Melbourne, Ballarat & Geelong

All 3 places in 5 days... a quick trip but so worthwhile.

I have never managed to spend much time in Melbourne, so I spent the first two days as a real "tourist"...

taking some photos of course...
there were so many bikes...

& coffee shops & bookstores...

trams & buses...

tall buildings, both old & new.

Thanks to both Cycling Tips, and Pro-Motion Bikes (in Ormond)... as they made finding a good fast bunch ride in Melbourne so much easier!

Just as Wade had described (www.cyclingtipsblog.com/melbourne-rides), on a grey overcast morning, suddenly there were lots of cyclists at the corner of North Rd and Nepean Way, and away they rode at 6am sharp (not 5.59 or 6.02, but exactly 6.00)... Although I did not personally know even one person in the bunch, they all made me feel strangely welcome... after all, I was just another bike-riding, lycra-wearing person with a white front light and a flashing red rear light, braving another cold Victorian morning.

And to finish the friday ride, I was also greeted by the swans of Albert Park.  :)
Brighton and St Kilda in Melbourne, I found is oddly enough not that different from Brighton and Sandgate in Brisbane... both seaside areas that cyclists inhabit in the early mornings.

Then the adventure in Ballarat began...
only 1 week earlier, I had been advised that I was fortunate enough to get a start in the women's Herald Sun Cycling Classic.  What an experience it was.

Thanks also to Jarrod Partridge for some of these racing photos.

And I now have a bidon that I will never wash...

A short trip back to Melbourne via Geelong, and then suddenly I was home again.  Almost like a daydream.  And it was a pretty cool daydream at that. (And thanks for the company Nikki!)