I didn't quite have the weekend of cycling that I'd planned. I had intended to complete a 100km brevet on Saturday but that didn't eventuate, so I had a good day with the family instead. But that left me at a loose end for somewhere to take myself on Sunday. Somewhere hilly for preference. Somewhere with a sustained climb over a good few kilometres. How about going up Mt Donna Buang? As described on Cycle2max, this is a steady climb of some 1080m over about 17km. That would do nicely.

OK, but where to start? On Saturday evening I had grand visions of adding some distance by riding up to the climb from some point along the Warburton Highway (or even in the Dandenongs), but after dithering around too much on Sunday morning time dictated that I'd be starting right at the bottom in Warburton. But I still harboured forlorn (and misplaced) hopes of making two ascents before my lunchtime deadline.

I wasn't alone as I unpacked my stuff at the carpark in Warburton—not at all surprising that this was a popular option for cyclists on such a beautiful day: mild and sunny with barely any wind.

Up is the direction this route takes right from the get-go, although not outrageously steep. Initially the sun shone on us, but it soon became overcast without getting cool. It's a very gorgeous route and I only wish I had some better photos to show for it.

One handy thing about this climb is that it has an obvious halfway mark: the turn-off at Cement Creek, which I made easily if not speedily. The road turns back on itself and the incline flattens out for a kilometre or so from this point and I started mucking about taking a few photos as I trundled along, watching the rosellas flit across the road, and generally being a sightseer.

Pretty much all the way up the road belonged to bikes. There was a handful of cars and the odd motorbike or two, but otherwise the sounds of the bush were only interrupted by the panting of cyclists.

Toward the top I was chatting with another rider who warned me that the last half kilometre or so was really steep and it would be a killer. I had visions of a wall of pavement heading skyward (not unlike my experience on Inverness Rd last week) but it turned out to be OK and I didn't really notice much of an increase in gradient. Then again, I probably slowed right down as well.

The top of the mountain was cool and covered in cloud, so there was no point hanging around too long. I just stretched the legs a bit and then mounted up again before I got cold.

Just like the ascent, the descent was divided into two clear halves: Mt Donna Buang Rd with its sweeping and (relatively) smooth bends then the Acheron Way with its tight and bumpy corners. To add to the excitement of this lower part I managed to meet a car club coming the other way—I couldn't identify the make of car through windswept eyes but there was quite a string of them followed by half a kilometre of exhaust fumes. Oh well, at least I wasn't ascending behind them like some poor folks, and everyone seemed to be sharing the road politely.

Once at the bottom, although my time hadn't quite expired, I knew I wouldn't have enough time to make a second bash at the summit, so I settled for a coffee and called it a day. And not a bad day at all‐I'll be back for this one again.

Comments

Treadly and Me

I guess I can understand that, but I didn't really have the same excuse—it was actually a beautiful day for a ride here on Saturday. It was just bad organisation on my part that made me miss the brevet. In the same way that dawdling around on Sunday morning left me short for time. Oh well, it was the weekend.

Fritz

I know the feeling of good intentions and all. Friday night I was excited about my planned 100 km ride (one way) from my home to Half Moon Bay to watch the Mavericks Surf Competition. 5:45 Saturday morning I rolled out of bed, stepped outside, decided it was way too cold and dark (norhern hemisphere) for a bike ride and crawled back into my nice warm snuggly bed.