Ride report by Jarrad

I guess i should begin this with a quick note on the fact that the following may contain some (gross) exagerrations and grammatical errors (but it will contain capital letters), as it”s represents my limited outlet for “creative” writing, a skill which i”ve found to be not so important in the resources sector (the “Oscar Wilde” of engineering isn”t really a title which is coveted, probably for more than one reason).

Upon rolling up to Coode  St, with another impressive turnout were in attendance, el Presidente” threw the baton for “looking after” the Advanced Group to myself and Jonny, which i”ve also assumed to mean “do the write up”, and so we rolled out with around 25 or 30 riders behind the Intermediate group.

A few clicks in, Steve, Matty and Nico gave consideration to tomorrow (assumed racing/TT”ing or was it “Super Advanced solo time”?) and gave chase to the Inter group for a cruisier morning. Picking up brother Dan, or perhaps Backpack Dan along the way, we headed out towards Cannington. Jonny and i thought best to get the group to the turn off Nicholson and then roll through smoothly, which has been a bit of a hit and miss lately.

A right turn off Albany, and the roll through was smooth. Reggie”s (Julian) call for “38-40ish would do” turned into “45ish”, but with not too much wind, it seemed to be fairly smooth and inclusive for most. A right onto Bannister and i failed casino pa natet in my convincing Backpack Dan to do my grocerey shopping, but at least we were motoring along nice and smoothly, with the usual”s holding back the urge to put everyone on the red. Ryan and I discussed the “finer” points of a VO2 max test, including being orally violated with an oversized snorkel thing, wonderful.

Now rolling along South St, the roll through seemed quite smooth, with the infamous Muur de Karinya coming up quickly, i saw Ryan, Jonny and a few others moving towards the front, which didn”t really surprise me. From where i was sitting, it did look like Ryan was doing his impersonation of a motorbike and dragging a few up the Muur, however he was kind of breaking the group a bit, so i thought prudent to join the others and do my share of pacing the group. Over the crest and with Freo in sight, the roll through got a little more limited than previous, with Mike B, a regular whose name i should know, Jerard, and a couple of others putting a few turns in.

Hampered by traffic lights meant that the group absorbed some of those who didn”t like the inclines, and the turn at Fremantle we also picked up Pete, who managed to alter space-time and appear in front of us (or just took a short-cut). A bit of confusion at the route, and the depleted group of 12-15 or so were now heading in the opposite direction down Canning, with Cpt Poser, Jonny and Ryan taking extended turns, the Palmyraberg made a few sit in to conserve and hang on for the run-in home.

Pushing through Applecross and Como saw Jonny, Jerard, Mike B and Reggie do a fair share of work (and a particular poser decidedly absent from the clear air), with some accelerations from Ryan helping to stretch the legs. The group decidedly slowed at the turn onto teh causeway, with the Captain and el Presidente seeming to collude towards some end. Jonny and Jason took the early opportunity to break, but with a headwind, te group was content to let Peter “Super domestique Presidente” hammering himself at the front to get a good sprint finish in.

Then it was on, Ryan”s patience gave in and he jumped. Knowing perhaps their limits, the group seemed content to let Pete lead them in, but with around 2 kays (yes, 2 km”s), The Captain saw the group”s elastic to Ryan stretching and his domestique tiring from the sterling effort for the previous 3km”s and jumped too. Head down and outputting enough wattage to power a small hairdryer, the chase was on, but it was all for nothing, as the gap proved too great to bridge, Ryan taking honours huge gap in second and Poser taking third (or technically second). The rest of teh group following in.

All up a comfortable, but brisk ride, and no incidents.

“til next week,

Cpt Poser