Today I had a great time riding with some buddies from the MTBDirt mountain biking forum. Ron, Eric and I decided to explore Bellthorpe State Forest north-west of Woodford. It was hilly, muddy and beautiful.
The ride started with a long slow 10km climb up Stony Creek Road as we gained an extra 500m in elevation to reach the summit of the ride at about 650m. The road is steep in parts, but it’s worth the effort to see some of the spectacular rainforest.
At the top we were pretty much level with the cloudline, and were treated to some great views of the Glasshouse Mountains, with Mount Beerwah partially obscured by clouds.
Then it’s a fun descent through the forest to the bottom, along some muddy and slippery tracks.
We were both grateful to Eric for showing us a more enjoyable track through the forest. Eric shows us here what real mountain bikers can do at Bellthorpe. I thought (very briefly) about imitating him, but chickened out.
The roads through the forest rise and fall very steeply, and there are many creek crossings like this one, as well as muddy bog-holes where 4WD’s have tried to get through.
Eventually we came out the other side of the forest, and had to negotiate one more slippery descent with more amazing views.
All up about 50km, 1200m of climbing and 3,300kcal burned. On the tough-o-meter, I’d give it 8 out of 10 because of the steep, slippery ascents and descents in the forest.
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