Visiting Sydney

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Hey guys I am planning on a trip to Sydney arriving 24/07/04 departing 11/08/04 visiting from Charlotte, North Carolina.

I just thought of shipping my bike ahead of me so I have something to get around on other than the rail & bus system.

I'm more of a off-road trail rider. I own a Specialized Hardrock Pro, I'm no pro, but I enjoy a good exercise. Can you guys guide me to a website that lists area trails?

And how does the rail & bus system handle bike riders? In Charlotte they have a bike rack on the front where you can store it as you ride. Is there something available like that in Sydney?

I'm not really sure if I'm going to bring it or not, it will create some what of a hassle and I don't know if it will be worth it. I bet I'll be able to make my decision after I hear from you guys.

Thanks in advance!

Originally posted by chewd0g
Hey guys I am planning on a trip to Sydney arriving 24/07/04 departing 11/08/04 visiting from Charlotte, North Carolina.

I just thought of shipping my bike ahead of me so I have something to get around on other than the rail & bus system.

I'm more of a off-road trail rider. I own a Specialized Hardrock Pro, I'm no pro, but I enjoy a good exercise. Can you guys guide me to a website that lists area trails?

And how does the rail & bus system handle bike riders? In Charlotte they have a bike rack on the front where you can store it as you ride. Is there something available like that in Sydney?

I'm not really sure if I'm going to bring it or not, it will create some what of a hassle and I don't know if it will be worth it. I bet I'll be able to make my decision after I hear from you guys.

Thanks in advance!

Sydney, As one of my mates is always telling me, is situated in a formerly flooded river valley. There are therefore plenty of places around the metropolitan area where it is difficult to build. So there are plenty of park lands and national parks where mountainbiking is done. However the multitude of these places makes any one of them rather hard to research unless you are prepared to do a lot of searching and trial and error.
Places like Manly Dam and other areas aroud the northern beaches are pretty good and not too challenging. There is also the Royal Natinal Park which offers a multitude of tracks of varying types. many of the local MTB heros go riding through there.
This is all very easy for me to say because I have lived in Sydney since I was born and I know how to get around. It is much more difficult for a visitor because if you want to go MTBing you've got to have excellent directions (and I mean excellent) and an excellent map to find exactly where you need to go.
Outside of peak times (10am -3pm) bikes can be taken on trains for free, but there is no facility for taking bikes on buses and this would be frowned upon. Unfortunately public transport here is absolutely crap.
So weighing all this up, if you're not absolutely needing to ride (if you need to train for something) then I wouldn't be taking the bike anywhere just for a couple of weeks. A bush walk can be a nice relaxing substitute. Bushland areas will be easier to get to if you're not carrying a bike with you.

If you're still really keen than you could try serching for FAT HIPPY on Google or something. I think he's got a few ideas of places to ride.

Try posting the same message in the BikeCafe/aus.bycicle forum.

http://www.cyclingforums.com/f67

There's a lot of helpful Auzzies there although most of them seem to be from Melbourne ( I could be wrong so don't shoot me Sydney-ites)

Try http://26inches.com/26inches/forum/display_forum_topics.asp?ForumID=2or http://members.iinet.net.au/~fathers/mtb.htm