Best place in Australia to be a cyclist?

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

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JPJ
Posts: 63
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:00 am
Location: Adelaide, SA

by JPJ

I live in Adelaide, used to live in Perth, and for me the cycling is great here..
Very easy access to the hills up any number of decent climbs, once in the hills the opportunities are endless, in the 18mo that I've been here I've ridden more than ever and more vertical metres than I though possible, and I'm still discovering hills and connecting roads, very few rides are ever the same.
Coffee's are great, little bakeries plentiful, lots of ride groups, weather can be hot in the summer and cold and damp in the winter but it rarely stops me from going out.
There are wineries and vineyards within riding distance, the coastal cruise is nice if your legs can't handle another weekday pre work ride of >1,500m vertical in great scenic locations!
The only downside for me is the quality of roads around the city, terrible in some spots, but you learn to avoid those, and in the hills the surfaces are generally good.
Tour Down Under in Jan is a cyclists mecca, takes on a real carnival atmosphere, there are RR's and Crits if your keen, and also an active Cyclo Sportif series.
All up it's a small city, but friendly, clean and pretty laid back..

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tigoose
Posts: 234
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:23 pm
Location: Mal Born, Oz.

by tigoose

Cycling culture in Melbourne is pretty hard to beat though. The cafe racers fill the cafe's from Port Melbourne down to Mordialloc along Beach Rd. as this road is cleared of parked cars from 6-10am on weekends for cyclists safety.
Further south head into Mornington Peninsula with plenty of undulating roads weaving all over the place. Arthur's seat the climb to challenge on there.
That said, the Dandenong's are where it's at for climbing as you can include it in a 150km ride from any south or south eastern suburb of Melbourne.
Roads are generally in ok condition, bit like the weather. Pot holes can be found in clusters generally but turn the corner and find yourself on fresh smooth hot mix. The weather, if you don't like it wait a minute :thumbup:

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Tinea Pedis
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Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:08 am
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by Tinea Pedis

I did this ride yesterday

http://app.strava.com/activities/45620410

if you lived in Melbourne, less than an hour in the car and you have access to all that for nearly all year. Only a couple of months where snow would make it a little too dicey.

eordman
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 3:12 am

by eordman

This is a bit OT but I haven't been able to find any information on the internet. Is there any sort of university cycling in Australia? I'm seriously considering transferring to the University of Melbourne from a New England school where collegiate cycling is just about the greatest thing ever.

shadwell
Posts: 575
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:25 am
Location: Gold Coast Australia

by shadwell

This topic makes me smile cos the answer isn't really straight forward...

The best place would have to combine the best roads with the best climate with the best accesibility and of course with the best "other road users"

In the last 9 years i have ridden extensively in;
Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Northern NSW, Newcastle, Sydney (north and west), Melbourne; South north and west, and Perth all over...

And i have to say NONE of these has the best in all the above catogories...
Best Climate; IMO is Perth and Gold Coast / Sunshine Coast (talking year round here... ) Cairns gets way hot and humid, down south gets bloody cold (and thats from a Welshman...!!)
Best roads; Perth beats most for road grade, i.e. smoothest mix
Best Routes; Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Perth, this is due to the proximity of the variety of routes and the grades and beauty along the routes. The Big Cities really suffer here as it can take a fair while to get away from the city, and the volume of traffic can be problematic etc.
Best Culture; There really is a massive ride scene in Perth and the Gold COast relative to their perceived size... so finding groups is really easy in these, but all are accesible and when you do hook up with guys it always seems good... once you find your level...
OTHER ROAD USERS; this is the breaker... I'm going ot arrnage these from worst to best... and worse means low skill, low education, bad attitude, arrogant and ignorant... Gold Coast (worst), Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth (best)..
I genuinely believe if the raods users were on par with most European drivers in regards to attitude to cyclists then the Gold OCast would be one of the best spots... however theey really are staggeringly intolerant beligerant uneducated, rude and dangerous....
Melbourne guys are switched on, and Perth drivers are closerto Melbourne than the GC.....

So anyway, i hope this helps you pick....

Personally whenever work takes me to Sydney and Mebourne I am not filled with joy re getting good riding in.. Perth always runs a close second to the Goldie and the Sunshine coast.. if you can handle the drivers... (such cocks !)

Anyhow I'm out..

Dalai
Posts: 1491
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 10:54 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia

by Dalai

@eordman

Cycle racing in Australia to other countries as we don't race as teams (there are a few races that are exceptions) except at national level i.e. National Road Series.

Regardless of age, you register to a cycling club and racing is as individuals, as collusion between riders if visible can be punished with fines.

I disagree with Shadwell's list - even as a born and bred Melbournite I'd say Adelaide is best for riding. In a very short distance from the CBD you are climbing in the Adelaide hills. None are long climbs but the options are great! Not too cold in Winter but a furnace in summer - just ride early...

genesis692
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Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:54 am
Location: Brisbane, AU

by genesis692

Dalai wrote:I disagree with Shadwell's list - even as a born and bred Melbournite I'd say Adelaide is best for riding. In a very short distance from the CBD you are climbing in the Adelaide hills. None are long climbs but the options are great! Not too cold in Winter but a furnace in summer - just ride early...


+1

I'm from Brisbane but would absolutely rate Adelaide as having the best riding.

Rush
Posts: 362
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2012 2:10 am

by Rush

Tinea Pedis wrote:I did this ride yesterday

http://app.strava.com/activities/45620410" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

if you lived in Melbourne, less than an hour in the car and you have access to all that for nearly all year. Only a couple of months where snow would make it a little too dicey.


Not true..as with Melbourne weather it could theoretically snow any day of the year at Lake Mountain ;)

How much of the Acheron Way is still gravel? I did that route on the Rally of Melbourne years ago but I haven't driven down there in a while.

User Name
Posts: 611
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:32 pm

by User Name

xcnick wrote:Initially from reading the above Adelaide sounds like it fits the bill. I don't like big cities and don't want to be in the centre of one. Decent road surface would feel like heaven too! I'm not bothered about any race scene because I don't race anymore.
Cheers :thumbup:
I'm in Melbourne.

Yes, the consensus is that Adelaide is the best city for riding, for the reasons mentioned (good roads, hills very close to town, the city isn't too big or busy, not too much traffic, lots of pros and wannabes get there in Jan :D).

I always understood that Sydney was the worst, due to tonnes of traffic, but I haven't been there for a long time with a bike, so I could be wrong. My guess is that Perth is similar to Adelaide (in size and lack of traffic), but with a slightly smaller scene and less (no?) hills -- again, i could be wrong. I dunno much about Brisbane, except that it's subtropical, so they have crap like more snakes, mites, killer jellyfish and exotic diseases, etc, etc, hee hee! Cop that, Joh Bjelke :D .

Going by your comments above, it's sounds like Adelaide would suit you fine, however....... :D .....

Adelaide can get VERY hot. I mean, REALLY hot. I dunno if you like the heat, but check out some of these maximum temperatures from Feb just gone (rounded off):
34, 38.........31, 34, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, (all consecutive! :D)....... 32, 34, 35, 38..... 33

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/20130 ... 1302.shtml

Then there's March, which is cooler, right? :D

31, 33, 35, 35, 34, 36, 36, 34, 38, 38....(all consecutive! Ok, I think that was a record, but still, it happened)....33.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/20130 ... 1303.shtml

And let's not forget good-old January: :D

31, 32, 40, 45, 32, 35, 41 (all consecutive!!)....34, 34.........30, 37, 43........38
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/20130 ... 1301.shtml

I guess I should chuck in Dec, to round the warm weather off, which ain't quite as 'bad':

36......34, 39, 37......33, 30.........34, 42........31, 31, 31
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/20121 ... 1212.shtml

You might like that weather, but no thanks. It sounds like Melbourne isn't what you're after, but I just wanna defend our 'cold' weather. :thumbup: The average maximum temperatures for June, July and Aug are 14.1, 13.5 and 15. A typical really cold day will be about 10 to 12 degrees, but we do get the odd hailing day that'll be 8 to 10 for most of the day. However, we also get plenty of Winter days around 14 to 16. Last July was warmer than average, but check out some of the 'mild' weather we had. Ha
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/20120 ... 1207.shtml

Sure, early mornings is a different thing.

Back to my 'balanced' view of Melbourne: riding in the 'burbs is generally pretty good. I ride along the eastern beaches pretty much every night, and I reckon the roads are great: they're not too congested, I rarely get punctures, and there are lots of wannabe pros to chase. I get to watch the Sun setting over the water most nights, and get to perv on tons of hot girls, ALL THE TIME!! :D
Yes, road rage from drivers is a HUGE problem here.
Yes, the inner city areas are very congested during busy times.
The racing scene is massive and FAST (probably the best club scene in the country, if not the World :D, but you said that's what you're after, so.......

eh....I'm out of info ('opinions') for the moment
Last edited by User Name on Tue Mar 26, 2013 2:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Rush
Posts: 362
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2012 2:10 am

by Rush

Hobart has the most 'British' climate. What's the riding like down there?

genesis692
Posts: 60
Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2010 11:54 am
Location: Brisbane, AU

by genesis692

Yeah Adelaide can get pretty hot.....but on the plus side it turns you into a tough bastard.

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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

Rush wrote:Not true..as with Melbourne weather it could theoretically snow any day of the year at Lake Mountain ;)

You can make that claim about any alpine climb :?

A good 15km of Acheron Way is gravel, was top fun.


Riding in Tassie in general is fantastic - as long as you're ok with learning to climb and the cold. But there's a good reason why it produces so many great riders.

User Name
Posts: 611
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:32 pm

by User Name

I found much more stuff.

There are 59 comments under this short article:
http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2009/11/t ... australia/

Here's a newspapare article with a handful of comments underneath
http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/f ... 1ou6l.html

A bit more here
http://www.sydneycyclist.com/forum/topi ... s-the-best


Hmm, I wonder I care. Maybe I'm more patriotic that I realised. Ha

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