by dr ronny

A good turnout considering the wet weather with about 20. Whilst it wasn’t raining at the start, there was a bit of drizzle and the wet roads made it a nightmare for those obsessed with having a clean bike.

Ruth had her first go with us from the development squad to join the other regular female riders Anna, Tracy and Emma. The first part along Canning Hwy and then North Lake was a good steady pace. We had dry roads and there was no rain so people were happy to work. Ruth dropped off a number of times only to come back at every single set of lights which was conveniently for her, red with suprising frequency.

The drizzle and wet roads came to effect along South St and the pace dropped off (who’s want to ride hard in the rain, right?). I sat on the back along Bannister to see if people would start the roll through. There was a short attempt but the unsaid agreement by everyone seemed to be to just ride the second half of the ride out and get to the cafe for a hot drink. I didn’t mind as it was probably safer to not do a roll through in the wet. As a result, we rode a pretty stable tempo in light rain to Albany Hwy.

The rain stopped and the roads were dry which made riding a little more pleasant coming home. The pace was still off and my heart rate was cruising at 110bpm. Suddenly, there was a sound from behind and I looked back to see someone had fallen. We safely pulled off the road and I went back to check it out. I won’t mention any names to save embarassment, but one of the guys had come off after putting a bottle back in its cage. Unfortunately, he didn’t let it expand after he had given it a squeeze and the resulting bottle ejection had caused him to try to pull off into a driveway to retrieve the bottle. Unfortunately, a misjudged approach saw him clip the gutter and fall onto the driveway. Luckily, no one else was involved and there was no damage to the bike and only a small graze on his knee. A quick check saw him mount his bike and we were off again.

By now, the roads were stone dry and the advanced group flew by. When we got about 1km from the causeway, Raph Chee took off and got about 100m on the group. A few chasers brought him back and the red light at the bottom of the hill saw almost everyone come back together. Jen took the sprint on Riverside Drive as one by one, riders were unable to hold the pace until he was the only one left.

Everyone got back safe but just a reminder that we should definitely stick together until the last set of the lights before the Causeway after which people can go hard. I normally mention this at the start of the ride but the wet weather made me keen to get going and I neglected mentioning it. I also think the slow pace of the ride with the dry roads at the end made for “itchy” legs causing an early start to the friendly hostilities.

A lesson learnt for everyone regarding the fall. With hindsight, I don’t think the group could have avoided it. Crashes usually happen towards the end of a ride when people get tired. Due to the wet weather, today’s ride was the easiest paced ride for a long while and I don’t think fatigue played a role. The road was dry and the rain had stopped. We were going straight with no obstacles on the road. No one braked and the pace was even. Today’s event is just a reminder that safety is more important than anything. A lost bottle shouldn’t lead to a fall. If you lose a bottle, or a saddle pack or anything else, let people around you know what’s happened and either turn off or make your way to the back when there’s somewhere safe to do so. The worst thing you can do is cause a crash.  No one will thank you for it. There’s the potential to cause an injury to someone else and there’ll be an awkward situation when you’ve caused damage to their bike – even more awkward than this. The next worst thing you can do is to crash yourself. Either way, don’t let either happen and if in doubt, err on the side of caution and continue to ride in a straight line.

Safe riding peeps.