Hobart to strathgordon
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Hobart to strathgordon
Postby ajmit3 » Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:07 pm
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Re: Hobart
Postby mcdurdin » Fri Dec 30, 2011 1:28 pm
The day I did the Gordon Dam return, it rained pretty much the whole day. It would have been pretty horrible on my own but was riding with a group.
If you do it, make sure you ride all the way to the dam at the very end of the road as Strathgordon itself is pretty uninteresting!
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Re: Hobart
Postby master6 » Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:33 pm
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby ajmit3 » Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:59 pm
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby mcdurdin » Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:29 pm
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby master6 » Fri Dec 30, 2011 4:49 pm
"Hi pedallers - six weeks to go.
In the last update I said I was going to scout the Maydena-Dam and return leg of the ride. I did that - and I'm not too sure how to tell you about it! I did the ride on the motor bike so it was reasonably easy on the legs although at a slowish pace through the forests given the number of wallabies hopping everywhere.
Here we go.
Starting at the lowest point of the ride at Maydena general store and post office there is a nice 4-5 kms of gentle climbing until you get to McAllister Creek. Things then get very serious very quickly - hills! The road surface is a nice hot mix which may make a bit of a dent in the effort required but for the next 30 kms the road goes either sharply up or sharply down. There are distance signs every 5kms just to remind you how long it has taken so far. Once you come out of the Gordon Forests there is a nice spot for a coffee stop and water refill at 35kms to Lake Pedder.
From there it is reasonably 'normal' ride across the button grass with only one small mountain range to cross 10kms before Strathgordon. On the way out of Strathgordon there is a nice lookout on the left which is well worth the stop for the view. Its 12 kms from Strathgordon to the Gordon Dam with another mountain range to traverse. There is water and toilets available at the turn. And then back again. By the time we get back to the coffee stop at the start of the last set of hills we will have 130kms in our legs.
From the road signs there is one climb marked at 10%, one marked at 9% and two marked as steep. Each of those is a long climb and a hairy descent. This will be a tough day in good weather.
That’s the easy bit.
I'll send out another update in a couple of weeks to get an idea of how many are coming along and whether you are going to do the full ride on the Sunday. At this stage I think we are going to need two support cars and I'm fairly confident there is no mobile coverage on the road." (end of quote)
We rode out to Maydena the day before the stage to Strathgordon, and stayed back in Maydena on the night of the ride.
I can assure readers that the above description (thanks to Dale) contains no exaggeration.
I would not do that ride alone.
Have fun.
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby master6 » Fri Dec 30, 2011 4:59 pm
I thought I saw a restaurant serving free champagne, and 100 oversexed ladies. That was just getting out there. On the way back I saw a group of masochists on bicyclesmcdurdin wrote:I seem to recall a coke machine in Strathgordon but I could be misremembering... Master6, forgot you were on that ride too
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby ajmit3 » Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:35 pm
Anyway, I took it real easy for the first hour,seemed to glide up the short sharp 9% climbs ... ... and ramped it up for the 2nd hour... but by the time it was 6pm I had only gone 38km ... Not 50...
Turned around ... and was going really well until about the 3hr 30 min mark ... Then I had to climb up a 3-4km 10% gradient... I stopped once and then twice ... On 34-25 and it seemed really REALLY hard.... My Cadence dropped below 50 and my speed dropped below 9 km/hr.... (Brought back memories of Mt hotham)
Anyway, 3 hr 40 mins - only 76 km and 1,535 m of climbing.
Stunning stunning ride - was one of the most beautiful places I have seen and I have been all over the world ... Would like to do the Maydena - Gordon - Maydena ride next time... I reckon it would kill me though. Next time I will bring a friend cause of no mobile coverage... It was very quiet only had 4 cars and I bike overtake me ... Anyway - hope someone finds this interesting...
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby Gordo » Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:45 pm
mt hotham would be an awesome ride. Talked about doing it when we went skiing up there last year. would be a great descent too. Though id be afraid of flying around a corner and straight into a bus the way they cut corners. u havent by any chance done mt baw baw? I heard it was one of, if not the hardest climb in australia ?ajmit3 wrote: (Brought back memories of Mt hotham)
well done anyway.
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby mcdurdin » Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:49 pm
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby ajmit3 » Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:07 am
Gordo I reckon the place should be a tourist Mecca anyway ! And I haven't done Baw Baw - but I probably will this summer ... But not without a 28 ..
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby mcdurdin » Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:59 pm
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby BarryTas » Fri Jan 06, 2012 2:16 pm
souds like an easter mission
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby ajmit3 » Fri Jan 06, 2012 10:15 pm
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Re: Hobart to strathgordon
Postby mcdurdin » Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:52 pm
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