The first stop in the Chuck Ibis Down Under road trip was Victoria’s mighty MTB destination, Mt Buller.

On a picture perfect early Autumn alpine afternoon an enthusiastic MTB crew gathered at Howqua Huts on Mt Stirling for the Ride with Chuck. Yully from the EpiCenter had laid out an awesome spread of pre-ride food and drinks, along with trail snacks. Thanks bro!

 

 

After some meet and greet the group of ~20 riders headed up the Stonefly climb at a leisurely pace with a bunch of stops to chat along the way.

 

Chuck Ibis Down Under 2015
Chuck Ibis Down Under 2015

 

While some of the riders rested at the top of the Stonefly climb a few of us headed on up to the summit of Mt Stirling to enjoy the spectacular 360 degree views. We then regrouped and headed down the always awesome Stonefly descent. Sweet!

 

Chuck Ibis on Mt Stirling
Chuck Ibis on Mt Stirling

 

After post-ride schmoozing we farewell’d the folk that had come along for the afternoon and set off down the Delatite River Trail. The crew had an absolute blast warping down the River trail! I was especially stoked to finally have the opportunity to let the Mojo HD3 really stretch its legs. Let’s just say the faster you go the sweeter that bike hunkers down!

Yully again provided legendary assistance, shuttling both our vehicles down to Mirimbah so they were waiting for us at the end of the ride along with ice cold micro brew beers and nibblies.

The day wasn’t over though. We headed up the mountain and saw out the day on the summit of Mt Buller. Tough day huh?! 🙂

 

Buller never disappoints
Buller never disappoints

 

After a restful night in accommodation provided by Bike Buller (thanks guys!) we shuttled over to Yully’s Epicenter at TBJ (Telephone Box Junction) and enjoyed an awesome breakfast before heading off to ride the lower half of Buller’s Australian Epic Trail.

 

Epic breakfast at the EpiCenter, TBJ. Thanks Yully!
Epic breakfast at the EpiCenter, TBJ. Thanks Yully!

 

Yully again provided the crew with rock star service, placing a care package of snacks and drinks at the top of the final climb. Great place for a sketch too!

 

No really, it IS all downhill from here!
No really, it IS all downhill from here!

 

The Epic Trail is close to my heart as I was on the crew that constructed the trail in the Summer of 2013/2014. There’s no shortage of blood, sweat and tears in every meter of the Epic descent, that’s for sure!

It was super sweet to return to the Epic and share the experience with Chuck Ibis and the crew. Plus personally it was just a shitload of fun to finally hit it on the Mojo HD3!

 

Enjoy!
Enjoy!

 

The Australian Alpine Epic trail is in awesome shape after its first Summer of use, and evolving nicely!

 

Chuck getting some on the Aus Alpine Epic
Chuck getting some on the Australian Alpine Epic

 

Flowing down the Australian Alpine Epic descent
Flowing down the Australian Alpine Epic descent

 

After much hooting and hollering down the Epic descent we found ourselves back at at Mirimbah where Yully had an awesome BBQ lunch set up for us by the river.  It was pretty much a perfect end to an epic visit to Buller!

Massive shout out to everyone involved – thanks guys!!!

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