Peats Ridge 49km

The Ride Stats 

Bunnies on board - Janine and Annette

Meeting place - Kariong servo

Set off time - 8:15 am

Weather - Beautiful sunny day :)

Distance cycled - 49km

Active riding time - 4 hours and 6 minutes

Calories burnt - 1555

Heart rate - 120 (average) 228* (max) see more on that one later

With only a week left until our Sydney cycle adventure, Janine and I set off on a hell-bunny ride to conquer hills and clock up the kms - all in the flavour of happy Sunday riding.

The first part of the ride took us up the back of Somersby, down the old Pacific hwy. This is a really lovely part of the ride as you're surrounded by the bush and the air feels ohhh so crisp and clean. It's funny but when on a bicycle you really notice how plants give oxygen to the air... riding through dense greenery lets you BREATHE :) We flew downhill, down and further down along the winding road - the only sound to break up the bellbirds singing was the frequent VROOOOOOOAAAMs of motorbikes swishing past us. I don't think I'm exaggerating to say that at least 200 motorbikes passed us today! So with swishing motor bikes and the sound of bell-birds, we got to the bottom of the hill and crossed Mooney Mooney creek (stopping for a few photos :) )...

Back on our bikes we embarked on our next hill of the day - as Janine says: "What goes down must go up" All the way to the top, where we left the Pacific hwy and worked our way around an exit and turnstile with lots of lanes and roads in every confusing direction, to get to Peats Ridge Rd, where we unceremoniously dropped our bikes by the side of the road while Janine sorted a logistical leather-jacket drama on her phone :) Having just climbed a pretty long hill, and hoping that we'd covered more distance than we in fact had, poor Janine's wish for a longer road-side stop was demolished in an instant as she was demanded back on her bike by yours truly acting as the slave driver of the day... :)

A group of friendly road-bike riders passed us while we were stopped. They all said hi and several of them asked if we were alright... Shortly after, their 'support' car slowed right down next to us, and the lady in the passenger seat hollered out to us - checking if we needed assistance. Very friendly indeed :) We met the happy group again just before we got to the end of Peats Ridge road (where they'd obviously been to the end and turned around somewhere to double back the same way), naturally we waved like old buddies, while trying to look very much in 'non-need' of assistance :D

Somehow I remembered Peats Ridge road as long and flat - this isn't quite true as the road undulates and is anything but straight. It was however a pleasant ride (apart from the odd smelly farm with chickens and manure), and we were very tempted by the roadside stalls selling fresh fruit: Strawberries, Nectarines, Oranges... mmmmmmmmm :) We also saw a not so alive red-belly black snake on the side of the road and screeched to a stop to take a photo... Janine thought about enhancing the photo but decided not to wrap the snake around her shoulders... On the road again... we pushed on, climbing the meandering hills and keeping our eye out for the perfect roadside rest stop. At Peats Ridge pizza road café, we (finally) took a break and refuelled on, not pizza - but on our packed fresh fruit and nut mixes :)

We reached the 'top' of the map on our ride (which mentally meant we were on the home stretch), and we were well past the half-way mark as we swung onto Wisemans Ferry road. The sun was shining and lucky, lucky - we'd brought enough water to last us the whole way...(better to carry that extra weight and know that at least you're not going to die of thirst :D ) A caravan of old Holdens passed us - some pretty groovy cars, even though some chose to pass us unnecessarily close, maybe they wanted to share the sparkle of their newly polished cars... Wisemans Ferry road is in parts a pretty crappy road to ride... the shoulder is eaten away by potholes and sloping bumps, which means you feel safer riding (especially going downhill) further onto the road, but obviously that has it's own set of safety issues. We scrambled on - bumping our way down hills and climbing back up again, stopping here and there to take on more water and stretch those aching muscles.

We made it all the way back to Kariong, with the last stretch of road smooth and very swishy - almost rewarding us for all the effort we'd put in :) A lovely ride - hard work, but really beautiful and varied terrain to explore on a sunny Sunday. We caught our breath and checked our stats where today's maximum heart rate (228!!!!) screamed of near heart failure and medical assistance required immediately, but rest assured - actual heart rate wouldn't have been more than 180 absolute max :) Sometimes riding under power-lines causes the monitor to go a bit mental... :)

Thank you for lovely company, laughs and lots of fun!

The Photo evidence

Janine after climbing hill #1

Top of Old Pacific Hwy

Sunny Sunday rider

Arriving on Mooney creek bridge

Inviting water views :)

Going up the Pacific hwy

A logistical rode-side stop

Watch out for biker bunnies!

Here comes a champion bunny!

The not so alive snake

The view from our fuel stop :)

Still going strong :)

Water stop outside Somersby store

We made it, but can barely stand up ;)