Cycling the Centenary - Part 2

Home to Issac Ridge - 50km 3hr46min

The final leg of our Centenary Challenge (see here).  Beginning at my house, it wasn't long before we joined up with the trail at the Arboretum. Exiting south from Arboretum we crossed the Molonglo River and subsequently lost the trail as we headed into Coombs. A little backtracking followed by some rough riding and we were on the bike path travelling towards Stromlo between Duffy and Wright. Opting out of the small detour into Stromlo, we rode up Eucumbene Drive to Cooleman Ridge.

The Ridge was a little more exposed but offered wonderful views of the Brindabella Range, Tidbinbilla as well as north over Weston Creek towards Black Mountain, Lake BG and the city centre. We skirted around Mt Arawang before a fast descent along Kambah Pool Road to the Murrumbidgee River with the rugged Bullen range behind.

Turning left at Kambah Pool, we enter the a 7km section aptly named Red Rock Gorge. We reach the viewpoint of the impressive steep Red Rocks much quicker than expected. Having ridden this section several years ago, I was expecting to lift our bikes over numerous gates. However we were extremely surprise to find lots of new gates which were all open! The trail was great but had many steep pinches with loads of steeper water bars, some of which got the better of us.

Civilisation came into view and we weaved our way through the Tuggeranong town centre. It was smooth fast bike path as we made our way between the suburbs of Monash, Gowrie, Chisholm and MacArthur. Eventually Wanniassa Hills Nature Reserve came into view for which we were both grateful for! Only a few km to go to our finish point at Issac Ridge but that last hill was a killer though!

To celebrate our achievement, we made our way to Fox and Bow in Farrer, the best suburban coffee shop in Canberra (according to Andy) where we were joined by both families and enjoyed a well deserved brunch!