A ride to Caulfield
Sunday, April 15th, 2012 at 01:41pm
This morning I went for a bicycle ride from home to the Caulfield campus of Monash Uni and back. At a trip distance of 10km each way (not the exact same path) I was surprised that I got there in just over 25 minutes, with the entire round trip taking just over an hour.
As I currently work at the Clayton campus, why would I ride to Caulfield? Because they will be renovating our building (yes again…) and this time they want 100 people to move to space in Caulfield for the six months the renovations will take. Although we were told late last year that they wanted to renovate the building, it was only a few weeks ago that they dropped on us a deadline of construction “starting” in June. After much discussion within our team, we finally decided to say yes to moving.
At Clayton we are not in the main campus, we are out on Blackburn Road which means that on the days I don’t ride my bike, there is free parking on the street a short walk away. At Caulfield the parking is much more limited (there is also a large railway station next to the campus) which changes my transports options to bicycle or public transport.
After extensive review of online maps and aerial imagery, today was a test and this is the path I followed:
The route is what I determined to be the most direct, while still avoiding hills and busy roads where possible. The route back is different, significantly in that I will not return via High Street Road as a big downhill would turn in to a painfull uphill stretch. Just look at the elevation profile:
Breaking the ride down it is:
- Along High Street Road taking advantage of the downhill to maintain speed
- Onto the Gardiners Creek Trail, including crossing under Warrigal Road
- Loop onto the footpath and then follow Argyll Street that parallels the railway line
- At the freeway join the western end of the Scotchmans Creek Trail to get to East Malvern Railway Station
- Through the station carpark and then out and along Waverley Road.
- Leave Waverely Road for the parallel side street of Ardrie Road
- Onto Burke Road for a short distance and cross over Princes Highway at the lights
The route home is the reverse of this until nearing Holmesglen Railway Station where I enter the station carpark and then use the pedestrian bridge over Warrigal Road where I follow the railway line until Mount Waverley Railway Station. The benefit of this change is that instead of climbing the hill up the busy High Street Road, I use a mix of off-road paths and side strees.
Variations include:
- Heading up to Mount Waverley Railway Station and following the railway line on the way in
- Keeping to the Gardiners Creek Trail and getting to East Malvern Railway Station from the other side of the freeway
- Following Gardiners Creek Trail further until Winton Road and then using side streets on the north side of Waverley Road
Of course there is one other variation that I wouldn’t plan on using, but is handy to have: using the train between East Malvern and Mount Waverley Railway Stations.
It is not yet final if we will move to Caulfield during the renovations (keeping the team together is one of our conditions), but now I know that cyling is a realistic option.
