Gareth Thomas’ first bike packing adventure

December 13/14, 2021

Melbourne – Yea (over Toolangi and Murrindindi) – Melbourne (over Kinglake West)

 

Introduction

After a long couple of years living in “the most locked down city in the world” I wanted to try something to really clear the head, something adventurous and a mental reset. Whilst in the future I’d definitely opt for one or multiple companions, this time I wanted to go solo. I figured bike-packing would offer all of this. I already owned a gravel bike, so I decided to do a Bike-pack “light” version to minimise cost and effort to see if I like it. This meant carrying all my gear but opting for hotel accommodation.

 Set-up

My set-up was very simple to minimise outlay and hassle

• An Aluminium frame Ridley X-ride I’d bought second hand a few years prior

• Lowest gear ratio was 34 * 28

• Running clincher and tube 700c x 38mm

• A 10L Topeak backloader saddle bag to carry my stuff (multi-tool, pump, 2x spare tubes, patch kit, overnight clothes, basic toiletries, spare food). Probably 5kgs in total.

• 2 * 750 ml water bottles and a spare 1L Macpac bottle

• Garmin + rear light

• ISM saddle (saddle intended for ITT on the road but I’d found comfortable on shorted gravel rides – up to 3 hours)

• Standard MTB clipless pedals and GIRO MTB shoes (not shown)

 

Planning and “intended” route

I found a website that logs dirt roads for riding > https://gravelmap.com/ and basically, tried to string as many of these together into a challenging long loop. I calculated distance based on an average speed of 20 kph and tried to set-up what would be a big but a doable challenge. Stopping in a sizable town (turned out to be Alexandra) overnight.

 Two days - Anticlockwise.

First day ~160km and ~2900m gain.

Second day ~160km and ~2000m gain

 Navigation

• I synced the Strava route to my Garmin 520 to enable on screen directions (more on this later)

• I also enabled live track on the Garmin connect app on my phone, so Margot had a record of where I was for safety reasons (understand this works only when there is mobile signal…)

 

Day 1

Section 1: Northcote to Research 0-30km

Leaving at about 5:30am I cruised out along the bike trails (half gravel half bitumen) through Heidelberg, Banyule, Westerfolds Park, Eltham, Research.

Feeling confident and enthusiastic.

Averaging about 20kph.

 

Yarra River form Westerfolds park and a massive Kangaroo. 

Section 2: Research to Yarra Glen 30km – 62km

This section was awesome but a lot harder than I’d anticipated.  The section out of Research past Wattle Glen had some decent gradients (10% for some shorter climbs with pinches around 14%).

I had a small incident outside of Wattle Glen where my bidon bounced out of the cage, losing the water and 10 minutes finding the lid and snapping back together, fortunately, the bidon was still usable. A good early sign of the importance of keeping a lot of water with me and not leaving anything to chance.

This section took ~2h22m (riding time) to complete and really hurt the legs. Nevertheless, I was feeling great but quickly realising my 20kph average speed target was not going to happen, my granny gear was nowhere near low enough and it was going to be a long day.

Roads around sugarloaf reservoir were in reasonable condition and great views and first taste of being off the beaten track.

 

 

Section 3: Yarra Glen to Toolangi 62km- 80km

After a late breakfast of champions in Yarra Glen (coffee, egg and bacon sandwich and a donut) and two apple scrolls for the half day ahead, I took a short 6km blast into a block headwind riding on the shoulder of the highway to Dixon’s creek (not a highlight) followed by a right turn onto the Old Dixon Creek Toolangi Road. A 9.1km climb at 3.6% average gradient, great compact surface, comfortable tempo climbing with some stunning views and zero cars. Fantastic climb.

By the top I was feeling great and high on the views and solitude but already nearly six hours in (probably 5h 30mins riding time) and only halfway to my intended destination (Alexandra), and only halfway to the elevation peak of ~1000m having climbed about 1500m of 2500m planned for the day.

The Toolangi climb took 48mins for 9.1km and I was around 160 BPM for most of it peaking in 170 odd. So slow going despite good road condition.

 

Section 4: Toolangi to Murrindindi 80kms – 122km

By now it was over 30 degrees even at altitude. I was still feeling confident which doesn’t make a lot of sense as I was heading for a 12-hour day at least with no changes in conditions and I was about to head into the Toolangi forest.

After a short bitumen decent I turned onto Sprags Road toward the Toolangi Forest. At this stage I had about half my water capacity only so managed to ring ahead to a school camp that was along Sprags road to ensure they had water before I tackled the climb. Which they confirmed they did. Turns out I didn’t need it as I ran into a friendly old guy on a farmhouse who was kind enough to point to his water tank to fill up.

Despite being bitumen, Sprags road was a leg cruncher and was starting to feel the fatigue. It was 1.4kms at 7% but deceptive as the first half must have been more like 10%.

Will full water provisions and food I turned off Sprags road onto Blowhard Road (aptly named) and into the forest. This is where things started to unwind. The road surface was super rocky, mobile reception was one bar at best (usually no reception). My tyre pressures were way to high, but I was running clinchers and tubes (not tubeless) and was too nervous to let the pressure down as I knew it would likely result in pinch flats so opted instead to bounce over the stones.

It was hot, tough going. The forest was beautiful but certainly felt a lot more remote than I’d thought. Looking at the map post, the forest is about half the size of Melbourne metro so not a small area.

Aside from the road surface it was nothing but uphill. I climbed pretty much nonstop for 14kms (from 506m elevation to 815m elevation) and it took ~1h30m. So average speed something like 9kph and I was in a pickle. I had only 3/4 of a bidon left, was starting to feel a bit delirious, was deep in the forest. Had no phone reception. My Garmin was low battery (presumably due to running the navigation feature non-stop – more on this later). Plus, the national park was a confusing lay out of roads going every which way.   I also knew that had I followed the intended route I had another 500m of elevation gain (more than I’d done in the forest at that point) which would have meant another 2-3 hours with next to no water. I decided also not to take stream water through risk of getting sick (thanks to watching the Alone doco for that tip!).   At this point I knew the original route wasn’t achievable so was time to plot an exit route out of the park.

The two options were to re-trace my steps back to Toolangi (probably the smarter option as I knew it was mostly downhill) or find an alternative exit route from the forest (Murrindindi was the best candidate as it was same distance as it was back to Toolangi, I knew it was in the valley (so downhill) and was confident I could find a place to stay in nearby Yea. It took about 15 mins with no reception (but working off the map still in memory in Strava) to plot the route to Murrindindi through forest roads. I was worried about losing the map so spent about 15 mins noting all the turns into my phone and stopping at each junction triple checking I was on the right track. At this point I realised it was dumb not to bring a detailed map of the park and all roads in paper form!

After about another 30 mins of rough roads and a pretty high level of angst about my chances of getting out of the forest without heat stroke/dehydration I navigated my way to Murrindindi Road. As soon as I turned onto the road my spirits lifted. I knew I had 15 kms to get to Murrindindi and had no idea how hard it would be. Turns out it was a long flowing 15km decent on much improved road surface. I started passing campsite after campsite along the decent (great spot for future reference) and knew it would turn out ok.

 

I stopped at one of the camp sites at the bottom of the decent to Murrindindi and met some friendly campers who kindly shared their water with me. Once again, I had food and water.

I didn’t take many photos of the forest as I was either too knackered or angsty about getting lost / stuck / heat stroke. In hindsight it was great though to be pushed to the point of relative panic. Stay calm, plot the way out and I felt such a sense of jubilation when I started tearing downhill along Murrindindi Road and out of the forest when I knew things would turn out ok.

Section 4: Murrindindi to Yea 122kms – 147kms

After resting at the campsite for a half hour in the shade and rehydrating. After 9h 15m on the road and about 7h 15m riding time I set off for Yea (average HR 137 for the riding time). As a side note I am not sure how I accumulated 2 hours of stop time either as I only stopped about 30 mins in Yarra Glen for lunch and can only put down to stopping for photos, checking the map etc. My Garmin promptly died in Murrindindi so the rest of the 25 kms to Yea was off Strava.

The first half of the ride to Yea was stunning on bitumen through the Murrindindi valley. The second half was on the Melba highway but shoulder was ok.   I stopped half way in the shade of a CFA shed and secured accommodation in Yea online and again felt a sense of relief knowing I had a place to stay at the Peppercorn Hotel (nice spot for future reference). When I finally arrived the front doors etc. all said closed. Thinking I’d somehow lucked out I was greeted by the owner who explained they were having their staff Christmas party! but they had my booking and gave me the key to my room. An amazing day that really had everything and I felt a great sense of achievement as I sat down to a Parma and Pint at the Yea Hotel.

 

Day 2 Yea – Melbourne (over Kinglake West)

I opted to return home (as planned actually) on day 2. This was out of necessity more than anything. Turns out high tyre pressures and forest roads are not good for the backside, and I wasn’t in a state by then for an extended journey. As a sidenote - In a weird twist of fate I had Bepanthen “Nappy rash” cream on hand as I was using it to treat the tattoo I’d recently got. So, I decided to head home and stick mainly to bitumen roads.  Another side note my resting HR that morning was ~65 (it’s usually 45 or lower). So whilst I didn’t feel it, I was carrying some fatigue from the prior day.

 

I rode on the main road all the way to Kinglake West (passing over the Yea Pass) and Flowerdale then climbing into Kinglake West. 

From Kinglake West I headed down Coombe’s Road (beautiful dirt road section) but after a few kms there was a sign saying (road closed, gates locked). I ran into an old lady at the front of her property who described it as a fire trail at best. My sense of adventure had waned somewhat after the issues in the Toolangi Forest the prior day. So, I opted to turn back to Kinglake West and take the known paved Humevale Road decent down toward Whittlesea. Will have to try Coombes Road again in future to see if it’s passable.

Once in the valley I decided to make the call to get to Hurstbridge and catch the train from there. The body was fine, the backside wasn’t at all.

I followed a beautiful section through gravel roads including Ridge Road circumnavigating the Yan Yean reservoir. Another mild hitch though as there were road works and for about 4-5 kms they spread deep sand meaning I had to grind and slip slide through the dust trying to stay upright for a good half hour. Probably would have been no issue had it been the start of the start of the trip….

Finally, I exited the reservoir areas and took familiar roads to Arthurs creek, Nutfield then onto Hurstbridge. Despite having to compromised on the route, I felt a huge sense of achievement stepping into the front door and felt like I’d lived a week in only two days. The experience of varied terrain, being amongst wildlife (saw Kangaroos, Echidnas, Snakes, Wallabies, Wombats) the sense of journey and accomplishment and varying emotions made the trip thoroughly worthwhile.

Learnings

• Speed: Unless the roads are known and smooth with modest elevation, expect and plan for average speeds of under 20 kph (this would be even more the case if carrying full bike packing kit, tent etc)

 • Navigation: Don’t use Garmin navigation app, it’s clunky and chews the battery. Better to use a combination of your phone, handwritten notes (Strava has a turn-by-turn list you can print I will use next time) and printed maps for areas outside phone coverage. If going off the beaten track worthwhile buying a GPS messenger with check-in and SOS function when out of mobile range.

• Water: 2.5L wasn’t enough. Would suggest 4L if going off the beaten track. More if no access to water. And if really going off the beaten track you would need some kind of purification option (tablets, boiling, other) to enable use of stream water. (Might be obvious to those used to the outdoors!).

• Bike set-up: I would say tubeless is a must and tyre width >40mm to enable improved comfort and ability to ride at lower pressure without risking pinch flats. Depending on where you’re heading a hardtail MTB may be superior to gravel. With respect to gearing a 34 * 28 is not low enough for anything over 4-5%!! For this bike set-up a 1:1 ratio should be ok. If carrying more gear, you’d or on consistently steep terrain a ration less than 1:1 would be needed. 

• Route: Sounds obvious but beware of Forest roads particularly in national parks. Just have no idea what condition they will be in, and it can change quickly. 

• Comfort: Test out your knicks, saddle, chamois cream combo over long duration and be sure you’re comfortable (again sounds obvious but 8 hours in a saddle on rough roads is very different to 2 or 3 hours) 

• Packing: Pack less that you think. But focus on key items (water, sunscreen, tools, tubes)

Editors note: Firstly I want to say thanks to Gareth for taking the time to put the story about his ride together in so much detail.  The pictures and maps tell a story in themselves about tough climbs on any bike, let along one loaded up with a day's worth of supplies.  It also got me thinking about the point of this blog, which I want to be one that entertains and educates through stories.  Whilst we learn from our successes and mistakes, we can also learn from the successes and failures of others.  To my friends and colleagues out there, who have recently done a ride you think is worthy of sharing with a wider audience, allow yourself the chance to sit down for an hour and write.  I'd be happy to publish it on the blog.