Two more of the permanent kind

Well I did the Moorabool Mayhem 200k permanent last Sunday. This is one of the permanents I currently offer and it starts not far out of Geelong at Teesdale. The ride essentially is in and out and up and down the Moorabool Valley. As river valleys go the Moorabool is a fairly deep cut river with some steep sides.

The day begins as an undulating ride from Teesdale to Bannockburn. Once you cross the Midland Highway on Clyde Road you have a fast downhill to Russell’s Bridge where you cross the river for the first time before climbing past the Eagles Rise vineyard. It soon flattens out as you proceed onto Maude before turning into Thompson Road at Maude for another rapid descent, river crossing and a slightly harder short climb at 16%. After a few more k’s you drop down again and head toward the Geelong Ballan Road. Soon you are at the first checkpoint at the Anakie General Store at around 42km. A u-turn and a quick right into De Motts Road and the next climb arrives and the GPS again shows around 15% for a short while. You now find yourself in forested area that was hit by bushfires in January 2006. The road then dives down before recovering some elevation on the way to a high point just beyond Steiglitz cemetery before dropping into Steiglitz. The climb up and out of Steiglitz is not too hard before a fast sweeping drop down to the Moorabool for a one lane bridge crossing. Again you briefly hit around a 15% grade on the way out but it soon eases back and before you know it the road opens up just before the township Meredith. From Meredith you take the Ballan Road briefly before turning eatwards past the cemetery and along Slate Quarry Road that then dives down to the Moorabool yet again before a challenging climb out that exceeds 15% for a few hundred metres. Once you have conquered this section it is a pleasant ride to the Geelong Ballan Road at Durdiwarrah and a gradual climb to Mt Wallace.   Then its across to Ballark before a steep descent again into the valley but this time the climb out is more gradual as you set your sights for the half way stop at Mt Egerton.

Before a steep descent

Unfortunately the General Store in the town has closed so I had to rely on carried food to refuel.

The General Store is now closed

We might have to supply a little support for riders here on the audax ride next May. The last kilometre into the town is also a bit of a shock to the legs.  There are a few undulations along the road to Yendon but the road to Lal Lal is nice and flat. It’s a nice road to Clarendon where you ride down the Midland Highway for about a kilometre before turning onto Blue Bridge Road and follow back roads to Elaine. There is a general store at Elaine so I took the opportunity to get some real food as I was feeling a little flat. More back roads from Elaine to Morrisons and another dive in and out of the valley and onto Meredith.

Morrisons

 You now follow the same road back to Steiglitz that you had ridden in the morning but this time you head onto Maude. The climbs and descents do not seem as bad on the way back as overall you are losing altitude. At Maude you turn onto Pedrisat Road for the best descent and climb of the ride. I always seem to do this climb at the end of my rides when my legs are near dead and consequently I find myself walking some of the steepest section.

Best descent and climb

The reward after that is you don’t have to enter the Moorabool Valley again and have a basically flat to undulating ride of less than 20k through the canola fields of the Lethbridge area to Teesdale.

Through the canola fields

Overall the Garmin shows a little over 1900 metres of ascent making this a good ride to tune up your climbing legs. If you are interested in doing the ride as a permanent please get in touch with me.

Saturday 8^th of October and I headed out early to do another 200k permanent. I chose Eureka Dales this time with fewer steep grades than the previous weekend. I left at 7am and got around it in eight and a half hours. The ride was quite uneventful, cars were courteous, the weather held out and the only shock was the magpie careering into my helmet on a busy street in the middle of Ballarat. I must say daylight saving really helps to leave time to do a few things around home after a long ride before the evening.