Another visitor (Swede) cycling Sydney - Melbourne in January.

[Kalle L]

So I´m planning to ride Sydney - Melbourne starting Monday 8/1 and I would appreciate very mucho some feed back on my ideas and planned route. I will ride a road bike with Conti 4 Season tires so I don´t mind a bit of gravel. Aiming for average 150k per day.


https://www.strava.com/routes/11380335

After Robertson many suggest heading for Bundanoon and Marulan and Canberra, but I consider going by Bomaderry, Nerriga, Braidwood and then head for Cooma. I´m not interested in Canberra this time. Good or bad? How is Bomaderry?

After Jindabyne, is Alpine Way or Barry Way recommended?

Since I am also riding the Audax Alpine Classic in the Alpine National Park and will be staying in Bright for a few days I rather head south for Bairnsdale to finish on the flat before heading north towards Melbourne. Good or bad? I have read there is some nice rail trails there.

I can´t wait to get going!

Cheers
//Kalle

[Warin]

January = hot. With the possibility of bush fires.
Bring your hot weather clothing.. Today is 40 C in Sydney. Jan can be warmer.

Bomaderry small town - bigger than Robertson. Robertson has a good pie shop.
Nerriga ... pub and not much else.
Braidwood - larger town has a few pubs and grocery shops.

Alpine Way = tar.
Barry Way = dirt. Barry Way is longer between shops, more authorised camping spots but harder work. A fair portion of it is beside a river .. and you can bath in that to cool off. You can find water spots along the Alpine Way too, but not as frequent. Both go up and down, it is 'the mountains' after all.

You can judge an Australian town by the number of pubs, less than 3 and your safe .. you can leave the bike on the main street and things will be ok, 3 or more and you will want to lock things up. If you want information in a less than 3 place - ask in a pub.

[Mugglechops]

I would go Sydney-Wollongong-Berry-Bomaderry/Nowra-Nerriga-Braidwood-Cooma-Jindabyne.

If you go through the Royal National Park from Sydney, once you hit Thirroul you can ride 60kms on bikepaths to Kiama then the hwy from Kiama to Berry has a good shoulder as it's all new. From Berry you go the back way to Shoalhaven Heads then into Bomaderry/Nowra as there are roadworks from Berry into Nowra. I live in Nowra.

I rode the road from Nerriga to Cooma 2 weeks ago https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2357628500 https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2357628520 and it had just been graded. And also the road from Braidwood to Nowra https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2357628571 was also in good condition.

You could always go from Cooma to Kiandra then Cabramurra to Corryong then over to Whitfield followed by Mansfield and into Melbourne all on tar.

[Kalle L]

Big thanks Warin and Muggleshops!

Love the info!

I guess I can make the decision Alpine Way or Barry Way when in Jindabyne, depending the shape of my legs.

Can´t wait to get going!

[trailgumby]

Some tips on hot weather riding from my blog in the link. It is primarily centred around recreational rather than touring cyclists, but the key info is still relevant. You can fry pretty quickly from the UV in the middle of the day in January, so getting as much of your daily distance as possible done in the mornings is recommended.

http://www.simplycyclingtraining.com/ri ... ng-summer/