[MELB] Sat 16th Dec: Warburton Trail

count me in.

How does the first Sunday in Feb sound? er… Sunday 4th Feb. Same deal: train out, ride, cog cafe, train home. Bring a friend (fixed or not).

How does the first Sunday in Feb sound?

I think that’s good for me… Brain is a bit disorganised at the moment… will confirm when I get back.

Will there be lots of cake involved…? I like cake.

…and pies.

how’s this for a thread dig!!!

i did the warby trail with k o on sunday and thoroughly enjoyed it. keen to hit up a few more while i still have the use of a family friend’s 7 seater tarago (with room for 3-4 bikes). i’ve also been inspired by/jealous of blakeys mini tours over xmas and new years.

can anyone suggest another rail trail of similar quality and distance to the warby trail? if i do it it’ll have to be this weekend. weather doesn’t look that great but shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.

was keen to maybe do the wangaratta - bright trail (105km) but i’m unsure how to get back to the car once i’ve reached bright. i know the obvious answer would be to ride back but i’ve never cracked the 100km mark and not sure i could do it 2 days in a row…

anyone ridden this trail before?

any help is appreciated

I did a bit of this trail a few years ago. Bear in mind that if you do Wangaratta to Bright it’s a steady elevation gain the whole way. It’s definitely nothing major but you don’t get any downhills for your work. Going the other way, otoh, is pretty fast and a lot more fun, imo.

Here’s an elevation chart:
Bike Riding Club
Ignore the big spike as that is a detour from Everton to Beechworth and back again (unless you want to do that - which might not be a bad idea, Beechworth is a nice town with a pretty good pub).

Bairnsdale - Orbost? 90km each way.

They’re all here:
Victorian Rail Trails

The Camperdown - Timboon one is overgrown at Cobden, may restart south of Cobden with less thistle/bramble… unsure, we took the roads rather than try to find where it restarted, the signage on it is a mess.

thanks blakey, but think bairnsdale might be a touch too far in terms of doing it in one weekend. i’ve checked out the railtrails website, which is where i got the wangaratta - bright idea from. was hoping someone would have personal experience, as i was unsure of how reliable the website was.

sir kev, thanks for your help, might be an idea to ride wangaratta - bright on saturday, then return on the sunday, using the gradual descent to my tired body’s advantage!

i should probably mention that i don’t own anything other than 2 fixed gear bicycles. i can switch one to singlespeed however, and may do this if i decide to go. i could probably do it fixed, but think it’d be more pleasant to have the ability to coast!

The Bellarine Rail Trail from South Geelong to Queenscliff is worth a visit. There are plenty of good pubs/restaurants in Queenscliff for lunch too. On Sundays they have a steam train, w00t!

so we did it, and it was totally fine. body managed 2 days in a row with ease and the ride was very enjoyable, despite the hot weather both days.

more here - http://www.fixed.org.au/forums/t15345/

thanks sir kev, you were pretty much bang on regarding the elevation rise etc.