North Ryde to Clovelly

[davidf140270]

We're spending quite a bit of time in Syd this Dec-Jan and will be staying at North Ryde. My mother in law lives at Clovelly and we will be visiting her a few times during this period. I would like to ride over there to keep my training up but as we come from the ACT where we are blessed with stand alone bike paths or pretty wide bike lanes adjoining roads so I would like to get there with as little interaction as possible with Sydney motorists.

Any suggestions or links welcome.

[queequeg]

We're spending quite a bit of time in Syd this Dec-Jan and will be staying at North Ryde. My mother in law lives at Clovelly and we will be visiting her a few times during this period. I would like to ride over there to keep my training up but as we come from the ACT where we are blessed with stand alone bike paths or pretty wide bike lanes adjoining roads so I would like to get there with as little interaction as possible with Sydney motorists.

Any suggestions or links welcome.

Where in North Ryde are you? You can pretty much get all the way to the CBD with minimal use of busy roads. There is a cyclepath all the way from North Ryde to the back of Nth Sydney (along Epping Rd), so if you are close to that then you are in a good position.
Getting through the CBD to Clovelly is going to require the use of roads. As much as they have been busy with bike paths, they are not continuous, but you'll be able to string something together using bus lanes, cycle paths, then cutting through Centennial Park.

[davidf140270]

We're spending quite a bit of time in Syd this Dec-Jan and will be staying at North Ryde. My mother in law lives at Clovelly and we will be visiting her a few times during this period. I would like to ride over there to keep my training up but as we come from the ACT where we are blessed with stand alone bike paths or pretty wide bike lanes adjoining roads so I would like to get there with as little interaction as possible with Sydney motorists.

Any suggestions or links welcome.

Where in North Ryde are you? You can pretty much get all the way to the CBD with minimal use of busy roads. There is a cyclepath all the way from North Ryde to the back of Nth Sydney (along Epping Rd), so if you are close to that then you are in a good position.
Getting through the CBD to Clovelly is going to require the use of roads. As much as they have been busy with bike paths, they are not continuous, but you'll be able to string something together using bus lanes, cycle paths, then cutting through Centennial Park.

I'm very close to Epping rd, can hear it from the house so thats great. I used to ride from Pt Botany into the Cross a long time ago so that should be cool. Am a bit worried about getting onto the Hbr Bridge bike lane though, have never done that.

[wombatK]

I'm very close to Epping rd, can hear it from the house so thats great. I used to ride from Pt Botany into the Cross a long time ago so that should be cool. Am a bit worried about getting onto the Hbr Bridge bike lane though, have never done that.

Have you tried http://www.ridethecity.com/sydney#2444974 ? Choosing the "safer route" option usually works to
find the most off-road cycleways or shared paths.

Harbour Bridge bike cycleway is on the western side of the bridge - and has steps at the northern end. Some
super riders can ride up or down it (via a ramp in the center of the steps), but it's not for the
feint-hearted and your timing has to be spot-on to avoid catching the pedal on the landing edges.

Cheers

[queequeg]

We're spending quite a bit of time in Syd this Dec-Jan and will be staying at North Ryde. My mother in law lives at Clovelly and we will be visiting her a few times during this period. I would like to ride over there to keep my training up but as we come from the ACT where we are blessed with stand alone bike paths or pretty wide bike lanes adjoining roads so I would like to get there with as little interaction as possible with Sydney motorists.

Any suggestions or links welcome.

Where in North Ryde are you? You can pretty much get all the way to the CBD with minimal use of busy roads. There is a cyclepath all the way from North Ryde to the back of Nth Sydney (along Epping Rd), so if you are close to that then you are in a good position.
Getting through the CBD to Clovelly is going to require the use of roads. As much as they have been busy with bike paths, they are not continuous, but you'll be able to string something together using bus lanes, cycle paths, then cutting through Centennial Park.

I'm very close to Epping rd, can hear it from the house so thats great. I used to ride from Pt Botany into the Cross a long time ago so that should be cool. Am a bit worried about getting onto the Hbr Bridge bike lane though, have never done that.

Hi,

You should be able to pick up this route in North Ryde. It will take you all the way over the Harbour Bridge. This route uses all the quiet back streets and avoids the freeway, though you will need to use Miller St through Nth Sydney. This is the only road I would consider "busy". It really does depend on the time of day.
The route above uses the M2 as it was my old commute route before the M2 was closed for the upgrade works. However, the Epping Rd bike path starts near Lane Cove Rd, so from where you are simply head to Epping Rd and joint the path and head towards Lane Cove. The route above has a Cue Sheet that I put together, so feel free to use that if the map itself is a little unclear.

[davidf140270]

Thanks everyone,

[george-bob]

if you are after a longer ride you could go south to rhodes and pick up the bay to bay cycleway there, it is enitrely off road/very quiet streets all the way to alexandria. it is certainly the long way round, but quite a nice ride.

[davidf140270]

Wish the harbour bridge was better signposted. Could not find the bike path onto the bridge from Nth Syd, went down a road to Lavender Bay while looking for a signpost and not paying enough attention hit a speed bump which threw me off bike f*#%ng my shoulder in the process. Not trying to deflect blame, completely my fault. A big thank you to the family who helped me by calling the ambulance and taking my bike into their home while I was in hospital.

[wombatK]

Seriously ugly bad luck David. Hope you heal quick and have a better New Year.

Signposting on Sydney cycling routes - yeah that's seriously ugly too. You wouldn't be the first
to have trouble finding the Harbour Bridge steps - I had similar trouble first time I approached
from the North.

Cheers

[queequeg]

Wish the harbour bridge was better signposted. Could not find the bike path onto the bridge from Nth Syd, went down a road to Lavender Bay while looking for a signpost and not paying enough attention hit a speed bump which threw me off bike f*#%ng my shoulder in the process. Not trying to deflect blame, completely my fault. A big thank you to the family who helped me by calling the ambulance and taking my bike into their home while I was in hospital.

That is terrible! Not sure which road you were on, but I know the ones on Lavender Bay Rd are a split design that have resulted in a few cyclists needing an ambulance.
The route to the bridge is signposted, but easy to miss as the official route takes a short shared path to cut through to some backstreets. The GPS route I posted previously has the exact route, but you can bypass it and use Lavender Bay Rd with the speed bumps. There is no time difference between the two routes.

hope you heal quickly!

[davidf140270]

Wish the harbour bridge was better signposted. Could not find the bike path onto the bridge from Nth Syd, went down a road to Lavender Bay while looking for a signpost and not paying enough attention hit a speed bump which threw me off bike f*#%ng my shoulder in the process. Not trying to deflect blame, completely my fault. A big thank you to the family who helped me by calling the ambulance and taking my bike into their home while I was in hospital.

That is terrible! Not sure which road you were on, but I know the ones on Lavender Bay Rd are a split design that have resulted in a few cyclists needing an ambulance.
The route to the bridge is signposted, but easy to miss as the official route takes a short shared path to cut through to some backstreets. The GPS route I posted previously has the exact route, but you can bypass it and use Lavender Bay Rd with the speed bumps. There is no time difference between the two routes.

hope you heal quickly!

Thanks. They were the ones. When we went back the day after I couldn't believe how small they were. Lesson learned I guess. And I did see the path to the bridge the day after but it's a definitely a blink and miss job.

[queequeg]

Wish the harbour bridge was better signposted. Could not find the bike path onto the bridge from Nth Syd, went down a road to Lavender Bay while looking for a signpost and not paying enough attention hit a speed bump which threw me off bike f*#%ng my shoulder in the process. Not trying to deflect blame, completely my fault. A big thank you to the family who helped me by calling the ambulance and taking my bike into their home while I was in hospital.

That is terrible! Not sure which road you were on, but I know the ones on Lavender Bay Rd are a split design that have resulted in a few cyclists needing an ambulance.
The route to the bridge is signposted, but easy to miss as the official route takes a short shared path to cut through to some backstreets. The GPS route I posted previously has the exact route, but you can bypass it and use Lavender Bay Rd with the speed bumps. There is no time difference between the two routes.

hope you heal quickly!

Thanks. They were the ones. When we went back the day after I couldn't believe how small they were. Lesson learned I guess. And I did see the path to the bridge the day after but it's a definitely a blink and miss job.

Yep, these have caused issues before...

http://www.sydneycyclist.com/forum/topics/speed-bump-blues

and

http://www.sydneycyclist.com/forum/topics/looking-for-cycling-accident

Apparently bicycle accidents here are a common event. Perhaps Nth Sydney Council needs to pay more attention, or someone needs to raise it with their public liability insurer.

[davidf140270]

Looks like I'm not the only one then. Was an issue back in 2009