What a bunch of freaks, geeks, hipsters and trendies that showed up for this years Melburn-Roobaix. It was the first time for me, second time for my brother. Some hot bikes although not as many as I was expecting. We met up with some BV forums people at Fed Square and decided to do the ride with Martin, he of the many nice bikes.
First destination was Sidney Myer Music Bowl so we had 200+ riders heading en masse from Fed Square down St Kilda Road. There were a few stupid punks wandering out all over the road but for the most part it was pretty orderly. From there we had the option of heading to Richmond or South Melbourne for next checkpoint. We picked Richmond we knew the area better. It didn’t take long before we formed up with other riders heading the same way. Between 5-10 people, it was a pretty good chance that someone knew the area because they lived there or worked there. I got split up from Martin and HYG so I just rode along with my group.
The next series of checkpoints led us pretty much past my place. The arrows directed us to ride across the Victoria Park station railway yard. The guys on MTBs belted along while those of us on fixes and road bikes just picked our way through the rocks and gravel carefully just hoping that we didn’t face plant. Amazingly my bike and my body survived that bit but I managed to get a flat in Clifton Hill. As my group was riding down a cobbled alley, I was just chatting with a guy about our gearing because it looked like he was pushing a big gear when I heard a PSSSSSHHHHH from my rear wheel. Rats. I had to pull out from the group to fix the flat. Martin and my brother rolled by just as I just got the fresh tube in. Ahhh, the convenience of CO2. I think that was the quickest tube change I’ve ever done.
From Clifton Hill, we headed back to Collingwood, Fitzroy then Carlton North. We saw another stupid punk get nearly cleaned up by a panel van because apparently he was riding no-hands coming out of an alley onto the road. I sure he must have had stains in his jocks from that. The rest of the ride is a bit of a blur of cobbled alleys and more cobbled alleys. We went through Fitzroy North, Thornbury and Northcote, eventually ending up at Brunswick velodrome for the finish.
Post-ride refreshments included beer and dim sims at the pub. Haven’t had those since high school! The dim sims, I mean. I missed out by one number in the prize draw at the pub - bugger!
It wasn’t a huge ride but the early MTB ride in the morning followed by a mad dash around Melbourne meant I was pretty pooped by the time I made it home. Top marks to Fyxomatosis for organising the race… I mean… ride.
