They See Me Rollin’

01.11.2015

<p>So, we've all been there. Had the 'bright idea' to do something like a 50km bike ride, secured a place months in advance and like, totally planned to train 'next weekend'.<br /><br />Before you know it, it's the night before, you've done sod all training and the thought of getting up at 5:30am nearly makes you cry as much as the idea of actually pedalling 50km from Freo to Hillarys (via a loop up to Burns Beach and back).</p>
<p>And don't get me started on the lycra and butt pads... </p>

So, we’ve all been there… Had the ‘bright idea’ to do something like a 30km bike ride – had a girlfriend (Sam) who insisted on doing the 50km ride instead, secured a place months in advance and like, totally planned to train ‘next weekend’.

Before you know it, it’s the night before the Ocean Ride for MS bike ride, you’ve done sod-all training and the thought of getting up at 5:30am nearly makes you cry as much as the idea of actually pedalling 50km from Freo to Hillarys (via a loop up to Burns Beach and back). Oh, and you’ve also just polished off a six-pack of ciders at the beach earlier in the day.

Ahhhh, shit.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m super into my fitness – I train combat three times a week, enjoy weekly Pilates/Yoga practise and get a kick out of jelly legs at Jacob’s Ladder… But my God, nothing could prepare us for the world of serious-cycling and how fantastically we stood out on our “oh, but they’re so chic” vintage bikes (complete with authentic baskets), as we were submerged into a sea of hi-vis, lycra-clad bodies with more super-lightweight-aerodynamic-hybrid-aluminuim-alloy-framed bikes than you could ring your (cute little) bell at.

As for the butt-pads… Seriously, it was like a Kardashian sponsored the event. I certainly saw way more guys rocking polyester-enhanced booties than I would usually care to see, pre-7am.

But fluro, lycra and junk-in-the-trunk aside, we had an absolute ball… We stopped counting after the 126th person passed us, but we did however manage to overtake 37 cyclists (yep, we took that tally very seriously), smashed every single hill without getting off to push (unlike some of the #allthegearnoidea cyclists we passed), and we actually did it.

We set off from Freo just after 7am and rolled through the finishing line at 10:03am. We played music from our baskets (randomly ranging from Eric Prydz to Incubus), stopped at Cottesloe, North Beach and Whitfords for photos (Snapchat updates… and maybe an espresso) and literally laughed over and over and over again… Mainly at the bemused (“WTF are these chicks doing?”) looks we received throughout the journey.

We just had so much fun, worked ourselves hard and entertained many on the way. I’ve never been prouder to get a shiny, gold medal and I’ll totally be co-ordinating it with all my outfits this week.

Enjoy the pics!

(Psst, have you tried The Juicist juices before? They had a cart at the finish line and I literally drank three juices in succession. They claim to be the only organic cold-pressed juice in Perth! Yum.)