Neil Ennis - A new age traveller (full interview)

In Issue 143 we spoke to many seasoned travellers, about what what leads them to pack up a bag and head off overseas, over the closest hill, or to a hard mountain bike race. Neil Ennis lives in Queensland, and is progressively riding every piece of country side on his bike. This is the full transcript of the interview with Neil from the issue, it really captures his passion to explore on his mountain bike.

AMB: You do a lot of riding on your own, in some pretty remote places. What drives you onto the dirt for your solo rides, and how often do you do your trips?

NE: I don’t ride to keep fit. I ride to stay sane and happy.

Riding my mountain bike in the bush fills a spiritual and emotional need for me to explore the beautiful places around me. When I stand at the top of a mountain, or the edge of a creek, or in the middle of a rainforest and blurt out “Wow” – that need is met.

Most times that experience is enhanced when I share it with like-minded friends – it seems more “real” when someone else can share in the “awe”.

Riding solo has other pleasures, however. I get to go left or right on a whim and see where I end up, I can ride at my own pace. I can even talk to myself. I think if anyone gatecrashed one of my conversations / arguments with myself they’d think I was insane.

I usually ride with friends every Saturday, all day. We leave at dawn and get back exhausted, sunburned and smiling around sunset.

Working from home has its advantages, and I do most of my shorter solo rides closer to home during the week in the afternoons.

AMB: What’s special about the corner of the world you’re known for exploring, SEQ? What is it that keeps you close to home?

NE: I wasn’t born here. I migrated to Australia with my parents as a ten pound pom in the 1960’s. My parents’ decision to come here was one of the best things they could have ever done for me, and I am continually grateful to them for it.

I’ve lived in South-East Queensland almost all of my life, but it has only been since I bought my first mountain bike about five years ago that I have really witnessed how special it is, and have fallen in love with it. Now, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. In a small way I think I understand what Indigenous Australians mean when they say “I belong to this place”, because this place definitely owns me.

I feel like I’ve been magically infected by something in the soil and it has claimed me as one of its own.

My tyre tracks are all over most of the mountains around here, from the Border Ranges in the south along the Great Divide and D’Aguilar Range to the Conondale and Blackall Ranges in the north. I’ve listened to Bellbirds tinkle in rainforests, stood on rolling plains with horizons a million miles away, and rolled along remote foam-specked beaches that I had all to myself.

I can’t believe my luck. The beauty of this place is stunning! What shocks me is that it took 45 years for me to realise it.

AMB: You do a lot of exploring. Do you always have a plan B for if things don’t go your way?

NE: My Spot GPS Messenger is one of my favourite pieces of kit. I never leave home without it. In fact I’ve had some friends confess to me that they’ll sometimes check out my Spot Shared Page during the week so they can follow where I am while they work.

My wife used to worry about me when I disappeared on the bike all day, but now she can see immediately where I am, and knows I’m able to message her if anything goes wrong.

On some of the longer, more challenging rides I always have a “plan B”. But that means different things depending on the circumstances.

For example, when we organize a large social ride, up to 40 people of various abilities will join us. In that situation we ‘re usually in a place that a couple of us know well, so the issue that needs to be addressed by “Plan B” is whether or not there are bail-out options for people unable to complete the ride. How do they get home? On these rides we’ll often take small two-way radios to be carried by the first and last rider so that everyone knows what’s going on.

Some Saturdays we might follow a track that we’re not sure of. My priority in that situation is to have an alternative route planned in case the track turns out to be a lantana-infested thicket from hell. I’ll then add that route to the GPS and load it up if we need to use it.

Another simple precaution is knowing what to do if my GPS fails. I’ll often carry an old-fashioned compass and a printed map when we’re in unfamiliar territory, and I’ll also make sure that at least one other person has a copy of the route in their GPS in case mine fails.

AMB: What’s in your luggage? Anything you never leave home without?

NE: My friends tease me that I could make a spare bike out of all the things I carry in my backpack.

It’s heavier than most packs, and I’ll always take it with me – even on shorter rides. This has helped me to grow accustomed to the extra weight.

As well as my GPS and Spot I carry the usual things like spares, tools, first aid kit, duct tape and cable ties. I also carry a Lifestraw and water purifying tablets in case I run out of water.

One unusual thing I pack is a couple of large garbage bags which come in handy as makeshift protection from the cold or wet. I even used them as boots once when I didn’t want to get my feet wet.

I never leave home without my camera. I often photograph what I see on every ride, and once a week I’ll do a write-up of that week’s adventure on my blog at: http://NeilEnnis.com.

I need to record my rides. Having a photographic and GPS record of it is very important to me. Even if no one else read my blog I’d still happily write about my rides, and I will often re-read entries from past rides, re-living the feelings and excitement.

For me, the permanent record helps keep the magical experience alive.

AMB: What advice would you give to some of us city-dwelling mtbers who want to get into bike-packing, but don’t know where to start?

NE: Start modestly and keep it simple – sometimes I think we can over-complicate things:

Before planning a multi-day epic far from home, why not just try an all-day ride in a familiar place that appeals to you, pretend you’re a tourist visiting for the first time?

We often take our home town for granted. I was surprised how different my local area seemed when I looked at it with the eyes of a tourist.

Sometimes when I have wanted to cover more ground in a day than a conventional loop, I have done a point-to-point ride to a place that has railway station, and caught the train home. This let me travel further in one day without the hassle of arranging overnight accommodation.

I’ve done a few easy multi-day rides by staying at a pub or a cheap hotel. I didn’t have carry so much gear, and it was great to have a good meal and comfortable bed at the end of the day.

Bike packing is great – but I think it’s something you can work up to with smaller adventures where mishaps won’t derail the entire trip.

AMB: How do you decide where to go next?

NE: I have a ride map: http://nbe.me/3635.

On it I plotted every major ride that I’ve done. Over time, the tracks joined up into a web of lines that cover most of South-East Queensland.

After a year or so of “joining the dots” I was able to trace an unbroken line from my front door to some far-off places like The Bunya Mountains, Condamine Gorge, Cooloolah National Park and O’Reillys National Park.

Now when I need some inspiration for where to ride next, I look at the map and try to find “holes” in it, and join them up.

Often I’ll spend hours looking for dirt roads and road reserves in Google Maps. I’ll ask myself “How could I get from A to B without going on a paved road”. This has often given me some crazy routes which have ended up being a lot of fun. Australia has a tangled web of old stock routes, and gazetted roads that are barely more than a couple of tyre tracks in the grass. These road reserves are perfect for mountain biking adventures. All it takes is a bit of imagination.

Another source of inspiration is the Bicentennial National Trail. This amazing trail spans 5,300km from Cooktown to Melbourne. Parts of it are only an hour’s drive from home, so we often drive out to the trail for the day and follow parts of it. So far I think we’ve covered almost 450km of trails from Mount Stanley to Killarney.

My riding buddies and I have a motto: “No Boring Rides”. I think the main reason we’ve been true to that goal is that we trust each other, we’re not afraid to try something new, and we’re passionate about our adventures. There are a limited number of Saturdays in any lifetime. We want to make each of them memorable!

Follow Neil and check out his GPS map and photos at blog.neilennis.com

Words: Imogen Smith

Images: Neil Ennis