THE weather is taking a turn for the chillier side so Bathurst's cyclists have been taking advantage of a range of online virtual tours to do from the comfort of their own homes.
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Or maybe comfort isn't the right word.
Recent events such as the Peel Junior and Women's Tour and the FulGaz Tour have asked riders to push themselves to the limit as they take on some of Australia's most picturesque and challenging roads - including Mount Panorama.
Toireasa Gallagher is one of several local riders getting into the groove, completing the Peel tour and on Sunday giving the Mount Panorama round of the FulGaz Tour a crack.
"That was awful," she laughed.
"You do get that sense of punishment. I didn't think it was going to be so hard. I felt like it was similar to what it is in real life."
Gallagher had also taken part in the opening two races of the tour and said it's great to experience some familiar places again.
"It's been great. It's nice to have something to work towards each week," she said.
"I did the Greenhill round at Adelaide and then the Springbrook round at Queensland and I'm now sitting around fourth in the women's race.
"I've rode Greenhill Road a few times when I used to train down there, but with the Queensland round I went in blind. When you're doing that it's difficult to know where you should be saving your energy."
The Peel Junior and Women's Tour was a great opportunity for Gallagher and her daughter to team up.
"We had a tour over three stages in one day. My daughter and I did that one, tag teaming on the trainer the whole day," she said.
"Our first ride was so hard as we were figuring out how it all worked but from our second ride on we worked out how to race in the bunch. Once we got to that point we loved it."
Gallagher is planning to see out the full FulGaz Tour. The closing rounds will take place over The Dandenongs (starts June 8) and a mystery stage (starts June 15) which is yet to be revealed.
