Rock&Road at The Briars

Date:	24th - 26th of August
All inclusive price:	$990.00

Mountain biking and road biking in the beautiful Southern Highlands of NSW with superb accommodation, fine wines and food.

The Southern Highlands of NSW is blessed with some of the best mountain biking and road riding opportunities in Australia and, being only a 1.5 hour drive from Sydney and Canberra, is a perfect weekend getaway. Our Rock&Road weekend based at the historic Briars Country Lodge and Inn takes full advantage of the riding available in the area, with rides led by some of Australia’s leading cyclists. The tour is fully inclusive - great accommodation, fine food, bikefit seminar and the opportunity, if you wish, to ride some beautiful Italian Bianchi road and mountain bikes on some of the best trails the Highlands have to offer.

The Southern Highlands is also the home of Wild Horizons, one of Australia’s best known and most respected organizer of cycling events and tours. For some background detail about Wild Horizons - see here

Weekend

Friday

We look forward to welcoming you to The Briars on Friday evening for a late dinner and to settle into your accommodation. During the evening there will also be the opportunity to check out the range of Bianchi bikes available for you to try over the weekend.

Saturday

After breakfast we’ll head out from The Briars on a road ride following some of the quiet country roads of the district. On our return Blair Martin, former elite cyclist and now owner of The Body Mechanic, while not providing individual bike fits, will spend some time with the group discussing the importance and practicalities of proper bike fitting. Blair, a physiotherapist, is lauded as one of the best in the business when it comes to bikefitting. A professional bikefit will improve not only your riding performance but your body will thank you too! This will take us through to lunch after which we will head (transport provided) to the much loved flowing mountain bike trails of Wingello State Forest for an afternoon ride. Back at The Briars, pre dinner drinks with tall ales and tall tales of riding adventures will lead into a 3 course dinner with drinks included.

Sunday

Rising early we’ll head into the crisp air of a Southern Highlands winter morning for a pre breakfast road ride. After this we’ll check out of The Briars and make our way to Bundanoon, perhaps sneaking another quick coffee in, before we hit some of the special singletrack across private land that goes to make up part of the course of The Briars Highland Fling, a huge marathon MTB event that takes place in November with over 2000 riders. These trails are rarely available outside of the Fling weekend. The ride will pop out near one of the Southern Highlands acclaimed cool climate wineries where we’ll taste the local drop before a short ride to The Exeter Studio Restaurant for lunch. After lunch a very leisurely 5km will take us back to Bundanoon and your cars where Rock&Road wraps up.

Riding

Rock&Road is styled for keen cyclists whether enjoying life on the road or on the dirt. For those keen road riders who rarely venture onto a mountain bike, the weekend offers the opportunity for some flowing trails in beautiful forest and farmland that are not particularly technical but hugely enjoyable. For the mountain bikers who rarely drop onto the bars on a road bike, the same applies – a chance to enjoy some quiet country roads on guided rides. With our partner Bianchi on hand with their demo fleet, you also do not need to own both road or mountain bike as bikes will be on hand to borrow for the rides.

We are not out to break any records on the RockRoad rides but most will find the riding over the weekend plenty enough to build up a good appetite for the fine dining that is part of the tour. Rides will be led by Wild Horizons staff along with Andy Blair and Jenny Fay. Andy is the current Australian National Series MTB champion. He has multiple stage race and marathon race wins to his name and represented Australia in the 2010 World Championships. Jenny raced professionally on the road at an international level but now focuses on mountain biking as a member of Team Rockstar. She is the winner of the 2011 Real Insurance Marathon Series and leads the 2012 series and placed 2^nd in the Australian XC championships in 2011.

For those not feeling confident crossing from road to dirt, or vica versa, Wild Horizons staff as well as Andy Blair and Jenny Fay will be available to help you with the transition, give some pointers and building your confidence so that you can make the most of the change and learn some new skills.

Accommodation & Dining

The Briars Country Lodge & Historic Inn is our Rock&Road base for the weekend, it is located in the centre of The Highlands between Bowral and Moss Vale. The Inn (circa 1845) is loved for its intimate bars, open fires and contemporary food and is the ideal base to explore the Southern Highlands by bike. Accommodation at The Briars is in comfortable 4 star twin share rooms. All suites come with King Bed or Twin set up, separate dressing room and a bathroom with a bath. The split level sitting room leads to the outside terrace through French doors opening on to extensive grounds and the lake.

The Briars has a popular bar and restaurant as well as a couple of private dining rooms that we will utilize over the weekend. Check here for full details on The Briars.

Partners

		Our Bike Partner, the well known Italian brand, Bianchi is one of the world’s best known bike brands with a long history in cycling Bianchi will be on hand at Rock&Road offering their latest road and mountain bikes for your scutiny and to try out on the rides.
		T: 02 9550 1655
		The Body Mechanic is a full physiotherapy practice based in North Sydney. They are dedicated to sportspeople and cyclists and to this end offer Australia’s leading bikefit service. Blair Martin will be attending Rock&Road to talk about how to get the best from your bike position.
		T: 02 9955 5842

What is Included

• Twin Share accommodation for 2 nights (Single accommodation may be available for an extra cost)
• All meals from dinner Friday to lunch Sunday
• Pre dinner drinks and drinks with dinner, Saturday.
• Guided road and MTB rides on both days
• Transport with bikes to Wingello State Forest
• Bianchi road and mountain bikes to try during the rides

What is Not Included

• Drinks apart from those mentioned above
• Travel & Medical Insurance
• Transport to/from the Southern Highlands

Bookings

A non refundable deposit of $250 is required on booking a tour. Full payment is required 30 days before the tour commencement date

Booking is via our Event Management System, where you will first register for an account. You will then be able to login and book the Tour. To register for an account and make a booking please head here

Cancellations

30 days + before departure - Full refund minus deposit
15 days to 30 days before departure - 50% of tour price refund
14 days or less before departure - nil refund

You are advised to take out Travel Insurance. We reserve the right to cancel any tour prior to departure in which case you will receive a full refund. The tour will go ahead based on minimum number of participants.