Let's go to work with me :)

Since I last did this, I've moved house all the way over to the other side of the city to live with friends while we save for our new place.

Ride commute time has increased from 7 minutes (~6km) to 1.5hrs (~30km), although if I really push it I can make an hour and four minutes. So hold onto your pants, this is gonna get long!

Old vs New commute routes

Looks like a nice morning... let's go :D

Good morning, Sprocket!

Good morning bike! Sleep well?

Carrying a big bag to work will make me stronger...

Bye bye house...

And off down the street we go... brrrm!

Cross the busy road when there's a gap

...And turn right

Down to the freeway and turn left

Cars go on the freeway, bikes onto the bike path

18.6km/h and a little trick to hold the camera steady

Time for a little more speed *crank crank crank*

Onto the path proper.

Pedal pedal pedal

*Sound of tyres on wet pavement*

It's quite quick down here. Sometimes there's a little black cat around the corner that refuses to yield trail. He's a balsy little dude.

Hey roadie! This guy didn't even give me a return nod.

Over bridge 1

The creek

Now this wasn't a particularly easy shot to get.

Through the first of the tunnels to armageddon.

And right, under the pedestrian bridge.

Singletrack!

Hmmm... too slippery to take many photos here this morning

Here's the creek again. Super green moss.

...And back onto the path we go.

Sign says: 'Parks are for everyone!'

Over this little hill...

...and down the other side. Freeway sound shielding on my right.

Cold air goes in, warm air comes out

Turn right here for secret singletrack segue if I got up early enough and there's time

*right*

*then left*

Tada!

Zoom! [ several not-so-hot photos omitted ]

Aannnd, back onto the path again

Pedal pedal pedal

Uh oh... runinng a little late

Brrrmmm...

Across here.. down the way a little and...

Take a hard right down this drop. This makes a sweet little jump up onto the footpath on the way home...

...because you have this to get a run up into it.

Looking down on the freeway...

From this bridge which hangs off the side of the cutting

Today's handlebars suppoted by...

Winding out the 11 tooth

The path goes left...

...but there's a singletrack shortcut to the right :D

And back onto the path again

Under the freeway

...and follow the path to the left

...neglecting the trailto the right which leads to sweet riding. Oh well...

Just a little further up the trail and what's this on my right?

More singletrack! :D

The Yarra River

I don't ride this way every day because it means getting up a little earlier and it gets light late these days, but it's a nice detour when time allows.

Lovely sea of ivy (non-poisonous)

Awwww, yeah...

Oooh, arty

Ok: hardcore to the left, not so hard core in the middle, soft core (or running late) to the right

Let's go hard core today (not a chance with slicks btw)

Looking down at the legit path

Suckers! Surprisingly quiet today. In peak hour I'm often going faster than they, and definately having more fun.

The very tight little trail that runs beside the freeway path. This is very close to where I crashed and hurt my back a while ago.

Pushing on...

There's that trail again

Up this hill, over a road and down onto the other side.

Here's another nice little bit of ST but we'll leave that one for another day because we're running short on time...

Fun little distractions beside the path.

This goes up beside the freeway and turns into the off-camberest trail in Melbourne. Far to slippery to ride one-handed while taking photos after a night of rain.

Singletrack is where you find it ;)

The yarra again...

Brrrrm!

Oh, and here's where the off-camber trail exits, crosses the path...

...and heads off over there

Crankety crank crank

The path ends and we take this little climb up onto the road (Yarra Blvd)

Just a short way up and turn right down there

Looks uphill in the pic but it's actually a bumpy downhill

That path leads down to the pipe bridge, which is made of checkerplate and always looks slippery as death

Looking back at the bridge

Going forward

Who dat!?

Time for trackstand practice

Past the park

Over this bridge so as not to get killed

The view below - more paths (the Main Yarra Trail)

Amen

Coming up on Clifton Hill

Get a run-up for the bridge

We're heading toward the city

I like how they make the bike lane stand out where cars have to merge over it.

Some days you can surft out through the traffic lane by lane and not have to stop to cross the road (traffic is often heavy and slow-ish moving)...

But today this might be safer ;)

Looking back up Queen's Parade

Down a tangental street and past the 'Busy Bee'

Turn left here...

Like so...

And down here

Morning boys.
Maaaate.

Around the new appartment construction and heading away from the park, we turn right here

Everything still there? Check.

Across Brunswick Street, which seems to alternate between dead quiet and suicidally busy for some reason.

Go go go! While there's a break in traffic.

Typical Calton / Fitzroy cute little vintage single-fronted places.

Riding buddy Nell's place. Hi Nell! (He never waves).

Nicholson Street. Watch for trams and...

Courier vans

One of the cities busiest bicycle routes (I'm just crossing it), leading into the city

Across Rathdown Street

Ahhh... every day I wish I could stop here for coffee and some breakfast

Hand cam

A faithful bike waits for it's owner to awake. Have a good day, little friend!

Lygon Street. Behind me is Carlton, in front of me Parkville. In the middle is the cemetary.

Waiting for a gap in traffic

Go go go!

One day I should stop and go for a walk around in there. I bet there'd be some really interesting graves.

Lots of decaying leaves still about on the path. This particular stretch is amazing in mid-autumn - it's ablaze with orange, red and yellow leaves. I meant to take pics back then but it never panned out.

Nice old Morton Bay Fig on the corner of Princess Park

Just looks like sticks now, but in mid-autumn it's amazing and almost constantly raining leaves for a couple of weeks each year.

Down there is where I used to live.

Cross the crossing...

... wait at the lights ...

Oh hello, old Critical Mass flyers. Melbourne's a pretty bike-friendly city, we probably don't 'need' the Mass in the same sense that some other cities do, but it's still kinda nice that it exists and it's fairly well tollerated I think.

Traffic moves really slowly through here - the one road that connects the upper eastern suburbs to the upper western ones - one lane in either direction and no bike lane.