checking the radar this morning and i could see that it was going to be a wet one.  it didn’t look consistent, but there would be no way that we would be able to totally avoid any showers.  i was a bit late and turned up with bec to make a total of 11 at the start.  people don’t seem to mind the cold, just not too happy about the wet.  it is all km’s to me though, so i need to be riding lots now as august has a pretty full race schedule.  bec and i had been discussing being overdressed on the way to the start and it did feel a bit warm before we set off.  out along great eastern and across kalamunda rd made navigation easy but an early shower set the standard for what we had to come.

 soon we were facing the bottom of kalamunda rd and young jamie set the pace early on.  the ride last week was the first time that jamie had ridden kalamunda rd and then didn’t know what to expect.  today we had the added bonus of wet roads to deal with as well.  jamie, ndcc nick and i made it up to the first plateau but i was struggling at the steep point and was sure that nick was going to smash me when he looked back to see how i was going.  no, he waited till the road flattened off and then attacked once the road started upwards again.  jamie and i basically just watched him ride away.  we continued to tap out the pace as stu bridged across and just kept on going.  i sat on jamies wheel for a while before he started to fade a bit and i came past.  i wasn’t really expecting to catch nick and stu, but just wanted to make sure i had enough space ahead of jamie to make sure i held 3^rd position.  the rest of the climb was just survival in the wet.

kalamunda rd – ndcc nick, stu, pete, jamie, claire.

a regroup undercover just near chicken treat, and we were down by one as ndcc nick rode on ahead to meet up with some others.  the state junior road race this year is to be held at pickering brook and takes in the observatory.  a group of juniors were headed out that way to try out the circuit.

we were headed along to lesmurdie rd with the intent of using that descent as part of the precursor  to the next climb.  unfortunately, as we approached, the fog got thicker and thicker to the point where we could see that far in front of us.  nick c came up to the front to suggest that we neutralise the lesmurdie descent as if we couldn’t see the cars then they won’t be able to see us as they pull out of side roads and driveways.  we cruised down to the welshpool rd intersection and turned left to take on the top section of the hill only.  we lost two more as nick c and di turned right and headed off home.

jamie took off like a shot and attacked the first climb instantly getting a gap on the rest of us.  we set a tempo on the climb and slowly pulled him back.  stu eventually dispatched me and went on ahead.  i caught jamie and left him to continue alone as each of us seemed to be doing today.  usually with the bigger groups, there is someone else that is around your climbing capabilities so you tend to form into little echelons.  today, it was more of a solo thing.  as we got closer to the top the rain started coming down harder.  i didn’t pull back any time on stu but kept away from jamie to hold my position.

welshpool – stu, pete, jamie, mark e, claire.

we lost ivan here as well as he was heading straight to coffee.  by now i was discovering the limits that a wind proof jacket had in a downpour.  it was shower proof but not water proof and now i could feel the water slowly seeping down my arms.  the previous discussion with bec about being overdressed was revisited and we decided that we could do with more.

past pickering brook and we started the observatory climb.  stu moved ahead and i told jamie that he better get on his wheel.  i followed him and sat on their wheels for a while until my legs just decided that they had enough.  i sat up and just tapped out a tempo until claire and bec caught up with me.  i sucked wheel up the rest of the climb until we hit the plateau before the final kick.  up ahead, is saw that stu had dropped jamie and was powering on alone.  as the pace went up on the plateau i came around to offer some support.  unfortunately i was going a bit hard and so gapped the girls quickly.  i looked back and decided to just keep going to see if i could reign in jamie.  as the road kicked up for the finale, i came past him and continued on to the top.  stu was finished and had turned around already by the time i got there.

observatory – stu, pete, jamie, bec, claire.

at the top i noticed that claire had the electronic dura-ace on her bike.  it had been raining fairly consistently but she was doing fine.  claire competes in the disabled athletes category as she doesn’t have full use of her left arm. she said that the electronic was awesome as she didn’t need to try to push the front derailleur like on the manual system, just push a button.  i said that even i had trouble changing to the big ring some times.  maybe i need to go di2.

with the rain, low numbers and increasing discomfort, we changed the route to head straight up lawnbrook so we could head straight home.   the descent from the observatory was pretty straight forward for everyone except for nathan who got the speed wobbles.  he had to slow the thing right down so he didn’t come off.  meanwhile mark e had hit the climb hard using his momentum from the descent and started the hill in front.  i chased him down and set the pace at the front.  that was until stu came past and never looked back.  just before the end of the hardest section, my phone rang.  with the big gloves on i didn’t get to the hand free kit in time so it was going to have to wait.  it had pretty much cleared up weatherwise and the climb was not too bad.  unfortunately that didn’t last long and the heavens opened up with a vengeance.  i never saw stu again until i reached the end where i found a tree to hide under.  i checked my phone to find that it was my wife checking up to see if we were ok as it was absolutely bucking down at home.  it was certainly getting wetter.

lawnbook – stu, pete, mark e, jamie, claire.

it was hammering down by now so we made a break for the servo to wait out the worst of it.  the consensus was to head straight home.  we had already changed the route to change the climb to kalamunda and skip the goose altogether so skipping coffee wouldn’t really matter.  sorry ivan if you were waiting for us to turn up.  the descent was wet so we pretty much took it easy the whole way home.

so even with the wet weather, the lack of cold wind made it pleasant enough.  it was wet though and the bike now really needs some love to get all the sand out.  but i suppose we can’t really complain as it is winter after all.