Old Coach road

It all started when Mark came into the shop and suggested that we do another Monday ride.
As any excuse to mooch off work on Monday and go for a ride is a good excuse and I'd just about forgotten the 20km long climb at the end of the last Monday ride he organised I was hell keen.

Sunday had me riding around Lidsdale State forest on my DH bike helping out with the chix skills day so when the alarm went off Monday morning my legs were a bit scared even if the rest of me was keen.

About 3 million layers of clothing and it was out into the crisp morning and down to Marks place at 7.30 to meet him and fellow Monday Moochers Marty, Craig and John.

A quick spin across town to warm up and it was straight into the Drift. I use to do this climb on my AC to get to the Old DH track... Warm gear got stripped off and stowed in packs. My legs didn't like it at all and when someone called "how about we walk the steep bit to conserve energy for later" I held out for another 100m or so and thought buggar it.

From the top of the Drift it is a gently undulating climb to the high point of the trip, just under 1200m, near The Bungelborrie picnic ground (AKA 9mile cabin to the old folks even though I can't ever remember there being a cabin there). It was chilly in the shade of the pines and warm gear went back on.

20km into the ride Mark called for a chocolate break. One thing about riding with Mark is that there seems to be a lot of stops in the first half of the day and a lot of climbs in last half...

we continued along, the road drops down before climbing slightly again then it's a long section of gentle down hill, this basically follows the old railway line that was used to haul shale oil out of the bustling turn of the century township of Newnes.

The original plan was to turn off at the top of the Coach Road (about 30km from Lithgow) and head down the rocky descent through pogoda country, but it was brought up that some of the crew had never been through the Glow Worm tunnel so, despite it being the wrong time of year for worms, we continued along the main road, riding through the first tunnel and heading down to the second tunnel. Now while the Coach Road and Glow Worm Tunnel track have been OKed for riding by NPs you have to walk you bike the 1km between the car park and a point 100m past the tunnel.

No probs. we head down and Mark calls morning tea just after we negotiated the washed out gully which was once bridged. Considering the sun was shining on the other side of the gully we question his sanity but he happy pulls out the old billy and boils up some tea.

We take a look through the tunnel. You always seem to see more glowworms on the way back through. At this time of year you need to turn torches off and let your eyes adapt to the dark but there were more little glowing dots than I thought there would be at this time of year.

So we collect the bikes from the start of the tunnel, back track slightly and then traverse the pogoda track to link up with the Coach road about quarter the way down. The pogoda track offers some stunning views over big cliffs and narrow canyons and you have to wonder just how desperate people were to build a railway through this country.

Onto the coach road. last time I road this it was almost single track. a rough, fast DH run that cuts down through the cliff line and then swung out over space. A washed out bridge giving you about 5ft of room between the cliff above and a big plummet below as you get the first good look over the Wolgan. Mark calls a stop as there is a bitof a spring above the bridge to refilly the bottle for the tea water.
There's an old poem about how scary the ride down this section in the horse drawn coach was but this time we find the road graded, NP must be doing some fire control planning, even the old bridge had been sured up and widened.

Still, after a small climb a fast and furious DH awaited us. Sharp waterbars kept plenty of air under our wheels and 180* corners kept the brakes hot. We quickly drop down to an Old colliery site where the coach road crossed the old railline once again. we continue down and cross the Wolgan River at about 560m elevation.

It's almost 1pm and Mark calls lunch. A fire is lit and the billy put to boil. We bask in the glorious sunshine, as the grand sandstone cliff lines of the Wolgan protect us from the wind and we wait for our cuppa tea.

the first part of the ride out is nice. The road follows the river plain though up the glorious Wolgan Valley. We gain almost 200m on the undulating dirt road but you barely notice the effort. Then the road dips back down before throwing you at Wolgan Gap. 3km of narrow roughly tarred pain.

There may have been walking but We'll not speak of THAT hill.

An alternative way out of the valley is to rejoin the rail easement at the Coal Mine and ride back up to the Glow Worm Tunnel and head back the way you came. You gain more elevation over all but as it follows the old rail line it's a much gentler grade.

The one reason to climb the Gap is that we reach the absolutely stunning view at the top just as the afternoon light was at it's best. Charles Darwin had a quote about the view from this very spot but I'll be buggared if I can remember it now.

The original plan had been to continue up on Black Fellows hands road and back across the plateau. But that option had been dismissed before we even started so we went soft and tookthe highway home. A cruise pedal into Lidsdale where refreshments were purchased at Dukies Corner before tackling one last pinch on Springvale hill and then easy into Lithgow.

My motionbased thingies for the ride is here http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/3425611

and some photos from the day can be found here http://insanecycles.com.au/index.php?option=com_...