Looking at the Greater Sydney BikeTrail one day last week and it dawned on me that you could add train segments to the ride to reduce the overall distance. So I woke up one morning and thought, lets just forget all the maths and plans and start riding. It was hot so I knew I could only do a modest mornings ride. I started riding at Centennial Park and knew that Wolli Creek would be the start of my first train segment. The train heads to Sutherland which is near the first mandatory turning point on the Greater Sydney biketrail.
I disembarked and rode down to the fabulous Woronora Bridge where a wonderful path beckons cyclists under the huge busy bridge. From there it was shared paths all the way to Padstow Heights. It was stinking hot, I had coffee and a sandwich and headed to Revesby Station. At this point I could have continued around Sydney. I use an eBike and I had barely used a 1/4 of the 500wHour battery. I returned to my start point at Centennial Park. My journey had begun.
That night I committed to the full ride, I found an express train that went from Green Square to Edmonsons Park via Revesby. I boarded it at 6:20 and arrived Edmonsons Park at 7am. There was no one on the train. Now I had to ride up the M7 and as the heat was due to hit at at 11, I was glad I started early. I made my way 45km up the M7 and up to Bella Vista. Its a pretty decent slog with solid hills including Sugar Loaf Ridge, a go around point on the Sydney lap. Breakfast at Bella Vista and then I jumped on the Metro all the way to Macquarie Park. If you haven’t been on the Metro trains, they are sensational and terrific for bicycles.
At Macquarie Park, I rolled up to the blue Lachlans Line Bridge. You can also go through Lane Cove National Park and climb up the easier Plassey Entry Rd to see this bridge. To finish off the ride you head to Milsons Point (or North Sydney). Arriving at Milsons Point is so good, I highly recommend going clockwise around the city just for this pleasure. Then its over the Coat Hanger and make your way up to Centennial Park, the final go around marker.
Join this Facebook group, make a pledge and and ask others how they rode around Sydney. You can ask questions and review answers in the group. Read what Bicycle NSW said about the challenge here
Below is the map that contains a variety of different options to go around Sydney. Check the map out here in Google My Maps >>
Here are the rules for going around Sydney. Go around the four yellow markers in the map above. End of rules. You can do this using trains as long as your bike accompanies you. Here are the markers in more detail.
Use the legend in the map, there are a lot of rides on the map that are hidden to make it simpler. People tend to ride it different way because of what they know, what the sort of bike they are riding. One day there will be a fully supported decent trail around Sydney, for now its a big explore. This was my third time around the city, my first ride of 220km included a train from Cronulla to Sutherland. My second was 150km and was close to the shortest way around the four markers. Read more on The Greater Sydney bike trail here >>
Here is the video of the Ride and Train journey
Here are all the Greater Sydney bike trail videos in a YouTube play list.