ride report by peter

 

a pleasant change from last sunday with the temperature only predicted to be in the low thirties with a fair bit of cloud cover.  i thought that this may bring out some more punters, but the crits and some of the guys “tapering” for the tour down under, meant that numbers were around the 15 mark.  some of the doctors had already organised their own breakaway group and were just going to ride out to helena valley rd with us and continue on to ridgehill rd.  we planned to turn off an tackle greenmount and john forrest national park, before heading to coffee via mundaring weir rd.

the trip out was at a nice cruisy pace and was quite uneventful.  we picked up mike along the way, and with stu and dan already on board, i knew that there wouldn’t be any easy points for me today.  five turned off with the doctors and this left us with just 11 riders as we made out way through the suburban housing estates at the base of greenmount.

once the hill started, we neatly fell into single file but stayed together as a group.  no-one was applying the pressure yet, and i wasn’t going to be the one today.  mike finally got his rubber-band wound up and came to the front with ease.  obviously no heart problems today and he quickly gapped the front of the bunch.  i sprinted to catch his wheel and soon there was a string of the main contenders hanging off his wheel.  a frind of shao’s named bill soon came to the front to show us that he had a bit of climbing ability.  he set the pace in front of mike and was going quite well for quite a while. i soon had to drop the wheel and set my own tempo which was so much less than what the front guys were doing.  i watched as the group overtook bill and fully expected him to drop right off after the effort, but no he held on to the group.  as the road wound up greenmount i saw dan and then judd fall off the back of the group leaving just mike, stu and bill to fight it out.  i kept looking back and saw a small group of paul, mark and john (i think) coming up towards me.  i could also hear a large truck slowly making it’s way up the hill and with us in the left lane, he was blocking traffic in the right lane.  as he came by i saw that it was a double trailer semi carrying a load of stinky arse pigs.  he changed lanes as he overtook me and i got a draft for a few metres.  unfortunately i couldn’t hold on for too long as the smell was unbearable, especially when you are gasping for breath.  i backed off searching for clean air and just grateful that none of the passengers had decided to give me a squirt as they went past.

the small chasing bunch soon overtook me and i sat on their wheel for a while.  paul decided to make a break for it and launched off the front with a few hundred to go.  the other weren’t moving so i sprinted off after him and flew past.  it didn’t last long and he picked me up just as we were turning into the national park.  luckily there were not points at stake for us by then.

mike – 10, stu – 7, bill – 5, judd – 3, dan – 1.

 

a very quick regroup as the smaller group was generally full of experienced riders, and we where off on the rough roads through john forrest national park.  the gates were already open by the time we arrived, so i was hoping the one at the far end was also as we did get a surprise one time.  a small respite from climbing with a quick descent before regrouping at oxley rd to make sure everyone was ready for the next climb.  i went to the front to set the early tempo mainly to make sure that mike or stu didn’t leave me for dead before we got into a rhythm.  as the group approached the base of the climb i heard judd swear as he had not done this climb before and it looks really steep from the start.  stu came up beside me as the hill got steeper and mike and judd were not too far back.  i could still hear judd and mike having a conversation about the climb and i asked stu how they could still be talking as i was gasping for air.  stu said he couldn’t answer as he needed to breath instead.  the climb has two pinches in it and by the time we hit the second one, stu, dan and myself were still holding a gap over mike and judd.  or it may be more realistic to say that mike had not decided to chase us down yet.  the road flattened out and stu, knowing where the finish was, took off.  i couldn’t chase, but dan took off after him.  he ran out of puff just shy of the finish and i managed to take him on the line.

stu – 10, peter – 7, dan  -5, mike – 3, judd – 1.

 

a nice quiet descent and pleasant ride from parkerville through to stonyville found us crossing the highway at mundaring.  the change in course from what we used to do meant that we now no longer need to ride on the highway at all after we finish greenmount.  it was decided not to regroup after the next mountain points but call “advantage paid” and continue on to the coffee shop.  stu mentioned that he hated the descent into the weir so we tried to play that one to our advantage and hit him hard al the way down.  at the end of the day, we didn’t gain that much advantage and we were all close together by the climb. 

judd had a slight advantage and lead the way up the hill with mark and john close behind.  as the road got steeper, judd got away and stu and myself came around the others i tried to hold stu’s wheel but found that i just couldn’t on the steeper slopes.  mike suddenly flew past and quickly hunted down both stu and judd.  as i watched them head up the hill, i noticed another rider coming up behind me.  it was paul whose climbing has improved a lot lately and pretty soon we were riding the hill together.  dan apparently dropped his chain at the start of the climb and was languishing back with mark a bit further down the hill, but both were holding the gap steady.  as we reached the top of the initial climb, paul and i worked together to limit our losses to the riders ahead, while still trying to keep away from mark and dan.  up ahead we could see that mike had a clear lead over stu and judd who were now working together.

there are a number of small climbs and rolling hills that follow the main drag out of the weir and the official points aren’t until you get right to the top and start the descent into hacketts gully.  it meant a lot of chasing and a lot of being chased.  unfortunately up ahead, mike didn’t know where the top of the climb was so slowed down to wait for stu, who then took him on the line.  as we hit the last small climb, i said to paul to make sure he kept looking behind and just stay away from the others as we were still in the points.  i knew that i had to put in a bit of an effort to make sure i would secure fourth spot and left him behind for the climb.  i kept looking back though and right towards the end, he also made a big effort to keep away from mark and almost caught me at the crest.  however, he held on to get his first mountain points.

stu – 10, mike – 7, judd – 5, peter – 3, paul – 1.

 

we had seen judd up the road as we were doing the final climbs so i knew that we were not that far behind.  paul and i kept swapping turns to try to catch up and we were flying down the hill.  i had to apologise to paul later as he thought it had started to rain, but it was just the sweat dripping off me and hitting him as we flew down the hill.  i looked back to see mark gaining fast which i knew he would.  i said to paul that they were coming and next moment there was this blur as mark sped past and down the road.  years of riding and racing under his belt has meant that mark can descent at quite a pace.  fitness may determine your climbing abilities, but skill and a big set of kahunas allow you to go fast. 

i had trouble keeping up as we sped around the corners as the road dropped into the valley.  the four of us were basically together as we started the final climb with mark just slightly up the road.  dan accelerated to catch up and i jumped on his wheel.  paul was totally spend from the previous effort to gain points and had to let us go.  the three of us made our way up the hill and i soon found my way to the front as mark eased off the pace a bit.  after a few minutes, i thought that i would test the waters and surged a bit without getting up out of the saddle.  mark put in an effort to get on but it just pissed dan off and he was up and attacking hard.  i jumped on his wheel and he attacked again but i managed to hold on.  i looked back to see mark falling off the pace and just stayed on dan’s wheel.  up ahead we could see the unmistakable figure of judd fighting the climb on his own.  i mentioned it to dan and he said that i was welcome to chase him down, but i was struggling to hold wheel.  as the road flattened out i came to the front and put in a big effort to try to bring judd back.  with dan tucked neatly in my slipstream, we sped up the false flat and onto the last pinch.  judd was just ahead and i was finding my final reserves to hold a decent pace.  right at the end, dan came off my wheel to take fourth place, but judd only got to the top by about 5 – 10 sec.  it seems that mike was not happy about stu taking him on the last climb so absolutely smashed it on the final one so that there was no doubt.

mike – 10, stu  – 7, judd – 5, dan – 3, peter – 1.

 

with only eight of us staying for coffee, it was a nice and quiet affair and service was relatively brisk.  the cooler weather made the stop even nicer and there was even a very slight drip or two of a sun shower on the awning roof.  nothing to dampen the spirits and we were soon off.

a nice bomb of a descent down welshpool had me clocking about 82 as the wind was not totally favourable, and then the time trial along the flat to the highway.  we all did turns at the front but i had nothing left when mark and john went up the road for the finish.  another rider, who we will call longhair (cause he had long hair) turned onto welshpool at hale rd in front of us.  we didn’t chase him down but eventaull caught him coming through queens park.  he sat on us until the lights at leach hwy, but then took off around us once we got going again.  this did not bode well with some of our guys and they just had to chase him down.  this lead to a very long sprint along welshpool rd that my legs were not in the mood to try.  longhair jumped ahead of us at the lights onto albany hwy but we soon turned off on hill view so the chase was over.  the final sprint along berwick was initiated by judd but was foiled by the lights so that it all came together.  most of us came over the rise as a group so it came down to a final burst to maccas which dan convincingly won as no-one else had the legs to chase.

 

so we have a busy week for cycling this week.  tour down under is on tv every night at 6pm on sbs.  perth criterium series will be held this weekend so look forward to some of the girls we ride with competing as well as ryan will be suiting up for the WAR team in the open division.  his first crack at the big time (or a big world of hurt).  also, more importantly, we will be holding our pseudo-agm on saturday to vote in our office bearers for the new club.