Bike routes departing from Sydney?

[RoFlmaTiC]

Hi all,

I'm from Perth and doing some postgraduate studies at Sydney Uni. I'll be flying into Sydney for a week in May and October 2013 to do some intensive units and will have some days in the middle to kill.

I am planning to take my bike across and do some riding on my days off. However I have no familiarity at all with cycling in Sydney. I was thinking of maybe riding around 100-150kms on my free days and would be grateful if you have any tips on routes that I might be able to take. I will be staying in a hotel in the CBD.

I would love to do some climbing if possible as Perth doesn't offer a lot in this regard! Is it possible to ride to the blue mountains and back in a day?

I am a fairly confident rider and don't mind riding on the road with cars but would prefer cycleways (as I can stop if I get lost and consult google maps!)

Cheers
Andrew

[Reman]

City - Royal National Park
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Centennial-Waterfall-RNP-Return

Manly to City via Bobbin Head
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Manly-City-via-Church-Point-and-Bobbin-Head

[george-bob]

A really popular route is city-waterfall return: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/DHBC-Waterfall-Ride

Or do the classic 3 gorges: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/3-Gorges486584

[RoFlmaTiC]

Thanks for the suggestions, looking forward to giving them a crack next year

[goneriding]

You can do the Blue Mountains in a day - a very long day! What you could try is training it out to Penrith and then riding over to Lithgow and back (or train). Keep an eye out for Leximack's epic rides (200+ km's).

It's probably best to start with a few organised rides to find your way around and get used to Sydney traffic (which can be feral).

Have a look at bunchridefinder as there are a number of bunches in the Inner West (Dulwich Hill, Sydney Uni Velo, LACC, and others) that have various rides throughout the week and on the weekends. LACC for example have a variety of training rides at Olympic Park during the week in addition to a ride out to Bondi on Wednesdays and rides to Bobbin Head and Carlingford on Saturday. Sunday has a variety of rides heading South or North ranging from 70km's - 150+ km's.

Dulwich Hill does a regular ride to Waterfall with a monthly addition of Royal National Park.