Cloudride Trip Report
By Jonathan Milford
Disclaimer: This trip report is based on the 2021 edition of Cloudride. In that year, the race ran clockwise. While the course is similar year to year, in 2024 there have been some changes, including the option to detour around the Tingaringy Wilderness. This has made the course slightly faster, but it’s still a massive ride.
I first heard of Cloudride in 2018, when I did a hike in the Jagungal Wilderness over Easter. I saw a surprising number of people riding these wild trails, and eventually asked the next person I saw with a bike why there were so many cyclists about. They mentioned something about “these crazy Cloudriders” and I was immediately intrigued. Over the next couple of years I did a mixture of bikepacking trips and commuter cycling, as well as having a crack at Cloudride Prologue (Cloudride’s more accessible younger sibling). By 2021 I had finally realised that actually following a training program and owning the appropriate gear would help me achieve my goal of completing Cloudride. That year I set a PB on Cloudride Prologue. I took about 20 hours off my time and thought it was time to give the full size race a go.
While I kept track of my place through the race and relished overtaking people, my main goal was to finish and my race discipline and gear reflects this. I carried a lot of weight that many would not, and I wanted to give myself the best shot at recovering each night. The other riders were bringing seriously impressive resumes and I knew my only chance to be competitive was to stay in the game.
Bentspoke to Jerangle Public School – 8am to 7pm
https://www.strava.com/activities/5067263768
I enjoyed cruising out of Canberra and through Kowen Forest, chatting to riders as we went along. I am always extremely anxious on the first day of a race, as I worry that I haven’t prepared properly, or I may have forgotten to pack some vital piece of gear. As we passed Bungendore around the 50k mark, I detoured into town to get started on my first choccy milk and pie of the event. While this put me in last place, I couldn’t resist getting started on the obscene eating contests that these events entail. I had a lot of fun on the rougher trails in Tallaganda – catching up with another group of riders before splitting up again. I made it to Jerangle Public School at 7pm and thought it would be a good spot for dinner. By the time I had faffed with my cooking and eating it was somehow 8pm and I was cold, so called it for the night. It wasn’t as far as I had hoped to get but I was banking on the sleep being good for me.
Jerangle Public School to Nunnock Campground – 6am to 8.30pm
https://www.strava.com/activities/5067267344
I tried to get an early start but had a bit of faff packing the tent and sleeping bag into the handlebar roll. This section of the course was familiar to me from previous Prologue efforts, which made it feel easier. I caught up to a large group at the Numeralla Tennis Club. Most riders were aiming for Nimmitabel, which I felt was a little unambitious. I made good time to Cooma, and it seemed I had a decent on-the-go routine of sunscreen application, water drinking and Snickers/Mars consumption. I was aiming for about a bar and hour, with the added rule that if I thought about food I had to eat. To avoid procrastinating eating if a whole bar felt like too much, I would also have snakes on hand. I’ve learned previously that too many sour worms can really tear up your mouth – something about the citric acid I suppose. In Cooma I ordered my second choccy milkshake, as well as fries and a kebab. I ran out of appetite for the kebab so put it in the feed bag and plodded on. I worried that after spending an hour in Cooma that I would have lost time against the pack, but it seemed everyone else had a relatively cruisey stop there too. Little did I know that many people would be pulling out of the race there. Coming out of Cooma my worries vanished and I started enjoying myself and moving faster – my pre trip anxiety had finally passed. I missed the legendary Nimmitabel bakery’s opening hours but ate my kebab in the park before wandering into the state forest. I was trying to decide where to stop when I went past a campground and decided that was going to be hard to beat.
Off the bike I continued my night time routine of setting up my tent, doing some stretches, combing my hair and beard and giving myself a bit of a scrub with a face washer (way more powerful than a wet wipe!). I didn’t feel like eating so I made myself a litre of hot chocolate.
Nunnock Campground to Delegate – 5am to 11pm
https://www.strava.com/activities/5067271450
At 4am I cursed the fact that the one ultralight piece of my gear was my tent, which meant the Easter full moon shone straight through. I was a little dehydrated, probably from not enough water with my hot choc 😂. I loved riding through the South East forest, so green and wild despite all the fire damage. Out of Cathcart I met my first dotwatcher, which was a huge morale boost. I restocked in Bombala – reupping on Snickers and Mars, as well as getting some chicken tendies and chips stashed in a ziplock bag for the road. I drank a litre of plain milk here as the chocolate milk was only sold in two litres – something I know from experience I can’t keep down. The Delegate river crossing was interesting and took me quite some time to get right, despite Steve’s detailed instructions. Doing it late in the day meant I didn’t have much of a chance to dry off before sunset. Ralene (one of the designated trail angels) whose property borders the river, was super hospitable and prepared some food. She kept offering that I could have a shower or bath but I kept refusing knowing that I had more work to do. I couldn’t explain my reasoning in a coherent manner, much to her amusement. I did accept an apple from their orchard, which was probably the best apple I’ll ever eat. The ride into Delegate seemed to stretch on and on and I got quite cold. When I arrived in town, I continued my lucky accommodation streak – there was still a pub open and they had one available room.
Delegate to Jindabyne – 8am to 10pm
https://www.strava.com/activities/5073331757
Despite sleeping inside for the first time, and having a proper shower, I woke up feeling awful. I had considerable pain on the saddle for the first four hours of the day. I worried a little bit about this as saddle issues often knock riders out, but eventually my body gave up on sending those pain signals. Riding through Tubbut I met the e-dually rider who was an absolute character, although he was not tracked and didn’t have the course notes from Steve. I had a happy-go-lucky approach to accommodation but he was even more carefree, just living the whole ride one pedal (or motor revolution) at a time.
As I dropped my phone for the 17th time that day I realised that despite my near constant eating and drinking the brain fade was creeping in, and I might not have fine motor skills for the rest of the race.
Crossing the Tingaringy Wilderness was a highlight, even though the hills were impossibly steep on the ascent and descent – to get over the water bars I would have to push the bike up, then hold the brakes while scrambling forward myself and repeating the process. On the descents even with my plus tires I was mostly just sliding down the trails. However the scenery was beautiful, just rows of hills all the way to the horizon.
It was also at this point which I started catching up to people. I saw Gioia in the wilderness with a swollen ankle. As I was crossing the Snowy river I saw Paddy and Ross. I made chase all the way up Barry Way, catching Paddy half way up and Ross at the top. As a rider in the back of the pack, I usually only overtake people who are pulling out of the race. Ross had some trouble fuelling but was still chatty. We discussed training and race prep all the way into Jindabyne, and split a room at the motel – greatly upgrading my accommodation from park bench to indoors. I tried to post some more instagram stories that evening to keep the content creation dream alive but my brain was too cooked to sort through the photos.
Jindabyne to O’Keefes Hut – 8am to 9pm
https://www.strava.com/activities/5093171233
Having caught up to my first riders since the start of the race, I was keen to get ahead of them. However, I didn’t get away as early as I had planned as I waited for the grocery shop to open, and spent some time getting another chocolate milkshake while I had the option. Despite my best intentions, I struggled the whole day, with an abysmal average speed. I was not able to ride any hills above 4% grade so I spent a lot of time walking.
Upon entering Kosciuszko National Park I looked back and saw a sea of yellow fields as the setting sun’s golden rays illuminated them. Above billowed the black clouds of the storm that had chased me all day, and in the middle was the most vibrant rainbow I have ever seen. I noticed I was crying. I like to think that it was from the beauty of the scene, but it was probably helped by the fatigue. It’s moments like this that I race for – to feel things that you don’t ordinarily feel.
In the evening I had dinner at Mackays Hut with a group of hikers. I felt a bit outclassed, as my dinner was porridge, and theirs was extreme gourmet ultralight dumplings. This was probably the second time that I was worried about finishing, as the oats were sitting HEAVY. In the distance I saw the lights of Paddy and Ross, so we continued on into the dark together, stopping at O’Keefes Hut.
O’Keefes Hut to Tumut – 5.30am to 11.30pm
https://www.strava.com/activities/5093172338
On day six we largely stuck together for morale, and we knew that we weren’t going to catch anyone ahead of us. The only rider within reach had just scratched in Cabramurra. However throughout the day Ross would shoot off ahead and Paddy and I would discuss – when do we race again? Ross claimed he didn’t care about final placings, but was definitely faster than both of us.
After having a takeaway dinner in Batlow, we bashed through the dreaded blackberry section in the dark. This wasn’t as bad as it could have been thanks to the six riders ahead of us. However we all lost some blood that night and I wondered about mowing the course next time. The ridgeline alongside Blowering Dam was ridiculously steep, up and down, and this culminated with following the GPX trace down a section of the dam (death before detour!). At this point Ross broke off ahead of us and Paddy and I resolved that we would have to beat him somehow.
We arrived at Tumut around midnight, ate dinner in front of Coles, and kipped in the veranda of a church. We figured that a 3am start would ensure we got to BentSpoke around the ideal time of dinner, and hopefully give us a big enough headstart on Ross.
Tumut to BentSpoke – 3am to 6pm
https://www.strava.com/activities/5093172979
We made slow progress in the morning – after my three hour sleep I felt the only benefit was that my dinner was somewhat digested. I also struggled to use my pump, accidentally taking out my valve core a few times before getting barely enough air in the tire to ride. As the sun came up we were riding a beautiful part of the Hume and Hovell track. Paddy and I got into Wee Jasper around noon and noticed on the tracker that Ross was gaining on us. Without speaking we knew that the race was now on and I blitzed up the climb out of Tumut. I gained about 30 minutes on Paddy up the climb. The next four hours were a fever dream of riding incredibly hard yet slow, and checking the tracker to see how much of a gap I had on Paddy… and I couldn’t shake him. As I climbed out of Cotter Crossing the finish line fever kicked in and I was floating home. I set PBs on the run in, tears filling my eyes as I realised I was finally going to achieve the goal I had set all those years ago. Many of my friends met me at BentSpoke to celebrate with me, and I was riding the highest high. All I wanted to do was another ride like this, so I could feel this feeling again, no matter how much effort it took.
Being able to finish Cloudride and finish it well was more than enough reward for my all consuming three month training block (after about nine months building back from an injury in the previous years Cloudride Prologue). And knowing that fitness doesn’t guarantee success, I was so pleased that I was able to execute the race well, fuelling and hydrating sufficiently, avoiding injuries and mechanical mishaps, as well as any navigation errors.
And despite my focus on comfort, I had placed pretty well – half of the 26 starters DNFed, and with the few people I had managed to overtake I came 7th.
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