Mt Barker Laps

Suz and I drove down to Mt Barker on Australia Day, Wednesday, January 26th. She wanted to catch up with our O&M guy, Brian, who has taken over from the old Enercon guys. I went, mostly, because driving 8 hours on your own is not safe. I also took the road bike shod with 30mm cyclo tyres. There is a circuit I have been meaning to ride for years, now, with lots of bitumen and lots of gravel. We stay overnight at Rayene's (local B&B place we have used for years) along with Brien - we had dinner at the Chinese place (it was actually open!) with him, lots to discuss.

Thursday morning and the ride is only 30km, but features the very steep Mt Barker hill which is a bit of a challenge on a road bike. I start off cutting through town and onto Muir Highway which is almost all downhill except for the climb just past the bridge. After the turnoff south, there is only gravel, very corrugated (and that is why we have mountain bikes, with big fat tyres and suspension) for a good 8km or so.

Left, almost midway, is the little chapel of St Werboughs, up a modest hill on the gravel. Below, the Mt Barker Hill lookout is on top of a much bigger hill, but at least it is bitumen all the way up. Stirling Ranges are in the background (as are the wind turbines, but they did not come out).

Not a huge ride but something I have been meaning to do for a while . . . And it was cool. While Perth was 30 degrees, Mt Barker was overcast and occasionally drizzling, it was great!

Mt Barker Ride II

We drove back down to Mt Barker on Saturday, 28th of May for a Tesla Tour of the windfarm, six months after the first time. Only 2 cars turned up and one was a Polestar. To make better use the trip, we had taken the mountain bikes; Susanna's shopping trolley minus the rack and with the front wheel (hub dynamo, slick tyres) replaced with a plain old front wheel with knobblies on it and I had taken the hybrid tyre off the Surly and put it on my old mountain bike rear wheel, and swopped out the cluster. This is because we were to lap the Porongurups, about 35km with about 1/3 on bitumen and the rest on gravel roads, with corrugations in places.

The weather was not good and very cold, the whole time the temperture was below 12 degrees. It was gusty with light rain at times. The downhill south at the western end suffered headwinds too brutal to enjoy but elsewhere it was quiet, pleasant with almost no traffic until we hit Chester Pass Road (1.5km) and then Porongurup Road. A good 500m plus of climbing in there, too.

Below is just after we turn east,

Now the rock is better in focus . . . .