Facilities at the campground

At the campground there is a long drop toilet and a rainwater tank (not potable / drinkable but OK for washing dishes) so bring water and food with you plus hand sanitiser and toilet paper!

The Club will have some water but a suggestion is to head to Coles or Woolworths where you can buy a couple of 10 ltr (filled) water containers quite inexpensively. These are very handy.

There are no BBQ’s or picnic tables at this campsite, so you’ll need to bring your own or share with others. The club will provide several gas stoves for people to use.

Meals / Food you need to bring

All meals are to be self catered - that will mean:

Saturday - dinner

Sunday - breakfast, lunch & dinner

Monday - breakfast & lunch (during the ride)

We encourage parents to try and let the Pathfinders fend for themselves in the ‘cooking’ stakes - all part of the fun - but of course step in where you clearly need to!

Given the weather is cool refridgeration is not really an issue but if you want to keep food cold we recommend you bring an esky with some ice.

• Breakfasts are easy enough but we suggest bringing long life milk.

• For lunches, we suggest sandwiches, rolls, cruskits, ryvitas….caviar and a cheeseboard (just kidding!)

• For dinners, given it will be cold, you and the kids will be wanting warm and hearty food...some good suggestions are any kind of soup, pasta dishes, curries, noodles and the all time Pathfinder favourite - Haystacks!! A good option if you don’t have the time is to head to Anaconda, Kathmandu or the 'Camp, Hike, Climb' shop in Hornsby for dehydrated meals. These are easy to prepare and pretty tasty surprisingly.

• For snacks during the rides (we have 3 rides planned - see below) trail mix is great, muesli / granola bars, a little bit of chocolate is a good high energy burst, apples, oranges, hard boiled eggs etc… recommend you avoid bananas, tomatoes or avocados for the Monday ride as they can get squashed in your day pack….a lesson I learnt last year.

We will be allowed to have can a fire at night so bring your marshmallows too.

The Village store, mentioned above, at the end of Forest road is only 4km’s back up to the road if you’ve forgotten anything!

Gear you need to bring

As before, it will be very cold at night time - close to zero degrees celcius. So bring warm clothing and do invest in a good quality sleeping bag if you don’t already have one. It will pay for itself over the years. Items you will need:

- Mountain bike with gears

- Helmet (compulsory)

- Bike Gloves (protects your hands if you fall, keeps your hands warm and avoids you getting blisters)

- A spare bike tube in case you get a bad flat (we will have pumps and tools available)

- Warm clothing for night time (did you know most of the heat is lost through your head? so bring a beanie too)

- Food (as mentioned above) and cooking/eating/drinking/cleaning utensils/supplies including mug

- Water

- Day pack for taking snacks on the ride

- Drink bottle or hydration bladder for the ride

- Snacks for the ride as mentioned above

- Personal toiletries

- Tent if you you are bringing your own. NB. Pathfinders will sleep in the clubs tents..all part of building the comraderie

- Sleeping bag (and pillow if you are like me)

- Camp chair

- Wet weather gear

- Plastic bags for wet or dirty clothes and rubbish

Planned rides

The trails in this area are often used for mountain bike racing carnivals and are well signposted. They are a mix of fire trails and single tracks. Our plans are that we will be riding the 'Yellow loop trail’ trail on Sunday morning - starting no later than 8.15am returning to base camp for lunch, then heading off again for another trail ride ‘Blue trail’ in the afternoon. The ‘Red trail’ will be ridden on the Mondaymorning - starting no later than 8.15am. Below is a short description of each ride:

Yellow Loop: Similiar terrain to the practise ride we have done. Its19km long but includes some climbs at the beginning, with the climbing out of the way you'll be flying along fire trails and dirt roads before heading back to base camp for lunch

Blue Loop: A 6km loop solely of fire trails with slight ups and downs it'll have you back at camp in no time. Great for beginners.

Red Loop: At 25km's long you'll head along fire trails to begin with before riding some of the famous sections from the Highland Fling including "The Wall" a steep, short climb, "Great Wall" and "Tangles" a fantastic section of switchback singletrack through ferny gullies. This is a more ‘technical’ ride so we have made this on the last day when our skills are up. Last year we cut it short to about 20kms.

We do have a wide array of skill level and a large number of riders so the plan is to break out into two groups for each trail ride. One being the ‘Tour De France’ riders and a second group made up of those 'who like the scenery’. That way each group can go at the pace that works best. The faster group can then move ahead.

If you would like to check out what some of the trails at Wingello look like, check out this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EHBtG0IfHM and it will take you to a site with a video from a race held at Wingello. You’ll get a bit of a feel for the varied landscape and terrain that you’ll be riding on.

What we need from Parents and Pathfinders

• Pathfinders are not to bring weapons of any kind on camp

• Pathfinders and parents need to put up and take down their own tents and assist with camp set-up and break down

• Pathfinders and Non-Pathfinders whom leave the base camp area must tell a leader, director or their parent before they leave and where they are headed.

• For use of the toilet facilities, Pathfinders need to go with either another Pathfinder ‘buddy’ OR their parent OR two adults to the toilet at any time. No exceptions.

• All parents attending should also have a valid 'Working With Children' number. If you do not yet have that then please go to the RMA website and begin the process to attain a WWC.

• Parents, please don’t let the kids bring the ‘electronic’ devices for entertainment purposes

• Many hands make light work at these camps. If a parent can see something or another parent that needs your help please don’t hesitate offer to lend a hand - the favour is guranteed to be returned.

Lastly, and most importantly we all need lots of fun energy and a good positive/can do attitude. I have no doubt it will be a great camp.

Any questions please make contact with me.

PEDAL HARD!

David Goodacre

Bike camp co-ordinator