Don’t look up. That seems like a silly thing to say if you’re planning a ride in the Victorian Alps. It’s a region that boasts the highest concentration of Australia’s great road climbs, flaunting an embarrassment of riches like Falls Creek, Mount Hotham and Mount Baw Baw. It’s the closest thing we’ve got to those iconic French-style ski resort climbs, mythologised on our screens at two o’clock in the morning every July. But if you spend all your time cranking your neck skywards, you’ll miss what’s waiting right at your feet, which is exactly what I discovered this time around, sticking to the valley and tackling the well-known Gaps Loop with my mates Esjay and Neil.
The timing of our weekend couldn’t have been better, on a couple of fronts. For starters, it began on Friday, as any good weekend really should. I was freshly no longer employed full-time and very keen to make the most of my newfound freedom. Even more importantly, the weather in Sydney had become distinctly torrential just as we finished cramming three bikes, ourselves and enough snacks to get us to Perth into Esjay’s tiny hybrid.
The weather in Sydney had become torrential just as we finished cramming three bikes, ourselves and enough snacks to get us to Perth into Esjay’s tiny hybrid
Driving south down the all-too-familiar Hume, the three of us agreed that the rapidly improving weather was a sign from above. We were in for an amazing ride tomorrow, filled with the promise of degree-perfect conditions, some amazing food and the mercy of no hour-long climbs to drag our travel-wearied bodies over.
Arriving at Mount Beauty, to the
