Report by Julian 

The wet weather no doubt kept many people away this morning and we presumed Captain Peter had not finished construction of his pirate ship.  Nevertheless 13 of us turned up for the ride and there were a few positive comments about no rain on the radar.  The roads were damp as we made our way out along Welshpool Road but the rain stayed away and just before the climb the sun managed to peek through the clouds.  Spirits were lifted as we attacked the first hill.  Hunter and Brendan made a couple of early moves, then Brendan declared his climbing day over about 400 m into the first ascent and dropped back.  I was feeling quite good and made good progress to the top, then turned around to watch the battles for points.  Hunter held off Brendan for second, with Rhys and Mark D rounding out the top five.  

KOM 1 – 1. Julian,  2. Hunter,  3. Brendan,  4. Rhys,  5. Mark D 

One of the newer Sunday riders Bill had the day’s first puncture, in his rear tube, on the climb and this resulted in the re-group being longer than expected.  Once this was sorted we headed off to Carmel, taking care on the damp roads but at least avoiding rain.  The first split of the day occurred when we hit Mundaring Weir Rd.  A group of 4 took a left turn to coffee (which I’m sure they really earned!!), whilst the rest of us started the climb to Asher Road.  I opened up a break on Hunter early and maintained this.  The rest of the group made good time and we shortly met again at the top. 

KOM 2 – 1. Julian,  2. Hunter,  3. Rhys,  4. Mike,  5. Claire 

We cruised down to the dam and readied ourselves for the next climb and had started to wind up when the call of “flat” went out.  Bill had managed to puncture his front tube, so we stuck together whilst this was repaired.  The climb to Mundaring began again at the roundabout near the pub and featured a great duel between Hunter and Mike, with Mike claiming 2^nd behind me.  Claire also climbed strongly to take home 4^th and Rhys took 5^th.  

KOM 3 – 1. Julian,  2. Mike,  3. Hunter,  4. Claire,  5. Rhys 

The trip through Glen Forrest and Darlington was pretty cruisy.  It turned out that most of us has done the ride in the other direction so there was some hesitation at intersections but we managed to negotiate the correct route.  As an aside, the Ryecroft Road repairs have been completed, even though we didn’t go that way.  When we hit Ridgehill Road Hunter and Ben made a break, but with no points on offer, no else followed.  Given the length of this ride, it may be worth adding in another climb at this stage. 

At Kalamunda Road, Hunter and Claire departed for home leaving 7 of us to tackle the last hill.  Simon and Nicole only just missed out on points and we were all glad to reach the safety of the coffee shop.  Even more pleasing was that we arrived dry, without a hint of rain on the whole ride.  

KOM 4 – 1. Julian,  2. Brendan,  3. Rhys,  4. Mike,  5. Bill 

I had to get back early today so didn’t stay for coffee so the report will end here.  Also, next week I won’t be riding so if anyone tackles the Sunday ride in preference to the Cyclo Sportif, can they please keep a tally of points and send them through.