The Great Ocean Road
This road draws the best riders from around the world and offers absolutely beautiful scenery. It is the place where Cadel Evans does some of his summer training when in Australia and also the home of Phil ‘Skippy' Anderson, another Australian cycling great.
It is of course the epic Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.
La Velocita's Aaron Mulkearns shares his years of Great Ocean Road riding experience with us.
The Great Ocean Road is one of the best roads Australia has on offer, from beautiful scenery, breath taking coastlines and wildlife…. It's a playground for cyclists and it's a hell of a spot to ride your bike!
This week, La Velocita looks at The Great Ocean Road, in particular the 'Great Ocean Road Cycling' crew, who base themselves out of the towns of Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Fairhaven and Lorne.
'Great Ocean Road Cycling' is a group that I have had the pleasure of riding with for many years. Bunch size can vary depending on the time of year, over summer, Lorne Surf Life Saving Club is the starting point for a peloton of around 100, that then splits into bunches of 20 - 30.
We have been known to try and chase Cadel many times... we'll keep trying.
For years cycling has been a shared passion for those who live, holiday or day trip along the magnificent Great Ocean Road. All year round, every Saturday and Sunday, you can be sure to find the GORC crew meeting in Anglesea, picking up others in Aireys Inlet and Fairhaven, and heading to the meeting point at Lorne Surf Life Saving Club for the 50 kilometre round trip from Lorne to Cape Patton.
For most of the year riders leave Lorne SLSC at 8am, during the summer months it's a 7am start.
Our pilgrimage to Lorne starts from Aireys Inlet at 7.20am, with between 5 and 20 cyclists meeting for the warm up roll to Lorne. We take in the famous Great Ocean Road Arch at Moggs Creek and climb up over Big Hill. There's then a around 3kms of beautiful S-bends (used in so many car commercials) before we roll into Lorne to meet the the GORC crew.
From Lorne we head out past the beautiful Grand Hotel, on our way toward Mt Defiance, a beautiful 2.5 - 3 % climb with a little flat section about two-thirds of the way up before kicking again.
From here it is an undulating ride through Wye River, following this, the road kicks up a few times until you reach the climb nick named 'Mongrol Hill'... no explanation required here. After we are over the top, its through Koala Cove, a great place for spying Koalas sitting in the trees.
If you've got the legs there's always a race up the final climb to see who can reach the beautiful look out at Cape Patton first.
From there it's a regroup for the return to Lorne for coffee.
Depending on your starting point you can clock up between 50km and 100km. Anglesea and Lorne are 1.5 hours and 2 hours drive from Melbourne. If you have not ridden the Great Ocean Road do yourself a huge favour and get down there, you won't regret it!
The Great Vic Bike Ride is back for 2022 with one of the best routes that we have seen, that will take us through some of the most beautiful, historic and famous Victorian regions.
Plug-and-play Adelaide gravel cycling routes guaranteed to be a great day out (except for one of them)
We’ve groad tested the Murray to Clare Cycling Trail and it’s wonderful! Here’s our full trail guide on how to have a great time on this gravel trail
Everything you need to know about NSW’s Mid-North Coast gravel dream ride the Thunderbolts Adventure
There’s something about Australia's top end that gets under your skin. But until now, there has been little in the way of cycle tourism in the Northern Territory. That's changed with the introduction of Bicycle Network’s Great Top End Escape.
Gravel cycling routes around South Australia. Full courses, notes, and all the info you need to have an awesome time
Everything you need to know about Cycling the Kidman Trail; one of South Australia’s finest gravel/light adventure routes
Bicycle Network’s United Energy Around the Bay is one of the most well-known mass participation rides in Australia. It now also offers a MASSIVE 300km option. That's a long way to drive, let alone ride a bike.... have you got what it takes?
If you haven’t noticed, bike packing is now officially a thing.…. so why not get someone to do the planning and carrying, while you get to ride your way across Victoria and meet a huge bunch of like minded explorers - enter the Great Vic Bike Ride.
Australia’s legendary alpine cycling town has some unbelievable climbs around it. Which are the best though?
I love my road bike... but the 'road' part of the name is not entirely accurate because my bike also loves eating up gravel.
Coming to Adelaide and looking for route information? Well, here’s some tasty options to get you rolling.
Our mate Nick Skarajew is taking on the second ever Hunt 1000. Below is his overview. This is one extreme event.
Awesome roads, a long weekend, amazing weather, great ride options and a few bonus days of riding.
Introducing the 2017 La Velocita Adelaide Dirty Dozen. We're sponsoring Adelaide's hardest annual ride. Because we hate you.
SRAM has gravel-ified its Force groupset. Introducing Force eTap AXS Wide and we have a set!
Canyon just announced the Ultimate CF Evo and it’s 5.68 kg for the rim brake and 6.00 kg for the disc version. Holy moly!
New Dura Ace R9150 has bought with it Shimano's synchronised shifting... but there's some great news, if you're using previous generation DI2 Dura Ace or current DI2 Ultegra then moving to a new battery is all it takes to open the door to synchronised shifting.
Fat wrap bar tape claims to be the thickest cork-EVA tape on the market. We’ve been holding hands with it to see what that feels like.
Silver linings. I’m a big believer in them. Sometimes, as I often see in my day job, bad things happen to good people. You can’t control them, often it’ll be the case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The thing you can control however is your reaction to the situation.
Shimano has followed up their blingy road shoe with a range of clothes to match. We were luckly enough to get an early look at the Tour Down Under. So which of your kids are you going to sell?
Beer. Bikes. Beer designed specifically to be drunk after riding bikes. Do I have your full attention? Thought so!
Black Sheep Cycling are back with their latest LIMITED SEASON NINE kit. It drops to members of the Movement tonight, 14 December 2016 from 8pm. I had a sneak peak and loved what I saw and felt like it was one to share with you all.
With "Full Colour" leading the inspiration, this one is going to be good.
ASSOS Active Wear Cleanser does many, many good things for your cycling kit... presumably...
Our friends at Lumo have just launched their latest range of urban apparel and after a look at the promotional video we're liking what we're seeing. Here's a quick look at what's available.
Shimano has announced its new road shoe, the 'S-PHYRE' RC9. Our first quick peak of these shoes had us wanting to smuggle them out the room. These shoes are nice. Very nice... In fact I'll be first in line to grab some when they are released in the next month or so.
Investing in a good quality bike bag can make all the difference when you head overseas with your pride a joy. We've chosen the Thule Round Trip Pro for Dave's World Everesting Project.
Dave Edwards is going to be using the Nothwave Extreme XC shoe for his World Everesting Project. He takes a quick look at this lightweight mountain bike shoe.
Danish start-up SENSITIVUS gauge has thrown their hat into the Kickstarter bicycle power-meter ring and they want you to join team ZWATT. This project is a little different to other Kickstarter-power-meters we’ve seen before. You aren’t just a backer; you’re a tester, a data source, a part of a democratic community developing ZWATT and choosing its future direction. In return, you get a competitively cheap power meter. ZWATT’s not to like about that?
The skunkworks at 99Bikes Mile End have put together an insanely light Merida Scultura Superlite LTD. It's an uncompromising mix of parts from some of the world's most gravity resistant component makers. Bask in its weeniness, be humbled by its silly numbers, and immediately start listing your children on eBay.
Shimano has announced what we've all be waiting for... The new DURA-ACE R9100 groupset. Featuring synchronised shifting, power measurement, hydraulic brakes, new wheel profiles and wireless connectivity this is another leap forward for road bike development.
We take a first look at the main features of DURA-ACE 9100 before its arrival in early 2017.
We take a look at Zevlin's 'BIG 40'. This 40mm super wide tape has been on the bars of of my bike for a couple of months now and is doing a great job.
We're big fans of base layers at La Velocita, choosing the right one for the conditions you're heading out into makes a big difference to your comfort level. Next to Skin Italia has sent us their latest base layer, the 'Camu'. We take a first look.
Do you dream of the open road, riding through beautiful rolling country and breathing in the fresh country air? Of riding roads with little traffic and testing yourself against some very spicy climbs? Well, you can get this and a lot more from this year’s Newcrest Orange Challenge.