Kim Whitehouse – rider profile

Name – Kim Whitehouse

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Profession – Tourism Marketing Manager

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Uphill or Downhill? Uphill, there is not enough of me to go downhill fast…

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Most epic day on a bike? Just one? So many great days in the saddle, so many stories. I think the saying goes, ‘Go hard or go home’ so ending up in hospital qualifies as an epic day I think. The day started as any multi-day stage race does, lots of food, chamois cream, sunscreen etc etc. Day one of five – so a start filled with excitement, adrenaline and the laughter of friends. We were off racing out of town towards the ‘Hell Line’…the name says it all! Fast along a train track trail, out over some sandy (oh hell, here we go), over scrub (there will be thorns embedded after that effort to avoid more sand…best leave the thorns be and thank Stan), up steep rocky climbs and into the ‘Hell Line’. The ‘Hell Line’, a rough piece of trail disliked but respected by locals however quite a bit of fun and very like some of the trails we ride around Castlemaine. Anyway, 16kms into the stage and 6km along the ‘Line’ I managed to descend into a hole superwoman style. It was one of those moments where you hear a snap and think ‘let’s hope that was a stick’, hard fall, let’s just do a body audit…mouth full of sand – spit, neck moving – excellent, try to press up out of the hole…hmmmm, not a stick but my wrist. Long story short…lay in the desert for a couple of hours with a couple of kind racers listening to the banter whilst in shock, who would have ever thought that the thermal blanket in the first aid kit would come in handy in the desert…

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The sky is amazingly blue in Alice Springs, I had plenty of time to gaze at it whilst watching three beautiful wedge tail eagles circling in the thermals above, if I had been in South America they could have been vultures waiting for the next meal…Long walk out , friendly banter with a kind couple of riders who offered to walk out with me, strange 4WD drive pick up to the hospital and then 9 hours in Alice Springs emergency…the greatest test of endurance yet!

nThe trails in Alice Springs are worth travelling for and provide epic opportunities in every direction! I will go back one day to finish the ‘Hell Line’ once and for all.

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I’m currently riding… A Titus Moto-lite – full XTR (trusty old paddle shift), Stans nice light wheels, beautiful Middleburn hubs, pink Chris King headset – the only bit of pink bling on this bike.

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Favourite trails (other than Castlemaine) – Forrest VIC, Wisemans Ferry NSW for epic adventures along the old Convict Trail, Welby XC course in the Southern Highland NSW for sandstone and the beauty of the bush, Vancouver Island for the breathtaking beauty of Canadian landscapes, G4 trail in the French Alps for switchbacks that might just take your life away!

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If I wasn’t mountain biking I’d be… paddling the kayak that is hanging in the shed…

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One day I’ll ride… a trail following my son’s lines

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When I head out for a ride I never leave without… my phone (whatever happened to flares? They were so much more fun to set off when you were lost in the bush…).

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