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Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
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Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby FloodSim » Mon Oct 24, 2016 1:05 pm
I want to ride from Noosa to Rainbow Beach along Teewah beach, on a fatbike.
It's about 80-90km each way. The plan would be to leave from Noosa one day, stay the night at Rainbow Beach, and return the next day.
I know this beach is open to 4wd, so I don't think there would be any problems with the route. Has anyone driven or ridden this before?
I don't own a fatbike nor have I ever ridden one.
Ideally I'd like to be able to hire a bike just for this trip. Google tells me there are fatbikes available for hire in Noosa, but I question whether they would be maintained to a level that would make this type of ride viable.
Any fatbike owners in the Noosa area already? Or know of any stores with decent hires? I'm based in Brisbane.
How difficult is riding on sand?
I've only ridden road before and I expect sand will be tough, so I'm not sure where my fitness needs to be at for this.
The ride would be more of a cruise, I'm not going for speed, I'm wondering if 90km on sand is physically possible?
Any thoughts are appreciated
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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby RonK » Mon Oct 24, 2016 2:05 pm
Beach conditions vary considerably depending on recent weather. After a spell of calm weather it can be like driving on the highway, after bad weather there can be km after km of exposed coffee rock. I'm not aware of the current state of the beach. You can get a condition report here.
At low tide the beach is wide and firm - fine even for ordinary mountain bikes. At high tide you will be forced up on to the soft sand close to the frontal dune along with the 4wd's. It's likely to be deeply rutted. A fat bike may handle it ok but I've never ridden one and can't say for sure.
You would need to time the ride to coincide with low tide. Given the distance involved this may be difficult. I suspect 80 km riding a fat bike in sand will be a big ask.
It's not that far but at Double Island Point you will probably have a walk/carry across the neck to Rainbow Beach if you get that far before the tide comes in. After this your troubles will start. The beach is very narrow in places and by the time you arrive at Rainbow (Mudlo) Rocks will probably be impassable. Many 4wd's have met their end here - the gallery of photos in the wall in the Rainbow Beach pub bear testimony.
Other things to consider - the beach is like a desert on a warm day. Can you carry enough water?
And how much will your progress be slowed when the inevitable headwind starts blowing.
This could be a lot of fun, or a real endurance test. I suggest you will need to camp for it to be doable.
Also the beach and camping areas are very busy during holiday periods and long weekends. Best avoided then.
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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby daft1024 » Tue Oct 25, 2016 4:20 pm
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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby RonK » Tue Oct 25, 2016 6:03 pm
daft1024 wrote:Try reaching out to Neil Ennis. This blog post has part of the route your considering. I'm guessing he will tell you if Noosa - Rainbow route is suitable/desirable. Certainly the rainbow loop in the blog post looks awesome.
If you read Neil's earlier blog where they went in the reverse direction, they abandoned the attempt to reach Teewah.
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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby RonK » Tue Oct 25, 2016 6:14 pm
Check out Troy Szczurkowski's Moreton Island blog (Neil was along on that one too), and his North Straddie trip.
Moreton Island 3 day Wintersun bikepack
North Stradbroke Island fatpacking trip
Troy is the head mechanic at River City Cycles. It worthwhile calling in and having a chat with him. And the shop is full of fat bikes.
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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby PiratePete » Wed Nov 09, 2016 11:48 am
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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby Dannymac » Thu Dec 22, 2016 9:54 am
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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby RonK » Thu Dec 22, 2016 10:55 am
So you took around 6 hours to cover the distance. Timing the tides are really the main difficulty to my mind - it's useful to know that the distance can be completed between tides even riding at steady pace.
Next challenge - Fraser Island.

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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby Dannymac » Thu Dec 22, 2016 11:09 am
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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby foo on patrol » Sat Dec 24, 2016 5:30 am

Foo
Goal 6000km

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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby ldrcycles » Mon Dec 26, 2016 5:10 pm
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Re: Noosa to Rainbow Beach, feedback?
Postby Dannymac » Tue Dec 27, 2016 9:06 am
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