What
A gentle paced ride around the older and historic streets of our lovely City of Melbourne. This ride is intended for older classic 2 stroke scooters. In fact the older, the slower, the better. It is a day out for our beloved 8 inch wheel scooters which rarely, or in some cases never, venture out of the garage. Having said that, 10 inch wheel 2 stroke bikes are also most welcome. Please note it is not really a day for autos, but if you RSVP and seriously beg and grovel, the organisers may let you join in provided you do not also own a 2 stroke. Autos are also requested to ride at the back of the group.
Where
We are gathering at 8am sharp at Victoria Market. Park your scoots and we will, as a group, walk through the market to one of the oldest parts of the historic market. The entrance we will be walking to is between 72 and 76 Therry Street, outside the delicatessen area. Here we will grab a coffee and breakfast. A clue is the famous Borek and coffee. Boreks are a middle eastern savoury roll laced with gorgeous mouth watering spices. Examples are the crowd favourites spicy minced lamb, or perhaps the potato and veggies, or the cheese and spinach, or the pumpkin. Fond childhood memories of my mother and father religiously shopping here on Saturday morning. Dragging us children through the smelly fish markets, the bustling fruit and veg stalls where the shopkeepers would all be yelling out their daily specials, each of us kids carrying a very heavy bag full of market produce. The reward was always a famous market jam doughnut from that caravan, yes you know that van!
Meeting Point and Time
Enter Victoria Market from Queen Street and park on the footpath near the John Batman Memorial just before the car park entrance. Please arrive earlier so we can as a group all walk together at 8am. We won’t wait for stragglers as there may be long queues for coffee and breakfast and want to be off at 9am.
Our Market Visit starts promptly at 8:00 am. Stands up at 9am for our riding adventure.
Click link below for a Google Map Pin-drop:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/rwTnnsgwjcgbAQiFA
Ride Description
After our Vic Market visit, we wander back to the scooters then embark in convoy through the streets of North Melbourne, South Melbourne and into Albert Park. On the way keep a vigilant eye out for very stately homes, heritage buildings and magnificent lacework adorning old inner suburban homes. Of course be prepared to wave at children and adults alike as we are sure to capture the attention of admiring and envious passers by.
We stop at Albert Park Lake, gather and compose ourselves in preparation for two laps of the world famous Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit. Here we will race around in an anti clockwise direction at a breathtaking and record breaking pace, speed limited to 40 kms an hour! Yes perfect for our little low powered 4hp racing machines! The first lap is the practice one during which you will follow the pace vehicle, in this case, the ride leader. At the completion of the lap we will stop and regroup. Then the second lap where you can break free as there will be no pace leading vehicle.
From here we will ride in convoy through the streets of South Melbourne to the South Melbourne market. It is time to park our steeds and have a second coffee for the morning, or try a freshly squeezed orange juice. A debrief, chat about the mornings achievements and then we all break away and head for home.
A couple of points about this ride. Firstly it is aimed at the older and slower scooters, the older the bike the better. Originally Piaggio designed the Vespa scooter for exactly the purpose of today’s ride, stop start low speed traffic going shopping. If you turn up with a higher horse power scooter and we know you have an older low powered one left at home, you will be named and shamed. Also this is not a ride with a back up support vehicle, it is up to you to arrange vehicle breakdown cover just in case. And remember this is a Saturday ride, not a Sunday event.
See you for a slow and hopefully not too smoky ride, Adrian
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