I’ve ridden portions of this route before, but today I thought I’d make something special by combining two long climbs, and two very fast descents. The result was a killer ride which traced out a large “W” shape when you looked at the elevation profile.
I thought this would be an ideal way to introduce my friend, Miles, to as much of beautiful D’Aguilar National Park as I could. We had limited time and wanted to see as much as possible!
After a short quick climb up the Goat Track, we started our first descent down Taylors Break. This track starts out gently, and slowly gets crazier as you get closer to the bottom. Towards the end, it drops steeply, and the track is strewn with large rocks. It’s not for the faint-hearted. I’ve heard hikers complain about how difficult it is to walk down. So doing it on a mountain bike requires a certain blend of skill and insanity.
After reaching Branch Creek at the bottom of the descent, we started our long slow grind up Cabbage Tree Range Road. This took us about an hour. It was hard work, but we were fortunate that the weather was fairly cool, and we weren’t in a hurry.
Normally at this point in the ride, I’d pat myself on the back, and head home along Dundas Road. Today, however, we opted to ride back down a long descent again and headed off down Goodes Road. It’s not as steep or rocky as Taylors Break – which meant we could go faster 
At the bottom of the descent, we again pointed our bikes up the hill and started the 75 minute climb up Joyners Ridge Road. This climb isn’t as tough as Cabbage Tree Range Road, but it’s longer and ascends higher – all the way to Mount Glorious. The highlight of the climb is the rainforest at the top.
AFter our long climb, we stopped for a delicious Wagyu Burger at Mount Glorious Cafe, and enjoyed the view for a while. From there it was a quick roll back down the bitumen to the car.
All up this ride was about 45km with about 2,000m of vertical ascent. My GPS didn’t record the last section, so I’m estimating I burned about 4,000 kcal. In today’s cool weather I’d rate this ride 9 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter. In hotter weather I think it would be pushing the limit of my ability. Medium to High fitness and skills required
(Note, the GPS left out the bitumen descent from Mount Glorious to the Goat Track)
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