ride report by mark
i didn’t think i was up to a ride this morning, having had a somewhat less than ideal few days in the run up to sunday.
i started feeling sick on thursday, and spent friday, in bed with a fever. things got worse from there on, as kids got sick and surprised us with technicolour yawns all night.
on saturday i was well enough to try my hand at being a lumberjack after hiring a chainsaw. i don’t know why having a chainsaw in your hand brings out some kind of weird streak in guys; sort of like a cross between jack nicholson in the shining, and big arnold in conan the barbarian. anyway, my back yard is much neater, and my pavement looks like a 1950’s south west timber mill.
i didn’t set the alarm on saturday night, hoping that i could lie in and maybe take a short ride around the river on my own. as luck would have it i awoke at exactly the time my alarm would have gone off, and that was it. i knew i had to ride.
i got to the start 5 minutes late, to find a group of about 10 chatting away – a couple of newer faces again, which is always encouraging. dr paul announced that he was in for a shorter route today, to which i replied that i had similar intentions. without the likes of brendan, ryan, and peter, the rest were like dominoes, and that was the decision made. all it took was the words helena valley, zigzag & coffee” and we’d all just become “blouses” in the blink of an eye. but here’s the thing – we had a legitimate excuse that came to us when we were sipping lattes in paris brest. there was racing on at technology park in bently, and the short route would allow us to have coffee, ride back, and watch the racing. all of a sudden we were no longer blouses, but rather loyal club supporters, who, with careful planning and a strong commitment to their fellow cyclists, were able to squeeze in a reasonable training ride plus go and support their mates. how organised is that!!!
so we ambled out to the zigzag taking turns in front in pairs, as good responsible riders do, and regrouped at the bottom of the zigzag. we all felt bad saying that the next regroup would be at the coffee shop, but not bad enough to change our minds.
in fairness to ourselves, we pushed a fair pace up the hill, until about 2/3 of the way up when hunter went to the front and let rip. shao and julian went with him, and i tried, but gave up after a short while. i think paul (d.i.d.) was close by most of the way up. hunter saw another group waiting at the top of the zigzag proper, and stopped with them. when i rode on past, he realised the error and took off again, easily passing me. i chased them all the way from there, but never got closer, so the order at the top was: hunter, shao, julien, mark, paul
coffee was great (is it ever not?) and it felt a bit strange being there so early. i am (only a little) embarrassed to say that we’d clocked a total of thirtysomething km by the time we got there (slightly more for those of us who have a bit of a ride in). it was still almost chilly when we left kalamunda, for a brisk ride back. the residual energy in the group was evidence by the fact that we never had to wait for anyone at the school at the bottom of welshpool. dr greg took honours at the bottom of the hill this time, after a tactical break over lesmurdie hill.
paul, dir greg and myself missed the turnoff at berwick to go and watch the racing in bently. what a great venue , for both riders and spectators; the best i’ve seen in perth so far. sloping grass banks overlooking the finish, complete with shade, and easy access for all. (note to self: do the bently crit next year, but make sure you enter an appropriate grade; c sounds good)
we met james who’d just finished the c-grade race, where he had the misfortune to crash on the finish line (not before taking out 7th place) right in front of his wife. i have to envy the sympathy he received for this. in the past, when returning home bloodied and battered, i have been crapped on for taking unnecessary chances, damaging expensive clothes, bleeding on the patio, etc, etc.
the b-graders had just started when we arrived, and we saw chris and judd (sounds like a footballer?) hurtling around with the pack. then someone put the hammer down, and we saw judd hurtling around, while we consoled chris on the sidelines.
judd did lots of work up front and was unlucky to get swamped on the last lap and miss out on the sprint.
it was great to see that more spr comrades had shown up to support the riders – jonathan, lenny, stu g and michael b, who tells me his ticker is well on its way back to race form. brendon was our single hope in the a-grade; and he was only treating the ride as a training run for next week at pemberton. he looked comfortable all the way, rode a very sensible race, and even went with a couple of the breaks (just to show he could). he ended up comfortably in the pack, and in top form for next week.
i left just after the girls started, and it was amazing to see so many familiar faces riding; lorraine, bec, lisa, renae, nicole, anna, josie, other bec etc. josie looked like she had things under control when i last looked.
quote of the day goes to chris, at the start of the girls race: “i hope the girls last longer than i did” . there were several clever retorts, but none that can be repeated here.
well done to those who raced, and good luck to the brave ones heading to pemberton next week. cya.