When We Like to Ride This

This route is good to ride Spring through Fall.

Terrain & Riding

The ride starts with a few warm up rollers … through small sheep and cow farms and forest.

When you reach the entrance for the reserve, take a good sip of water and be ready to climb. Our GPS popped as high as 24%, but we think the steepest grade is 20%, with an overall average above 10%.

Near the top, you encounter maze of switchbacks. Seemingly the pitches feel steeper the higher up you go (or maybe it was just us getting knackered from the climb). It’s one of those climbs where you try to focus on the sweet views along the way and not the burn in your legs. **Click to Read Less

If it’s a nice day you will enjoy big views from the top, but there’s a good chance you have climbed into the clouds.

Make a U-turn at the summit and enjoy the sweet downhill to the turnoff, which is about half way back down the climb. This is where you continue on the loop. The next two miles are primitive… it’s a rocky section where you will. be thrilled to be going downhill and not uphill. Don’t get worried, it takes you to a smooth B road soon enough.

As you hit the B road, you do a few rolling downhills through more farmland with horse farms added to the mix.

The route then serves up a rewarding downhill on smooth roads. You then jump on A3 for two blinks … then pop on Targa Hill Road which climbs with fun rollers on beautiful surfaces.

The final 10 miles cuts you through forest, logging areas and small farms. You pop back on to A3 for another two blinks and are back at the start.

The Start

At the end intersection of the Tasman highway (A3) and Barrow road. Park on the shoulder of Barrow road, about .2 miles in from the Tasman highway.

Food & Water

• None

Route Notes

1. This route is advanced due to a 4 mile section of gravel with an average grade in excess of 10% (some pitches as steep as 15%) as the route nears the top of Mt. Barrow. There is also a 1.5 mile section of primitive road starting at about mile 14.5.

2. We recommend a red blinky light with rear looking radar detector (i.e. Garmin Varia)

Route Options

This route can be combined with the Jacob’s Ladder route to create a really big day! Or you can do Mt. Barrow as a simple out and back from the same starting location as described here for a total of 20 miles (32 Km) and 3600 feet (1097 meters) of gain.

Have you ridden this route? Got a question? Join the discussion!