LITTLE RIVER MIXED TERRAIN
We hit the outskirts of Melbourne during an unseasonly dry, windy day to ask the question: what is the best way to spend 6 dollars?
In most capital cities, six Australian dollars will cover you for your coffee order with alternate milk of choice and little else. Sometimes it might get you a pair of cokes from the servo, or if you know THE spot, a banh mi.
All of those are worthy causes to put your hard-earned towards, especially when you consider the range of nutritional wants and needs you face when cruising around town on two wheels. It was when Zuck sent across a Facebook notification for an innocent enough looking bike ride in the heart of autumn, with an entry fee of six Australian dollars did we realise that a new contender had officially announced itself.
ROUTE: LITTLE RIVER MIXED TERRAIN
Distance: 50.3km / Elevation Gain: +306m
I: THE SHIMANO INSTITUTE OF MECHANICS
Little River is a town 49km from the middle of Melbourne, emanating the typical is-it-or-isn’t it part of Greater Melbourne charm. The answer will shock you because it’s both – this little town with its weird American Frontier type surroundings is cut in half by administrative divisions. As such, it's super easy to imagine two sheriffs in a gunfight for ownership of the local train station that sits in the centre of town.
Beyond the aforementioned blue stone train station, a giant aerial tower, a water tower and a servo, there doesn’t seem to be much else around – that is until you search the back streets and happen upon the Mechanics Institute Hall, where we pulled in to unload the bikes at 10:10am, missing the 10:00am rollout.
As far as small-town halls go, this is quintessential. The stage is adorned with cardboard ornamentation, the Union Jack which hasn’t been touched since 1979 dangles lazily, there's a community library crammed into a random room adjacent to the entrance, and the smell can only be described as nostalgic.
By the time we’ve unloaded the bikes proper and gathered our things, it’s 10:20am, a full 20 minutes after the rider has begun. A warm smile and joyous wave from the event organiser Damian suggests we needn’t worry, as he invites us into the hall for freshly pressed coffee, a brief Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds listening party, and to pin some art up on the wall.
Eventually, the clock hits 10:40am, and we think it’s best to get going. Signing up online and paying the $6 entry fee on the spot we were granted permission to be on our way as we cross the tracks out of Greater Melbourne.
II: THE GOOD STUFF
It doesn’t take long before we realise that maybe the reason we’ve never really ridden out here is the wind, as it hits us almost immediately after our first major turn. Fortunately, it’s only a few kilometres of very slight uphill before we’re tucked into the bosom of the You Yangs park, and off gravel or tarmac roads – now sliding along some single track as part of the mountain bike park.
It was only a few simple green trails, but as a taster for what was hopefully to come, and as an entree for what we hope is an eventual day out in the You Yangs park, we had a blast. The gradual winding uphill eventually spat us out into a car park, our bearings taking a moment to come to as beyond the boundaries of the small granite range, the landscape looked the same in every direction.
Still, we persevered and made our way around the back via tarmac, coming across the first of a few riders we would catch from the 10:00am bunch.
III: RETRO PARTY MIX
It would be after a few long straights, two of tarmac, one of gravel, another of tarmac then another gravel that we decided to stop for a feed. Anticipating the lack of amenities in this rain shadowed region, we came prepared with some Retro Party Mix, giving a nod to the nostalgia of the Little River Mechanics Institute Hall, to the weather which was not dramatically autumnal, but nostalgically autumnal – and lastly to things costing six Australian dollars, because that doesn’t even get you a tube off Wiggle.
Once opened we seemed to attract local cyclists out on their TT training rides, the scent of sugar and the funky tunes of a playlist paired to confectionery drawing them in.
IV: SOURDOUGH PROVING GROUND
We allowed a moment for the sugar to hit our veins, as perched upon a ridge we surveyed where the route would take us next, and made note of how the headwind we would soon be dealt.
While there wasn’t much out here in the way of amenities, the region was starting to burst into life, with more traffic, more tractors, and sure enough, more livestock and wildlife as we skirted around flat and mostly bare farmland, with only the Piave quarry, the Ford Proving Ground, and victims of the Ford Proving Ground as our company.
V: BACK THROUGH
Soon enough we were pointing back in the direction of the You Yangs, their silhouette having teased us since we first left the park. We crept towards the range from the north this time, which is arguably the prettier side – before the route asked us to dismount, vault a locked gate and continue into the park proper, where we began mixing it with mountain bikers up and down a couple of blue lines that took us onto the main access road through the park.
We left the You Yangs park the same way we first entered it earlier that morning and took the same roads back into Little River – a much happier memory with its slight downhill and tailwind.
Pulling up outside the hall we were almost immediately invited inside for a drink of our choice and a big plate of vegan dahl – all included in the entry fee. Pulling up a plate of dahl and rice, paired with a can of coke we had a chat with all the others eating their fill after a good few hours out on the bike. This is where the event as a way to spend six Australian dollars rose to the top. Get Tracy Grimshaw on the line and run the feature, the people NEED to know about this type of value.
VI: S.A x YAKIMA
And that was that – we had arrived at 10:10am, ridden fifty kilometres, spent six Australian dollars, eaten our lunch and were on our way home by 1:30pm. Everything made significantly easier thanks to the team-issue Yakima gear, making packing and unpacking a minute-long job, leaving us with more time up our sleeves to run late for the start.
