Mount Victoria to Moss Vale is not a route that many people would think of as their first multi-day ride. There’s more out here than you might think, and it’s pretty accessible to about 6 million people. This route takes you around the western side of Kanangra-Boyd National Park.
These notes are from being out here last week, during the heatwave, with my girlfriend who is objectively a decent rider (multiple 200km road rides), but found the trip hard. In the interest of our relationship, we stayed in accommodation, even though you’d think we had enough stuff for camping…
Naomi was on a Reid commuter which I’d just stripped and rebuilt with CUES 46/30 and 11-39. I built up some OEM aluminium rims with DT Swiss 350 hubs with Vittoria Terrano Dry 47/40mm tyres. There were multiple hills where, even with the lowest gear (0.75), these were hard for Naomi.
I was on a Cannondale Topstone Carbon with 46/33 and 10-36 and made it up every climb, just. I had a worn-out 40mm Maxxis Ravenger on the front and 40mm Maxxis Rambler on the back. You could probably make it through here on 35mm semi-slicks. Probably.
The plan was to ride 346km with 5,200Vm over three days staying in Oberon and Crookwell. The last day was shortened as we left Crookwell late (the IGA doesn’t open until 0800hrs) and Naomi didn’t think we’d make the train (we would have, but there wouldn’t have been a train, I’ll come to this). Naomi was somewhat over the ride by third day. I think she might have been over the ride before we reached Lithgow. Love finds a way.
Here’s the route I planned: Ride with GPS | Bike Route Planner and Cycling Navigation App
Here’s where we rode:
Day 01: 96.27km — 6:10:53 — 2,074m — Back in Oberon | Strava (includes ride from home to station, actual ride distance is 84km)
Day 02: 125.56km — 7:37:06 — 2,006m — Crookwell, my way | Strava
Day 03: 102.29km — 5:46:55 — 1,509m — 2026 Worst Train Line? The winner: Southern Highlands
2026-01-08 1200hrs - Day 02 Arkstone Road, which was particularly quiet, as we were to find out, it’s a No Through Road.
ROUTING
I’d say this route is close to being very good, with one major caveat. Some notes and observations:
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The Darling Causeway Railway Trail just disappears after a few kilometres, we just crossed the train lines and rode on the road. You could, in theory, just ride next to the train line. I would just ride the road next time.
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The climb out of Hartly Vale going north is hard, there’s no way to avoid Brown’s Gap Road.
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The section to Hassans Walls is easier than Brown’s Gap Road and nicer (shaded).
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There is a good shoulder on the short section of Great Western Highway.
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There is a steep section of Magpie Hollow Road after you leave Lake Lyell.
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The ride from Tarana to Oberon is easier than the elevation profile would indicate.
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The ride from Oberon to Burraga is easy, with a net downhill.
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Emden Vale Road ends at private property, and you need to find the owner to ask permission to cross their property down to the Abercrombie River.
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You’ll need to lift your bike over four locked gates to get to the river.
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Abercrombie River was ankle height and easy to cross.
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Fullerton Road is a 5.5km climb with an elevation gain of 350m. The middle third is very steep and hard to ride. Garmin showed sections at 17%. I could only just ride this section with multiple breaks. We happened to be here in the heat of the afternoon when it was 39C.
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The roads between Crookwell and Taralga were quiet, but the flies were unrelenting in the morning.
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Bannaby Road was busy with trucks going to a work site. We probably had 20 trucks pass us. Last time I was here I didn’t see one.
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The descent into Swallow Tail Pass was in better condition than I remember. The ride out was easier than I remembered.
2026-01-07 1653hrs - Day 01 Sodwalls Road, the climb from Lake Lyell had taken its toll, and the sign to the pub was all that Naomi had for motivation. Here are the bikes enjoying a quiet moment between regular complaining.
OPTIONS
There are technically infinite options and this is a post, not a guidebook. I may, at some point put up a detailed route description on a website. I’ll outline a few specific areas with some options. The route is generally on quieter roads were possible.
As a general rule, there are no flat, easy options on most of the route. There are a number of rivers you have to cross (on the road) and as a result you’re going to have a long descent followed by a long ascent.
1. Mount Victoria to Lithgow - Hartley Vale is beautiful, but if you’re not prepared to ride up the hill just skip this entire section and catch the train to Lithgow and start from there.
2. Oberon to Crookwell - Most people are probably going to want to route around private property and Fullerton Road south of the Abercrombie River unless you’re reasonably experienced. The easiest option is to take Abercrombie Road from Black Springs. This will bring you to Taralga and you could stay there. I don’t like the town as there is almost nothing I can eat in the general store. There’s also no supermarket. For gluten eaters, you’re fine.
If you wanted to avoid private property, but were after gravel you could take Abercrombie Firetrail into the National Park then onto Southern Boundary Trail which will bring you out Abercrombie Road (I have not ridden this). There are options to come out at Rockwell but these would cross multiple private properties.
3. Crookwell to the Southern Highlands train line - The Southern Highlands train line, is without doubt, the worst train line in NSW. I’ve previously posted about the lack of trains south of Moss Vale and if you take the last train out of Goulburn you’ll miss your connection at Macarthur. See here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/474293339288710?multi_permalinks=7239701786081131
If you’ve had enough at Crookwell/Taralga then Goulburn is a fairly easy ride with a net downhill you’ll just need to spend the day there. If you want to ride Swallow Tail Pass Marulan is your closest station. Moss Vale is an additional 45km. The other option is to take Wombeyan Caves Road to Mittagong.
If you really wanted to avoid the Southern Highlands line you could ride to Nowra either via Tarago and Nerriga, or Kangaroo Valley. I’d seriously consider this.
When I was at the supermarket at Marulan I overheard a conversation about the train being cancelled to Goulburn that evening. The trains had been cancelled for the following day (Saturday) but there was no information about Friday. The website still showed they were running. Calling the Transport NSW hotline I was told there were multiple buses but they didn’t know where or when they would arrive. We headed down to the train station to wait. One bus came quite quickly, but it was going to Goulburn. The bus never came back. Another turned up two hours later, and he said he would “probably” come back. If he did we would have been stuck at Campbelltown without a train by the time he turned up with no connecting train. We booked in at the pub for a pretty average night of sleep.
Unsurprisingly despite the tracks being damaged by the heat, which cancelled the commuter trains, the freight trains were running just fine. We can build a world-class Metro, but absolutely no one cares about the Southern Highlands train line. I despise everyone who has been complicit in what we live with.
2026-01-08 1455hrs Day 02 Fullerton Road this is the climb that almost ended our relationship. 17 per cent in the heat of the afternoon 39C (in the shade). I was riding corner to corner, Naomi gave up at some point and just started pushing her bike. I had to jump over multiple fences into a property where no one was home to find an outside tap. My rides often end up like this.
WHY COME OUT HERE?
I’m not going to advocate for you to ride here. It’s far enough way to be slightly inconvenient and hard enough not be easy and fun. Most of the 6 million people who could come out here never will. We saw one group of people on the last day and they packed it in after riding 20km. As is so often the case in life (and unfortunately Facebook groups), people with vastly less experience and knowledge want to provide their advice. I don’t know why people say to me “I hope I don’t read about you dying on the news.” As if I’d make the news…
The roads are very quiet. We spent considerable time riding side by side without seeing any traffic. I like the scenery out here, there’s a bit of variety and the views can be magnificent as you’re often at 1,000m elevation. I’ve ridden out here a few times and had forgotten how much I like the area. There are times when you feel you’re a long way from anywhere, but at most you’re 50km from a decent-sized town. Worst-case scenario, you could walk there in a day. I could walk there in a day, and if you’re desperate enough, you could too.
The food at the Tin Shed in Lithgow is excellent. The pub at Tarana was nice, we stopped in for soft drinks late on the first day. The Cave at Oberon did fantastic pizza and was the sort of place we could have easily gone back to. There’s not much at Burraga these days, but at one point the town had thousands of people and the history was interesting to read about.
I met a few interesting people whose doors I knocked on to fill up water bottles from. No one could quite work out why we were riding. Nor could Naomi.
There is a two-day option where you leave from Lithgow and ride to Taralga on the first day, then choose where you go on the second day. You’d want to be on the first train out of Central.
2026-01-09 1030hrs - Day 03 Mount Ray Road, this is the quiet back from Crookwell to Taralga. I’d never been on this section of road before, the shade was appreciated, the views were stunning and we saw one car all morning.
THE WEATHER
This is the second multi-day ride I’ve done in a heatwave. I wrote up some notes about my last trip here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/474293339288710?multi_permalinks=7239701786081131 there are links to quite detailed Strava posts from the four day trip from Albury to Goulburn in December 2023.
There’s not much I’d change or update from two years ago. If you want to learn how to ride in hot weather you need to get out and experience the sensory overload that is unrelenting heat. I am not sure you ever get used to drinking hot water. We finished two containers of Staminaid/Poweraid in less than three days. Neither of us ate that much as we weren’t that hungry.
This ride, I went with the Ground Effect Solaris top. Nothing is perfect, and this isn’t quite right. The sleeves are not long enough to protect your wrists, the hood is useless to me (I’d much prefer a collar to protect my neck). Riding in this top feels ‘hot’ unless I soaked it in water. I tried out a TNF brimmed hiking hat that worked reasonably well. The front flips up once you’re going over 30km/hr. We never had sustained strong wind, this wasn’t a problem. The more coverage you want from the hat, the more problems you’ll have keeping it on your head.
2026-01-08 1930hrs - Day 02 Laggan Road on the edge of Crookwell we spotted a donkey and managed to coax him to come over and be pet. He needed a wash.
This post was originally on Bikepacking Australia facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/474293339288710/posts/25816242578000437/