Biking Bonanza

Remember this post about my bike getting stolen? Well, I'm not sure I ever mentioned that I found the same red bike for sale on eBay a few weeks later. It's not an uncommon bike here, because it's made by Reid Cycles, an Australian company, but I did think for a second that it might actually be mine being resold by the thief (it wasn't). Anyway, so I have a red bike again, and on Sunday, Zack and I did a loooooong ride with Kristy and Nigel along the Yarra River. Kristy has the same bike as me, but hers is white.

After several kilometers of riding, we arrived at our destination, Fairfield Park Boathouse & Tea Gardens. This riverfront restaurant was extremely popular and crowded on this sunny Sunday, and we had to wait a long time for our food. In the meanwhile, we enjoyed sipping on spiders, which is what Australians call floats. You know, like root beer floats...soda with ice cream in it. We had a raspberry soda one, and it was delicious. 

This place really is a boathouse, and you can rent canoes and kayaks here to paddle around in the river. The whole area is very scenic with tall eucalyptus trees, a bridge, and ducks swimming around. I wish there had been a koala in one of the trees; that would have made the place perfect!

After lunch, Kristy shared her fairy floss, which is what Australians call cotton candy. If you're a longtime reader, you may remember that from the post about Zack's birthday last year. Anyway, we sat along the river and soaked up the sun for awhile (Zack even took a little nap!) before hopping back on our bikes for the long ride home. We got a bit lost for awhile and couldn't seem to find the path back to the river, but we eventually made it and biked home to collapse on the couch for the rest of the evening. We sure slept well that night. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon spent with friends, though it hurt a bit to bike to the store the next day!

Sipping on spiders-ignore the rogue piece of hair in my face!

Bike Around the Bay

On Sunday, I got up bright and early, made Zack breakfast, and took a bus down to the starting line of the Bupa Around the Bay bike ride. Thousands of bikers were there, even though it was before 6am. This is the start for the 210km ride. With so many waves of riders, Zack didn't actually get to start until nearly 7am.

Here is Zack modeling his lovely jersey that his dear wife ordered for him online. It took over a month to get here for some reason, so he's very lucky it was delivered in time for the race. Woohoo for representing Colorado!

Zack did most of his training with Heath and Isabelle (pictured here in the red and white) and Jo and Nick, so they all started the race together.

After they started, I went running with Emily (10.5 miles!), and then we did a little shopping before driving down to Geelong with Adam. We met up with Zack so Adam could ride with him for the last 80km. Unfortunately, he got some flat tires and eventually Zack had to go on without him, but Emily and I managed to see them at a couple spots on our way back to Melbourne.

He did it! Zack finished the ride before dark, and he didn't even seem too pooped out. I'll let him give you all the details about the ride, the wait for the ferry, the weather, his speed and time, etc. But he did a great job, and now he has something to brag about in return when I bring up my marathons-ha! Good job Zack-I knew you could do it!









To give you an idea of the ride, below is a map of Port Phillip Bay. Melbourne is at the top, and you can see St Kilda (where we live) a little Southeast of the city. You can also find Brighton (where those beach houses are), the You Yangs (where Zack went mountain biking), and Torquay (where we surf). Zack rode down to Sorrento, took the ferry across to Queenscliff, and rode back up to Melbourne through Geelong. For you metrically challenged folks, 210km is about 130 miles. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Camping and a Corella

On Sunday night, we did something rather random. We stopped by Woolie's to pick up some snacks (cheese and crackers, strawberries, chocolate, etc.) and wine, and then we walked across the street to set up our tent on the beach. We crawled inside, ate our little dinner, and played Farkle by candlelight while the rain started and the wind blew. It was totally spontaneous and fun, and that's what made it cool. You're not allowed to actually camp overnight on the beach, but nobody seems to stop you from setting up a tent for a couple of hours.

Check out this bird that landed next to our balcony today. I looked it up; it's a Western Long-billed Corella. As long as it doesn't swoop me, I like it!

There's not much else going on around here. We've had several gray and rainy days, and Zack is currently in Traralgon (a city a few hours away by train) for work. His big bike race is this weekend, so he's been busy training. Other than that, we've just been looking forward to my family's visit in November. Oh yeah, on Saturday night we finally made it out to The Espy, which is the famous Esplanade Hotel, for some live music. Okay, that's all for now.

Hometown Hero

Flags they handed out along the ride.

Don't forget about the Chocolate Contest going on in the blog entry below. Though it's almost the end of Friday here, most of you still have another day to enter. The competition is heating up! Anyway, onto today's entry. If you know anything about biking, you know that Cadel Evans won the Tour de France this year. What you may not know is he is the first Australian to win this competition, so it's a big deal, especially since biking is so big around here. Today, Cadel came "home" to Melbourne for a big celebration. I rode my bike downtown to witness the craziness (I figured that was an appropriate means of transportation for the occasion!).

Cadel Evans did a short bike ride down St. Kilda Road to get to Federation Square. I couldn't get extremely close, but he was shaking hands and saying hello to the Aussies as he rode. Lots of people rode their bikes down there too, and there were yellow flags and signs everywhere.

I can't even explain how many thousands of people filled up Federation Square. There was no way I could get anywhere close to the stage, but they played everything on the big screen and had a great sound system, so I could see and hear it all. Victoria's Premier gave a speech, and there was a taped speech from the Prime Minister, a performance of the National Anthem, the gifting of Cadel with a trophy and a monstrous yellow jersey saying "Australia congratulates Cadel," and more. Then some guy interviewed Cadel, and he was very humble and funny. Australians don't like a "tall poppy" (someone who brags about how awesome he is), so Cadel is well-loved by the people in this country. They now speak of him as one of the legendary Australian athletes for all time. It was neat to be part of such a special moment in Australian history.

A full Federation Square for Cadel Evans!