HOW DO YOU EARN YOUR KOLSCH ? RIDE
BACK TO FUN STUFFHow do you Earn your Kolsch ? Ride
Introducing Toby Heyring
Co-founder & Co-inventor No Rock Tables
Mountain biking & Fishing & Coffee enthusiast
Location: Meelup Regional Park Mountain Biking trails
Born and bred in Western Australia, for Toby Heyring all paths lead to adventures behind the wheel. He grew up living down south so surfing naturally became one of many great things he got to experience regularly, but one day he realised his excitement was all about driving the Bear’s track, not the actual surfing part, so the surfboards have since been mothballed for a good ten years or so.
Toby first started mountain biking in 2008. “I was doing rally driving at the time and I saw a lot of rally guys were doing it as a sport in between motor sport events, and yeah, I just thought that was a cool idea and it was also good fitness for rally drivers too. You need a lot of mental fitness to finish an event, especially for an international event where it’s over a week. So, that was what got me into it, and then I just got hooked. I found there’s a lot of similarities, like picking a line, finding grip – it’s just exciting and fun.”
When you first started riding, were you riding near Eagle Bay or would you go further afield ?
“There were some hand-built local tracks in the Meelup Park and also South Carters in Margaret River. Some of the local mountain biker’s were building tracks, all by hand and illegally – also out in Nannup and Wellington Mills. They were all illegal trails, hand built by passionate guys who want to spend their days out in the bush with a shovel”
The mountain biking trails in Meelup Regional Park, when were they first built and were you part of making that happen ?
“Initially the Cape Mountain Bikers committee included myself and six others. The most instrumental were Miles Happ and Simon Mansfield with the formation of the committee and commencement of the trails project. Overall it was a very long process, engaging with the City of Busselton and Meelup Regional Park Management committee to have some trails put in officially and legalised. To start with we had really good design from a build agency brought in at the time called Dirt Art from Tasmania, they did a trails master plan for the whole Meelup Regional Park. It was really good, but attempting to collaborate with the Meelup Regional Park Management Committee proved to be difficult and as a result the vision and scope changed significantly from the original master plan.”
“Overall it literally took seven or eight years of consistent work from Cape Mountain Bikers. Miles secured our first funding grants from the City of Busselton and State Government. He and Simon showed much resilience fighting the Meelup Regional Park Management committee, truly a tireless effort. Simon & Miles handed over the reign’s to other volunteers in the committee and they eventually got the Meelup trails over the line.”
Thinking about when the trails were first opened and now – how many more people do you think use the trails ?
“For the locals in our area, I’d say maybe a third of people who are between 12 and 40 probably ride up there, so the engagement is huge and it’s become a super important part of our local community, it’s always busy. Also because of the mountain biking community around it, the local bike workshop’s at Humble bike Co and The Bike Shed are booked out well in advance to get your bike serviced.”
“There is also a focus on events, the Meelup trails hosted the WA Gravity Enduro round on the 23rd & 24th April. There would’ve been at least 750 riders and collectively about 5 to 10 million worth of bikes alone, with the participants, their friends and families visiting the area. The trails also play a key part in other events throughout the year including the Cape to Cape MTB race in October, Eagle Bay Epic in November and many more.”
“The demand way outstrips supply in both trails, quality of trails, other infrastructure, and bike cycle trails to get there and back. Hopefully more funding will be allocated to continue improving the trails & the environment surrounding them”
What’s your favourite run ?
“It’s called Firey’s, starts on zone six in Meelup Park and finishes in the Dunsborough Country Club. It’s a good descending trail, punchy, fun and it’s perfect for an after-work blast. Maybe one day we’ll get a legalized mountain bike link from Dunsborough to Eagle Bay brewery, that would be good”
Favourite food to eat at our place post Mountain Biking session, and of course goes well with your pint of Kolsch ?
Definitely a wood-fired pizza.
About the Mountain Biking trails at the Meelup Regional Park
Meelup Regional Park is found on the outskirts of Dunsborough and extends 11km along the coastline from the Dunsborough Country Club in old Dunsborough to Bunker Bay. The park has stunning coastal bushland, granite outcrops, a couple of hidden beaches only accessible by foot and that eye-popping turquoise blue backdrop.
Alongside the coastal walks, you will find 20km of mountain bike trails from the Dunsborough Country Club into the Meelup Regional Park. The trails can be enjoyed by all ability levels with downhill runs from green to black lines, rock obstacles, jumps and technical single tracks.
About No Rock Tables
Ever leant on a restaurant table only to have your wine spill, and a waiter rushing over to solve the wobble with a few folded napkins under the table’s leg ? We all have a wobbly table story, but for the Heyring family the story didn’t end with the napkin, it marked the beginning of NOROCK self-stabilising table bases.
Other good local riding intel
Humble Bike Co, Vasse
The Bike Shed, Dunsborough
Cape Mountain Bikers
Middle Earth & other biking trails
Beaches, Bikes and Brews in Dunsborough
