Gravity-Assisted Riding

November 18, 2021

Belair to Port Adelaide

Once a week we head up to the Adelaide Hills to catch up with family. The Hills being, you know, hills, are higher than Adelaide which is largely flat at sea level. This means that once a week I get Roger to drop me off somewhere so I can enjoy a gravity-assisted ride home.

Today I started my ride in Belair, halfway up the hill and distinguished by a pretty railway station, a National Park, lots of mountain bike trails, and the Belair-Lynton bike way. The mountain bikers catch the train up and zoom down the mountain bike trails, rinse and repeat all day long. The mountain bike trails are too scary for me:

Image not found :( — I took the Belair-Lynton Bikeway instead.

The Belair-Lynton Bikeway is barely 2km long, but has its own scary downhill bits,

although there's a nice view of Glenelg as you descend...

...and around the corner there's a nice view of the city.

Once I got down to the bottom of the hill I wandered along back roads and bike paths toward the city. Adelaide is made up of a confusing number of very small municipalities, and they all signed the bike paths differently. As a result of this I may or may not have taken a few unplanned detours along the way but that didn't matter too much because the streets were quiet and lined with beautiful houses and gardens.

the odd slightly creepy piece of street art,

and comfortably meandering bike paths made the trip back to the city an enjoyable one.

The original plan was to continue pedaling all the way along the Linear Path to the mouth of the Torrens, where Roger would meet me and we would have takeaway dinner by the sea. The weather didn't play along with this plan and by the time I got to the city the day was cloudy and drizzling, the wind was cold, and it was altogether not an evening to spend beside the sideside. Instead I pedaled home along my old friend the Outer Harbour Greenway and had vegemite toast for tea and very good that was, too.

Now there's a ride profile I can like.

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Today's ride: 29 km (18 miles)
Total: 149 km (93 miles)

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