Since building my new commuter bike, my poor road bike has not actually seen a lot of use. This is not due to lack of road riding. No, no. In fact, it just happens that with Korea taking up a bit of road riding, the commuter is just a better road bike for the occasion.
From memory, the most action that my road bike has seen in recent days was when I moved it across one spot in the garage bike rack – after discovering that its saddle was resting on the MTB’s self adjusting brake lever (grr!!). However, with this trip down the coast, there was DEFINITELY a need to dust off the Felt and head out.
I mean.
It’s the Great Ocean Road.
And who am I to argue with CNN?
Staying in Aireys Inlet has the benefits of skipping some of the boring inland stuff and also being far enough away from the more serious hills around the Memorial Arch to have a decent warm up.
Despite my preference for early morning rides, I ended up leaving the unit at around 10am. This was not necessarily a bad thing, given that the morning had seen frosts, fog and temperatures hovering around zero. However, 10am also meant that I also caught a lot of the outbound tour buses.
On the road however, the late start didn’t turn out to be so bad. Sure there were a few extra cars and buses, but with the wide shoulder for most of the ride, I never really felt like I was in too much danger. In fact, about halfway to Lorne, I really hit a nice rhythm through the climbs and the distance just seemed to melt away.
With the sea views to my left, the high trees to my right and a solid climb to throw myself into, I couldn’t really ask for much more. And the complete absence of traffic lights means that you can really find your pace and just spin away. And the return ride was possibly even better. With the wind now behind me and the legs nicely warmed up, I could really bury myself in some of the climbs.
What an amazing road.
I’ve decided – I need to come back and ride more of this road…
