So… anyone heard of this event that’s happening at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre?? It’s advertised here http://www.egamesexpo.com.au/
Yes… It’s something people with simple minds may find amusing…
Yes… It actually looks like an interesting expo…
And Yes… You’d think for an event like that they’d proof read the URL… but it may also be deliberate…
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s Talk Like A Pirate Day.
G’day all!
After our trip to Vietnam, we’re back at work. I had to ease into work today as I felt damn lazy! Luckily it’s a quiet day.
Worse still, they’re building a new car park at this hospital so we can’t park at our usual car park on the hospital grounds. I had to park 7 minutes’ walk away on the street! Yes that’s right – SEVEN WHOLE MINUTES!!! (I’m so spoilt). A couple of my colleagues have taken to cycling to work. Hmmmm, good excuse to buy a bike! I know that I’ve been talking about this for a year.
OK, keep working hard…
Phew.. what a ride. It was a great Sunday morning with weather forecast for the big 20 in Melbourne and HP, Yang and I headed out on the ‘Fruit Tingle’ ride (the name is ripped off another ride also happening today in Shepparton called the ‘Fruit Loop’ ride – much harder though).
It all started somewhere in Kallista and at first I thought maybe a mountain bike (or even a horse) was more appropriate for today as we had to park in some paddock…
We then wandered through the Dandenong ranges (I think… Yang can give a more detailed description), and given that Yang didn’t have his speedo sensor working until he made an ‘on-the-fly’ adjustment, I’ll quote some stats on his behalf. (That adjustment was worthy of a Darwin Award as he could’ve easily taken out his fingers, but I can understand where he was coming from as I hate not knowing how fast I’m pedalling, how far I’ve travelled, how much further to go etc).
Distance: 74.37 km
Avg Speed: 27.0 km/h
Ride time: 2:45 hrs
Elapsed time: 3:15 hrs
And despite HP wearing his underwear/g-string on the outside, Superman still managed to ‘get lost’ and call for a pick up instead of climbing that final 2km like the rest of us did.
Still, well done to everyone for doing this. The bunch was only about 20 big although it was good experience going through the mountains. However I didn’t think bunch etiquette was all that crash hot in this group (or maybe I just haven’t cycled with enough bunches to know what’s ‘good’) as every time ‘car back’ was called, nobody seemed to want to move out of the way for the cars. Not to mention the poor hazard signalling when we nearly ploughed through some hay that was on the side of the road.
And oh Nick, just as well you didn’t come today, you definitely wouldn’t have gone to the picnic ground for the BBQ afterwards…
No more hills please….
Why didn’t someone tell me there was a 5:45am North Road Bunch earlier!!
Anyhow, I found out recently through lurking on the Bicycle Victoria forums that there actually was a 5:45 bunch on Wednesday that went down ‘slow’ AND came back up ‘slow’ as well. I managed to hang on all the way (yep, didn’t even turn off at Hampton Rd) staying somewhere in the front half of the pack. It was a fine morning and I think numbers are really starting to swell now as we hit ATB season. Around 80-100 for this bunch and I’d say the 6:00am would’ve probably had similar numbers. On the way back up from Mordy I saw at least 2 other groups of about 60+ going the other way. Must say, the makeup of this ‘slower’ group is visible – far fewer club jerseys and even a few ATB2005 tops. Riders were also on the ‘heavier’ side and older (not to say any slower)…
The ride was pretty cruisy and uneventful except for when we came around that Mordy roundabout. For a second there the pace picked up a bit but I was telling myself ‘surely this IS the slow group’. But it turns out that it was just a short sprint to catch back on to the leading bunch as the group was separated slightly at the roundabout. Phew! I must admit though, today’s ride doesn’t give you as much of a buzz as the 6:00am ride does. I’ll still have to aim to stay with that group. Nothing like taking your heartrate above that 170-180 mark so early in the morning. (I don’t think I even went beyond the 150’s today). But in fairness to the guys working up front, I think there was a bit of a headwind today but I just didn’t notice it in the comfort of the pack. 
Oh yer, one other thing, we did pass this SKCC girls group on the way back. Must find out where they start.
All in all still happy with today’s ride, covering 44.99km and averaging 31.4km/h. (It was 32 when I peeled off at North and St Kilda St).
Anyone want to join me for Friday 6:00am?
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