Postby jimmy » 10 Oct 2007, 15:49
If you want to ride down and back to the Start, you are looking at about 175km round trip.
There are a few ways you can come back, all of which require some serious hills.
You can obviously reverse the route, but you will not be able to use the Cycle Path between the Finish (Flagstaff Point) and Thirroul. However, it is easy to get to the Princess Highway from the Finish, and once on the Highway, you can follow it all the way back to Thirroul. One thing to be aware of if you do this, is that you will encounter a lot of cyclists when you are riding through the RNP, and some of these will be on the wrong side of the road. When I did it last year, I was constantly yelling out "Rider" to make sure that they knew I was coming. It was pretty hairy on some of the corners as I couldn't see how clear the road was on the other side.
Don't forget as well, that there are two leg breaker climbs. Both of these will be controlled descents, so odds are, you will have the road to yourself, and then a flood of cyclists will be coming down, again, they will often stray to the wrong side of the road and you won't have a lot of space.
Alternatively, once up to Stanwell Tops, you could turn left instead of right and get to Helensburg, this would mean that you can avoid the RNP.
The other options are to ride up Mount Keira and then join the F6 all they way to Helensburg before taking the Old Princess Highway. Mount Keira isn't a bad climb, but it does go up and down quite a bit afterwards until you get to the top of Bulli Pass.
The third option, would be to ride up the Princess Highway to Thirroul, and then do Bulli Pass, this climb is a leg breaker, it probably averages about 10%, but as it levels off in the middle, it is usually steeper. It is about 3-4km long, so it isn't easy. From the top, follow the F6 to Helensburg and then take the Old Princess Highway to Waterfall.
I will probably just do Stanwell Tops on that day, but I will be ahead of the Gong Riders.
Enjoy your ride guys, I just hope that it is a nicer day than last year (60km southerlies with rain).
James