RIMBY (Ride In My Backyard) is your opportunity to show the cycling world your favorite 1 or 2 days local rides around your home, check the guidelines here and contact us if you have your own RIMBY trip to share! Here’s Michael Lister favorite ride:
When I moved to the Gold Coast in 2005 I had visions of glitter strips and beaches. Little did I know that there were some serious hills (you can’t call them mountains) waiting for me in the Gold Coast hinterland.
After leaving my place it’s a flat ride out to Oxenford before you encounter the “7 humps”. A series of rolling hills and what’s popularly known as “the wall”…but you’re riding down the wall so there’s nothing to worry about.
Lower Beechmont is a popular climb with the locals. It really starts at Rusa Court and climbs for 10km up to the bus stop. You’ll nearly always find riders sitting having a chat…and contemplating whether to head back down or continue the climb to “the roundabout” (12km) or Binna Burra (23km) with a nice little 1.5km, 15%er at the end.
This is a single day’s ride of 143km if you only go to the bus stop. But you can easily make it shorter or longer but detouring, at any stage, to explore further or head home. I live in Paradise Point (yes, I live in paradise) but have often picked up riders from different parts of The Coast to join me for some or all of the ride.
That really is the best thing about riding on the Gold Coast. There are so many short or longer rides with plenty of room to get out of, or completely away from, the traffic. After the hills we usually head down to the beach to check if there’s any surf.
Skyscrapers in the distance and plenty of beautiful people in the surf. There are many, many cafés and coffee shops along the coast. Popular with cyclists is Picollo at Miami, Caffene at Lands End. And they are both far enough apart that you can ride off whatever has tempted your taste buds.
You’ll only climb about 1,770m on this ride but there’s plenty of room to add more and more hills if that takes your fancy!! So that’s my first attempt at showing you what’s in my back yard. I’ll explore some of the many “hills” in my next RIMBY so stay tuned – I can’t wait to share how much I enjoy climbing on the Strada.
Practical Information
The Gold Coast is located 45 minutes south of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is huge Australian tourist destination and there are thousands of places to stay from budget hostels to 6 star resorts.
Michael’s bike
SRAM Force, with 50T chainring and 11-36 cassette
Discus C35 Team Stealth carbon wheels
Continental GP 4000 – 25mm tyres
3T Aeronova Team Stealth handlebar
3T Apto 90mm stem
Selle Italia Max SLR Gel Flow saddle
Here’s the link to the route on Komoot:
https://www.komoot.com/tour/54426736
