Advice please

[gorilla monsoon]

I will very soon be pedalling Melbourne on a borrowed bike.

I am staying in Bentleigh/Moorabin area so thought maybe a good course would be to head down South Road to Beach Road, turn right and head towards the city.

How far can I get before traffic gets ugly (I am planning on riding around 7am to 9am) and are there other places that might be better? I want to knock over about 30-40km a day.

Suggestions please.

[jules21]

are you inclined to use shared paths? there is a shared path adjacent to Beach Rd.

I don't ride out that way during peak commuting hours so you'd want to hear from someone who maybe does, but I can't imagine Beach Rd is a great place to ride when clogged with peak hour traffic. most of the bunch rides are done at 6am-ish.

you can get to the city on the shared path. you could possibly come back out on the Main Yarra/Gardiner's Ck trail that follows the Monash Fwy, then use roads following the Frankston train line down to Moorabin.

[wongaga]

Another alternative which might work, depending on where you live, is to head north up East Boundary Road. It's nice and wide and has surprisingly light traffic. Then continue up either Murrumbeena or Koornang Road till you get to the Gardiners Creek Path in East Malvern. Follow that all the way to the city.

Cheers, Graeme

[DavidS]

I ride Beach Rd every day, sometimes even go as far as South Rd.

Going towards the city: I ride the bike path along the beach from Bay St in, from Bay St it is not a shared path, it is a bike path. Sometimes I'll ride along Beach Rd as far as Martin St before going to the beach. The path crosses a boat ramp at North Rd which is fine except for the insane ramp from the road to the path, it is a gutter not a ramp and a wheel killer. The bike path along the beach I find very good, mostly free of pedestrians. Also, no bike lane on Beach Rd going towards the city and the traffic doesn't move (and little room to pass the traffic). I really can't see the point of riding on the road going towards town in the morning peak, you will get held up by traffic, especially between Bay St and Glenhuntly Rd (they have recently added a bike lane from Glenhuntly Rd to Fitzroy St so that stretch should be better now). Also no traffic lights on the beach bike path.

Going away from the city: I ride on the road. Excellent bike lane going South all the way to Glenhuntly Rd: wide and clear of car doors, quite amazing really. From there on I just claim the lane (right in the middle 'cos it's my lane). Generally turn off by Head St or Martin St although it is fine going South on Beach Rd in the evening peak.

You may have a different experience but these are my observations from about 5 years of riding this way.

Also watch from those lovely afternoon South Westerly winds in spring and summer, you get good at hammering into the wind taking this route.

DS

[lone rider]

The new bit of South Rd heading towards Springvale has a shared path all the way to Westall Rd running adjacent to the road, from there is the same deal alongside Westall rd although this one is more footpath looking than bike path but Im pretty sure its a shared path, you wont find too many people on it anyway. That will go to Springvale rd and from there straight across is the Dandenong Bypass rd which has the same shared path adjacent to the road all the way to the end. It crosses over Eastlink so if your keen for a long ride you can take that shared path in either direction.

If your more of a roadie only person, Sth rd towards Moorabbin Junction (Nepean Hwy) will not be nice at that time of day, the only bonus will be maybe a lot of the factories in the area will be closed for Xmas so the traffic might be quieter. South rd the other side of nepean hwy to beach rd has a cycle lane most of the way. Unless you have a need to go to the city, take beach rd to Mordy, its a much better part of Beach Rd for riding.

A possible loop of both of these is the shared path route to Springvale rd, get on Springvale rd down to Edithvale, part of this is bike lane, all the way to Station St, turn right to Mordy and then head back up Beach rd to South rd and home again. No idea how many k's this would be but at a guess i'd say 50.

[gorilla monsoon]

Thank you all very much for your advice. I arrived in Melbourne last night and collect the wheels tomorrow so I'll now (a) pull up a map of the area and check out some of those roads and directions and (b) ask my Melbourne-born wife to help decipher (I'm directionally dyslexic).

In a strange city I will try to stick to bike paths, especially while I get used to a strange bike (MTB, different from my little family).

If you see a guy wearing a predominantly white jersey with a "Grasshopper Cycling Tours" logo on the back and the Cambodian flag on the front say hello. It'll most likely be me.

[gorilla monsoon]

So Ugly Kid Joe (the borrowed bike) and I had our first real bonding session this morning.
went down Pattison Road, across the Nepean Highway to Dendy Road, left on the Beach Road PSP to South Road and back towards Nepean Hwy.
Not a long ride but an exploratory one to get things sorted after giving him a good clean and oil, making a few set-up changes and adding a bit of my own equipment (lights, bidon, trip computer, RV mirror, etc).
Tomorrow I'll get an early run in before it gets too warm.

[gorilla monsoon]

So some reasonable riding. Made Mordialloc my turnaround point. Only a couple of days the weather stopped me riding. Now looking forward to getting home and getting back on my own bikes.