Muggaccinos Pedlars Sunday Cyclists – The Bullsheet

This Sunday, 22 April - Tour de Windsor, Wilberforce, Ebenezer, Sackville:

i)               from Turramurra @ 7:20am via M2, Riverstone, Vineyard
Iron Horse from Richmond to Marayong, then home along M2 - 119km

ii)             or from Dural @ 7:55am via Kenthurst, Maraylya, Windsor, Maraylya, Glenorie, Dural – 104km

Ø     Ride contacts:             

        Phil Johnston  9498.3684 hm 9312.3319 wk.

        Brian Willis  9807.6439 hm

Ø     Please hardcopy these instructions and bring on Sunday.

a)          Cycling to Windsor

i)        from Turramurra station car-park – 47.5km:

Rollout at 7:20am descending Kissing Point Rd. to M2 to Riverstone, Mulgrave, Windsor where after 47.5km we meet cyclists that started from Dural for our initial Nosh Stop (30min) from 9:30am at Kate's Place Café in historic Thompson Square off George St. Windsor.  

In this box are detailed instructions of Turra' to Windsor:

Cycle 60m up Rohini St to the H'way and turn R at lights.  50m later we L left at lights into Kissing Point Rd and commence step descent shortly crossing Comenarra Parkway at lights and proceed to the end of Kissing Point Rd.  Take right fork onto cycleway path to Browns Water Hole (caution steep decent with sharp turns, causeway may flood), followed by a short steep climb to M2.  We pass through a narrow 20m tunnel and join M2 on south side.

Passing 2 on and 2 off roads, we cycle 15kms to where Old Windsor Rd meets Abbott Rd and continue straight along Abbott Road.
Turn right into Johnson Avenue at lights.  1.1km later turn L into Vardys Rd. and follow under the overpass and through the roundabout, crossing Sunnyholt Rd at the lights and cycle on to Marayong Station, passing thru industrial areas. 

Cycle under the railway bridge and turn L at the roundabout shortly followed by a second L turn to climb onto Railway Road bridge, effectively heading north beside the railway line until Quakers Hill station where, when we reach the Give Way sign, turn L, then a R and R again, to take you onto the bridge over the railway line onto Quakers Hill Parkway.
A few hundred metres on, turn L onto Hambledon Rd.  Soon L again onto Walker Street (through housing estate) at T junction L onto Burdekin Rd and follow this around - it becomes Railway Terrace.  Follow the railway line to Schofields and continue on to Riverstone along Railway Tce. 

At Riverstone station do a quick R and L and follow the railway line which is on your LHS.  Riverstone Parade will take us to Vineyard Station.  (Clear land on the left used to be Riverstone abattoirs.) 

At Vineyard station the road veers to the R.  Take Wallace Rd - the first street immediately to your L. 

Follow the railway along and Wallace Rd will end at a T inter section.  Cycle over a level railway crossing on your L, it and take Railway Rd which is first on your R and remain on it until Mulgrave Station where we turn R onto Mulgrave Rd and follow until you reach Windsor Rd.

Turn L onto Windsor Rd, and follow it until you reach Windsor.

ii)       from “Hills Tourist Info Centre” car-park - 656B Old Northern Rd Dural – UBD 131 (on LHS just after Porter Scenic Lookout and before Dural Country Club) – 35km:

Rollout at 7:55am and cycle north up Old Northern Rd for 1.2km and take a left into Wyoming Rd.  After a few more short back streets which loop SW, we head NW predominantly along Kenthurst Rd, Pitt Town Rd, Scheyville Rd and Windsor Rd to Windsor, where we meet the Turra’ contingent after 35km at 9:30am for our 1st Nosh Stop (30min) at Kate's Place Café in historic Thompson Square off George St. Windsor.

Precis of remainder of ride

At 10:10am both groups ride 37km to/thru Wilberforce, Ebenezer Sackville anti-clockwise loop – north of Windsor as detailed in b) below.  Upon returning to Windsor at 11:55am, we adjourn for a 2nd Nosh Stop (lunch - 30min) in another of Windsor’s many cafés.

Turra’ starters then cycle to East Richmond to board the Old Rattler at 12:49am to Marayong as detailed in c) i) below.

Dural contingent returns a slightly different route as detailed in c) ii) below.

 

b)          Wilberforce, Ebenezer, Sackville anti-clockwise loop – 37km:

At 10:05am both groups immediately descend to cross the adjacent Old Windsor Bridge heading north along Wilberforce Rd for 7km to Wilberforce - taking the bike lane with views of river flat vegetable farming. [Trivia - Wilberforce has an historic theme village known as Australiana Pioneer Village on Wilberforce Rd. – big deal].  We then turn right off Wilberforce Rd at the top of the hill into King Rd and after passing thru Ebenezer becomes Sackville Rd for about 4.5 km.  We then turn right into Tizzana Rd which leads to Sackville via a quiet and beautiful rural area.

Over the ensuing 5-6 km (as we wind from cycling NW twds Sackville, then fleetingly W then SW, then S) we pass the Tizzana Winery and a beautiful lily farm opposite.  Then, out of the blue, as we commence heading S is about 200m of unsealed road (Hm! Someone didn’t pay their rates and the local council got back at ‘em, ‘cause it is the only unsealed road in Cooee!) 

We then arrive at the “T” intersection where Tizzana Rd meets Sackville Rd where we re-group at the 2nd Sag Stop (2 min).  The Sackville Ferry that is visible about 300m on the right.  Alas, instead of crossing the river for a free ride on the punt, we turn left back along Sackville Rd which returns us to Ebenezer, Wilberforce and Windsor. 

2nd Nosh Stop at Windsor from 11:55am

At 11:55am we take a 2nd Nosh Stop in another café at Windsor before the Turra’ contingent cycles 5.5km due W passing the oldest church in mainland Oz [Anglican] to catch the Choo Choo from East Richmond station [don’t miss taking the left at Bourke St off Richmond Rd] at 12:49am [or 1:49pm].  

c)            Returning to starting points

i)            Turra’ crew’s train to Marayong to avoid busy road section back to M2 – 35km

During a 29 min ride the Turra’ crew pass thru seven stations to Marayong, and disembarks around 1:18pm [or 2:18pm] and cycles along Vardy's Rd, taking a right into Johnson Rd and a left into Abbot Rd to re-enter the M2 for a fast 15.1km before exiting at Macq Uni light tour exit, thence a further 5.5km uphill from Brown's Waterhole and Kissing Point Rd. to Turra' with an ETR is 2:50pm [3:50pm if you miss the 12:49pm from East Richmond] – 119km.

ii)       Dural contingent’s different route back to Dural – 32km 

Return route is parallel, but further NE to the route to Windsor, taking R into Windsor Rd, L into Pitt Town Rd, veer L into Bathurst St, R into Eldon St, L into Cattai Rd, R into Dural Rd which changes to Cattai Ridge Rd and R into Old Northern Rd and L into Tourist Office car park.  ETR is 2pm – 104km.

Anzac Day, Wed 25 Apr - 7:15am Hornsby to Wyong and "Iron Horse” home – including climbing dreaded Bumble Hill - 99 km

SRA reports no track work on Wyong line on Anzac Day.  Hence, we depart Hornsby station car-park [100 metres north of Railway Hotel in Jersey St - N/W side of Hornsby train station] by 7:15am to catch either the -

¨                   2:37pm express train from Wyong, or

¨                   2:45pm all-stops.

Our first pit stop is after 37kms at Mt White Village Store around 9am.  Cycling north from the Bikie Hangout by 9:30am, we pull in fleetingly at the Midcoast Petroleum, Peats Ridge by 10:35am.  Around 11:30am we descend Bumble Hill and cycle back up Bumble to the KOM, before re-descending for a 50 min lunch stop from 12:30pm at Yarramalong Manor.  We move on by 1:20pm for the 23kms flat/fast stretch into Wyong, arriving by 2:30pm. 

An express train departs at 2:37pm, however, these can be crowded with locals who are easily bored and walk between the carriages to counter their affliction – it can be a pain in the arse if the express is crowded and you are forced to perch your treadley at the end of the carriage.  Alternatively, the tranquil "all-stops" [Tuggerah, Ourimbah, Lisarow, Niagara Park, including Cowan etc. – 15 stops] departs Wyong at 2.45pm returning to Hornsby at 3.55pm.  If you miss it, the next express is 3.37pm with an all-stops at 3.55pm.  $6.40 fare, and an almost passenger free ride on the all-stops, enables you to grab a 70 minute kip back to Hornsby and marvel just how far you rode.

The Scribe’s rap-up of Sunday, 13 Apr, "Black" Friday, Warriewood for Brunch - 72km

On cue at 9:30am 11 contented Muggs were hoeing into all sorts of tasty treats, incl Eggs Benedict and French Toast, at Nautilus Café overlooking pristine Warriewood Beach (9 out of 10 for food, coffee ‘n service).  After a chilly, o’cast start back at St. Ives the sun had finally begun to provide some heat and the Blue Pacific looked a treat.  Lets take a head count at the brunch table - there was Widget, ToothFairy, Steve the Mechanic (not), Pacific Pete, Dirty Cheat, Bazza, Erstwhile Eric (the Burgeoning Behemoth has done more burgeoning since his 200km Audax last Jan.), Whippet, Little John who lives down the road at Curl Curl and Arrogant Bastard - mustn’t forget two rookies Libby and Andrew.

But golly gosh, up until then, things hadn’t gone to plan as we’d lost Erika back at the entrance to Akuna Bay (ran out of spare tyres, necessitating PJ hightailing it back to his car at St Ives to rescue her and her ship’s anchor).

Shortly after ten bells we headed for home, back-tracking Bayview, Church Pt, McCarrs Creek to St. Ives.  A reduced contingent dropped in approaching midday at Mirabelle Café, Bonds Nursery, Mona Vale Rd for a drug re-charge.

With a lot of first-timers the ride was overly staccato, accentuated by Erika’s equipment mishap, ‘causing the ride leader to go AWOL.  However, it provided a dress rehearsal for Sunday, 13 May, when we do it again, chucking in Duffy’s Forest, where #s should be up as that ride is listed in Push On Magazine, and Nautilus Café is worth the journey.

Whippet’s rap-up of Easter Sunday, 15 April, "Loop the Royal National Park" – 81 km

At 8:45am with yours truly having led a merry chase down the Princess H’way and left into Royal National Pk for 28km, we pulled in at the familiar Otford Apple Pie Shop where The Scribe, Kerry H (a former work colleague of PJ’s), ActionMan and Whippet settled into the usual drugs ‘n grub.  The view of a glistening, deep blue Pacific was breathtaking, made all the more delightful by an unseasonably barmy morn without a cloud in sight.

Shortly after 9am, after waving tar tars to the views of the Pacific, we cycled north up the wooded Lady Wakehurst Drive/Sir Bertram Stevens Drive. 

Around 10:??am we threw a right fork to Bundeena Drive and pedalled a further ten clicks  to splendid Bundeena Beach and headed for the local Fish Shop – Wharf View Café [we chewed the fat with a charming pair of Pommy geezers from Sussex who pushed their way onto our exclusive table, who’ve been wed for 42 years and out here seeing how the other half live.]  Alas, our timetable got forgot, ‘cause we overstayed our Nosh Stop – but what the heck, we were a lean team and no one was in a hurry.

The initial part of the climb out of Bundeena was a Killer.  But there were more challenging assaults to come in the arduous grind to scale Flat Rock and the ball-terror out of Audley Weir.

At 1:25pm we returned to our cars with 81km all done.  With a creditable 23.5km ave, yours truly won all the jerseys, but ActionMan kept me honest in the hills.  Not sure what happened to Arrogant Bastard.  PJ was there, but he never threatened - guess he must‘ve forgot his Vita Brits.  [Vanity/Ego.  Heck No!  You got to call this stuff as you see it.]

The Royal National Park is only a 38km drive from Chatswood, via Homebush Bay Drive, and offers a delightful array of challenging climbs and positively breathtaking scenery.  Fortunately, on Easter Sunday the traffic around midday out of Bundeena back to Audley was light, with most of it going the other way. 

The Scribe  - 18 April 2001