after getting sick (again) and having a few days off the bike, this week was a recovery week for me.  that meant less stressful rides during the week with the hope of getting back to full steam by the weekend.  i had a crack at the double on saturday (earlybird & main 1) and felt pretty good by the end of it.  mind you the pace wasn’t that high as we saw main 2 creeping up behind us towards the end of the ride.  with that confidence booster, i set the alarm for damn early to catch the pre-ride lap.

there were only five of us and so the pace wasn’t on as three of us were doing the hills ride as well.  andrew and daniel were just fitting a ride in, while gilbert (john), jamie and myself were going long.  we ended up having to take the final shortcut along kintail to make sure that we made it to the start on time.  well on time means that i had time to get to the bakery before the ride started.

we headed out to albany highway with about 40 riders in total.  there was a fairly even split today with about 20 heading up the kahuna for the short course and 20 going long.  the first climb for us was carrawatha which is a good heart starter as it pitches up at about 17%.  if you haven’t done it before, it comes as a bit of a shock as the climbs starts at about 8% and you don’t see the steep bit till you turn the corner.  i was just tapping it out at the back and didn’t see the mountain goats claim victory.

carrawatha – ashley, bonner, brother jules, gilbert, jose

the next climb up carradine starts pretty much straight away and is of a much gentler gradient.  the rough roads have been somewhat tempered with a resurface, but i am hoping that they still have the top coat to go as it is not that good a surface for riding.  however, the hill combined with the rough roads mean that you need to be fairly strong to maintain a effort on this hill.  something i didn’t have today.  i did manage to jump between a few groups without over doing it, but then at about the second last pinch, the pace went on and i didn’t.

carradine – bonner, gilbert, brother jules, jose, simon

the next climb up albany hwy is longer, but with even shallower grade.  the group stayed together for most of it today except for a few of us back markers.  bonner decided to start showing his dominance as he must have still been warming up on the first climb.

albany – bonner, jason, chris a, jose, gilbert

a nice meander through the national park and soon we were at the descent past canning dam.  i clocked about 83km/hr on the final part of the descent and noticed schnieder-man stopped on the side of the road with michael slowing down to help him.  jamie and i kept going and decided to wait for them at the regroup point at the narrow bridge.  after waiting a while and an unanswered phone call to each of them, it was decided to continue up the next climb and onto the servo.

gardiner – bonner, chris a, jason, simon, gilbert

a regroup at the servo allowed for a refuel before heading towards pickering brook.  the ironic thing about the karragullen servo, was that they had locked the toilets to say that because of water restrictions, the toilets were only for customers of the servo.  however, the outside tap was still available for us to fill up our drink bottles.  i decided to help the struggling farmers and irrigated their crops instead.

through bickley valley and along to the final climb up to kalamunda.  i could see the light at the end of the tunnel by now and was looking forward to a sit down.  however, about 100m from the top of the hill, we came across rupert who had tangled his chain up.  now this was not a standard, drop the chain, reach down and put it back on the ring.  no, this was so tangled up we spent 5 min trying to work out which way it actually had to go.  no idea how it got to this point, but the decision was made to split the chain and put it back on the bike again.

now this requires a chain breaker and a new link pin if you are going to do it properly.  luckily, he had one on him.  i managed to talk him through the operation without getting too greasy and we were off again.  jamie and i stopped into the servo for a coke and mars bar before meeting the rest at the coffee shop.  however, that is where we got booted out for bringing outside food into his shop.  i didn’t say anything to him, and he even had a crack saying that he even sells coke.  it is his establishment, so i don’t care.  it is the $4.50 can of coke that i don’t like.  i don’t drink coffee so i don’t care where we go, but i did notice that the bakery was open again, so i hope that stays open for sundays.  oh, the points were as follows.

weir rd – bonner, jason, ashley, chris a, gilbert

nice ride home, but legs were starting to feel it a bit.  door to door it was 146km for me so i was happy, but couldn’t believe that gilbert had the energy to still contest the climbs (and get points in each) after the earlybird ride too.  something i will have to work on.