In the meantime we are still riding socially, and everyone is welcome to join us:

• 9am Sundays
• 9.30am Tuesdays

Meeting points vary, so contact Sally for details.

Happy Silly Season

Discover the pleasures of riding in Wollondilly

Alan, Maddi, Sally, John, Gina, Scott and Hugh

We  tried to avoid the very early train ride from Wollongong by driving to Heathcote, arriving just on 8.am, we had our group photo taken and then joined the queue to start the ride.

Wrong! There were such huge numbers riding this year, that the police thought the roads were too congested and delayed the Heathcote start by an hour. We eventually started at 9.30am.

Heathcote start, a long wait!

Gary, Madison and Alan waiting.

Once we were away, things went reasonably smoothly, and the ride down into the National Park was, as usual absolutely beautiful, if a little scary.

Once down the hill, the ride along to Cedar Flats, the official lunch stop is delightful. This year a team of Superheros rode “superhero bikes” and could be seen well above the crowd.

Superhero on a Superbike!

However this did leave the superheros open to attack from above….

Magpie repellent is very impotant  if you are head and shoulders above the crowd!
Superhero or not!!

At Cedar flats we amazingly ran into Caroline, Jim and Richard, who rode with us last year as well as Cameron, a friend of Hugie’s.

A rest stop after the long climb up to Stanwell Tops gives a photo opportunity with BARBUG  and a view down to The Sea-Cliff Bridge

The ride down to Coal cliff and across the Sea-cliff bridge is steep both up and down.

Official photographers from Top Shots Photography took photos as we crossed the Sea-Cliff bridge and again at Sandon Point. The photos were very good, but unfortunately SO expensive at $49.00 for each digital shot, that this year I again declined to buy. I’m sure if they sell photos at a smaller dpi, at a reasonable price (like sport-pix.com) they would sell many more photos. With 14,000 people riding, that has got to be profitable!

Once we were on the bike paths on the Coast of  Northern Wollongong we knew we were nearing the end, although the last few kilometres always seem very long!

The Duck at Thirroul

After finishing we had a beer and sausage sandwich at the Surf-Life club. John caught the train back to Heathcote to get the van. Unfortunately he just missed one and had to wait an hour. The train he caught did not stop at Heathcote, so he got off at Waterfall and rode to Heathcote. We were finally picked up back in Wollongong at 5.30pm
A lesson learned - we will not try to buck the system again, but will go with the trains from Wollongong!

It was a great day, with the weather staying cool and very little wind.

Already MS has reached the target of 1.7 million dollars.

Congratulations to everyone, the organisers, ESPECIALLY all the friendly volunteers, and all those who raised so much money for a wonderful cause!

This year we started from Liverpool(Warwick Farm). What a difference that made for us getting to the start! Much less hassle!

About 250 people started here, and the 20km ride to Homebush was mostly on bike paths and rail trails, through Villawood and Marylands.

Liverpool Start

We rode 10 km around Olympic Park before the finish.

Overlooking Olympic Park

The official photographers were at Bkaxland Riverside Park. These photo downloads were an affordable $9.00 each from Sports-Pix.com

Alan

Hugh

Sal and John

The ride officially finished at the Cauldren, and as the day warmed up, it was used by many as a gigantic shower, a great way to cool down!

Cooling down in the Cauldren, the Spring Cycle festivities are behind.

After enjoying a beer, lunch and checking out the stalls, we rode back to Warwick Farm which gave us a good 50km on a day which turned out to be very hot!!

It was a glorious morning for a ride, beautiful sunshine, and not too warm.

We met at Victoria Park Bowral ,near the swimming pool, and headed via the bike paths, towards East Bowral.
The path follows a small creek which is home to many families of Wood Ducks. One male was very protective of his large brood and chased the bikes away!

Large families of Wood Ducks live by the creek

After winding our way (getting only a little lost) through back roads and paths John eded up making a friend!

John and Wombat Friend

From here we headed down, passing magnuficent gardens, to the cyclepath that runs between Bowral and Moss Vale. We rode almost to Moss Vale before returning to Bowral

Cyclepath between Moss Vale and Bowral

On returning to Bowral, we enjoyed the gardens of Burradoo before heading back toward the centre of Bowral, the Bradman Museum coffee and cake (yum). A game of cricket was in progress and people were taking in the old-world charm.

Going back in time - A carriage ride and a Peddarson bike

Tulips were still looking fantastic in Corbett gardens in the centre of Bowral.

Matt, with his Peddarson, looked the part in Corbett Gardens