A WILD WOMEN’S WEEKEND IN THE VICTORIAN HIGH COUNTRY
It was freezing–about 6 degrees: so as a northerner I was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane–yet there was over a hundred women gathered in the Falls Creek carpark, huddled around open fires, coffee and hot chocolate in hand, bundled up in layers; pumped and excited for the fourth annual MTB de Femme weekend.
AMB regulars Karen Hill and I headed up to the high country to sample all that MTB de Femme had to offer.
What’s MTB de Femme, you ask? Well, it’s a weekend for the ladies. A celebration of cycling. A package of relaxation, exploration, adrenaline and community. A choose-your-own adventure for lovers of mountains and mountain biking.
What started four years ago as a womenonly social ride has evolved into a weekend of 20 - AMB festivities, featuring a whole host of shuttles, rides and ‘apres cycling’ events to choose from: skills clinics for all abilities, social rides, two days of shuttles, yoga sessions, massage, and a social dinner/lunch option. While there are several women’s only race events on offer around Australia (Diamonds in the Dirt, Chicks in the Sticks, Fox on Rocks Enduro), there really isn’t a women’s mountain biking festival, until MTB de Femme began.
Falls Creek Marketing Manager Jo Prothero explained “during the Ignition Mountain Bike Festival we see numbers of women’s participation as low as 10-15%, we wanted to encourage more women to the sport of mountain biking as well as showcase Falls Creek and give our local community and businesses extra support in the skiing off-season”. Thus, Jo with her crew of fierce women who work at Falls Creek came up with the idea of the MTB de Femme.
Arriving for registration after a long day of travel, it is clear these ladies knew the way to my heart, which is a direct highway through my mouth in the form of a cheese platter and a glass of wine after a big day. We picked up our registration package, which had our shuttle pass and event tickets for multiple events for the weekend, and began to get super excited for the adventures afoot.
Being keen lifelong learners, and always seeking out that 1%, we had both signed up for the skills clinic with coach and living legend Indi Boer from The Fastline Bikademy. Indi has been riding and racing bikes for 26 years
with numerous Australian and Hungarian titles under her belt. After a warm up, Indi explained something incredibly simple yet infinitely valuable to us about cornering, and planting our feet. We zoomed around gaining free speed with such simplicity. We looked to doing ‘fisting runs’ (definitely not what you’re thinking) with the goal of braking less and gaining free speed, and looked at edging and body movement in corners to further gain speed and stabilise the bike.
Rain was on the horizon though. “It’s still good, Kaz, we will be fine” I say, optimistically. After all, shuttles were still running and women were heading up the mountain.
Karen looked less impressed (she’s the smart one in this duo).
We climbed up the road to hit the Green-Line, Falls’ linked-together series of green trails hailing all the way from the summit to just under the village; a trail we were yet to ride.
Two minutes later we were pelted with icy rain and sleet; our arms and hands numb and senseless, with zero visibility in the icy front. A Brisbanite’s worst nightmare.
We conceded defeat, pedalled to the village had a hot shower and sat at Stingray with a large pot of tea. So we took the opportunity to relax and ready ourselves for the afternoon yoga session. There was a whole crew of women rolling into the resort shortly after, chilly and cold but defiant; they had ridden the entire green line in the adverse conditions, stopping in at a little cafe at the end where they downed shots of hot chocolate.
After some relaxing yoga, we headed to dinner at the Frying Pan cafe, presumably named after the epically scenic Frying Pan Spur atop the mountain, the suave decor more ‘Melbourne’ than ‘ski resort’.
Dinner was accompanied by a women’s panel consisting of inspiring local riders and fronted by renowned 24-hour racer Jessica Douglas. No question was off limits, as someone raised their hand to ask what chamois cream is, what the difference between tubeless and tubed tyres are, and the preference of 27.5” and 29” bikes.
But the real theme of the evening was pushing through discomfort and progressing in skills and life to overcome our ‘concerns’ whether they be a 2 metre drop off, slimy roots, or even working up the courage to enter their first event. Facing concerns was a metaphor for the entire event really, and so many women saying “if she can do it, so can I” and riding more technical trails than they would usually be comfortable with in such a supportive community.
Sunday morning greeted us with a sliver of joyous sunlight, and soon after we were outside with crystal blue skies, surrounded by the stunning mountain ranges that were obscured just a day before, with the hero-dirt ready for us to ride.
We started the day off with an exquisite doppio from Blue Dirt: then shuttled to launch down the rocky tech of black run High Voltage, we turned into the flow of Wishing Well leading us to the Iconic Flowtown: a 10km of unbroken flow from the summit to the ticket box, where the bus awaited us to be taken back to the village.
The main social event of Sunday was the Wallace’s Hut ride, a relaxing 10.5km ride out towards Omeo on bitumen and fireroad to the historic drover’s hut. Built in 1889, it’s probably the oldest surviving hut in Victoria’s high country, built among the iconic snow gums by the three Wallace brothers—Arthur, William and Stewart— to provide shelter for the cattlemen working in the region.
The lush green grass and shady flora made the perfect spot for a picnic lunch, and we weren’t disappointed with the quality of the tucker. Delicious wraps, buddha bowls, salted caramel slice, fruit, cider and energy balls were lush pickings. Before the ride, Karen and I both weren’t sure to expect with the Wallace’s hut ride, but we both remarked that it was a highlight of the weekend, a big ask amongst a full day of runs and all the other activities!
With a full stomach and a face full of sun, we headed back to get some more shuttles in before they finished. We sampled almost the complete offerings of Falls Creek trail network, and managed to clock up over 60km of time on the dirt: big days on the trail bikes.
We met and talked to so many women throughout the weekend; we met new riders, reformed roadies seeing the light, active members of the local community and national level rippers. There really was something for everyone at MTB de Femme, we left the mountain reluctantly, but so contented and satisfied with a huge grin on our faces.
“Next year?” I said. “Sure!” Karen replied. www.ambmag.com.au - 21
“I’VE BEEN SURPRISED ABOUT THE RANGE OF AGES A T THE EVENT. THERE’S SO MANY STRONG WOMEN WHO ARE MIDDLE AGED, OR OLDER. I HA VE TWO SMALL CHILDREN AND THINK, IF THEY CAN DO IT THEN SO CAN I!”