign staying "STEEP DESCENT" signalled the end of the climbs, and the beginning of a loooong, winding downhill dirt road which allowed us to reach incredible speeds with relative safety. It was here that Dave had the first, and only, stack of the day. This road took us to The Alpine Way, and from here it was only another couple of km downhill on bitumen. At last we arrived at Swampy Plains, after 9 hours and about 80km of riding.
 
 
Trust me, that sign does say "STEEP DESCENT"

But the saga doesn't end here. After a break to catch our breath, the bikes were loaded into and onto the cars and Dan and Chris took off in Chris's mum's Corolla, going straight to Cooma, while the rest of us piled into my Laser, to go to the campsite, pick up Rory's Magna and meet Dan and Chris in Cooma. Unfortunately, however, half way back to Thredbo we realised that the keys to the Magna were in the Corolla. To make matters worse, the Magna was low on petrol, and so needed to fill up before the servo at Cooma closed for the night. To cut a long story short, we met in Cooma, had pizza, then Dan took Rory back to Thredbo in the Corolla, while the rest of us continued to Chris's house in Canberra. Dan and Rory spent the night sleeping in their cars at a servo in Cooma, while we were stranded in Canberra. We're sure that there's some sort of moral to the story, but we were all too tired to work it out.
 


 
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 htmlificated by Tim Wardrop