322. Cycle – St. Leonards, Gordon, Mona Vale, Manly, Spit Circuit

Distance – 56km
Time – 2hours 34min
Average- 21.8km/h
Top Speed – 69.2km/h

5.15am is a shocking time to be up especially on a Sunday morning but since opportunity to get out on the bike had been recently lacking and Tom had agreed that he’d be up for a ride at that time with me then I felt obliged to throw back the covers with as much vigour as I could, wipe the sleep from my eyes and get myself out on the highway.

The route was fairly straight forward and uneventful. I made my way wearily up to Chatswood were I met Tom and then we continued up the Pacific Highway until we reached the Mona Vale turn off at Gordon. There were a few heroic climbs which I hadn’t accounted for but as with all climbs there was the down hill on the other side which were adrenal-explodingly exciting. The road into Mona Vale topped out at almost 70km/h which is where I realised that at that speed you have no possibility of your breaks doing anything other than melting.

At Mona Vale we turned right and followed the coast road south all the way to Manly and then the Spit River where the bridge was raised and gave us a rare photo opportunity as I’d never even realised that it was a draw bridge.

After the brief but difficult climb up onto Military Road we were soon cruising again and it was only about another 10 minutes before we were back in St Leonards chowing down on a tasty savoury treat from Bakers Delight. Another good cycle done – and the day had hardly even started!