On the last night of Great Bike Hike, held recently during the Easter holidays, each of the leaders told about their faith in Jesus.

"All the leaders had made a lifestye choice to follow Jesus Christ," said the director Stephen, "They were united in thinking that going to church is a great thing. There were 11 different churches represented amongst the leaders on camp."

The 18 highschool age students participated in discussions led by Eddie on how to achieve a Victorious Life.

Thirteen of the campers indicated they had found the study in some way personnally challenging to the way they had been living their lives.

After camp there were comments such as "It helped me realise how good it is to be good."(grade 9); The studies were great and also relevant to life."(grade 12); and another said "Strongly strengthened on this camp with my walk with God"(Grade 9)".

"For those involved in running GBH, it is so encouraging to receive comments like that," Stephen said.

"The study challenged us to get our lives back on the track with prayer, bible reading and following THE Leader." said Ian, a GBH leader.

Great Bike Hike 1999 was a really fun experience centered around an enjoyable guided bike hike which visited cool places with plenty of adventure.

"Naturally we did a fair bit of riding," said Stephen. "It was about 200km from Gympie to Caboolture over a variety of riding surfaces and traffic conditions, including only a few main roads."

"While we had fine weather, we rode through a number of state forests, a national park, and some creek crossings."

"Yes most of us did get wet feet!" he said.

But later wet weather did force alterations to the route and the riders took on more bitumen roads than originally planned. The highest point of the ride was from the lookout on Mt Tinbeerwah.

"The 360 degree view was spectacular. From the one spot we could pick out locations near each of our 4 nights accommodation sites."

"We could see from Mothar Mountain in the north to a Glass House Mountain just a speck on the horizon in the south

Throughout GBH the leaders and campers maintained high standards as expected of a Christian camping environment.

"It is truly amazing the harmony that existed on camp," said Stephen. "We all did our bit as a group adhering to various safety measures to create visibility and reduce the risk of accidents."

"We shared in creating some wonderful memories," he said

Senior Leader Cath wraps it up, "It is definitely an excellent time away investing in kids lives and doing the two things I like doing, that is, riding my bike and playing music."

Well, Great Bike Hike 1999 will go down in history as the first bike tour that Cath had to get in the support vehicle. "On this, my fifth bike tour, I happened to get a flat at the top of a descent and had to hitch a ride to the bottom where I did the quickest fix-it job with the assistance of whoever was at hand and hurried to re-join the group at which time the embarrassing situation was announced for the benefit of the entire group."

Other highlights included:-

• the attempt by a very low-flying plane to remove my helmet whilst I was leading the ride past the aerodrome near Coolum;
• the menu on Friday night of 19 pizzas for $40 happily consumed by the group of 32 (18 campers, 2 cooks, Ghumby and 11 other leaders);
• the taxing climb Friday morning up to the Mt Tinbeerwah Lookout rewarded by a superb view of the ocean and surrounding farmlands; cooking sausages by bike light at Mothar Mountain on the first night;
• riding on many dirt/mud trails whose location can only be described as somewhere between Gympie and Caboolture followed by a photo of the 4 muddiest people to demonstrate the fun we had;
• thinking you could make the tilt train go faster than the already accomplished speed of 160km/hr if you coaxed it enough;
• riding through the dark, wet tunnel somewhere on Saturday afternoon this year with a light that actually worked;

  THE LIST GOES ON;

• and finally the adoption of the phrase "whu-a-whu-ah" (however you like to spell it) as this years camp slogan used as the response to just about everything that happened.

The Great Bike Hike is a camp in development and is fast becoming a mountain bike only tour due to the inclusion of any and every dirt trail Ghumby can get a permit for.

It is definitely an excellent time away investing in kids lives and doing the two things I like doing, that is, riding my bike and playing music."

Rumours are rife in the biking community that suggest GhumBy was lost just outside Landsborough while guiding 28 riders on the Great Bike Hike 1999 tour from Gympie to Caboolture.

When confronted with these allegations GhumBy denied this claim saying that he knew where he was just that with so many roads leading from that spot he had trouble choosing which road was the GhumBy-ist one to viably & safely take.

"There was at the time strong pressure on me to turn around & go back though the tunnel & try going the way everyone else would go," said GhumBy "I decided to stick to my principles & try to find the GhumBy trail that I knew was there . . . somewhere. You see, a long time ago I decided that GhumBy's ways are not the natural man's ways."

When confronted by witnesses, GhumBy admitted that he had asked locals for advice.

"Sure, ok, I did ride over to some non-GhumByfied locals and ask them how they would get to Old Gympie Rd from here, but I didn't feel right going the broad way they suggested," admitted GhumBy

"Even though a leader advised me to take their route, I chose a GhumBy trail instead, because it was the right way," he added

An eyewitness reportedly overheard those locals questioning GhumBy's guiding ability, as they put it, "What are you doing way out here when you are riding from Gympie to Caboolture?