I'm with J5. Riding an extra 40+ minutes to avoid ~700 metres of dirt doesn't seem worth it, especially if we have a large group. Putty is a longish day, especially if you start late.
62.8 km – about 1 hour 9 mins
[via Cessnock] vs
29.5 km – about 22 mins
[Direct route]To avoid
this much graded dirt (it's still a
road, it's just made of dirt and sometimes has a few little potholes). The Wollombi Road from Cessnock to Wollombi is one of the crappest bits of tarmac in NSW and it lasts about 20
KILOMETRES, just to avoid the unpaved section.
Yes, for those that went last time, I am just trying to avoid Blue Tongue Cafe in case Claudio Meyer is there again:
I reckon we go the direct route, it easy enought to handle the 700m's of of unpaved road. This way we get to Wollombi earlyish to try to beat any rush, get a pie or a burger then ride on. If the pub is stupid packed, we can go to one of the other cafes in Wollombi.
If we have 10+ bikes on the road it will take us frikkin
ages as it is, let alone injecting another 50+ minutes of riding the goat track through Cessnock.
Even with this run, the timing will be getting tight for those that need to traverse the city again to get southside to get home.:
a) Kellyville Caltex
(Fuel) - Arrive ~8:00 Depart 8:30 [53.1kms]
b) Colo Heights
(Fuel) - Arrive 9:20 Depart 9:30 [65.9kms]
c) Halfway House regroup - Arrive 10:25 Depart 10:40 [55.3kms]
d) Broke
(Fuel) - Arrive 11:40 Depart 12:00 [29.6kms]
e) Wollombi -
Lunch, 1hr Arrive 12:30 Depart 13:30 [42.8kms]
f) Kulnura
(Fuel) Arrive 14:05 Depart 14:20 [42.7km]
g) Mt White (Road Warriors) Arrive 15:00 Depart 15:30 [23.8km]
h) Berowra Mobil
(Fuel) Arrive 16:00
Timings are based on doing the speed limit pretty much, which tends to even out the rubber banding group ride effect that occurs with bigger rides.
Not sure what others think. I'm in either way.
I may also show my face for this one.Now Just need to get rego for my bike
Dock I've got a white one sitting in the garage that should do the job just fine if you wanna borrow it.
Edit: Screw that, if Claudio is at Bluetongue, I'm going straight from Broke to Wollombi