Central Coast road rides

Meets Sydney
1

Hey all you coasters, I’ll be up your way for a few weeks over Xmas and am hoping to log a few miles while I’m there.

I’ll be based in East Gosford and aiming for 2.5 - 3 hr loops, circa 70km with hopefully 1200-1500 vert.

I’d appreciate any local tips to save wandering around aimlessly…

Thanks in advance!

2

Skullmtn can probably help you out there.

3

https://www.strava.com/routes/3775616
Be prepared for central coast bogans and flying projectiles.

4

Thanks Skully, I threw this one together as a test Central Coast test | 63.1 km Road Cycling Route on Strava

Are there any logical routes that wind through the multitude of national parks?

5

I’ll map one out when I get home if you like. If you want to go north there’s plenty of loops via the watagans more elevation tho.

6

I’d be looking at Dog Trap road, Peat’s Ridge, Yarramalong valley, the hills between Gosford and Tuggerah Lakes, Old Pacific HWY to Brooklyn and catching the train back to Woy Woy.

I would not climb up out of Woy Woy, but the descent is a cracker. Same for the main road up to the freeway from Gosford. There are two back roads up the hill that look far better on Google Maps, I am yet to try them though.

and just again Dog Trap road is really fun, but I have only ever ridden down it.

7

Thanks for the advice guys, I mapped out two routes and gave them a bit of a tonking.

Both start with a few repeats of Kariong Hill, a nice short climb to get the blood flowing. I hit this not long after 5am to avoid as much traffic as possible…

The first route (Central Coast #1 | 57.8 km Road Cycling Route on Strava) took in the climb out of Terrigal past the skillion, and around the back of Avoca. It finished with a few repeats of Kincumber Mountain Reserve. That one had a couple of quite nasty sections i.e. circa 22%…

The second one (Central Coast #2 | 57.0 km Road Cycling Route on Strava) wound through Wattle Tree Road/The Ridgeway/Tumbi Rd - again, beautiful roads with some steeep pinches! This one took in Dog Trap Road, an awesomely quiet and scenic climb.

All in all, there’s a multitude of options up there with no shortage of length/elevation/scenery.

10/10, would ride again.

P.S. the weather was rubbish!

8

You can do a pretty good/scenic road loop of Empire Bay Drive/The Scenic Drive Around Macmasters/Killcare/Empire bay that has some decent shoulder lanes most of the way too. Or take the cross bike and go through Bouddi National Park as an alternative.

9

Nice ones, glad you liked Dog Trap, I’m keen to try the Ridgeway one day.