Cycling to Bungendore

OzPheonix – that’s fantastic!!!!!!!!

Rather than travel next to the train lines, maybe you need to try something like the locobike:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/28/2669477.htm

🙂

In 2007 as part of a training ride for a round Aussie ride I did the Bungendore loop with a mate and had no major hassles. The route comprised:

Left City area and cycled along Fairbairn Ave past the airport. Good shoulder all the way. Alternative would be use the cycle paths along the lake and past Fyshwick into Qbn past Harman. At Queanbeyan join the Kings Highway at the back of the industrial area and take care to keep left up the hill and down the other side.

Turn off the Kings Hwy into the Captains Flat Road and be considerate by keeping to the left. The traffic is light and apart form the odd tradesman in a ute making up for a small dick, generally patient and courteous.

Turn left into Briars Sharrow Road as you come down the hill into the Carwoola Plain. The road is very lightly trafficked with few cars to disturb the peace. The road is very quiet all the way to Bungendore.

From Bungendore take the Gundaroo Road which has a small shoulder most of the way. Once again it’s a good idea to be considerate and keep well left. Traffic can be light to occasionally moderate. The hill up the escarpment is seriously steep for a few hundred metres.

Turn left into Mack’s Reef Road which is usually fairly quiet. Good idea to keep well left again. Gets a bit tight going down the hill near the old Rehwinkels Zoo, and if in doubt I would recommend taking over the lane for the couple of hundred metres until the road widens at the bottom of the descent, cars behind might just have to wait 30 seconds…

Turn left into the Federal Hwy for an armchair ride on the wide concrete verge all the way into Canberra. Total distance was about 92km if memory serves correctly. With a good long lunch stop in Bungendore it was a nice length to occupy a whole day.

I do not recommend this route for riders who feel the need to assert their rights to ride two abreast. But for considerate cyclists it offers ample opportunity to socialise as well as enjoy single file riding.

The climb up Norton Road from it’s start on Sutton Road is a tad nasty – a slightly flatter alternative is to keep going up the Federal to the Bungendore Road. Avoid Mac’s Reef Road, like the Captain’s Flat Road, it’s narrow and has a heap of traffic.

Nortons Road is relatively quiet. From Sutton Road to above Smiths Gap so you get to scream down towards Bungedore.

Here is probably the earliest you could join the track and avoid the tunnels.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-35.333508,149.29729&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=23.875,57.630033&ie=UTF8&ll=-35.331512,149.298749&spn=0.016735,0.027423&z=15&iwloc=A

But as MrPC states you have numerous creek and river crossing to contend with as well. Also I believe the track and easment it runs through to be private property (NSW Rail) and you would technically be trespassing.

Driving on Captain’s flat road is scary enough, let alone riding it.

There is no road shoulder in most parts and you have to wrestle with the b-double logging trucks. Throw in pot holes, speeding cars and cranky farmers will bull bars, and this is not a good route for cyclists!

There are numerous bridges between Queanbeyan and Bungendore. From my recollection, there isn’t even pedestrian access to the bridges, let alone something wide enough to cycle on.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and that route has a few missing links.

You could do it, but you’d be risking life and limb. Literally.