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.

Another Woods Point tour ...

After riding north to south from Wangaratta home to Melbourne via Jamieson and Woods Point last March, we decided to try the south to north route.

We started from Lilydale again rode to Reefton, Woods Point and Jamieson, and  and returned around the recently (last 2 years ?) sealed Eildon-Jamieson Rd and back via Marysville and the Acheron Way.

Some more pics - Woods Point Tour

Here's some extra photos from the tour ...

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 ... 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.

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.

Surplus quietly achieved anyway......

I passed my yearly target on today's last ride for 2012 with 10005.62 kms on the clock  and nearly 1100km coming in the last 30 days to meet that bloody target, including 5 rides up the 1:20 in the Dandenongs, Mt Donna Buang, a rare RingwoodRoadRide yesterday morning and a Beach Rd blast today on the old Raceline Peloton for the last 80kms.

In fact I've had to do over 3000 in the last 3 months to get there. No wonder my back gets a bit sore ....

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....

Warburton-Lake Mountain Ride

Yesterday J and I did a second ride to Lake Mountain in preparation for our Audax Alpine Challenge 135km ride on Jan 29th. It's 120 km return with plenty of climbing (over 2000m of total ascent) so should do the job OK.

Ride over Acheron Way to Marysville

Great ride with Dan and Justin. I rode the old hybrid - next time I ride this way I plan to have a nice new CX bike !