[Low_Rider]

It's all go! The gathering will be held in Canberra over three days on the Friday 17th, Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th of November 2006.

Details on accommodation, trails and those attending are covered later on in this thread. Continue reading this thread and be sure to check for updates regularly. If you have any questions be sure to post them in this thread, or don't hesitate to contact me via PM or Email.

It's going to be huge, I hope to see you all there!! :thumbsup:

Dave.

 

[CulBaire]

Bah! I reckon a gathering is a great idea- however I dont think NSW is the best palce for the ride; unless we are staying somewhere like threadbo or something. Personally I think we need somewhere not so much central I mean flights are what now $100 to pretty much anywhere in Australia, but in close proximity to great trails.

I'd say Hobart is the best spot to go, followed by the ACT. Both have great trails in close proximity to the Citys / Airports. I can speek for the ACT is saying that has laods of great trails

 

[Low_Rider]

Yeah ACT has been on my list for quite some time, as has NSW. There are so many places I want to visit. I guess as long as we stay close to a major(ish) airport we can't go too far wrong.

 

[bigdamo]

Yeah ACT looks like the go or maybe snowy mountains although i don't know about XC trails there?Maybe we should pick a different state or territory each year

 

[Low_Rider]

For sure, but we have to get the first one to happen first!!

 

[MWWH]

Yeah Im still keen for the ACT, but Im biased cause I live here!

Maybe can I suggest make this a sticky until it happens?

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?postid=1269261#post1269261

 

[wannabeRacer]

I did ask about this last year and nobody seems to reply (might be all busy).

Anyway, I live in VIC and I'm keen to go anywhere, as long as there's tons of trails to play. This year I did the mont 24hr but didn't have enough time to explore other places in ACT.

I think if we can get started, the 1st event would be momentos and you all better be there. Because, this will be the 1st ever of Australian MTBR ride days and you dont want to miss it!

I've notice there's growing post here in OZ forum, that's awesome ;-)

cheers

 

[ozlongboarder]

I will go anywhere!

ACT sounds like a good first choice.

March? When does daylight savings end?

3 Days? Fri-Sat-Sun?

Camping or cheap hotels? Camping always has good night bike antics! Derby, longest skid, track stand comp, fire jumping, figure 8 deaths races on kids bikes.

ANNNNDDD....... porn and fireworks in the ACT!

 

[whataboutben]

I should be able to get a good cheap bulk booking at a lodge in thredbo, plenty of space inside the ski gear room for bikes. Let us know if anyone is interested and i'll give them a ring and see what we can sort out...

 

[Kalgrm]

I'd love to be involved, however, Qantas gauges rural travellers to make your airfares cheap (eg. the 600km flight from Kalgoorlie to Perth is $508 return). They have the monopoly and we landed on the hotel ....

I'm over in Victoria in early January with my family. If it happens around that time, I'll get there. Otherwise, I'll follow on the net.

Consider the Flinders Ranges in SA and I'll drive over if I can get the time off work.

Cheers,
Graeme

 

[Panacea]

What a great idea!

I'm up for it in the new year if you are all keen. Things are a bit hectic up until mid January for me as for most people but I would love to be at the first ever MTBR Aus board group ride

I live in Orange, NSW and would be willing to travel for this. Camping at canberra sounds great but I'd love to do thredbo. I haven't been there yet so it would be 2 birds with 1 stone for me.

Graeme you can ride over from Kalgoorlie. Then you will have epic tales for the campfire

Hope this idea gathers momentum.

 

[ozlongboarder]

Unfortunately we are not going to please everyone with a time and location, I wish we could but I dont know how we could considering we are all over the place. I guess we should nominate some spots and times and vote on it.

I think during daylight savings would be the best to maximise trail time.
Camping or caravan park with overnight vans would be good or Pub/Hotel options nearby for those who don't have camping gear


Thredbo, DH is great but what about XC trails?

ACT no lifts but there are DH tracks and miles of XC

Tassie, ?????? Those who know tell us what you got!

Vic, ?????

SA, ????



Thoughts? Ideas?

 

[Panacea]

One question

Glenorchy (Hobart) Mountain Bike Park http://tasbikepark.com/

If it can host a National Round it can host MBR Aus.

Plenty of trails everywhere, but the hills/mountains (my legs/lungs ache just thinking about it)!

So airfares are around 100 bucks but how much for them to cart our pushies? and wot condition will they be in by the time we unpack them? and how much gunja will the baggage handlers stuff in the bike bags for us?

 

[Low_Rider]

What airport have you been through of late?!

From my experiences of bikes (not all my own) through Tassie airports, I'd be wrapping my machine up in as much bubble wrap as possible. Even reinforcing the box a little with some extra cardboard.

The handlers I've seen are often a little on the rough side, especially so if they notice you watching them with your pride and joy.

I'm not sure about any extra charges with having a bike with you. I guess it would vary from airline to airline. I vaguely remember a $40 fee at one stage.

Trevor has been on a few planes with his bike over the last couple of years I think; maybe he can give us a better insight!

As great as the riding in Tassie is, (and there a lot more trail then the bike park….) and besides the fact I'd have very cheap travel for myself, I don't think it would be real practical for a first gathering.

I'd still love to see something in NSW or the ACT. I guess we need someone with local knowledge to help us with trails, accommodation options etc.

Thredbo is looking like a good spot to me at this stage.

I should be able to get a good cheap bulk booking at a lodge in Thredbo, plenty of space inside the ski gear room for bikes. Let us know if anyone is interested and I'll give them a ring and see what we can sort out...

I won't hold you to it, but latter down the track it might be an option we follow up!! Cheers for that Ben!

3 Days? Fri-Sat-Sun?

Camping or cheap hotels? Camping always has good night bike antics! Derby, longest skid, track stand comp, fire jumping, figure 8 deaths races on kids bikes.

I reckon the 3-day Friday, Saturday, Sunday theme would be a cool set up. I'd love to make it longer, but the reality is that most of us would have work / family to get back too… Camping would be awesome at the right location too, but we'd have to plan for other possibilities. We'd have to make sure that there are some cheap hotels around.

January of February would be great for me, any later and I'm back at Uni, but I guess three days isn't much in the scheme of things!!

It's great to see some interest still!

Dave.

 

[ozlongboarder]

bump

Any more thoughts?

 

[whataboutben]

I'm pretty sure you can send your bike with virgin for free providing your total baggage weight is under 20 kilo's. Jetstar are tight asses and will charge your for the fillings inyour teeth if the knew you had them. Then they would find a way to break them into a million pieces and tell you to get stuffed when you try to make a claim on them. This is personal experience. They shattered my squash racquet and refused to pay for it. Morale = dont fly with jetstar...

Apart from that i'm keen to travel anywhere new. Makes it twice as fun. If people want to crash at my place in Sydney they are more than welcome to.

 

[tomacropod]

just bumping this to add a voice to the ACT support. I live here so grain of salt but conversely, my house and my garage can put up two people and their bikes. I also have more or less permanent access to a ute so can do a bit of shuttling if anyone wants to do the majura DH.

plenty of riding here and all in close proximity. eg I often go for a 4 hour XC ride, jumping from open reserve to open reserve, very little road riding in between and plenty of terrain variety !

- Joel

 

[Low_Rider]

Yeah I think the ACT is the way to go. I have done some reading on most of the other locations that have been mentioned, (Thredbo etc), and from what I understand most of the trails are more gravity orientated, which is cool, but maybe not practical for a gathering.

ACT has Majura pines, Mt Majura and Mt Ainslie and many other trails close to town. All XC but plenty of scope for DH runs, all day epics, or half hour blasts. Can't go wrong.

Staying in Canberra I'm sure there would be many backpackers, hotels, caravan parks etc.

Will do some more reading and post some concrete trails, locations, accommodation options etc.

Dave.

 

[Some Guy]

I reckon ACT is the way to go. It's fairly central, and has great tracks. We could also hire a van + trailer to drive the whole group over to thredbo if we wanted.

I say this as a melbournian BTW .

As for bikes on planes, I've taken my bike for free* on QANTAS. The condition being that it was my only checked luggage and I gave them $16.50 for a bike box (nice and big, you can BYO though). Basically if it's your only luggage and it's under 20kg you're fine. Just stick the rest of your luggage in the box as padding . From what I've heard it's the same deal with Virgin, just don't fly Jetstar!

 

[Low_Rider]

Oh well, it looks like we just have to work on a time and work out a rough idea of where and when we want to be riding / socialising!

I might try and get in contact with some Canberra clubs regarding great trails, camping areas etc.

Will get back to you all on accommodation options. This is all starting to look do-able!

Dave.