Road ride through the Dandenongs

Thinking of taking advantage of my continued lack of employment by hopping on a train at some stage next week and taking the road bike out to da 'nongs, where I have never ridden before. Questions:

  1. Am I right to assume there’ll be less traffic on a weekday since a good chunk of it is tourist roads, or is this wishful thinking?

  2. Any suggestions for an entertaining route? Don’t really care about the 1 in 20, probably can’t get up Terry’s Avenue - I can deal with Mt Pleasant Rd-type steep bits.

Take your CX bike instead

Three dirty Mt Dandenong climbs at Bikely.com

Still traffic during the week - but fine outside of the morning and afternoon peak.

All the climbs are worthwhile in their own right and are good to do. 1 in 20 is nice, Devils elbow steeper but also turns left onto a very quiet pretty road. Dandenong Tourist rd from Montrose isn’t usually mentioned as a must do but I actually enjoy it and offers a less steep but longer climb passing Kalorama towards Olinda. The wall is well the wall 10% for a bit but a couple of dips towards the top. Perrins Creek rd is a shorter quiet back rd as is the nearby Crescent… Plenty more too hidden climbs and loops. I’d recommend riding up to Sky High for a view of the city just because you haven’t been to the Dandenongs.

Never ridden there before but already decided against the 1 in 20???

Heh, well I ride Kinglake on the regular. I figured, how much different could it be? Plus isn’t the gradient really more like 1 in 25 - false advertising!!

I definitely want to go up to Sky High for the views, as you say.

Blakey that loop looks rad, I will try that.

The Climbing Cyclist

Just ride to the basin and explore after that. it’s all good out there.