I’ve done organised road rides & various MTB races & social rides, but this popped up which was something different – riding on gravel back roads in/around Hurstbridge/Whittlesea/St Andrews. Organised by Melbourne Gravel Grinders it was 80km of mostly dirt roads, start/finish at Hurstbridge railway station.
Map : Click for map http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Prop-grinder-1
Deal was, meet at Hurstbridge train station car park, register, get a cue/route sheet & roll out @ 11am. 3x checkpoints along the way where you buy something from the local store which you get a receipt which is time/date stamped to show you have been there. Not strictly a race, this totally self-supported ride was a grand tour of the beautiful countryside nestled just below the Kinglake Ranges. The route was about 80% dirt roads with corrugations, potholes and loose gravel sections. The country around here was mostly hilly with many short climbs followed by fast flowing descents.
On the day there were 50 starters, a great ride, and good weather apart from an early shower.
Course had lots of climbs & descents. Apart from the small amount of paved road sections there didn’t seem much in the way of flat riding. Perhaps due to the recent weather , there was little dust & most of the gravel roads seemed hardpacked. There were a few creek crossing were you could see how the rain water had bought debris onto the roadway or accumulated gravel in the low points.
Heaps of fun though, way more adventurous than a straight road ride, but none of the bike abuse offroad MTBing can dish out. In the out & back bit near Whittlesea I could the faster guys were smashing it, but at each checkpoint it felt more like a social ride than anything else. A perfect way for me to break this bike riding hiatus I seemed to have been on of late. Although the latter climbs did bite & I did revert to the granny when the other riders were not in sight. I actually skipped the last bit of gravel rd from St Andrews back to the start to make it back to Hurstbridge station for the 4:47pm train home.
My ride stats, nothing too exciting:
http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/vSKkwQU4xZY
Apparently the next one may involve lights?
Also these rides will start/finish from a koo-wee of a Met station to ease access for riders.
Other rides of this type found here:
http://therewillbedirt.blogspot.com/
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