quite chilly again this morning, but i knew it would warm up so i didn’t add to many extra clothes to the mix. an extra pair of over-gloves to keep the wind chill down and the booty covers and i was away. a very small turn out this morning and i wasn’t really sure why. the weather was one thing, but it was forecast to be nice. the busso half ironman was on, but i didn’t think we had that many hardcore triathletes in the mix. so just to be paranoid, i put it down to the current e-mail war that was going on. if you haven’t been involved, don’t worry, it will all go away very soon, but it involved my new probikekit ad banner and supporting local bike shops. apparently a conflict of interest.

so we rolled out this morning with about 20 people, and headed down canning hwy. the route would take us past garden city, and murdoch before hitting south st and down to freo. the usual way home via dalkieth was the plan. it was a very subdued group as we headed south. the banter was still about the e-mail war as there were a lot of people getting there opinions out there. we took it easy up riseley st and across leach onto murdoch dr. south st was the aim and i would give the group their head of steam once we hit it.

this stretch of south st contained a number of rolling hills to test the legs, but can also be let down by the number of traffic lights that you really have to luck to get a clean run. the group started to stretch out a bit as some of the boys hit the front and began to up the pace. i intended to sit on the back all day today to rest my legs for the race tomorrow, but went to the front with the primary aim of getting a bit of video footage as the group came around me. i ended up doing a bit of a turn and was surprised how tight my quads felt. not a particularly good sign.

once some of the others like nick, steve and rod came to the front, i wasn’t playing anymore and just cruised along in the group. a couple of the boys got a bit of a gap and the group began to splinter as people tried to chase. luckily the lights at north lake rd found us all back together before the boys did it all over again.

we regrouped on stock rd and the lights meant that the group was all back together. i dropped to the back and had a chat with a new guy that had turned up. apparently, he had damaged some bit of his hip or something playing footy and wanted to keep active so was out playing with us. good to see, and i hope you come back out with us, dan.

we turned down marmion for the run down to freo and between here and along stirling hey, the group was remarkably contained and basically stayed together till the turn towards dalkeith. as always, the pace was going to step up.

i left it up to the guys to work out who would be doing the work as i was still under the impression o would be saving my legs for tomorrow. as usual the pace was on, but not at an unattainable rate, probably due to ryan not being here. as the field stepped up i allowed myself to drift to the back where i found dan, hanging off the end of the group. i gave him my wheel and attempted to draft him back to the group. the combination of increased pace, me not wanting to overstress my legs and the small undulations meant that we were off the back till we hit the intersection that takes us onto hackett dve. back on the group i noticed that it wasn’t all our riders as another group had got through the intersection and was heading up the road. i guessed that the lights on mounts bay would slow them down as i don’t think we have ever got through them without having to stop. i will be caught out one day and let someone go and they will sneak through.

so we lined up on mounts bay ready for the sprint. there weren’t many willing workers, so i found my way to the front. i wasn’t pushing hard and was primarily there because i find it hard to write the blog from the back of the pack. chrostophe took off early and no-one chased. he got a bit of a gap before steve also headed off. i did not intend to lift the pace so if there was going to be a chase, it would be someone else. a couple of guys came around, but then dr melvyn decided that they escapee’s needed to be caught and made his move. he yelled at us to hop on as he came past and i jumped on his wheel. he made a good pace and got us up to overtake both riders before running out of puff. by this tiem we were at the brewery and bruce jumped from the pack with jerry hot on his wheel. from what i could see, bruce almost buggered it up but had a second kick to keep jerry at bay and into his ‘eternal second’ place.

so, a small group for coffee, served with true german efficiency (the waitress is german, and she is very efficient. service has been really good since she arrived). lots of discussion about the state of our group and what we will be doing in the future, so expect some changes soon.

racing down in collie tomorrow and i will be joined by ryan, jerry, michael and stu. ryan did the half ironman bike leg today as part of a team, so it will be interesting to see how he goes tomorrow. he has come second in the last two races he competed in, but will have to see what he has left for tomorrow. hopefully we can achieve something for the team.