Nebo Glorious - My favourite ride

[Mr Purple]

Thanks, looks pretty decent!

Would be a good option to descend on Mt Nebo road afterwards as well. There are less issues with passing traffic downhill...

[vbplease]

I love the Nebo climb, but it's 80km there and back and my wife's banned me from doing it solo for some reason.

I get the same resistance from my wife.. I recently did Mt Mee with a mate and she told me she'd prefer I didn't.

I'd tempted to stick to do gravel rides if there was a large variety (coastal, hilly and flat) and on my doorstep.. driving in a car for some distance before starting a ride takes the fun out it for me..

[warthog1]

Mine is less happy with bunch rides after my crash a couple of years back.
She prefers gravel.
Less riders and less traffic.
I am lucky with a fair bit nearby.
I didn't fully realise how negative traffic is until it was no longer there.

[Mr Purple]

I'd tempted to stick to do gravel rides if there was a large variety (coastal, hilly and flat) and on my doorstep.. driving in a car for some distance before starting a ride takes the fun out it for me..

I absolutely won't drive to the start of a ride and agree - if there was some decent gravel nearby would do a lot of it!

I can understand why our respective wives are worried, I occasionally wonder if it's too dangerous to actually ride on the road at all. Having said that in my standard 1-2 laps of Cootha rides I can go for months without any significant incident.

Does anyone else find Waterworks Road a bit nervewracking? I find I can confidently claim the left hand lane all I like, knowing full well the middle of it is the safest place to ride because there's no shoulder. And yet then some dingbat will cruise up the left hand lane on the otherwise empty road, slam on the brakes at the last minute and then change lanes without indicating into the completely empty right lane to pass me and then immediately cut me off.

[Comedian]

I'd tempted to stick to do gravel rides if there was a large variety (coastal, hilly and flat) and on my doorstep.. driving in a car for some distance before starting a ride takes the fun out it for me..

I absolutely won't drive to the start of a ride and agree - if there was some decent gravel nearby would do a lot of it!

I can understand why our respective wives are worried, I occasionally wonder if it's too dangerous to actually ride on the road at all. Having said that in my standard 1-2 laps of Cootha rides I can go for months without any significant incident.

Does anyone else find Waterworks Road a bit nervewracking? I find I can confidently claim the left hand lane all I like, knowing full well the middle of it is the safest place to ride because there's no shoulder. And yet then some dingbat will cruise up the left hand lane on the otherwise empty road, slam on the brakes at the last minute and then change lanes without indicating into the completely empty right lane to pass me and then immediately cut me off.

IMHO Waterworks road is a cray cray suicide mission. I try and ride it for the smallest amount of time possible. I'll do anything to get off onto the bypasses.

[Lukeyboy]

Go via Ferny Grove. Flatter, different routes and more gravel roads.

[vbplease]

As much as I hate riding on main roads and avoid them whenever possible, I don't find Waterworks road too bad.. mind you, I only ride it very early saturday morning to avoid traffic.. would definitely avoid it any other time. I find the worst part is the nasty pinch (inbound) coming up to Ashgrove School at Glory st.
Last week I heard a huge haulage truck roaring up behind me in the left lane so went onto the footpath.. he would have been doing 10km/h, probably 1m from my back wheel otherwise.. I find 99% of drivers to be very courteous, and there were 20 cars lined up in the right lane to go around me.. but there is always one lunatic..

[vbplease]

Go via Ferny Grove. Flatter, different routes and more gravel roads.

Would you mind posting a strava link? thanks!

[Lukeyboy]

Probably should amend that to gravel trails would be a better description.

Maps/Routes aren't that simple as there are too many different routes to post depending on what you want to ride, what bike your riding (42c semi slicks vs 42c knobbly tires), where and your fitness. You can start at Ferny Grove and end up at Ipswich Railway station https://www.strava.com/activities/4942974433 , Rosewood Railway Station https://www.strava.com/activities/4304972517 Lake Manchester, Dinmore, Mt Coottha, Brookfield, Western Freeway Bikeway etc. You can even end up at Dayboro or Mt Mee riding the ridge line https://www.strava.com/activities/2246276102 . You can then duck off down to Dagular via different routes and then take the state forest back to Glasshouse Mountains, Beerburrum https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41218044 ... 591s2KXYG9 , Elimbah and Caboolture railway stations via Beerburrum State Forests https://www.strava.com/activities/2043396800 https://www.strava.com/activities/2051908209 . There's also the option of coming back to Petrie via Lake Manchester depending on the water level https://www.strava.com/activities/4018481769 Most of my strava routes might have one small section depending on what ride I was doing that day as you can see above. Not much point in wasting time at Samford when I want to ride to Marburg or Petrie/Caboolture/Glass House Mountains via Mt Glorious. There's lots of possible routes that you can make up.

Basically head north from Ferny Grove Railway Station along the former Dayboro Railway line (Lanita Road). You can then branch off at Lachinvar Break and head up to Lochinvar Road. From there you can then ride up to Camp Mountain Lookout or up to Bellbird Grove. Camp Mountain is quite a steep ascent. Heading up to Bellbird there's lots of different routes that can be taken. This also feeds into Upper Kedron as well via the transmission line tracks/ross road. From there you can cross over Nebo Road onto Nebo Road break where you can take many more routes across to South Boundary which will get to just shy of Mt Nebo town centre. You can also completely bypass the town if you wanted to as there are tracks to do so.

If you wanna go goat track follow the rail trail to Nullamanna Road. There you can use the pony trails to cut your way through the quiet back streets around Samford Valley popping out onto Mt Glorious road at Ryder Road where the cricket nets are or Dawson Creek road. Once again depends on what your total ride is would determine what routes to take.

Most proper gravel roads are up Caboolture-Glasshouse Mountains-Woodford and out west around Rosewood.

For instance. A couple different routes around Camp Mountain/Upper Kedron depending on skill level/fitness etc.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41217689 ... OzLLx5y6mT
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/41217896 ... 0W3qfWdun8

[Mr Purple]

Some epic looking rides there, though I might need my kid to grow up a bit more to skip out of the house on 5-6 hour gravel rides with a train ride home!

How much of those is in general gravel?

[Lukeyboy]

Again depends where you are going. Ferny grove to goat track is mostly tarmac. Pony trails are all gravel. Top of Nebo to fernvale, lake Manchester and Coottha is all gravel. The ridge line at the top of mt glorious to the main road on Mt mee and Mt daleny/neurum is all gravel. Mt Glorious down Lawnton road is all gravel until you get to Wivenhoe-Somerset road. Glasshouse mountains-Elimbah-Woodford is all gravel roads/trails. The Caboolture-wamuran rail trail is now tarmac. From the Ferny grove rail trail/upper kedron up the breaks to mt Nebo road is gravel. You can pick a lot of gravel or a lot of tarmac or a bit of both. Just depends what route you take and where you want to go. The best part of a gravel bike is you can make the adventure. That’s why you have a gravel bike. Some routes are Say What am I doing and others are just great. You can then make your own routes that you enjoy to do or use those same routes to branch off onto other exploration routes. If you look at my Strava rides you’ll notice little detour or a !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! load of laps. Usually that means I’ve marked a section for future exploration. If you wanted to you can pretty much go from Ferny grove to Maryborough on gravel roads and trails via kenilworth/imbil/Jimna way. Even up to Gympie and train back.

[Mr Purple]

Thanks, looks like some interesting countryside out there.

I've mucked around a bit with the route planning in Strava where you can simply put your origin and destination and select 'dirt' and it'll find a way on your preferred surface. I'm sure some unintended adventures would occur along the way but that's part of it!

[Lukeyboy]

I’m always amazed at when people say that there aren’t gravel trails near brisbane. There’s lots. You just have to discover them. There are some situations where you can drive places if you purely want gravel roads but that’s to be expected if you live in suburbia. Even if you drive to Mt Glorious you can ride the ridge line over to Mt Mee down into Dayboro for lunch before heading back up to the ridge line via Lacey’s Creek road. Don’t want to go over to Mt Mee with the traffic on the descent then turn right before and head over to Mt Pleasant and back to dayboro through the valley along Mount Brisbane Road. So many different possible routes.

[vbplease]

Thanks for sharing all this info Lukeyboy! I had no idea there were so many options out that way.. its a bit of an information overload at the moment.. I've got a bit of homework to do, including finding what kind of gravel bike to get?!?!
I may be changing my tune about driving to start a ride if there are so many options starting from Ferny Grove.

[Lukeyboy]

No worries. You don’t have to start at Ferny Grove. I find it an easy reference point as you can ride there via the Kedron Brook bikeway, catch a train there or drive and park at the station car park with the most amount of possible routes. If it’s been raining you could also change the route on the fly for trails that you know that hold up better after rain/aren’t muddy etc. You could park at the Toowong bus depot ride up coottha onto south boundary to Nebo then down to lake Manchester and back via the railway line/Ipswich motorway/western freeway/Mogil road. There’s always riding up south boundary, loop around Nebo, road it back down then towards the bottom branch back over to south boundary. Or even down to fernvale back via the bvrt. Or ride to Caboolture and train back. Start at dayboro etc. lots of places for loops and out and backs and if it ends up being a long adventure you always have a railway line of sorts to get you back to the start. Same with some routes out near Springfield. Train or park there and then head south west.

[vbplease]

I shaved off another minute off my ‘Gap-Nebo-Glorious’ time this morning.. I’d say next time I should sneak under 1.5hrs. Surprisingly I got a few compliments from some groups saying “you’re making it look to easy” as I passed by. I responded “I’m still suffering, and someone stronger is bound to fly past me” I think the wintery conditions helped!

[Mr Purple]

Congratulations, that's a long time to be climbing.

I once got a 'well that's just embarrassing' as I passed someone up Cootha. It makes you feel good. And simultaneously bad.

[vbplease]

Congratulations, that's a long time to be climbing.

I think that climb may be my new measuring stick for fitness.. its nice and long with some respite in the downhill sections. I've shied away from Cootha lately.. my last pb attempt had me close to death.

I once got a 'well that's just embarrassing' as I passed someone up Cootha. It makes you feel good. And simultaneously bad.

I need to take the (very rare) compliments, if they come.. I'll never forget the time going up Nebo I was passed by two guys (about 60-65yrs old) who passed me like I was standing still.. they had perfect form and I couldn't hear them breathing.

[stevenaaus]

Anyone riding up Cootha or Nebo deserves a cheer

[Mr Purple]

Anyone riding up Cootha or Nebo deserves a cheer

Yep. My thoughts entirely.

I don't routinely say 'hello' when I pass on the river loop - everyone doing Cootha, Gravatt or Nebo gets a greeting of some description!

Of course you have to control it as you do it and absolutely not act like you're short of breath.

[jasonc]

Anyone riding up Cootha or Nebo deserves a cheer

Yep. My thoughts entirely.

I don't routinely say 'hello' when I pass on the river loop - everyone doing Cootha, Gravatt or Nebo gets a greeting of some description!

Of course you have to control it as you do it and absolutely not act like you're short of breath.

Bwdftp passed me this morning going his usual pace. He's able to talk doing it

I try and say g'day to most people who I pass or more likely, pass me

[Lukeyboy]

Anyone riding up Cootha or Nebo deserves a cheer

Yep. My thoughts entirely.

I don't routinely say 'hello' when I pass on the river loop - everyone doing Cootha, Gravatt or Nebo gets a greeting of some description!

Of course you have to control it as you do it and absolutely not act like you're short of breath.

Bwdftp passed me this morning going his usual pace. He's able to talk doing it

I try and say g'day to most people who I pass or more likely, pass me

And flip people off too. I have photos to prove it

[jasonc]

Bwdftp passed me this morning going his usual pace. He's able to talk doing it

I try and say g'day to most people who I pass or more likely, pass me

And flip people off too. I have photos to prove it

you deserve it

[vbplease]

Very sketchy conditions on mt Nebo this morning.. there’re roadworks with the two lanes cut down to one with lights moderating the traffic.. the problem is the lights are out and the one lane is literally the width of a small car. It’s on a blind corner and the hill is full of f*%wit motorbikes/sports cars doing 80kph when the conditions demand <40kph..

I called the number on a sign to get it fixed and they’re still working on it.. I really hope they’ve got lolleypop people with radios till it’s fixed, otherwise I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a serious “accident”

Otherwise beautiful morning on my favourite ride

[Mr Purple]

Very sketchy conditions on mt Nebo this morning.. there’re roadworks with the two lanes cut down to one with lights moderating the traffic.. the problem is the lights are out and the one lane is literally the width of a small car. It’s on a blind corner and the hill is full of f*%wit motorbikes/sports cars doing 80kph when the conditions demand <40kph..

I called the number on a sign to get it fixed and they’re still working on it.. I really hope they’ve got lolleypop people with radios till it’s fixed, otherwise I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a serious “accident”

Otherwise beautiful morning on my favourite ride

I did my first Nebo for two years yesterday - was planning on doing a Gap Creek 'Mondo' but it was such a nice day I just kept on going past that turnoff.

I agree entirely - way too many motorcyclists trying to involve me in their suicide pact. Hitting the corners on full lean at 80km/hr+ while passing the cyclist uphill. Having said that the two nearest passes I had both involved idiots in SUVs leaving all of 20cm while they trundled along at well under the limit.

Was hoping to beat my PB to Jolly's of 41:00 but it had been so long since I'd done it I'd done that segment so didn't have live timing. 41:54/256W was ok I guess. Wish I'd packed some food though - I was absolutely shattered by the time I got home after 3 hours of 82km/1831m.

Would love to get it under 40:00 one day. It's not a climb that really suits me - being a series of short 400W+ ramps with quick descents.