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Bike riding in the Otways -everyone's doing it
Posted by
antracing
,
11 April 2012
·
82 views
We had a lovely time in Forrest for three nights over Easter. The weather was a bit dodgy but we lucked out when we rode the Old Beechy Rail Trail. It hailed before we got out of the car at Gellibrand and hailed again about 2 minutes after we got in the door at our destination in Beech Forest - the Ridge Cafe which was fabulous. We had a lovely lunch at 3.00 pm as it took 3 hours to climb the 15 km up the trail. On the way back it took less than an hour. Bikes went well, so the next day we did the Tiger Rail Trail in Forrest and a mountain bike trail at its end - very nice but had a long climb up a power line easement with sand and loose gravel. Hard work.
Forrest is a little timber town that was going to die when the mills closed. They were smart to set up mountain bike trails in their forests and now are a huge hub of mountain bike riding. There were bikes, bikes, bikes everywhere over Easter and the local restaurants etc say they are a tough lot so visit rates stay good even in winter. Most went home on Easter Monday so we ventured onto the trails in our own way on Tuesday (ie slow and careful).
Lake Elizabeth, just out of Forrest, is a lovely place , we didn't see any platypuses but it is a lovely little lake surrounded by tree ferns, quite unusual and well worth a dawn or dusk walk. Just don't be sucked into thinking it is good for canoeing as the brochures imply. No public access close to lake at all so a lot of heavy hauling would be needed and the walk around the edge is probably better anyway.
We also went over to the Otway Fly, a walk up in the canopy of a regenerating Mountain Ash forest. Didn't get onto the Zip Line tour as booked solid, especially as Good Friday had a storm and those cancelled bookings filled any gaps for Easter. Should have booked online well before. Coffee shop, walk, etc packed out, very busy. Terrible coffee, its a shame these places don't get their coffee makers trained to know even a few basics. (like tamping down the coffee before hooking up to machine).
Result was that last week did 14 kms running. 5 km were the Harriers run , did in 27 mins 30 sec, not bad Pace= 5.3.
So far this week did 8 km on Wednesday, in 1 hr 11 mins, but did a hill 200m at 4.5 km per hour (believe it or not that's the best yet); and a quick stride 203 m in 49 secs, Pace = 4.04, speed = 14.7, also good. Felt good and did some random bounding on a nice section of track, this helps, so will do more.
Tonight the Harriers run was 5km, ran 5.05 km ion 27 mins 18 secs, Pace= 5.24, av speed = 11.1 km per hr. Not bad and overtook a few people I don't usually get close to.
Forrest is a little timber town that was going to die when the mills closed. They were smart to set up mountain bike trails in their forests and now are a huge hub of mountain bike riding. There were bikes, bikes, bikes everywhere over Easter and the local restaurants etc say they are a tough lot so visit rates stay good even in winter. Most went home on Easter Monday so we ventured onto the trails in our own way on Tuesday (ie slow and careful).
Lake Elizabeth, just out of Forrest, is a lovely place , we didn't see any platypuses but it is a lovely little lake surrounded by tree ferns, quite unusual and well worth a dawn or dusk walk. Just don't be sucked into thinking it is good for canoeing as the brochures imply. No public access close to lake at all so a lot of heavy hauling would be needed and the walk around the edge is probably better anyway.
We also went over to the Otway Fly, a walk up in the canopy of a regenerating Mountain Ash forest. Didn't get onto the Zip Line tour as booked solid, especially as Good Friday had a storm and those cancelled bookings filled any gaps for Easter. Should have booked online well before. Coffee shop, walk, etc packed out, very busy. Terrible coffee, its a shame these places don't get their coffee makers trained to know even a few basics. (like tamping down the coffee before hooking up to machine).
Result was that last week did 14 kms running. 5 km were the Harriers run , did in 27 mins 30 sec, not bad Pace= 5.3.
So far this week did 8 km on Wednesday, in 1 hr 11 mins, but did a hill 200m at 4.5 km per hour (believe it or not that's the best yet); and a quick stride 203 m in 49 secs, Pace = 4.04, speed = 14.7, also good. Felt good and did some random bounding on a nice section of track, this helps, so will do more.
Tonight the Harriers run was 5km, ran 5.05 km ion 27 mins 18 secs, Pace= 5.24, av speed = 11.1 km per hr. Not bad and overtook a few people I don't usually get close to.
