The Barossa Valley is located in South Australia, some 60 kilometres / 37 miles northeast of Adelaide’s city center, the birthplace of yours truly. The Barossa Valley is notable as a major wine-producing region of Australia and tourist destination. Within the valley are the towns of Nuriootpa, Tanunda, Rowland Flat, Lyndoch and Lyndoch. Not so well known is the valley’s network of sparsely populated dirt and gravel roads, surrounded by farmland and vineyards. Without a doubt, one of my favourite places to ride in South Australia.
My last true gravel ride through the Barossa Valley was sometime in 2014. The passing of three years is a decent amount of time, so among the final days of 2017, I thought it fitting to organize a fun, invitational group ride that traversed much of my 2014 route. I extended an open invitation to Adelaide’s gravel cycling community, and was pleased that eight riders showed at ride start. Considering the holiday period sees a lot of people leave town to visit family and relatives, it was four more riders than I expected.
The Barossa Valley Gravel Grind in Photos
There will be a video from this ride a little later… watch this space. Please subscribe to the Gravel Cyclist Youtube channel if you haven’t already.
Thanks for reading!
JOM
Thanks for the pictures. Is there much wind this time of year there?
Yes, it can get a tad windy here at times.
Some of those desolate photos remind me of DK206
but without the hill generator giant.
Enjoy the heat…it’s supposed to be hailing here tonight.
K-Dogg
I don’t understand why people draw a comparison between this landscape and Kansas. Absolutely nothing like Kansas.
Hi Jayson,
Belated happy New Year!
Any thoughts on doing a ride up the Mawson Trail while you’re back home?
https://www.southaustraliantrails.com/trails/mawson-trail/
Thanks Ian!
I rode a very small section of the Heysen Trail the other day while in Burra, but the Mawson won’t be happening this trip. This is probably the wrong time of year to attempt the ride. At the time of writing, it’s 40C… definitely way too hot to be out and about with little to no support!
Yep – agree re weather at this time of year. I was thinking more of a short investigative ride to “suss it out”.
Enjoying your posts and videos immensely – keep up the good work.
Best regards,
Ian
Thank you Ian. I have a lot more to come. Much of the video I am shooting may appear late January / early February after I have returned to the US of A. Trying to enjoy a bit of holiday time while I’m in the homeland.