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| Lorne, just stunning! |
Waking up in Lorne on the Saturday was bliss, knowing that we didn't have any pressing obligations and could relax and enjoy the atmosphere. The weather was amazing, with blue sky peaking through the window. Lorne is a beautiful place full of friendly people and good food. One of these days we are going to have to stay longer to try it all!
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| The Locals |
After the awesome noodles the night before (just the right amount of wok charring mixed with an awesome combination of flavours and oh so fresh!) we decided to hit the cafe scene for breakfast. Lorne has numerous cafes, however it's hard to go past what you know is good, so we went to the same cafe we went to last year - the Lick and Sip. Terrible name, awesome food! Fresh juice, bacon, sausage, poached egg, spinach, mushroom and tomato soon ensured we were well fed with plenty of energy to undertake a quick morning spin.
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| Our morning spin |
We put the bikes together and headed off, our quick morning spin taking us out along the great ocean road. Not too shabby! The spin wasn't actually just to gawk like tourists, we needed to check that the bikes were functioning and I needed to check that my knees weren't going to completely fall apart. Also, we were hoping that we might be able to catch the Monkees rolling in, but while we caught the support vehicle, there were no Monkees in sight.
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| Mr Carl and Pinny admiring the view |
My knees didn't seem to be complaining too much so a quick spin turned into a 30km, hour and a half cruise along the coast, with photography stops along the way. The only down side of this spin was that my chain fell off twice, indicating that perhaps the bike was a little less prepared than I was. Thankfully I had my trusty mechanic with me and later in the evening he fixed the problem.
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| Good day to be on the bike! |
With no Monkees in sight we headed back to Lorne to do our bit to support the local economy by sorting out a few gifts for people. Also, more food was required and so we decided to try the local pizza joint which had been tempting us with delicious smells every time we walked past. The pizza more than lived up to the smell and the crust was possibly one of the best pizza crusts I have ever eaten.
Comfortably full, we wandered over to the safety briefing. To our surprise the announcer made a special shout out to the Monkees, and had apparently informed every group of the amazing effort they'd put in. So much so that when we bumped into them after the briefing, they seemed a little bit shocked at the number of people who had stopped and congratulated them! They were wearing bright orange shirts with Monkee symbols so they were easily recognised, which makes it hard to get to a safety briefing when everyone wants to stop and congratulate you!
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| The view from the road |
We organised to join them for tea at the pub, which had a carnival like atmosphere with all the excited cyclists. Actually, the whole town had a carnival atmosphere the entire Saturday, with bikes everywhere you looked. It's part of what makes this such an awesome ride, the atmosphere and support in the town.
Tea with the Monkees was a pleasant affair, and I learnt many things about the Monkees over dinner. I also got the low down on where to eat in all the places they stopped - these guys should write a bike touring guide book! Dinner was the pub standard schnitzel, but like all food in Lorne, this was exceptional. With dinner wrapped up we headed back to do a final bike check and get a good night sleep.
Strava file of the mornings spin for those that are interested:
http://www.strava.com/activities/82803637
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