By Ellen Hill
Gliding up to a little-known lookout where there’s only you and a couple of black cockatoos (Wumbarrung in Gundungurra language).
Admiring heritage gardens and grand private homes while cruising along back streets before discovering a hole-in-the-wall café in a side street.
The best bit about exploring our Blue Mountains on an e-bike is that the battery powered vehicle irons out the hills, gets the blood moving on chilly Winter days and gives you a good workout – without the lung-freezing, thigh-burning exhaustion.
Blue Mountains Adventure Company manager Andy Mein, a passionate rock climber, canyoner and Katoomba local, says: “The power system on these bikes is phenomenal.
You feel like Superman. I’m riding like I’m on the flat but I’m riding up a hill.
“So for an older rider, say, who maybe hasn’t done a huge amount of physical exercise in recent years, it’s an easy ride as long as they can keep the balance and point the bike in the direction they want to go.”
You’ll push off from the Cycle Hub next to the Blue Mountains Adventure Company HQ in Katoomba (look for the chimney stack in the centre of town) after being fitted with a bike and given the rundown, but you can get used to the gears, battery powered assistance and brakes on the flats before the road steepens.
Pausing your four to six-hour self-guided tour at Cahills Lookout with views across the Megalong Valley towards Jenolan Caves and the vast wilderness of Kanangra-Boyd National Park, you might even see abseilers and climbers scaling the nearby Boars Head rock formation.
The sights are endless: Echo Point overlooking the world-famous Three Sisters, the Jamison Valley and Mount Solitary, and Ruined Castle, Katoomba Falls Reserve and Reids Plateau. On an e-bike, you can pause at will to capture Insta-worthy photos of tick list sites and lesser-known locations. Currently closed to cars and buses, you get to sneak down to the historic Leura Cascades picnic area, then see a different side of the Three Sisters near the coffee cart at Gordon Falls and Sublime Point.
Hidden among the seasonal trees in Leura, the National Trust-managed Everglades property is renowned for its gardens. But have you been inside the art deco house to see bathrooms that must be seen to be believed?
Even on an e-bike, cycling works up an appetite, so a burger at a microbrewery, share platter at a café or something more upmarket at a restaurant in Katoomba fixes that when you’ve delivered the bike back to BMAC.
Blue Mountains Adventure Company T: (02) 4782 1271 E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
bmac.com.au/blue-mountains-cycling
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