I carved out a 2-and-a-bit day trip down to Margaret River and Cowaramup for my birthday weekend, planning to stay a couple nights at a friends house and do nothing except eat, sleep and ride bikes until it was time to cruise home on Sunday afternoon. With the weather on my side it turned into the perfect weekend and reminded me just how good this place is to ride.
The Wooditjup Trail network is a testament to the local MTB community and the thousands of hours they have put in over the last decade to make it what it is. It is important to note that the Shire of Margaret River has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with these trails. They don’t help, they don’t even show up when invited specifically to see 1500 riders all entered in an enduro round. 100% of the credit goes to the community and the members who dig, ride, educate and mentor the next generation of two wheeled rippers. (NOTE: DBCA had some involvement in the construction of the first ever toilet block at the trail head up near Line Manager/ Pugsley. But the Local Council remain uninterested and uninvolved)
I arrived in Cowaramup at 430 on Friday afternoon, so by the time I’d actually got changed and driven the extra 10 mins down Bussell Hwy to the trails, there was quite literally only 15 minutes of useful day light left. It’s dark in them there woods. Anyway, it was enough to scratch the itch and I felt like I’d finally ‘arrived’. Saturday and Sunday would deliver me all the riding I could handle.
The trails were slightly spongier than expected due to torrential rainfall the week prior, and insufficient daytime temperature to dry them out during the week. I decided I’d run my normal tyre pressure to safeguard myself against unfamiliar terrain. Despite being mostly ‘flow’ trail you can definitely get caught out by roots and rocks if you’re not paying attention.
After 2 days of riding I’d finally gotten back into the groove of linking my favourite trails and climbs together. Loose Goose, Senderella, Epilogue, Pugsley and Line Manager were just ridiculous amounts of fun. When I felt like going for a longer pedal a combination of Happily Ever After, Gullivers Travels and Frankenpine was just the ticket. The climbs are even joyous, especially when the weather and the temperature is perfect. Huff & Puff, Jack & Jill, Big Climb, Cut Cork and Pedliup all get the job done.
One of my favourite parts of a multi day MTB expedition is the opportunity to make small setup changes and see what impact they have on the ride. I made a few notes about suspension setup changes and the resulting effect on the handling of the bike but I’ll save those for a different, more nerdy blog post.
Get yourself down south to go riding. Spend some money at local family owned businesses. Say g’day and throw a thumbs up to every person you ride past. If you come across a little junior rider being nursed along by mum or dad, stop and give them a fist bump and tell them how awesome they are.
It will remind you what riding a mountain bike is supposed to be all about.
