Our Gateway Bridge ride is one of Brisbane's secret 'river' rides with spectacular river views for much of the 50km ride. We had a fantastic turnout on Sunday and Brisbane turned on the sunny weather, plus some typical August headwinds. Perfect for e-bikes!
Thanks to everyone who turned up to our August Owners Club ride on Sunday. We had an amazing turnout with 15 riders in all and some travelling all the way from Warwick to join us (thank you!). It was great to catch up with our regulars and also a very warm welcome to our first-timers.
First stop, Mowbray Park
This ride heads east along the south side of the river and we are very lucky to have excellent bike path pretty much all the way through the city to Kangaroo Point. We head through the Botanic Gardens, along the riverfront boardwalk through Eagle Street Pier and merrily joined in with hundreds of walkers who were participating in the 25km OneDay to Conquer Cancer walk across the Storey Bridge. (This was an unexpected bonus lol.)
With a group this large and lots of twists and turns to avoid busy streets we invariably had some riders who 'explored alternative routes' (haha) and we all regrouped at the beautiful riverside Mowbray Park. This provided a great opportunity for some photos and lots of teasing re said alternative routes!
The ride keeps heading east along the bike path and then we turn north onto Hawthorne Road to explore Bulimba. This suburb has some beautiful historic (and modern) houses along the waterfront and we also get to ride along the southern bank of the river for part of it. Great views!
Over the Gateway Bridge
After the tranquility and beautiful views of Bulimba we head east again along Lytton Road to the start of the Gateway Bridge crossing. For those who have ridden over the Gateway it is a pretty serious climb. Long, relatively steep and you are lucky if you get to do it without wind.
Yesterday, the wind was brutal. 30-40km/hr headwinds and gusts that made us have to pedal downhill rather than coast down. Needless to say those who had ventured over on pure pedal power were a bit jealous of us with the power assist!
Its a great achievement to ride over it though with or without pedal assist and we enjoyed a long stop and lots of photos at the top. (See more below).
More 'alternative routes' through Hamilton, then....coffee!
With all the roadworks going on on Kingsford-Smith Drive we took a few more twists and turns to ride through the suburbs of Ascot and Hamilton. A few more than we were expecting due to some more 'alternative route' choices haha.
We popped out at Breakfast Creek Hotel to cross over the road to the beautiful bike path that starts in Newstead and winds along the northern banks of the river, directly opposite to where we had been riding earlier in Bulimba.
Coffee was required by this point though. Our cafe of choice treated us to a great view of the river and a chance to have a good chat to everyone before getting back on our bikes and winding our way back along the river.
The Brisbane Board Walk
This route back the City through New Farm is iconic in Brisbane. It takes you past the Brisbane Powerhouse through New Farm Park and onto the Brisbane Board Walk, which offers stunning views of the Storey Bridge and city.
Its a direct and safe riding route back to Electric Bikes Brisbane where we finished up at about 12.30pm, all very happy to have been out and about on our ebikes and getting to know a lovely group of people.
Save the Date. Next EBB Owners Club is 21 October
Our next ride is on Sunday 21 October. For this ride we might (sorry Di!) be tempted to add the word 'mountain' to our trail choice depending on who comes along.
This ride will go out through Victoria Park and along the Enogerra Creek Bikeway to The Gap.
The E-Bikes on this Ride
On this ride we had:
- Jillie on her maiden ride with her new custom-painted AVE SH11 Adventure ebike. Painted in Porsche Graphite Blue (pictured)
- Sam, Jackie, Mary riding AVE Adventure bikes
- Dianne on her Riese & Muller Charger
- Peter, Stephen and David riding Haibike trekking and All Mtn ebikes
- May riding her new Dyson electric bike and Craig on one of our AVE hire bikes
- Mary and Elizabeth on Kalkhoff ebikes
- Mike on his Bosch-powered Peugeot, and
- Janena and Steve on two Dyson hire bikes
