10-Nov-2017

Day 1

Coolangatta Welcome

Today's Ride: nil

Welcome to Coolangatta. Your accommodation tonight is at the Mantra Twin Towers,
Griffith St & Wharf Street, Tweed Heads NSW 2485
Check in: any time after 1400
Your Tour starts at 1600. Bike set up and welcome .
Join us in the Lobby at 1900 for the AGF_2017Share the Road Tour Welcome meal.

11-Nov-2017

Day 2

Stage 1, 116km Coolangatta to Lennox Heads

Today's Ride: 116km

Ride Link:https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22600945

Today is our first day and if traditions are anything to go by the 2017 Share the Road Tour will adhere to traditions. We will hit the ground riding with a scheduled distance of 116km and Elevation aggregates of 1500metres.

There are many traditions in cycling, one of which is the grupetto ride. The first 8kms of today’s ride is relatively flat and will be a group ride out of town.

Each day the groups will break up and roll out on a self selected basis. While your commitment to the journey is unquestioned, it be challenged at times by our schedule and so we will provide as many options as we can to to make the ride better for you.

Today at the 8km point we do have our first climbing test and it is here that we expect the peloton to break up into the groups that will possibly form the nexus of our rides for the remainder of the tour.

We bypass Byron Bay for a hilly finale en-route to Lennox Heads and our new accommodation for the night.

12-Nov-2017

Day 3

Stage 2, Lennox Heads to Yamba

Today's Ride: 180km

Ride Link:https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22602206

Today we leave the tranquility of Lennox Heads for Yamba, an historic coastal town nestled on the mouth of the Clarence River on what will be the longest ride of our tour.

We will roll out in our groups noting the most challenging segments of the ride are in the morning session. The elevation aggregate is not huge but the steep pinches on each of the hills will hurt.

We do need to save some energy for the afternoon session. A bumpy 45kms on the highway will demand concentration, the groups rolling out in sequence with a mind to the traffic.

13-Nov-2017

Day 5

Stage 4, Yamba to Coffs Harbour

Today's Ride: 147km

Ride Link:https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22602725

We leave the small port town of Yamba in staggered groups on a ride that will arguably be the most scenic of the tour.

The first half of the ride is relatively flat till Grafton. We will navigate through this busy town resplendent with purple roundabouts into a changing hilly terrain. Undulating hills will bisect the bush, farm land and magnificent rainforrest where the tall white gums create an amazing silhouette in the green shadow of the canopied road.

The rolling hills will continue after lunch, each short and sharp and will precede a gorgeous descent into Coffs Harbour.

15-Nov-2017

Day 6

Port Macquarie to Bluey's Beach

Today's Ride: 172km

Ride Link:https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22572279

Leaving Port Macquarie we start with the obligatory heart thumping warm up. It's a hard ride out of town but worth the effort as we roll into a lovely 80km segment of relatively flat riding that includes a segment of gravel.

We pass through the dense paperbark coastal forest of the Crowdy Bay National park before skirting the mouth of the Manning River and heading slightly inland through forest and farmlands.

Returning to the Manning River we stop for lunch and a slight reprieve in our riding tempo before the long and hilly push to our destination hotel in Bluey's beach.

16-Nov-2017

Day 7

Bluey's Beach to Caves

Today's Ride: 180km

Ride Link: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22603863

We push kilometres out again today and while the day’s ride will also be one our hilliest to date it will be a beautiful road.

The central coast is full of waterways, lakes, National Parks and is heavily forested rural zones. Stage 1 of today’s journey will be through the Myall Lakes National Park. The early kilometres will be pass too quickly, the tranquillity of the scene easing the pain of tired muscles.

It really will be day of changing scenery. The first and longest segment on quiet scenic roads through strangely named towns. We will even be confronted by one of the oddest urban installations you are likely to encounter on the road from Bulahdelah.

We will give Newcastle a wide berth and as journey ventures south the ride will skirt Lake Macquarie. Busy roads and a scene reminiscent of Sydney’s urban beachscapes and roadways prepare us for the final day into Sydney tomorrow.

17-Nov-2017

Day 8

Caves Beach to Sydney

Today's Ride: 135km

Ride Link:https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22630264

Our last day is not as long as it would seem with a 10km ferry commute approximately half way. With that in mind we do however have to bury ourselves to make to the bus stop for the lunch time sailing.

We start at a good tempo and on smaller roads but as much as we have avoided the Pacific Highway for many days, today we do have to cope with our fair share of it; it will be busy concentrated riding.

The turn onto urban Sydney side beach roads breaks the tone but the day will be one of riding in traffic and we ride together.