RR: Sydney (not) to the 'Gong (long)

In contrast to yesterday's wet BR, the Gong ride was done in brilliant Sydney Sunshine.

I rode over to the start to meet up with my friends - two girls on road bikes, 1 guy on a 20 year old road bike that only comes out
once a year and another guy on a slicked Mtb. One of the girls (who should have known better) announces that her preparation
consisted of a late night and no breakfast. We eventually started a bit after 7:30am.

The two guys were dropping behind quite early on but with all the traffic lights they caught up. Saw a few interesting bikes along
this section - a family on a triplet and a very young kid on what looked like one of these
http://www.hillbrick.com.au/midgetracing.html with 24" wheels and singlespeed (I sense the Force is strong in this one). After 20
km we'd lost No Breakfast and she rang to say she was stopping at the Morning Tea stop at Loftus and was going to eat muffins while
waiting for the two guys.

So that left just two. Riding along the Princess Highway we were mostly passing people. Passed two guys climbing a hill who
promptly sat in behind me for a while when I dropped off the front they put in a big effort easily dropping me, but had couldn't
drop my friend who only slowed to wait for me.

We timed it well to Waterfall and after filling bidons don't have to wait long for the motorbike to guide (slow) us down the
descent. Weeeeee! The descent down through the National Park was fun even with our speed limited by the motor bikes. Can't we do
that again? No.

The steady climb out to Stanwell Tops was uneventful, but ends with a spectacular view as you crest the hill and come out of the
bush to be greeted by the expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

On the next bit we passed a guy with very long dreds riding a dragster (obligatory nut cruncher gear shifter) and a big Aussie flag.
There are a few more hills and now I was struggling. I took offence to the guy on the Trek Fuel who called me a roadie, I had to
set him straight so I chatted to him about Mtbs and single track for a minute. At the top of the hill he asked if I was riding with
anyone I looked up and pointed to the purple jersey disappearing into the distance halfway up the next hill, I said goodbye and took
off down the hill to catch her up.

The ride now comes back along the Pacific Highway with gently rolling hills and we get a few traffic lights and then we're finished,
hang on it must be further, no we've actually finished 88km in around 3:20 which I was pleased with.

Buy myself a Coke and settle in to watch the finish and wait for the others. All sort come through Lance clones, King of the
Mountain, the guy with dreds, a couple of unicycles, recumbents , a Bike Friday, a fixie and eventually the rest of my friends.

Lunch was had and No Breakfast and I rode back to the start while the others headed off to the train station.

Summary for those who like numbers - 130km at average speed 24km/hr.

Parbs (begrudgingly admitting that road bikes can be fun)

Parbs Wrote:
In contrast to yesterday's wet BR, the Gong ride was done in brillian
Sydney Sunshine.
[snip]

Parbs (begrudgingly admitting that road bikes can be fun)

I wondered if anyone else went on the ride...

I started in Concord at about 6am and rode straight down King George
Road to pick up the course at Miranda. There weren't as many bikes as
thought there would be, but I think more people started later as I sa
lots of bikes on the return journey. Mental note for next year
people... it isn't as windy in the early morning = easier ride t
Waterfall!

I got into a group that was working pretty well to Waterfall, onl
about six riders on road bikes. Luckily, we weren't stopped by th
"controlled" descent and it was a free for all flat out descent.
topped out at 70 (not as fast as you BR riders, but this hill i
seriously twisty!).

The ride through the national park was beautiful as usual and the clim
out of the RNP was long and steep (also as usual).

A southerly breeze picked up through the morning, giving us a long fas
blast back to Sutherland. I refilled at the finish and continued on t
home by 10 - in time to wake up my (expectant) SO.

Nice day...

Ritc

--
ritcho

ritcho Wrote:
I wondered if anyone else went on the ride...


The ride through the national park was beautiful as usual and the climb
out of the RNP was long and steep (also as usual).

itch

Hey all,

Sorry for the late reply, but I too completed this wake up call ride
from Syd to Gong. I flew up on Friday night for the event. Interesting
little ride that. I was part of the Blue Scope Steel team (even though
I wore my Computershare gear!!), and finished in 3hrs 15mins riding
time. I say 'wake up call' and 'interesting' b/c some f#$k bag cut in
front of my cousin (on a super expensive Wilier with Dura-ace gear) and
clipped his front wheel. My cousin completed a near perfect summersault
and landed on his side in the middle lane of the princess hwy... nice.
We were in a group of 5 flying along and yeah, the cuz was pretty
winded and sore at the 50kmh+ crash. He actually finished the ride
(blitzed the rest of us up Stanwell Tops!!) and found out at St Johns
tent he had actually broken his collar bone... gutsy bloke.
The ride itself was very scenic. Winding our way through the national
park under the shade was great and the view from stanwell tops was
unbelievable! I was on my own once I hit the princess again and sat b/w
35-55kmh all the way back to Sutho.
I left my bike up there (sold to other cousin) and take delivery of 05
Pinarello Galileo TOMORROW!! I'd be there on Sunday if there are no
clouds in site!

Cheers,
Bill


--
kyra

kyra Wrote:
Hey all,

P.S Hitting the winding road coming down the mountain was AWESOME! s
fast and windy... but i had to keep braking to not smack th
motorbike... he kept slowing us up... top speed down there was 68kmh
but it wasn't about speed, it was about racing lines into corners an
drafting each other all the way... absolute blast!

--
kyra

kyra Wrote:
Hey all,

Sorry for the late reply, but I too completed this wake up call rid
from Syd to Gong. I flew up on Friday night for the event. Interestin
little ride that. I was part of the Blue Scope Steel team (even thoug
I wore my Computershare gear!!), and finished in 3hrs 15mins ridin
time. I say 'wake up call' and 'interesting' b/c some f#$k bag cut i
front of my cousin (on a super expensive Wilier with Dura-ace gear) an
clipped his front wheel. My cousin completed a near perfect summersaul
and landed on his side in the middle lane of the princess hwy... nice
We were in a group of 5 flying along and yeah, the cuz was prett
winded and sore at the 50kmh+ crash. He actually finished the rid
(blitzed the rest of us up Stanwell Tops!!) and found out at St John
tent he had actually broken his collar bone... gutsy bloke.
The ride itself was very scenic. Winding our way through the nationa
park under the shade was great and the view from stanwell tops wa
unbelievable! I was on my own once I hit the princess again and sat b/
35-55kmh all the way back to Sutho.
I left my bike up there (sold to other cousin) and take delivery of 0
Pinarello Galileo TOMORROW!! I'd be there on Sunday if there are n
clouds in sight!

Cheers,
Bill

Hey Bill,
It is a small world. I actually met your cousin (the one with th
broken collar bone) and rode with him for about 45 mins to the finis
line. He rode very well for a guy that had a broken collar bone. H
had a massive burn on the back of his jersey. He would have been a bi
better if he could have got out of the saddle, but we still managed t
cruise past a lot of people without getting passed ourselves. When h
got to the finish line, we saw that his Wilier had a ding on the to
tube, he wasn't happy at all.

I don't know what our ride time was, but I averaged about 30kph for th
day which was 125km from home to Sydney Park and then back home again.
Would have been worse except for the good downhill run home. Overal
it was a very good day, at least it didn't rain...

I am looking forward to when they fix the coast road and the ride goe
to the gong again. That is an awesome scenic ride.

Cheers
Shan

--
braso