Awesome Adelaide Gravel Rides

The Adelaide Gravel community is growing daily as riders look to mix up their road riding with some adventure style rides that take them off the beaten path. These rides are a combination of gravel roads and conservation park tracks that include some wonderful climbs and great places to take a photo along the way. With this type of riding, it’s always best to head out with a buddy, have good directions with you and be sure your riding a bike that’s up to the challenge – these are definitely gravel/mountain bikes only!

Ride for a reason Cleland gravel

Heading out from the home of Cancer Council SA, this ride takes you up Greenhill Road and detours through the side streets to link up to Waterfall Gully Road. The gravel begins as you head into Cleland and up the Winter Track, before turning onto Long Ridge Track which gives some great views out over the conservation park and city. The jewel of Cleland gravel riding, the ‘Wine Shanty Trail’ is up next which takes you meandering through the tall timber before crossing over Mount Lofty Summit Road and down Sprig Road. Make your way along Piccadilly Road and jump onto Collins Road and onto Debneys before a decent of Norton Summit Road. The ride finishes at the High Street Kensington Café which is a great spot for a post ride coffee.

GPX download: Gravel Ride RFAR Map

Steub Sunset chaser

This ride and description has been kindly provided by James Raison from the www.lavelocita.cc team.

I love riding this route all year round starting a little over an hour before sunset so I can have a total blast and then hang out on Mt Osmond and watch the sun go down. It’s a truly fantastic experience. Sure, you can ride it at any time of day but c’mon SUNSETS! I’ve given it a 2020 makeover too with a trail so new that it doesn’t exist on any maps. For that reason you need to be watchful when you load this into a GPS because it can freak them out. You can see it closely when you zoom in because I had to draw it manually.

Scoot off Waterfall Gully Road and bounce your way up the Chambers Gully/Bartrill Spur Track. It’s got some fun, steep, and moderately rugged sections along the trail before widening out for some fantastic gravel. You’ll gradually work your way up the eastern face of Mt Lofty. The new Steub Trail is a blast with well-cured gravel, tight switchbacks, and some great views. Once you hit the top, you’ll work around the face of Mt Lofty. There’s some banger descending, be sure to mind your speed going down, that take you to the cured grey gravel of Spa Track surrounded by ferns that brush your legs. Spa track gets you out onto the Old Freeway bike path to roll you down to the Old Bullock Track for some zesty descending.

You’ll wind up at one of Adelaide’s best views atop Mt Osmond. It’s a wonderful spot. Drink in the view before taking the Pioneer Women’s Trail down and back to tarmac of Waterfall Gully Road. Be mindful that it’s a shared walking trail with plenty of people and doggos about.

GPX download: Steub Sunset chaser

Norton to Belair with golden gravel in-between

At 60 kms and 1200m of climbing, this ride picks up some great gravel and some hidden gems on the hills. Starting and finishing at the High Street Kensington Café, the ride kicks off with a climb up to Norton Summit and a combination of paved and gravel roads taking you through to Gully Road. Gully Road, as the name suggests, is set in a Gully so depending on the time of year you’ll head past a bunch of dams while traveling on this beautiful road. From there, it’s a wind through the backstreets of Stirling and Aldgate on the Way to Evans Road which boarders the fantastic Sir Mark Oliphant Reserve. You’ll then head over to Belair National Park and a lovely decent awaits you as you head towards Belair. You’ll drop back into the city via the Lynton Bike Path and you’ve had a great loop of the hills with some lovely, non-technical gravel riding under your belt.

GPX download: Norton to Belair with golden gravel in-between

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