Each year, the Kalamunda Mountain Bike Collective (KMBC) and Margaret River Off Road Cycling Association (MRORCA) join forces for a weekend dubbed the 'Muster'.
There are night rides, coaching clinics, events for beginners, some friendly competition between the two clubs for the Goober's Cup and plenty of socialising.
This year, we welcomed the crew from Break the Boundary, a group providing nature-based off-road cycling and hiking opportunities for people living with a disability to break physical, mental and social boundaries and engage with the outdoors and wider community.
Based at the Kalamunda Trail Network, Break the Boundary has a community hub for adaptive bikes and other equipment in an ideal location close to trails, where people who don't have a bike, can try and if they like it, can move onto purchasing one, perhaps via the NDIS.
It is not-for-profit and entirely staffed by volunteers.
Break the Boundary also sells its Adaptive MTB guidelines all over the world, for use by all trail networks, to become more adaptive and therefore inclusive.
BTB Founder, Andrew Liddawi is already something of a legend in the adaptive bike scene, having competed in the gruelling Cape to Cape race and showing the community what riders with disabilities are capable of with the right equipment.
In fact, the ethos of BTB is "With the right tools on the right terrain and with the right attitude, anyone can experience the thrills and joy of being off-road in Australia."
The adaptive bikes are typically hand or leg-cranked three or four-wheelers in a variety of configurations.
They mostly have electric assistance and can be either front or rear drive.
Riders can be kneeling or sitting, depending on what suits the individual.
Before the group arrived, MRORCA members audited a number of possible trails to ensure they could be ridden safely.
At present, the trail network is not rated against the Adaptive MTB Guidelines Accessible Trail Rating system.
On Friday afternoon, Andrew and myself went on a reconnaissance ride.
From the outset I was blown away by just how manoeuvrable the bikes are.
We tackled some of the selected green and blue trails with very few issues.
The next day, all four adaptive riders and friends tackled green and blue trails with great success.
Andrew commented "I've always had a soft spot for Margaret River trails as there's always been a wide variety of highly accessible trails for a range of adaptive riders and equipment."
He added: "For a trail network to be truly inclusive for all abilities, information needs to be made publicly available for visitors to the region.
"This would include rating all trails, whether someone thinks they are accessible or not, against the adaptive rating system.
"It's designed in a way that the user gets the independence of deciding what is and is not suitable for their needs."
Sunday morning saw a total of twenty riders, including all four adaptive riders, take on a 12.5 km ride out to the Colonial Brewery for lunch.
From Rotary Park, we cycled along the Bunnitj Biddi for a while before joining the Hop Trail which leads to Osmington Road.
This route includes disused forestry tracks and fire roads and includes a creek crossing.
We were definitely ready for hot food and cold refreshments and after an enjoyable lunch returned via a different route.
Chairperson and Coach, Dr. Wade Jarvis was enthusiastic about the potential for Margaret River to be a future hub for adaptive riders.
"Margaret River has a lot to offer the whole family as a favourite holiday destination," he said.
"We're seriously looking at sites in the south west and the combination of accessible amenities and designated mountain bike trails, walk trails and forest tracks makes this area an attractive proposition".
As we say, the 'attitude' is getting someone with a disability on a bike, the 'tools' are the equipment for someone to own their own mountain bike and be part of the mtb community and the 'terrain' offers a fully inclusive opportunity for everyone (friends and family) to come to Margaret River and enjoy any outdoor pursuit together.
