Report by Julian

I was a tad unsure of whether I’d make it on Sunday. The thought of a 120 km round trip after the punishing Saturday ride and my neighbour’s 50th birthday that evening wasn’t inspiring me, but the “coffee shop pact” I’d made with Lorraine after the Gooseberry Hill ride meant that a sleep in wasn’t an option. Arriving at the car park I was surprised to see over 20 riders ready to tackle the day. Confidence reigned supreme as a poll indicated only Shun had brought a rain jacket. The wind was non-existent and the temperature not too cold so conditions were ideal.

The Manning Road /Albany Highway sections were unremarkable with the lead changing regularly to allow everyone to do some work on the front. The pace was maintained in the low 30s as we prepared for the Kahuna. At the start of the climb Gregor had a puncture, which he tended to with a little help, whilst the rest of us forged on. Rob made the early pace but the young group, including Sam in his shocking tights, and Adrian plus Mike, Ben and I soon put a gap between us and the rest of the field. Mike held his form to the top keeping out Ben. I made a last effort to catch Sam but was stalled by being in fits of laughter as Sam’s tights had half fallen down leaving his knicks hanging over the top. It was quite a sight. In the end, the first climb points were as follows:

KOM 1 – 1. Mike, 2. Ben, 3. Sam, 4. Julian, 5. Adrian

We then made pace down Urch Road, with John leading the way towards Peet Rd and the Roleystone High School finish. We came across a Cyclobuzz group on Peet Rd so I was unsure of actual positions but know I was holding 6th or 7th – i.e. no points. Peter and I worked together towards the roundabout and Nick came flying past thinking he was a chance for 5th. We yelled out the position and this slowed Nick up and we finished behind the front group, who shared the points:

KOM 2 – 1. Mike, 2. Craig, 3. Ben, 4. Rob, 5. Adrian

The re-group was longer than expected as we’d heard Gregor had suffered another flat. However, he bravely soldiered on, complete with a $5 note inside his tyre to protect the tube. We started off again and turned into Brookton Highway with Sam (I think – apologies if not you Sam.  Feel free to name and shame) doing his best to kill himself by ignoring the calls of ‘car right’. We need to be careful on these roads and I would encourage everyone to read the etiquette page on the web site to understand our responsibilities when we’re on the roads.

Everyone held position on the descent and by the time we hits Soldiers Rd we were all ready for the climb. A group of 6 set the pace up the hill and we started breaking up towards the top. Sam outlasted Mike to the top, followed by Ben and Craig and I passed Adrian near the end to take the 5th spot.

KOM 3 – 1. Sam, 2. Mike, 3. Ben, 4. Craig, 5. Julian

At the re-group we were all reminded that this was the last short cut point of the ride. Judd and Rachel took the option and the remaining riders headed off to Albany Highway and the next KOM at the Canning Dam turn off. This hill is the flattest on the ride so it turned into a sprint finish between about 8 riders. Nick again tried hard to get points but the placings were already filled.

KOM 4 – 1. Craig, 2. Sam, 3. Mike, 4. Adrian, 5. Rob

It was another long re-group as Ben changed a flat. Time was starting to get away so we made haste down towards the dam. This lasted all of 1 km before Lorraine had a flat, courtesy of someone who dumped a load of bricks in the middle of the road! Once the tyre was changed off we went again and made good pace again until Peter started free wheeling and his wheel hubs started screeching, which caused general alarm. However, the problem was not serious so we continued down the valley until the wooden bridge, where there was no need to answer three questions to cross it (I can’t remember who made this classic Monty Python reference at the re-group before the bridge but all the way down to it I was thinking of was my name, my quest and my favourite colour – Brilliant). The long climb up to Karragullen was hard and I generally find this climb particularly tough. I could see Ben fading a little in front of me but couldn’t catch him.

KOM 5 – 1. Mike, 2. Craig, 3. Rob, 4. Ben, 5. Julian

At the service station re-group we decided to forego coffee in Kalamunda, as a few of us had to back home. We planned to head to Pickering Brook and then directly to Welshpool Road and back for coffee at Atomic for those who could. Nick decided to breakaway just before Welshpool Road to get up the last of the hills. Although there were no points on offer he bravely stayed in front for the first hill. We then got the pack organised to haul him in until Mike mentioned that it was his birthday so we let him take the final hill, and in recognition of this made a special KOM stage for him.

KOM 6 – 1 Nick (happy birthday for Saturday)

On the Welshpool Road descent Lorraine got to Tonkin Highway first and Gregor lost an arm-warmer. We picked up solo rider near Roe Highway and Peter went into recruit mode and hopefully she will join us next weekend. The next bit of excitement was a clash of wheels in East Vic Park, which brought one rider down but no damage was done. There were more moments of madness in the final sprint down Berwick Street (again refer to etiquette web page) before the regroup in the Bunnings car park. A group of about 10 then headed to Atomic along the bike path, stopping only to assist a little kid who had a head on crash with Nick!!  It really capped off an eventful day but luckily no damage was done.

As a footnote the final points for May will be posted soon (I need to get the May 10 results) but Mike looks to have won the polkadot jersey. We’ll aim to update the KOM points more regularly now.

Also, SBS will be launching their new channel SBS2 tonight and from what I can gather from their press release they will be showing ALL of the Tour de France this year.