Hello members of foa, I’m looking to incorporate some super duper uber light bike packing/touring/beardo activities in to my training and I really want to ride Bairnsdale to Jindabyne via Barry way. There’s also the possibility of riding to Bairnsdale over a couple of days. After spending some time in Jindabyne I’ll probably be continuing on to Canberra.
Anyway, I seem to remember someone on here has taken this route before? Can’t seem to find any info or remember who it is though. My main concern is there is apparently a 90km unsealed section of Barry way, is it suitable/doable on my caad10 (can fit maybe 30c tyres I guess) and if there is accessible streams/rivers to fill water bottles along the 160-170km stretch that has no services.
I’ve had a look about the internets and at google street view to try get a better idea of what it’s like but it’d be great to get some advice from someone who has ridden it before.
You could fill at Suggan Buggan river (which, if riding from Bairnsdale means about ~60-70k in from Buchan from memory). There is also a camp site/‘petrol station’ 40km from Buchan you can fill at, which would have clean drinking water.
Bring water purification tablets. When I did the ride, I met a bike tourist from Coburg who had no water purification tablets, no water, and was about to enter the remote part of the ride…
CAAD10 with fattest as possible tires would be fine IMO… possibly shit if heavy rain.
I wouldn’t. I drove it last week & can’t imagine it’d be much fun on a roadie. depends what the weather’s been doing too, if it’s been raining I think you’d find it pretty tedious.
nah it wasn’t too bad I guess, but I let 5psi out of my tyres to dampen some of the bumps. there’s parts that are pretty rutted, but from memory (and I wasn’t looking at it from a cyclist point of view remember) they were mainly on the corners. the long section from Wallace Craigie lookout to the campsites was pretty good I think. you’d be going uphill there with a drop on your left, so you’d wanna be careful, I saw a Holden frontera over the edge (check my IG).
personally, I wouldn’t wanna do it on a roadie, but I have a tourer, so it’s probably biased by that. the guys that have ridden it will have a better idea.
but check the weather, it’d get pretty slick in the rain I reckon
Do it. 30c will be fine, the worst road conditions will be when you’re going up to Wallace Craigie so the ruts etc. won’t be a problem for you. Me, tom, che, sean all went the other way so fast descent down from Wallace Craigie, even then it’s not that bad.
Fill up water at Suggan Buggan, as tom said, and also Jacob’s Creek which is right at the bottom of the Wallace Craigie climb. You can also fill up at a few spots in between those two on the Snowy River if you have to.
Highly recommend the ride up to Charlotte Pass and even up to Kosi Summit if you’ve got time and the weather’s ok. Dirt road past Charlotte Pass which is legal to ride all the way to Rawson Gap where there’s a dunny block and bike racks for locking up. Then it’s a 1km touristy walk up to the summit. Awesome fast descent back down to Jindy.
Oh, and Barry Way is a pretty popular route (relatively) so if you do get into trouble on that long stretch without services you’ll find someone in a 4wd (like Rolly if you’re lucky!) to give you a hand pretty easily.
there ya go, turns out the bit I thought was fine is the bit to worry about!! haha. so weird how the same road can look so different depending on your mode of transport!
cyclist - “g’day mate, any hills up ahead?”
shop owner/local resident/driver - “nah mate, it’s pretty flat from here to the next town/campsite/destination”
+1 on going to Charlotte Pass. I rode it yesterday, for the second time. It is one of my all-time favourite rides.
I also found out yesterday there’s a kiosk about 3-4km from the top. It’s Australia’s highest kiosk. They do coffee with rum or baileys.
IMO, the Pinch River campground is the best one available (I checked them all before choosing), but that’s coz it’s the biggest & I had the place to myself. place to swim right by the site should you wish to cool off & wash your kit etc. I think it’s the second last one before the climb up to jindabyne.
if you struggle to find any decent maps online I can probably send you photos from the map in my car.
can a caad10 even fit 30’s? even if they barely cleared the frame, they would be rubbing once you start thrashing it on the dirt.
that said, id probably still do the ride on 26/27’s. worst road conditions were namadgi, a few blown out rocky sections (this is where i thought to myself thank fuck i didnt bring my caad10). some corrugations and rutted bits on barry way but doable. bringing mtb shoes/pedals might come in handy.
bairnsdale to buchan rd turn off has heaps of trucks, probably heaps of log trucks on a weekday too. be a mad dog and ride from melb all the way to buchan in one go. time it so you do bairnsdale - to buchan in early morning if you have to leave on a weekday.
bring more water and food than you need. also bring quick links, just ask aeons.
some fkn maniac drivers in namadgi too, even I felt unsafe a few times when ppl heading south were totally flying. I think the limit is 100 & I even commented to ezy that that seemed ridiculous.
I did see a guy touring through there though, looked hot.
Yeah, agree 'bout the speed limit… I found most drivers were pretty chill along the sealed section - did have some dickhead bogan fly pass me as I was descending the gravel section, which freaked me the fuck out…
^ just as I left Tharwa
IMO Namadgi was the toughest part of the ride (although Sean/angry seem to disagree with me) - I really did not enjoy the first sealed climb into the national park. With the sun out, it fucking killed me…
