I'm no climber but when Chris from Graceville Bike Hub fitted the 50/34 to my aging Giant last week he said "you will be able to ride up walls with this thing" I thought I should at least try it out on some hills. Some of my more insane riding buddies do what's called the Kenmore Hills Ride (KHR) through the western suburbs of
Brisbane. The north side is too far away for a weekday ride for me, and I have been thinking for a while that a similar kind of ride could be done closer to home. On rides into the city for my regular Southbank Bunch (SBB) outings I have always avoided the hills in the Mt Gravatt/Holland Park area, and I consider myself crafty at finding the flattest possible route to anywhere.
Today was different. I was out to find the nastiest hills I could find in the Mt Gravatt area. Streets that usually give me a cold shiver if I accidentally look up them on a normal ride became part of this ride’s agenda. In planning the ride I wanted to stick as closely as possible to the KHR philosophy of never doubling back or travelling the same stretch twice, but with Mt Gravatt itself to be the feature climb of the ride this was not entirely possible.
I rode in towards the city from my home at Runcorn, and I guess that the route only becomes relevant to most people once the hills start. Rolling East on
Gaza Rd from under the M1 I turned left up
Bapaume Rd. This goes straight up at a quite severe gradient. It is not a long haul but it quickly gets the heart rate up near max. Just over the crest of this hill I turned right into Kneale St, and this climbs to some beautiful views of the city. There are some nice houses up here. As I crested this hill Mt Gravatt still loomed above me on my right and I could see across
Logan Rd to another hill that the ride would include. A roll down Hockings St to
Logan Rd, north for a couple of streets, then back up
Brodie St. For hard core riders there are options of Barton or Gower to get back up to
Castle Hill St, but I was already a bit shaky in the legs. Back down Hockings St again and this time right onto
Logan Rd and then left at Nursery. Right into Rise St and I was riding slowly getting my legs ready for what was about to come.
Frost St is not pleasant. It goes straight up at a consistent steep gradient. I made it about a third of the way up, and Bruce and his 34 cog were finished. I think this hill will challenge most riders attempting it on a road bike. I got off and pushed to the top, walking on the lush green footpath to protect my brand new cleats. A roll back to
Logan Rd via
Crest St and
Nursery Rd gave me a chance to get some breath back and then it was time for a lap of Mt Gravatt. I climbed slowly as my legs didn’t seem to have much left after the Frost St attempt. There were plenty of sightseers on top of the mountain peering out towards the city to see if it was a sea, but apart from a light brown snake appearing in a few places it doesn’t normally it was impossible to tell that a crisis of such magnitude was occurring only kilometres away.
The free MotionX GPS that I was running on my phone cut out a few times and the route data that I ended up with is missing a few chunks. It does not show clearly how I made my way back to the
Gaza Rd starting point via the foothills of Mt Gravatt. Mountain St and
Verbena St were used to get me across to
Messines Ridge Rd for a lap of the Mt Gravatt campus of Griffith Uni, then a nice long roll back down the hill to
Gaza Rd.
The route described above is only 15km long, and there are many variations or additions that could be made to it. Other local riders will have their own versions of Mt Gravatt Hills, and it is possible to make easier or harder versions than this one. But I do know this. I’ve had enough climbing for today!
