Training ride write up by Jarrad

…and so all arrived on yet another sunny Saturday morning, although from the forecasts (and, for that matter, hindsight), this is to be one of summer”s final weekend hurrah”s with respect to the warm weather.

The usual quick chat, and then we”re off, on another foray into the unknown. Well, more accurately, the semi-known, as I think between Jono (Michael) Bolton and myself, we managed to piece together a semblance of an idea as to where we were going, and that”s without mentioning that we”ve been riding this route or similar for a fair while now.

Okay, so we”re off, into the fairly well known.

Rolling out and down through Applecross, a quick head count had around 25 odd riders amongst the fast group, including a few new faces, which is always good to see, and a nice roll out at an appropriate warm up pace for a group denoting itself as “fast”. Plenty of riders seemingly quite fit at the moment particularly with the upcoming amateur world champs, Dannyboy professing his preference for more hills, although more on this to come.

Up and over the rollers towards Murdoch, traffic lights seemed to be the order of the day, and despite Jono (Michael) Bolton and I faking our orienteering skills, we succeeded, and found our way onto South St thankfully before the traffic lights allowed the Main groups to catch up, no offence intended (imagine 60 plus-odd riders in one big line down South Street).

South Street, and it”s time for rolling through, which began quite innocuous with the majority of the group participating, but after a few kilometres the group managed to roll along at a fair clip. A few faces don”t look so fresh, and of note Dannyboy”s bike is certainly not sounding so fresh online casino either.

At the same time, the head wind began to also play its part in reducing the workers and the roll through consisted of around 10-odd riders, including Ainsy, Mr (Dr?) Bonner, Jono “When a man loves a woman” Bolton (maybe the wrong Bolton), Jason “The Cobrasnake”, Capt. Poser, Reggie, James, Vin “Carlos” Diesel, Young Ashley and a couple more (including one young bloke who”s riding was classy, but who”s bike was making all kinds of noises). The remainder of the group sitting back at this stage, and calling the roll through.

It also turned out that somewhere around this period Danny”s chain packed it in, thus rendering him with an expensive scooter. Perhaps his preferred hills would”ve been better for him, as at least rolling down the hills could”ve saved him what must”ve been a $40 cab back home.

Left turn, about halfway now, with a nice, new crosswind to make life interesting. The roll through continued on, and whilst a few riders took a turn or two out every now and then,  all riders generally contributed well, however, our previous tail of “hangers-on” had disappeared. Up towards Crystal Brook now, and Jono belted out “How am I supposed to live without you”, in reference to deviating from the usual path to climb up Crystal Brook Road, and as the majority of the group headed left and down the hill, Mr Bolton, Mr Bonner, Ashley and Mr Noisy-bike-but-good-rider headed right, and up the hill.

Downhill and a tail-wind is kind of cheating really, and while the group threw the towel in on rolling-through, most of the riders put in turns at the front keeping the pace fairly high, at least when not standing around at traffic lights. Onto Albany Hwy and Vin Carlos, Ainsy and the Cobrasnake put in the effort, when as if on cue, Capt. Poser split the group at the usual “Fynn” uphills, taking Ainsy with him.

All was back together though after stopping at the bottom of the hill, and the group pressed on the to usual “notable increase in pace upon the conclusion of a ride” (very loathed, for legal, safety and general common sense reasons to call it a “sprint”) and Ainsy and Cobrasnake took the reigns over the Causeway.

Another final traffic light and the final run in on riverside was pretty much done and dusted as Reggie took the jump from all others, with Capt Poser played the remora to his shark. Reggies legs aren”t made for anaerobic efforts though, and the poser finally took off solo to ride away from the group.

All up, good warm-up, good roll through, good ride, bad conversation and a great morning really. Apologies for possibly definitely offending a few guys out there.