2006 Trip Report - Venturer Mountain Bike Weekend

Thursday 23rd March - Sunday 26th March 2006

Wallaces Hut

The Chalet was almost packed out with 19 venturers, 6 rovers and 6 leaders. Fitting 29 bikes on three trailers was an absolute nightmare, and that was before one of the trailers started falling apart. The weekend really kicked off on Friday, as Thursday evening was spent travelling to the Chalet.

The first ride of the weekend was around to Wallaces Hut, along the road to Cope Hut, then back down to Chalet. A simple ride to start with to ensure everyone's bike worked before we got too far from home. After lunch, the groups were split in two. The first group rode out to Langfords Gap and returned via Wallaces hut. The other group rode to Ryders Yards, then extended the tour to include Pretty Valley, and the Ruined Castle downhill ski run. It looked simple on the map, but the rough terrain, and lack of rideable trails extended the tour into a mammoth expedition.

On Saturday, everyone rode to Shannonvale. The route was along the Aquaduct to Fitzgerald's Hut, past Kelly's Hut and then down the 4x4 track all the way to the Omeo Highway. Most of the track was very rough, and difficult to ride without being bounced off your bike. The last part of the 4x4 track had wash outs to divert the water from the track, which provided awesome jumps for the experienced. At the bottom, the venturers were picked up and driven back to the top of the hill. Meanwhile, Chris and Matt spent the next 2.5 hours climbing the Bogong High Planes road back up to the Chalet.

Sunday was packup day. Once everything had been cleaned up, the Venturers headed along the Aquaduct to Falls Creek resort, via Wombat's Ramble ski run. From there, they rode down the main road to Bogong Village followed by the support vehicles. The bikes were once again strapped onto the trailers, everyone said goodbye and headed home.

The weather was hot and sunny all weekend, making for perfect conditions. All up the venturers rode over 75Km around the Bogong High Planes. Everyone had a wonderful time. Thanks to the Rovers and Leaders that made the weekend run - even if two of them didn't set foot on a bike!

Preparing for a ride	Cruising the Aquaduct
Bridge at Cope Saddle Hut	Ryders Yards
Is this the last hill we have to ride up?	Peter riding to Shannonvale
Spaghetti Bolognese for Dinner	Ryan on Wombat's Ramble