Lerderderg Gorge Bicycle Tour

Recently my friend Josh and sister Rosie suggested we go up to the Cathedral Ranges for the Queen's Birthday long weekend to do some hiking. Rosie then suggested we ride there from Lilydale on the first day, hike on the second day and ride back to Lilydale on the third day. It sounded great, but I'd already volunteered to be a corner marshal for the Northern Combine Three Day Tour bicycle race on the Sunday, right in the middle of the long weekend! So I suggested we instead tour out that way so that I could do both.

During the week, Josh picked himself up a trusty new Giant Defy 2 road bike from Ivanhoe Cycles and had it fitted with 28 mm Schwabe Durano Plus tyres and a rack, all set for touring. Rosie was also well-equipped with her new 2013 model Vivente, which she'd recently initiated, touring through China for the previous month. We were on the lookout for more adventurers and managed to recruit Jess as well to form a quadruplet. Jess was on her Fuji Absolute 3.0 which she'd bought years ago for commuting but which had sadly been sitting idle for many months with flat tyre. The impending bicycle adventure was just the motivation she needed to get a new tube and get the bike back on the road.

I mapped out a tentative route for the weekend, looking at about 100 km per day, essentially riding out to Lerderderg State Park via Bacchus Marsh, then through the Macedon Regional Park, and straight across via Romsey and Wallan into the Kinglake National Park (via some back roads that didn't exist on Google Maps but which you can see on OpenCycleMaps), before rolling back into Melbourne.

Our roughly planned route.

Josh and Jess were new to bicycle touring and were indeed somewhat worried and expected it to be difficult, but they also knew they had an escape route as we would generally not be too far away from a train line. Nonetheless, 100 km per day was optimistic for people who hadn't bike toured before, or even been riding bikes in the recent past. I ran the proposed route by the group with no objections, and even an affirmation from Josh: "sounds good I like it."

Day 1

Josh, Rosie and I about to head off from Christmas Street, Northcote.

We decided we'd head off early on Saturday morning and make the most of the daylight in these winter months. 7:30 am was the plan; we got out the door just after 9 am. Then we had to do the food shopping which we hadn't gotten around to on Friday night. Next stop was Coburg to pick up Jess.

L-R: Jess, Josh, Ned and Rosie, before departing on our bike tour.

Then we were on our way. Four and a half minutes later I punctured. I checked the tyre and found a gaping hole which the air was hissing through.

A hole in my Schwabe Marathon tyre, in need of replacement.

Puncture repair kit.

Jess and Rosie waiting for me to fix my puncture. Photograph by Josh.

Jess and Rosie waiting for me to fix my puncture. Photograph by Josh.

Love the expression there Josh! What'd you find in your pannier?

Wearing my T-shirt with a picture of a bike, just to make sure everyone knows I'm riding a bike.

Josh

Jess

I really needed a new tyre, but since I didn't have one, I employed the old $5 note trick to cover the hole from the inside of the tyre. What a great development the polymer banknote was - an Australian invention for which we can thank Professor David Solomon at the CSIRO. Great for covering holes in bicycle tyres and for buying things!

The repair was a success and after that false start, we were on our way in earnest, picking up the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail and heading north up the creek. The riding was pleasant as we were away from the traffic and all still fresh. It's a shame the majority of the Moonee Ponds Creek is not natural and much of it was concreted back when that sort of thing was in vogue. Hopefully it will one day be returned to a more natural state.

We stopped at a bakery in Westmeadows and ordered your typical tradies tucker of choice: (mumbled quickly in a low voice) "piensauceplease." Well, at least I had a meat pie, the others had pasties.

Parking our bikes outside the bakery at Westmeadows before first lunch.

As we got further up the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail, it appeared to be less frequented and was even difficult to follow in places. We eventually had to leave the safety of the bike path at the "Historic Woodlands Reserve" and then take Sunbury Road before cutting across to Diggers Rest where we rested and ate second lunch.

North-east of the airport, back-tracking slightly as we missed a turn.

The upper part of the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail, looking ahead.

Josh riding up the upper part of the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail

Is that the airport there? What, there?!

Riding down the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail as a plane comes in to land.

These gates were poorly designed for cyclists, disappointing considering it's a bike path!

Thanks Jess!

Josh showing off his sexy ladies shorts while taking a break after a hill.

Jess and Rosie, on Sunbury Rd taking a break.

Josh and Jess pushing their bikes up a steep little pinch on Bulla-Diggers Rest Road.

Rosie delivering the mail up the hill.

Second lunch at Diggers Rest.

Josh

Ned

Rosie

Fruitcake

Bread

Jess

Josh, apparently pretty worried!

L-R: Rosie, Jess and Josh. About to depart from Diggers Rest after second lunch.

Then we took the Diggers Rest-Coimadai Road towards Bacchus Marsh. The daylight was disappearing too quickly. I almost had a fall as my front tyre slipped on the side of the white line, but saved it. About one second later, Rosie did the same but didn't save it, and suddenly she was lying halfway across the road, just as a car swerved around to avoid driving over her! That was a close call, and could have been nasty but luckily no harm was done. That's why a metre matters.

On the Diggers Rest-Coimadai Road.

Diggers Rest-Coimadai Road heading towards Bacchus Marsh, getting dark.

Josh had been struggling before second lunch but had since blown out the cobwebs and found his second wind. Jess had been going strong before second lunch but was now struggling, and having to walk up the hills. It looked like we may not reach our goal.

We got to Bacchus Marsh around dusk, and faced the 10 km climb out of Bacchus Marsh up the Pentland Hills on the Western Freeway, before even more climbing towards Blackwood and O'Brien's crossing where I'd envisaged we would camp. That's as far as we got though - facing the climb. It was too much, Jess wasn't going to make it and Josh potentially wasn't either, so we decided to turn around, back-track and find a place to camp. There was a road we'd passed earlier with a sign pointing to Mackenzie's Flat, so we made our way there. This turned out to be a comfortable little picnic ground just on the outskirts of the Lerderderg Forest, so we pitched the tents and relaxed. We'd covered over 80 kilometres for the day, a valiant effort by the neo-tourers, hopefully not too scarring!

We'd been planning to cook pasta on the Trangia's for dinner but after passing a fish and chip shop nearby in Darley, the temptation was hard to resist, so I was nominated to ride back to Darley and pick up fish and chips, which went down a treat with a bottle of Stones ginger wine to share.

Our route for Day 1, Northcote to Bacchus Mackenzie's Flat. See the ride on Strava.

Day 2
The problem with not reaching our target campsite (O'Briens Crossing) for the night was that I had to ride to Kyneton for a race briefing at 11 am and then to Redesdale for the corner marshaling during the race, and our campsite was 100 km from Redesdale, instead of 65 km. That was going to be difficult on my sluggish touring bike. Thankfully Josh offered his bike for me to use for the day, while he would take mine. I still had to take two packed panniers with me though, since Rosie, Josh and Jess didn't have enough racks to carry them.

So in the morning I was stuck with the trade-off between the pain of getting up earlier but being able to ride at a more relaxed pace, or sleeping in a little but having to endure the pain of riding harder. In the end, both were painful, waking up at 7:20 am and then riding hard for 70 km without stopping, a bit like a solo time-trial. Atypically for me, I actually got to Kyneton half an hour early, thanks to somewhat of a tail wind. Who says I can't be early to things?!

After the briefing, it was another 30 km ride to Redesdale, where I was corner marshaling with another person, Emma Jones, who just so happened to be the wife of Oliver Jones, the brother of a friend from school who I went on a fruit-picking trip with years ago, Eliot Jones. Anyway, our job was to slow down the cyclists and warn them of the left-hand turn, for the six grades that raced past. This all went well.

Three Day Tour, A grade: a team-mate Ross Mueller in the Melbourne Unibicycles kit.

Afterwards I bought a sausage roll for first lunch, and rode back to Kyneton, slow-going up hill and in a head-wind.

Back in Kyneton I ate second lunch and got in contact with the others to figure out where we were going to meet each other. The tentative plan had been for them to make their way to day 1's target campsite, O'Brien's Crossing, which would mean only another 35 km ride for me - just as well because it was already 4 pm. But I got this message from Rosie: "Where are you now? We are 4 km from where we started, carried the bikes up a steep incline. Will probably head back to Bacchus Marsh and no sure where to from there". To this I replied "But how are you only 4 km from where you started when you've been going all day?" Rosie replied with "It's a long story, we can tell you about it in picture form when we see you." Here are some of those pictures.

Jess packing at our camping spot (Mackenzie's Flat)

Josh packing at our camping spot (Mackenzie's Flat)

Mackenzie's Flat Picnic Area

The Map of Lerderderg State Forest provided at the picnic shelter at Mackenzie's Flat.

Josh pushing his bike up the "track". 

The gaps a bit narrow for loaded touring bikes!

Josh struggling to get the bike up the hill.

The track up from the river.

Heading straight up the ridge line.

Lerderderg State Park

Josh in the Lerderderg State Park

Jess in the Lerderderg State Park

Rosie in the Lerderderg State Park

Josh in the Lerderderg State Park

Lerderderg State Park

Lerderderg State Park

Josh and Jess in the Lerderderg State Park

Lerderderg State Park with Melbourne in the back-ground.

Lerderderg State Park

Josh and Jess in the Lerderderg State Park

Josh, Rosie and Jess in the Lerderderg State Park

Rosie and Jess in the Lerderderg State Park

Josh and Jess in the Lerderderg State Park

The problem was that they'd tried to take a short-cut via the walking tracks to get across to Mt Blackwood Road, and the terrain turned out to be much more difficult than expected, particularly with having to lug luggage and bikes up. I could have told them that short-cuts make for long delays. But really, I probably would have attempted the same short-cut. In fact, I think I suggested it.

So this left me in a bit of a predicament. I wanted to camp out but they had the tent. The tentative plan was for them to start riding towards Blackwood, and for me to do the same. But by the time I got to Trentham, Rosie and Josh told me they were all exhausted and Jess had had enough and was going to catch the train home from Bacchus Marsh. Josh and Rosie were considering doing the same. Hmm...I still had my sleeping bag, and keen to make the most of being out in the bush, I was considering camping out again rather than riding all the way to Woodend to catch a train, so I was thinking of camping at O'Brien's on my own, just in my sleeping bag.

A lengthy phone discussion ensued as we discussed what to do. It had already gotten dark and I only had my front bike light which didn't fit on Josh's light bracket, which meant I had to hold it in my hand as I rode. I told them I'd be fine camping out on my own if they wanted to go back to Melbourne, or that I could try and ride back to Bacchus Marsh to meet them there and camp at our previous nights spot again. But riding down big hills while holding the light in my hand seemed risky. But camping with no tent on my own also seemed risky. "You're going around in circles", Rosie accused us as we discussed the same options over several times. "Well if you know of a straight way of getting there, let me know!" quipped Josh.

Eventually we decided I would camp out on my own while they caught the train home to Melbourne. I hung up the phone (so to speak) and about four and a half seconds later, Josh phoned back. "Ride to Bacchus Marsh, I'll wait for you". "Okay" I replied. Facing another 45 km of riding, I stopped in at Trentham IGA and bought a roll of sticky tape then taped my light to the handlebars. It turned out the light was pretty useless anyway with one of the batteries going flat - it was outperformed by the moonlight! Nonetheless, two hours later I safely rolled into Bacchus Marsh and met Rosie and Josh at "Far West Pizza". They had a whole large pizza waiting for me. Perfect, just what I needed! That filled a hole.

Rosie and Josh decided they would camp out again with me after-all, so we rode the 7 km back to Mackenzie's Flat and set the tents up there again. We were all pretty tuckered out, but sat down to enjoy another bottle of Stones and some chocolate and mint slice biscuits before getting to bed at around midnight.

Part 1 of my route for Day 2: Bacchus Marsh to Redesdale to Kyneton. See the ride on Strava.

Part 2 of my route for Day 2: Kyneton to Bacchus Marsh. See the ride on Strava.

Day 3

Our campsite at Mackenzie's Flat, for the second night in a row.

We packed up our tents and gear before sitting down for breakfast. I posed the question as to which route we wanted to take back to Melbourne. The shortest route was the consensus. Josh was uncertain whether to even attempt the ride or to catch the train back instead. I assured him it was an easy ride, mostly flat, only one significant climb and only about 55 km back, so he was willing to give it a try.
The ride wasn't scenic or particularly pleasant with an incessant stream of traffic passing on the freeway, but all went smoothly.
We stopped in the Pipemakers Park by the Maribyrnong for lunch before the last short leg back to Northcote. Josh was rightfully satisfied to have made it all the way back. Looks like he'll be training up and getting fit and keen for the next tour! Hopefully Jess will too.
Though it seems Rosie and I are doing something wrong... the last three tours we've done, at least one touring companion has pulled out and not finished with us...hmm. Who wants to come next time?

Our route for Day 3: Bacchus Marsh to Northcote. See the ride on Strava.