Bike Ride To Melbourne

About two weeks ago, my friend John and I were going to ride our bikes from Glen Waverley to Melbourne, but he got sick so instead we drove to Mount Dandenong. Today though, we finally did that bike ride and I got to see this so called path that ran along the freeway all the way to the city.

The path is actually a nicely paved path starting at Glen Waverley and runs all the way to Birrarung Marr and Fed Square in the city. It's pretty well marked out so you can follow it all the way. Here I am riding and using my mobile at the same time to take this photo. That's John in the background, not a bad shot if I say so myself.


Here's a closer photo of John with his dodgy socks over his jeans so that his jeans wouldn't get caught in the bike. It makes him look like his ready to start leaping in the air and sing "What a feeling, bein's believin'" Flashdance style.


It was amazing all the places we passed. I couldn't believe how many other people were also using the track to jog, take their dogs for a walk, ride on their bikes and many other fun activities. It's like this secret that I've never known about. There were beautiful creeks like below, foot bridges, parks, schools, railway tracks, houses, buildings I never see from the freeway, mansions and even a rock climbing wall. I gave the rock climbing a try only to be upstaged by a 10 year old kid who made climbing from one side to the other look so simple while my arms were literally burning and I was ready to fall off.


When we got to Chadstone, I just had to stop and get something to eat. I chose the greasiest burger at Hungry Jacks and wolfed that down. Serves me right not to eat breakfast. Bike riding is tiring stuff. I found out that I'm a really bad bike rider. My desk bound legs are so weak that climbing every hill really hurt. I was getting overtaken by ladies riding with a baby carriage in the back with child. Oh the shame. When we started to ride slower, it was more enjoyable since I could look at the scenery. My bottom though, was starting to really hurt at about the 20km mark and I found myself out of my seat quite a bit.

When we finally reached Fed Square, my legs were like jelly. We stopped for a breathe, locked up our bikes and went for a wander around the city on foot.


Having riden all that way, I was hungry again. We went to QV and had lunch at Ecpot. John got the Hainan Chicken Claypot Rice while I got the Chicken and Mushroom Claypot Rice. The chicken was tender and I love the rice when it gets all crispy and sticks to the side of the pot.

As we were walking out of QV, I saw a Puffy store and I couldn't resist but get a vanilla puff after remembering Helen's post about them a while ago. This was the first time I had seen a Puffy store in Melbourne. The puff was indeed delicously rich.


My main motivation for going to QV though was to try the Max Brenner Hot Chocolate that my friend Rowena had shown me a photo of. You get to put in the chocolate pieces yourself as you keep drinking. Initially the fun factor was very high as I dropped in more and more chocolate pieces and poured in more milk to the candle lit pot. But after a while I realised that the drink wasn't that good and didn't go back for a refill of milk. Maybe it was because I was so full already.


After Max Brenner it was time to go home, but as we passed Little Bourke Street, I saw Maxim's out of the corner of my eye. I just had to drop in and grab a cocktail bun that Cindy had scientifically rated and come to the conclusion that the Maxim cocktail bun was the best in Melbourne. I also picked up some egg tarts which had just come out of the oven and were so hot that I had to wait in quite a long queue to get hold of.

Then it was truly time to go home. I was so tired that I said I couldn't ride back. So John and I took the train home, during which I fell asleep on the train since I was so tired. It was a very fun day and I would ride to the city again, but not for a month or so whilst my bottom recovers and my legs stop wobbling.