Tasmanian Trail MTB Ride 2014: Day 2 Sheffield to Liffey

Boy what a day!

The day started on an overcast day with rain threatening, we had some rain overnight and it was forecast for more today. We set off from Sheffield at 8:00am and but after the first decent hill it was jackets off. The trail heads down Formby Road off the main street of Sheffield before heading right onto Old Paradise Road which then joins with Paradise Road through the rolling hills behind Sheffield and farming lands.

Mount Roland in the background

Poppies in flower with Mount Roland in the background

We turned off the main road and followed fire trails along the base of the Gog Range. With the rain from overnight the gravel was great to ride on as it was grippy and no dust. Eventually the trail got closer to the range and then descended down to the Mersey River. Dale was unable to check the river height last night (as he got a little lost) so we were taking a punt that the level was not too high. As it was the river was only about thigh deep at most but the current was fairly strong an you had to make sure you had a good footing before taking your next step. There was a steep climb out of the river bank an back along the edge of the range the trail went as the elevation increased before the re-routed trail pointed us up hill, straight up the range. That hill just kept going and going with only Michael aka the "Mountain Goat" able to ride the whole thing, I rode a fair bit but I must admit there was a couple of places that pushing was required. After we reached the top the trail undulated following the ridge line before plunging down a hill with a bent up old gate right at the base so not over speeding the hill was wise if you didn’t want to end up attached to the gate and its dozen or so padlocks.

Mersey River crossing

View from the Gog Range

Catching our breath after a big climb onto the Gog ridge line

Back on the tarmac and along Mole Creek main road we headed towards Red Hills for lunch. We met the support vehicles at the intersection of Montana Road and Leonards Road and Cheryl had come up with the goods and provided us all with salad rolls and fruit buns to get some energy back into our legs and Barry had the trailer in tow. And that is where the rain started, as we headed along the gravel Leonards Road the rain poured down and any chance of staying dry was long gone. We joined Long Ridge Road and briefly Meander Road before turning down Highland Lakes Road where as the rain eased off we reached the Tasmanian Trail silver arrow track. This track avoids some of the main sealed road an gets into some of the real mountain bike trails I was looking forward to. With some technical climbs a wicked descent with water diverting flats sections that I was able to get some decent air over it was great fun if a little water logged from the rain. This is where out plans went a little awry as we headed up a slippery hill that was certainly not rideable but Michael gave it a good crack anyway, we arrived at the junction of another fire trail but no little Tassie Trail arrows in sight. Since no one wanted to head back down that hill we kept on going as we weren't that far away from the main road. A few more stops to try to work out where on earth we were, we decided to head up a hill near a half washed out bridge. This fire trail came out near a farmers paddock with tracks heading in two different directions, with a quick look down one track to find another big hill the decision to was made to head across the farmers paddock as we could see the main road so civilization was in sight. After going through the farmers back yard we met the tarmac again, the oddly (aptly??) named Bogan Road. After we looking at our GPS we should have turned left at the bottom of that great descent and made our way along on Maroneys Road and then down Wandilla Road but we did manage some more off road riding and we got to where we wanted in the end.

The hill we went up after the wrong turn

Top of the hill after quite some pushing

Clay clogged bike

Lost????

After traveling along Bogan Road we headed down Cluan Tiers Road which went on for ever and the gravel surface being wet just seemed to suck all energy out of my legs. I was really struggling with lack of food a this time and a gel from Michael managed to get me through. The descent into Liffey was well needed and the little school house on the hill we were staying at the night was a most welcome sight. With over 93km covered and 2300m climbed it was my biggest ride ever, quite chuffed!