New commute route (30km each way)

Gags

Since starting a new job two and a half weeks ago I have been driving to
work every day because it is a fair bit further than my old work and because
I now have a company car. Anyway, I was getting itchy feet for not having
ridden the bike in nearly three weeks so I got onto bikely and the bicycle
victoria site and tried to work out if I could get there by utilising some
bike tracks along the way. I ended up creating a route of just over 30km of
which about 28km or so is bike trails and the last 3km or so are through
back streets and an industrial estate........

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Mulgrave-Viewbank

Armed with 8 map printouts from bikely I rode most of it on Sunday to work
out which way I had to go then today I rode to my new work for the first
time. From my ride on Sunday I estimated that it would take me about
1h20min or so and this morning it took me 1h22min so I wasn't too far off.
It is an OK ride, starting on the Yarra Trail and then using the Anniversary
Trail and Scottsman's Creek Trail. On the ride home I caught up to a guy
who was moving along pretty well on a road bike then managed to over take
him but he followed the road for one section where I stuck to the bike track
and got back in front of me. I caught up to him again sometime later and we
had a chat when we got stuck crossing one of the roads. Turns out he was
going to Ivanhoe so I ended up riding with him all the way to Burke Rd where
he turned off and I continued down to the bike tracks near Harp Rd and went
under the Freeway to join back up with the Yarra Trail - the ride home was
1h15m and I think this was due mainly to the guy on the roadie setting a
pretty decent pace.

The Anniversary Trail was pretty good in the morning apart from all the
speed chicanes prior to each road crossing which I found to be a bit of a
pain in the bum. Going home was even worse as I got stuck at each major
road crossing and had to use lights to get over (whereas I got a clear run
for my morning ride (started at 0600h)).

I now plan on riding 2 or 3 days a week and I will pick and choose days
between work commitments and the weather. It was great to be back on the
bike again but I don't think I will ride again this week as I plan on racing
in the Chase the Sun series on Sunday at Lysterfield.

Gags (now an occasional commuter and fair weather cyclist)

BT Humble

Gags wrote:
> ... On the ride home I caught up to a guy
> who was moving along pretty well on a road bike then managed to over take
> him but he followed the road for one section where I stuck to the bike track
> and got back in front of me. I caught up to him again sometime later and we
> had a chat when we got stuck crossing one of the roads. Turns out he was
> going to Ivanhoe ...

Bugger me, that's a hell of a daily commute from Melbourne! ;-)


BTH

John Tserkezis

BT Humble wrote:

> Bugger me, that's a hell of a daily commute from Melbourne! ;-)

I had a similar distance (28Km) at my last job, with about the last third of
the way all bloody up hill.

On the plus side, going home was downhill for a fair way, so my commute time
came down substantially (compared to going to work), and managed to get quite
impressive speeds compared to cars too (70Kmh at one section, and 80+ at
another). They were in 60 zones, and the bastard car drivers STILL wanted to
overtake me...
--
Linux Registered User # 302622
<http://counter.li.org>

BT Humble

John Tserkezis wrote:
> BT Humble wrote:
> > >Gags wrote:
> > > ... Turns out he was
> > > going to Ivanhoe ...
> >
> > Bugger me, that's a hell of a daily commute from Melbourne! ;-)
>
> I had a similar distance (28Km) at my last job, with about the last third of
> the way all bloody up hill.

Whoosh!

I was meaning Melbourne->Ivanhoe NSW (the one north of Hay), a
distance of about 650km.

But thanks for ruining my joke.


BTH

gplama

Nice one! Once that new freeway trail is open, you'd have a nice round trip.

terryc

On Fri, 30 May 2008 12:25:40 +1000, John Tserkezis wrote:

> BT Humble wrote:
>
>> Whoosh!
>> I was meaning Melbourne->Ivanhoe NSW (the one north of Hay), a
>> distance of about 650km.
>> But thanks for ruining my joke.
>
> Dunno about the whoosh, I'm from NSW. Apart from that saying it all, I have
> no idea of what is north, west, east or south of anywhere else in Victoria.

Err, and the western half of NSW either it seems {:-).
Hay, the town, is in NSW on the route between Sydney & Adelaide.

Ivanhoe is 2/3rds of NSW WWNW of Sydney and halfway between the route to Broken
Hill and the route to Hay from Sydney, but I'll admit I had to check
google maps to be sure. Unfortunately, it one of those places that is
between non-places.

John Tserkezis

terryc wrote:

>> Dunno about the whoosh, I'm from NSW. Apart from that saying it all, I have
>> no idea of what is north, west, east or south of anywhere else in Victoria.

> Err, and the western half of NSW either it seems {:-).
> Hay, the town, is in NSW on the route between Sydney & Adelaide.

Ok, let me correct that, I'm from Sydney, and without my GPS unit, I'd get
lost within Sydney. Feel free to make fun of me, but I'd STILL get lost
regardless.

> Ivanhoe is 2/3rds of NSW WWNW of Sydney and halfway between the route to Broken
> Hill and the route to Hay from Sydney, but I'll admit I had to check
> google maps to be sure. Unfortunately, it one of those places that is
> between non-places.

From Sydney, about 100 degrees towards west, and about 650Km as the crow
flies. Though, owing to the distance, said crow would probably have to walk
part of the way, in the process getting run over by a passing road train.
May have been an idea to just stay home.

Or, since we were talking about Melbourne, it's almost vertical at 550Km as
the crow flies. So if the crow had a choice, from Melbourne would be a better.

Though, personally, I would either fly with a commercial airline, or drive.

And yes, I had to refer to GIS software to do that.
For the figures. I was just guessing about the crow.
--
Linux Registered User # 302622
<http://counter.li.org>

BT Humble

John Tserkezis wrote:
> Ok, let me correct that, I'm from Sydney, and without my GPS unit, I'd get
> lost within Sydney. Feel free to make fun of me, but I'd STILL get lost
> regardless.

Most of Australia is on the other side of those mountains. (The ones
you see if you turn away from the sea).


BTH

TimC

On 2008-05-30, John Tserkezis (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> terryc wrote:
>> Hill and the route to Hay from Sydney, but I'll admit I had to check
>> google maps to be sure. Unfortunately, it one of those places that is
>> between non-places.
>
> From Sydney, about 100 degrees towards west, and about 650Km as the crow
> flies. Though, owing to the distance, said crow would probably have to walk
> part of the way, in the process getting run over by a passing road train.
> May have been an idea to just stay home.
>
> Or, since we were talking about Melbourne, it's almost vertical at 550Km as
> the crow flies. So if the crow had a choice, from Melbourne would be a better.
>
> Though, personally, I would either fly with a commercial airline, or drive.

Hah! Good luck! It will be quicker to drive than to catch an airline
out to this part of town.

--
TimC
Five is a sufficiently close approximation to infinity.
-- Robert Firth

Rory Williams

Pretty much the same direction I have to take to get back down to Hughesdale from where I leave the BR in Heidelburg. From Burgandy st I come across via Bullen Doncaster and Burke Rds, pick up the outer-circle trail for a bit, use the roads on the Eastern sides of the railway between Hartwell and Alamain then down into Gardiner's creek and off over past East Malvern Station.

I imagine that Burke Rd wouldn't be much fun in Peak hour though

If you want to get back on the roads at the Southern end Dandenong Rd between Oakleigh and Monash isn't too bad as it has a service road which is lightly travelled paticularly as you would be going against the traffic

RoryW