Cold and Wet Wet Day

I woke up early at 6.30am, looking out the windows and was contemplating whether I should cycle or not. Weather don't look good with heavy clouds, strong winds and cold. My cousins, Den and Andrew, were already in their gears and I still haven't decided yet. What the heck, I'll just ride with them and if I can't stand it, I'll ride myself back.

By the way, I think I must have saw thousand riders out there riding. Big, medium, small group or lone rider. There were so many of them. I am so amazed and this wasn't a really good day to ride. My cuz was telling me that on a sunny day, I'll probably see a lot more than today! Wow!

I lost touch with Den and Andrew, when they went with the faster group. I hang on dearly to the other group and I am starting to wonder when will they turn back. I was already going pass around 35km and finally the guy told me that we are turning around. What a relieve! We stopped for a while before making our ride back. Then, I saw my cousins stopping somewhere, thought of waiting for them, but then again they are too fast for me, scared they are going to leave me behind again. So, I stuck with the group. On the way back, there were more groups riding their way back too. It was good since it helps me with the wind by drafting behind them but the sidewind was a real pain. The group I was following actually overtook another group of riders in front, but I chose to stay behind. Bad mistake. The group kind of disappear after a while and in the end I was alone. Shit! I struggled on with the sidewind or headwind. any riders who passed me, I don't have the legs to follow. There were some riders that I could follow for a while but each of them have different spot to turn or stop.

That wasn't the only problem, I don't know how to get back! I know I had to turn right but which right? I rode ahead and had to stop to ask for direction. When I saw Crowns Casino, I know I was in the city but still I wasn't sure how to get back yet. Had to ask a fellow rider at a traffic light to get direction. Luckily, I found my way back in the end. A total of 80km ride, wasn't planning for ride that long. Reaching home, I checked on my phone which I left in apartment. Andrew called me a couple times, probably worried where I was. Anyway, he told me that they were going to Seven Seeds for breakfast so can meet them there. I had a quick shower and walked to the cafe. There were a lot more people in the cafe than the first time I came with Den on my first ride.

I had this for breakfast (below)





Andrew had this (below)


And Den had this (below)






I thought the price here were kind of overpriced but their latte and food were quite good actually. Anyways, don't think I'm going to come here often, will be broke soon if I did.

We went to a couple of bike shops after that. One was a warehouse and the other is the John Beasley Cycles. This is actually owned by John Beasley, our national cycling track team coach. Just too bad that when we got there, the shop was closed. The shop is actually a little far out form the city, in a town called Footscray.




There were a lot of Asians staying here, mainly Vietnamese, judging by the shops' names. Speaking of Vietnamese, I got to go and eat their broken rice with pork chop soon. I had it once when I was here long time ago. Passing thru these shops, winding down the window, you can smell the mouth watering food. Too bad we didn't stop out here for some food.




The rest of the day, I just rested and watched TV. Too tired to walk outside and it was raining again. I bought some forzen meat pies before the rain started. I wanted to try it since I remembered that I quite enjoy it when I was in NZ. Den and Andrew were going out for dinner so I had it for dinner. Delicious! Only AUD3.19 for 6 pies. Now I'm thinking of buying it back home.