Ride report by Brendan.

Well after a pretty ordinary sleep and a niggly thigh I dosed up on some deep heat and set out the door realising I was running abit late sped down to the to see the group still there so that saved me chasing them down 🙂

Lorraine was quick to point out Pete wasnt coming and asking if I knew the way which I did but the brain wasnt clicking into gear yet so a quick chat with the guys and we knew the route.. It was great to see a decent turn out of riders aprox 25-30 with several of the girls from lorraine, Lisa, Bella, Sam and several others that I cant remember the names of sorry. We also had 3 of the Aussie Crates boys which is proving just how popular our rides are becoming 🙂

So off we set through Douglas heading out to Albany Hwy to enjoy the flat section for a while before the fun starts at Carrawatha… Lisa had other ideas and wanted a stop 2/3rds of the way out as she had a rear punture, so a quick stop and some help from the gang and we were back of in search of them there hills 🙂

As we hit Brookton hwy a few of the others headed off towards kalamunda via a shorter route as we crested the hill looking for the turn into the heart starter known as Carawatha, after saying regroup at the top go as hard as you want a few of the boys tok off and we were quickly strung out over the smaler lead up hill as we hit the steeper section and with a crunch of gears we were up at a reasonably quick pace with the points at
KOM 1
Brad R
Darren R
Mike B
Ben

Brendan

Once everyone was up we headed down teh other side and into the rough hill at carradine, I always hate the rough section of this hill but after yelling to all regroup at the top Tee intersection the Aussie CRates boys took off and after a while Mike,Paul and myself headed after them as at first I was reluctant as just didnt seem to have the gogo today.
We caught them 1/3rd of the way up and I figured may as well set the pace so pushing pretty hard sat tempo until teh top section where the hill finishes but the tee is still a little bit ahead, I had done my part and let the guys sprint it out for points with the following results
KOM 2
Darren R
Matt
Brad R
Brendan
Mike

So once we were all up we headed down around to the turn leading down into solidiers road and a nice quick decent and it was nice to see the previous loose blue metal all but gone so we could safely decend at speed and down to the brookton hwy regroup before heading upward of the infamous Peet road 🙂 which we all know and love.

Starting on Peet I set the tempo up to just prior where the turn is and MIke came through with a slight surge to put most into higher Heart beats with some dropping off the pace. MIke and Darren were setting a solid pace and I was hapy to let them go with Matt trying to bridge the gap but as we know the second turn still keeps heading upward and Matt was spent and I crested the hill well clear of Matt and the group and not that far to Mike and Daren so bugger it I bridged up to them although did it steadily rather than flat tack and caught them as the road heads upwards prior to the round about so surged past them just to let them know I was still there but they too picked up my pace and we settled in towards the line for KOM 3, Mike came through and Darren was keen for the uphill sprint so I just sat on his wheel and let Mike set the pace with Darren constantly looking back at me wondering when I would go ( I didnt have the heart to tell him I wasnt going to sprint as my thigh was hurting and on the verge of cramping but he lept off only to see me not chasing so results were
KOM 3
Darren R
Brendan
Mike
Brad R
Matt

So after a few photos of people coming up in loking in sheer pain (although some where smiling, I think they are abit sadistic 🙂 ) We headed towards Karragullen for some water and after a brief stop we were off toward canning road in readiness for the final timed ascent towards our well earned coffee and muffins.

By this stage a few of the guys had headed off homeards as they live out that way but we still had a good size group and with people sharing the wind and talk still hapening I figured people still had some fuel in the tank.

As we crested the lead up hill we hit the start and it go on the timer Lorriane hit us hard looking for a PB up into Kalamunda. At first I wasnt really interested in chasing but as the testosterone kicks in and that competitive spriit always hits out a few of us set off in pursuit, I ended on the front as we passed Lorriane and knowing Mike was due for his attack due any second which he didnt let me down we were off I jumped on the wheel with Matt and Paul there somehwere too I figured as we started semi slow it wouldnt be a cracker of a pace but with Mike charging up the, it got the better of me I jumped to the front to bring the group up onto the flat part pushing very hard I looked back thinking I can lead Mike out for a PB time and I was bymyself so thought bugger it keep riding tempo and hope I recover if someone bridges so I can go, I heard a wheel get on mine and thinking it was MIke I surged again on teh flat but it turned out to be Paul who surged on the flat and I recovered quickly once behind Paul we hit the final 2 bends as it kicks up to the round about, Paul by now was starting to slow from his effort so I jumped with everything up to the line (50km speed sign) and looked down to see a time of 7.24 with Paul bringing close behind so KOm as follows.
Brendan 7.24
Ben 7.29
MIke (unsure of time)
John (unsure of time)
Julian 8.09

Many riders commented of PB’s today and it is great to see just how far everyone has come in terms of strength and times so we were all up in quick succesion and down to the coffee shop for a well earned drink and food but the place was pretty busy so we had to spread over several tables.

After afew laughes and refreshments we were off again but not before Julian had to change a fat and another re charge the front tyre. The run back into Perth was pretty quick but only managed 83 down Welshpool and no where near the PB of 92 set some months ago.

We all stayed together but soem of the guys waited a the School to ensure everyone came home safely. We set good tempo back through town and down Berwick. A quick chat in South Perth and we went our seperate ways home.

I decided to make use of the sun and head around the river for a cool down ride and to check out the beach fronts 🙂 too nice of a day not too i figured but after several car doors swung open on me and several driver strying to take me out I figured I should of headed straight home as I am sure I used all of any good luck I had during that ride but finally made it back to Raffles bridge but I had run out of food n drink and teh bonk had set in, silly me should of stoped there and re fulled but I figured I could make it home, how wrong I was. I pulled into the red canteen down where the water skies run under the narrows and added some urgent chocolate and coke and headed home.
So all in all a great ride with everyoneand some hard, fast hills with some laughs thrown in and with me ending up riding for some 6 and half hours, looking forward to the next one, cheers.