CYCLING TASSIE
“St Helens has become a destination where families who
want to visit typically plan months ahead, so we’re expecting
that on-f low to come,” explained Break O’Day Council General
Manager, John Brown, when I quizzed him about it later.
He may well be right. But this time, save for one other rider,
Finn and I had the entire mountain’s upper reaches to
ourselves, so we could stop as often as we’d liked without
worrying about hindering anyone else.
BREATHING THE AIR TIME
“Wait up,” I’d yelled at the top of my voice, after I’d paused to
look over my shoulder to see how he was doing. Instead of
stopping beside me, he’d continued on past, without even
glancing backwards.
In the past, I’ve designated myself as the leader on descents,
instructing him to allow some stopping distance behind me in
case I crashed. Given how often I’ve left skin behind on the
trails recently, it’s been a reasonable request. But about a year
ago, as we sped down Flowtown at Falls Creek in the Victorian
Alps, his front tyre was almost glued to my tail. I realised then
that the faster I went, the faster Finn would go. And while I was
content to roll over bumps with my tyres kissing the dirt, he
was forever looking to get some air. Those days of holding him
back are now long gone.
At first, Flagstaff’s brittle trail surface had felt slippery
beneath my tyres and it took a couple of runs to understand my
bike’s handling. But I soon started to feel more comfortable,
building up speed behind Finn as we hooned downhill to the
trailhead, traversing across steeper slopes and snaking down
spurs. We allowed a little more than three hours of riding and
had made the most of our shuttle booking to return to the top
multiple times then race down the opposite side of the
mountain on Old Salty Dog. At 6.2km, it’s the longest trail
currently opened.44 / Outdoor