Craigieburn bypass bike path

DaveB said:

Just home from Christmas Day and on the way back into Melbourne I saw a
bike path along the new Craigieburn Bypass. I had a quick look at the
Vicroads bike path maps but it doesn't seem to have been added yet. I
assume you get on at the Western Ring Road but does anyone know how far
out it goes? It looked like a good flat ride and unlike most bike paths
would have very few pedestrians given its location.

DaveB

I think it's (at least partially) marked on my 2005 Melways, although it was probably built differently to how it was planned. I might be up in that general area in the next few days, if so I'll ride it and post all the goss here 🙂.

If it does follow whats printed in my Melways, it starts at Amaroo Rd and connects to the western ring path near blaxland avenue.

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Quoted message said:

If it does follow whats printed in my Melways, it starts at Amaroo Rd
and connects to the western ring path near blaxland avenue.

Yes, it starts at the corner of Amaroo Rd and the old Hume Highway.

Choose your day / direction carefully. The last three times I've drove
down the new freeway I'm glad I have been in the car. It can get very
windy, and it is extremely exposed so there is no relief from the wind.

Cheers, Ray

I've done the area south of Cragieburn Road half a dozen times, and did
the Cragieburn - Amaroo section yesterday. It's not too bad as long as
you get a light breeze, any more than that and it's a bit of an issue
though.

It's a nice flat ride, theres only a few light inclines, and a slightly
steeper one at the Cragieburn Rd overpass.

Ray said:

Yes, it starts at the corner of Amaroo Rd and the old Hume Highway.

Choose your day / direction carefully. The last three times I've drove
down the new freeway I'm glad I have been in the car. It can get very
windy, and it is extremely exposed so there is no relief from the wind.

Cheers, Ray

Headed out early this morning to check this path out. It was probably
the most time I've ever spent on bike trails in one ride riding from
Bulleen to the Western Ring Road and then following the WRR trail and
then the Craigieburn Bypass trail. I remembered from when I used to live
out that way how rough the WRR trail gets after Dalton Rd so was looking
forward to the new trail and nice smooth concrete. Well unfortunately
the concrete was smooth but the concreters obviously aren't cyclists.
Those "cracks" (any concreters out there got a technical term for them)
every metre or so had an extra piece of concrete step-down either side
(like what you would do with a router in wood) which meant that each
crack in the concrete was effectively about 15cm wide. I felt and
sounded like I was riding along a train track. It probably wouldn't be
too bad on an MTB but on a roadie with a lot of pressure in the tyres it
was pretty unpleasant, kind of like falling into a long series of holes.

Luckily it's not like that all the way, and the rest of the ride was
just what I wanted, relatively flat, only a handfull of pedestrians and
cyclists, no dogs (woohoo), and plenty of opportunity to train on the
tri bars.

As for the wind, this is definitely not a ride for a day with a hot
northerly. This morning there was the slightest of breezes, which you
would hardly notice when you are standing still, but it still slowed me
down to low 20's kmh. The flip side was I was up around 40kmh coming
back. If that's a windless day imagine a windy day.

Now with a hot day forecast I can kick back and watch TV and recover.
I'd forgotten how tiring flat solo rides can be.

DaveB

DaveB said:

As for the wind, this is definitely not a ride for a day with a hot
northerly.

I'll attest to that. Went up on Tuesday (35 degrees, moderate northly)... it was rather slow going 🙂.