Sheoak Road - Satan's driveway!

I've just had a fairly big weekend on the bike - lots of climbing (just over 2000m) and I tackled a few new hills.

I've had a bit of a spring to my step since making it up Corkscrew last weekend. With this new found confidence I thought I'd tackle the Belair Road and Sheoak Road route through to Crafers on Saturday. I've heard that Sheoak Road is long and tough but felt up for the challenge. Before that however was Belair Road. I've been down it before but I've never done the up track. I've been up there countless times on mototbikes and in cars when I was younger, so I know the road pretty well. Overall it was a magnificent climb - great views to the city and challenging but not too long (it's 3.6 km at 5.6%). From the top I headed across to Sheoak Road.

It was nice enough at the start, exchanging pleasantries with the residents out raking leaves and watering their gardens. Perhaps it was a touch of paranoia, but they seemed to giving me a knowing "I know something about this road that you don't" look. Then, soon enough, it appeared. The yellow 20% gradient sign heralded the appearance of a very, very nasty hill. I stopped for a quick snap of the sign and the hill (well, you don't often see a 20% sign), and thought 'here goes nothing'. It was bloody hard and I made it about two-thirds the way up before I conceded defeat.

It doesn't look very steep in the photos - I guess you just had to be there.
Zoom in, the sign really does say 20%, honest!

This is the top of the nasty hill

After a 2 or 3 minute break and a 20 metre walk up the hill to a flatish driveway (so I could safely take off and clip in, which is always a challenge for me on a steep hill), I was on my way again and completed the last bit of the climb. I might have faired a bit better if I had more of a run up and didn't stop at the base of the climb for a photo opportunity but, realistically, I still don't think I could have made it up that hill. I'm quite happy grinding away up a long 8% climb but I just don't have the power in my legs for those short but severe gradients. I suspect I'll probably get up there eventually, but I doubt if it will be any time in the near future.

Thankfully there was no more climbs of that severity. The rest of the road was more of a constant rollercoaster of climbs which I found pretty demanding but I got through it without stopping. When I reached this particularly long and nasty hill pictured below, I really wasn't sure how far along the road I'd come. I thought I was about three quarters done, so after trudging up this long straight climb I was pretty happy to hear the traffic from Upper Sturt Road. From there it was a short ride to Crafers. After that I just turned around and came home back via Sheoak, Blackwood and down Shephards Hill Road.

The final hill that seemed to go forever (at the eastern end of Sheoak Road)

I'd mapped out Sunday morning's ride ages ago but never got around to doing it. I started off climbing up Flagstaff Road then headed to Clarendon, Kangarilla, Meadows, Echunga, Hahndorf, Bridgewater, Crafers then home. It was 90km with around 1300m of climbing, which puts it up there with my most challenging rides. It was challenging too because most of the first 40km or so were into a reasonably brisk headwind. The first major challenge was Chandlers Hill. I'd been about two-thirds the way up a couple of years ago but I haven't been back since, so it was nice to get up the thing. It's 2.5km at 6.7%, so it's not to be sneezed at. From there it was a nice downhill run into Clarendon then some more gentle climbs heading toward Kangarilla and Meadows. Here's a couple of snaps on the way to Meadows:

It started to drizzle on the way into Meadows but there wasn't too much in it. I stopped at the sausage sizzle at the market in Meadows, then turned up to the long straight road towards Echunga. I was amazed at how many vintage cars were going past me and thought there must have been some sort of event on. Sure enough, just out of Echunga I came across the 'All British' vehicle gathering. There was so many magnificent cars - here's a few pics:

A Healey, I believe

Love the Morry convertible

 

Not sure what this is, but it has some beautifully sculptured, elegant curves.

The road through to Hahndorf was paricularly nice. It was fairly busy on this particular morning but it was a nice smooth ride nonetheless. Another break at Hahndorf and I headed towards the familiar climbs of Germantown Hill and the Old Mt Barker Road climb up Mt George. I was pretty happy with these two - I managed to do my best time up both climbs, then topped it of with my fastest run down from Crafers to the Tollgate (10:31), which was significantly good fun.

It was a bit of a 'four seasons in one day' sort of morning - dark and cloudy, then drizzly, then bright and sunny towards the end. This was perfect conditions to try out my new Shimano photochromatic glasses (ie. they change depending on the brightness). The lenses performed brilliantly, they were really comfortable and seemed to repell the rain quite well too. Very impressed.

Overall, it was a great ride - good distance, plenty of work for the legs, nice roads, not too hot etc. I'm certainly racking up the km's. I'm up to around 870 so far this year, which is only 6 weeks old. I did around 2000 for the whole of last year so I reckon I can at least double that this year.