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Melbourne Calling

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Winter sunshine in Melbourne

My breathing was heavy. Head down and tucked my legs were working as hard as they could. “Just stay on the wheel” I thought, as I tried to control my breathe gazing eagerly ahed. Turning a corner the road gentle rose up and around a small headland. The incline further exacerbated the speed differential. Dropping a few metres back I had to stand out of my seat to generate the extra force on my pedals. Slowly I bridged the gap and tucked back into the slipstream of the pack in front. I looked down at my Garmin. “30km/h…….35!” I flew at unprecedented speeds and kilometres quickly fell away. Up ahead a traffic light’s red glow delivered a welcome rest bite as the Pelaton begrudgingly slowed to a halt.

Gasping to catch my breathe I haunched over my handle bars. “Not bad going mate!” As the lights switched to green I jumped up on the pedals but my 50kg load was slow to move and no match for the lightweight roadies who shot off into the distance.

It was Saturday morning on Beach Road on the ride in to St. Kilda in Melbourne and I had inadvertently joined hundreds, if not thousands, of Saturday morning cyclists on their weekly ride out. This road, I was told, is scene to the infamous “Hell ride”. Steeped in Australian cycling tradition a huge group of riders meet at 7am each Saturday morning to tear there way down this ideal stretch of road. Ideal that is, other than the fact the road is still open to motorists and other roads users. Never before had I seen Tour de France sized pelatons racing down open roads!

The ride had become somewhat controversial with pack riders often flouting road rule, racing through stop lights and generally causing havoc. The controversy peaked in 2006 when the bunch knocked down and killed an elderly pedestrian. The group now work closely with the police to improve road safety, sometimes even attracting police escorts for the main bunch, and there now exists an understanding with the motorists who allow the entire left lane of the dual carriageway for the cyclists.

St Kilda

I continued my way up the coast towards Melbourne, excited to finally reach the city. There were an unbelievable number of cyclists out making the most of the clear winter’s morning. I would latch on to the back of a passing group and hold on as long as I could as they wound the speed up beyond 30km/h. My  ageing touring bike rattling along behind the group. After a few mintues of what was sprinting speeds on my ladened bike I would burn out and fall off the group, only for another one to pass after a couple of minutes to recover.

In record time I made it to St. Kilda, the epicentre of trendy morning sportsters. The ‘roadies’ all making their way to the various coffee and cake shops lining the streets after their morning workout. I got chatting to a couple of cyclists and enjoyed the morning sunshine on the hipster waterfront.

Luna Park

In the last few days I’d had so many offers of places to stay in Melbourne I didn’t know where to start. Keen to catch up with as many people as possible I picked up my phone and got dialling.

First stop was a couple of caravaners I’d met back in Southern Australia. They’d invited me in to share a meal and some wine and told me to give them a call if I needed a place to stay in Melbourne. Dave and Marg were the nicest people you could imagine to meet. I arrived early afternoon and spent the afternoon catching up with Dave before we headed in to town to pick up Marg after work.

Dave and Marg took me to a winter solstice festival on Federation Square, gave me a whistle stop tour of the sights of Melbourne and showed me around the various theatres, which Dave had worked on throughout his fascinating career. Dave and Marg reminded me of old family friends and I was constantly having to remind myself we’d only met a few days before. We chatted about family , work,  travel and all sorts. “What great people!”

Dave and I on Graffiti street

The next day I cycled through Melbourne’s leafy suburbs on a frosty winter’s morning. I made it to a suburb about 20km north of the city centre where I was meeting another friend, this one for the first time. I knew Jay through an online community we were part of several years earlier, we’d since added each other on facebook and stayed in distant contact through the powers of the internet.

Jay in Melbourne

We instantly hit it off and again it was like being around old friends. Jay and his wife Tegan were big sports fans and we watched a game of Aussie Rules (which I was coming to quite like) where Jay’s team, Geelong, hilariously threw away a huge lead to lose in the final seconds of the game to the big underdogs. Tegan and I laughed with Jay on the verge of tears! A mixture of rugby, football, basketball, gaelic football and about every other sport you can think of and played on a cricket pitch I still didn’t get how people could take this “novelty sport” so seriously!

Supermoon over the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

The next day it was back to the city to stay with a friend I met on my travels back in Vietnam. Melbourne is an incredibly vibrant city with endless things to do, I was happy resting up and enjoying just being in the city after weeks of rural living. I met couchsurfers, went to a play and museums, BBQ’d, watched more AFL and caught up with friends old and new. It was great to have some time off the bike, the long distances in Australia had become somewhat arduous and I enjoyed being surrounded by people again.

AFL statue outside the MCG

After a week I decided it was time to complete the remaining job at hand. An easy and flat 1,000km led up the coast to Sydney. No significant obstacles stood in the way of inevitable triumph… but that didn’t sound any fun. Joining up with a Melbourne cyclist I met earlier in the trip we looked over the map, scrolling up from the coast we saw mountains… the snowy mountains!

“A mid-winter crossing of Australia’s highest range……Why not?!”


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