Revisiting Lake Mountain

[Shut Up Legs]

[edit, 7/1/14] See posts 2 and 3 of this thread for parts 2 and 3 of my travelogue. It was originally 3 threads, but thanks to @Spinney it's now all in 1 thread .

On Saturday 4th, I revisited Lake Mountain, as part of my preparation for the upcoming Audax Alpine Classic Extreme (see the ACE 250 link on the page). I had done this ride 14 months ago (November 2012), and since then wanted to repeat it, because the scenery is spectacular .
When I did it 14 months ago, it was near the end of a year in which I'd done my usual 303km a week hilly commute, plus riding Mt Dandenong or other mountains on most weekends, and so I was fitter than I am now (although I'm far from unfit at the moment). This time, however, I'd just spent 10 days with no cycling in Perth visiting relatives, followed by only 3 Mt Dandenong rides last week, before riding to Lake Mountain again, and I didn't quite complete the ride this time.
Having done 228km, and about 16km from home, at the Lilydale train station, I noticed two taxi vans parked there, and hired one of them to take me the remaining distance home . My legs, feet, posterior and even my arms and hands were hurting a lot, and I just couldn't face the remaining 16km (including about 250m climbing) of the trip home.

This is the route I took, which is the same as the previous ride. Melbourne is near the bottom left, and Lilydale, where I hired the taxi van, is near the horizontal centre of the map.

Note: I've used thumbnails for most of the pictures in this post (and parts 2 and 3), to speed up loading, so just click the thumbnails to view the full-size images.

The trip's elevation profile is below. The two smaller peaks are where I rode halfway up Mt Donna Buang. On the way to Lake Mountain, I turned right off Mt Donna Buang Rd on to The Acheron Way, named after the Acheron River. My route home was along the same roads and paths, hence the symmetry of the profile below.

Despite my bailing out of the last 16km of the ride, it was a very enjoyable (albeit long) days ride . I got up at 4am (my usual time for getting up for work), left at 5am, and got home at 7:30pm. The total riding time was 11 hours and 45 minutes, with about 2 hours and 40 minutes stopped time. Total distance was 228km with average moving speed of about 19km/h and about 3300m climbed (thanks to me riding up two mountains ). Needless to say, I used up many calories, and ended up about 2kg lighter than when I left.

The overall ride was as follows:

• From Ringwood North where I live to Lilydale, I used Maroondah Hwy.
• From Lilydale to Warburton, I used the unsealed Lilydale-Warburton Rail Trail, very popular with cyclists due to its relaxing pastoral outlook and good firm riding surface.
• From Warburton to Marysville, I rode halfway up Mt Donna Buang, then turned right off Mt Donna Buang Rd on to The Acheron Way, following this to Maroondah Hwy near Narbethong, then following the highway to Marysville.
• The return trip was via the same route.

The 228km ride involved roughly 110km of unsealed surface (2 * 40km of the rail trail, and 2 * 15km of The Acheron Way, which is unsealed for almost half its length).

Here's a few more photos (and one video) I took along the way, so please enjoy .

The long bridge crossing Woori Yallock Creek, between Seville East and Woori Yallock. It's extremely bumpy, and I normally have to slow down to about 10km/h crossing it. It looks great at sunrise, though.


A pastoral scene a few minutes after the bridge.


The Yarra River in Warburton, where I briefly stopped, before starting the ride halfway up Mt Donna Buang.


Cement Creek, at the halfway point of the climb up Mt Donna Buang, and just downhill from the Mt Donna Buang Rd / Acheron Way intersection where I turned right to head north towards Marysville and Lake Mountain.


View: http://youtu.be/YiSFI1fhS5k

Mt Donna Buang Rd / Acheron Way intersection.


The Acheron Way, winding through a very nice forest . About 15 of the 35km between Mt Donna Buang Rd and Maroondah Hwy near Narbethong is unsealed, which is why I took my touring bike on this ride (and when I did it 14 months ago), as it handles these conditions better than the road bike, and is more comfortable on very long rides. The disadvantage of this, of course, is that the touring bike weighs 7kg more, and so makes the mountain climbs a bit tougher.


To be continued in Part 2.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

The climb up Lake Mountain from Marysville is about 22km long, and ascends about 910m. The first 4.4km has an average grade of about 8%, so I was grateful it was a reasonably cool day, with temperatures below 20°C for most of the ride. Here's some photos of the top of this section.

Lake Mountain and Marysville (which is at the foot of Lake Mountain, and where I had lunch before starting the climb up the mountain) were both badly affected by the Black Saturday bushfires of Feb 7th, 2009, in fact Marysville was completely razed by the fires . I vividly recall that day, as the temperatures were between 45 and 50°C for a lot of the state of Victoria, combined with gale-force winds: a nasty combination. Now, almost 5 years later, the forest in Marysville and up Lake Mountain still hasn't completely recovered, and I don't believe it will for many decades to come. There are tree trunks that haven't sprouted a single leaf in these 5 years, while others have sprouted leaves all the way up the main trunk, making the trees look a bit odd. Marysville is looking better now, with large, green trees lining the main street, and more houses than I recall seeing 14 months ago when I last passed through.

One of the hairpin bends further up towards the summit, showing how beautiful the forest is, despite its fire damage.


A hairpin bend further up.


To be continued in Part 3.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Here Be Lyrebirds. Or so they claim. These birds are are very shy, and I've only seen one once. It didn't stay still long enough for me to photograph it, though .


Near the summit, where the view is long and panoramic.


At the summit.


The Acheron Way, on the return leg, showing how spectacular the tree ferns are.


A close up of some of the plants along The Acheron Way. The inset is taken from the main image, zoomed in to show detail of one of the flowers.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Interesting read, thank you. The roads look really nice and smooth as well, tbh sat here in bed feeling sorry for myself (never ending coughing from a chest infection) - I've decided I'll be taking my bike to Indonesia some time this year when my wife visits 'home'. So thanks for the inspiration.

 

[big_dummy2013]

I can only see part 1 of 3 every time I click on part 2 of 3 it takes me right back to part 1 of 3 :-( but I do like part 1 of 3

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I can only see part 1 of 3 every time I click on part 2 of 3 it takes me right back to part 1 of 3 :-( but I do like part 1 of 3

Hi, @big_dummy2013, and thanks for the interest! One of the site moderators, Spinney, moved parts 2 and 3 to the top of this thread, so in other words, the 1st 3 posts in this thread are parts 1 to 3. The only reason I'd created 3 separate threads is that there is a 15 image limit per post. I probably could have just posted 3 posts in my thread initially, but it didn't occur to me then.

Cheers,

--- Victor.

 

[Spinney]

Looks like a great ride!
I spent 2 months in Australia in 1991, on holiday, but only visited Melbourne briefly - but some of your pics take me back - the vegetation etc.
Looks like a great ride! Thanks for posting.

 

[big_dummy2013]

Hi, @big_dummy2013, and thanks for the interest! One of the site moderators, Spinney, moved parts 2 and 3 to the top of this thread, so in other words, the 1st 3 posts in this thread are parts 1 to 3. The only reason I'd created 3 separate threads is that there is a 15 image limit per post. I probably could have just posted 3 posts in my thread initially, but it didn't occur to me then.

Cheers,

--- Victor.

Thanks Victor now I understand why.And I just learn something here too.