The November ride returned the heart of the city. It was a longer but fairly cruisy ride along some of Adelaide’s well known cycling routes. Venturing around road works, track works and suburban wetlands. In total we rode 24.8km with a slight vertical climb of 48m – barely noticeable.
As the photos show, it was a blue sky day and the temp was headed to around 32c. Thankfully the route was largely flat. Following the ride briefing, we headed North taking Grote Street towards the West Parklands towards the loop path around James Coglin Drive towards South Road.
Despite testing the ride just a couple days before, due to the changing nature of the South Road roadworks, we managed to make some quick on the spot decisions enabling everyone to be in the right spot at the right time. Phew… always a sigh of relief. Cycling down the West Side Bikeway towards Glenelg was at an enjoyable relaxed pace. There were only pedestrians and their furry companions for traffic, and crossing minor roads.
The next challenge was navigating around, and crossing the tram works, and heading to the morning tea stop. It was great to join up with Andrew and Lizzie with their cargo bike (made better with a Brompton in the cargo bay), just before the Oaklands Wetland and Reserve.
The morning tea break was fabulous. Huge thanks to Gail and Lizzie for bringing cake and Gail for the additional biscuits, which certainly fed everyone’s appetite up to that point. Top marks to Andrew for bringing along his camping stop and coffee making facilities – that is definitely next level commitment, and great use of camping supplies. There was the obligatory Brompton bike photo set-up on the bridge before we all headed back towards the city.
Leaving the wetlands behind we followed the cycle path alongside the train line towards town. While it’s quite a direct route, it certainly encourages speed. This was something Gail noticed, remarking everyone had increased their speed after the break. While the temperature was on the rise we stopped briefly Woodlands Train station. A few months back they had finished the art which is incorporated into the access tunnels and on the station itself. I think a few passengers on the train were relieved that 15 Brompton’s were not getting on board!
We sped towards the lunch destination at Silver Brewing – and everyone who stayed was pleased to be inside enjoying the air conditioning. Once we all managed to order some food (thanks to Margaret and Ian for ordering early enabling the rest of us to order the food we wanted instead of the mandated platters)… and drinks (yes the brewery was somehow a brewery with no beer of its own!!!).. We were all able to look back and say we enjoyed the ride.
The Adelaide Brompton rides are largely a mix of planing which involve testing routes, finding suitable relaxed food locations for mid-large groups… and a bit of luck. This ride certainly relied heavily on luck – and great company, so thanks to all who came out.
Attending: 15 Bromptoneers + 1 cargo bike
