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hornsby to Yass bicycle route

Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:12 am
by prabs
hi all,
looking to ride from sydney to Yass n road bike.. looking for a safe route, dont mind climbs on the way, planning credit card bike packing. Suggestions welcome :)

Re: hornsby to Yass bicycle route

Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:05 pm
by baabaa
So, would you prefer to go down via the east or the west side of the Hume Highway/ freeway? Good hills? Try going over the blue mountains and then hugging the west of the range from Oberon to Goulburn or a nice ride via Blayney to Frogmore and then into Yass from Boorowa.
The east of Hume via the Gong, Goulburn, Tarago to Canberra and onto Yass is an easy track to follow with plenty of places to stay

Re: hornsby to Yass bicycle route

Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2021 3:18 pm
by prabs
baabaa wrote:
Fri Jun 25, 2021 5:05 pm
So, would you prefer to go down via the east or the west side of the Hume Highway/ freeway? Good hills? Try going over the blue mountains and then hugging the west of the range from Oberon to Goulburn or a nice ride via Blayney to Frogmore and then into Yass from Boorowa.
The east of Hume via the Gong, Goulburn, Tarago to Canberra and onto Yass is an easy track to follow with plenty of places to stay
Thanks for the info, It does help a lot to plan. I prefer hilly way (if its safer). Which of them would be less traffic ?, any thoughts.

Re: hornsby to Yass bicycle route

Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2021 7:36 pm
by LateStarter
prabs wrote:
Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:12 am
hi all,
looking to ride from sydney to Yass n road bike.. looking for a safe route, dont mind climbs on the way, planning credit card bike packing. Suggestions welcome :)
Do you mind a few kms of dirt ?(less than 1 x 10kms)

This takes you from Parramatta to Yass without any highways (except for a few kms of unavoidable hwy shoulder around Marulan) and has some dirt sections 246-260km (seems sealed now) and 307-317 (approx). Some shortcut possible from about turnoff at 237 to Breadalbane with some dirt but I have forgotten the exact route, might find it if you are interested. Some interesting and mostly deserted old Hume Highway bits pre motorway, Gunning is nice. Accommodation options Southern Highlands, Goulburn, Gunning

I am sure baabaa knows some of this

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36628397 ... FpDVlSlVje
(viewing with OSM layer best IMHO for local detail)

PS revised (dirt section distances) 02/07/21)

Re: hornsby to Yass bicycle route

Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:11 am
by WheelsOfChance
I've ridden the Moss Vale / Goulburn part of LateStarter route quite a few times except I've always ridden on the Hume Highway from Marulan to Goulburn. The breakdown lane is quite wide* and the gradients gentle so you can do that stretch quite fast. The scenery is good. The traffic noise is terrible.
https://sites.google.com/view/have-bicy ... wollongong

*There is a crossing over Narumbulla Creek where the breakdown lane disappears so you have to pick a good break in the traffic to get across and you have to pedal fast.

Re: hornsby to Yass bicycle route

Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:25 pm
by baabaa
Yup the freeway is troublesome getting into Goulburn from the north - the truck drivers are good but on auto pilot at that part as they have just dealt with Sydney traffic before the longish leg into Melb.
But yes, not only the noise but the freeway trash between the left lane and the table drains gives a very high possibility of flats from the old truck tyre casing wires.
Looking and thinking of Bills route which wanders around the wonders of the old Hume, I would give that run a go as you cover some nice country and the between towns are real stops not empty villages found west of the mountains. Give that west of the mountains way a go next time you ride down.
The old Hume is a good way of as picking up the feel of the countryside AND being a well plotted route you can just ride at your pace without thinking.

Re: hornsby to Yass bicycle route

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 10:40 am
by LateStarter
prabs wrote:
Wed Jun 23, 2021 10:12 am
hi all,
looking to ride from sydney to Yass n road bike.. looking for a safe route, dont mind climbs on the way, planning credit card bike packing. Suggestions welcome :)
So @prabs, like your previous planned trip to the Snowy Mountains in 2020 you went quiet so we don't know if you ever did either of them, (locked down now?)

But I notice RWGPS has recently introduced a "Surface Type" (paved / unpaved) for planned routes ( https://ridewithgps.com/help/surface-types ). The data is collected via the surface type attribute in OpenStreetMap so only as good as the the base data entered by the many dedicated volunteer contributors.

So in my route I linked to ( https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36628397 ) it confirms the 10 or so kms I said were gravel although it notes a few other very short sections which might just be mismatch in road section segments and classifications as I know most to be actually paved. Still a very worthwhile addition for those wanting to avoid or seek gravel.

PS If you go to OSM and query the unpaved road segment you will see it was last surveyed by a contributor over 6 years ago so you have to also take that into account, could well be paved by now https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/40942972