A ride in two parts

Route: Eltham to Warrandyte return, via Mount Pleasant Road
Distance: 31.9km
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

The other night I was shown some lovely parts of Eltham that I hadn’t seen in the 18 months since I moved in. So today, with the day off work, I decided to grab the bike and investigate a little more closely. I headed past Montsalvat toward Griffith Park and rode up and down some of the hills around there. I then found my way out to Mount Pleasant Road and followed that all the way to its intersection with Warrandyte-Research Road.
I never realised how beautiful the roads around Eltham actually are with Mount Pleasant Road being an absolute stand out. It winds narrowly through bushland and semi-agricultural properties as it rises and falls on its way out to Research. I’ll certainly be including this stretch in my training rides from now on.

Once I reached Research-Warrandyte Road I took a right turn, heading toward Warrandyte. This road is also fantastic for climbing training with some ridiculously fast descents (read 81km/h) and some very steep climbs (~15% for 100m).
At Warrandyte I turned around and retraced my steps, back to Mount Pleasant Road and eventually back home. All in all a beautiful ride that was only spoiled by my dodgy rear derailleur. I’m still waiting for the new cassette to arrive before I get it fixed and luckily the bike is still rideable at the moment. Just so long as I can put up with it slipping in and out of various gears.

Route: Eltham to Westerfolds Park, including mountain bike trails
Distance: ~24km
Duration: ~1 hour 10 minutes

Once I got home from my ride to Warrandyte I ditched the road bike and grabbed the mountain bike. I was keen to get some more kays in while the weather was so beautiful and I was also keen to try out the helmet cam on the Westerfolds Park mountain bike trails.
I rode most of the way to Heidelberg along the Main Yarra Trail and the dirt tracks that run alongside it, getting some good footage along the way. Unfortunately the MTB didn’t have a speedo so the distance and duration stats are estimates.

The plan for tomorrow is to meet Brendan at Eltham at 9am before heading up to the Kinglake area for some climbing. I’m hoping my bike doesn’t give me too much grief as 100km of slipping gears won’t be much fun.

40 days to go…

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