It's early summer Down Under, where Australia's version of RAGBRAI began Saturday with 3,500 bicyclists leaving Wangaratta for the 534-km (331-mile) bike ride to Melbourne.
The Great Victorian Bike Ride has been running every year since 1984 with as few as 1,900 bicyclists in 1985 to as many as 8,100 for the “Great Ocean Road” in 2004.
This year's bike ride leaves from Wangaratta (near the northern border of New South Wales) then heads to the host towns of Beechworth, Tallangatta, Mount Beauty, Myrtleford (rest day), Whitfield, Mansfield, and Yea before arriving at the finish line in Whittlesea on the northern outskirts of Melbourne.
The cyclists will face quite a few hills, such as the 9-kilometer climb up to Tawonga Gap, but there are also scenic rides through valleys and Victoria's wine region. Here's a map and here are the day-to-day highlights.
Temperatures are expected to be in the 70s and 80s this week, with some partly cloudy skies early on. Sounds ideal.
Does this get you interested in this year's Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa? Registration for next year's ride — July 22-28 — opens Nov. 15 at the RAGBRAI website.
Picture from 2005 Great Victorian Bike Ride above from Marchee's flickr.com photo album
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