It is a 550 km drive from Albury to Sydney along the Hume Freeway. Travelling at 110 kph, you can reach downtown Sydney in six hours. But cycling via Wagga, Talbingo, Cooma, Canberra, Goulburn, Mittagong and Camden is a 1,000 km, eight day journey, taking almost 40 hours in the saddle, including 8,000 metres of climbing.