DD18: The 2018 Melbourne Dirty Dozen

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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 DD18: The 2018 Melbourne Dirty Dozen.

DD18 is the seventh 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 2018, the Melbourne Dirty Dozen returns to the bayside town of Dromana for the second year running.

Here are the basics:

Date: Sunday September 30, 2018
Start window: 7:30am to 9am
Location: Dromana, Victoria
Cost: $25
Buy tickets: CLICK HERE
Facebook page: LINK

Want to find out what the Melbourne Dirty Dozen is all about? Check out our reports from the previous six editions:

DD17: The 2017 Melbourne Dirty Dozen (Dromana)
DD16: The 2016 Melbourne Dirty Dozen (Warburton)
DD15: The 2015 Melbourne Dirty Dozen (Warburton)
DD14: The 2014 Melbourne Dirty Dozen (Dandenongs)
DD13: The 2013 Melbourne Dirty Dozen (Dandenongs)
The inaugural Melbourne Dirty Dozen (Dandenongs)

Winners Cycling

Winners Cycling are back on board again in 2018 to provide you with energy bars, gels and chews as you tackle DD18. Not only that, they’re also offering 20% off all online orders. Just head to the Winners Cycling website, and use the coupon code “DD2018” when you check out.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Winners for their continued support of grassroots cycling events!

Climb list

1. Bradford Rd

Length: 1.7km
Average gradient: 7.8%
Surface: Sealed

05 Bradford Rd

The day’s opening climb is quite a long one (by Dirty Dozen standards). 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 ascent that will start building some fatigue in your legs.

2. Stanley Cres

Length: 1.1km
Average gradient: 8.2%
Surface: Sealed

04 Stanley Rd

The average gradient here 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.

3. Ponyara/Atlantic/Burrawang/Churchill

Length: 1.2km
Average gradient: 8.4%
Surface: Sealed

As with Stanley Cres, the average gradient of this climb mightn’t seem all that menacing, but this climb is no cinch. It’s a combination of four streets in the Mount Martha area that features a number of punishing ramps. Tough one.

4. Hearn Rd

Length: 1.8km
Average gradient: 7.9%
Surface: Sealed

02 Hearn Rd

Climb #4 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.

5. Park Rd

Length: 800m
Average gradient: 9.6%
Surface: Sealed and unsealed

03 Park Rd

Quite simply, Park Rd is one of the toughest climbs of the day. Climbing directly away from the bay, this ascent touches 20% in parts and will have you working at your maximum just to get up it. The first 800m is the main part of the climb — it rises at an average of 9.6% — but this year we’re climbing Park Rd to the very top, tackling 1km of gravel after the tough, sealed start to the climb.

Enjoy a brief break at the top of this one — you’ve earned it.

6. Three Laneways

Length: 1.4km
Average gradient: 8.3%
Surface: Sealed

06 Three Laneways

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. Make the most of the brief flatter section after the final laneway — you’ll need something in your legs for the final ramp just off Cook St.

7. Waterfall Gully Road

Length: 2.3km
Average gradient: 7.4%
Surface: Sealed and unsealed

This new addition might just be the hardest climb of the day. You wouldn’t know it from the average gradient, but this ascent features a handful of super-steep ramps that will push you to your limit. One section in particular, about two-third of the way up, is a real leg-snapper on a super rough piece of “tarmac” (see image above).

While the main section of the climb is 2.3km long, it’s actually the best part of 6km uphill to the real top, much of it unsealed. Make the most of the respite you get after this climb — you’ll need every bit of energy you can muster for the last six ascents.

8. Hillview Quarry Dr

Length: 800m
Average gradient: 9.8%
Surface: Sealed

Another new addition in 2018, Hillview Quarry Rd is quite a consistent little climb, particularly after the first couple hundred metres. Starting to feel those legs yet?

9. Scott St

Length: 500m
Average gradient: 10.8%
Surface: Sealed

09 Scott St

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 the top, the gradient is considerably less comfortable. Nine down, four to go.

10. Hillside Ave

Length: 600m
Average gradient: 11.3%
Surface: Sealed

10 Hillside Ave

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

11 Caldwell Rd

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 DD18, 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

12 Towerhill Bracken Ridge

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

13 Arthurs Seat

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.