Sandy Woolley's Balwyn to Bright Gravel Adventure

Gravel Balwyn to Bright

The idea came from a mate of my youngest. He set off early Jan on a solo venture from Sydney to Byron of self-discovery. He had done no training (aside from some social drinking and smoking) and had a hybrid! So, what was holding me back? With a barely used gravel bike, no job to get in the way and a weekend in Bright already planned, I decided I would set off the week before. As hard core as that sounds, one thing was very clear in my mind; it was credit card camping - no lugging a tent, sleeping bag or stove. If I was to be sweating it out during the day, I would be kicking back at night - shower, nice food and a real bed! Pleased with myself for coming up with the idea, I proceeded to do no planning. How hard could it be right? A week before departure, I realised some planning might be wise. How do I plan a course that keeps me off main roads? What is realistic distance for each day? Will I be ok on my own? While I wouldn’t need camping stuff, what would I need to take?

For those time poor: scroll to end for key lessons that may help you with your next Gravel Grinders Melbourne adventure.

 

The Route

Thanks to a blog by Gareth Thomas on his recent two-day adventure, I got some great tips that helped greatly. First and foremost, I ensured I didn’t overestimate what could be done in a day. Gravel riding is not like road riding! Gareth had done two massive days and emptied his much bigger tank than mine. With so many navigation platforms available, I wasn’t sure where to start. I hadn’t ever bothered with navigation on my Garmin before- I mean how do you get lost going to Mordialloc or the boulevards? A quick call to Manny opened up a whole world of functionality in Strava Premium I didn’t know about. I started to much around with creating a course and perhaps got to the Burke Road pedestrian crossing in my mapping when a link came through from Manny of a complete course! 7000m elevation and just over 400ks with stop overs in some great regional towns. We don’t call him "Rainman" for nothing! Challenge with the one big blob course though was seeing what the daily breakdown would be. Easy to fix I thought; edit it into daily courses right!? Not so easy. Another call to the Strava helpdesk (i.e., Manny). “Yeah; not so easy. Probably have to just create new maps by day.” “Thanks Manny will give it a go”. 1. Open browser. 2. Log on to Strava - shit; which email and password combo for that? “Ping, ping, ping”. “Ring, ring, ring”. “Sandy; it’s Manny - I have just sent through courses for each day (2 options for Day 4). You should be able to see them on your Strava app on your phone. Save them there and then they will load strain onto your Garmin.” Wtf! That was easier for me than I thought! The power of harnessing the knowledge of your network! I practised using the map on the Garmin by riding the day 1 course several times.

 

Bike Prep and Gear Check

I had the bike; an under seat 10L(?) bag and a top tube case. I still got the bike serviced and checked. New goo in tubeless tyres. Tick, I packed: - spare set of bibs and jersey - arm warmers, long sleeve woollen thermal and long fingered gloves and light rain jacket - (while not used, what if I were injured and in an exposed high point?) - thongs, sport shorts and Kathmandu t-shirt, toothbrush, sunscreen and not to be forgotten butt-cream - spare tube (should have had two!), multi tool, micro pump - gpo plug with 4 usb ports (phone, Apple Watch, Garmin, front and rear lights) - 4 water bidons - first aid kit (including bandages for snake bite!) - a print out of the turn-by-turn directions in event all devices ran out of battery or had coverage issues (thanks Gareth - a great tip, my bad but perhaps something bigger than size 6 fonts next time!)

No Mates?

Being in between jobs (and loving it!), and knowing most others aren’t, I had every expectation that I would be solo. I was thrilled though to have one of my bayside “Hammer-Nail” riding mates in Rick Moscati commit just days out from my departure. To that point, my family had thought I was doing it with others and hadn’t appreciated how isolated the course would be at times. I too was glad to have some company if for no other reason than safety.

 

Day 1 - Home to Healesville- 67km and 1149m elevation

What began as a personal adventure, piqued the interest of many. Unable to join for the week, a few were to at least ride with me Day 1. Injuries to a few just before I left scuppered their ideas. Their injuries while gravelling also served as a stark reminder to me how easy a fall can happen and the risk that such a trip can expose you to. So, it was just me and Rick and Andrew “Genghis” Hahn for the day. They arrived at my place around 8am. Somehow Andrew managed to get a pinch flat on his way over! The ride out was along many familiar trails. So much great riverside country so close to home! Still, there was plenty of climbing and new trails out to Yarra Glen. Hot and humid, we were glad to have the last 10ks to Healesville on paved roads. Checked into the Healesville Hotel and a great meal at Herd joined by my (supportive, forgiving and understanding) wife Mary Louise.

 

Day 2 - Healesville to Alexandra- 83km and 1833m elevation

Up early, we had a magic (double shot ristretto topped with milk) and a toastie to get us fuelled up. Andrew headed back home (and to a working life - what’s that!?) as Rick and I meandered our way to the start of our proper first day of gravel. We quickly started our 24km 5% climb on some well packed gravel road enjoying the serenity and scenery (something that seems too often to be subservient to our data focussed efforts when we smash times when road ride climbing!?). “Beep beep” squawked our Garmins as it alerted us to take a near vertical left hand turn downwards on Spud Track. We snaked and slipped our way down only to both have our Garmins say do a u turn! Wtf! We then grinded our way back up to the road. “Ring ring”. “Hey Manny, what’s up?”. “What are you doing? You were on course, why did you double back?”. So much for getting away from it all. But like a guardian angel, it was good to know someone was watching over us. Back down we headed and onto some more challenging tracks and even some bush-bashing single trails before we then did a long descent on some freshly graded fire trails. Having lost the signal, Manny called again to make sure we were ok. “Where is the nearest town? We are ganging for some real food!” “Umm, there are none. You should be right; 4 bidons of water means you won’t dehydrate and a bout of hunger won’t hurt. Besides you only have a couple of short climbs to go.” Second last climb done. “One more to go Rick. It is only 3.2kms but profile says average of 9%”. 

Averages can be so meaningless. Stanley Track was an unrideable beast. In the hot afternoon sun, we walked, sweltered and dragged our way up. Having got to the top we then skidded, bone rattled and roared our way down and into Alexandra. We knew day 2 was going to be challenging; and so it was! But it delivered in spades the adventure and challenge this trip was all about. Wouldn’t have changed anything. The ham and salad roll at Kazzas Diner was good. Shame we missed her morning Zumba class! The Alexandra Motel had a salt pool so was our home for the night. A beer, Chicken schnitzel and a bottle of Sangiovese hardly touched the sides. It did make it easier to reflect on the day and share some deep life insights none of which solved anything (but didn’t really need to either!).

 

Day 3 - Alexandra to Mansfield 77km and 500m elevation

Crossing Lake Eildon at Bonnie Doon

A nice easy flat day to recover. All rail- trail, we still managed to veer off course and had to backtrack at one stage. Key learning for the trip was that you can disguise shit-tasting coffee from a servo if you mix it with a Vanilla Up and Go! We also learned that sitting flat on an easy trail is hard on the arse - a good climb or technical descent is always a nice distraction from that! My other key learning was don’t leave your phone at track side stops. Rolling into Mansfield I realised I didn’t have my phone. Good news was that live track showed where it was. 15ks back! Gave me some cheap extra ks on Rick for the day (110). But for all that easy riding, our average speed was just 22km/h. This gravelling thing is slow isn’t it!

 

Day 4 - Mansfield to Whitfield Option 1 – 82ks and 1463m or Option 2 Mansfield to Whitfield Option 2 – 56km and 918m?

First decision was which course option? Option 1 had the same stats as Day 2 - 80ks and 1800m elevation. Screw that! Option 2 it was: 55k and 1000m elevation and only 20% unpaved. It was a good call. Some cumulative day fatigue was with me and there was more than enough to keep the day challenging. For the first 35km, it had a little bit of everything and was really enjoyable. Good course design Manny! “Turn right”. “Looks a bit steep Rick - we in”. “Let’s do it Sandy”. Wet, slippery and with all this anti-erosion humps was an indication of just how steep. “It should flatten a bit as we get further down” I surmised. Wrong! Skidding, sliding and generally feeling out of control, this was technical, surprisingly energy sapping and challenging. But at the same time really good fun! Nice one Manny! Why is Cam (Edwards) trying to call us now!? Feck; we are busy!

Sandy: “Hey Cam, what’s up?”

Cam: “Don’t go down there; it is brutal! I walked up it a couple of years ago.” 

Sandy “Aha: thanks for letting us know”.

We get down safely and finished with a challenging little river crossing which gave Rick some superhuman power for the rest of the ride (or perhaps the water just shorted his power meter?).

 

Rick hits the water

Arrived in Whitfield nice and early. What a lovely way to roll into the beautiful King-Valley. A quick stop into well-known Pizzini Winery, plenty of Sangiovese to be had but no real food. The Strava messages started to ping. “The pizza at Dal-Zotto is amazing”. A few more km’s up the road… but once again, Sangiovese and Nebbiolo in abundance but restaurant closed for renovations … in January no less! Back up the road and to the Cheshunt general store for what Michael Dal-Zotto says is the best steak sandwich and burger in southern Victoria … don’t know if we were just super hungry but we’d tend to agree. Whitfield Hotel Motel was home for the night. Great beer garden and restaurant (pasta was our choice that night) and extensive choice of #Pizzini wines (now why is that?).

 

Day 5 - Whitfield to Myrtleford 55km and 1100m elevation

This day was mostly unpaved and took us on some varied gravel surfaces - loose and big rocked, hard packed red clay, dusty gravel. Descending was mostly fun, but almost as tiring as going uphill. Really easy to break concentration and lose rhythm…last thing we needed was a big stack on the last day! Only one flat for the entire trip.  A simple pinch flat which wouldn’t seal with our whiz bang tubeless plug kit… so old school tune it was. Whilst Rick was being lazy and running high tyre pressures to save watts, I needed more comfort for my ass and in hindsight my pressure was a bit too low! Is that why he beat me up all those hills? We cruised into Myrtleford around 11am, had some lunch and then started the really easy (boring and arse numbing) trail to get Rick on a train home from Wangaratta. I stayed with him for 20kms before turning back (and so I would click over 100km for the day - but who really cares right!?).

 

Back in Myrtleford I thought I would get a bit more dressed up than my sports shorts and mtb shoe and got some very classy shorts, thongs and t-shirt from one of the many oppies. Checked into newly renovated centrally located Myrtleford Hotel Motel. Finally got that chicken Parma and chips I had been avoiding all week. Afternoon snooze after 350 gravel kms for the week; feeling a tad weary.

 

Day 6 - Myrtleford to Bright 30km and bugger all elevation

Met by Stan, Jack and Darko for this last day cruise for planned Gruppetto weekend in the hills. Original plan was to ride the rail trail there. We came up with a better plan - drive there and then go for a ride around some of the Bright trails.  Overall, a great adventure of self-indulgence and something different to the road riding I love.

 

Some key lessons

1. Course design on Strava is a great feature but not intuitive. Thanks Manny for your help! Let us know your tuition fees and let’s get a course done. Don’t get too stressed when you think you’re following the map and your Garmin beeps at you repeatedly... “U-turn, U-turn”. turns out the GPS isn’t that accurate on some of those unknown 4WD tracks.

 

2. Gravelling is bloody slow, or it was for us! Base your planning on doing 15km/h. Even on the rail trail day when we could do some sections at 40km/h, our average was just over 20km/h. You will invariably burn time stopping to check course navigation and even doing some back tracking. It all adds up!

 

3. Try and plan your days around a mid-ride stop in a country town for some country hospitality and a chance to eat some real food… how I dislike those gels.

 

4. Get out there, solo or with your mates and have a go. It’s an absolute blast. Everyone talks about riding in Europe and yep that’s great fun too, but there’s so many amazing opportunities just a few km’s down the road.

 

Selfrighteouscyclist’s note

Thanks to Sandy Woolley for capturing the essence of gravel riding. It’s not about the destination, but the journey one took to get there which leaves you with a lifetime of memories and experiences.  This blog was first posted on the Connected Cycling Facebook page, which is one of Sandy's side interests.  I'd urge you to subscribe.