I was first at the car park today – I had to drop my son off in Guildford (just near where route for today’s ride) for rowing at 6 am which didn’t leave enough time to go home for a sleep, go for breakfast or go for a ride before the proper ride. So I just fiddled around with my bike in the car park and tried to listen to the rotto channel swim on the radio. I had done that swim quite a few times in the teams’ event before I rediscovered cycling. It is a sensational day, a day that you work all summer for. You end up with thousands of other athletes (swimmers and paddlers) on Rottnest all who have succeeded in achieving a common goal. A great feeling.
The intermediate group is a changing bunch. Always seems to be new or different faces. Today we had a cluster of girls who were racing on Sunday, a sick president and a couple of returns, all of who often ride in the fast group. I also noticed a few from last week opted for the order and control of the transition group. Last weeks’ ride, after all the build up through comments on the blog, was not that good. The main bunch was out to make amends today.
As we rolled out we tried to communicate to a few of the stronger riders on how we were going to try to change the ride to make it more enjoyable for most and still get the majority of the riders close to home in a bunch before the free for all. The plan was to ride ‘firm’ along Guildford road, swapping off two at a time, make sure we had everybody together at Woodbridge tavern and again at beginning and end of Midland road, end of Hale road, and then from Welshpool on, it’s all up for grabs. We also got two strong volunteers (Christophe – good to see you casino online back for a ride with us, and ‘sick Pete’) to act as ‘sweepers’ down the back – to help tow people back on, to offer encouragement, to support getting the bunch back together after getting split by lights and to generally keep things in order at the tail end. They did a great job and I think we should try and get a couple of sweepers for every Saturday ride – any others want to take a turn down the back and get accolades for helping other riders stay in touch?
Peter said we had 44 in the ‘Intermediate’ group today. Unfortunately I heard that it went down to 43 very quickly with a puncture right down the back very early on Great Eastern Highway. (sorry, I don’t know who it was, and sorry we didn’t stop). There seemed to be lots and lots of glass on the road today, did anybody else think it was more than usual? There is also quite a bit of glass in the car park where we meet. It would be good to get the Council to get a road sweeper down there and clean it all up.
The first bit of pace was along Guildford road where Michael and I pushed it up to the low 40’s before pulling off. Not sure what it was like down the back, but up the front it felt better than trying to roll through. Pace came off again through last bit of Maylands and Guildford and so didn’t need to stop at Woodbridge to regroup – just made sure that all were on when we went around the corner. Sweepers did a great job. Next faster bit was Midland road. Greg and I went to the front to lift the pace again until we blew up and had to seek shelter down the back. The group got strung out and little roll throughs started happening to try and bridge. Good regroup at the end which took less than a minute, thanks again to the sweepers. Midland road is a bu@3er of a road, rough blue chip with potholes and uneven surface and I was glad to be off it.
After the funny dog leg to add a couple of kilometres in, it was on to Hale road for the next fast bit. Workload at the front was shared well by the riders with people generally pulling off as they tired or were encourage to move off by others if they slowed. Although the pace picked up at the end, the lights at Welshpool helped the regroup (again didn’t have to stop).
Standard behaviour for Welshpool road seems to be hard riding with gaps opening and closing and often single file as riders try to find shelter. This would be a good road for small groups to work together and roll through trying to bridge to the leaders (or stay away). On Shepparton road, four of us got away for a couple of kilometres but i was very happy to see a few sets of lights go red and the group all come back together before the ride down to the causeway and blast home. I was spent, and could only stay with the bunch. Not sure who instigated the action at the front and who won the sprint.
To me it felt a better type of ride for the main group, especially compared to the week before. What do others think? Give those who organise the ride some feedback.
Russell if your refering to the rider pulling off just after the Ascot bridge that was me,
thankfully no puncture(and yes there was alot of glass about) just another broken spoke. Wrapped it up quickly then got back on with Pete’s help. Had further issues along Midland Road when the slightly off rear wheel forced a permamant brake rub. Easily fixed by losening right off and bringing it home on just the fronts and my shoes.
Was a much better feel to the ride this week compared to last.
A great ride, it is nice to have a few more kays to cover. The last 5-10 are when it gets serious as the legs are are starting to scream.
I’m okay with rolling through but it seems that when the group is any more than about 25-30 it gets too technical and falls apart – and the front 2 peeling off works better. I know that when I got to the front (yes I do get there every now and then when I can’t hide anymore) my partner was totally out of legs so in that instance peeling off early is easier than trying to get around the front in a roll through.
Thanks Prez Pete for the perfectly timed pushed through the lights as my gears decided to go all `fully automatic’ on me.
It was one of those moments that I really appreciated someone looking out for me and making sure I got through rather than playing with levers while in the middle of an intersection.
dp.
I think this week’s ride worked much better than last week’s. I guess its natural in a way: the bigger the ride gets, the more difficult is it going to be have a cohesive (seems like ‘cohesive’ is the “word of the week”), homogeneous and syncronized bunch.
By the looks of the discussions going on, the “fast” group are having their own little existencial crisis as well, so again it goes to show -paradoxically- the success of SPR. The bigger the groups get, the more diversity there is. That’s good.
Now, I think the new “format” (e.g. having a stronger / smaller bunch riders pulling by turns) of the main group worked out quite well, but, I do have a couple of comments:
a) Extra care must be put on the “disengagement” of the two riders up front when their turn is over. There’s a number of ways to do it (both move to the right or left and then fall back, or outside rider moves to the right and inside rider moves to the left and then fall back, etc) but it is always a bit more dangerous as you take up more of the road when doing so. We’d also need to agree on a protocol to do this, e.g. always to the right or always to the left or something, and not let it up to each rider to decide as this will cause confusion.
b) We still should practice rollthroughs whenever possible, as this is an essential riding skill. Perhaps there could be a specific ‘roll’ section during the ride?
c) Not sure if it the fact that the last two rides included Welshpool / Shepperton (faster bits with little traffic lights) but we seem to have increased the av. speed by a couple of kays. Not much I hear you say, but still worth noting. We’ll see next week with (maybe) a different route.
All in all, very happy with the ride.
cheers
ronan,
the ride routes are selected to give you a tailwind home. unfortunatly this time of year it is mostly easterlys. i have no worries about making you fight for your coffee into a head wind though.
dave, your welcome. there was a lot of pushing that day.
peter
Agree with David – I really enjoyed the sat intermediate ride. Thanks to Kimbo and Pete for some exeptionally well timed pushes. And i think Russel and Nev do a great job of leading the group. For what it is worth, this was the first time i’d done the two riders at the front rolling thru thing. Lisa was great at explaining how it worked and i hope i got it right. Comment on breaking the intermediate group up: i like being able to ride in a group with a range of abilities, i find it helps me to keep improving, but if i’m not having a great ride day, i can find a position in the group that fits me.