The rollout is uphill and featureless through Lumsden to the Mossburn Lumsden Highway junction at two miles. Then the road’s lumpy and hill for a further two miles until the Orieli River gives up the descent (its flowing downhill remember) and heads off west. Highway 6 meanwhile, drops down a hundred feet over the course of a mile before beginning an eight mile slog to Bixter Road at thirteen miles, and that’s not not even the highest summit of the stage.
The Jollies Hill Pass follows, which is basically a two mile down/up around a long looping left hander, but it’s the ascent that should concern you because having descended to eleven hundred feet, the road suddenly kicks back up to over thirteen hundred feet by fourteen miles and that indeed is the summit of a stage that started at just six hundred feet above sea level.
But there is respite: over the course of the next four miles, the superbly named Athol Five Rivers Highway loses five hundred feet to sixteen miles. After that it would be nice to say that the rest of the stage is flat but it’s not: the best you can get away with is lumpy flat with a hint of uphill about it. The elevation at sixteen miles is 920ft whereas it’s 940ft by the finish. But don’t let that worry you because it’s a fun finish with lots of bends: the road crosses Eyre Creek at twenty miles then Quoich Creek half a mile later, both of them on a sweeping righter hander to avoid climbing even higher.
The finish itself is on another right hander next to the Mataura River a mile after Glenquoich Lodge and Holiday Park east of Eyre Forest. Climbing? I don’t even think we’ve scratched the surface yet and that’s three uphill stages in a row.
Distance: 22 miles / 35 kilometres
Distance: 22 miles / 35 kilometres
Ascent: 1145 feet / 349 metres
RGT Magic Road: qQnRWrUWIqKC
Max elevation: 1303 ft
Min elevation: 625 ft
Total climbing: 1144 ft
Total descent: -830 ft
You must log in to post a comment.