Mar 11: Shakedown on Lilydale-Warburton

I woke up at 5:30 this morning, but that was okay. I had enough sleep. Today, Ian and I put the bikes in and on the car, and drove to Ian’s parent’s house. Max and Elsbeth live close to a rail trail called Lilydale-Warburton. Max, Ian and I headed out to ride the trail. Elsbeth said to watch out for the snakes. Both Ian and Max said they had never seen a snake on that trail. They can’t say that anymore.

 

The section of the Lilydale-Warburton Rail Trail that we were riding was about 30km to Warburton. It is mostly a crushed limestone/gravel trail that travels through the Yarra Valley. Max said he has seen kangaroos in the fields along the trail. Today it was too hot for them to be out. Later in the early afternoon I checked the temp. It was 36.1 Celsius. That’s pretty warm. This was a good test of how warm I would be in my long pants. I was warm, but not uncomfortably so. 

Max and Ian on the trail

 

Beautiful views

 

 

We were riding along when some other riders were stopped just ahead of us. We pulled up in time to see a Tiger SNAKE (one of the venomous ones)  slithering across the path. Yikes, Elsbeth was right! It went into the grass on the side of the trail before I could stop freaking out long enough to get my camera out. BUT THEN, it started slithering toward us! I took this photo (the snake is in the lower right part of the photo in the grass. I told Ian, let’s get out of here!

Snake in the grass! Lower right part of photo

 

 

We continued riding through the valley until we came to Warburton. There is a bike shop on the trail (they rent bikes too).

Warburton

 

Trailside bike shop

After I procured a sticker from them, we continued a bit further to the river. Just before the river, I could hear loud squawking, and I got just a glimpse of two white birds. They were cockatoos! They are very common around here. I saw several more when we were in the car after the ride.

 

At the river Ian decided we could ride down the path, then ride along the river back into the town. It was a very nice park along the river. The path got narrower, then ended at some stairs. Ian offered to trade bikes with me. He carried Tilmann up the stairs, and I carried his bike (much lighter than Tilmann).  

A nice day for playing in the river

 

 

We crossed over the river to a beautifully peaceful road. A short way on this road, we came to Martyr St. to our right. Ian asked Max if he wanted to climb it. They both did the 27% grade hill! I took photos.

The Martyr St. hill

 

 

Max getting started, Ian up ahead

We returned to the path, and made our way back to Max and Elsbeth’s place. We had ridden 57km. Time-wise, it was my longest no chamois ride. Although, toward the end, I was getting tired (probably still a little bit of jet lag), overall, I felt pretty good. 

A very dusty Tilmann

 

 

We had a good lunch, then both Ian and Max took a spin on Tilmann. They found him quite comfortable to ride.  Nat also gave him a go when we got back to their place. She also liked the upright position.

 

Riding the Lilydale-Warburton Trail was really fun! It was nice to see so many people, including lots of kids, out enjoying this great trail. And, I survived my first snake encounter! I think I’ll keep a tally.

 

Snakes: 1

 

 

Note: To those readers who do not access my blog through Facebook; if I continue to have problems posting photos, I will try to put the missing photos on Facebook. Check there if photos are missing from the post. Sorry for the inconvenience.