Best places to ride in Melbourne area??

madge

Hi. I will be moving to Melbourne....um, sometime soon, whenever our house is sold. Hoping by October. Wondering if ya'll (I'm not from the south, but I just find that so convenient) could recommend some good riding spots. I have Bicycle Victoria's website bookmarked... any of those any good? Not sure yet where we will be living when we get there, but maybe by Epping as that's where my brother-in-law lives. I am new to "serious" cycling this year.... don't mind a few nice hills, guess I'd say areas with rolling hills or gently undulating hills... or flat is always good too

Marx SS

For road, you find heaps of company down beach rd between St Kilda & Frankston (& beyond) early Saturday & Sundays mornings 6am – 8am.
But that’s a stretch from Epping, still worth a look & great to ride so many like-minded.

For offroad? Well I’m finding more & more single track the more I ride out there. Mostly off formed bike paths etc, along rivers & nature parks.

The bicycle Vic site/book is a good starting point though.

luke1972

Epping is about 20km north of the city center of Melbourne. You could ride to Humevale (8km climb through Kinglake area) or Yan Yean Reservoir-Arthurs Creek-Eltham return (nice hilly countryside).

West of Epping is boring countryside, head anywhere East.

madge

Thanks for the tips! I appreciate it!

su22

if you live north of Melb city, you can head north to King Lake. i only went from Kew Blvd to Eltham today, and back down south where i live, but those hills were a good change from boring, flat beach Rd! It's really pretty out past Greensborough-- lots of gum trees, the smell of wet bark and hills galore!

nutbag

If you're a nutbag like me, who's whole day revolves around their bike ride, I'd be buying as close to Beach Road as possible

I know it's expensive, but there are some cheaper areas between Mordialloc and Paterson Lakes, especially if you go inland.

Beach road is the freeway of cycling roads

madge

Beach road would be great -guess I can always dream, right?

hippy

Beach Rd. is good if you like flat and windy..

For more rewarding cycling you want to live up in the Dandenongs or similar.
The housing should be cheaper up there too

hippy

madge

I see there are some conflicting opinions on Beach Rd.... I'll let you know what I think when we get there. Right now, it's looking like end of September. I've written down all your recommendations and definitely will check them out

nutbag

The Dandenongs is absolutely freezing for 6 months of the year.

Boooo!!

The reason Beach Road became such a cycling "mecca", is because it's reasonably safe, but mostly beacuse you can get very long runs without traffic lights -- although these days, they're puting more and more bloody pedestrian crossings in.

Between Mordialloc and North Road, Brighton, is about 18.4kms, with only about 3 sets of lights (not including pedestrian crossings)

Marx SS

....always wondered what those lights were for.....

By comparison, Melbourne has a few wide boulervards & a good mix for flat & some hills, so riding a bike across town isn't that much of a problem.
I ride to Mornington from Flemington, with my mates who ride from Sunshine & Brunswick which isn't local to Beach Rd.

Sure it's not perfect, but a darn sight better propersion than Sydney for example.

Roadie_scum

Hmm... not many traffic lights between Eltham and Kinglake last time I checked. Perhaps it's because it's flat and fat old men on C-50's look ridiculous when they try to ride uphill.

Downhill Jonny

Have a look at the following website, may be useful

http://www.bikenow.com.au/rides/road.htm

rek

LOL, don't sugarcoat what you have to say now..

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