Any recommendations for cycling from Sydney's Northwest into the city

Hi,

I live in the Cherrybrook area and was wondering if there was a recommended route to cycle into the City? I am considering riding to work once a week but the traffic scares me a bit. The M2 is OK until Lane Cove and then it is probably suicidal to attempt Epping Rd after that. My destination in the city is Hickson Rd near King St Wharf.

Any advice/suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks.

 

Hi Snup_pup,

I ride from Pymble to the city to Kent St near Darling Harbour. My usual route is straight down the Pacific Highway. The other alternative I use is through the Lane Cove National Park and then up Fullers Road (note Fullers Rd not Millwood Ave). Fullers is a bit steep at the start but eventually tapers off to a respectable grade. Don't know which way you would take from Cherrybrook to either of these points.
The Pacific Highway is actually not as frightening in the morning as it may seem. I find most motorists are probably accustomed to cyclists and tend to give you space (weekday motorists that is. Weekend drivers going down the highway can be morons). Also, it can get relatively heavy you can almost keep apace with the traffic. Only a couple of spots to be wary of when using the Pacific Highway; Lane Cove at the intersection with Epping road and North Sydney where you have to cross two or three lanes to go straight down to Milsons Point.
I use to ride my MTB but have since switched to a road bike. I highly recommend it as it makes the going a lot easier.
Finally, check out Bikely.com; there are probably routes mapped out by someone else riding from your area.
Best of luck.

 

The opening of the epping road cycle path will provide a viable option, to bridging what many consider the missing link.

Some riders head south and pick up a bike path either north to Gladesville bridge or south of paramatta river to homebush and then thru five dock and onto lillyfield road. The two routes converge just before Anzac bridge.

If staying on the north side, as per 1id10t, check out bikely.com, as there are a number of routes thru and a couple of tricks to reduce your exposure to Fullers rd or other east/west alternatives. Note that none of them elimiate those roads entirely. Also check out Bike North for some route information and check out the links in my signature.

Cheers Michael.

 

Take at look at this.

Note: I've created this myself using a combination of (mostly) riding it with my GPS and drawing it (cheated on some routes) bikely style. Therefore, it is not comprehensive. I know there are many routes that you could use that aren't there yet, I just haven't done them yet since getting my GPS.

Also, I don't doi a lot of riding up your way.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~sratcliff/city2art.html

Anyway, having said that, I would suggest that you get to the M2 (Boundary and Beecroft Roads if you're confident in traffic otherwise use the back routes that are drawn on the map - but they are hillier and you'll need to use Beecroft Road to get on the M2 at the last bit from Cheltenham Stn) then use Mobray Road. It is a long climb but far les stressful than going up Epping Road.

At the top, you can (as suggested above) go down the Hwy or us the map to find the bikeways via Artarmon.

Good luck

Scotty

PS - Don't count on the Epping Road Cycleway being built. Roosendaal wants to axe it. Please help us fight for it.

For info - goto http://bikenorth.org.au/webnews.php

 

Thanks for all the info guys, it has been most helpful. Might go for an exploratory ride one weekend to see how feasible it is to ride into the city.

Do you ever get the feeling that cyclists are not part of the road design equation in Sydney?

 

Cycling facilities are better on the south side than the north side. However routes do exist on the north side, but tend to be complex and need to be learned. A lot of north side riders (including me when working in Chatswood) just ride up the highway

 

True. I use to take some back streets which run parallel to the railway line most of the way to St Leonards and then down the highway from there. Nowadays I just find the highway quicker and just as safe/dangerous as the back streets. As Scotty says, don't count on the Epping Rd link being built. I was looking forward to this and followed it's construction with interest...until reports came out indicating it would be axed.
Doing the ride on a weekend is a very good idea. It gives you a better understanding of what to expect. I did this when I first moved to Pymble. Tried a few different routes. It's easy enough to look it up on whereis or even Google Earth but it's not the same as riding it.