Haven’t joined a Main group ride for about 18 months and after hanging off the back of the last 3 public holiday rides realised that I need to indulge in something with a bit more zip than my regular Transition rides.

Yesterdays M2 ride was a big step up from the usual T1 in pace (my computer averaged 32.9), but it didn’t have the consistent ‘group cohesion’ that the T1 ride enjoys. We had around 27 starters and for the first half it was going really well with Russell and Christophe putting in a good lead out in the mid to high 30’s for several klms along Canning & Gt Eastern Hwy. We played tag with the back end of M1 every time they stopped at the lights, but always left a gap when the lights went green.  Sitting comfortably close to the front of the pack but wondering at this pace what was going to happen when it was my turn to pair up on the front . . . . fortunately all went ok when the time came – must have found a down hill or tail wind section or something.
Still all nicely paired through Guildford and across the tracks at Bushmead; passed the gaggle of SPR’ers huddled on the verge seemingly engrossed with a puncture repair as El Prez rode towards us on his way back to the group. Mistakenly assumed that it was simply an M1 pit stop and wondering how long we could hold them off for . . . .very sorry to later hear and read about the wheel kiss and crunch and hope Carlos has fixed his wheels in time for today’s crit.

Along Bushmead the road had narrowed, with a single lane each way and the surface had roughened up; whilst most of the group were still sort of paired up and forming a long line – it was starting to get bit scrappy. Soon after that, the joker in a white van hammered passed overtaking on the r/h side of the road – only to be confronted with a 4wd with caravan which had just reversed into and blocking the lane in front of him.   No way was the van going to slow down and from where I sat mid way down the pack, it seemed like the van cut right across the front two riders.   It could have been really ugly and there does have to be a lesson in it for us and how a group should ride along narrow roads.   At the end of the day its irrelevant who was legally in the right when maybe with a bit of prudence we could have significantly reduced the risk.

From here on the group started to splinter at the lights on Kalamunda and again on Hale Rd as a few broke away off the front – at the end of Hale we seemed to be down to around 12 and then slowly others latched back onto the back.   Looping back east along Williams; we saw the fast group heading west for Albany Hwy and the direct shortcut home.

Russell had tried to get the roll through happening a couple of times and it seemed that some folks didn’t understand the process – a few would roll through nicely then the next one roll right off the front gapping the group and the roll through was suddenly all over as other assumed a sprint had started up.

Pace was up again on Albany Hwy, the group back down to 10 or so with Bill, Russell and a couple of others putting in some good efforts; another split as 3 or 4 snagged the lights leading onto the Causeway; and whilst pace was good, there was no really  serious sprinting on the final stretch of Riverside Drive.

I really enjoyed the pace of the ride and the way the work load was shared, but I do think that a few of the M2 riders yesterday need to be more savvy on the broader skills & safety issues associated with pack riding, particularly with such a large group on narrow roads or when they’re tired at the end of a ride – that’s when the risks increase big time.