So on Saturday I wanted to head down to Bayside Blades in Highett to buy myself some new knee pads. So Matt (in ALL of his wisdom) suggested we take the bikes for a ride. Hmm, ride you say? How about a 6 hour long “adventure”!

We set off in to town, through the CBD along the Yarra. We then headed towards St Kilda where we rode around Albert Park on Lakeside Drive so Matt could pretend he was Mark Webber (it’s the Melbourne F1 track). We rode along the foreshore of St Kilda and stopped at Luna Park to say hi to the creepy smile.

We then continued down the coast past Brighton before swinging inland up to Bayside Blades. We must have look a right treat when we walked in slightly red and sweaty from the heat. We cooled off in the air con for a bit while I tried on some knee pads and settled on the 187 Pro Knee Guards that I had my eye on and ended up getting some Gladiator Knee Gaskets along with some Powerslide Bearing Cleaner.

Loaded up with the extra weight we hopped on a train and headed back in to the city where we jumped off at South Yarra and met back up with the Yarra Trail. I was definitely feeling the heat, and the ride home had a lot more hills then I was enjoying.

There were some interesting sites along the way. As we came up one hill and around the corner we were confronted with the iconic Skipping Girl sign before crossing a wooden bridge over the river.

Riding behind and through the grounds of the Abbotsford Convent was also another highlight as it didn’t feel like we were in a big city at all, but felt like we were somewhere in the country where cows and sheep lazed on the grass in the shadow of magnificent old buildings.

We had plenty of rest stops on the way home, I was feeling it those last few kilometres. It was indeed a very long day, but totally awesome to see more parts of the city and explore more of the bike tracks.

I just have to work on my endurance so I can keep pace with Matt, and with long rides like this, it’s great training for it (also great to work those legs muscles for derby!). I’m just nursing a little sunburn at the moment, other than that, I’m feeling really good after our epic ride and looking forward to our next bike adventure.