Herald Sun Tour Stage 1

Today I took the opportunity to ride up the Warby Trail to see the Herald Sun Tour at the Mt Little Joe KOM point just outside Warburton. I met my mate Dan and a few of his GhostRiders there as we waited for the tour to come through. 

Not quite the Tour de France but it was a great ride and a fun day out. There were some big names riding and Sky went 1-2 on the stage with Kennaugh and Froome beating the field home.to Healesville.

Trip Training for Italy

Planning a cycling trip to Europe in September is exciting, but has one major drawback - you have to keep riding right through the winter in Melbourne ....

But it's not all bad, if you can pick your days. Since booking the trip - which will involve nearly 1000 kms in 13 rides over 14 days - mostly in the Dolomites - I have managed 2300 kms in 41 rides in 3 months ... sounds like enough doesn't it ... ?

Oh well, weather looks rubbish for the rest of this week then I have another 3 good weeks of riding to do before I taper off a little the week of my departure - when I probably should pack.

Today I varied things a bit and put the Fulcrum CX7 wheels/28c tyres on the 'new' GIANT Defy 1 and rode some windy hills around Park Orchards and South Warrandyte before looping back via the Main Yarra Trail and setting some wind assisted PBs in the process. Man, that thing flies - well... compared to the CAADX anyway.

Winter Ride in Melbourne

 Confluence of the Yarra and
Mullum-Mullum Creek

Retirement is tough but someone has to stand up to calls from Abbott&Hockey wanting everyone to work until they drop ... I volunteered 4 years ago, and I reckon I'm making a decent fist of it so far !

Who..would... ever....ride a BIKE... to Woods Point ??

Commercial Hotel, Woods Point

Justin has wanted to ride to ...Woods Point (!!!) for a long time. Not quite sure why ... but what-the-heck, sounded like a plan.

Anyway he talked me into it as well so we took the train to Wang on Wednesday (it left 1hr50m late BTW ) and rode down to Whitfield first night. I guess any old trainspotters can reel off the names of the old stops on the Whitfield line? I recall being diverted down that way once upon a childhood drive... 

Mt Donna Buang Ride

Descending the gravel from Donna Buang to Don Rd.

Justin and I are preparing for a 5 day tour next week and, as he is short on climbing recently, we ventured once more to Mt Donna Buang.

Our proposed tour has 3 tough days of 80+kms and some decent climbing so we need to put some altitude in the legs. Climbing on tour is a bit easier because you just take your time. On the other hand you have extra weight on board and heavier kit, so some training is wise. My recent efforts have helped me out a lot so I shouldn't have too much trouble - I hope !!

Still, I'll be fitting the new 34t inner ring to my cranks this week and riding with the big 30t rear cassette. We may do another ride up the back of Donna this week (on the gravel) as we have lots of gravel ahead of us next week. Should be fun ...

Here is the Strava from last Friday's ride.

Mt Donna Buang ... again !!

Head in the clouds on Mt Donna Buang

Well there's no escaping the need for a final big climb before heading to Bright this weekend for the AudaxAlpineClassic 140 (Mt Buffalo) on Australia Day. So I headed off to Yarra Junction in the car and rode with my mate Dan to the summit of Mt Donna Buang.

It was a cool pleasant day in the valley but there was cloud up top and it was very cold and nearly raining so on went the jacket for the descent to Warburton. A pie and a hot chocolate later and we rolled back to Yarra Junction and home.

Badger Creek to Mt Donna Buang

Had a bonus ride up Donna Buang today whilst Bernie, Maddy, Rachel and Tim (Maddy's BF) visited the Healesville Sanctuary. It was an interesting afternoon.

Showers blowing over the mountains as we approached Healesville, wet roads on the way up but no rain at all and dry tarmac on the way down. Very chilly at the top as expected and cold descending but smashed all sorts of PBs in both directions,  mainly because of the cold I think !! Didn't want to stop really ..... pretty windy and bleak at the top.

Dirty Dandenongs

Harry the horse, and friend...

Today we covered some more new ground in the Dandenongs. There are lots of popular road-riding routes through the 'Nongs, and we've done the usual ones many times - 1:20 (The Basin-Sassafras), Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, The Wall (Olinda-Monbulk Rd), Skyhigh etc - but occasionally we like to go exploring lesser used roads. This is great fun, despite usually involving unsealed roads and steeper climbing !!

Basin-Olinda Rd .... Finally !!

Basin-Olinda Rd

I've been wanting to ride the 'quick' way up to Olinda from The Basin for ages ! But as usual with these things the right opportunity had yet to arise. Justin and I had postponed the ride a number of times and once again this week we are out of sync with our rides so we each decided to tackle it alone. Today was my chance !! 

I have just acquired a new set of ín-between' wheels (Fulcrum 7 CX) and some new 28c tyres (Continental Grand prix 4Seasons), as well as a new climbing cassette with a low gear sprocket of 30t and these were all fitted to the CAADX yesterday ... so off I went ! 

Around The Bay in a Day 100km Sorrento-Melbourne

Well what a day that was !

We spent the night at Rye and rose promptly this morning for the short ride to the start at Sorrento. Kevin was over from Hobart for another ride and was back on the Raceline, Chris was aboard his relatively new Cannondale CAAD 8 and I was on the trusty CAADX 105 - I even remembered to bring the Garmin this time !!

Merri Creek Trail and Plenty River Trail Ride

9 1/2 Weeks - And Making Progress .... to Smith's Gully, at least !

Maybe I could have had an affair with Kim Basinger in the same tiem, but .... well I fell off on May 26 and today was finally a decent climbing ride and a fair distance. Longest, climby-est ride for 4 months in fact. And it was a cracker of a day for it !! Went out via Koonung Trail, Wonga Park, and Kangaroo Ground to Smith's Gully. 

Old Observatory - Melbourne

After a slight change of plans I rode into the Old Melbourne Observatory today. Perfect day for a ride, although a bit windy.

Didn't stop at the Observatory Cafe this time but yummy stuff is available .... !!

Mt Donna Buang Ride

Halfway up the climb...

Yesterday I rode with two mates and we did Donna the back way, a 95 km loop from Mt Evelyn that takes in some gravel climbing up Don Valley Rd and then Ben Cairn Rd (C505) from the Warby Trail at Launching Place followed by the rapid descent down to Warburton and the weary trundle back along the Trail to Mt Evelyn.

Another 3 Day Tour: Tallarook>Alexandra>Warburton>Home

Spring has sprung and it's time to tour !

This time Justin and I decided to tackle part of the new rail trail from Tallarook east to Alexandra and then head south to Marysville and Warvurton, incorporating our all=time favourite ride, the Acheron Way....

2012 Around the Bay Ride

This year Kevin and I tackled the 100km Sorrento-Melbourne ride and had a great time. We managed to cover the course in just on 4 hours, which we were pretty pleased with. Kevin has improved a lot recently since he purchased a nice new Giant Defy roadbike, and we were actually leading a small peloton for about 10kms between Seaford and Mordialloc.

The weather was good - fine and cool, but a bit windy towards the top of the bay. Overall it was a great day out thanks to BNV and all the sponsors.

I also managed to raise nearly $1000 thanks to generous donations to The Smith Family from friends and relatives.

18C means head for the hills !

A sunny day in early August means a ride to the Dandenongs ! Getting to Sassafras via the Koonung, Mullum, Eastlink and Dandenong Creek Trails means 40kms of ups and downs (mostly ups ...) and a mini cherry cheescake and large hot chokky is ample reward for the effort ... well, in my opinion anyway.....

A Touch of Spring in the Air...?

I originally had something else on the agenda today but .... having missed riding the 2 previous days with other commitments I ditched my plans and went riding instead !!

And what a day ! A real touch of Melbourne spring in the air, and I stiched a couple of regular routes together for a 57 km loop which finished with the run down the Main Yarra Trail which I like so much.

Tikalara Park at the confluence of Mullum Mullum Ck and the Yarra River..... 

Mt Donna Buang the back way ....!

Justin and I rode backwards (that is, clockwise) up Mt Donna Buang today. Started from Mt Evelyn, up Don Rd, turned right, ignored the Road Closed sign and headed up the dirt road to join the road up from Warby near the summit. A chilly descent via Cement Ck (where we saw a lyrebird casually stroll across the road ahead .... ) was followed by pie and hot chocolate at Warby before the run back along the trail to Mt Evelyn.

Beyond the Dandenong Ranges

There is so much good riding so close to home - and a great day for it as well. A solid 100+km/1500m ride in perfect conditions. 


Taking a breather along Macclesfield Rd ... Mt Donna Buang beyond in the distance.