Team RadioShack's Lance Armstrong announced another impromptu Twitter ride on Saturday with more than 5,000 cyclists turning out for the event. The seven-time Tour de France winner has organized similar events in Dublin, Glasgow and Los Angeles, and was floored when his "come one, come all" tweet brought out the masses in force.
"I personally don't think that anyone will top the turnout we had today. That was a huge amount of people," Armstrong told AFP.
"The field stretched for kilometres and kilometres ... when we turned back there was just streams of people."
The ride began at Wigley Reserve outside Adelaide, with Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen joining in the festivities. The group followed Armstrong and McEwen along a coastal road to Semaphore Park and back again for a total of around 20 miles.
"It was chaos, but controlled chaos. It's certainly the biggest one that I've been a part of," said Armstrong. "It was cool. Everybody had a good time and more or less stayed safe."
Police said while there were some mishaps, all of the incidents looked to be minor.
"There was a lot of cyclists and it's difficult to control when they're in a bunch that big," police traffic coordinator Harry McCallum told AFP.
"We saw a couple of people that had fallen off their bicycles but there was nothing that looked serious," he added.
The 38-year-old will begin his season tomorrow with the Santos Tour Down Under, and will look to secure an eighth Tour de France crown in July.
McEwen is on a comeback of his own in 2010, after having a season where he was sidelined by injury. The Aussie was impressed by the turnout. "I'm just surprised by the sheer numbers, this is out of control," McEwen said.