ride report by peter.

so in the middle of the week the weather report said that it will be a brilliant saturday.  mid 20’s, moderate winds, all the good stuff.  i predicted that this would mean that we would have a good turn out so set the ride routes to split early to ease the road congestion.  as i stepped out the door this morning, the brilliant saturday was nowhere to be seen.  it was overcast, the wind was howling and someone said that there was rain on the radar.  i didn’t check the radar as it was supposed to be a nice day but it certainly looked like the clouds were bringing rain.

as was predicted, there was a good turn out with about 60 riders at the start.  i would say that there would have been a few more if the wind hadn’t picked up early and scared them away.  we set out to get to great eastern hwy and were instantly split at the first set of lights.  i am sure that we got pretty much every set of lights between the start and ascot but managed to keep the group together. 

the split went as well as it can with the fast group turning left and heading towards ascot and the main group continuing along great eastern.  i would say that there was almost a 50/50 split this morning as i guess that some people opted out of the fast group due to the wind.

the pace wasn’t high along garrett rd and we soon turned onto guilford.  the wind was coming from the right and into our face so the group started to roll through.  unfortunately, people are used to rolling through in one direction only and it was a bit much to get them to roll to the centre of the road.  it caused no end of confusion and this combined with the wind made things a bit hectic.  people were already starting to opt out of the roll through as the wind seemed to be getting stronger as we got closer to the hills. 

just through bassendean, there was a touch of wheels and josh went down.  we pulled up the group to make sure that he was ok.  it seemed superficial physical wounds so he was up an riding quickly.  however, it would take it’s toll later as the adrenaline wore off.

we grouped back up and passed through guilford and onto bushmead road.  the wind was hitting us in the face here and the group was pretty much single file with pretty much only the strong guys rotating at the front.  splits were starting to appear here and the group was getting strung out as there wasn’t many places to hide.

i moved to the front as we approached the roe hwy crossing to let the group know where the turn was as we haven’t been down midland rd before.  we had to wait for an oncoming car so this allowed much of the group to catch up.  the wind was howling off the escarpment and as midland rd runs parallel to it, we were caught in cross winds for this whole stretch.  this meant that there basically was nowhere to hide and i soon lost contact with the front group. 

i pushed on regardless and had jason on my wheel.  we caught brother dan and i think it was snuggles so the four of us stayed together till the end of the road.  the front boys were held up at the lights to turn onto hawtin rd so we managed to regroup with them, but there were lots behind us that didn’t. 

there was no real reprieve along here either, as we started moving parallel with the escarpment again so the crosswinds were just as bad.  i lost contact again but found a few wheels to jump behind briefly.  the front guys had managed a gap and there were a few of us trying to bridge it without success. 

after a turn at the front, i looked back to see that it was only jason and myself once again.  we put in a couple of big efforts and managed to catch back up to the group before we hit tonkin hwy.  just after the crossing, there was a loud expulsion of air and jerry slowed his bike.  there was a tentative slowing by the front guys before deciding to keep going as a few of us had stopped with him.

this was the second week in a row for jerry so it may be time for a new brand of tyre.  we moved over to a driveway as it was mostly dirt here and got off the road.  he went to take the tyre off but michael said to see where the hole was.  it wasn’t a hole.  there was a slash across the width of the tyre that even a $5 note wouldn’t save.  after a couple of attempts, he managed to get hold of his wife to come and pick him up so we left him so we can head home. 

the following groups had caught up by then and everyone had stopped so we had a decent group to get home.  josh had joined up with us after being quite a way off the back as he found out that the little stack earlier on had buckled his back wheel quite severely.  he managed to keep going by loosening off his brakes, but i am guessing the stack had not helped his body much either.

we formed up on welshpool rd and started to roll through.  the pace was not exceptionally high so we pretty much kept together.  dan rolled off the back but it wasn’t till we hit the lights that the others said that he got a flat but told everyone to keep going.  josh turned around to make sure he was ok.  it is probably worth noting that last week brother julian came out in a trisuit in which we found a lot of pleasure in taking the piss out of him.  i am pretty sure that brother dan joined in with it.  however, today dan turned up in his spr undershirt with his red bibs over the top.  from a distance it looked like a trisuit.  up close it looked like he was ready for world wrestling federation or the mardi gras (probably the same thing really).

we kept the pace on all the way to the finish and had a sprint for 15^th place on riverside drive.  the rest of the group was already waiting at the coffeeshop and the brews came out quite well today. 

so a hell of a gusty day today and it really showed out who was strong and who was left wanting.  it is hard to hang on when you can’t hide but it is good to stretch you limits as it is only way you get better.