Melbourne Weekend - Part III

Note: See Part I and Part II of my trip for the other adventures of the weekend.

On Sunday morning we caught the last few teams sign in before they got on their bikes and took off on the 200 km (124 miles) race.  The first 25 km was from Melbourne to Geelong, followed by 11 circuits of the 15.9 km loop around the town.  We took the train to Geelong and made it just in time to see a part of the first lap.



We found a good spot on the second steep hill of the loop.  See the race profile here.  It was getting pretty warm so we found a spot in the shade.  There were a ton of people there because you can actually see them come by instead of just a blink when they hit the straight stretches.

It just so happened that we sat next to a sleeping kid with a t-shirt that said "Go Daddy".  This kid was knocked out, sleeping just under the shade on a steeply graded hill.  Nat recognized the cyclist on her shirt, who turned out to be Stuart O'Grady, one of the most famous cyclists from Australia.  That meant that the hot mom checking on the kid every few minutes with the diamond studded Coach watch (identified by Nat, I just knew it was blinging) and D&G shoes was a WAG.  They had a big group that went crazy every time the cyclists came by every 25 minutes or so.  I think some family from Cadel Evans were with them (he was the reigning world champion as well as 2007 and 2008 Tour de France runner up) because they were wearing the colors of the world champ.  I felt a little creepy taking this picture of the kid, but everyone around us was laughing at how oblivious she was, and the mom didn't seem to mind.  It was too funny to pass up.

We watched 6 or 7 laps from that location and then walked to a pub along the route because we knew the finish line would be crowded.  Every time the guys rode by, everyone rushed out of the bar to watch and then came back in to catch it on TV.  Evans was poised to repeat, but was beaten out in the end by Thor Hushovd (who was the defending champ of the race I saw in Ghent, Belgium, back in February).

After the train ride back to Melbourne, we took it easy after the full day out in the sun. Nat took me to Fitzroy, an artsy little suburb with good restaurants. We didn't make it to any bars on the list, so our goal of hitting them all in a weekend was a bit ambitious.  On Monday I had to fly home in the afternoon, so we did a little sightseeing around the Melbourne Botanical Garden before some shopping on Chapel Street.  I bought a cool Politix blazer and a pink button up shirt. That's right - I now own a pink shirt.

With the weekend over, it's back to work.  Melbourne was really cool and Nat was a great tour guide although she has only lived there for a few months.  Many people say they prefer Melbourne to Sydney because of the friendliness, culture, art, music, etc.  I see that argument, but I'm still voting for Sydney because of the beaches, if nothing else.  Regardless, I'll definitely try to make it back to Melbourne before my time here is up.