Report from Geoff Andrews
Stephanie & I rode the 50km MS Ride in & around Melboune yesterday,23rd February along with over 3,000 non-racing cyclists. It started & finished in the beautiful Princes Park in Carlton. It was extremely well organised, a well thought out cycling route, with Volunteer marshalls on nearly every corner so it was impossible to get lost.The ride crossed the Westgate Bridge, with 2 lanes closed for the cyclists. There was hardly a breath of wind & the view from the top was outstanding as it was a perfect day for cycling & very light traffic passing by, being a Sunday morning.
It was suited perfectly for riders of all age groups from 6-8 year olds to 68 year olds riding tag-alongs,recumbents, cruisers. & road bikes.
It was a wonderful family day to be out with loads of ambience whilst mixing & talking with so many nice casual riders & numerous fund raising teams in interesting & colourful out fits. It was refreshing to see so few wearing “racing lycra”. There was no bad cycling behaviour as everybody followed the road rules to a T. The younger ones were well disciplined which made the ride easy & pleasant.
It would be a PERFECT ride for 90% of Cycling Geelong members to participate in as it would be no harder than 2 laps of the Barwon River.
Loads of money was raised for such a worthwhile cause ie MS the “Invisable Disease”
Bring on the 2015 Ride in February or March next year.
Editor’s note: This ride replaces The Great Melbourne Bike Ride which used to be held annually by Bicycle Victoria. It’s one of your few opportunities to cycle over West Gate Bridge – a wonderful spectacle to see thousands of cyclists streaming over the bridge ahead of and behind you – and, as we all know, life’s better from the seat of a bicycle.
