Ride Report by Julian
The Saturday ride started at home at 6.40 am with a call from Peter, who had informed me that he’d been orally emitting his stomach contents throughout the night and therefore would not be able to ride today. He then informed me that a volunteer was needed to take the novice group out on its first ride. Given this was a one-on-one conversation, me volunteering wasn’t much of a choice!
I arrived at the meeting point to find about 30 riders, which included 3 novices. And so, having dispatched the other two groups with their directions (which I understand weren’t adhered to by the fast group) Carol, Libby, Tracy and I set off down Coode Street for our 35 km trip to Shelley Bridge and back to the Coffee Shop.
In conditions that could only be described as magnificent, we made an easy pace to Thelma Street, then headed down to the river bike path. I explained a few signals and instructions to the group regarding oncoming traffic, glass etc and pretty soon we were on the bike path heading towards Canning Bridge. We rejoined the road at the boat sheds in Mt Pleasant and rode on past Deep Water Point and under Mt Henry Bridge. The pace was about 27 km/h and the group was holding up well. Around the Shelley Rossmoyne foreshore we picked up the pace a little and were overtaken by a 70+ pack. This caused considerable excitement with Tracy and Libby even trying to hold on to the back. We were only slowed by the approaching road dead end near Shelley Bridge, which signaled the U-turn point.
On the way home we tried a bit of rolling through just to given everyone an idea of how it goes, although it was a bit hard with only 4 people. Libby and Tracy led the way back up the river path to the Narrows, with Carol and I content to draft behind. The 8.40 arrival at the coffee shop was bang on schedule but we came in behind the main group and had to queue for morning refreshments. I couldn’t stay as junior Netball season started at 9 am and I cheered on my youngest daughter Astrid’s team to a 14-1 win and my oldest daughter Freya’s team to a 7-2 win. All in all it was a great morning and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I hope we see everyone back again next week with a few extras in tow.
Hey Julian, I mentioned to Pete that my magnificent red-headed girlfriend might be keen to join. As a result, we will probably be out this Saturday morning with the novice group.
Julian, good work. Looking at the make up of the novice group, volunteers may come crawling out of the wood work soon. May have to watch people from the main group trying to down grade themselves..
Great we now have three groups, I imagine the novice group will be an entry point for many people thinking about cycling in packs and joining us. I think I may have some people to send down, although they will not do much for the currently favourable gender bias.