After a 3 month delay due to COVID-19 restrictions, riders successfully finished the 2nd ever CCBUG (Central Coast Bicycle User Group) Tour de Central Coast on Sunday the 7th November 2021.
What is the Tour de Central Coast?
CCBUG started the event to encourage all bike riders to continue riding through the winter season, as well as explore the beautiful scenery of the Central Coast and the comradery of group riding. The event, based on the famous Tour de France, comprised this year of two courses - Challenge and Cruise - with six rides in each course over 6 weeks. Rides were designed around typical CCBUG routes and included a mix of difficulty levels, elevations, surfaces, paces and distances. The offering of two courses was intended to appeal to both casual and experienced riders.
Course details
The Challenge courses consisted of: Brisbane Water Loop, Terrigal to Norah Head return, Terrigal Loop of Pain, West Gosford to Yarramalong return, Woy Woy to Cowan return, and Gosford to Catherine Hill Bay return and were recorded through STRAVA via the "CCBUG Tour de Central Coast" group.
The Cruise courses consisted of: Chittaway to the Entrance return, Woy Woy to Gosford return, Brisbane Water Loop, Tuggerah Lake Loop, Tuggerah to Yarramalong return and Terrigal to Norah Head return and were recorded by joining a scheduled COVID-safe CCBUG ride.
This year’s experience
As is to be expected from the season, riding conditions were varied. “Poor weather caused postponement to some Cruise rides, but [there was] generally good riding weather in June-July”, said CCBUG president Alan Corvy.
The winners
Steven Drewitt won first place in the Cruise course, winning a CCBUG blue jersey. Dr Elly Warren won first place in the Challenge course, winning the stunning yellow champion's jersey.
All other place getters received gift vouchers to The Edge Cycles.
How to participate next time
If you missed this year's Tour, keep an eye out for next year's event on the CCBUG website https://www.ccbug.org.au/. CCBUG was formed in 2012 to promote the use of bicycles for transport and recreation, as a means to improve quality of life and protect the environment. If you're a bike rider in the Central Coast region, we highly recommend getting in touch with them to embrace the local rider community. Please visit our website to see which Bicycle User Groups are in your area.
