Aware that a few of the regular Trans wouldn’t even attempt a normal SPR P-H ride seeing its reputation is at a pace close to the Sat Main 1 ride plus the extra 10 klms thrown in for fun; and having recently been personally “shelled” on Shelley, “backdoored” on Burke and “lost” on Leightons (on the post Boxing day PH ride) I offered via the blog, to lead a T group pace P-H ride as an alternative to the official Club ride.
No feedback on the site apart from Jason, so a bit of uncertainty when I rocked up at the Angelo St carpark & wasn’t sure if there would any takers apart from Patrick . . . . hhhmm a two person P-H group ride would surely only have a limited appeal . . . .

Arriving to see around 30 lycras straddling their bikes in the carpark – very happy to see a few expectant faces looking in my direction. A quick walk around and chat with 6 or 7 confirmed T-groupers including Kat, Shaw, Owen & Scottie nodding their heads in the affirmative – so at least we would have a quorum. Kat mountain biked back to the toilets on the promise that we would wait, as El Prez lead the others out onto the road, leaving 12 of us back in the car park. Yeah instant perfect sized “T” group.

As Kat reappeared over the hill looking a kilo or two lighter, Scott & I lead out with the pack settling down in the high 20’s warming up the legs along Douglas and into Hayman. Onto Shelley and Shaw looked across expecting the nod for a big hit out, but shook my head and started the roll through instead. This settled down instantly with the inside line sitting around 32 as Paul and Matt from Joondalup quickly working out what was going on and joined in. We rolled through like clockwork all the way to Leach hwy – now if only more of the Sat T2’s could have been there just to see how well it can work.

Paul and I paired up again along Canning, and we snuck the pace up into the mid 30’s – before starting the roll through again, the inside line running at an easy 35, and whilst a couple sat back, the rest were packed up nicely and looking good. Great start with the promise of a good ride to finish off.

Onto Burke Drive and the deviation via Stoneham with Shaw and Sandy battling a sprint up the rise at the end . . . . I was happy to see them burn their legs now as clearly they were not aware of the impending climb up Stock Road. Onto the real climb and Sandy and Shaw set off with Paul looking relaxed and in control on Shaw’s wheel; soon reeled them in as I found a nice rhythm sitting on 23 until 50 metres from the top when my legs said hallo ‘jelly’ & speed instantly down to 18 as Paul and Matt closed the gap. Not really sure who got the KOM but Joondalup cycles had 2 in the first 3 and SPR only 1. I had a suspicion that both Paul and Matt were ‘being polite’ – either that or they didn’t know the way and were following my lead. Kat did really well on her mountain bike – she’s going to be a giant killer when she finally gets her roadie.
Sitting at the top waiting for the stragglers and despite the short rest my legs were still talking jelly – thinks  . . . . have to do more hills .

Down into East Freo with casino spiele Patrick doing a fair bit of work into the wind – must find out what brand of EPO he’s been using. Across the bridge into Leightons, I love this road, particularly with a slight tail wind; sitting paired up on the front with Paul at 35, then 38 and finally 42 as we singled out to overtake a few riders out for a cruise. Scottie came up to the front and proposed the Cottesloe route – something to do with his head cam, beaches and thongs – whilst the remainder of us would run straight up the mild undulations of Curtin. At the top of the first rise on Curtin, looked back & a couple of guys had fallen off so Shaw and I sat up and offered our wheels to tow them back to the split group ahead.  Right off Curtin, and I tried but couldn’t shake Patrick up the short rise into Swanbourne, where we sat up and waited for Scottie and his 5 ‘beach’ viewing companions to arrive.

Usual ride home along Jutland Parade – Paul again joined me on the front for the first section before I rolled back into the middle of the pack, for a relax and a chat. Shaw, Sandy and a couple others had an early sprint leading up one of the last rises, so I just tucked in and waited to see what would happen – well a big nothing as they all sat up after a few 100 metres and that was my chance; a quick nod to Paul, and we were up to the mid 40’s on the final ramp down the end of Waratah and held it through to the turn off down to Steves. That felt really good.

Nice steady 33 along Riverside Drive – Ronnie would have been proud as we stayed tightly paired and packed up, and then onto the Bell for coffee.

Very pleasant with 11 of the 13 riders sitting around in a circle on the decking sharing a coffee. This is what club ‘coffee shop’ riding is all about – a really great ride with an ave speed at 29.4; legs glowing & saying yes we’ve done some work; perfect weather, and a nice bunch of guys all with smiles on their faces. Has to be the best T ride I have been on for a long time.
Suspect that if Paul and Matt come along for another SPR P-H ride, they’ll be well positioned in the middle of the main group pack – but we really appreciated their company and effort out there with us today.

Cheers Mark _S