Interested in cycling around Bathurst? Below are some popular routes.
Clicking on the links will map the route along with a description of their difficulty (amount of ascent), navigation instructions, distance and estimated time to complete. All the rides are on sealed roads.
- Town loop.
- This is a good ride if it looks like rain and you want to be close to cover. Try not to ride this during peak hours, including school pick up and drop off times.
- An easier variation is to avoid the loop around Mt Panorama and just ride Pitt Straight.
- Distance is 44km. Ascent is 613m, with an average ascent of 14m / km.
- At 25kph, the estimated time to complete the route is 1h 48m.
- Brewongle loop.
- This is a reasonably flat ride, with just a few not-too-demanding ascents. Contrary to the second paragraph, there is a tiny bit of dirt leading into Brewongle.
- Popular variations are:
- Ride out along Yarris Lane to the end of Mersing Rd, and return.
- Ride anti-clockwise and continue through Brewongle on the Tarana Rd up to the top of the hill, and return the same way.
- Distance is 43km. Ascent is 428m, with an average ascent of 10m / km.
- At 25kph, the estimated time to complete the route is 1h 45m.
- This is a reasonably flat ride, with just a few not-too-demanding ascents. Contrary to the second paragraph, there is a tiny bit of dirt leading into Brewongle.
- Rockley Mount.
- There is a testing climb of about 4.5km, with gradients up to about 18%. Otherwise this route is downhill or fairly flat.
- A popular variation is to ride to The Quarry, avoiding the 18% gradient.
- Distance is 45km. Ascent is 542m, with an average ascent of 12m / km.
- At 25kph, the estimated time to complete the route is 1h 50m.
- Billywillinga.
- This is a good route for hill-climbing. There are some testing ascents. The narrow-ish road can get busy during peak hour.
- Popular variations include:
- not doing Pellegrine Rd at the end;
- turning right at Mt Rankin Rd, which is shorter, but includes a roller-coaster of hills;
- turning right at Willow Tree Lane, which is also shorter, but includes a long uphill climb.
- Distance is 45km. Ascent is 685m, with an average ascent of 15m / km.
- At 24kph, the estimated time to complete the route is 1h 51m.
- This is a good route for hill-climbing. There are some testing ascents. The narrow-ish road can get busy during peak hour.
- Pymonts Lane.
- There are some ‘interesting’ climbs on this route. Note that there can be a bit of traffic on the road out to Peel, especially on holiday weekends. It would be best to travel with a group so as to be more visible.
- Popular variations include:
- riding the route anticlockwise along Limekilns Rd to Pymonts Lane, and returning the same way;
- riding along Limekilns Rd and turning right, to the end of Clear Creek Rd.
- Distance is 41km. Ascent is 459m, with an average ascent of 11m / km.
- At 24kph, the estimated time to complete the route is 1h 41m.
- Ophir Rd.
- Some very serious hills on this route make it excellent for training for events such as Fitz’s Challenge, or the Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo. The route includes a couple of category 4 hills.
- Variations include:
- riding 12.5km along Ophir Rd, to the top of the first serious hill of 2km at 6% gradient;
- turning right, up Pine Ridge Rd to the end.
- Distance is 75km. Ascent is 1448m, with an average ascent of 19m / km.
- At 24kph, the estimated time to complete the route is 3h 7m.
- Skippy
- This is a flat course good for speed work, and for developing one’s base fitness and a high cadence. Ride to the ‘skippy’ sign.
- Variations include:
- adding a 5% hill to the route, by turning right at the Newbridge turn-off and riding about 2.4km to Wimbledon.
- adding lots of hills by continuing onto Caloola, or even Trunkey Creek. Return the same way, or via Newbridge from Trunkey Creek, or via Rockley from Caloola (but there is about 5km of dirt).
- Distance is 41km. Ascent is 293m, with an average ascent of 7m / km.
- At 24kph, the estimated time to complete the route is 1h 41m.
- This is a flat course good for speed work, and for developing one’s base fitness and a high cadence. Ride to the ‘skippy’ sign.
- Duramana
- This is a good varied route. The outward journey involves time for a warm-up, followed by a fair amount of climbing, while the return journey, after returning up ‘the Euro’, is fast, with a few crests to sprint over. And, now that the magpie is gone, the route can be enjoyed in winter/spring.
- Variations include:
- not doing ‘the Euro’ – the last downhill section o
f a few kilometres. - not doing the Bridle Track, but continuing on up Glen Outram and towards Turondale.
- not doing ‘the Euro’ – the last downhill section o
- Distance is 50km. Ascent is 723m, with an average ascent of 15m / km.
- At 24kph, the estimated time to complete the route is 2h 5m.
- Ben Chifley Dam via Ryans Rd
- This is a good route. There is a warm-up from Bathurst to Perthville, before some hill work to The Lagoon. You may find some extra traffic on weekends along the Ben Chifley Rd as drivers take their boats to the dam.
- Variations include:
- doing the loop without going to the dam.
- missing Ryans Rd, and riding out to the dam and back.
- riding the loop clockwise, and turning left at The Lagoon and riding up the O’Connell road to the Trig point, and returning either the same way, or via Ryans Rd.
- As per the start of the previous variation, but continue past the Trig Point to Bathurst via O’Connell, [Take your hill-climbing legs with you!]
Also check out the detailed BADBUGs Popular Local Training and Recreational Rides.