BNE: Riding on Mt Samson/Dayboro Rd?

[Queestce]

Hey all,

A question for the SE-QLDers... I have been looking at a ride loop from home in the Bris city to Dayboro and back. I've done lots of motorbiking out that way and it's a nice part of the world. As it stands I am thinking of riding out through Samford, along Mt Samson Rd to Dayboro, then rather than just doubling back, taking Dayboro Rd to Old North Rd heading back into Bris. I know Mt Samson Rd is fairly safe with a decent shoulder most of the way along and pretty good visibility for passing drivers, but has anyone ridden along Dayboro Rd at all? Trying to figure out if it's safe enough to cycle on... Same does go with Mt Samson Rd really, anyone done any cycling on there at all? Obviously the high (100kph) speed limits could be bad news, but it's such a nice area and it'd make for a nice long 100k ride!

Appreciate any help!

Cheers,

Tk

[sumgy]

Dayboro Road is at least as safe as Mt Samson Road.
Actually I would say that Dayboro Road has more shoulder than Mt Samson Rd.

[Oxford]

what day of the week? there is a quarry between Dayboro and Old North Rd and there are truck drivers who enter/exit said quarry. you judge for yourself how you feel about cycling near truck drivers in a high speed zone.

recently (earlier this year) the Dayboro police issued a notice to some cycling clubs about cyclists and riding in the area. IMO it didn't address the key issue of driver ignorance (and police ignorance), but be warned drivers in the area have made complaints about cyclists.

[Queestce]

Well usually I would say Sunday, but in this instance I was considering doing it tomorrow morning, being Monday (for any thread searchers)... Leaving home at about 0530, I guess I'd be at Dayboro and getting onto Dayboro Rd at about 0700, back in Brisbane about 0830-0900. I suppose I could leave earlier, say 0500 to get me past the aforementioned quarry and onto Old North Rd at say 0700. You don't happen to know what sort of times the trucks start moving do you? I'm quite confident with all traffic conditions/keeping to a shoulder and have ridden in 100kph zones before in places like the road across Straddie - which is quite narrow with no ridable shoulder for a part of the way - but there is no use in getting myself killed if it's just too sketchy! Have you guys actually cycled on those roads? Obviously each to their own, but if so, did it feel unsafe? Appreciate the warning in regards to angry drivers, would watch out for rogue egg attacks and the like!

I would have thought these roads might be frequented by cyclists quite a bit, but when it comes to longer distance rides from Brissy I'm well and truly a noob!

Appreciate the help,

Tk

[Oxford]

yes I did ride the roads through there as part of the many and varied training loops I had around there, hence the warning about the day of the week, I left that section for sunday riding only. I do not road train anymore so do not cycle the area, prefer to do it on the moto now, the hills seem so much easier for some reason. no idea on the times of the quarry suffice to say that if you do the loop you're mentioning you would hope the trucks are all heading towards the quarry and out of harms way. that section of road is actually wider than Mt Samson Rd (Samford to Dayboro) but that doesn't seem to make it safer.

[franklin]

i would agree that dayboro rd, despite being wider, is busier and has more trucks...
you could try heading out to dayboro, then backtracking a bit, then along winn road, then old north(ern) road. (though winn road is known for trucks too)
even adding clear mountain if you want a challenge...(very, very steep - but not particularly long)

[Oxford]

so did you ride it?

[franklin]

oxford: you talking about riding clear mountain?
i have been up it from the south side - but only down the north (which seems like it is the tougher of the routes).
it was so steep you couldn't sit in the saddle or the front wheel would jump up!

[lethoso]

I rode dayboro rd. once, tonnes of trucks from the quarry (who seemed reluctant to give any space), little shoulder, and it's really not that interesting. Rather unenjoyable all in all, I wouldn't recommend it. Winn rd. & clear mountain are much nicer.

[Oxford]

last time I rode Clear Mountain I was getting rear wheel spins, very unsettling, kept thinking I was going to stall and tip sideways. Winn Rd is more a shorter rolling hills, Dayboro Rd a longer rolling hills option from memory. but given a choice, week days Winn Road is the better option weekdays, 80km/h max speed (60km/h at one point) and more localised traffic rather than commercial traffic.

[lethoso]

last time I rode Clear Mountain I was getting rear wheel spins, very unsettling, kept thinking I was going to stall and tip sideways.

haha, yeah. Wouldn't recommend it in the wet.

[Oxford]

last time I rode Clear Mountain I was getting rear wheel spins, very unsettling, kept thinking I was going to stall and tip sideways.

haha, yeah. Wouldn't recommend it in the wet.

was even scarier going down the other side. trying to balance the brakes to maintain control and speed (ie keep speed down).

[Queestce]

Haha, Clear Mountain on a roadie is out of the question for a while! I'm trying to avoid MAJOR hills as I have a slightly bung knee I'm nursing. Plus, holy crap it is a serious hill! I LOVE it on the motorbike, it's like a bloody rollercoaster, but that would be a fitness test on a pushbike for sure! I didn't head out this morning because I ended up being up quite late last night, plus the wx wasn't supposed to be ideal (yes I know you die hard types say HTFU when it comes to a bit of precip ). I'm all set to have a realitely early night and head out there at about 0500 tomorrow. I'm hoping these trucks aren't too big an issue, presumably if they are going from the quarry they will be on the other side anyway. I guess if i get hit by one on the way to the quarry at least it will have an empty bed and a little less inertia... Either way, I know it's not the most exciting ride along Dayboro Rd, but the distance works out to what I want and I know the way from there... Assume if I don't post up tomorrow with a post-ride report I am either half way and very tired, or something more sinister has happened...

Cheers for the insight.

Tk

[lethoso]

was even scarier going down the other side. trying to balance the brakes to maintain control and speed (ie keep speed down).

yeah, I gave up on trying to slow down pretty quickly last time I went out there. Just let go of the brakes and held on for dear life

[Queestce]

Well, I'm back, alive, and VERY tired... That was by far the most difficult ride I've ever done. My max before that was about 70km, and mostly around the bay where it's flat. That was 96, and most certainly not as flat as it feels on a motorbike! Took about 3.5 hrs including all the bloody traffic lights in the city going both directions. As for the roads...

Mt Samson Rd was great! The surface is pretty rough, would have loved some gel bar tape... But other than that there were very few cars, maybe one every minute or two, and even without a shoulder a lot of the way it felt very safe. The main thing I wanted to see as far as scenery goes was that pineapple farm at the Dayboro end of the road - something about a field of pinapples makes me happy haha it didn't let me down... Daybroro Rd was a different story! I'm not sure what it would be like going the other direction (seems like there is a decent shoulder on that side for parts of the road), but coming from Dayboro towards Petrie there is literally no shoulder at all for at least 10-15kms. Cars were coming by at least once every 15 seconds at 100kph+, and because it's busy both ways they didn't really have a lot of room to move over into the oncoming lane at all to get past me. Only had a few trucks pass me, but saw maybe 8 going the other direction. All in all I was riding along the white edge line just waiting to be cleaned up, hesitant to reach down for the water bottle in case I waggled out onto the road half a foot... After about the 15km mark the surface had been redone and a shoulder added, then it was smooth sailing all the way to Youngs Crossing Rd. Old North Rd was alright, I was getting pretty tired by that stage and no amount of jam sandwiches or gadorade seemed to help! There was a good bike lane for most of the road, traffic was pretty heavy being about 8:30am on a weekday (ie; people heading into town), but it wasn't too bad. I must have got at least 95% of the red lights on it though, they kept rolling to orange just as I was too far away to get through Either way, if and when I head out that direction again I think I will indeed take Winns Rd off Mt Samson in order to avoid Dayboro and the beginning of Old North. Was a good leg workout though, the hills aren't steep, but by the end of the ride you start to realise how constantly undulating it is! I was pretty happy when I got back to the top of Herston Rd in the city and knew it was all dowhill/flat back to New Farm.

Anyway once again thanks for the input about the route!

Tk