MTB Ride: Black Mountain to Mount Stromlo (and back)

Yesterday, Victoria and I did a nice ride from Black Mountain to Mount Stromlo.

We followed part of leg 5 of the Triple Triathlon, starting from Rani Road (soon to be demolished and covered over by the great Gungahlin Drive Extension (GDE)) and over Dairy Farmer's Hill, down to Coppins Crossing, up over Bluett's (the impossible climb, as far as I am concerned!), and up the back of Mt Stromlo to the top.

There we found that the cafe is now re-opened: Michael's of Stromlo (website is currently empty).

(The Red-Belly Black Cafe used to have a cafe on top of Mt Stromlo, but it was devastated by the 2003 bush-fires.)

After riding for a few hours in fairly warm conditions, we decided that lunch at the top of Mt Stromlo was ideal. We could then cruise back to Black Mountain along the bike path.

Michael's isn't up to the standard of the Red-Belly Black, but it is cheaper. We ordered two "Hamburgers with Pineapple, Bacon and Cheese". The lady at the counter said, "do you want egg with that?", to which we replied, "yes, please!". Some twenty minutes later the burgers arrived (there was a warning in the menu saying to expect delays in delivery, which I had thought at the time was weird). Delivered as just an open burger with a good solid bun and plenty of crispy bacon, beetroot, pineapple, cheese, lettuce, and a good patty. I put the two parts together and devoured, although I did have some containment issues towards the end. Yum. Not bad for $5 each, with a fantastic view (the menu also states, "the cafe with the million-dollar view").

If I recall correctly, Michael's is now open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am - 5pm. A good place for a pit-stop.

After finishing lunch, we hurtled down the Mt Stromlo road. I hadn't ridden up or down the main road since the fires (I did leg 5 of the triple tri last year, but that goes down fire trails so the view is a bit different since the condition of the trails is so bad that you're looking at the ground all the time). I was surprised at the view you get going down the road now, since all the trees have been either burnt or chopped down. It's sad, but the view is incredible.

An uneventful ride home along the bike path. Despite being tired it took us less than half the time of the ride out. I think I need to do some more riding before I do all 3 legs of the Triple Quad on March 20.