The whole time I’ve been in Sydney, all I’ve wanted to do is go on a nice, long road ride and little did I know, I’d do just that on Saturday. So far, I’ve done a few spins with new friends and it’s been great. When Adam from CycleEXIF offered to take me to Wollongong to see Tarn and Meg at Primate Frames, I got excited. A quick look on the map showed it was at least 60 miles down the coast from Sydney. We chatted and I misunderstood Adam’s description, thinking we’d be on a ferry for most of the way, I showed up in sneakers on my road pedals, Dickies and a black shirt, toting 20 lbs or so of camera equipment on my back. Boy was I in for a surprise, and a sun burn.

Check out nine more photos below. Man, it’s been a while huh?

Here we are, at the beginning of our main ride, outside the Cronulla ferry, at the foothills of the Royal National Park. Adam was on his On One singlespeed 42×18, spinning and happy, then the climbing began. I was fine, in fact, it felt great to be climbing, even though sneakers on LOOK pedals isn’t the most comfortable setup.

It was sunny and still, so we continued up the false flat for 10 miles.

After climbing up Bundeena Drive, we hit wet, fast descents.

After a while, I just left Adam as he spun up the climbs and waited for him at the top, where we’d descend together.

Going from an arid, dry terrain to a temperate forest is always a trip. It reminded me of riding in Oregon.

Soon we hit Stanwell Tops, a popular hang-gliding and parasailing spot, just south of the Garawarra National Park.

It was around this point, that I quickly realized we weren’t even halfway there. The coastal roads had more in store for us as we began to fly down hills, to only be greeted with steep, coastal climbs.

Again, I was fine on the road bike but Adam was still kicking on his singlespeed. Kudos to him. Some of those climbs must have hurt.

Finally, the end was near. Tarn let us know that we were about 30 miles from his house, so we pushed onward… After a Shop Visit and some Beautiful Bicycles, we took the bus back. The day had eluded us and the 4.5 hour return journey wouldn’t be possible with the waining daylight.

More to come! For now, check out my Strava of our ride here and a ton of photos up on my Flickr, seriously, these are NOT to be missed!

Many thanks to Adam from CycleEXIF for the great times!