ride report by robreally warm this morning – no boot covers or leg warmers (sounds awfully 80’s!). About 25 in the group this morning and with our fearless leader heading over to kalgoorlie to try his luck in the menzies classic, chris called the route….”and when can we go fast?” comes the well known south african call from the back…bannister road and shepperton road…just like ‘normal’!! ‘that’ll be my ‘breakaway point’ nick reminds us.

we head off up coode street and round on to canning highway. everyone appears to be in good spirits as the rain looked like it was going to hold off. we get down to north lake road (which has been the usual left hander for this route in the past) and the pack seemed to almost lead itself! not this time though – on to stock road. as we came round the final turn on canning the reminder that there is a reasonable climb before stock road looms large in front of us. feeling good this morning i thought i’d give it a bit and see who came with me. nick was on the front and seemed to slow just before the incline started so i went round…must have been a ‘mechanical’ something or other?? half way up i was still feeling good but could hear some heavy breathing just behind me. give it a bit more to see what happens…3/4 of the way up and i’m thinking i might even hold them off before….ryan flew past…again…then chris…then nick…then…doh! regroup at the top of the climb and round on to stock road.

an easy cruise along stock road to south street. after the climb i was content to sit back in the pack and have a bit of a rest. rounding on to south street we rolled down the first drop and then prepared for the first of several rolling hills. the guys on the front started to pick up the pace a bit with about 4 getting a bit of break on the group. i decided to go up and play and the pace stayed quite high…until chris came past and spoiled all our fun…(just kidding mate) – we’d dropped a couple off the back from the first climb, so as is our group’s philosophy, keep it together for the most part and play on the flats, we pulled back and sorted out a re-group.

the rest of south street was an easy cruise although by the time bannister road came up i suspected that i may have stayed out the front for just a little too much of the ride. this might challenge to hang on. just as we rolled up to the turn i was about to step on the gas and a car rounds from the right hand land and straight in front of us – those of us on the front throw the anchors out with the familiar ‘SLOWING’ call…but i think that given the close call on this one there where a few other words included in the call that may not warrant reporting! with most of the wind taken out of our sails and also being in the big ring, it was a grind to get back up to speed. that also meant a bit of cat and mouse started to see who was going to go first. not long before melvin takes the initiative and flies past with one other on his wheel. a couple more of us stand up and start to chase them down. then its on. legs start spinning and hearts start pumping. a bit of a gentlemanly roll through starts but it’s at pretty high speed. soon it comes down to every rider for themselves and the grimacing looks forward commence, pleading for the road to end. ryan takes off the front and pushes his wheel hanger hard. this doesn’t last long and he’s off by himself leaving us all to mop up the scraps.

rounding on to nicholson road the front group slows down for a well earned breather and the standard regroup. we head back up to roe highway and i turned around to see mike b at the back, most unusal to see him there, but understandable. will be good to have him back up to top gear when everything gets sorted. once we’re all on we get back up to cruising speed with nick on the front starting his usual push. the call goes out to start a roll through which everyone seems happy to oblige – nice stretch of road along to albany highway and then up along to shepparton road. paul comments to me that the bannister road stretch was ok this time, but the rolling hills on shepparton road may test. yep!

as we round on to shepparton road, the usual suspects start to step it up. chris comes past and i jump on his wheel. as he moved across to the left i don’t know why, but i thought it might be fun to push off the front as hard as i could. felt pretty good too for about 2 or 3 hundred meters. then it hurt. i was coming up to the lights and praying for them to go orange because i really needed the rest now. no such luck. nick, melvin, chris, gerrard, ryan, paul….bugger it…push now or you’re off the back! managed to stay on and got a much needed respite behind the group. clearly making breaks on the pack is not my strong point…might stick to the hills i think. the rest of shepparton road was fast but the front pack stayed in touch. everyone appeared to be getting ready for the riverside drive sprint.

lights at the causeway slowed us up coming off the downhill on shep road so we all got a standing start. just as we come up on to the first bridge, melvin decides to take the lead and puts in a spurt off the front. i’m sure i heard chris say ‘leave him out there’…but i could be wrong?? the rest of us hang back and the group is pretty bunched up as we come around on to riverside drive. chris is coaching the guys around him…”wait til the lights; wait til the lights”…we all oblige and by this time melvin’s back with the rest of us. as we get to victoria avenue lights the call goes out and we’re off. nick pushes off the front with chris on his wheel. i try to hang on with the knowledge that there’s a big group behind me. nick pulls left and chris goes round. ryan flies past and a couple of others try to hang on. ‘car right!!’ we hear from the back and gerrard goes past, legs flying. as i looked up front it appeared that ryan won the sprint, but not by too much…the rest of us sit up and start sucking in the oxygen.

as we rounded into the coffee shop there’s a whole bunch of chatter about gerrard’s sprint – apparently the “car right” call was directed at him mainly, given that he figured the left hand land was full and there was a perfectly good bit of road just the other side of that little white line with a nice clear run to the front. i’m still not not sure that he managed to get up to the 70km/h he said he was doing…but who am i to say…? there was a radar set up on the side of the riverside drive as well. ryan said he had to brake because he didn’t want to get fined….mmmmm??

lorraine was at the coffee shop sporting her new look (the hair AND the plaster cast). bit bored she says, so much so that she’s started to make homemade marmalade…so we can all expect some lovely darlington preserves coming our way next week…lorraine??

thanks gerrard too…the details of that operation you performed (a fractured ‘what was it again’?). the information to us blokes about how to avoid a similar outcome ourselves is most helpful!

and yes, i got to actually stop in and have coffee this week – she who must be obeyed and those 2 kids she keeps insisting are mine are all over east at the moment…ahhh the simple things in life!

thanks for the ride all.