Carriage Drive on The Domain

This is the first post of a series on some of the great road cycling climbs around Hobart. You can be notified of new posts in the series by following me on Twitter.  I have ordered these climbs according to my own preference.  No doubt you’ll disagree with me: just tell me in the comments!  I hope this will inspire you to go and ride these climbs 🙂

Onto the climb!  The Domain is a great little climb within 5 minutes ride of the city centre. My friends and I use it for doing repeats. The climb starts at the bottom of Carriage Drive, a smooth little one way road that winds its way up the Domain. Be aware that the road becomes two-way half way up the climb.  Initially a gentle gradient, the climb lures you into a pace of up to or even over 30 km/h, until you round a bend half way up and the gradient triples! This is guaranteed to pour that lactate pain in as you drop through the gears.

But immediately after the steep pinch, the road levels out for a couple hundred metres, where no doubt you’ll work hard to put the pace back on again. On reaching a 4 way intersection, turn right (don’t forget traffic in your pain-induced haze), and follow the curves in the second half of the climb around to the summit of the hill. Keep following the road straight round the circle at the top, and back down the hill, then roll round to the bottom of Carriage Drive to do it all again!

See if you can fit in 5 repeats in a lunch break!  Coming up in my next post, a climb that zigs and zags…

Your climb starts here

Continuing up the hill

Governor’s digs on your right

Watch for traffic as you fly through this intersection

Round past the sports grounds

Turn right here

Road surface is a bit rougher now

Almost there!

The top of the climb

Other posts in this series:

• #9: Nelson Rd
• #8: Longley – Neika
• #7: Mt Rumney
• #6: Strickland Ave
• #5: Grasstree Hill
• #4: Collinsvale Rd
• #3: Bonnet Hill
• #2: Waterworks
• #1: Mt Wellington (from Fern Tree)