Hello, I am new here
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Hello, I am new here
Postby Balaverde » Sat Jul 14, 2018 8:10 pm
I love cycling but right now I do not have a bicycle to join a group. Only a urban bicycle to move around. I am living in Brisbane and see every afternoon lots of cyclists doing exercise along the river.
I do not know many places out of Brisbane, and the only places I have been to do not look like appropriate for enjoying a ride : traffic density, no hard shoulder, and no cyclist on the road.
The thing is I am looking to buy a nice second hand bike and try to join some Brisbane group to have something to do, know new people & discover new places. In my country the bicycle was the best way to discover small towns, nice bars to have breakfast, met new people, etc. so I would like to try to do the same here if possible.
But before spend the money in one bicycle, are there safe roads out there to go cycling? Any nice mountain?
Thanks for your time
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby uart » Sat Jul 14, 2018 10:12 pm
Hi Balaverde, I'm not from Brisbane so I can't comment on the cycling conditions there, though I can say (sadly) that most places in Australia would be relatively cycling unfriendly compared to your country.Balaverde wrote:Hello everyone, I am from Spain and I have been in Australia since Nov '17.
I love cycling but right now I do not have a bicycle to join a group. Only a urban bicycle to move around. I am living in Brisbane and see every afternoon lots of cyclists doing exercise along the river.
I do not know many places out of Brisbane, and the only places I have been to do not look like appropriate for enjoying a ride : traffic density, no hard shoulder, and no cyclist on the road.
The thing is I am looking to buy a nice second hand bike and try to join some Brisbane group to have something to do, know new people & discover new places. In my country the bicycle was the best way to discover small towns, nice bars to have breakfast, met new people, etc. so I would like to try to do the same here if possible.
But before spend the money in one bicycle, are there safe roads out there to go cycling? Any nice mountain?
Thanks for your time
Despite that however, if you find a group to cycle with it is quite likely that they will have a lot of local knowledge regarding relatively safe and enjoyable routes for a nice ride. Often there are combinations of back streets and cycle paths that you can link up for an enjoyable ride in even the most seemingly bicycle unfriendly places.
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby trailgumby » Sat Jul 14, 2018 10:25 pm
Other options:
Download Strava and look at rides near you.
Ask around local bike shops selling high end road bikes about group rides.
Download Trailforks (more MTB related than road)
It is possible to find safe and fun places to ride, otherwise we wouldn't be here, we'd all be pushing up daisies in a cemetery somewhere. However, it can't be denied that our road culture is pretty antagonistic toward cyclists with lots of aggressive drivers. Most group rides start early to avoid the worst of the traffic.
Another option is to do what are becoming known as "gravel rides" - riding on dirt or unsealed gravel roads in rural areas. Some are quite beautiful and picturesque. The typical bike for this kind of adventure is a CX bike with more relaxed geometry or one of the newer bikes specifically designed for it.
Forum member @ldrcycles might be able to offer some advice as he is quite active in south east Queensland
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby Tamiya » Sun Jul 15, 2018 1:30 am
This is a handy guide for newbies
https://www.cyclingbrisbane.com.au/site ... n_2017.pdf
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby human909 » Sun Jul 15, 2018 7:45 am
The Australian built landscape is much younger than Europe. As a result most towns and cities have been built mostly since faster modes of transport. This is particularly true in younger states such as Queensland. Our rural cities are much more sparsely spaced and often even our urban centres are built mainly with motorised transport in mind.Balaverde wrote:In my country the bicycle was the best way to discover small towns, nice bars to have breakfast, met new people, etc. so I would like to try to do the same here if possible.
Simply put don't expect the same variation and interest in 'discovering' small towns here as you would in Europe. All that said it is still an excellent way to explore the urban and rural landscapes as a new visitor.
You are entirely correct there. Our roads are not built to cater for cycling and our drivers are generally particularly hostile towards cyclists. As a rule, don't expect courtesy from drivers and don't expect that they'll see you and pass you safely. (Cycling is still a generally safe activity but safety statistics are much worse than most areas of Europe.)Balaverde wrote:I do not know many places out of Brisbane, and the only places I have been to do not look like appropriate for enjoying a ride : traffic density, no hard shoulder, and no cyclist on the road.
HA! Australia doesn't have any 'mountains', not at least the sort you would find on every other continent on Earth. (Geologically we are a very old continent.) But we do have small mountains and a fair bit of nice nature around Brisbane.Balaverde wrote:Any nice mountain?
I've recently spent a couple weekends as a tourist in Brisbane. There is plenty of national parks with a bicycle ride with nice 'mountains' (hills) and places to explore. Mount Tamborine is a nice place to visit that is popular with tourists, you just need to find the best route to ride there that isn't a ugly main road.
Others have said strava heat maps:
https://www.strava.com/heatmap#11.96/15 ... 3/blue/all
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby djw47 » Mon Jul 16, 2018 12:39 pm
That's not entirely true, there are plenty of good mountains in the Alpine area between VIC and NSW - many of which are very tough riding. They may not be pointy like the European Alps, but the roads up them are comparable.human909 wrote:HA! Australia doesn't have any 'mountains'l
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby human909 » Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:31 pm
From that perspective, quite true. But I was talking about our nature not the man made infrastructure.djw47 wrote:but the roads up them are comparable.
But the vista's and surrounding geography is not comparable.
Its not just the European Alps that are pointy. Most notable continental mountain ranges are 'pointy'.djw47 wrote:That's not entirely true, there are plenty of good mountains in the Alpine area between VIC and NSW - many of which are very tough riding. They may not be pointy like the European Alps
Australia, because of its geological age and the lack of significant fault lines lacks this. We lack altitude of any significance and we lack 'pointlessness' in most places. (Tasmania gets pointy.) But out tallest 'mountain' used to have a road up to the top does sort of make a joke out of the term 'mountain'.
From repeated chats to foreigners Australia doesn't have 'mountains' in most people's common definition. Our Alpine region as beautiful as it is struggles to properly reach this.
Pick the odd continent out:
Asia: Mount Everest 8850 meters
South America: Aconcagua 6962 meters
North America: Denali AKA Mount McKinley 6194 meters
Africa: Kilimanjaro 5895 meters
Europe: Mount Elbrus (5642 meters)
Antarctica: Mount Vinson (4897 meters)
Australia: Mount Kosciusko (2228 meters) OR Oceania: Puncak Jaya (4884 meters)
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby piledhigher » Mon Jul 16, 2018 2:05 pm
This, a certain type of Americans love their fourteeners (i.e. twice as high as Kosiosko) and some people try to climb all of them (there are 96 in the USA).human909 wrote: From repeated chats to foreigners Australia doesn't have 'mountains' in most people's common definition. Our Alpine region as beautiful as it is struggles to properly reach this.
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby RonK » Mon Jul 16, 2018 2:47 pm
Balaverde, you don't say what kind of bicycle you want to buy, what kind of riding you want to do.
Many of the groups you see riding the riverside bikeway are sportive riders, if this what you are interested in then most bicycle shops will have organised rides, just search the web for your local shops. They'll most likely have used bikes you can buy too. Another good source of bikes is the Gumtree site on the web. At the budget end there is a bike recycling centre at Montague Road West End.
You can find a list of cycling clubs here. Cycling Queensland Clubs.
There also quite a few cycle coaching establishments which hold regular rides, MB Cycles and Cam's Cycle Coaching come to mind. And there are informal groups such as the Southbank bunch and the Park Road bunch riding from La Dolce Vita in Milton - just turn up at around 5:30-6:00am most days and jump on the bunch.
For more social rides, If you are a Facebook user, join the Friendly Brisbane Cyclist group, or on Meetup, Brisbane Minglers Cycling Group is more sportive, Brisbane Bicycling Meetup is more social. And if you like touring, the Brisbane Bicycle Touring Association hold regular local rides and tours. Bicycle Queensland also run regular events.
No big mountains here but Mt Coot-Tha is right near the city and is a popular training ride. At little further out are Mt Nebo and Mt Glorious, also popular training routes, further out again is Mt Mee. All will give your legs a good workout. There are also many good climbs in the Gold Coast hinterland - Springbrook, Beechmont, Binna Burra, O'Reilly's are all good leg testers.
And finally, I have a 56cm Campagnolo equipped carbon Kuota Kredo road bike I will part with a reasonable price if that would suit you.
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby RobertL » Mon Jul 16, 2018 3:15 pm
There are FaceBook groups too - like the Friendly Brisbane Cyclists, and some Meetup groups.
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby djw47 » Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:19 am
human909 wrote:From that perspective, quite true. But I was talking about our nature not the man made infrastructure.djw47 wrote:but the roads up them are comparable.
But the vista's and surrounding geography is not comparable.
Its not just the European Alps that are pointy. Most notable continental mountain ranges are 'pointy'.djw47 wrote:That's not entirely true, there are plenty of good mountains in the Alpine area between VIC and NSW - many of which are very tough riding. They may not be pointy like the European Alps
Australia, because of its geological age and the lack of significant fault lines lacks this. We lack altitude of any significance and we lack 'pointlessness' in most places. (Tasmania gets pointy.) But out tallest 'mountain' used to have a road up to the top does sort of make a joke out of the term 'mountain'.
From repeated chats to foreigners Australia doesn't have 'mountains' in most people's common definition. Our Alpine region as beautiful as it is struggles to properly reach this.
Pick the odd continent out:
Asia: Mount Everest 8850 meters
South America: Aconcagua 6962 meters
North America: Denali AKA Mount McKinley 6194 meters
Africa: Kilimanjaro 5895 meters
Europe: Mount Elbrus (5642 meters)
Antarctica: Mount Vinson (4897 meters)
Australia: Mount Kosciusko (2228 meters) OR Oceania: Puncak Jaya (4884 meters)
Fair enough from a geography pov, but there's not too many people cycling up those mountains! I'm originally from the UK and the perception is that Australia is entirely flat, and over most of the country/continent it is, however it's worth pointing out that there are dozens of sealed roads in Australia that are higher than the highest peak in the UK. Even a fairly "small" mountain like Donna Buang outside Melbourne which can be ridden to the summit on sealed roads is roughly the same height as the highest peaks in the UK, none of which are rideable to the top.
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby RonK » Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:41 am
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby fat and old » Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:53 am
Not that he seems to be coming back, but....RonK wrote:None of these posts are likely to be of much help to the OP.
Balaverde, you don't say what kind of bicycle you want to buy, what kind of riding you want to do.
The name Balaverde...he's a Valverde fan. So watches (at least) pro-cycling.
"Only" an urban cycle. Watches the sports/fitness cyclists.I love cycling but right now I do not have a bicycle to join a group. Only a urban bicycle to move around. I am living in Brisbane and see every afternoon lots of cyclists doing exercise along the river.
Want's a group ride. Knows what a group ride is. Gets about "rural" in Spain. Again, sports cyclist. Possibly tourer, but says nothing about extended rides, overnighters, gravel specifically. OnlyThe thing is I am looking to buy a nice second hand bike and try to join some Brisbane group to have something to do, know new people & discover new places. In my country the bicycle was the best way to discover small towns, nice bars to have breakfast, met new people, etc. so I would like to try to do the same here if possible.
I'd guess a sports cyclist, likes the social atmosphere, enjoys the longer (100+) rides in a nice area, likes his/her food (Spanish!!), knows that after breakfast you only drink espresso or maybe a macchiato (again, Spanish!). Maybe a Moustache ride type (Defunct Barcelona shop ride at Pave).Any nice mountain?
If you see this BalaV, and it sounds right, ask for a group ride around the river, maybe Coot-tha or Mt Glorious (is that right Queenslanders?). Maybe JasonC or even Lukey can chime in?
If I'm off the mark, well....I'm in Melbourne anyway
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Re: Hello, I am new here
Postby fat and old » Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:56 am
Unlike this thread.....human909 wrote: we lack 'pointlessness' in most places.
Come on...it was there for the taking.....
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