The Pilliga Forest is as long as it is boring, and in order to get through stage 415, you’ll need to have your head in the right place because the Newell Highway is virtually dead straight all the way through the forest. I say virtually straight because there are bends, but they are so subtle that you might just miss them: the road will feel straight from start to finish.
However the good news is that while there are almost four hundred feet of climbing, there are almost twice as many feet of descent, so it’s a downhill stage in summary terms. The rollout is uphill for half a mile before a down/up/down takes you to two miles and a lower elevation than at the start. Then another up/down reduces the elevation further by four miles.
And so it continues: a lumpy flat section is followed by another descent to eight miles before a climb takes the Newell Highway to ten miles and the crossing of the Yarraman Road and on to the Yarraman Rest Area. Then it’s up/down again to Garlands Road at eleven miles and by halfway the climbing is virtually done.
The second half is a descender: twelve miles downhill on a gentle but persistent descent. The dirt road junctions just keep on coming: Goose Road at thirteen miles, Duck Road at fourteen miles, Sparrow Road then Brandon Road at eighteen miles before Apple Road at twenty miles.
As the road approaches Jack’s Creek south of Narrabri, it crosses two final junctions: Plumb Road at twenty one miles then Cherry Road immediately before the finish line at the Pilliga Forest Way.
Distance: 23 miles / 37 kilometres
Ascent: 387 feet / 118 metres
RGT Magic Road: UZNaZYu16rTh
Max elevation: 1227 ft
Min elevation: 884 ft
Total climbing: 388 ft
Total descent: -654 ft
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