Newsroom

A group of riders coming out of a driveway and turning left, with mature trees and banners flanking the driveway.
Two monster cycling weekends coming in November

Cyclists of all kinds will have the opportunity to ride closed roads in the south and north of the state on the first two weekends of November.

The Cygnet Cycling Festival is back on Saturday 4 November after its successful inaugural outing last year.

Families and recreational riders will again get the chance to follow the loop created for the Hell of the South race on closed and managed roads.

Hell of the South is the premier Tasmanian road race, taking in a spectacular 60km coastal loop ride, and has run for more than 20 years. Last year, organisers the Hobart Wheelers Club teamed up with the local community to expand the event to include the community ride and festival hub.

This year, the hub will be in the Cygnet main street and Bicycle Network will be there with our marquee and smoothie bike to talk about Back on your Bike and our volunteer-run social rides.

The following Saturday 11 November will be a first for Tasmania.

The Spirt of Tasmania Tour national road series race, which has been running since 1930, is going to open its Penguin leg to recreational road cyclists to follow the same 66km Gunns Plains course as the racers.

Drawn map showing a blue loop that is the course from Penguin through Gunns Plains and back to Penguin.

And there will be a shorter community ride to take advantage of the closure of the Penguin Coastal Road for the race.

Bicycle Network will be at the tour hub in Penguin and some of our volunteers have already put their hands up to help marshall the community ride.

Keen road cyclists will also have an opportunity to ride the short-but-steep prologue time trial in Launceston on Wednesday 8 November.

More details of the tour’s recreational and community rides will appear in In the Loop closer to the days.

Back on your Bike

In the lead up to both events, Back on your Bike will offer preparation sessions to help people take part in the community rides.

All sessions are available for booking now via bicyclenetwork.com.au/back-on-your-bike.

So if you have a friend, family member or colleague who needs to a goal to get them moving, these rides could be it!