Simon and I took another look at Stromolo, this
time starting from the Sromolo Rd that leads to the
Observatory.
We parked at a small pull-off point about 500m up
the Stromolo Rd towards the Observatory. This was a
much better place to start as it's right at the good
part of the forrest that is loaded with challenging
tracks.
We took off Eastwards from the road and headed
straight up the South face of Mt Stromlo, the climb to a
parking area about 3/4 to the top wasn't that hard and we
reached it 10 mins or so.
We decided to keep going
N/NWish and descended down the West face and crossed the
Stromlo Rd to see what it was like on the West
side....not as good. We found our way to the huge water mains
that run parallel to the Cotter Rd and decided this
side of the Sromolo Rd wasn't as good and headed back
over the other side...
Climbing the SE side of
Mt Stromolo this time, we found some fairly constant
climbs that took us to the trig station and the top two
telescopes at the Observatory. A little cruise through the
complex for curiosity's sake and we headed back down the
SE face via goat trails and old uncared for fire
trails. We got 700m or so down the hill when we hit the
'private property' gate that Neil and I started from last
week! Back down that excellent downhill goat
track....my now bald back tire was useless for braking, so I
was using a lot of front brake to slow me down....a
mistake. I hit a big rock under front brakes and endo'd up
on the front tire. I managed to balace for a second
or two, but fell sideways of the track and down the
embankment, with my bike still attached to me! I got off
lightly with a few scratches this time, but it's left me
wanting that new tire!
Back on the bikes and
straight down the rest of the trail with more downhills
all the way back to the cars.
A great run as
there was heaps of uphills at the start and downhill
all the way back to the cars. I recommend starting
from the base of Stomolo Rd and heading up Mt Stromolo
on any of those South face trails, but if you find
that 'private property' gate on the SE side near the
top, prepare for one of the most awesome downhills
I've seen yet!
Dist: 12km
Time: 1:20
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