Guest author Karen Henley has kindly agreed to tell us about her recent ride on the Jack Bobridge trail between Gawler and Lyndoch with Cycle Salisbury:
The ride wasn’t off to a good start as one of the riders pulled a thorn from their tyre to be met with a ‘HISSSSSS’. In true cyclist style a fellow cyclist jumped in and helped change the tube. Before long we were off on our ride.
There were 14 cyclists in all, and a steady climb to Lyndoch lay ahead of us. Some had ridden this track before and knew what was ahead, others had not but were keen with anticipation, one or two wanting to see how their new electric assisted bikes would handle the mainly upward track.
It had been almost a year since I had ridden this section of the Jack Bobridge trail, but I could remember it was an enjoyable ride, be it a bit on the tough side for me as I didn’t like (or do enough) rises.
I noted as we started on our ride there was quite a lot of patching where bitumen had been used to try to cover cracks in the pathway, some successful and others not quite so. On a previous ride, a fellow rider on a road bike had demonstrated the width of the crack by inserting his front wheel very delicately into one, losing sight of the rubber. I was glad I had a hybrid with thicker tyres.
The Jack Bobridge Trail followed along the old railway corridor with the tracks alongside for some time. The morning was brisk, but it didn’t take long to warm up. We were not going fast (around 12-18kph). It was all about enjoying the ride, the company and countryside, not getting to the destination quickly.
Some were better than others on the uphill sections, but as a group we would stop at the top of a crest and wait for the others to catch up. While we did we chatted with each other. I had ridden with most before at some time.
The track in the railway corridor finished and we went down a short section of public road to rejoin the track as it followed the road to the peak. From here it was a nice downhill run to Lyndoch, past the caravan park. However, we had to be careful to avoid the stobie poles in the centre of the track.
Lyndoch Hill Winery
We passed across the main road that we had been shadowing to be greeted by vineyards. The leaves were starting to change into their autumn colours. There was one short climb to come through the aptly named Lyndoch Hill Winery, up through the rose arches. Regrettably, these had been pruned so were not the usual pretty corridor.
The Jack Bobridge Trail from here was delightful. It was downhill and past some very lovely fields with cattle grazing, into the town of Lyndoch. There had been a scarecrow festival and the last of the displays was lying on the ground, just like I imagined some of the riders felt after their climb.
There was of course the compulsory stop for coffee, cake and chat….any or all….for about 20 minutes before saddling up for the much quicker return.
All together we cycled 20.6 kilometres and climbed 141 metres.
To read another article by Karen, see her story about riding on the Encounter Bikeway as part of the Coast to Coast event. Another excellent South Australian rail trail is the Riesling Trail.
