My 9th Hardest Climb… Mount Donna Buang
Departure: Warburton
Length: 16.8 km
Altitude: 1,250m
Height Gain: 1,080m
Average Gradient: 6.4%
Category: Category 1
A challenging ride, and not far from Melbourne, only about 90 kilometres, Mount Donna Buang is particularly popular amongst weekend riders. Less than two kilometres east from the township of Warburton, its surroundings are very different to that of Mount William. Instead of being accompanied by sweeping views from less than halfway to the summit, you’re travelling through verdant forest, often shrouded in mist.
Despite being divided into two obvious sections, the climb before Cement Creek Turntable, and the climb thereafter, there’s not a great deal of distance, or difficulty, between the two. With few exceptions, the bitumen road virtually maintains its 6.4% average gradient almost all the way to the summit. That’s not to say you won’t welcome the brief reprieve from climbing as you approach the turntable; from here there’s little respite to look forward to.
Like all formidable climbs, there’s that stretch of road that leaves a lasting memory on the cyclist. A charlatan, Donna Buang saves its worst until the very last; the final few hundred metres to its summit are clearly the hardest. But once at the top, all is soon forgotten as you indulge in the hard-earned views over the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges in the distance.
Books by Mark
Krieger:
‘High Spain Drifter’ is available on Amazon , Barnes and Noble, Booktopia and other online bookstores.
Both books are also available at local bookshops on the Mornington Peninsula: @ Rosebud Bookbarn and @ La Brocante
“Cyclists have many reasons to ride a bicycle:
for health and for fitness, for friendship, for achievement or simply out of
habit. And some want to see the world, and what better way to see the world
than on the seat of a bicycle.”
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