Places like Centennial Park in Sydney

There are so many people who head to Centennial Park every day just to do laps and meet with friends. But are there alternatives for this style of bike riding in Sydney ?

Heffron park If you need to just work out and want to get away from the crowds, Heffron Park is close to Centennial and offers up a few kms of track with few distractions and some small rises. This is also a good place to take teens who don’t always go in a straight line. There are track races sometimes and then you can just head off to La Perouse for a road ride or ride on the shared path that goes around Hefron Park.

Oatley Park A wonderful 2.5km trail in the bush high above the Georges River. Get there by hopping on the train on the Eastern Suburbs line and you should get there with your bike without changing trains. It’s a couple of kms to the park and you can also head down to the Como Railway Bridge for a bit of sightseeing. There is a lower speed limit in the park than Centennial and there are a lot less cars. Walkers share the road.

Lane Cove Park Possibly the best unencumbered riding in Sydney. No cars are allowed in the park before 9am any day. Its not a loop but by the time you have ridden nearly 6 kms, you will never know the difference and it’s a full sized road. You can drive there down the M2 in less than 30 minutes from Coogee if you go early. For parking, its 8$ inside the park. The road next to the cemetery has some parking and it’s a 70m descent down to the cycling road from there.

Parramatta Park With the recent train timetable changes, there are lots of express trains to Parramatta from Redfern that take less than 25 minutes. The park is popular with cyclists and is about 3kms around. When you get bored, ride down the Parramatta River to Rhodes station and get the train back to the city. Perfect day out.

The Sydney International Regatta Centre

Not far from Penrith and part of our Emu Plains bike loop is a perfect track around the 2km rowing lake. Whilst high speed is not encouraged, you will generally have the place to yourself for a great ride. Its a 5km loop and 5km ride from Penrith.

Mt Annan – Australian Botanical Garden

In the far south west of Sydney is the Australian Botanical Garden. It is called Mt Annan and it has a good road trail for riding around. Its 10km long, it forms a figure 8 and it is all one way. It is only good for experienced riders because the edge of the road is dirt and the road is not very wide. Thankfully the speed limit is 30 but if you are grinding up the steep hills at 10km an hour, a car is going to come along quite fast. This wont matter to good road riders or people with eBikes. Here are some photos.

Here is the Mt Annan trail in black. >>