You are hereCalendar / Red Hill - technical riding & general funness ** CANCELLED **
Red Hill - technical riding & general funness ** CANCELLED **
CANCELLED DUE TO HEAVY RAIN IN RED HILL AREA
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This is technical riding at it's best. Want some practice in the best technical riding that Sydney has to offer? Gee, I sound like I'm selling something.
I will be riding this to practice my technical skills. It has been a long time since I have practiced on a track like this. Hopefully the weather remains good. The ride will involve stopping and starting, to play and practice on various parts of the trail.
Places to visit would include all the good stuff... 4wd follies, Mr Mx, Garden of gullies. Come along and have a blast! 
Based on the technical nature of this trail, new riders may struggle a bit - you will likely have a fall or two - but don't let that put you off. I am sure to fall off and provide additional amusement too. 
But remember, you would be there to learn!
Meet at the Reserve car park, off Lady Penrhyn Drive. See the google map link. I will be in the blue Mazda.
See ya there!
Liam
0438 885 410
Were you there and have a story to tell?
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After the last few months just putting in non technical higher klm rides this is just what the doc ordered, though maybe not my pysio or chiro.
Well after more than a year on the bike I have yet to ride Red Hill
Seems a good enough time as any to give it a go. Will be bringing my pads though!
Ben
You always strap on some plastic at Red Hill.
.... that was plastic, not latex
First Gary is a wine drinker, not a beer man and now we have it confirmed from the horses mouth, Pikey wears a plastic strap-on
not to ride of course but i might pop along for a run/photo shoot.
Liam you have read my mind, this is exactly what I was wanting to do, good work.
if my bike is repaired, and my body is repaired, i think ill be up for this one too..
New to the sight, but this does sound like fun, good chance to improve both my bike and social skills.
Can't guarantee that this will improve your social skills. But the technical riding skills will certainly get a work out.
I know where the meeting point is as a mate of mine lives right opposite, but i'm not sure whether the gate to the reserve carpark is open on a saturday?
The gate should be open. I don't ever recall seeing it closed and locked. But anyway, if it is not open, just park anywhere on the street near where the gate is shut. There should be heaps of us. The Circus is in town!!
yeah, the gate to upper parking area has been locked the last few times I've been, most recent was only one week ago....maybe its a permanent thing now?
See you sat.
Rain, rain, go away!! Hopefully things stay pretty dry out there!!
this morning, Manly Dam 6-30am P***ing down!!!
Christine, Lars(MY German Mate)and me had to have Coffeeee'sss
And Thanks Stuart to give me a MTB for Lars,
Bernd
Hey all,
The weather page http://nobmob.com/weather says there has only been 1mm of rain today at Oxford Falls. Not so bad. So hopefully Red Hill gets the same treatment. Not that Red Hill dries very fast anyway.
(Liam is desperately hoping things will remain relatively dry until Sunday.)
No, no... it doesn't measure absolute rainfall, it's all 'relative' 'cos I can't (be bothered to?) calibrate it.
But true, there hasn't been much up that way compared to, say, last Wed/Thu... that is the real objective of the page.
Amazingly i've never ridden at Red Hill tho i've wanted to for yonks. So how technical is it? Around the same as Ourimbah DH track or similar?
Anyway I should be up for this if the weather holds out (rain is forecast right up till the weekend for "Sydney", but you never know) so i guess i will find out. I've got a new bar/stem combo on my trail dually so it will definitely be an interesting test for the 'new feel'...hmm and right before my oversea's trip...tempting fate? Meh, worth a go! Think it might be worth my while getting a little accustomed to the new feel prior to Red Hill tho.
Cheers,
*303
Was really looking forward to fun day at Red Hill
Due to a slight crack in one of my ribs, the doc thinks mountain biking is not such a crash hot idea for a couple of weeks.
Ev
Red hill is heaps rougher than the Ourimbah DH track owing to there being far more maintenance and sweeping at Ourimbah. Red hill is good if you can stand there being rocks almost everywhere and no real trail direction. Technical-wise there are some very technical sections and some quite easy sections, novices would be OK as long as they had a guide, anybody experienced will have fun there but the lack of established trails and real loops (that i've seen in my couple of trips there) means it does get a little boring at times.
If the weather's OK tomorrow and the trails are dry i might go for a ride there after work for a while, if i do i'll let you know what the trails are like.
Red Hill is not boring! Red Hill can be a little confusing to find your way around at first but once you know were you are going you can put together some really fun loops, it may not be the best place for a first timer but if you can ride most parts of manly dam you will love the hill!
Thanks DJR any insight about the conditions of the trails would be appreciated.
Would anyone been keen at having a look at the Dh tracks at Red Hill too? After the group ride?
i can vouch for the dh track, (2nd right of the main firetrail off lady penryn, just before the right to the dirt jump section) ..a few of us have been doing it a bit lately, lots of drops, north shore-ish bridges and wall rides, some gnarly bits, some big jumps, rutting, berms...good fun, bit scarey at first but well worth it..yeh red hill is a real tour guide kinda place, lots of great loops and tracks, but some are very hard to find if noone shows you...it actually sucks if you dont know where these are, cause it appears to be very short, took a while of me going out there till people showed me a few of the better trails until i realised how big it actually is! if you connect the first left dh-ish bit off the 1st sandstone area (marked with the red arrow) through the 4wd folley/motox section and come back through the drop zone etc and loop in a figure 8 ish shape, you got a good days riding..finish with the DH you got yourself an awesome time
Haha yea that first DH track is awesome, i havnt been there for a while but last time i went the bushfire blokes ripped most of it down.... has it been re-built? I wouldn't mind the DH off motox, i havnt seen it but i've heard its worth the walk out there...
Alex Ill have to take you to the hidden DH track (not the pumping station) that ends up down at middle creek fast and some big gap jumps, now that I know how much you like them. lol
really at all over our way - I ended up doing Oxford Falls cross country Bernd yesterday after coffee because it wasn't raining - i got back to the car just in time
I really woulnd't think there has been enough to stop the ride at Red Hill on Sunday - by the way, i really fail to see how you can describe Red Hill as boring but hey, each to their own!
with the DH can you get out at the bottom onto the road now they have built the fence?
MEEEE
... no rain? I had more Coffeeee!!!
Bernd
Not boring, exciting!! For me, it is the best ride in Sydney. It can get a bit sandy in places, and quite muddy when it has been raining heavily. But the rocks!! THEY ROCK!!
I agree with you guys, very exciting indeed. But definitely anyone that is new to the place can get lost really easily. All the trails are clear and easy to follow, but there are side branches that look similar, and you can get lost on your way back by taking one of these wrong turns. It happened to me a few times when I was new to the place.
Can't wait for this one. Bring your armour.
Jesus man, a cracked rib! Was that the OTB from Sunday? Not only do you contend with that nipple graze, but a cracked rib as well? Sorry to hear it mate. No more bedroom acrobatics for you for a while. You can always wander around Red Hill on foot with Gaz, playing paparazzi?
....Evan just use a few sticks and a roll of duct tape, that will keep you rolling
Greg
Christine said sunday ride? haha isn't it a saturday ride?
but she's blonde, you'll get use to it.
Yeah, it was from the OTB on Sunday
I dunno how Gaz is going to walk around Red Hill, cause I'd be so bummed I couldn't ride it. Was sooo looking forward to a day of fun at Red Hill. No MTB for a couple of weeks, lucky compared to others on the site.
Ev
the first time i went round red hill it was a hot day before the fires and after a massive rainstorm, what was meant to be an hour and a half ride turned into a 3 1/2 hour nightmare. id only been back on the bike a few weeks after a nine year break and printed the map(whilst lurking) from this site. after about 30 mins(around picnic point) i got the map out and found it had turned to papier mache(mulch for the non educated). so instead of going back the way i came, like the stupid pom i am with about half a litre of warm liquid in my undersized hydration pack i decided to press on and find some other trails. this was a massive mistake as i ended up in what was a maze with no apparent ending, i was lost in thick bush singletrack( which i believe is the ridge ride pre fire) i was walking most of it and swearing a hell of a lot! then i ended up on the top again and thought i was heading home but ended up down four wheel drive folley and the sandy trails that follow. remember this was after massive storms but on a scorching day! i'd run out of liquid ages ago and found myself wading through mosquito infested puddles that were almost deep enough to swim in!(more swearing) by this time i was almost ready to dial 000 on the trusty mobile but pride got the better and i pushed on. after climbing up unrideable and almost unwalkable rocks i finally got back to the railings which i recocnised as the aboriginal carving area and was able to make it back to the ute, i honestly think that day, i spent 80% of the time walking and stumbling! on the way home a swore that id never, ever set foot on that god forsaken hellhole again!
anyway, what i was trying to get to was, that only one year later and having red hill as my backyard, my riding skills have come back to me and personally i rate the wonderfull red hill as the best mountainbike trail in sydney! what a turn around! i now know it like the back of my hand and love it to bits. i must say its very technical in places and awfull when its wet but on a dry day i simply love it!
the moral of this story is....... if at first you dont succeed, try and try again!
sorry about the long waffle but had to get it off my chest!
happy riding,
gazza
Nice.
Didn't make it down yesterday (although i suspect the trails might have been a bit soggy), will be down there this arvo about 4pm to have a quick ride, i'll let you know what condition it's in
^^^ That would be great if you could. Woke up this morning to again greet wetness (outside that is...) so i'm hoping it didn't rain too much overnight. From what Gazza said it sounds like not much fun at Red Hill (unlike some places) if its wet.
Forecast doesn't look too promising at the moment either (thunderstorms predicted for Friday).
http://www.abc.net.au/news/sydney/weather (Sydney down the bottom)
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDN10064.shtml
Hmmph.
I have been riding for the last six months after having quite a long break. Only ever riding Red Hill once many years ago, I have one question. Having the choice of riding clipped in or not, what is the best for this track? I normally ride clipped in but would I be seen as crazy attempting this clipped in?
i ride with both depending on which bike. If youre confident on your xc and thats all youre looking for then clips are fine. If youre getting a wee bit adventurous then i prefer flats but some of the guys, even with big travel bikes still prefer to be clipped in. I hope thats not too confusing and you can manage to make a choice from this comment!
red hill is actually not that bad, clips no clips doesnt really matter, its like alot of places, if you want to take the crazy lines, they are there, and big enough to warrant full body armour... but there are lots of easier lines too, and can be ridden on a kmart hardtail as well
some bits, you might just find yourself walking. but it really is a place for all levels of riding, its just more technical then say manly dam or somewhere..there are 10 ft drops, and 10cm drops, its all about your ability, which is partly why its such a good place to build up at.
Well said Alex.
If the weather is good, I'm in too.
Checked out the main trail, drop zone, the MX jumps and what i think might have been the "secret" downhill section complete with 8ft rolloff that i didn't touch because i didn't know if i'd get back up and back to the car again!
There's oodles of puddles around with some thick mud that really bogs in, had 2 OTB moments where my front tyre stopped dead into the mud (didn't hurt luckily but came out of it with mud and sand everywhere), so my only bit of advice is, avoid the mud! But if there's no rain between now and Sat it will be a bit drier, but still pretty similar.
Most of the track was OK though - none of the puddles besides the big one that is always there is deeper than about 2-3 inches though, so you can just roll straight through them and do your bit for avoiding trail erosion around the sides of the puddle which will just make the puddle bigger...
Oh and there's a dead wallaby and i think it was a baby fox up there, another guy i saw there said there was loads of snakes as well, not really the sort of wildlife you normally want to see.
Oh and BTW i take back what i said about it being boring - there looks like quite a lot to make a nice loop out of without really doing the same sections over and over, which is nice. You just have to get a bit more familiar.
Who the ##ck is Whippet! Love to join in with the nobmob gang. Been MIA but looking forward to this. I also believe that the Heckler will also make an apperance.
So what's the verdict Liam?
Rob's weather maps seem to show a lot of rain at Oxford Falls.
Is it going to be a mudbath? Are we still going?
your not going to miss me, but I have to go to Canberra this weekend, and if thats not bad enough I wont have a bike with me.
But have fun.
If it doesn't rain again at all (not likely), I will still be going.
I can hack the mud, and some water on the ground, if need be.
If it rains overnight or sometime before the ride tomorrow, I will not be going.
As I was saying to Bruce before, I will probably wake up and throw a tantrum.
Don't want to drive all the way over and find I'm the only mud bunny
You liked that kind of thing?
but willing to give anything a try.....once
Actually, no there are things I know I'll never try