Were there any chicks left at SPR?  We seemed to have them all down south!… the Fleet Elite contingent: Bec Halliday Holly and Anna; the South Perth “Roulettes”: Lisa, Bec Wheadon, Nicole and myself; and Jill from Elite Racing Cycles!

I’ll stick to the race reports as much of the rest has already been covered by John and Brendan…

Saturday morning started at a leisurely hour with a group recon of the road circuit.  A good course (well I liked it!) and even Pump Hill Rd seemed fine on our easy morning effort.

After that we coffee’d, ate and lazed our way through what remained of the day before the afternoon’s criterium. The road surface conditions of the crit course were less than ideal… railway lines, uneven road surface and a spattering of small pot holes. The presence of a reasonable hill at the back end of the course was the first real hill I’d encountered in a crit and the final stretch would also be going uphill.

Now I just wanted this out of the way… I was dreading the crit! After a disastrous effort at Renae’s Race the week before I did not have exceedingly high expectations! About 20 of us lined up for the start with plenty of  faces I recognised from the week before.  The first lap was fast and furious and the first corner downhill and to the right had large padded barriers around the street signs… Very reassuring! My self-imposed week off must have paid off and I manged to stick with the lead group. The hill was certainly a bonus for me and on more than one occasion helped me keep in touch with the front. I was still in the front group on the final lap and pushed up the hill as hard as I could… TOO hard! No legs left at the top and I was over taken by 5 other riders before I crossed the line!  But I got 6th!!! Now how could I be unhappy with that?  Bec Halliday pulled off a great 4th place finish!

Saturday night the group whipped up a fantastic impromptu BBQ (apart from late arrivals Ryan and Kim who apparently thought the company and the pasta at the pub was better!) and mulled over the afternoon’s results. Early nights were the order for most people before the road race the next day. The exception

again were… surprise, surprise… Ryan and Kim who headed back to the pub again once the sensible cyclists had headed off to bed! I stayed up to wait for Ronny who was fresh (or not so fresh as the case was) from 27 hours of travel from the US, and being chauffeured down by his girlfriend Emma.

Up bright and early the next day for breakfast, registrations, warm up and the ever-essential milling around with nervous churning stomachs. Ronny was up surprisingly early too and handing out presents like Father Christmas.  Personalised stickers for Bec W and Lisa ; pump, side-loader bottle cages and new knicks for me! He even had the born-again Rolf front wheel (the one that has been trashed in the Great Perth Bike Ride) for me to put on the R3 for the race!

The line up was pretty much the same as for the crit with one or two additions. I was worried that my chase for a placing the day before would take it’s toll today… I shouldn’t have worried too much! I found the pace comfortable enough and, apart from a few false attacks up the rolling hills leading away from Pemberton, I did not feel too stressed and stuck with the lead group of 7. The pace picked up on the straight back into town and I was holding Anna’s wheel as she rocketed along!  After almost coming to a complete halt to let the C grade pass us in the centre of town, Mel and Sarah-Jeanne got up to the front and mounted an impressive attack up the first ascent of Pump Hill Road . Riding back through town I chuckled as I saw Ronny and Emma on the sidelines… they had written all our names over the road in white chalk… Vive le Tour!!!

As we begun the cheap cialis online figure of 8 loop for the second time the rain started… OMG How it rained… and then the thunder and lightening!  Somewhere out behind us Lisa (who had not been having the best weekend) witnessed a tree being struck by lightening! Still suffering from the head injury of a week ago, her only recourse she decided, was to moo loudly at the cows as she cycled passed them (did it help Lisa?).  I, on the other hand, was thinking to to myself  “I bet I’m the only high maintenance chick here who bothered putting mascara on this morning and now has it running down her face”!  There was crap on the road everywhere… water, gravel, bark, you name it.  A huge lake of water lay ahead of us and we ploughed on through. Anna and I looked desperately down at our feet… both of us had new white shoes… which now were a muddy chocolate brown colour!

The second climb up Pump Hill Road was to be the decider and Mel and Sarah-Jeanne once again attacked strongly. At the top there was 4 of us trying to chase down the 2 of them but with no chance. With the finish line in sight I tried to break first at 200m but knew I was in no state to be of any threat to the others who spat me out and battled on for 3rd place.  Bec Halliday got there first and claimed the 3rd place! 6th again for me but once again I was delighted with my result.

A great feat for all of us who completed the race… the hills and rain would have seen lesser women (or men) crumble!

At the risk of this becoming an epic, I think I have said more than enough.

A huge thank you to everyone who travelled all that way and enthusiastically supported my idea to have us go down as a group.  It was the BEST atmosphere and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Thanks to Brendon, Ryan and Kim for those wonderful moments in the spa 😉 If only I hadn’t  been so tired after the race…

A personal thanks to Bec Halliday and Anna for your fantastic words of support and encouragement during the road race .

And of course many thanks to ALL the wonderful women I rode with that weekend: Lisa, Bec Wheadon, Nicole, Jill, Holly, Anna, Bec Halliday and our new SPR girl Emma who braved us talking about cycling ALL weekend!

Lorraine