I faced this decision on the weekend… Cross Baden to the road and up, or just go up… Up wins. The road is tedious, but God bless it of course. The trail gets easier and shorter (in my mind, which IS my reality) each time. The skid roads are fine, it would dumb not to use them… Pick your lines and think of them as single track.
The final Lin k to the road has just been completed and is really nice.
Absolutely agree with you. The only complaint is my lack of fitness. I can clean the trail with pauses to recover and take a long time (almost 1:20) to get up the climb from the bottom up to Mtn Hwy.
Those that are climbing it in half the time are not likely taking breaks to recover chunks of lung on the trail. My hat if off to those that climb it fast and or in one go.
My thanks go out to the builders who have put this line together, whether it be the new sections or cleaning up parts of existing trail sections to make the climb better. The two way sections of the trail are fun in either direction, just need keep aware of riders / walkers as you head up or down these sections.