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PURE TASMANIA WILDSIDE Words by Ross Wilkinson & Karen Hill | Photos by Heath Holden
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PURE TASMANIA WILDSIDE Words by Ross Wilkinson & Karen Hill | Photos by Heath Holden The Pure Tasmania Wildside is more than just a mountain bike race; it’s an adventure. Four days, 140km of competition and 60km of cruising on some of the most diverse trails you’ll ever ride. The Wildside journey takes riders from the mountains to the sea through one of Australia’s most varied landscapes – Tasmania’s west coast. The event starts beside the Cradle Mountain World Heritage Area and finishes in Strahan, two of Tasmania’s adventure and tourism icons. Wildside caters for any keen mountain biker be they competitive or recreational. You can
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race hard against some of the best riders in Australia, or just enjoy the riding. You don’t need to be an elite athlete to enjoy the event, but a reasonable level of skill and fitness is required. Due to the ‘point to point’ nature of the event, it has always been virtually impossible to race Wildside without some form of support crew. It’s not always easy to find that special someone who wants to dedicate a week of their time to driving a bunch of a sweaty mountain bikers and their gear all over the West Coast of Tasmania. As a result,
the clever people at Wildside now offer a transport and accommodation package. As it sounds, for an additional fee to your entry, all accommodation is booked and organised for the four days of racing and a bus is arranged to shuttle you to and from each stage. It’s about as close as most of us will ever get to the ‘pro’ lifestyle. All you have to do is get yourself to Tassie and race each stage. Pretty much everything in between is sorted out for you. Any gear that you require access to during the day will be taken to lunch stops and race finishes.
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THE COURSE Day One For the first day of racing we were greeted with a most magnificent Tasmanian morning. Hardly a cloud in the sky, but the temperature was well and truly in single digits. After way too much discussion with Ross about clothing selection (jacket or no jacket, arm warmers or no arm warmers?) we rolled out from Cradle Mountain Chateau for a short cruise stage to the start line of Stage One, at the leisurely time of 9:45am. Riders were split into different starting groups based on previous results and racing history, so you were not necessarily racing with other people in your category. The event organisers got the first stage under way on time and this theme was carried throughout the whole event. Stage One was 16km of fast, flat grassy track with rocky creek crossings and rough 4WD trail. Having to get off and run through an ice-cold creek only seven minutes into the first stage really did give you an idea on what lay ahead for the next four days. Towards the end of the stage, the beautiful blue skies that greeted us in the morning had disappeared and it started to rain. And with the rain came the cold. As we rolled through the finish of the stage and looked for our bus, it occurred to us that the bus that had our rain jackets was going to meet us at the lunch stop, not at the end of Stage One. So we still had 15km to ride before we could seek refuge.
Faced with potential hypothermia, we knew we needed help and massive assistance came in the form of Adrian Jackson who lent us some spare clothing. Almost better than the warmth that came with these clothes was watching Ross squeeze himself into some of AJ’s Merida Flight Centre gear. Visualise a strung-up baked ham, but on a bike. We then grovelled our way to lunch, braking on the descents to cut down on the wind chill, and sprinting up all the climbs. Stage Two was 19km and would take us along the Que River. This stage was quite undulating and took in some singletrack through rainforest before popping out on the fire roads that roll though the closed Que River and Hellyer mines. It was a stark contrast to the almost alpine plains of Stage One. Whilst the overall elevation gain on this stage wasn’t that great, the rolling fire roads felt absolutely relentless. Just when you thought you were nearing the end of the stage, the sight of lead riders cresting hills off in the distance brought you back to reality. A solid waist deep river crossing with a rope support once again made you realise very quickly that you weren’t in Kansas anymore. The final cruise stage to Tullah took in some beautiful scenery and a chance to take in the stunning views.
Day Two Stage Three launched us straight into a rock strewn fire road, which then pitched up the side of Mount Murchison. The warm morning air and almost jungle-like vegetation made it hard to believe that only yesterday we were riding in near zero degree conditions. Not normally one to love
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a climb, the moist, rock and root-covered ascent up Mt Murchison was a blast. The stage profile in the rider handbook proved to be deceptive with each corner turning up and up and up. Once cresting the top, to the cheers of many a support crew, the real excitement began. We were met with a very technical single-track descent down into Roseberry, which proved to be the most technical section of the entire four days. There were plenty of smiles on the faces of riders as they entered the local football field, even the poor souls with bits of skin missing and damaged bicycles. I had been looking forward to Stage Four, the iconic Montezuma Falls stage, for a long time before I had even made it to Tasmania. Again we faced a nice solid climb out of Roseberry to start with, this time on a sealed road that was closed to traffic. Once off the sealed road we were diverted onto a disused tramway, which had grown very narrow almost single-track like due to all the overhanging vegetation. The poor old tramway had seen quite a bit of abuse from 4WDs over the summer period. The condition of the track mixed with a bit of rain resulted in a shortening of the stage. I can honestly say that after the absolute battering we all copped during the previous stage, not one rider was disappointed about the shorter distance. The ironic thing about the Montezuma Falls stage was that I didn’t
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even see the amazing view that I had been looking forward to. I had my head down and was focussing way too hard on making my way across the footbridge with some style and grace. After the bridge, riders were then subject to mud hole, after mud hole, after mud hole. One rider described the stage as an endless tunnel of mud. For the first time in the race I was really missing my dually which I had left back at home. With a flat tyre and two crashes (one head-first into a bog) Montezuma had truly broken me. I appreciated the post-race roll more than ever with the neutral eight kilometre cruise into Zeehan to get my head back into it.
Day Three The day started with a six kilometre time trial. The course was short and sharp and partly underground through the spray tunnel. We were sent off in pairs with the person who was closet to you on the general classification. Karen was going off with a young chap who was a seasoned Wildside racer. He had completed two previous Wildside events and it was becoming a biannual event for him and his mates. This seemed to be a massive part of Wildside. Karen was under strict instructions from his mates to beat him. The cruise stage to Trial Harbour was pretty spectacular, apart from
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Your humble authors and Maj Jackson enjoy a cruise stage
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the fact that we had to race back up the hill after lunch. This was one of the longer cruising stages, but provided stunning ocean and mountain views for photo opportunities and good bit of gasbagging along the way. The fifth competition stage was from Trial Harbour to Granville Harbour. The start of this stage was a bit chaotic and it took a while to find some clear road. We started with the climb out of Trial Harbour and then followed a 4X4 track to Granville Harbour. This track traverses the coastal heath with the southern ocean below. Numerous creek crossings, rocky descents, bedrock and washouts make for a memorable (good and not so good in some parts) ride. Karen had been warned about this stage by Kerry Ryan, who has completed Wildside seven times and was the oldest competitor at 71 (more on Kerry later), but nothing really prepared me for this iconic Wildside stage.
Day Four The final stage of any stage race is always met with mixed emotions. Knowing that relief is just around the corner is good for the head and legs, but that comes with sadness that the journey is coming to an end and the realisation that we have a day job to go back to somewhere in the world.
Stage Seven rolled out of the sleepy fishing town of Strahan and headed straight for Ocean Beach. A police escort out of town provided a nice neutral start to the stage, but once on the sand it was like a grenade had gone off. Game on! With a strong tailwind pushing us down Ocean Beach we were easily holding speeds of 40 to 50kph. Once off the beach, we raced through undulating forest roads consisting entirely of sand. It was an absolute test of skill to stay on the bike at all times. Descending through the sand was an absolute treat and I can only liken it to surfing on two wheels. Crossing the line back in Strahan, it was job done, Wildside was over and I joined other riders in taking a quick dip in the bay. As I was tearing down the beach, spitting sand out of my mouth, tasting the salt from the ocean it really hit me. This is what Wildside is all about. I finally got it. No you’re not going to find kilometres of flowing single-track, in fact I don’t remember riding a single berm. You won’t find man made rock gardens or corners that are groomed to an IMBA standard. Instead, you’ll find mountain biking across some of the most diverse terrain you can possibly find in just four days. Alpine terrain, quarries, mines and fire roads, blown out railways in jungle mud pits…all leading down into coastal headland trails and finishing on a beach. Wildside is completely unique in all its features.
THE POINTY END Wildside is an event that always draws the best riders in the country to compete with. To achieve the fastest overall time, a rider must be fit, technically skilled, be able to back up over four days of racing, be well prepared, and have a little bit of luck on their side when it comes to mechanicals or the odd spill. In the men’s category it was local Tassie boy Ben Mather who just edged out Mark ‘Tupac’ Tupalski from Canberra for the win after Mark led for most of the race. Mather was able to ride away from Mark on Ocean Beach in the final stage making the race for the overall exciting right down to the line. In the women’s field it was Rowena Fry who took line honours over Jo Bennett and Jenni King. It was great to be out on course watching the women’s race unfold, with none of the ladies showing any fear in some of the most rugged terrain.
SUMMARY If there was a common theme from the
week in Tasmania, it was the amount of people that had already raced Wildside more than once who had come back for more. It has become something of a ritual for lots of mates. Some groups even had self-imposed neutral stages where the group would ride together and savour the sights of the stage instead of tearing themselves apart. It goes without saying that there is a lot of trash talk amongst mates, especially on the bus pre and post stage. One group of well-respected gentlemen we travelled with made sure they never got back to their accommodation before visiting the bottle shop en route, these guys were doing it right. For me, 2016 can’t come around soon enough. I can’t wait to head back to the ‘Wild West’ of Tasmania. Like many others, I plan on making Wildside something of a ritual. Amazing mountain biking with a bunch of mates in some of the most scenic locations. The only possible negative is that the accommodation package has ruined me. I’ll never sleep in a tent again. I’m all about Egyptian cotton sheets and buffet breakfasts now… Enduromag