Click here to see the latest information about this year’s Winter Warmer

The ‘Winter Warmer’ is a Lifecycle tradition which is an annual cycling tour held over a full weekend in Winter.  The tour is a fully organised ride starting from Brisbane to Maleny and return.  Over the weekend riders cover over 250km and enjoy an overnight stay at beautiful Maleny, located in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Riders enjoy: a fully organised cycle tour with following support vehicle; fully catered for `feed zones’ at the top of Mt Mee and other locations;  over night accomodation at Maleny including lunch on arrival and breakfast.

The Winter Warmer route starts at the Lifecycle car park and follows Kelvin Grove rd.  Riders then turn onto Samford Road  and ride out over the Samford range into Samford Village.  From Samford Village we ride to Dayboro and then to the top of Mt Mee where we enjoy the first `feed zone’ and re-group before continuing the tour.

The ride continues up Mt Mee and a final 10km of rolling hills until we hit Munchkins, where we turn left and descend into Woodford, the designated lunch stop. We stop, re-group, rest the lags and enjoy lunch at a local bakery.

After lunch we continue cycling over a relatively flat course to the start of the last climb which begins when we turn left onto Stanley River Rd. From here we climb up a very steep ascent where the group to seperates and riders roll into the accomodation at their own pace.

We stay the night at Tranquil Park Mountain Resort, Maleny, which is nestled in the Sunshine coast hinterland and has stunning views of the Glass House Mountains.   After all of the cyclists have arrived and cleaned up we enjoy a fully catered lunch and an afternoon where we relax and chat over a beverage or two.  In the evening we dine at the Tranquil Park Mountain Resort Restaurant and party with the locals.

On the Sunday morning we start out with a buffet breakfast, pack the support vehicle and then begin the ride home. From Maleny we descend through Peachester farmland and ride behind the Glasshouse Mountains to our lunch stop at The “Hut of Indulgence”, Wamuran.  Coffees, cakes and sandwhichs are enjoyed at the bakery.

From `The Hut of Indulgence’ we ride home through smaller, undulating roads towards Brisbane and there’s often a stop at the steepest drive way in the world.  If we’re lucky riders can compete against each other to see how far up the drive way they’re able to climb and if we’re unlucky then an angry man in a ute descends the drive way and abuses us.  It’s luck of the draw really.

Next Winter Warmer: August 11-12, 2012. Book now.

Click here to see some photos of the 2007 Winter Warmer

Ride Data