Photos look awesome guys. Couldn’t make this one, but keen to catch up with the Sydney crew for a gravel ride at some point.
I reckon we should do something before the end of the year.
Who’d be keen for a drive to Mittagong? Ev has started scoping out some roads, shouldn’t be too hard to get 80-100km with some good country bakeries/pubs thrown in.
Better tell Ev to get a route sorted. 
I can do mittagong! I’ll bring my unicycle!
yeah looked like a great ride, bec’s mum was down from townsville so i couldnt come on this one.
+1 for mittagong, should have a cx bike by then too.
Paging Evan!
Ooh, my arm could be twisted. When would everyone be thinking?
No idea, depends if Ev is up for it. Maybe mid-November?
Fixie 100 on river road again.
I’d be up for Mittagong. In actual fact my wife and I are riding to the Wombeyan Caves this Saturday, staying overnight at the campground and riding back the next day.
I did a 2-day ride in the Wombeyan caves area starting from Mittagong a couple weeks ago. Totally unknown area for me, I loved it. Pretty spectacular scenery on the first day, and very quiet/remote/charming roads on the second day.
We stayed in Taralga overnight, there’s a good pub there. There is water at the Wombeyan Caves campground and it’s probably the only water stop (though you could filter/treat water from the Wollondilly river). On day 2 there’s no water/food stops until Berrima but I filtered water from the Tarlo river and it was fine. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Day1: Mittagong-Taralga
Day2: Taralga-Mittagong
If I was to do it again I’d probably cut out the Hume Hwy final bit by going onto the Illawara Hwy through Sutton Forest then Bowral, or take a left to Berrima to link with the Old Hume. It turned out that I avoided that bit anyway as my mate broke his rear derailleur on the first day then picked me up before the highway bit on the second day.
Also, there is not a lot of traffic on Wombeyan Caves rd but it’s a touristy area so there are a few cars. The gravel road is narrow with some moderately rough bits and heaps of blind corners. So care should be taken when descending/cornering. Finally the whole route could be done in a long day but you’d miss out on the scenery etc.
NICE! Just exploring the option to do pretty much the same and extend our ride to Taralga. Anything else we should be aware off? We did this ride about 4 years ago the first time, both being quite unfit but still had a blast. Cant wait for this time with lighter bikes, less luggage and fitter bodies.
Not that I can think of. If planning to do an out and back, you’ll descend the big climb starting after the Wollondilly river crossing that you climbed on your way in. Not sure how the road was 4 years ago when you did it, but it’s the roughest/steepest bit of the ride, so just mind the blind corners and the possibility of oncoming cars. There is another steep descent to the Tarlo river crossing on my Day2 route but it’s much shorter and super quiet - chances are you won’t see a car there. Also no phone reception for most of both days if you’re not with Telstra.