Ed Henry, Peter Robson explain how Orange Treadlies tapped into bicycle tourism trend

The Orange Treadlies, led by Ed Henry, Helmut Berndt, Tony Kirkwood and Sally Spence have been happily cycling the Orange district's backroads in 2020 to map out a 360km six-leg tour which has been adopted by the city's peak tourism group, Orange360.

Chairman of Orange360 Peter Robson, who is also a member of the Treadlies, said the group became serious about the project when the NSW Government announced it was considering funding to develop trails in regional NSW.

"We had a big project, a $26million project, to put bike tracks all around the area," Mr Robson said.

"We had a clear understanding it was going to happen. Then suddenly it was switched off.

"We were very disappointed because we'd put a huge amount of work into it.

"Ed's a mate of mine, and we were talking, and he said well bugger that, we'll do it ourselves.

"So he and colleagues here, they mapped out a six-day ride, we made it 360km for [Orange] 360."

The trails, which offer a varied terrain and spectacular scenery, take in back roads from throughout the Orange360 district of Orange, Cabonne and Blayney, and also borrow from the Cowra shire.

Mr Robson said the six routes, which are detailed on the Orange360 website, are proving a hit.

"Orange 360 gets between 10 and 20 thousand hits on its website every week, it's become the essential website. In the last two weeks 25 per cent of those have been about this bike track," he said.

"And the duration of the hit is four minutes, so people are having a good look so its pretty exciting."

Mr Robson said a feature of the Orange360 district is its dozens of small villages within 30kms of each other which helps make the cycling tours viable.

"I think one of the major reasons, particular why Cabonne and Blayney have backed it, is it's going to get life into some of the smaller villages, all these people are going to stop and there's going to be bed and breakfasts and little cafes will start to pop up. So it's pretty exciting development."

Mr Henry, who has been riding trails for more than 20 years, and the Treadlies used their local knowledge of the district to rediscover the roads and said he was motivated to complete the project after riding other bicycle tours.

"You do a multi-day ride and you come back, and you peddle around Orange and you think geez, Orange is nicer to peddle around than some of the other places," he said.

"We're really part of a movement, it's a growth industry.

"This is the recommended route but people, since they've been using it, they sort of customise to their own needs. Some only ride for three or four days."

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