Six day rides from Melbourne, from two hours to a full day

Melbourne is unusually well placed: mountain roads, coast, forest and open country all within a couple of hours, in four different directions. Here are six loops that work, sorted by how much of your day they need.

1. Two hours — the Dandenongs

The closest thing to a good road that does not require leaving the metropolitan area. The roads over the Dandenongs — through Sassafras, Olinda and Kallista — are tight, wooded and pleasant.

The catch: heavy traffic, tourists, cyclists, tight speed limits and constant enforcement. It is a nice ride at 7am on a weekday and a slow procession at 11am on a Sunday.

Do it when: you have two hours and cannot face the ride out to anything better.

2. Half a day — the Yarra Valley classic

The default Melbourne ride, and it earns it. Out through the Yarra Valley, up the Black Spur, through Narbethong to Marysville, then back over the Reefton Spur to Warburton and home.

Timing is everything. Leave at seven and you get the Spur nearly empty with morning light through the trees. Leave at ten and you get a caravan convoy.

Stops: Healesville on the way out, Marysville in the middle, Warburton on the way back.

Note: the Spur is heavily policed and the Reefton has a variable surface. Ride the first for the scenery and the second for the riding.

3. Half a day — the Macedon and Wombat loop

North-west, and the most underrated option on this list. Out through Gisborne and Mount Macedon, into the Wombat State Forest, around Trentham and Daylesford, back via Kyneton or Blackwood.

Rolling, well-surfaced, quiet, and there are enough back roads to do a different version every time. The food in Daylesford and Trentham is a genuine draw.

Do it when: the eastern ranges will be busy, or the weather in the hills looks marginal — it is often drier out here.

4. Full day — the Strzeleckis

South-east, past Warragul and into the dairy country. Rolling ranges, tight paved lanes, spectacular green in spring, and almost nobody on them.

There is no famous road here, which is precisely why it is good. The network of back roads around Mirboo North, Boolarra and the ranges behind Korumburra will keep you occupied all day, and you can drop down to the coast at Inverloch for lunch.

Do it when: you want a full day of riding without the tourist traffic, or when you want somewhere new. Most Melbourne riders have never properly explored this area.

5. Full day — the Otways, not the Great Ocean Road

The honest version of the coastal ride. Out through Geelong, down to Lorne early, then turn inland — Forrest, Beech Forest, Lavers Hill — and ride the forest roads that carry a fraction of the traffic of the coast.

Come back along the coast if you want the postcard, or inland again if you want the ride.

Timing: the Great Ocean Road is genuinely unpleasant midday at weekends and in holiday season. If you must ride it, ride it before nine.

Distance: this is a proper full day. Leave early and plan fuel.

6. Full day, or better as a weekend — the Alpine foothills

North-east, toward Mansfield, over to Whitfield and the King Valley, and back through the Strathbogies or the Hume if you are out of time.

The Mansfield–Whitfield road over the tops is one of the best in the state, and the King Valley beyond it is a lovely place to have lunch.

Honestly, this direction deserves a weekend rather than a day. Push on to Bright and you are into the alpine roads, which are the best riding in Victoria and wasted on a rush.

Making any of them better

Leave at seven. Repeated because it is the single highest-impact change available to a Melbourne rider. The roads are different roads early.

Ride them as loops. Same hours, twice the road, and the return leg stays interesting.

Watch the weather by elevation. A pleasant morning in the city can be cold and wet at the top of the Reefton. Carry a layer.

Wildlife at dawn and dusk in every one of these areas. The forest roads are worse than they look.

Plan the fuel on the Otways and Alpine options — both have gaps and rural hours.

Then stop riding the same six

Every Melbourne rider ends up with a short list like this one, and after a couple of seasons the list is the problem: you know the roads, you know the corners, and the Sunday morning question has the same four answers.

The fix is not a better list. It is a route that deliberately avoids what you have already ridden — record your rides, let your map fill in, then ask for something new. Or use Surprise Me, give it three hours from your front door, and let it find you a loop through roads you have somehow never turned onto.

There is a startling amount of good, empty, paved road within 90 minutes of Melbourne that is not on anybody’s list. That is where the next few years of Sundays are.