Mellow Yellow

This week has been a mellow yellow week with spring sprouting yellow every where I go.
It brought back memories of Donovan Lietch's Mellow Yellow. I was a bit of a Donovan fan back in the 60s. Think I might listen the Album again - now where is my turntable?

Donovan's 60s album cover - Mellow Yellow

As I came off the freeway I was hit with yellow flowers by the roadside.

And then as I drove to the office/warehouse the wattle trees were covered in yellow blossom.

Even the car park at work was yelling yellow at me.

And as I walked thru the front doors, I'm confronted by yellow again.

But it was Friday and we were about to embark on a weekend. What would our two days of rest offer. Sue is retired but she has recently employed as a relief teacher - it helps with our passion for travel.

Her form of relaxation is to invite friends for dinner and cook up a storm - mine is to ride my bike.

This weekend we both satisfied our passions. Sue invited friends Denise and Darren around for Pizza. They thought it would be "order in", but no, not with Sue. She loves to prepare her own from making the Pizza base to adding lots of great fillings.

Sue makes the pizza dough.

The ingredients - mushroom, pumpkin, peppers, zucchini and tomato with more to come.

Add some prosciutto, spinach, artichoke hearts covered with grated cheese.

And out of the oven ready to devour.

Sue's simple easy to prepare pizza with good company and good wine. Just a casual Saturday night.

My personal weekend was highlighted by being inducted into the Bayside Bandido, mid-life cycling gang's Lycra Legend select group. Now I need to say that this is a very select group of cyclist, we are all 60 plus.

My new Lycra Legends jersey.

http://baysidebandidos.blogspot.com/

This link to the Lycra Legend celebrations

And the close-up.

And that was our weekend - tell us about yours???

The Annual Melburn Roobaix

MELBURN - ROOBAIX 2010

Yes, that's the way they spell it - it's a play on the classic bike race, the Paris Roubaix over the cobble stones of northern France. I know I can be boring about bikes but this Sunday was sooo much fun.

Here in Melbourne, our classic is run over the bluestone cobbles of the back lanes of Melbourne's suburbs and finishing at the old Brunswick concrete velodrome. The above pic is the promotional poster for this annual event - the third so far. It attracts a weird and wonderful group of cycling enthusiasts.

The real classic had been won by the Belgium rider Roger DeVlamnick several times under the sponsorship of his team Brooklyn Chewing Gum. My cycling buddy Dazza and I both have reproduction Brooklyn jerseys and we thought it would be fitting that we ride these in our cobblestone classic.

We even thought of entering under the name of "the Rogers"as a tribute.

Peter (Nancy Boy) and Lawrence were vying for the most interesting couple - I personally thought they would be winners. Kiwi was in charge of directions.

As it happened, Dazza was suffering from a HUGE hangover and forgot his Brooklyn jersey.

The boys, Kiwi (here's from NZ) and Al look over this year's instructions over a pick me up coffee.

It wasn't long before Daggy Dazza lost interest and took in a few ZZZZZZZs

No Aussie event is complete unless there is a beer bar available and this one was a mobile bar.

The cobblestones in the laneways of Melbourne.

And that's me in my Roger jersey.

The finish, just like the Paris Roubaix finishes on the velodrome.

Here we are at the finish with a few friends in the background. from the left - Kiwi, Leaping Leon, Big Al and Daggy Dazza. The old velodrome holds some very special moments for me in my past racing history but being so humble, I can't document them all here................

This couple won the prize for, well the Best Couple. I spoke to them at the velodrome and asked if "in those short sleeve JERSEYS were they FRESIAN in this cold weather?" And that's enough of my COW jokes.

My mate Phil was the "Hat check out chick" looking after our bikes as we enjoyed a few beers.

What a great Sunday we had on the cobbles of MELBURN.

The Amy Gillett Foundation Ride

On Sunday I rode with friends in a charity event for the Amy Gillett Foundation. Amy was a member of the Australian Women's cycling squad and while they were training in Germany, a young lady who had not long had her licence, drove into the training group.

All sorts of riders participated from serious racing cyclists to five riders on this pink extended bike.

Most of the squad were hurt in some way. Amy was killed. This was the same year that our World Champion, Cadel Evans was prominant in the Tour deFrance a few years back. Since then, he has been a staunch advocate of the Foundation. He was on the ride Sunday in his World Championship Jersey.

Amy's husband, family and many friends organise this annual ride to promote road safety awareness to both cyclists and motorists.

It was a good day with over 3000 cyclists contributing more than $300,000 to the foundation. Some were lucky enough to ride the 120 km course with some of Australia's top cyclists including Cadel.

After the ride we enjoyed calamari and chips washed down with a cool beer, Peroni of course, and the view, well there it is below.

The ride starts and finishes at Geelongs Eastern Beach, a great spot with a great view across Corio bay within Port Phillip bay. The weather was sunny in the mid 20s. I must do a story on Geelong as it has a rich history with some interesting architecture.

 

After the ride we were entertained by "real" racing cyclists in the Bay Criterium Series. Several of them use this as an early training program for their European campaign for 2010. Two of today's riders, Robbie McEwan and Baden Cook are past Green Jersey winners in LeTour.

I'm back at work now so I'll revert back to my weekly installments unless I get inspired mid-week.