Headline: Is Sydney more bicycle friendly??

I did a ride today that 5 years ago I would have considered a little crazy for the normal rider to do - pacific highway - Mona Vale road - Forest way - Roseville bridge and home. 38 km's on pretty much the busiest roads in the area.

Much of the route is now 3 lanes, often with bicycle lane (execept of course the pacific highway, a road thats in worse condition than the average offroad fire trail), and the Car drivers for the most part were reasonably careful around the bicycles I saw/passed. The only crazy part is the uphill drag from the Roseville bridge going to chatswood - once you've come down the hill, there's no escape - the pedestrian walkway is on the other side of the 6 lane divided road, so you're forced to take the lane, and for some reason, the vans & 4x4's scream down the hill at 80km/h, and expect to maintain it up the hill too - right over you.

38km in 1.5 hours - 25km/h with a flat on the downhill to the roseville bridge... Glass again..

I guess the Michelin pro2 race aren't suitable for Sydney - they were great for Switzerland, Austria and even German off road touring, but there's way too many glass shards on Sydney roads.