Summer Cycling in Melbourne

An update on my ride in the 2007 Melbourne Summer Cycle:

Yesterday, I completed the 40km ride (long course) without too much trouble. I finished with a time of 2:01:09 — an average speed of 20.91km/h. It was a slow start due to the sheer number of riders (estimated 3,000 participated), but the ride around the Grand Prix circuit at Albert Park sure got a few riders’ blood pumping! After a comfortable ride around the bay through Port Melbourne, the climb over the Westgate Bridge was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. I cruised over in 3rd or 4th gear and did not even have to drop a cog. The rest of the ride through Williamstown, Yarraville and Kensington up into Carlton was relatively flat and well paced and uneventful.

The ride–considering it was the inaugural event–was extremely well organised. The main roads were cordoned off with a riders lane, intersections were well manned by volunteer staff and police where required and the course was well signed, so there was no chance of taking a wrong turn. Registration was painless, and the provision of the website to help with fundraising made things easy in that respect. Well done to MS Australia.

At the end of the day, I had a great ride and during the process I managed to raise $200 in total (including my entry fee) for MS, so I’m really pleased. Thank you so much to all of those people who sponsored me — this result could only have been achieved with their help.

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