Full house for Dim Sum

It was to be a ride to celebrate the birthdays of Rod and Pete yesterday and somehow, the promise of a delicious Dim Sum lunch in the city as well attracted a full house of 6 riders. The draw of good food is always irresistible!

Ken C wanted to show us a new route along South Perth to Burswood as he had explored that path recently. He is always that kind of guy who loves to share good discoveries. So it was a gathering of a real melange of different bikes, two Prodeco E-foldies, a Giant 700c hybrid and three 20" foldies suited for different purposes. General riding, touring and sport riding.

It was great to have Patrick join us as he has been busy training with his fixie, blazing the paths of the Northern Beaches. He showed up with his red Pocket Rocket.

Very good to see Uncle Ken all the way from Mandurah and of course, Pete, ever so excited to give his brand new Tern P24 a good run.

At our meet up at 745am, we all couldn't seem to move off as there was much to chat and catch up. I had to crack the "whip" to get our horses moving, which augers well for the great friendships we all enjoy. A perfect spring morning delivered straight from heaven made for a most pleasant ride. Once again, we were yakking more than riding as we cruised along the bike paths that ran alongside the busy traffic-clogged highway.

We took the exit off the Kwinana Freeway into South Perth and were transported straight away into bliss. With the beautiful skyline in front of us, this truly was picture perfect and I took this opportunity to take portraits of the gang. This path all the way to Burswood hugs the river, giving stupendous views of the city and runs for about 5km along beautiful bike paths. We enjoyed ourselves just taking it easy, and soaking in the awesome scenery.

Uncle Ken suggested visiting his son Scott who lives just in nearby Vic Park and since he had just returned from his own bike ride, we trooped over to his lovely townhouse. The 6 of us with our bikes just filled up his small courtyard and we enjoyed just talking about bloke stuff, or more precisely, the latest Shimano electronic gear system which Scott just got. He seems to be very pleased with its precise shifting and saying goodbye to cable stretch and constant adjustments is easy. It is also surprisingly affordable with the Ultegra range starting at about $1k.

Since we had time on our hands, we stopped by the Subaru showroom to check out the latest BRZ sports coupe, which was co-developed with Toyota. It is most impressive and made all of us drool. We had to get out of the showroom as the floor was getting wet from our collective drool.

We continued on cycling towards Burswood Casino. The last time I was here must have been 1998 or so when I took my toddler son out to the lovely playground there. They have done up the bike paths and it was all brand new and so beautiful. I was captivated! Since Pete's work place is nearby, he led us all the way through the yuppy suburb of East Perth as well and looped back to Vic Park.

While cycling along here, we spotted two dolphins playing along the river and that stopped us on our tracks. It was so special to see these magnificent creatures swimming so gracefully and I was shocked to hear that even some 15km from the sea, there were reports of Bull Shark attacks.

All the cycling made us more than ready for our celebratory lunch at Emma's Dim Sum and we rode there only to find we were 30 mins too early. So what do cyclists do to pass time? Visit the local bike shop of course.

Pete and Rod were not familiar with Chinese Dim Sum and this being their birthdays, we had to make it memorable for them. So the first dish to initiate them was none other than Phoenix Claws, a nicer name for chicken claws, stewed in lovely sauces. Pete took to it like a duck to water, while Rod remarked politely in the best of British-ness, it was "interesting".

Nevertheless, we ordered lots of other stuff like steamed BBQ pork buns, dumplings, stir fried veggies, pork ribs, seafood noodles etc. If that was not enough, we had desserts as well, and that made us well and truly stuffed. The birthday boys walked out of the restaurant happy but more than that, they deserved it for being such wonderful mates to all of us.

A full house of great cycling buddies coming together to enjoy a lovely ride and a beautiful Dim Sum lunch - life can't get better than this I reckon!

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Ken C had to make a quick getaway home immediately after lunch and I joined him for no holds bar full power e-riding. We completed the 13km in 30 mins flat, headwinds and all thanks to our Prodecos.