Like hills? Enjoy a challenge on the bike? Want to join other like-minded riders for a great day out? We’d love to have you along for DD17: The 2017 Melbourne Dirty Dozen.
DD17 is the sixth edition of the Melbourne Dirty Dozen, a recreational challenge ride that pits riders against a baker’s dozen of short, but sharp climbs in the Melbourne area. In 2017, the Melbourne Dirty Dozen heads to the bayside suburb of Dromana for the first time.
Here are the basics:
Date: Sunday September 24, 2017
Start window: 7:30am to 9am
Location: Dromana, Victoria
Cost: $20
Buy tickets: CLICK HERE
Winners Cycling
Winners Cycling has come on board to provide you with mid-ride energy bars, gels and chews as you tackle DD17. Not only that, they’re also offering 20% off all online orders. Just head to the Winners Cycling website, and use the coupon code “DD2017” when you check out.
We’d like to say a big thank you to Winners for their continued support of grassroots cycling events!
Climbs list
1. “Ellerina et al”
Length: 1.7km
Average gradient: 7.8%
Surface: Almost all sealed
The first climb of DD17 mightn’t have the most menacing average gradient — 7.8% — but as we all know, average gradient only tells part of the story …
This climb, which actually comprises five separate streets, features several steep ramps. And, at 1.7km long it’s a challenging little introduction to the day’s climbing.
2. Hearn Rd
Length: 1.8km
Average gradient: 7.9%
Surface: Sealed
Climb #2 is another ascent that might look easy on paper, but really isn’t. Hearn Rd is a long, straight drag with several steep sections that will have you working hard throughout.
3. Park Rd
Length: 800m
Average gradient: 9.6%
Surface: Sealed
Climb #3, Park Rd, might only be 800m long but make no mistake – this is one of the hardest climbs of the day. Much of its length rises at well above 10% – a tough little leg-breaker so early in the day!
4. Stanley Cres
Length: 1.1km
Average gradient: 8.2%
Surface: Sealed
Another average gradient that really doesn’t tell the full story. Follow the hairpin around to the right at the bottom and then take a deep breath. The next 300m rises at well above 10%. There’s a flatter section and then the road ramps up again.
A testing climb and another one that’s more than a kilometre long.
5. Bradford Rd
Length: 1.7km
Average gradient: 7.8%
Surface: Sealed
The day’s final climb in the Mt. Martha area is another long one. Over the course of 1.7km, Bradford Rd rises in a series of challengingly steep ramps of more than 10%. It’s a tough little climb that will contribute to the building fatigue in your legs.
6. Three Laneways
Length: 1km
Average gradient: 9.4%
Surface: Sealed
Climb #6 is one of the most charming of the entire day: a series of three, narrow little laneways in McCrae. Don’t be fooled though – these laneways might be picturesque, but they’re also quite tough.
7. Cairn/Somers/Cook
Length: 1.4km
Average gradient: 7.1%
Surface: Sealed
Climb #7 features a combination of three streets, and a nice little bonus at the end. Cairn Rd is a reasonably gentle start, but it’s when you turn left onto Somers Ave that things get really challenging. Grind your way through that, turn right onto Cook for a brief reprieve, then turn left up a lovely little access road until you can’t go any further.
8. Mary/Manna
Length: 1.4km
Average gradient: 8.3%
Surface: Sealed
Mary/Manna is the first of six climbs in the Dromana area that close out the 2017 Melbourne Dirty Dozen. Another ascent of more than a kilometre, this climb starts easily enough (on Mary St) but then once you get to Manna St things get considerably tougher. (Note: Please take care with the left-then-right from Mary onto Manna).
After the long, challenging grind to the top, turn left onto Jamieson and left again on to Bellevue Rd to head back down. Enjoy the great views over the bay on Bellevue in particular.
9. Scott St
Length: 500m
Average gradient: 10.8%
Surface: Sealed
At just 500m long, Scott St is the shortest climb of the day. It’s also one of the steepest.
It’s an ascent that starts off reasonably easily, but by the time you reach the court at its end, the gradient is considerably less comfortable. Nine down, four to go.
10. Hillside Ave
Length: 600m
Average gradient: 11.3%
Surface: Sealed
Hillside Ave is one of those climbs that just gets harder and harder as you go. The first 400m is pretty manageable, but by the final 200m — beyond Burns Rd — this climb is very challenging. Just stick it in your lowest gear and grind your way to the dead-end at the top.
11. Caldwell Rd
Length: 700m
Average gradient: 12.9%
Surface: Sealed
This climb will look familiar to anyone that’s ever ridden up Arthurs Seat before. This steep, straight wall greets you just before you turn off to the main climb. In DD17, however, we’re going straight up it.
You’ll need to keep left after 400m and right after 600m, but apart from that this climb goes straight up the hill at an alarming gradient. It eases a little towards the top, but you’ve got to get there first …
12. Tower Hill/Bracken Ridge
Length: 900m
Average gradient: 10%
Surface: Sealed
The penultimate climb of the day is a tough one. It starts off reasonably easily, on Tower Hill Rd, but then gets steep quickly, and stays that way most of the way up.
Turn left onto Maud Rd, enjoy the brief respite, then right on Storer Dr to continue the pain. You’ll need to go right on Garner St at the T intersection, then left on Bracken Ridge to complete the climb to the gate. A nice little leg-breaker before the final ascent of the day …
(For the curious, the road actually continues climbing beyond the gate …)
13. Arthurs Seat
Length: 3km
Average gradient: 8.1%
Surface: Sealed
And the final climb of DD17 is …. Arthurs Seat, of course. No cycling event on the Mornington Peninsula would be complete without a visit to this challenging climb, particularly not an event that’s all about climbing!
Arthurs Seat is the longest climb of the day and while it doesn’t have the highest average gradient, it will certainly make you hurt with so much climbing already in your legs. It starts out steep and stays that way, only really flattening off in the final 500m or so.