Top Ten Epic Bike Rides

That famous Sydney skyline (ALZ)

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It's the smallest continent on the planet, but its 16,000-mile-long coastline of white sandy beaches and rocky cliffs is just too much too ignore for long-distance touring cyclists. Second only to Antarctica as the world's flattest and driest landmass, Australia is rich in geography and aboriginal history. While the limitless outback has daunted people for years—crossing today is no less intimidating than it was before speeding cars turned the background into a blur—the coast is a ribbon of comfort that has turned this broad base into a single nation. Any sprint along any seashore is full of the life common along a water's edge. In fact, a full continental circumnavigation will pull you through every one of Australia's major cities. And it will count as a notch in that badge of epic adventures that no one will pooh-pooh.