XMAS RIDE 2017
Our second straight Christmas Lights ride with our friends. Happy Holidays!
The final week before most split for the festive season. People are getting dressed up for the last weekly bunchies of the year, coming down or nursing hangovers from work Christmas parties, stretching their legs in anticipation of the Festive 500, or stretching their bellies in anticipation of Christmas lunch. This is our Christmas Card, our way of saying happy holidays to everyone, disguised in the form of a short blog post.
If it’s happened 2 years in a row, we guess that makes it a tradition. The Admiral Soup Xmas Lights Ride. For this, the second edition we would meet in the blistering summer sun at the Federation Square Christmas Tree. Channeling the Kasual Club vibe, we weaved through the maze of Southbank before taking bike paths around the inner suburbs of Melbourne – picking up some interstate friends along the way. Ben and Kip shot fire through the lens, while Adrian did what he could between a full memory card, low battery warning, and eating big, fluffy pieces of Pandorato.
Unlike the inn on that fateful night of 0BC, there was room for us at Loving Hut Northcote. The vegan friendly joint was brimming with large communal tables ready for our patronage, while our park up was so expansive it covered the entirety of the shopfront. 14km to Loving Hut had helped build the appetite, and after some hefty mains, the next few kilometres to the lights would present itself as the finest non-alcoholic digestivo around.
The Ivanhoe Christmas Lights: for a street that gets entirely closed down during December, has its own website, and frequently features on the news, was rather lacklustre. We’re not sure if it was because we weren’t there at peak times, but a few days before Christmas on a perfect night, and where there were tens of thousands of people suggest otherwise.
Fortunately the lights of Melbourne City were happy to oblige and lift the standard. For the most part we had split ways, some heading further east, some further north. For us that were needing to head across to the inner-NW, or those who were already in their neighbourhood, we parked up at Quarries Skatepark to take in the view of the last remnant of the sun setting over the western horizon, eat Pandorato, listen to music and say our well wishes for the holiday season. It is at this point that we would like to thank all of the Soup family, our extended family, our friends, acquaintances, business contacts, brands, companies, media outlets, faceless men of shell corporations. We’ve had a marvellous year of bicycles, and everyone who has been a part of it has made it so extra special. For now, we’ll extend our waistlines a few cm’s, ride a little, swim some more, and see you again soon in the new year.
Much love.
