Alaskan quickie in Melbourne

BikeAK said:

Going to be in Melbourne from the 3rd of Jan to the 18th. Thinking about bringing the Cervelo. I'm a reasonably quick road racer at my university in Colorado Springs. I'm originally from Anchorage Alaska. I've got a few days before meeting up with a friend in the area and am interested in any training rides/criteriums going on in the area.

-Jonathan Tower

Yeah, bring the bike. Lots of good riding & racing to be had. Definitely crits on Sat & Sun, plus Wed & Thu (evening) at least. Possibly on other days too... Some crits get a few off season pros racing as well. You wil need a licence to race - suggest you contact CycleSport Victoria (the local governing body) in regards to that.
vic.cycling.org.auvic.cycling.org.auOpen ↗

Also, plenty of training rides/bunches around too.

eg: (Pinched from SKCC website coz I couldn't be bothered typing)

Note: This is not an exhaustive list of all training bunch rides that happen around Melbourne but are some of the more well known ones...
NORTH ROAD RIDE - Monday through Friday
Leaves 6.00am corner North Road and Nepean Highway, Brighton. Travels south along Nepean Highway to Mordialloc roundabout and back to Café Racer in St Kilda. The distance is approximately 40km with Monday, Wednesday and Friday being ridden at a recovery/slower pace getting back to Racer around 7.20am. Tuesdays and Thursdays are fast days, arriving back around 6.55am.

5.45am NORTH ROAD RIDE - Tuesdays & Thursdays
Leaves 5.45am corner North Road and Nepean Highway. An alternate to the FAST Tuesdays & Thursday 6am ride. Nice pace, two abreast on the way down and picking up the pace on the way back with rolling turns on the front.

BRUMBY’S RIDE - every day
Meet at the corner of Littlewood Street and Hampton Street, Hampton at 6.00am. Ride onto Beach Road almost to Mordialloc and back via Como Parade, Balcombe Road and Beach Road to Brumby’s Bakery in Hampton Street for coffee and a bit of socialising . Mondays and Fridays are slow(er) with the other days being faster.

ALPINE TOUR OF THE SUBURBS - Thursdays
Leaves 6.30pm Thursdays from SBR (Punt Road near St Kilda Junction). The bunch heads north along Chapel Street and on to Yarra Boulevard. Some riders congregate on Yarra Boulevard under Studley Park Road around 6:50pm to jump on when the bunch comes past. Travel out into the suburban hills via Kew, Balwyn and Doncaster, then back via Heidelberg, where several laps of the challenging “Col du Burgundy Street” hill are undertaken. Return back through Ivanhoe and Yarra Boulevard once again to St Kilda. Distance is about 60km and includes several KOM and sprint points along the way, with the bunch regrouping after each effort. Good hill work and a little technical in parts. Arrive back in St Kilda around 9pm, with pasta and wine on Fitzroy St usually following.

FITZROY CYCLES RIDE - Tuesdays
Meet at the corner of Barkly St and Carlise St in St Kilda at 6.30pm every Tuesday, ride down St Kilda Road and onto Barkly St in St Kilda, then along Broadway to New Street, Brighton and onto Beach Road to Mordialloc and back. Pace down is generally an easy 30-32kph. Returning from Mordialloc is pretty much flat chat! (35-50kph) Back at St Kilda by 8.00-8.15pm.

!!!!!!
Good info. I'll definetly be checking out the faster of these rides. Been reading up on my Oz Hip Hop and prepping my liver for the trip so any read on local pub crawls?

Otherwise I'm looking forward to my trip and am glad to find a solid cycling community!

[quote="BikeAK Been reading up on my Oz Hip Hop and prepping my liver for the trip so any read on local pub crawls? [/QUOTE"]
have a look in here
www.ozhiphop.com

BikeAK said:

Going to be in Melbourne from the 3rd of Jan to the 18th. Thinking about bringing the Cervelo. I'm a reasonably quick road racer at my university in Colorado Springs. I'm originally from Anchorage Alaska. I've got a few days before meeting up with a friend in the area and am interested in any training rides/criteriums going on in the area.

-Jonathan Tower

I thought the title of this thread "Alaskan quickie in Melbourne" there was some chick who arrived and wanted a root.

How disappointing.

I'm not unamenable to the idea of being picked up (seeing as I've got no free place to stay for a couple of days). So if you all know any female cyclists/noncyclists between the ages of 18 and 25 who are into asian college students I can clean and have flair in the kitchen.

BikeAK said:

I'm not unamenable to the idea of being picked up (seeing as I've got no free place to stay for a couple of days). So if you all know any female cyclists/noncyclists between the ages of 18 and 25 who are into asian college students I can clean and have flair in the kitchen.

Australian women are very accommodating to foriegn men and they won't give a [censored] about your cleaning and cooking skills as they won't want you for marriage.

On a serious note, be prepared Jonathan that the weather is starting to get hotter and the Aussie sun is generally harsher than the northern hemisphere. Plenty of sunscreen

Sounds like perfection on the other side of the world. I figure a little opportunity to even up the glaring tan lines can't hurt.

classic1 said:

Australian women are very accommodating to foriegn men

In my experience, Australian women are accomodating so long as you are caucasian. If you are any other colour, then you've gotta work REAL hard (mind you, if you speak with an American accent, you may find this does not apply to you).

I am an asian guy, so I think I can claim some expertise in this area. My partner is caucasian, and she totally agrees with the first statement.

As for cycling on this side of the world, if its only a short trip, you may find it more worth your while to hire a bike while you're down here than bring your own - don't know how big your baggage allowance is, but I certainly don't expect carrrying a bike to be cheap if it goes over your luggage allowance

n

nerdag said:

In my experience, Australian women are accomodating so long as you are caucasian. If you are any other colour, then you've gotta work REAL hard (mind you, if you speak with an American accent, you may find this does not apply to you).

I am a yellow skinned guy, so I think I can claim some expertise in this area. My partner is caucasian, and she totally agrees with the first statement.

n

say g'day to Pauline from me 😉

thunder said:

say g'day to Pauline from me 😉

Last time I tried that, she told me that I was going to be part of the middle class that was going to rule her Queensland, and she didn't like it very much.

Yellow skin = south east asian. Have edited previous for clarification.

Anyway - sorry for the thread hijack - discussing such issues is obviously not entirely appropriate. For those with a sense of humour in this area, I direct your attention to www.bitterasianmen.com

n

www.bitterasianmen.com

Best website in existence...

nerdag said:

In my experience, Australian women are accomodating so long as you are caucasian. If you are any other colour, then you've gotta work REAL hard (mind you, if you speak with an American accent, you may find this does not apply to you).

lol. Gold. Thats what I was getting at, although if you are Scandanavian, German, Latin, black or have a seppo accent you've already got half a leg over IMO. 😄

In any case, you'll have a ball out here Jonathan.🙂