Wollongong to Bundanoon - 143.7km | 2,465m elevation | 6h 19m
If Day 1 was about settling in, Day 2 was about surviving gravity.
We rolled out of Wollongong knowing the profile wasn’t friendly. The coast disappeared quickly in the rearview mirror and the road tilted upward and just kept going. It felt less like cycling and more like someone had quietly swapped our bikes for a stair master.
The opening statement on the route was brutal, 4.67km at 9%.
There’s no easing into that. Nine percent doesn’t let you find rhythm; it demands respect from the first pedal stroke. Heart rate spiking, conversations disappearing like a breath of wind, and the group stretched thin as everyone found their own way to manage the effort.
Just when you thought you'd seen the worst of it, the road kicked again with the final 480 metres ramping to an average of 18%.
Eighteen percent. At that gradient it genuinely would’ve felt easier to climb a wall, it makes walking up it difficult. Speed drops to single digits, what little cadence you had disappeared. It becomes a full-body grind, every pedal stroke negotiated. No heroics, just stubborn forward motion.
Just when you thought you'd seen the worst of it, the road kicked again with the final 480 metres ramping to an average of 18%.And that was just the opener.
After regrouping and resetting, we forged ahead to the next major test, 5.7km averaging 6%.
Six percent doesn’t sound savage on paper, until you’ve already emptied the tank once. It’s the kind of climb that quietly drains you. No dramatic pitches, just a steady reminder that gravity will win eventually.
And then, as if the route designer wanted to make absolutely sure we understood the days brief, we rolled towards the 3rd and final climb of 8km averaging 7.4%.
By this point it wasn’t about power numbers or speed. It was about patience. Break the climb into corners. Ride to the next tree. Hold the wheel ahead. Keep eating. Keep drinking. Keep turning the pedals over.
Why are we here?
Days like today strip things back to basics. When the road is that steep, there’s no ego just grit and purpose.
Every metre we climbed is for kids and families doing it much tougher than we ever will on a bike. When your legs are screaming, perspective matters. We chose this discomfort. They didn’t choose theirs. We've chosen to make a difference. Will you choose to make a difference as well?
That thought carries you when the gradient hits double digits. Day 2 wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t fast. It wasn’t glamorous. It was honest, hard cycling, grinding against gravity for over 2,400 metres of vertical gain.
And tomorrow, we get up and do it again.
City Circle/Slattery aka The Green Team
