Click here to see the latest information about this year's Winter Warmer

The Winter Warmer is an annual ride we hold during winter. This ride is is on some of the best roads in Queensland in some of the best conditions of the year to ride.

We leave on a Saturday morning and are usually at Maleny by around 1pm. We leave the shop and ride up Samford Road and over the Samford range into Samford. Here we turn right and travel to Dayboro then over the 6km steady climb known as Mt. Mee. At the top the of the first climb we re-group and allow any stragglers a breather. Here we have some fruit cake, snakes and Coke to recharge the batteries before continuing up the climb.

About 10klm of rolling hills later we hit the real top of Mt.Mee at Munchkins. Here we turn left and drop into Woodford for lunch. We stop, re-group and eat some of the finest pies in the area. After lunch it is a good flat run to the bottom of the last climb which is Peachester then left into Stanley River Rd. This climb is very steep in parts and there has been a few people known to walk up this 1km section. It is the last climb of the day so we encourage people to go their own pace and arrive at Tranquil park at their leisure.

We stay the night at Tranquil Park and enjoy the best views of the mountain which reveal Brisbane by night and the imposing Glasshouse Mountains by day. There are usually a few youngsters who have some beer and wine and lead well into the nights activities of a cycling movie and an "open mic" with Kimble's famous bush poetry headlining.

The following morning after a hot breakfast we leave the tranquilities and begin a descent through the Peachester farmland and ride behind the Glasshouse Mountains to our lunch stop at Wamuran. The "Hut of Indulgence" is where we treat ourselves to John's good coffee and famous breakfast.

The next part of our ride home is through some lovely small roads that are not very well known but extremely beautiful. There are a few ups and downs along some narrow laneways. This part of the ride home is the homeward stretch and the sniff of home gets a few fired up.

The ride it self covers 250km in two days. Day one has more climbs and is a little harder, day 2 is a bit faster, still difficult due to a few tired legs and hangovers.  Both are unique and equally enjoyable. All in all a great weekend.

Next Winter Warmer: August 8/9, 2008. Book now. 

Click here to see some photos of the 2007 Winter Warmer

Ride Data