And so came the weekend we had all been waiting for. This time, our buddies Lachlan & Sonja were tagging along for the second part of our ACT MTB Adventures. So we got all packed up on the Thursday night and hit the road late Friday afternoon.
So it became more apparent, as the hours ticked over, that this was to be no ordinary road trip but more of a horizon expanding juggernaut for our fellow crew members. Lachlan had only been here once before and Sonja never. So, with patience and grace, we ticked off all the boxes of a first time trip and Lach couldnt help but give it the "Seal of Approval - Lach Style" on the State border sign.After 4hrs of driving, we arrived at our "château de Canbraahhh", at the Holiday Park Canberra. Cheap and comfy is all you need on these trips but the cabins seemed like throw backs to the 80's. And once settled in, the shenanigans began.
Saturday morning greeted us with a crisp clear bluebird day after overnight temps down to 10º .... brrrr chiily for March
. After much discussion, we decided to head for Sparrow Hill, on the outskirts of Queenbeyan. Sparrow Hill is held in high regard as one of Australias premier long distance XC tracks, regularly holding the MONT 24hr race as well a several club based XC events annually. CLICK HERE for a detailed map, Sidewinder, Bobsled and Spagetti Western was the trail we followed. Bobsled is by far and away the best part of Sparrow Hill and with jumps like this > dotted all the way along the girls got plenty of chances to test their "airtime" skills.We battled through the rest of Sparrow, winding our way back to the car park and headed back to the Chateau for a BBQ lunch and some rest before hitting Mount Stromlo for DH and Freeride fun. Now having never been to the top of Stromlo before, we were all rather surprised at how high up it really was and the nerves started to kick in for some who albeit kept a brave face for the camera. So the girls made their way back to the car park at the bottom and got ready to XC climb up to half way to meet us. From half way there is a Berm Track that weaves its way back the base area. The girls loved it despite the energy sapping climb up.
Sunday arrived with some warmer weather expected and a new destination, Majura Pines. The newtork of trails is quite vast and being multi directional trails, riders come from all directions making it somewhat interesting to navigate.Below are some of the better shots taken amongst the forest at Majura.
