training in the Sydney area

canadiancyclist said:

Does anyone know what the training/riding is like in the sydney area. I am a canadian racer and race with the canadian national team and domestically with a div 3 pro team. I have family in the Sydney area-Avalon Beach, and am thinking of heading over for some warm weather training as canadian winters can be quite harsh. Any info on this would be great.

There are some nice routes through the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, both from the Mona Vale (near Avalon) end and, also from the Hornsby end. Akuna Bay is part of the park, and the road through there is rolling hills and spectacular scenery, generally quiet road as well which is a real bonus.

Check the Turramurra Cyclery web site for some ride routes: http://www.turramurracyclery.com.au/default.asp?page=ride&ida=ride

62vette said:

There are some nice routes through the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, both from the Mona Vale (near Avalon) end and, also from the Hornsby end. Akuna Bay is part of the park, and the road through there is rolling hills and spectacular scenery, generally quiet road as well which is a real bonus.

Check the Turramurra Cyclery web site for some ride routes: http://www.turramurracyclery.com.au/default.asp?page=ride&ida=ride

The peninsula is a pretty dodgy place to ride. Barenjoey Road is just plain dangerous with the number of [censored] drivers that use it.
However if you can get out of the place then it's not too bad. Any roads in the National parks are generally nice since normal traffic has to pay to get in (but cyclists don't). As well as the affore mentioned Akuna Bay there is West Head (Rolling hills becomes bloody hard in a race), Bobbin Head (couple of nice climbs about 4km), Galston Gorge, Berowra waters, Brooklyn. A long one could be Bobbin Head then Galston Gorge and out to Northern Road and on to Wiseman's Ferry, the 30km along Northern Rd to Wisemans is [censored] with a lot of holes and trucks doing 90km/h but after the Ferry crossing it's all good scenic road up to Peats Ridge and then back along the Old Pacific Hwy. Should be at least 200km for that one.

If you preffer the safety (or maybe that should be peril) of riding in a bunch you could try the fabled Colluzi bunch which heads south out of King's Cross at 6:15 Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and 8:00 on Sunday. At some point on the route the bunch ends up racing (not always safely either) but it's good training and good fun. Of course to get to King's Cross by 6:15am you'd need to leave Avalon bloody early. It takes at least half an hour for me from Roseville at that time of morning and even then I'm pushing it to get there on time.