A strong group of 23 riders assembled on top of Mt Sugarloaf, it was a very pleasant Sunday morning however there was an eerie quietness surrounding the group.
No doubt this was due to the slightly intimidating prospect of what lay ahead - a cold start into a national level Downhill track followed by about 70 kilometres of singletrack.
The DH track claimed at least 5 people over the bars (from what I saw!), but the quality of track is still exceptional after all these years. It was an awesome start to what was a fantastic tour of the best trails that Newcastle has to offer.
The legendary Killingworth trails were the next on the list and they were in better shape than I've seen them in years. Some highlights included the Twin Trees descent, The Rainforest, Suckers Run and a huge brown snake that I managed to bunny hop just in time.
After Killingworth we made our way to Fassifern via some undulating fire road and a short road section. From there we hit some really cool single track trail that led us to Speers Point, where we stopped for a very welcome lunch break while my co-guide Regan managed to catch a good sized bream with his trusty hand reel.
We then moved onto Munibung hill - a steep, hot, open and rough climb which claimed a few tired souls it has to be said. Drift's very own Bryan Dunkin was seen slowly riding home behind his Dad, a very broken young man.
After this it was the Great North Walk, which is always a great section, back to the Fernleigh Track and a quick loop in Glenrock, where I decided to twist the knife a little by forcing everyone up the bus stop climb to finish.
The ride was slowed considerably by quite a few flat tires (about 10 at my count) and the overall ride time blew out to about 6 hours, which was pretty tough being in the sun all day - but that just meant that the beers went down extra sweet at The Burwood Bowling club!
Thanks to all those that came along and stay tuned for the next month's mega ride details.
- Adam
