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Over the weekend, Loic Fery of Tasmania completed the 1,000-kilometer Monaro Cloudride 1000 event in Australia in 3 days, 7 hours, and 6 minutes, becoming the first finisher of the 2025 event and setting a new unofficial FKT. Get the scoop here…
Photos by Breathtaking Events
A huge congratulations goes out to Loic Fery, who finished first at the 2025 Monaro Cloudride in Australia over the weeekend, completing the 1,000-kilometer route in just 3 days, 7 hours, 6 minutes. The route starts and ends in Canberra, traversing the Southeast Monaro region and up through the Australian Alps. There were just under 30 riders at Friday’s grand depart, and nearly a third have scratched from the ride. Although the route changes slightly from year to year, Loic was seven hours faster than Callum McNamara’s 2018 time, setting an unofficial fastest-known-time alongside his win. Find a short reflection from Loic below.
Words and photos by Loic Fery
Without knowing, I’ve been training for ultras for the last 10 years. When I was 16, I did a 160-kilometre audax ride as part of my enduro training. When I was living in Queenstown, we would constantly charge. The crew was intense; day and night, were usually pretty non-stop. My mate Kyle showed me how to run the annual marathon each year with no entry fee, one training session the week before, and 42 Jelly beans in the pocket. I think we did three together, and he’s done one every year for at least six years. I’ve also run a few more since then, including an ultra on Bruny Island here in Tassie. More recently, I’ve been on some sick adventures, bikepacking solo and with friends, which have fuelled this love of two-wheeled discovery.
I must say, though, that the last three months were disciplined and focused. I poured a lot into this race, and I’m stoked it worked out the way it did. I pushed deep when I had to but kept a clear head, enjoying the journey and riding on intuition.
On day two, I came hooking around the corner on this rocky, tussocky ridgeline track and scared a big horse, causing it to eject the poor old fella riding out of his stirrups and into the grass. We stopped and talked, and I got a picture with him. I was very grateful he was okay. On day three, I had another close encounter, coming within a very short second of having a head-on with a 4WD on a remote and steep fire trail that was blind around the corner. I survived that, laughed, and continued on with the backing of good fortune on my side for the rest of the ride.
Thank you, Steve, for your passion for the sport, and thank you to the rest of the riders for sharing your courage in lining up for this epic bike ride.
There are still a handful of riders out on course and you can follow their progress live here.
Further Reading
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