Mt. Lofty

[split_city]

A mate and I are thinking of going for a bike ride up to Mt Lofty tomorrow morning. As we haven't attempted this before, we were just wondering what the bike paths/road situations are. I know there is a bike track which follows the old freeway but I noticed that there aren't any bike tracks that go right up to Mt Lofty. Is this correct? If so, is Mount Lofty Summit Road relatively safe to ride along?

[Jeremy]

I normally ride in the opposite direction, like this:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/No ... -Hill-ride

but if you come up from the old freeway end, it should still be relatively traffic free.....I normally do it on a sunday morning, at mt lofty by about 8:00am, and it's rare to see more than 1-2 cars in the hills at all.....

I'm not sure about a saturday, but i'm sure it would be ok, it's a fairly wide stretch of road and the local drivers would be quite used to cyclists being in the area.

[split_city]

Well, the mate and I achieved our goal of climbing the massive mountain!....I mean "hill." Road from Marion, along Goodwood Rd, Cross Rd and then along the bike track up the old part of the Freeway. We saw a policeman taking some notes along the bike track at the bottom of the Freeway, not far from the toll gate. Also noticed some skid marks where he was. Looks to have been a bike accident there recently.

Mate was pretty tired by the time we got to the summit. All up, it took about 3 hours to get up there (many breaks in between!). On the other hand, it only took about 1.5 hours to get home.

I will certainly give it a go again in the near future

[Jeremy]

Well done It's certainly a good climb......

Dont be worried about taking breaks, it's important to remain hydrated and have something to eat.....especially when your ride is going to take 4 1/2 hours.

Climbing is great training, the more you do it the better you will get and the fewer breaks you will need. If you do that climb every weekend for a month or so and then have a flat ride, you will notice that your cruising speed will have increased a few km per hour and you wont feel as tired either

[stevos]

I normally ride in the opposite direction, like this:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/No ... -Hill-ride

but if you come up from the old freeway end, it should still be relatively traffic free.....I normally do it on a sunday morning, at mt lofty by about 8:00am, and it's rare to see more than 1-2 cars in the hills at all.....

I'm not sure about a saturday, but i'm sure it would be ok, it's a fairly wide stretch of road and the local drivers would be quite used to cyclists being in the area.

looks like a nice ride, i think id get lost though going through the hills

[rustychisel]

nah, that one, ride it with friends once and remember the route markers. After all, If you can see the towers at Mt Lofty you know exactly where you are...

[Deanj]

Good effort split_city! Don't forget at Crafers theres a Servo and a cafe (that does great hot choclate on a cold wet day) and a few other shops that makes for a handy rest point.

Yeah Stevos you need to get into the hills, it can be pretty confusing for your first few times, but all roads seem to lead to one of the main roads. When you can recognise which one your on, its not to hard to find your way home. I'd just start with short ventures that are easy to remember the directions, then venture a bit further out each time.

[Jeremy]

If you get to murray bridge you've taken the wrong road

[split_city]

Looks like we will be taking on this route again sometime this weekend

While I'm sure that most drivers along Mount Lofty Summit Rd are aware that bike riders are common along this road, it's still a little scary as a cyclist because the road isn't that wide and you have a few blind corners. Just need to be extra careful for about 3km.

[split_city]

Good effort split_city! Don't forget at Crafers theres a Servo and a cafe (that does great hot choclate on a cold wet day) and a few other shops that makes for a handy rest point.

Sounds good. The restaurant at Mt. Lofty summit did us the trick last time.

[brettjames]

Right, whos riding this one anytie soon ?

Id be keen to join on the back of a group one week

[split_city]

Glad to say I made my way up to Mt Lofty again Sat morning. Unlike last week, I rode alone as my mate backed out. Made it from Marion to Mt Lofty in 1hr 45mins which is in contrast to last week with a time of about 3hrs. I'll blame my mate for this as he wanted to stop every few kms

Saw lots of bike riders on Cross Road and then coming down on the old part of the freeway. Boy do they come down fast!!! Had a small group of riders pass me on the way up. They make it look so easy!

It was bloody cold up at Mt Lofty summit (~9 degrees) at around noon. Made my way back home in about an hour. I will certainly be going up again if the weather remains rain free