STORIES
Parkes Gravel Odyssey – A Week of Adventure
by Kevin Ellenor
Published March 2025
Being retired now allows me more time for planning cycling trips for a group of mates away from the bustle of Sydney town. It’s all based on the premise that we find a country town that has some good accommodation, good gravel cycling routes, some good pubs and restaurants and most importantly good coffee shops, oh and we also like our reds.
The Parkes week in October 2024 from Sydney was the fourth of our trips away following Cowra, Coonabarabran and Orange.
Parkes is an excellent location for a week of gravel bike riding. We rode seven different loops ranging around 50-70km, champagne gravel everywhere, very quiet country roads, very friendly local drivers, plenty of wildlife, great scenery and never-ending smiles.
Daily Rides
| Day | Route (Strava Link) | Distance | Elevation | Road Surface |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parkes afternoon spin | 27km | 223m | Bitumen |
| 2 | Two Dish Loop | 57km | 384m | 60% gravel |
| 3 | Champagne Gravel with a Few Locals | 70km | 388m | 50% gravel |
| 4 | Back Yamma – Warregal Loop | 51km | 189m | 50% gravel |
| 5 | Parkes – Forbes Gravel Loop | 81km | 347m | 45% gravel |
| 6 | Parkes – Cookamidgera Loop | 54km | 356m | 40% gravel |
| 7 | Parkes North West Loop | 62km | 397m | 45% gravel |
Day 1: Parkes Gravel Bike Week
A short 25km town loop to stretch the legs following a 4 1/2hr drive from Sydney. The countryside was so green right now. Settled into our Federation style house for the next 7 days. Dinner at the local pub.
Day 2: Two Dish Loop
60km ride today. Champagne gravel out to the ‘dish’ then brutal headwind coming back to Parkes. Found a great coffee shop and then a pie for lunch. Mike cooked up two different superb pastas for dinner accompanied by some fine reds. A great day indeed.
Day 3: Champagne Gravel with a Few Locals
We had the good fortune of meeting up with Bicky, Daryl and a few local riders today. They took us out on one of their favourite rides on a supposed 60km route that ended up being 70km.
A great loop with more champagne gravel, some technical skills through a single track, great downhill tailwind sections and a slog home in the bitumen for the last 15km. Coffee not the best today but pies and sausage rolls made up for this.
A few of us spent the afternoon at the Dish.
Dinner tonight, more superb home cooked pasta and dessert accompanied by the now normal few fine reds. Another cracker day.
Day 4: Back Yamma – Warregal Loop
50km ride today, met a group from the Central Coast. Great gravel roads yet again. Headed off to do a mountain walk up to Burrabadine lookout in the afternoon.
Gourmet dinner tonight hosted by Deane Sproule, magnificent lamb shoulder and of course a few fine reds. Another day of great fun.
Day 5: Parkes – Forbes Gravel Loop
Day 5 Parkes gravel cycling saw us do an 80km loop down to Forbes and back. Very lucky with prevailing tailwinds in both directions. One really hairy 6km section on a track that was fully overgrown with tall grasses. Luckily no flats or snakes!!!
Met up with Jo Schwerdfeger, who we met in Cowra 2 years ago. Jo is a great cycling advocate for the Lachlan Valley trail. Our gourmet dinner tonight was takeaway Chinese at the behest of John Martin who celebrated his birthday today. Everyone feeling a bit tired but ready for another ride tomorrow.
Day 6: Parkes – Cookamidgera Loop
Day 6: the group of 7 proved that 6 days of back-to-back riding reaped great rewards. We rode a circuit from Parkes to Cookamidgera and had a photo session at the main line featuring a Bossi catalogue lineup.
The ride from Cooka back to Parkes was some of the best gravel rides you can experience; speeds exceeding 40kph, beautiful colours offered in the Central West and wildlife ie Kevin being challenged by a magpie “head on”, brown snake, wallaby and the widest variety of birds.
Today’s ride was 53K with 60% paved & 40% “champagne” gravel… the variation made it really interesting and enjoyable.
Tonight was another special team dinner by the “High Street” boys with an Awards presentation night included:
The notable awards were;
- Mike McKeon – “Master of Presentation”
- Deane Sproule – SAG Wagon Support Service (Coonabarabran)
- Steve La Spina – “Mr Resilience”
- Kevin Ellenor – “Grand Poo-Bah”
- Ross Parker – “Best presented rider” (sponsored by Attaquer)
- JP Bossi – “The Maverick” award.
Overall a great experience and many laughs!!!
Day 7: Parkes North West Loop
Last day of our trip saw the lads head out on a 60km loop. Plenty of wildlife today, kangaroos, wallabies, birds and a very aggressive magpie that really took a liking to JP. We even got to bike herd a flock of sheep making its way down the road.
Overall we cycled just over 400km for the week, 65% on excellent gravel roads and covered every direction out of Parkes starting directly from our accommodation. Dinner tonight was leftovers delight thanks to our resident chef Mike.
A great week of riding, gourmet home cooked dinners, beers, wine, camaraderie, great conversation, lies and lots of laughs.