Let's keep the dancefloor moving...

Because I've been 'in absentia' from my crankysundays for the past 2 weeks i cant produce any ride reports from that but i can say that:
sydney is for real... hills for days and fun for all. the traffic isnt that bad... but you have to keep your head up. i spent a lot of time in the eastern suburbs so you know i bombed some hills and ground back up a few. rode with crankys ex-pat 'dirty' up there too as it turns out we have a few shared friends. he will be back @ easter so maybe an 'easter special' ride?

la panella bakery (preston) is awesome: all sorts of cheap savoury and sweet goodness. vegan jam doughnuts! and cheeeeep prices. its a short ride to DISC afterwards to sit and 'smash' your pastries whil watching guys and gals 'smash' the boards. [all uses of the word 'smash' are generously supported by 'new ben']

but the main reason for this post... last friday the generous (and competitive) souls of melbourne street riding community gathered to hit the streets for 'trackolympics'.

lots of familiar faces from sundays riding as well as a large crew of fresh faces wandered and talked their nerves down before a belated start @ fitzroy pool (alexandra pde and napier st). i may have missed the starters shout (as can be seen on fyxo's photos) but i was soon off to the manifest pickup @ the top of the high st hill in northcote with my chief race partner pip!.

i'm a notorious slow starter, but we hit that having not seen a lot of people pass us heading back and quickly had an 'action plan' for the rest of the race. as we let gravity do its work taking us down high st we picked up a few friendly faces like luke, rob, new cam and liam. there was probably more but i was focusing more on dodging trams and buses as we got blazed a trail back to the royal exhibition building @ carlton gardens. good heads got us running some fast lines through the main streets and after a small split off brunswick st we got to the next stop to ride VERY small bikes through the ledges. note to self: clipless shoes dont make this any easier! surfing the turns without brakes wont help you stay upright either.

a quick hop to the city library (via my crankys shortcut) and we found peoples interpretations of 'gymnastics' as amusing as they were hurried. then luke led us on a near-suicidal run down the tram tracks on swanston to the east end of bourke st mall for some egg and spoon action. i now know that i can fit between trams on flinders st, but am not game to try the same on swanston. there were definitely some moments where burnt rubber overtook noodles and aftershave in the air.

it was on leaving this CP that i heard the dulcet tones of 'new ben' and i think we picked up a few of our crew that had got split as we ducked and dived through traffic. i definitely know we had a bigger group as at queensbridge we all decided the next CP was in a different place and the resulting chaos delayed us slightly as we all looked feverishly for 'the jetty @ queensbridge'. it turns out we werent the only ones to have trouble at that CP as the eventual winner was faster than the ladies getting there.

some no-handed cupcakes later and we were off on the run to the finish... a tactical error on my part had us take a little detour, but we were soon redlining it up elizabeth in a solid dash for the finish @ queen vic markets. new cam was looking fast and looked to be leading our group in when he missed the lefthand turn at maccas and decided to take the 'scenic' route around the markets. final results (for our group) were [i think]:
pip - 9th
nikcee - 10th
luke - 11th
rob - 12th
cant remember... but cam was about 14/15th and benzy around that.

after some prizes and some beer purchasing misadventures we ended up @ flagstaff gardens watching people steal steamrollers and angering night-runners. but those are stories for another post...

dont forget: This Friday! Big Trouble In Little China(town). Prizes from genovese coffee, yellow ghost records, shifter bikes, skingrowsback, snkrfrkr/hansDC and my bike treasure chest.