ride report by peter.
the combination of hills and hot, hot weather seemed to be a deterrent today as the turn out was poor compared to recent times. the normal core group was there, but none of the new additions of late had fronted and looking at the weather forecast, who could blame them. a predicted top of 38 had been downgraded overnight to a top of 37, which i am sure would make all the difference. especially when tackling the three main climbs around kalamunda.
the course would see us all warm up on ridge hill rd before heading up gooseberry hill. a cruise down the zig-zag and back up kalamunda rd before passing through kalamunda and back via bickley valley and mundaring weir rd. as i said previously, that hardest part will be not pulling the pin early and stopping for coffee.
we rolled out into a fairly gusty easterly breeze that meant the front guys had a bit of work today. the load was shared fairly well and we picked up melvyn along helena valley rd to get the numbers up to about 16. the first climb of the day was a “bonus” climb and did not contain any points. we were generally taking it easy but ridge hill rd was one where people will still try to race up no matter what. i wanted to save my legs and opted for a quite chat at the back of the pack. the regroup point at the base of the zig-zag marked the first opportunity for an easy day and only one rider decided to head up the zig-zag instead. the rest of us sped down the newly laid hot-mix and onto the main climb.
gooseberry hill sucks. there is no other way to describe it. it sucks, but i am starting to learn it. not enjoy it, but learn how the road pitches up and where it flattens and where it tries to deceive you. basically, to know how to measure your effort when climbing and when to chase an attack. however, the attacks went early today and dan took off like a rocket from the base of the climb. jerry and i dodged traffic to get on his wheel and i was wondering how long he could hold that pace for. i looked back and no-one else had made the junction but i could feel my legs starting to protest and knew there was quite a lot of even harder hill to go. i fell back from the wheel and set my own tempo. mike and stu came past in their typical “slowly but surely grind you down” pace. if the hill is long, they will eventually beat you. i counted up the road and i was still in the points…for now. i looked back and saw the familiar colours of milram and dan j was climbing well today. mark was with him and soon they both overtook me. knowing the road certainly has it’s advantages and i was sure that dan hadn’t played on gooseberry much before. as he is built like a footballer, not a climber, i thought that i will be able to make up ground once we turned the corner. mark accelerated through the “flat” section of the climb but i didn’t want to go with him as i needed to conserve as much as possible today.
the climb has three main kinks in it to catch you out. the first right hander is after the first part of the climb. it flattens out quite a bit and you think that you are over the worst of the hill. it even rolls down for a bit before heading up to the next corner. this left hander starts the climb off again and it is on this stretch that i got back ahead of dan j and still had mark in sight. there are some pitches on this stretch that really test the legs and you are hoping that it is over soon. the road turns to the left one more time and you look up and realise that you cannot see the top because the road is so steep. i set myself a tempo and managed to latch back onto marks wheel for the steepest section. i remember my back wheel slipping a bit on the twigs and crap on the road as i was standing up with so much weight over the front wheel. i finally saw my saviour in the shape of a road sign signifying that there was a round-about ahead. i know there is only one round-about and it is at the top. i mentioned before about learning the climb and knowing when to attack. i could now see the top and measured my effort to shake off mark and “sprinted” off up the hill, securing that final spot. dan who attacked at the start of the climb didn’t know the hill and paid for it at the top when mike, stu and jerry managed to chase him down.
mike – 10, stu – 7, jerry – 5, dan – 3, peter – 1.
dr mark was climbing well today and managed to get to the top at the front of the pack. as i mentioned before, dan j was climbing very well for a footy player and someone fairly new to the whole “bike vs hill” thing.
at the top we traded one dr melvyn for a russell as mel went for an early coffee and russ had made his way up from darlington. we started the always fun descent down the zig-zag. it isn’t very steep and certainly gives a different perspective as opposed to the white knuckle ride down welshpool. suddenly we were back where we started at the top of ridge hill rd.
kalamunda rd was a full on head wind as we approached along the flats. russell was on the front as we started the climb and everyone tucked in behind trying to shelter as much as possible. as the pace slowed too much for some of the whippets, stu lead the charge around to the front with myself and about five others on his wheel. sorry to have done it, but we left him out front for most of the climb as he set a nice tempo into the wind and up the steepest parts of the climb. about halfway up i saw a bike coming down the hill at speed. the guy was on a mountain bike and was probably doing 50 if not 60kph. in front of him, attached to the cross bar, was a wee-ride kids seat and a kid no older than two strapped in. now i have one of these and ben loves it when we go fast, but this kid looked like he was crapping himself. i’m sure his wife would have killed him too if she found out.
stu continued to grind out the k’s with the train following behind when mike made the first move and it was a good one. some expletives escaped my mouth as he went past fast and was suddenly up the road. i had a decision to make, and i made it way too late, and went to follow mike. no-one else came with me and i found myself in no-mans land and back to finding a tempo i could maintain. dan and jerry had left stu by now and were making ground on me. i realised that i was not going to catch mike so set a pace that left at least one more attack in the tank. i was soon caught so i jumped on board and allowed them to set the pace to the top.
we finally saw the roundabout near the servo and i thought that this would be a nice place to attack as i was sure i knew how far to the finish. off i went and again managed to get halfway across to mike. however, with the heart-rate managing to push into the 190’s i was pretty much on my limit. i looked back to see dan and jerry slowly making ground. i was at the top and circumnavigating the perimeter of stirk park, but they were gaining too quickly and came past with only a couple of hundred metres to go. mike had sat up but had enough of a buffer to hang on for the win.
mike – 10, jerry – 7, dan – 5, peter – 3, stu – 1.
this would have to be the first time that we actually had a regroup point in kalamunda that didn’t involve the coffee shop. we stopped at stirk park and worked out who was wearing the blouses and who was wearing the pants. about half fluffed their puffy sleeved blouses and headed off to the coffee shop while the remaining eight hardcore cyclists took off along canning to the sanitarium factory. we stayed together well all the way through bickley valley and to the base of mundaring weir road. i was down the back a bit with mike while dan and stu were setting the pace at the front with john. the hill started in earnest and mike decided to set his pace on the climb and i just held on as best i could. we picked up stu and dan but left john behind and powered up the climb. i didn’t last that much longer and soon had to drop the wheel as my legs were gone. john soon picked me up and just as quickly dropped me again. i was in severe damage control mode and even though i knew that i would suffer on the hills, i needed to put in the kms as i had been given permission to ride. shao soon passed me but tried to encourage me along and offered his wheel. too late as the legs had already departed for an extended holiday. i was left to suffer my way up the hill with only the voices in my head for company.
mike – 10, stu – 7, dan – 5, john – 3, shao – 1.
the other blouses, i mean boys, were still at the coffee shop once we arrived and hung around while we ordered. there was a slight delay on the coffee, but the shorter ride gave us an early mark and we were soon back on the road and heading home. the nice tailwind was a payback from the earlier headwind and the homeward journey was a much more pleasant trip. no sprints at the end of welshpool but we certainly noticed the temperature heating up and pointing towards that 37 top.
dan j got away after the kent st lights and almost stayed away till the end, but was halted at the george st set. the rest of the group was not delayed for so long and i tried to get the jump as we were still rolling when it changed. not possessing the endurance of old, i only made it to the top of the hill before my heart tried to break through my ribcage. i looked back to see that jerry was not far behind and gaining fast. i sat up for the downhill and let things be. dan tried to chase him down but didn’t quite have enough at the end. however, it was close enough that jerry didn’t have time for his trademark victory salute. juan antonio fletcha has this salute where he mimics an archer pulling a arrow from his quiver and drawing his bow. this is a play on his name which means archer in spanish. jerry, however, has a salute that is based more around his profession and involves a single finger and usually a latex glove.