Deddington to Storeys Creek MTB Loop (Sat, May 21st)

Our day began with a leisurely drive from our respective parts of the state through to Evandale which is 30 mins east of Launceston.  Emma had travelled from Hobart straight off a night shift so we were hopeful of some good sleepmonsters later in the day.  After fuelling up at the local bakery we headed out as a team to our ride start point at Deddington. 

The aim of the day was to ride to Storeys Creek, trek up Stacks Bluff (Ben Lomond N.P.) and then ride home in the wee morning hours.  We managed to get away by about 2pm on Saturday and started heading east from Deddington.  The first 10km was along a great dirt road with a strong westerly wind pushing us along.  We then stumbled across our first hurdle of the day.  We discovered the trail we wanted to take was in fact on private property so we headed off to negotiate with the owner.  After finally getting permission to travel across his land we then hit the single track which lasted for the next 50km.

The country side and steep terrain was spectacular and when we reached Emu Plains we were completely surrounded by spectacular peaks.  After approximately 800m of climbing, numerous creek and fence crossings we approached our midpoint near Storeys Creek after about 4.5 hours of riding.  The nature of the technical terrain had meant we were travelling a bit slower than planned, so it was at this point we decided to leave climbing Stacks Bluff for another day.  We then headed west for the last 35km’s of riding back to the cars.

As the sun went down we were rewarded with some great downhill fun.  It was also time for the wildlife to come out to play.  We had numerous near misses with wallabies, wombats, herds of deer and then finally a paddock full of cows.   We arrived back at the car at about 11pm after 8.5 hours of very, very, very solid riding.  We had an awesome day out and even though none of us were probably feeling 100% we managed to get through the day unscathed.  Well nearly........  Highlight of the day for some muppets was to see myself (AB) attempt a creek crossing and fail dismally resulting in a full over the handle bars submergence and a head full of icy cold Ben Lomond water.  The things some of us do to entertain our team mates.  Bring on the next adventure.