Climbing the Back of the Beast: Mt Buffalo

Short day ride, 4/1/09

A little bit of time to myself and I decided to take up one of my listed 'short day' rides: up Mount Buffalo (and a loop over to the Kiewa Valley). A few kms down the highway the sign to Buffalo pops up, and a minute off the main drag it becomes clear where the road is headed: a great granite rockface appears from between the trees.

My first glimpses of the mount to be scaled, Buffalo. From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

The cliffs become more and more imposing as you draw towards the park entry. I was so absorbed in the spectacle, and the tittilating implications those rocks had for the slowly tightening road, I failed to stop for a good photo of the cliffs from their base. I encourage you to make the trip so you can do so yourself! It becomes hard to believe that the road will actually scale the back of this beast, but scale it does.

The road snakes lazily through the tall eucalypts of the foothills of the granite outcrop before skirting across its face, ducking in and out of its crevices and providing distracting views of the valley just left. Soon though the view disappears behind a forest of trees, and with the cliffs skirted it is time for the road to climb the back of the Buffalo - the real fun begins. The view is not missed: between the cyclists and the road there isn't much attention left for it. The road is tricky and engaging, with variation between tiny hairpins and violent esses, and on good days a fair amount of traffic as well, both two and four wheels. The surface is good, and guaranteed to leave you grinning when the road widens and speeds up as it flattens out on the Buffalo plateau. The good stuff climaxes opening out onto a flower-matted plain at the turnoff to the historic chalet.

The turnoff leads back to the top of the granite walls that were our first aquaintance, and a good spot to stop and let the adrenaline cool off. The view extending out over the Ovens Valley is amazing, and standing on cliff edges you can only wonder - and be thankful - how they managed to snake a road up here. I've included a whole bunch of photos; in a spot like this they all turn out good!

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

The plateau is quite flat, and the road which weaves across it is too straight to give in to your lecherous urges and retain any semblance of sensibility. A good time therefore to relax and enjoy the scenery. The only bike I saw on the mountain was an enduro parked on this lake. The cool, calm waters would make a great place to camp of a summer, especially if it's as warm as it has been.

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

The plateau is peppered with granite outcrops which command you to stop and gawk for a minute. The Horn itself is further along, but coming across this outcrop is inspiring enough! Call me strange, but I've always enjoyed relaxing after-the-fact as much as anything else, and cruising the top of Buffalo is a great way to do so.

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

Past the snowfields - one bald hill with a few lifts - the road turns to dirt. Quite good travelling too, tight and twisty and a whole lot of fun if you want to put your red goggles back on. It does push the limits of a roadbike though: this road brought the first ever time I've found myself wishing for a gear 0, and some of the tight stuff is bumpy enough to cause genuine concern. You might also have to dodge a bit of oncoming traffic - which you won't necessarily see until it's right upon you - but you can't let that spoil the fun.

All too soon the road turns into a parking lot overlooking the mountains to the west: Mt Buller is out there somewhere, and a whole lot of peaks with random names and no residents. It's also high enough that the vegetation is twisted snowy gum with red and white bursts of wildflowers and grasses edging the road and pathway.

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

Having come this far I figured I'd test the hiking potential of my boots by climbing to the top of Horn (the high point of Mt Buffalo), so I've snapped a few photos for you of the view along the way. It's quite breathtaking being up here, half because of the ranges spread out in every direction, half because of the eery atmosphere that the trees bring, and a third half because of the smooth granite mounds which characterise the area. BREATHTAKING INDEED. I also managed to snap you a couple of shots of the rocky plateau, including a great one of the dirty, twisting fun that makes the final section of road.

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

Looking back down the road from above. It's even tighter than it looks! From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

The most memorable part of the trip was yet to come however. Back at the top of the climb up the mountain a track diverges (to the right if coming up the hill). It is marked as 'rough 2wd track', but don't let that put you off - the surface is much better than most of the areas gravel roads. So off I pottered to see where it would go. There is something special about riding off along a track like this, something special about riding off the road, having grass and flowers tapping at your boots. I was almost self-conscious of botherring the butteflies, birds and bees by riding through their homes. It's tracks like this that make motorcycling more than just enjoyable, but special. Memories like this will outlive the tarred climb. Memories like this are worth writing home about!

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

If you're a dirt-road nancy you are missing out on these wilderness adventures: go out and get yourself used to it, because you don't want to have to turn back at the best part of the trip.

The road didn't actually go anywhere, other than 'away', not that it mattered. It was a little sad to get back to the tar, though the sadness was soon dismissed as the road plunged back down the mountain. Knowing what to expect I was in no mood to waste time, and waste I did not! By the base of the mountain I was too engaged in catching my breath to remember I was suppose to stop for a few photos of the cliff faces, though I did have to push on anyway.

The rest of the day was spent looping across the range between the Kiewa and Ovens valleys. There is some straight stuff through the valleys, but with all those hills around a healthy lust for the twisty stuff does not go too long unanswered. It is so easy to fall in love with this area.

'Riding off into the distance.' From Mt Buffalo (good shots)

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@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Lucky Me!

I realised something out on the road today. I was thinking about how lucky I am to be able to ride the roads that I do. And I realised - I have been thinking this a lot lately! So often, I sit back, I look at the view - perhaps to recover in between focussing intently on the next bend - at the road ahead, the hills to either side, the eucalypts lining the road (I love eucalypts by the way!, in all their splenderous, disorganised variety, they make a lot of the atmosphere of many locations)... and am not just enchanted, but struck, amazed, at how wonderful it is to be able to do what I am doing. Really! It happens all the time. And it really is nice.

The realisation led to a thought, in its turn, about this blog. I know what I can write about! I can write about more than just what I do, what the roads are like, what the view was like... what I can write, is a blog which shares these experiences. A blog which attempts to explain why it is that I am so lucky, to express what it is about riding that is so... worth writing about.

So that is my angle. I certainly hope I make you jealous. : ) But if I inspire you to find - to make - for yourself the same opportunities that I have, then you can hardly complain. Or if I merely inspire you to feel something of what I feel then that will just the same, be a job well done.

At the end of the day, if I can understand how I could be so lucky, or if I can understand what it is that inspires me so, then, well then I'll be the better for it as well.

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@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)

Ascent and Descent and Ascent and Decent to Heaven: Scaling the Victorian Alps (Falls Creek and Mount Hotham)

Half day ride through Falls Creek and back over Hotham, with sidetracks. 1/1/09

First things first: you're missing out.
Second things second: I'm not!

After a relatively relaxed getup on New Year's Day I decided to spend my day off on what I had been pining for: riding. I had ridden some of these roads on the way to Phillip Island (Hamish crashed here on one of the best of them), and driven in a few days earlier, but such experience only served to whet the appetite. With the morning gone I decided on a shortish loop which hopefully would include enough good riding to keep me going until I could organise a proper day's roadwork.

Headed towards Mt Beauty, at the base of the climb to Falls Creek, I encountered the Tawonga Gap for the first time in fine weather - ah, what fond memories! While relatively short this is one of the area's most beautiful roads (if you can avoid the occasional bumps or gravel and surprise bends) and an excellent warmup. A quick stop at the top provides views of the Mt Beauty at the top of the Kiewa Valley, and of course the mountains beyond that which are my real intent.

Lookout: Jill warmed up... I'm not the only one looking forward to the day's ride. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Mt Bogong to the left is Vic's highest peak - no road access, but I do plan on walking it - Falls Creek is up the mountains to the right, and in the middle Mt Beauty; not actually a mountain... From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

At the base of the run down - steeper and nearly as fun - I happened upon a sign too good to refuse: "Car and Motorbike Racing, turn left". A look at the mountain, a look at the clock, and hell, I'm on holiday: racing it is!

I managed to find the covert entrance to the track a few kms down the road - a track which could not have been put in a better place. The Kiewa (/Tawonga?) Valley offers views across the riverplane from the road, towards the range on the other side, largely untouched by pine plantations (unlike the Ovens Valley where Bright is).

If you haven't yet, and you get an opportunity, I highly recommend stopping at a local dirt track event. The racing isn't as tightly packed (or fast, our loud, or...) as at a roadrace event, but its relaxed charms make up for that. The number of hilariously random stacks is high.

The Hairpin: wet and slippery, tight and boggy - predictably made for great viewing whether or not the competitors made it round unscathed. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Not as high though as the family involvement, which lends a great atmosphere. There can't have been more than 30-40 competitors for the whole day, but there were hundreds camped on the hill, including families on and off track. Right in the middle of this photo is the smallest racer I've ever seen, a girl well under double-digits in years, who actually fit ergonomically onto a pocket bike:

Looking out over the Mt Beauty Car Club track in the Kiewa Valley. They're so small you might not see them, but yes there are kids in this shot! From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Watching the smallest ones get swamped by a pack of bigger kids on bikes big enough for me to ride, one leg out, without flinching - I think I was more scared than they were. It's a great thing to see. A few shots to send back to you, though, and I was soon on my way. Daylight only lasts so long and I had riding of my own to attend to.

The road up to Falls Creek looks scrumptious on the map, but I don't know that I expected this! Leaving Mt Beauty the anticipation built with every obligatory "obey weather condition signs" - with nothing but sunshine in the sky they had all been switched to a simple 'slow down', which I read as implying they expected us to go fast. A km of warmup esses gave way to the serious mountain work as the road snaked up to the alps. Bend after bend after bend gave way to more corners, hairpins, esses, and everything but straight road. The road between Mt Beauty and Falls Ck stretches for 37km, and not one of those includes a straight any more than a hundred metres long. Pleasure - technical, twisting, picturesque pleasure.

A warning to the potential traveller that the mountain does have its tricks! The blind, tightening hairpins are not oddities, they are the norm. Whilst the traffic has been quite light, even in the peak summer period, the mountain is very popular with cyclists. There are also a few bumps, not large enough to be a serious threat, but invisible enough to be a sharp surprise. The road is, in short, technical and challenging: if you haven't got your head screwed on you could see yourself doing a Hamish, but if you do it will be a ride you won't forget.

The final challenge is of course keeping your mind on the road as you climb through the variations in alpine environment. The forests of dead trees (2003/6 bushfires I presume) have a mystic quality which ensures you can't forget where you are. If you find yourself distracted you're much better stopping for a photo than dodging cyclists with only one eye on the road.

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Falls Ck is a cute little village tucked into the mountainside: unlike Hotham it sits just at the top of the treeline, rather than at the peak. Continuing up to the plateau the road turns to gravel, and all of a sudden flattens out on a beautiful, giant lake (Rocky Valley Reservoir). I pushed on here, but if you continue reading you'll find some photos of the plateau from the next time I visited in a later post.

The gravel at first seems quite tame (wide, flat, well-graded road), but the abundance of large-stone loose crap on the top makes the treck down to the bottom of the mountain on the other side remarkably tedious on two wheels, and means it is difficult to appreciate the scenery.

It is a relief to reach tar at the bottom, and I was greeted by a Mitta-Mitta river tributary quite similar to the Tambo between Omeo and the coast.

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

The beauty of the countryside was matched only by the quality of the road: I had no idea how good this section was going to be! For 35km to Omeo the road twists and turns beside the river, only opening out into faster sweepers as it enters the plains near Omeo. Nearly 150km into the day I had ridden barely a handful of km in a straight line. I had climbed into heaven and descended down the other side only to find myself on roads no less spectacular. This really is a wonderful place to ride.

I finally hit some relatively open road - the climb to the peak of Hotham from the Omeo side is all sweepers rather than twisties, though with open alpine views my only complaint was with the remarkable drop in temperature. Whilst not as enchanting as the area was last time we were here - riding through the snow - the climb is still worth doing.

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Mt Hotham is quite high, much of the road is skirted by these spooky, stunted-looking dead forests. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

It doesn't show up well in the photo, but there's something stunning about the big rock that makes the peak of Hotham. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Having made reasonable time I was able to take a few shots of the wonderful area across the top of Hotham, which offers great views of the bald mountain tops and snaking road, with dashes of summer flowers and shorter greenery.

From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Mt Hotham from the North: looking back towards Hotham provides some great shots if you're prepared to stop. And yes, I have gotten around to removing all the Christmas garb. From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

flowers: A pathway I think may be beyond me... From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

Roadway to Heaven: if there is anywhere you would rather be you need counselling. (There's something fun about being able to ride straight off the road to the edge of a cliff!) From Falls Creek - Omeo - Hotham, 1/1/09

The run down the mountain from here was once again the source of the same twisted pleasure the region is famous for. So much so that I never took my eyes off the road (except to confirm that the SV pulls 200rpm beyond redline), so no photos for you.

You will just have to ride it yourself!

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@JohnSBaxter
2009-traveldiary.blogspot.com
2009-motorcyclist.blogspot.com
jsbaxter.com.au (coming soon!)