Macedon / Romsey GravelEast of macEdon (Tantaraboo) for 2024

Originally Macedon / Romsey gravel route – local legend Marty Grannas has updated this route for us with better roads and an all round better time. Thanks Marty! You can participate in Marty’s Audax rides throughout the year in the Macedon area.

Original story:
Cold, wet and wintery, yet unperturbed I set out for this gravel loop that I found on Ride With GPS, designed by the lovely NicZ who is a fantastic ride architect and this route is no exception.

Quite a lengthy climb out of the blocks passed the Macedon Pony Club will get your blood pumping before you find yourself submerged in mossy forest and settling in to some clean gravel roads albeit a tiny bit lumpy with some light corrugations small embedded rocks.

The ride finds a balance between deep forest and rolling countryside with a 50/50 blend of gravel and tarmac.
If the wind is up as it was with me me, you’ll find yourself battling against a headwind as the route sneaks in and out of different direction.

Romsey and in particular “The Romsey Bakery” make for a fantastic rest stop at precisely the half way mark before the course takes a turn through the countryside and onto roads that are a little more susceptible to muddy conditions.
It had been a particularly wet couple of weeks and a very wet day, so muddy conditions were to be expected and to be fair, effected areas were brief and still 95% rideable.

Perhaps the second half of this course was to be quite scenic but due to heavy cloud cover it was hard to see much at all.
I would very much like to revisit this route in fairer weather to see what else it has to offer.

A short stint of heavily forested single track that would be more favourable in drier conditions followed towards the late stages of the ride before taking in again some smooth gravel and rolling back into Macedon.

A beautiful ride that offers extremely rideable gravel roads that aren’t always perfectly smooth but are perfectly safe.
Each climb has its challenges with short stints at steep gradients, however all-in-all, the ride is a fantastic option for those looking for something more mixed terrain without a huge amount of climbing.