Mount Buller new EPIC trail

[Big Tim]

How long did you guys take to complete the Epic doing the Stonefly climb/descent & Circuit Rd route, Big Tim (or anyone else who's done the same route)?

Just trying to get a gauge how long it'll take for a group of us that'll be up there at the end of the month. Going to be 9 guys & girls with a mixed range of abilities (intermediate riders would best describe the 2 least experienced in the group). There'll undoubtedly be gas-bagging, arse-scratching & general waiting for fellow riders at varying points (+ the food/drink stop that people will want to do), so am weighing up making the most of the climb i.e. descend the group via Stonefly, or just descending the fire road as marked in order to avoid it being a 7h protracted affair. Would it be a fair guess the alt route via Stonefly descent/ Climbing Circuit Rd to TBJ adds 45+min to the overall Epic time? The saving grace for our planned Epic adventure on the Sunday is that given we're staying in Sawmill Settlement our route effectively will end at Carters Rd after the last long descent.

Likewise those who've stayed in Sawmill & ridden to Mirimbah (end of Epic trail), roughly how long does it take to ride that endsection along the river to the Mirimbah gate/shuttle? Last time we stayed in Sawmill the Epic hadn't been completed & subsequently we had to ride the main road to & from, which sucked balls. Loving the prospect of actually being able to ride some nice trail to the shuttle pick up for those who are renting houses off the mountain.

I did it in under 5 hours my first trip. Thats moving time. My second in about the same with stops to wait for the slower riders. My second it took 3.5 hours of moving time on Strava. I was happy with that. Give yourself about 6 or so hours including happy snaps and eating stops and you should be right. Bring lots of food. Everyone will need it. Stay on the fire road at the top of stonefly. I havent ridden that yet, I'm told its crap but you may find that easier with a big group and the inevitable crash or two along stonefly descent.

Give yourself another 15 or so minutes to ride the end of Epic descent to Mirimbah. I'm guessing that but it seems right. Its an easy ride but you are stuffed from the climbing beforehand. Its a nice little trail. Couple of very small pinches but overall a lovely relaxing ride.

Enjoy the day.

 

[shake_rattle_and_ roll]

Hi Shakes

It took us 5.5 hours from village to shuttle bus- including plenty of stops, photos, the odd stack, lunch at TBJ and a swim at the end. aim at 6 hours and take your time - make it fun and the challenge will be for everyone. The good thing about the Epic is that there is something for everyone - even the descent from Sterling was fun. Making some of the climbs was also rewarding.
I did it with 5 others- met lots of folks along the way. Picked up a soloist along the way. All of us were on hard tails and two On SS.
You must ride Misty Twist and Clancys Run off Corn Hill- killer trails

G'day JD- merry festivus & happy brew year.

Will definitely be hitting Misty Twist & Clancy's at some point. We'd tend to try & end the day with that before feeding in to Delatite for the blast home & post-ride swim. Good to hear you lads had a great time up there.

I did it in under 5 hours my first trip. Thats moving time. My second in about the same with stops to wait for the slower riders. My second it took 3.5 hours of moving time on Strava. I was happy with that. Give yourself about 6 or so hours including happy snaps and eating stops and you should be right. Bring lots of food. Everyone will need it. Stay on the fire road at the top of stonefly. I havent ridden that yet, I'm told its crap but you may find that easier with a big group and the inevitable crash or two along stonefly descent.

Give yourself another 15 or so minutes to ride the end of Epic descent to Mirimbah. I'm guessing that but it seems right. Its an easy ride but you are stuffed from the climbing beforehand. Its a nice little trail. Couple of very small pinches but overall a lovely relaxing ride.

Enjoy the day.

Cheers Big Tim.

Have ridden Stonefly before & agree with you that in the interest of risk mitigation taking the marked fire road descent on the Epic might be the easiest & most sensible option given the size of the group. We've got the house for 5 days so there'll be plenty of time to ride Stonefly again for those wanting to ride it's descent. Super pumped to be heading up there for a reasonable stint- close my eyes & can almost taste that grey talc-like Buller dust again!

 

[gnarly_rider]

..... so there'll be plenty of time to ride Stonefly again for those wanting to ride it's descent. Super pumped to be heading up there for a reasonable stint- close my eyes & can almost taste that grey talc-like Buller dust again!

I almost think a pair of goggles are very useful if you aren't the first rider in a tight group descending Stonefly; that dust is blinding, and I remember going completely blind into a few corners in a thick grey cloud, praying the rider's line in front was viable.

Of course, I could have slowed down and waited 10 seconds for the dust to clear, but where's the fun in that?? :smokin:

 

[shake_rattle_and_ roll]

...that dust is blinding, and I remember going completely blind into a few corners in a thick grey cloud, praying the rider's line in front was viable. Of course, I could have slowed down and waited 10 seconds for the dust to clear, but where's the fun in that?? :smokin:

Touché. No one's got time for that.

 

[Otto]

Wish I'd seen this thread before riding the Epic last week and taking the fire trail down from the top of Stonefly. Using Circuit Road never occurred to me :frusty:

 

[orco]

rode Epic on Saturday for the first time. It was a real challenge for me with less than ideal fitness, christmas kilos and a lack of bike time. I really enjoyed the experience as a whole and was please to make it with little fuss. Loved the last downhill, enjoyed the coffee at TBJ and found peace with Stonefly climb. I simply went at my own pace and it was absolutely fine- it wasnt a race. Some of the fitter riders in our group pushed on and waited at the top but it wasnt too long a wait they say. My mate did it on a SS- super effort.
Ideally it would be great to have a ST descent from top of Stonefly (Sterling) instead of the fire road and the climb out of TBJ is alittle demoralizing- especially the last rocky fire road. If I look at its entirety- it is a great MTBing experience/ trail.
Now that I have done it I know what to expect and can pace/ push myself more. I would suggest people simply follow the route- dont ride the fire road to TBJ, eat really well and go at your own pace.
To be honest- i didnt think i would make it but it was fine- hard work but very rewarding.

Having the lungs of a small child, I decided to stonefly separately and the next day the epic excl stonefly taking circuit road. Was still a lung busting exercise but was more refrehed for the descent which was the best I've ever ridden.

 

[bmar560]

Thanks mtb101, i ended up doing the epic and followed the signs, i took a couple of wrong turns and ended up doing a 55k ride. The worst wrong turn was the one where I had to open the cattle gates, i turned right and ended up in the middle of nowhere, thank God a truck drove pass and told me to go back up.

The epic trail was epic indeed, the last 6k of downhill was probably the best trail riding experience i've had. The views up the stonefly climb made it worthwhile but it was a tough slog.


Will be back there when time and family permits, next time with fresher legs i hope.

 

[mtb101]

good on you mate, the last 6 ks is really appreciated when you've busted your gut through stone fly. I remember skiing years ago at Mt Buller where we stopped at the bottom of a run (bull run) and there was a beautiful silence with only the muffled sound of the snow melt trickling between the rocks, the fresh smell of the trees, thought this is a magical place, the alpine environment ... well legs get hairier, jaw a bit broader, its a strong man's (or women's of course) place and now we can experience it in summer rather than just go there in winter.

think a good ride like this must challenge you and make you grow as rider, person. it nearly busted me through stonefly, very technical with tired legs and I had trail runners catching me so knew I was going slow, but still managed to ride and take it in. and how good is tbj cafe, assuming same couple are still running it. on my second day I did an epic solo out to Mt Sterling (from tbj), I encountered an mtb god and passed him on a climb.

 

[Calvin27]

Did this on the weekend for the first time.

I didn't expect it to be such a hard ride for the first 25km. The climb up stirling was hard, but I think I've improved my slow climbing skills a lot after that day. But the award for most painful ride was the bit ascending near pinnacle track at about 25km mark. Hands down hardest climb I've done and I had to wlk the last 60% - maybe I was too shagged at that point, I don't know.

The downhill 'enjoy' section was a breath of fresh air a great reward for the days efforts and this time of the year the weather was perfect, the yellow and reds this time of the year were smashign too. All in all a good day!

A fancy video my mate made for good measure!

[video=youtube;CzwyTRgFlJM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzwyTRgFlJM[/video]

(yes he did lug a drone and 1 hour worth of fly time battery!)

 

[hungrytiger]

That was great! Nice work

 

[mtb101]

Mt Buller, Saturday Morning, getting ready to float on the clouds

 

[Mr Crudley]

Mt Buller, Saturday Morning, getting ready to float on the clouds

Great shot. Much better than my Saturday morning. Enjoy


Sent from my F5121 using Tapatalk

 

[nakedape]

Did this on the weekend for the first time.

I didn't expect it to be such a hard ride for the first 25km. The climb up stirling was hard, but I think I've improved my slow climbing skills a lot after that day. But the award for most painful ride was the bit ascending near pinnacle track at about 25km mark. Hands down hardest climb I've done and I had to wlk the last 60% - maybe I was too shagged at that point, I don't know.

The downhill 'enjoy' section was a breath of fresh air a great reward for the days efforts and this time of the year the weather was perfect, the yellow and reds this time of the year were smashign too. All in all a good day!

A fancy video my mate made for good measure!

[video=youtube;CzwyTRgFlJM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzwyTRgFlJM[/video]

(yes he did lug a drone and 1 hour worth of fly time battery!)

Bit jelly. That one's on my to do list.

Sent from two tin cans joined by string

 

[poita]

Did this on the weekend for the first time.

I didn't expect it to be such a hard ride for the first 25km. The climb up stirling was hard, but I think I've improved my slow climbing skills a lot after that day. But the award for most painful ride was the bit ascending near pinnacle track at about 25km mark. Hands down hardest climb I've done and I had to wlk the last 60% - maybe I was too shagged at that point, I don't know.

The downhill 'enjoy' section was a breath of fresh air a great reward for the days efforts and this time of the year the weather was perfect, the yellow and reds this time of the year were smashign too. All in all a good day!

A fancy video my mate made for good measure!

[video=youtube;CzwyTRgFlJM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzwyTRgFlJM[/video]

(yes he did lug a drone and 1 hour worth of fly time battery!)

Was your mate riding a motorbike?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[moorey]

Nice...but where's the descent? You know...the bit you suffer 3-4 hours to get to?

 

[pink poodle]

Nice...but where's the descent? You know...the bit you suffer 3-4 hours to get to?

Hahahahaha...

I'm not real crisp on Victorian geography, how far is Buller from Bright? Is there much riding there for those of us with a gravity focus? I really enjoyed the hero trail at Bright and would be keen to find some similar style trails near by as I'm pretty sure I'll be making a return visit once the sludge season ends.

 

[link1896]

Hahahahaha...

I'm not real crisp on Victorian geography, how far is Buller from Bright? Is there much riding there for those of us with a gravity focus? I really enjoyed the hero trail at Bright and would be keen to find some similar style trails near by as I'm pretty sure I'll be making a return visit once the sludge season ends.

Close as the crow flies, 222km via road.

 

[John U]

Hahahahaha...

I'm not real crisp on Victorian geography, how far is Buller from Bright? Is there much riding there for those of us with a gravity focus? I really enjoyed the hero trail at Bright and would be keen to find some similar style trails near by as I'm pretty sure I'll be making a return visit once the sludge season ends.

3-4 hours to the top. Not too far as the crow flies but easiest and possibly quickest route requires you to go almost to Wangaratta and then Benalla. I think it's about 40 minutes from Mansfield to the top of Buller. You can take a shorter route but I think it's actually longer time wise.

 

[John U]

Close as the crow flies, 222km via road.

I stand corrected. I reckon 3 hours would be about right.

 

[pink poodle]

Thanks guys. Looks like it is a little out of range from Bright.