Day 2 – Sydney to the Southern Highlands

3/5 of the launch party, looking more bemused than excited. Potentially because of the silly head cam I'm sporting

Today split into three. A slog over the hills of North Sydney in rush hour topped off with an awesome view, a dull but easy cruise out to the motorway, then some proper graft on the motorway hard shoulder, deep into the beautiful winelands of the Southern Highlands.

It was always going to be a challenge navigating a fully loaded touring bike over the short sharp hills in rush hour traffic of North Sydney, and it didn’t disappoint. The cycling gods were kind, and bar a slight headwind it was cloudy and cool all morning, taking some of the sting out the whole experience. As did help from other cyclists.

We’ll see if Sydney is an exception, but two cyclist in particular were brilliant today. The first one was a full blown MAMIL who spotting I was looking confused guided me 3 miles down to the harbour bridge cycle path, gave me the thumbs up, and disappeared without a backward glance. Seriously decent of him.

Awesome view, gloomy day, sexy bike

And what a cycle path. Running along the side of the road and rail line on the Bridge it has got to rate as one of the World’s coolest. Once the other side, I wiggled my way down for the obligatory photo in front of the Opera House. There is no denying this is a very beautiful city, and it seemed a shame to rush off in such an hurry, but time was tight.

Hard shoulder good times

The rest of the trip out of Sydney was uneventful. Simple dull roads out to the light industrial areas round the airport, a quick loop round the end of the runway and a little slog through some sleepy SW suburbs,  in the last of which I picked up the trail that runs next to the M5 motorway (one of the main roads out of Sydney).  And second hero cyclist appeared. He was an old man who had done a fair amount of touring he rode up beside me and got chatting.

Once I explained my plans he rode me out 20 miles in the right direction and set me up on hard shoulder riding. It sounds silly, but for some reason the thought of this made me nervous, even though it appears to be very much the form here, and sign posted by the council no less. But riding out on to one of the busiest roads in Australia does make you think twice. And if it wasn’t the old guy helping I’d have procrastinated round the task for hours.

As it was, once you have your eye back in for the joys of the hard shoulder cycling (trucks in your mirror, glass and tyre wire on the ground, and how to read the hills that can look deceptively shallow) it is a great way to chew through the miles. It’s surprising how quickly you phase out the noise of the road, and the rest of the day was about grinding out the miles to Mittagong.

I left the motorway about 18:00 then it was a beautiful 3 miles ride through the rolling Southern Highlands. All in all a good day’s riding and very happy to have made my stretch target location for the night, albeit this is the quietest town I’ve been in in years.

The mile zero smile was more impressive than my sock choice. Behind it however
I was seriously questioning how I'd got myself in such a silly position again

Miles: 87

Breakfast: Cherrios at Emily’s followed by a sausage sandwich made by Tom with my 4 year old cousin Robert’s mustard selection in front of the Opera House. A delicious pork treat to top off the excellent view.

Lunch: Cliff bar to tide me over, then late lunch of Chicken Avocado sandwich, Mars Bar and Coke at the Peasant Nest Services 7eleven. Was edible, was hungry.

Supper: ½ a grilled Chicken, Pasta Salad, and Greek Salad from the dodgy Charcoal Grill in Mittagong (only place open on a Monday night). Followed by motel biscuits. All passable if mildly depressing.