Jamie's Nomadic Weekend Away (North) 2020

Words: Chris Bramwell
Photos: Sven Martin

The Nomadic Weekend 'tent town'. 

Vehicles of all shapes and sizes rolled into Fourforty Mountain Bike Park in mid-February for Jamie Nicoll’s second annual Nomadic Weekend. Bikes were unloaded, dogs leapt to the ground, awnings unfurled and tents popped up like mushrooms.

The summer-long dry spell of weather continued through the weekend and the trails were dusty, loose and fast. Fourforty has an amazing number and variety of trails in a compact area, they are well laid out and it’s clear a lot of careful thought has gone into every inch of trail to make the most of the natural features. It’s a park that is built on the land, rather than through it.

The final round of the National DH was also on at the park on the Saturday but Byron and his team deftly kept the two events apart but within quality heckling distance by running two separate shuttle services. A freshly laid pump track also got a good workout.

FourForty ride out with Sven selfies. 

Dusty riders cleaned up with a dip in the river swimming hole then tucked into a quality curry put on by Santa Cruz. It was washed down with a range of beers thanks to Parrotdog Brewery.

Bob is always prepared for onion chopping on curry night. 

An outside screen was erected and Juliana ambassador Anka Martin filled everyone in on her amazing 2019 adventures which deserve an entire story of their own. Her tales were illustrated with beautiful photos taken by her partner Sven (no one mention the aspect ‘issue’!). Jamie also gave us the lowdown on his next adventure, which is an epic 4x4 mission with bikes around Australia, including crossing the Simpson Desert, then shipping his 4x4 to Vladivostok to drive to Europe via Mongolia and the Silk Road.

Anka shares trail stories on movie night. 

Before everyone got some more laps in on Sunday there was time to give some goodies away. A game of musical chairs was played on the pump track (you’ll have to come along next year to see how that works), and a pair of Reserve Carbon Wheels went to Chris Burr by coin toss.

Fresh pump track action with big prizes at stake. 

Thanks Jamie for bringing such a fun group of people together for another great weekend of riding, tales, trails, food, beer and all round good times.

Nomadic Weekend Away CEO Jamie Nicoll (Adventures).