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Bigger Hill Fest
The meeting times are 'ready to ride'. If you need time to prepare equipment then please arrive a few minutes earlier.
Park opposite/beside Terrey Hills shops, corner Booralie Rd/Yulong Ave. Or in the small carpark next to the RFS station & community centre.
After the success of the shortened hill fest yesterday, and with 2 weeks to the doctor, bring on the stupidity! 
This is billed as a training ride so there will be minimal stops. Please do not show up unless you can do this distance, or at least ride fast until one of the bail out points. If that's your plan be prepared to gracefully bow out somewhere along the route if you are struggling.
So, the route will be the following hilly goodness:
- From Terrey Hills shops to Duck Hole (the traditional route), Waratah, Centre. Here is bail out point 1 (25Km, 600m vertical). For those that need it and opportunity for quick water/food refill at the cars.
- Then head South down to Larool Road and pick up the Hill Fest Course. Ride the whole thing, which means at some point we'll go up Heath, round the sniggle loop and back down (start/finish on the link below), up Quarry, etc, etc. There may be scope for water at the oval top of Cascades track around Km 44 and again inside St Ives showground around Km 60 but don't bet these! Bail out point 2 could be as we cross Mona Vale road to the Showground where one could take a relatively easy trundle back along Mona Vale road to the cars.
- On crossing the steps/stream by Sandy trail there will be two options. Bail out point 3 is to turn right and join back to Larool and return to the cars - which will leave you with around 70Km & 2000m climbed.
- Final leg of what I will be calling the 'stupid plan' (more so on the day no doubt) will be to go left here and carry on up that tortuous climb to Killawarra Rd. From there loop round all the trails on the perimeter of Duffys Forest and come back to the cars via Terrey Hills Perimeter trail.
Update:
Just calculated the distance at around 84Km/2230m vertical.
We could add Long Track to bring this to 92Km/2300m vertical. I have a KML file of this route if anyone wants it.
For the completely insane we could drop down to Smiths Creek and back to make it 97Km/around 2500m vertical. Erm... no thanks! 
To be honest I may be bailing at point 3 myself, but would like to think I could achieve the whole thing without bailing in around 7 hours. Maybe I'm dreaming, but this should be top preparation for the upcoming Angry Doctor so who's in?!
P.S. Some nice profiles:
Duck Hole + Centre (25Km, 600m vertical)
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5503807
Hill Fest (45.3Km, 1325m vertical)
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5296476
Blog entries about this meeting...
| Who | Title | Preview (click the title left for more and to comment) |
|---|---|---|
| Rob | Dicky Knees and Hills | Not quiet as advertised, but the ride today was still certainly a hill fest - 1724m in 66.7Km. That ratio would certainly be much better for the first 50Km though - if only MB would give these stats per lap. Changes were made because once we got... |
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If this was Sunday, I would be there for sure as it saves me driving down to Canberra for an epic.
Are you busy Sunday?
How I was feeling after Saturday's ride there's no way I'd be up for this. Have fun
Realised that I can't go to Canberra anyway, so I'm a goer for this one. Bring on the pain!
Just to clarify, is this a road ride or off-road?
Ahh junkie.. It will be great to see you on the dirt!
so long as you dont ditch us last minute for some bigger and greater scum ride 
Should be a great ride, with Shaun leading the way this is gonna be a fast tough ride!!
It will be my final body smash before the angry doctor.... Will probably need all 2 weeks to recover before the race!
Cheers,
Loz
Last time I went past the servo you mention next to the showground it had closed down, you might want to check if its still there?
Really? Wasn't really paying attention yesterday. Oh well - I didn't really plan on needing water at that point but it could be a handy option. Does anyone know if there's drinking water tap at the show ground somewhere?
The show ground servo is being rebuilt (I think)... either way it's not operating.
Rob - there is a tap within the show grounds, not sure on quality, but it's wet...
Correct again Bruce
When have I ever done that 'last minute'? I always ditch MTB for road rides way before the actual ride?
capable of doing this ride then this one the day after ?
Tom
well DON'T do that either Junkie!
im in!
Is this ride going to be washed out? Do we need to look to the 'black trails' for training again?
any chance of 7 riders?
I'd like to do the first 25 and see how things go from there.
what say you?
Hmmmmm... the problem with having larger number of riders on a training ride is two fold. Firstly the more riders the more chance of a mechanical - simply by the law of averages - and mechanicals stop the flow. Second is the speed differential of the group to consider, again, the more we are the larger this stands to be.
I'd rather not encourage anyone else to come as this looks like a speedy group (I'm a bit scared to be honest!). Why don't you post up a social ride for Sat and get your training kicks on Sunday with Jeff or Morgan?
Sorry, please don't take offence.
Well it's raining here now and the forecast for tomorrow is for a brief shower or two.
Should i be expecting Mud? If so, I think i'll hook up some mud friendly tyres tonight (Ignigtor & monorails are more hardpack specific)
2.3 Nevegals got to better in the Mud than 2.1 "race tyres"
Last weekend there was only one part of this course that was a bit sloppy - between Ryland and St Ives Oval, but it was just a few 100 metres and we got through quiet easily.
Most of this stuff does drain well, although if it rains all day and night that would be another story. I don't mind riding in a shower or two, but not constant rain.
Let us hope the weather clears.
It's been raining all morning albeit only drizzle, but enough to make the trails nice and slushy.
Might be tempted to turn to the dark side tomorrow...
the hillfest route gets very muddy in bits behind the showgrounds......
duck centre drain really well, but the end of waratah stays wet for a while...
booo rain..
was cold and miserable to work today.. and I hear its going to be worse coming home
you and your dark black stuff junkie!
I hope it stops raining too...
I rode on the black stuff in the rain to work today.. its not any more pleasant than mountain biking in the rain??
So you might as well stick to the muddy hillfest!
It's about the punishment your equipment takes due to the mud, not to mention the amount of cleaning required after...
still trying to get over the bloody virus...
plus the cold and rain tomorrow, i am out.
Have fun though, looks like it is a killer of a ride.
Tien.
think ill be turning to the dark side too. At least if it stops raining the roads dry up almost immediatly and i wont get covered in mud and have to spend the rest of the weekend stripping my bike and cleaning it.. Enjoy boys!
Probably for the best! I hear mud is pretty hard to wash out of lacy blouses. I could give my mum a call and perhaps she could offer some laundering advice
there is room for Craig now
Is it just you and me Rob?
Jokes aside.
I prefer to stay away from traffic and roads when it gets wet. Something about rain seems to turn off the brains of some drivers. Added to that less visibility and grip for both bike and car.
I'd rather not have to do a re-build or brake pad change on Sunday either so i understand those reasons too.
It hasn't stopped raining all morning and there's just been a sizable downpour in the last 20 mins so I'll be heading to the dark side...
Enjoy the ride guys.
..and still in need of some training - join the ultimate endurance sunday 100k ride weather forecast: fine
Tom
Sorry.... I have other plans. Probably on the black stuff.
C.
Since when have you ridden on the tarmac Craig!?
You know you want too...
All the cool people do dont you know... do YOU want to be coooool???
look away
Buck, when you said you wanted a "bigger bike" last night
what you really meant was bigger wheels right? 700mm ... 23mm wide?
I'd be careful not to be caught in NIX only again mate
...I will do some of this ride. I'll probably bail after about 50km.
....I am planning on doing the ride (or pretty similar) with a mate at 6:30am tomorrow morning. If it is horribly muddy we will bail and hit the roads for a tarmac ride. I know it's early, but let me know if you guys are keen to join. Looking for a good pace with very minimal stopping and social chatter limited to what can be done while riding
Just more fun if there are a few of us. Let me know if you guys are keen as clearly our plans may change!! Mobile available in profile as is e-mail address.
hahaha
I'd rather go rideless
hehe jk.
I don't really care how muddy it is I'll still ride it...
If its actually pouring at the time though I don't think I'd do any ride at all, road or dirt...
Cheers,
Loz
That is kind, but I won't be riding on the road.
I will see what comes of the weather tomorrow morning. If you guys still want to go when it is wet, maybe with an abbreviated version(?) I may be interested. As I am not doing any other training rides this weekend, I was still keen to somehow fit in at least 30km off-road somewhere.
.... that is the last "holy shite it's muddy....I'm sinking" resort, not the default by any means!!
Although it's been raining up there today seems to have stopped now. I'm hopeful it will be a dry night and sunny morning (ah, you can but wish). 6:30 is way to early in winter, sorry Chitts.
Will post if I'm game around 7-ish in the morning, but take it as a 'Go' at this point.
*touch wood*
it only got a splattering today...
seems clear now...
and tomorrow is a "brief shower or two"
The weather forecast is "decent", saying for a shower or two, and quite cold and windy. This sounds at least promising. Unless it a coming down with hard rain when I am leaving, I am at least expecting to go. I can always bail if I don't like the look of it from the carpark.
I'll still be there just after 8
Not sure where -there is tho.
I programmed the meeting point into the GPS - so i'll see you there at 8.20am
I couldn't be a55sed changing the tyres so i'll just run the ones that are on the bike.
Yes, well, it's had some sprinkles overnight and although the clouds look gloomy think I'll be there to see how things are.
Depending on what we find in the first few Km let's make some choices on possible route modifications.