The Transitional 1 (T1 as in Terminator 1 or Telstra 1 whichever is your preference)  was officially born today with Mr. President declaring to all who must obey.  Peter did a fantastic job of splitting the lines and I could see all the ride leaders nodding their heads throughout.  I certainly appreciate all the comments Peter dished out so diplomatically.

As soon as it was our turn to roll out, it seems the T1 was still a big group, but everyone looked capable of the threatened 40kph on the flats!  Ruth was relegated the sweeper today and she told me that there was another main rider helping out (sorry about my useless memory, but was it Shawn?).

Onto Coode street and we saw the earliest puncture ever by one of the main group ride.  It was a laugh as we waved them goodbye.

Canning Highway was when I wanted to test out the theory of the T1’s brand new motto “keep up or be dropped”.  This worked fantastically to the point that we easily caught up with the other main group.  The main group were clearly miffed we were the transitionals and are on their tail, so to save face, I asked my left hand man (Shun) to ease up and let them get away from us.

North Lake Road’s hills brought us to a halt as we had lost a couple riders off the back, and just as we had regrouped – a bright yellow jersey sprinted off my right.  The yellow jersey had a 200pt font size saying PETER MAH and when the voice shouted “keep it tight – bikes back!” we obeyed.  Seems like the main group is showing their muscles up the rest of North Lake road.

South Street, with less traffic than normal and having access to the bus lane, I made the decision to roll-through.  This turned out to be an 80% success which is not too bad considering the few brand new people in the group.  Sure there were surges and calls of “slowing” but I had much preferred this to riding single file with 20+ cyclists of differing skills.

After Bannister, at Nicholson we spotted 3 SPR riders that was of the main group pedigree nearly 1km in front.  As I had been sitting out the front, trying to keep the pace higher than normal without too much hurt, I was happy with our pace.  The group were together and there was very little chatter.  Then I heard some shouting (I am half deaf by the way) behind me.  After more shouts, I turned around and seek clarification and apparently someone was asking me to sprint down those 3 in front.  Yo reacted at the same time and took off!  A few others took off along with me and suddenly the group was completely confused – what the hell was going on!  I could not resist the temptation and had totally forgotten any responsibilities to the group.

After hitting my max heart rate for that sprint, I sat in the comfy fourth wheel along Albany hwy where the pace was a nice and steady 36kph with the tailwind.  The pace then picked up just prior to the Causeway where a few of the ambitious would start the final sprint.  I think the finishers were Patrick, Shaun and Shun but I could be wrong as I was spinning by that stage.

Overall, I think the group dynamics is hugely improved.  The pace was definitely high (perhaps too much so?).  Practice in group riding skills and roll throughs would surely make all of us better riders.

ps – any riders in this group (or others that we passed :), please feel free to make a comment so that we can improve the group