What is the criteria for a truly great road cycling city?
Great cycling infrastructure?
Easy routes for all to explore?
Varied and challenging terrain, close to the city centre?
A passion local bunch riding scene full of weekend warriors?
A strong local club scene, with a genuine racing calendar?
A breeding ground for some of the best professional riders of their generation?
While most cities excel in one or two of these criteria, it's a rare thing for a city to excel in them all. Canberra is just such a city.
We have described some of the other attributes else where, so lets just focus on the last point here. Within the current crop of Australian riders racing in the professional ranks include a small but significant number of riders from Canberra. These include Adam Phelan, Gracie Elvin, Michael Matthews, Chloe Hosking, 2016 Paris - Roubaix winner Matt Hayman and the recently retired Michael Rodgers. And judging by the numbers of young riders swelling Canberra's cycling clubs this list is only set to grow.
So if you are a passionate road cyclist, don't miss out on an opportunity to ride Canberra. It's got all the the boxes ticked for world class cycling city and you never know who you may end up riding with.
