In light of the current Federal and State Government directives around non-essential travel, Gravelmob has made the decision to temporarily stop taking bookings for our tours, overnighters and gravel bike hire. We all need to take steps to limit the spread of the virus, and whilst encouraging visitors to Beechworth to ride bikes seems harmless enough from a personal contact perspective, the reality is that none of us know whether or not we’ve already been exposed to it. Gravelmob doesn’t want to be responsible for an unsuspecting customer bringing the virus to our little town. Tourism in Beechworth and the High Country is already suffering lasting effects from the January bushfires, so this decision wasn’t taken lightly. It’s temporary, and as soon as travel restrictions are lifted and/or the virus threat is lowered we will be back in business. We hope to see you then.
What’s the High Country Brewery Grind?
The (mini) High Country Brewery Grind is a 3-day, 2-night bikepacking ride that takes in four of the High Country breweries listed on the High Country Brewery Trail, which is a car-touring route that links 9 independent craft breweries in the Victorian High Country (get yourself over to Feast High Country and check out the HCBT ,and while you’re there, read about the annual collaborative beer release, Rule 47).
So where does Gravelmob come in?
Well, what we’ve done is link the 9 breweries together into an epic bikepacking route – the High Country Brewery Grind. Promising solid days with plenty of elevation gain, we set the route up along some basic guiding principles:
- Each day ends at one of the breweries.
- Gravel or singletrack where possible, but quiet sealed roads are OK too.
- The surfaces and riding must be manageable on a cross/gravel bike (ie not MTB goat tracks).
- Each night should have a variety of accommodation options, as close to the brewery as possible.
This ANZAC weekend (Fri-Sun April 24-26) we’ll be riding a short 3 day, 2 night version of the full bikepacking route that takes in four of the breweries and still includes plenty of the spectacular High Country gravel riding that the region is famous for.
Sadly we’ve had to postpone this ride. As soon as domestic travel and personal contact restrictions are lifted we will set a new date. Stay tuned.
The Plan
The (mini) High Country Brewery Grind is an unsupported gravel/bikepacking ride where a group of riders leave Beechworth at roughly the same time and follow a mapped route.
It doesn’t have an entry fee or insurance, and won’t have any formal organising other than what we all figure out between ourselves before and during the ride.
All riders will be riding at their own risk and supporting themselves (well, we’ll be supporting each other).
Distance 280km, elevation gain +3180m. Most of the climbing is on days 2 and 3, when we climb the dirt road up to Mt Porepunkah (day 2) and then pretend to be IPWR riders up the sealed Back of Stanley (day 3).
Thu 23 April: Arrive Beechworth (Billson’s Brewery)Fri 24 April: Beechworth to Whitfield, 90km (King River Brewing)Sat 25 April: Whitfield to Bright, 115km (Bright Brewery)Sun 25 April: Bright to Beechworth, 75km (Bridge Road Brewers)
Sadly we’ve had to postpone this ride. As soon as domestic travel and personal contact restrictions are lifted we will set a new date. Stay tuned.
Draft route
Note the word “draft” in that title. The route may change in the coming weeks, but the nightly stops are locked in.
Camping accommodation
This is a bikepacking ride, so we’ll be carrying our own accommodation on our bikes. If you want to free-camp somewhere or live it up in an AirBnB that’s cool. Otherwise, we’ve made special arrangements with Beechworth, Whitfield and Bright caravan parks to overcome their 2-night minimum stay requirements.
Thu 23: Beechworth. We’ve arranged unpowered sites for up to 40 riders at Beechworth Lake Sambell Caravan Park, 1.5km from town.
Fri 24: Whitfield: We’ve arranged unpowered sites for up to 40 riders at Gentle Annie campground, 2km north of the Whitfield pub and 4km south of King River Brewing.
Sat 25: Bright. We’ve arranged unpowered sites for up to 40 riders at Bright NRMA Caravan Park, 200m from town.
Sun 26: Beechworth. Many riders will be driving home after finishing the ride, so we haven’t arranged anything for this night.
To reserve one of the Gravelmob-arranged sites on Thu+Fri+Sat night you must book a ticket for each rider via our online booking system. You can add multiple riders per booking. The tickets are $60 per person (each night is $20pp). Please note – this isn’t an entry fee (there isn’t one of those), this is just to reserve your spot at the campgrounds.
Meals
The route has multiple breakfast options in Beechworth, Whitfield and Bright (day 1, 2 and 3), cafe lunch options in Moyhu (day 1) and Myrtleford (days 2 and 3), and pub or takeaway dinner options in Whitfield, Bright and Beechworth (days 1, 2 and 3).
There’s no obligation for us to all eat together. You can BYO food and cook en route, in the camp kitchens, on your mini-stove, or whatever you like.
Equipment
We support the “ride what you have” philosophy as the best way to approach bikepacking. Just strap stuff to your bike and have fun.
That said, things will be a little easier (and arguably even more enjoyable) on this ride with:
- A gravel bike or hardtail MTB.
- A lightweight tent and sleeping gear that’ll keep you comfortable and warm at 0-5 degrees.
- Ride clothing suitable for weather that could be anything from sunny and warm to raining and 10 degrees.
- Bikepacking bags or touring panniers (maybe you could borrow some if you don’t have any – it’s more comfortable to ride without anything on your back).
- Some planning around your packing and how to carry what you need on your bike. If you’re new to it all then bikepacking.com and cyclingabout.com are good places to start, or you can call us and we’ll share what we know.
Are you keen?
If you’re interested in being part of this ride please let us know via our Instagram feed (@thegravelmob), marking “Going” on the Facebook event page or you can email us at bookings@gravelmob.com.au. And if you think you’d like to ride it on one of our Bombtrack hire bikes, book early!
This ride could either be a highlight of your year or a complete disaster. Either way, you’ll have something to talk about…
