"Big M" circuit Mt. Dandenong

Red Galah said:

In the December 2006 edition of Bicycle Victoria's "Ride On" magazine,
Ed Phillips described "Where is your favourite place to ride?" as the
"Big M circuit". He also said, "If you look at the mountain from the
city and draw an 'M', we would climb up one side, down the '1 in 20',
back up it to the lookout, then down to the highway ... and return".

Does anybody know what roads would make up Ed's "Big M circuit"?

A bit of a guess, but it could be the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road from one end to the other, with a descent and ascent of Mountain Highway from Sassafras to The Basin and back in the middle of the trip.

The Tourist Road is steeper going up from the Burwood Highway end or easier if you start at Canterbury Road.

The "1 in 20" is a well-known climb from The Basin to Sassafras - 6.8 km at around 4% average grade (not quite in in 20!) - info here.

roshea said:

A bit of a guess, but it could be the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road from one end to the other, with a descent and ascent of Mountain Highway from Sassafras to The Basin and back in the middle of the trip.

The Tourist Road is steeper going up from the Burwood Highway end or easier if you start at Canterbury Road.

The "1 in 20" is a well-known climb from The Basin to Sassafras - 6.8 km at around 4% average grade (not quite in in 20!) - info here.

amazing the names we make up for rides, I call mine the "Triple Lindy", yeah ok, Rodney Dangerfield (Back to School) because I go through Olinda three times.

Once up from Burwood Highway, once back from Montrose and once back after the 1:20 on the way to my parents place for a food stop.

Thanks for all your reponses. For anyone interested, I found a map and
elevation profile of the 1:20 ride at
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/1-in-20-Climb-The-Basin-to-Sassafras.