What terrific news!

Friday, 12 August 2011

Men’s National Road Series – Goulburn to Sydney, September 18-19, 2011.

The New South Wales State Government will partner the historic 170km Goulburn to Sydney (Camden) Cycle Classic (est 1902) which will be hosted by the Macarthur Collegians Cycling Club on the 17th & 18th of September promoting the Goulburn Mulwaree, Wollondilly, Camden and Campbelltown regions to a broader Australia wide audience.
State member for Wollondilly, Jai Rowell has lobbied for $20,000 funding assistance from the Premier’s department to continue the history of this iconic sporting event that has assisted many Australian cyclists as a stepping stone to their international careers. Cycling has been receiving world-wide recognition since the victorious salute of Australian Tour de France winner Cadel Evans in Paris last month.

“New South Wales has an event that is older than the Tour de France and we have a unique opportunity to use sport to promote our towns and show off our area.

The event ambassador, Simon Poidevin has led the push to raising over $800,000 that has assisted our local charities like the Odyssey House Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre Families Programme, the Kids of Macarthur Health Foundation ,Youth Solutions and Goulburn’s Palliative Care,” Member for Wollondilly Jai Rowell said.

The race has a unique history starting in Goulburn, Australia’s first inland city and finishing in the birthplace of Australia’s wool, wine and wheat industries, the historic town of Camden.

This year a short time trial will be held at Goulburns’ Victoria Park from 11am on Saturday the 17th of September with the historic 170km classic commencing on Sunday the 18th of September at 7.45am.

The historic race departs Goulburn and follows the Hume Highway to Berrima and passes through Mittagong, Bargo, Tahmoor, Picton and the Razorback Range before finishing to a friendly Camden welcome at 11.15am.

Media enquiries: Simon Poidevin 0411 206 790 – Paul Hillbrick 0412 842 730.

Great Ride, cool weather & perfect conditions. Canyonleigh Store again provided terrific food and wonderful coffee. (Not to mention a cool beer for some). I enjoyed a very good iced coffee, strong & cold with no cream – very refreshing.

The ride passes some beautiful properties in Bundanoon + has wonderful scenery with extensive views across the Southern Highlands. We will definately put this one on again!

65km, Moderate Pace, some traffic on road (some are good quality unsealed), moderate hills

Meet 9am Bundanoon Hotel, Erith St Bundanoon

This medium ride begins with a moderate climb and a short section of rough road with a shallow causeway ( OK for road bikes ), then undulating through quiet and scenic rural roads. Stop for lunch at the Canyonleigh General Store.Return to Bundanoon via Exeter

Call to confirm – Phil: 8795 0564 or email

The return ride amazes even more as the road seems to plunge forever downward towards the Nepean Ford. You can only think to yourself, “Did I really ride all that way up?” Then, the climb back  to the entrance gates,  although it is not as hard as the ride up to Avon, on tired legs, seems to never end!

For more information go to: http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/recreation/upper-nepean-dams

John, Alan and Gina

Ford Crossing Nepean River Below Nepean Dam

How lucky we are to have these terrific riding opportunities in the Wollondilly Shire. There is something for everyone, no matter what level of fitness.

Ride leader: Sally Knyvett

Read the write up below

40 km, scenic ride (slow pace), some traffic, some (good quality) unsealed roads, moderate hills. Hybrid or mountain bikes recommended.

Meet on cnr of Old Hume Highway and Wombeyan Caves Road at 10am.

A roller-coaster ride of 3 or 4 steep, short hills gets the difficult part of this ride over early. It’s worth the effort to see the rolling countryside and vineyards of this district. To enjoy the view you may wish to walk .

Beautiful Views from Woodlands Rd

The rest of the ride is fairly easy, with spectacular scenery and bushland.

There will be a tasting and tour at picturesque Joadja winery ($3.00/head), before we ride about 10km to Bousaada Winery for lunch.  ($15 – $20 /head) Bousaada prides itself in using local produce. It is only a short ride (downhill) back to the cars from Bousaada.

We will provide a van at Joadja and Bousaada for those who wish to purchase wine or produce. (The Cuttaway Creek raspberry sauce from Bousaada is to die for!!)

The Ride

The day dawned overcast with misty rain, which put a few people off, however they needn’t have worried.  It was a lovely ride and the weather held.

A last minute change of plans because, unfortunately Bou-saada Winery is no longer open for cellar door sales.

Fortunately Blue Metal Winery stepped into the breach providing us with a wonderful wine tasting and lunch.

The ride started with a roller coaster of hills along Woodlands Rd. The rolling countryside and views over grazing properties, dairies  and vineyards made the effort more than worthwhile! We then headed towards Joadja and turned left along Greenhills Rd. Again, there are views to take your breath away with long vistas across the Southern Highlands.

Phil Gary and John on Greenhills Rd The view is spectacular!

Blue Metal Winery: www.bluemetalvineyard.com

Turning right into Compton Park Rd we headed up the hill to a wine tasting at Blue Metal Winery.  We tasted  a selection of delightful cool climate wines, all having the definitive taste of wines grown and produced in the Southern Highlands, then an early lunch of scrumptious pies (beef and guiness or lamb and rosemary) with salad and of course, a very nice bottle of red.

Great Lunch at Blue Metal Winery

After leaving Blue Metal, we rode down to Old Mandemah Rd . This is the part of the ride requiring mtn. bikes.  A few km of bush and track, in part lined with  silver eucalypts,  were a big contrast to the open vistas earlier in the ride. Alpine grasses indicated that we really were in the Southern Highlands.

Old Manemah Rd

Joadja Winery: www.joadjawinery.com.au

From Old Mandemah Rd we turned right into Joadja Rd and headed to Joadja winery for our next tasting. This beautiful winery is set in stunning grounds is always a delight. Kim Moginie, winemaker, was informative and entertaining as he described each wine to us. Among others I bought a bottle of Joadja’s famous Brambelini.

A flavoursome fruit liqueur made from grape spirit, grape juice and brambleberries. It is best served chilled with champagne, on the rocks, over fruit or with ice cream. This luscious 21% alcohol liqueur tastes of raspberries and is an absolute treat for those with a sweet tooth!

Joadja Tasting

The weather was beginning to look a bit rainy, so we quickly rode the 9km back to our cars.

I think the day went very well, the wines were wonderful and the route offered a wide variety of terrain and interest.  I look forward to riding it again. hic……

23 of us met at Ye Olde Bicycle Cafe, Bundanoon at 9.45am and set off toward Penrose soon after 10am for a 65km return ride.
Bundanoon in full autumn display, then Penrose State forest with it’s beautiful silver trunked eucalypts was a glorious start to the ride. We were diverted across the railway, due to road closure, between Penrose and Wingello. The unsealed road was smooth (no trouble for road bikes) and passed some beautiful properties.  From Wingello to Tallong the road was a little more open with views across grazing land. Long Point Rd was great fun on the inward leg with the final 100 metres to the lookout being a steep track suitable for the mountain bikers, the rest of us walked. Long Point lookout provided an inspiring view of the meandering Shoalhaven river cut deep into a gorge.

What goes down must come up, the return leg on Long Pt Rd was a little more challenging!
We stopped for a wonderful lunch at Wingello Village Store. It has a small dining area and a lovely little lounge room with an open fire.  We were made to feel very welcome (despite rearranging all their furniture) and the food and coffee were excellent, especially he scrumptious little home-made marmalade tarts! They are even planning to install some bike racks! A great way to encourage cyclists. For more info contact David Bruggeman Ph: 02 4884 4340

It was a very successful ride in a beautiful area and I think most riders had a great day.

Scarecrow in Field at Tallon

Pony on Long Point Rd

Long Point Lookout Overlooking Shoalhaven River

Long Point Lookout

Cyclists at Wingello Village Store

Jim on Matt's Pedersen

Getting Ready for the Ride

We meandered through the back streets of Mittagong before heading up Range Rd, turning at Old South Rd. Here the road goes down fairly steeply before flattening out. We rode several kilometres through farmland which looked very green after recent rain.

Phil at Alpine

Leisl at Alpine

The road undulated up to Alpine  passing  some of gorgeous homes along the way. It’s all downhill from Colo Vale, with Drapers Rd providing beautiful views across the Southern Highlands and an awesome run back to Braemar.

A light meal, coffee and a few little Easter eggs thanks to Jen at Jen’s cafe was a great way to finish our Easter ride.

Coffee at Jen's Cafe

Maddi

One of the participants, Kevin from Canberra, rode a recumbent and generously gave us all a go. He reached a scorching 77km/hr. on the decent down Old South Rd from Range Rd. Amazing what a low centre of gravity does for your confidence!

John on Kevin's Recumbent

Leisl

Gina

Liz

Jim and Kevin

Some, who were not regular riders, did fabulously well, as this ride was quite tough. I hope they have ot been put off riding  and will join us again.