road training around Melbourne

[otazima]

Hello everyone,

I am new in Melbourne, student, and Melbourne is so huge I am from Europe, from the Czech republic, Prague. I have a plenty questions about road cycling in Australia, in Melbourne Could you hlep me please, where can I go to training on road bike around Melbourne? Every day, usually I go to Beach Road, from Port Melbourne to Mordialloc or to Frankston and after same way back home. Where are a good tracks for road bike training without cars and houses (wild scenery)?
I have seen in my tour guide, that good track is a Great Ocean Road, but it isn´t close to Melbourne. Is is possible to take my bike to train or bus and going to Geelong or Torquay?
And final question, where can I buy the cheapest sport nutrition, like as enervit R2 or Powerbar regeneration drink? I have seen, that in the bike shop in City of Melbourne is not cheap. Do you have some descriptions for a buy? Some e-shops or shops.

Thank you very much for your advices and helps. I am sorry, if my English isn´t so good

Have a nice day and road trip on training

Ota

[cpical]

Welcome down under fellow European!
Great Ocean Rd and the area is great but too far away.
In Melbourne, I alternate between Beach Road and the Blvd (a loop (2x6.5km) along the Yarra, excellent for intervals). Then for some hills, I ride to Kinglake or the Dandenongs. For real hills, you need a car, which I don't have.

[snark]

I have seen in my tour guide, that good track is a Great Ocean Road, but it isn´t close to Melbourne. Is is possible to take my bike to train or bus and going to Geelong or Torquay?

Hi Ota,

You can catch a train from Melbourne to Geelong and most trains has a special bay for bikes. Wouldn't hurt to ask at Southern Cross station in the city if there are any restrictions on times you can take bikes, but I would think that if you avoid peak times (from Geelong to Melbourne early morning and from Melbourne to Geelong late afternoon) you wouldn't have any troubles at all.

Get off at the last stop (Marshall) and you'll be close to Torquay Rd, and it's about half an hour or so by bike from Marshall Station to Torquay itself.

It might be easier though to start with the rides cpical has said first. Given that Melbourne is so large, you might get some better suggestions if you say which suburb you're in.

Cheers,
Simon.

[jules21]

i live in the inner north of melbourne and like to ride in the king lake area. you can ride there, but i drive out and take it from hurstbridge or whittlesea.

[Fraggle]

Great Ocean Road!!!!

I could never think of a worse road to ride upon!!!

I would look at the Dandenong Ranges or the Macedon Ranges. Depending on which side of city you are on, of course.
Beach Road TOO(if possible) popular. If you want to ride Geelong way may I suggest a group that departs the Waurn Ponds on the weekend and you could always check out some of the rides here

Good luck and safe riding

BTW your (typed) english is fine

[Mulger bill]

Hi Ota,

You can catch a train from Melbourne to Geelong and most trains has a special bay for bikes. Wouldn't hurt to ask at Southern Cross station in the city if there are any restrictions on times you can take bikes, but I would think that if you avoid peak times (from Geelong to Melbourne early morning and from Melbourne to Geelong late afternoon) you wouldn't have any troubles at all.

Cheers,
Simon.

G'Day Otazima.

I work for V/Line. All trains have some storage space for bikes. We have three basic types.
Loco hauled trains have a guards van on the rear end as you depart from Melbourne, please arrive at least 5-10" before departure to allow staff to load the bike into the van for you.
V/Locity railmotors operate as various combinations of two or three car sets up to seven cars. A two car set has space for three bikes, a three car set has two spaces for three bikes each. This is shared with other luggage so it pays to get in early to ensure a spot. The train conductor has the final say on whether there is sufficient space.
Here's a rough graphic of the layouts.
2Car (D4____D3-D2____D1) Enter by Door3 from the rear end on departure from Melbourne.
3Car (D6____D5-D4____D3-D2____D1) Enter by Door4 or Door5 from the rear end.
Sprinter railmotors are single car units that operate in various combinations up to six cars, each car has some space at the rear end on departure from Melbourne.

Gisborne is worth looking at if you want fairly quiet roads with some hill work.

Hope this helps.
Shaun

EDIT: HERE'S a link to the V/Line webpage dealing with bikes.

[rennie]

Catch the metro to Diamond Creek or nearby stations and ride to Kinglake an the surrounding area. You can ride from Melbourne but I find the traffic a nightmare coming back (even of a weekend).

[jules21]

Catch the metro to Diamond Creek or nearby stations and ride to Kinglake an the surrounding area. You can ride from Melbourne but I find the traffic a nightmare coming back (even of a weekend).

not a bad idea, also doesn't the main yarra trail go all the way to eltham?

[KenGS]

Catch the metro to Diamond Creek or nearby stations and ride to Kinglake an the surrounding area. You can ride from Melbourne but I find the traffic a nightmare coming back (even of a weekend).

not a bad idea, also doesn't the main yarra trail go all the way to eltham?

The Diamond Creek Trail joins the MYT and goes to Diamond Creek and a bit beyond but the section from Westerfolds park to the turnoff is gravel and a bit loose in parts.
If you are on the train its better to go all the way to Hurstbridge as the road between DC and Hurstbridge is not very bike friendly. Also be aware that trains to/from Hurstbridge (and DC) are only half as frequent as they are at Eltham. So 40mins between trains on weekends

[il padrone]

Main Yarra Trail and Diamond Creek Trail are not very road bike friendly. MYT has a couple of lengthy sections of gravel riding (which most roadies these days are horrified by) and some (current) muddy underpasses. Diamond Creek Trail is quite narrow with a lumpy tar surface.

[15wilsonwu]

Highly rate Mt Dandenong

[VRE]

Highly rate Mt Dandenong

Agreed. I've had the luck to be able to move to Ringwood North, and rode up the Dandenongs a lot of times last year . There are so many ride options in the Dandenongs, so you can choose whatever distance (and amount of climbing) you wish, just by choosing different combinations of roads.

Welcome to Australia, Otazima. I spent 2.5 weeks in Prague once, and very much enjoyed it. I hope you'll enjoy Melbourne too.

[nescius]

And final question, where can I buy the cheapest sport nutrition, like as enervit R2 or Powerbar regeneration drink? I have seen, that in the bike shop in City of Melbourne is not cheap. Do you have some descriptions for a buy? Some e-shops or shops.

I mostly buy my nutrition from Complete Health, it's usually cheaper than the shops and turns up within a few days. There might be better options out there but I haven't looked hard enough. They also have regular sales where it's 12% off, so I usually wait for one of them before I buy anything.

Edit: I got an email last night offering 12% off, use the code AUS to redeem the discount, ends midnight on 29th January.

[drnick79]

Vline out on the Gippsland line to Warragul or Moe and do the Mt Baw Baw ride if you want to take some hills on, and a little bit of distance too!

S

[Riggsbie]

Riding the Great Ocean Road safely is all down to timing i.e. what time of day and what time of year.....

Obviously at this time of year it is mentally busy with tourists bimbling along, randomly stopping to take photos of coast and koalas....so you have to go early.....we usually aim to leave Torquay at 8am at the latest.....

It's about 2 hours to Lorne riding at a steady pace, the return is always busier (the holiday makers have usually got up and heading for their first coffee of the day so driving can be somewhat random) and in my opinion the better views are had returning to Torquay ! On the the return, Aireys Inlet and Anglesea tend to by busy with people stepping off the pavement onto the road without looking so you need to have your wits about you....

The road surface is variable, some areas are pretty good but there are pot holes and rippled Tarmac on the inside of the twisty corners !

It's a nice ride, it can be terrible too if the wind is strong and gusty......

Audax did a ride from Anglesea to Apollo Bay (and return) last year around Easter time and it was probably my best ride of the year.....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[__PG__]

I did Anglesea-Lorne-return at 6:00 am New Year's Day this year. It was a spiritual experience.

Re : road training in Melbourne. The Eltham-Panton Hill-St-Andrews-Diamond-Creek-Humevale-Whittlesea area is fantastic. As is the entire Dandenongs area early in the morning.

[snark]

We should start a "road training around Geelong" thread!

I did my first Anglesea run on a Saturday earlier this month. The traffic wasn't too bad, but it was a cooler day. I usually go either around the Bellarine Peninsula (Torquay, Barwon Heads, etc) or out behind Ceres.

I might leave it a week or two before trying for Lorne and back along the Great Ocean Rd - the Australia Day weekend might be a little too busy. And one day I'll build up the guts for the Lorne to Deans Marsh ride .

Cheers,
Simon.

[clackers]

Re : road training in Melbourne. The Eltham-Panton Hill-St-Andrews-Diamond-Creek-Humevale-Whittlesea area is fantastic. As is the entire Dandenongs area early in the morning.

Yep, I now regard living in Rosanna a privilege - not just for the quality of rides in the Kinglake-Whittlesea sector but the lack of traffic on them.

The Dandenongs are great too, but especially at weekends there can be a few too many casual/careless tourist drivers. The locals are fine.

[__PG__]

I'm thankful that I meet a Greensborough local who showed me many of those roads almost 20 years ago.

RE : Geelong rides, another one I did over the break was Anglesea-Torquay-Horshoe Bend Rd - Mt Duneed Rd - Moriac - Forest Rd - Anglesea. That was a nice loop.

[jamesn184]

In terms of powerbar's etc www.leknicks.com.au are situated in Black Rock (300 Beach Rd Black Rock)

I'd catch a train to Melton and there's some good places to ride around Gisborne etc.
I ride around that area every Friday and its quite peaceful, car's give you a wide berth which is nice for a change and you can enjoy some nice country views

[__PG__]

I did Mt Donna Buang for the first time today. Loads of fun and not too far from Melbourne.

[clackers]

I did Mt Donna Buang for the first time today. Loads of fun and not too far from Melbourne.

I've only climbed it from the Launching Place dirt road, descending the steep asphalt into Warburton, PG... looks tough the other way!

[VRE]

I did Mt Donna Buang for the first time today. Loads of fun and not too far from Melbourne.

I've only climbed it from the Launching Place dirt road, descending the steep asphalt into Warburton, PG... looks tough the other way!

It's not too bad, I rode up the east side on 5 occasions last year. The average grade is roughly 6.5% (I think), but it's fairly consistent, with only one slightly steeper section just below Cement Creek (or where The Acheron Way turns north off Mt Donna Buang Rd). This section just below Cement Creek is also the bit to be more careful on while descending, as there are some bumps there which, combined with the slightly higher grade, make it a bit more risky.

And it is a lovely climb: I even saw a lyrebird on one of my rides up there . Very privileged to see it, as they're very shy birds, and this one skedaddled for the bush as soon as I slowed down and tried to retrieve my camera!

[clackers]

I must give it a go, VRE!

Even though you can hear that lyrebird whipcrack all the time in the bush, some people end up never seeing one in their lives (the back of a coin doesn't count!).

My wife and I were lucky enough to see a pretty careless one on the road near Toolangi last year.