Sydney to the Gong



Night_owl said:
Total distance 125.2Km - with a total riding time of 6 hours & 34mins. I think I'm going to a little sore tomorrow after that long day.
Trust that you didn't forget to slop some suntan lotion on... Thanks for the recon! ;)
 
sogood said:
Trust that you didn't forget to slop some suntan lotion on... Thanks for the recon! ;)
Well, I was a little naughty. I forgot to put on sunscreen this morning & as I was wearing short sleeves, my upper arms are a shade of red.
Note to self - next time wear sunscreen.:D
 
Night_owl said:
the ride out of the national park is quite achievable if you go down a few gears.
What gearing are you talking about? I don't think I had too many gears left when I went on the Waterfall ride. Pushing a bike up a hill is just plain bad form... :eek:
 
sogood said:
What gearing are you talking about? I don't think I had too many gears left when I went on the Waterfall ride. Pushing a bike up a hill is just plain bad form... :eek:
I looked up the Trek 7100 fx owners manual - this is what it says:
CRANKSET: SR XCC100 48/38/28
CASSETTE: Shimano TZ37 14-34, 7 speed
I'm not quite sure what that means exactly, all I know is that I have some decent granny gears.
I can climb most hills with that gearing, with the occasional water stop along the way.

And what's wrong with walking up hills? We all do it sometimes. When I end up walking up hills, my excuse is "I'm giving my legs a stretch";)
 
Definitely more grannies than mine, which are 52/42/30 front, 12-25 rear. :eek:

Walking up hill... Well, it's a pain with stiff soled cycling shoes. That's why. :eek:
 
I use toe clips & sneakers , not those fancy bike shoes, so walking up hills is no problem for me.
 
sogood said:
What gearing are you talking about? I don't think I had too many gears left when I went on the Waterfall ride. Pushing a bike up a hill is just plain bad form... :eek:

Especially pushing a climbing specific set of $1500 ES's, could be worse you could be wearing one of those Nike replica polka dot jerseys at the time.

Seriously if you are running a 30 tooth front and 25 at the back and you're running out of gears on the F6 which doesn't really compare to the ride out from Waterfall to Stanwell, you could be in a spot of bother. You might want to go check that hill out prior to the Gong ride. If it's a bit much think about changing that cassette to 12-27 (assuming your RD will take it). I don't know what the options are going for a smaller ring on the front, like a 22 tooth MTB ring.

--brett
 
sideshow_bob said:
Especially pushing a climbing specific set of $1500 ES's, could be worse you could be wearing one of those Nike replica polka dot jerseys at the time.

Seriously if you are running a 30 tooth front and 25 at the back and you're running out of gears on the F6 which doesn't really compare to the ride out from Waterfall to Stanwell, you could be in a spot of bother. You might want to go check that hill out prior to the Gong ride. If it's a bit much think about changing that cassette to 12-27 (assuming your RD will take it). I don't know what the options are going for a smaller ring on the front, like a 22 tooth MTB ring.
Absolutely. :eek:

Guess that bit of worry can be redirected to that extra bit of effort in training b/n now and the Gong ride. :D
 
starting hill training this weekend. Once renos are out of the way that is. And I will be riding about 250 300 kays a week since. I have little time to ride, so its about all me and my little Orbea can manage...
 
Night_owl said:
Hi everybody. how's your Gong training going?
Today I decided to try out the Gong Ride by myself. I wrote down the directions & rode the route to see what it was like.
The hill climbs aren't that bad - The ride up to Waterfall is a gradual climb & the ride out of the national park is quite achievable if you go down a few gears.
There are some good downhill sections - particulary down past Waterfall into the national park & down past Stanwell Park.
If you're hungry there is a place at Otford which sells home-made apple & rhubarb pies, served with icecream - Very yummy!
Once you join the shared pathways at Thirroul, it's flat & easy going. I managed to get up to 32Km along these paths.
But most of all the scenery was awesome - the view of the coastline, as you leave the national park & go past the lookouts, is the worth the effort.

I managed to ride the 90Km in 4 hours & 27mins (not including water/food stops).
I could have gone a little bit faster, but I focused on the scenery & not my average speed.

I also rode 26 Km - from the Northern Beaches to St Peter's. Then there was the 2/3 Km ride from the the Wollongong lighthouse to the railway station, then a train trip to Martin Place, an easy spin to Circular Quay, a ferry to Manly & then a 7km bike ride home.

Total distance 125.2Km - with a total riding time of 6 hours & 34mins. I think I'm going to a little sore tomorrow after that long day.
Well done Night Owl. Did you strike any particular issues?
 
mikesbytes said:
Well done Night Owl. Did you strike any particular issues?
Thanks for that:)

I suppose I had a few issues to contend with.

There was some time spent on main roads, leading up the Pacific highway, and it wasn't ideal cycling, particulary if you're by yourself.

I didn't ride the hill out of the national park non-stop. There was the occassional pause along the way, which is weird because I've done the hill before with hardly a stop. Mind you that could be explained by the next issue.

Whilst I had plenty of water, I don't think I brought enough food. For breakfast I had a big bowl of porridge & I had some lollies in my pocket to help me the hills. During the climb out of the national park, I was starting to feel a bit hungry (the apple pie stop definitely came in handy!).

Since I'm useless at following directions, I got a little bit side-tracked on the bikepath network on the way to Wollongong. I ended up following 2 local cyclists for a little bit to get my bearings.


Regardless, the weather was great, the scenery specular and the down-hills were heaps of fun. Overall I had a great day cycling.

Unlike today, when the most exercise I've done is walk/limp around the local shops. My right ankle has seized up & I can hardly put any weight on it. So it looks like I won't be riding my bike for a few days.:(
 
Night_owl said:
Thanks for that:)

I suppose I had a few issues to contend with.

There was some time spent on main roads, leading up the Pacific highway, and it wasn't ideal cycling, particulary if you're by yourself.

I didn't ride the hill out of the national park non-stop. There was the occassional pause along the way, which is weird because I've done the hill before with hardly a stop. Mind you that could be explained by the next issue.

Whilst I had plenty of water, I don't think I brought enough food. For breakfast I had a big bowl of porridge & I had some lollies in my pocket to help me the hills. During the climb out of the national park, I was starting to feel a bit hungry (the apple pie stop definitely came in handy!).

Since I'm useless at following directions, I got a little bit side-tracked on the bikepath network on the way to Wollongong. I ended up following 2 local cyclists for a little bit to get my bearings.


Regardless, the weather was great, the scenery specular and the down-hills were heaps of fun. Overall I had a great day cycling.

Unlike today, when the most exercise I've done is walk/limp around the local shops. My right ankle has seized up & I can hardly put any weight on it. So it looks like I won't be riding my bike for a few days.:(
Now did I see you say on an earlier post you use toe clips and sneakers?
I don't want to sound like a reformed smoker but... for years I put up with joggers on pedals with cages for the toes - I suppose I was worried about the broken ankle stories. Then in a fit of madness one afternoon on an impulse I bought a very reasonably priced Shimano clip in shoes SH-MT40 and pedals PD-M540at the LBS.

My new bike came with the same pedals, bonus!

I would not dream of going back. One of the biggest things is the correct postion your foot is forced into by the clip-in. My ankle / foot issues disappeared. Of course you do need to get the cleats in the right position to maximise the benefit.

On the training front. I had stitches taken out of one leg and managed 36k on Sat which was a ride into Centennial a few laps and a ride back home, with no major leakages from the wounds. Nice.:) This week I going to build it up a bit.
 
I got my race mnumber in the post on Friday. Got a tshirt too. Dont remember paying for one either....I have a 0645 start, so that means up and out the door by 0410. Going to bed early on Saturday 8 -)
 
A few days off the bike, and a stiffer pair of shoes, was all that was needed to get my ankle back to normal.

My training ride today was another century.
I rode from Dee Why/Churchpoint/St Ives/Roseville.
At Roseville, I joined a BUG ride which went through the Lane Cove National park, Macquarie University, North Turramurra and back to Roseville.
After that I rode back to Dee Why via Spit Bridge.
The time spent with my local bike group was fun. We all ride mountain bikes & hybrids, no-one ever gets "dropped" and riding is mostly done on quiet roads & bikepaths (with the occasional unsealed path). And of course, there's always a coffee shop stop along the way.:)

Where did everybody go riding today?
 
Oops, I think I went back to my old user-name by mistake.
I've been getting bored by the username "enzed" so I swapped it with something a little different. Sorry, if I just confused anybody.
 
enzed said:
A few days off the bike, and a stiffer pair of shoes, was all that was needed to get my ankle back to normal.

My training ride today was another century.
I rode from Dee Why/Churchpoint/St Ives/Roseville.
At Roseville, I joined a BUG ride which went through the Lane Cove National park, Macquarie University, North Turramurra and back to Roseville.
After that I rode back to Dee Why via Spit Bridge.
The time spent with my local bike group was fun. We all ride mountain bikes & hybrids, no-one ever gets "dropped" and riding is mostly done on quiet roads & bikepaths (with the occasional unsealed path). And of course, there's always a coffee shop stop along the way.:)

Where did everybody go riding today?

On Sunday my training for the 2006 Sydney to the Gong Bike Ride was to ride the route by myself.
I rode from Willoughby to Sydney Park, St Peters.
When I got to Miranda it started to rain. The rain lasted for only a few kilometres.
You are riding on the Kingsway and the Princes Highway for many Kilometres. The kingsway is not the safest road to ride by yourself.
Once you ride past waterfall train station you start to enter the Royal National Park.
The park has some good down hills where I managed to do 57km.
After a gradual hill climb it was time to stop at The Pie Shop in Otford. The home made pie was apple and plumb and I had ice cream with it. It is a must to stop at The Pie Shop because it was the best apple pie I have tasted in a long time.
After The Pie Shop another gradual hill climb to the lookout. This is a great place to take photos.
On the way to the Sea Cliff Bridge there are manily down hills where you can pick up your speed. The bridge is another place to take some photos
When I got to Thirroul It started to rian again and did not stop.
Once you see the beach and the cycleway the hills are over.
The hill are not as bad as everyones makes them out to be.
I got to the lighthouse in 4hours 49mnutes. I would have been faster if it wasn't raining.
Then caught a train to Thiroul, Cityrail Bus to Waterfall. Train to Central because there was no trains running on the North Shore Line.
I rode Central to Willoughby with heavy rain from the Harbour Bridege.
Total distance 118.79 Km with total riding time 6hours & 48minutes
 
Nice ride.

I did some serious hills on Saturday in Bathurst. My brother says they are uglier than the Nat Park ones, but who knows...

I am feeling much more confident now.
 
Today I got my Sydney to the Gong Bike Ride ID number and ride guide in the mail.
Now that I have my ride ID I can attend the Netti factory sale on Friday 20 October at 4pm instead of 5pm.
The number I was given was 5904. My start time is 7:30
What Id number and start did you get?
 
Aspergers said:
Today I got my Sydney to the Gong Bike Ride ID number and ride guide in the mail.
Now that I have my ride ID I can attend the Netti factory sale on Friday 20 October at 4pm instead of 5pm.
The number I was given was 5904. My start time is 7:30
What Id number and start did you get?
7599 and a 7.30am start.

That's OK I'd rather start earlier due to heat of the day, but I dooon't want to be in mad rush at the start - also I'm going to be over 4 hrs for sure, based on my recent Bathurst time, and we'll be stopping.
 
10359. and a start time of 645. Bugger thats early Im aiming for 3hr 15min or less (avg of 27.69km/h)

I have been doing spinner training at home, and on saturday i rode from Regentville, to Yellow Rock and back, which is near Springwood in th blue mtns for those not in the know. The climb up the hill at Lapstone has always bugged me, but it was no problem (still hard) and had a gear left over (12 tooth). It took roughly an hour there, and 40 back. Geez going back is fun. Weeeeeeeee!!
No plans to stop at this stage, unless out of water :(