Sydney to ????

[jdeerwester]

Greetings riders,

I am flying into Sydney July 9th and leaving from Sydney July 28th. These are the only two things set in stone.

I have a couple questions that I'd be delighted to have answered by you experienced lot:

1. Which way is the wind blowing from Sydney? I had a look at those maps and couldn't figure them out in the least.

2. Any rides that are about 1600 km that you can suggest? I'm planning on about 80 km per day.

3. Lastly, I'm far too unsophisticated (see not being able to read map in 1.) to take my bike apart and back together again, so I'll be renting one from Sydney. Or would it be cheaper to just buy a knocker for about 7-800 dollars?

Thanks for any constructive feedback, I appreciate it!

[Leaf T]

And greetings to you. Being a Mexican (ie I'm from Melbourne) I can't comment on the wind but I would suggest you head north because the weather is likely to be warmer than south of Sydney. Where are you coming from? When I lived in Sydney some Europeans I knew arrived in July expecting it to be like the tropics. It isn't. Sydney can be cold particularly at night. I wouldn't worry too much about wind.

Bike? The short answer is with your bike budget you could buy new from one of the many shops or contact Cheeky Transport in Newtown and ask for suggestions within your budget.

Cheers,
Andy

http://www.cheekytransport.com.au/

Just an example from a quick google search but there is probably better if you shop around.
http://www.bicyclesonline.com.au/bikes/ ... ort&page=1

[WarrenH]

G'day. Further to Andy's comment.

During the cooler months the winds in the Sydney Region tend to be Westerlies. Being East of both the Great Escarpment and the Great Dividing Range the winter temperatures along the coastal strip are warmer than the inland regions.

If a Southerly gets up the winds can be a lot cooler and even down to 14°C in mid winter. If an East Coast low forms off the coast, the winds can be extreme.

Here are two sites that can be helpful. The BOM site is practically limitless in the forecasts, for the current and historic data available and the radar maps. There is an excellent section called Latest Observations updated every half hour.

http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/?ref=hdr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A favourite of mine is the Earth Wind Map. With Earth Wind, if you don't know it? ... put the cursor on the approximate location that you're searching. Click and that will give you a good if not fairly accurate representation, of the current wind condition. In the readings (bottom left) you can change the measurement type by clicking on the wind speed.

http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wi ... 36.70,3000" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Warren.

[jdeerwester]

Thanks!

I also forgot to mention 'safety first!'
I live in China and have grown to hate cars. Is there a bike lane on the coastal highway? (or is that just wishful thinking?)

[il padrone]

Yes, that is pretty wishful thinking. I haven't ridden the highway north much, but the sections I did ride 15 years ago had good wide sealed-shoulders, although they were still very unpleasant roads to ride with the fast, heavy traffic. I took a route from Sydney to the Qld border that only saw me riding for 30kms on the highway. The rest of the time I was on a variety of lesser highways, secondary roads, and minor tracks. Most of these were really quite good riding, but there still was some traffic.

The route is here

[zebee]

I was hunting touring trips out of Sydney and found http://www.cycleaustralia.info/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; which has some routes you might want to check out.

[jdeerwester]

Thanks for the help guys! You Aussies aren't half as bad as people say!

[Rhubarb]

Thanks for the help guys! You Aussies aren't half as bad as people say!

Yes we are ....

[Warin]

We like our beer cold - even when it is snowing out.

[tmac100]

We like our beer cold - even when it is snowing out.

Yes, Warin, we Canadians also like our beer cold when it is snowing (like for 6 months of the year in Manitoba), but unlike Australians who wear beach gear and flip-flops, "we" wear snowmobile outfits, snow mits, and muk-luks as well as touques. Sunglasses are optional for us

[ericbosloor]

How did you ride go! I hope you managed to get something worked out with your bike! I know it's a bit late to say, but some of my cyclin enthusiast friends just kind of put their bikes in storage on the plane and shipped them over so they would be cycling with some familiar equipment. Might be a bit expensive if you're coming from very far away, but it's just a thought.