Dirty Donna Gravel Ride

I had a few days off this week so like a completely normal person I decided to go for a long cycle ride! I have had the gravel ride up the back of Donna Buang on my hit-list for a while but hadn’t managed to fit in the time to do it so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was a lovely day and with the whole route being on trails and back roads there was no need to get up early so i got a bit of a lie in too.

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Trip to Mansfield

Mount Buller
Michelle’s first Australian snow at the top of Mount Buller

Last weekend we decided to go away for a few nights we ended up deciding to go to Mansfield in the Victorian High Country. It is only around 2 hours from us but had been recommended as a nice place to visit by a neighbour. We stayed at the Alzburg Resort which is a self catering place with a heated (a bit) outdoor pool, sauna and indoor spa pool. As we are now well on our way into Autumn it wasn’t that warm and sunny so we weren’t brave enough to use the pool.

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Gravel Bike and Good Friday Crucifix

It has been a while but it has been a busy few months moving into our new house. We’re pretty much settled in now, just waiting on the dining chairs to arrive! Other than that I have been keeping up with the cycling when I can.

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Harrietville Cycling (Victorian Alps)

View from Tawonga Gap
View from Tawonga Gap

Last weekend i was lucky enough to be invited to go on a cycling trip to the Victorian Alps staying in the small village of Harrietville down the road from the larger town of Bright.

The trip was organised by one of the guys who I’ve met through Croydon Cycleworks and they have been going for a few years now. We stay in a large house that has had bunk beds put in all the rooms and use that as a base for a few days of riding.

This was my first chance to try some of the climbs in the 7 Peaks challenge. The aim to to ride 7 specific climbs in Victoria during the summer season, this is something i hope to complete this season if i can.

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Alternative Cycling Climbs on Mt Dandenong

Mast Gully Road
Mast Gully Road

In a previous entry i have written about the main climbs on Mount Dandenong, – our local hill which is very popular amounts cyclists being the highest point in the metropolitan Melbourne area. As we are lucky enough to live so close that means that i get the opportunity to explore the other routes up, these alternatives are mostly from the Fern Tree Gully side and a bit more out of the way. Similar to my previous post i will just give a brief description and link to the Strava segment for each of these.

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Around the Bay 2018

Around the Bay Strava map
Around the Bay Strava

The Around the Bay in a day cycle ride is an annual ride around the Melbourne bay now in its 26th year. Since i first visited Michelle’s family over here it has always been mentioned as i ride i should do, so was on the bucket list from the moment i arrived. Almost as soon as i got a bike here i booked a place on the 210km Anti-Clockwise loop.

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Cycling Mount Dandenong

We are very fortunate to live so close to Mount Dandenong which is a hill just over 600m high to the East of the Melbourne CBD. The various hills in the range form the Dandenong Ranges National Park, the ranges are mainly covered in large trees and ferns forming a ‘temperate Rainforest’ (stole that definition from wikipedia).

Chicken Parma
Parma at Pig and Whistle Tavern

There are a number of roads that criss-cross around and over the hills with some great climbs (then descents) in lovely scenery. There are a few little villages dotted around with some pubs, restaurants and cafes; at the Pig and Whistle Tavern as well as great parmas (Australian “classic” which is schnitzel with tomato, cheese and ham on – just realised now it is a schnitzel pizza…) you can get Old Speckled Hen, London Pride and other English beers. I’ll go through the main cycling climbs on Mt Dandenong and throw in some pictures too.

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Strava Starred Segment Explorer

Since I have moved to Australia i have started using the starred segments in Strava to find climbs and recommended routes to ride but it is a real pain to see where these are located relative to each other. So I decided to knock up a page using the Strava API to do it (the weather was rubbish so i didn’t use up cycling time).

Click Here to give it a go let me know what you think or if you have any issues / ideas in the comments below.

Update 19/09/2018: Now includes segment category filters

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