Situated on the corner of Foothills Road and Ramah Avenue, they will have front row seats as some of the world's best road cyclists climb the steepest hill of the course.

Inspired by the Tour De France, they are planning on putting out a display on their front lawn to attract the attention of the media helicopters which will be hovering over the city to capture the race.

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"The highlight of it for me is going to be standing out there watching them go up this hill," Mr Fuller, a keen cyclist and sports enthusiast, said.

"I've watched many people cycle up that hill, I've done it myself, very laboriously on the lowest gear possible, almost like walking, [but] these guys will go up that hill like rockets."

But some of the Fuller's neighbours are not so keen, and are even thinking of getting "Tour De Farce" signs made up to show their discontent with the event they say will cost them money and throw their lives into chaos for nine days.

The championships, considered to be one of the world's top annual sporting events, is tipped to bring in more than 1000 international cyclists from around 70 nations.

Between September 17 and 25, roads across Wollongong will be closed off for cycling events, including time trials and road races.

The Mercury door knocked along Foothills Road, Cabbage Tree Lane and Ramah Avenue - which are on the main race course and will be closed for at least part of every day the event is in town and more than 11 hours on the major race day.

We spoke to 20 residents about how they were feeling as preparations ramp up for Wollongong 2022.

Many appreciated the wider benefits, even while grappling with their own inconveniences.

But the majority also said communication from the council and race organisers has left a lot to be desired, and some said they've been left with no choice but to leave town for the week.

Cabbage Tree Lane resident and on-call disability support worker Simone Horder described the event as "a kick in the guts".

"It's the disregard for people's actual real lives, communication has just been horrendous," she said.

Ms Horder said she has been trying to get answers about how she would get to work while Cabbage Tree Lane is closed, with event organisers suggesting she move her car more than a kilometre from her house, or that she could consider going on holidays.

"I need to physically be there, [my work is] not something I can do online and I can't work from home - through the whole pandemic I couldn't work from home," she said.

"People need my physical support and it's just been overlooked and the answers have just been so trite.

"I rang council and initially it was like 'well just move your car', [or] the other comment was just go on holidays at that time. Well a) I don't want to go on holidays at that time and b) I can't afford it and c) I need to work for my clients.

"[The streets] are all going to be parked out, you're going to have to walk a kilometre or more.

"I would fear for council if they think this is going to go off without a hitch, there might be a few people with Tour De Farce signs."

Ms Horder's neighbour, Sarah Bull, is a hairdresser who will have to close her home-based business Hair By Ra during the race. She said eight days of lost income would be tough, but that had come to a reluctant acceptance of the event.

"The loss of income is tough but I can't keep thinking about it when there's nothing I can do about it and as far as I know there's no compensation for that so I just have to get on with it," she said.

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She is planning to host a party to cheer cyclists on, but raised concerns about whether the city was prepared to host such a large event.

"I'm looking forward to sitting at the front of my house and seeing community and all that, I really am, I think it will be really fun to say hi to the neighbours you don't even know," she said.

"But driving the streets I'm like does Wollongong really know what they've gotten themselves into? Because it's five weeks away and the roads look a mess.

"I talk to clients still now and they are even unaware of it. Nobody knows the impact it's going to have on all the roads, and it's going to be pretty hectic."

Neighbour Peter McRae is excited about the event, and is also hoping to host friends to make the most of it - if they can get to him.

"It depends logistically how many people are going to be able to get to me, so if I invite friends around it's like where will they park and cross the road to get here," he said.

"But I plan on spending my weekends out here at the front watching it all go by. It's a big event, I watch the Tour De France every year, so it's exciting for Wollongong to host a big event like that.

"I can see why it would be disruptive, and it's sort of sprung on us and the disruptions are becoming more immediate now, but I think it's a one-off, we're not going to have this event again."

Coal miner Peter Wilson said he was trying to arrange to get the week off work, to watch the races from home and limit some disruption caused by road closures.

"It pretty difficult at the moment because too many people want to take annual leave because of the race," Mr Wilson, who works in Appin, said.

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His neighbour, who didn't give a name, said there was a lot of excitement among friends and family who are part of Wollongong's cycling community. However, they were also facing big questions about how daily life would work during the race.

"I'm concerned about how my partner who works at the hospital how she's going to get to work, and the school for both my girls have been shut down so they're doing remote learning for that week, so it will be a whole new set of challenges again," he said.

"[My partner] rides to work of all things right now, so it might be that she needs to wheel her bike along the median strip of the houses here until she can free herself of that enclosed circuit area and then ride from there maybe."

Teacher and Ramah Avenue resident Emma Cooney said she was trying to work out whether she would be able to get to her school in Thirroul.

"I just don't know yet whether I park elsewhere and walk to my car, park a few blocks away and walk to my car and drive from there," she said.

"But also [my] kids will be home schooling that week so I really need to think about that and who's going to be supervising them and supporting them."

Her husband Nicho said he hoped to get more information soon from race organisers.

"They keep telling us there will be more information, but we're getting closer and closer and there's still nothing," Mr Cooney said.

"It would be nice to know even the basics, like will we be able to leave the house. Will i be able to go to other parts of the city and see the race?

"And it would be nice to be able to host people coming over here but i have no idea where they'll park how they'll get here because there's just no information."

Another Ramah Avenue resident, who didn't want his name used, said he was "interested in cycling" and planned to host people from around the globe during the week, with a barbecue lawn picnic planned.

"We've got friends coming from Germany and America and New Zealand and they'll stay with us for a week," he said.

The catalyst for them to come is the race, and they'll have a week here in Wollongong over the period of the event and then they'll go and see other parts of Australia.

"I think it will be great for Wollongong, it will be inconvenient for quite a few people, but on balance I think it will be very good."

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Cycling enthusiast and poultry farmer Mitchell Noble was critical of the communication of road closures and said life would be "tricky" for his Wollongong hospital nurse wife.

However, he was mostly looking forward to the experience of living on a world championship bike race course.

"If you look at the course, Ramah should be probably one of the best vantage points because that's where you'll start to pull the peloton apart a bit more," he said.

"I envisage they'll sit together down Sea Cliff Bridge, up Mount Keira which probably isn't the world's hardest ride so they should hold together for that, but then Ramah where they're really starting to push ... it should start to pull them apart.

"The gradient of that hill is comparable to anything in Europe that they race on Tour De France."

He said his family was planning a French-themed party as a nod to the Tour De France, but was also planning to walk into Fairy Meadow for the Fraternity Club's Italian festival and heading into the main fan area in Wollongong.

Organisers of the Wollongong 2022 UCI Road World Championships are holding a series of local information stands in suburbs affected by the September event.

Residents can ask how to get involved or how to get around while many of the city's roads are closed.

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