Last week a few of the Crankstar Crew took advantage of a late mid week start to tackle Mt Tamborine.
We met nice and early at Crankstar and after a delicious coffee, struck out on the journey.
The weather was crisp. 5.00am is a great time to ride in summer here in Brisbane. You can feel the day slowly waking from it's slumber. You try to put the thoughts of heat and humidity in the back of your mind as you know this will become apparent after 8.00am! This ride gave us a solid 127km and a little over 4hrs of ride time.
Mt Tamborine is situated around 60km south of Brisbane. The ride out is a transformation from city, to suburbs, to farm land and finally rainforest as you approach the upper slopes of the climb. The ride itself is a good honest ride that will test most riders endurance as well as strength on the 7km climb. You can expect gradients of between 5%-12% on what can best be described as a gradual climb. We (I mean I!) got to the top in a little over 20mins with the rest of the group staggering in between 24-30mins. Don't stress boys, it isn't the time of year to be setting records yet!
Another quick brew at the top and we were on our way home. The block headwind didn't help our cause so the passing convo got less and less as the ride slogged on. In the end I think we were all happy to step off the bike and all unhappy to have to start work. The coffee and banana bread combo for $6 at Crankstar certainly helped.
Things to look out for... Traffic, in particular tradesman during the week through Logan can be unforgiving so stick to the shoulder at all times. Some parts of Waterford-Tamborine Road have little room so riders should stay aware of traffic coming from behind.
Besides these minor points, this ride is one of my favourites. Combining good constant kilometres along with a solid climb, this ride will certainly get you some good K's in the bank.
