a very interesting morning on the bike today. typical thursday morning fast group. 5:30am start, dark, little wind and fast. we were coming through dalkeith at +45km/hr and just making the final slight downhill before the drag up to christchurch when suddenly BAM. there is a thud of rider on road, a screech of brakes as the group hits the anchors and a general spreading out to avoid hitting each other. the smell of rubber is the first thing you notice as people really locked it up. i was on the back of the group and i still had trouble stopping in time as the road was nice and smooth and my tyres just slid. only one casualty and not the one you want to hear about so close to belgium. bonner was on the deck with some claret oozing from a scrape on his hip and elbow. the group quickly rallied and we had him off the road and his bike checked out. his front wheel was buckled and beyond riding, so he had to make a 5:45am call to michelle to pick him up. i wasn’t sure what had happened so i assumed that there was a touch of wheels. not so, i was informed. mike was on the front leading the charge when a cat jumped out in front of the group. it didn’t get t-boned, it actually tried to jump through his front wheel like some type of circus trick. it did run off, but presumably to go and die somewhere as it must have taken quite a beating. that particular stretch of road through dalkeith has claimed a couple of casualties. john is now known as snuggles after hitting a gumnut (snuggle-pot and cuddle-pie) so maybe we need a feline based nickname for mr bonner.
belgium wheel raffle – wheel raffle…wh-affle…belgium waffle. we have combined the 2 raffles together so that the prizes cascade down if you don’t win the wheels. 2 current $5 tickets will be combined to give a single $10 ticket. if you have bought an odd number, i will be in contact with you to discuss your options. the boys are off next week so we will draw the raffle on thursday evening. support bonner, ainsy and jason in their trip to the cycling world tour champs. info and tickets can be found here. we will be selling tickets at the coffeeshop after the saturday ride as well. $10 each, so bring your wallets.
wacf special general meeting – as per the previous post, there is a special general meeting to vote on adopting a new constitution. this is the culmination of a number of meetings with the relevant stakeholders and hopefully covered all the concerns. we are still looking for a proxy to help out south west cycle club, so if you want to see what goes on behind the scenes, here is your chance. i will be there representing south perth, so you won’t be on your own. let me know if you can help out.
ironhorse clothing – voting on the new spr t-shirt closes after this weekend. have your say in which design we go with. it is pretty close with only a few votes between the top three. initial indications are that they will cost about $35 but we will need to order a minimum of 100. i’m sure we can cover that. vote here.
wild west bike tour – an interesting concept and something that can cater for all levels of cycling. check out the previous post for more information.
200km challenge – delayed while i try to find a free weekend. still intending to have it though.
ride routes – a nice weekend predicted (weather-wise) so i am expecting a good turn out this weekend. city to surf is on sunday, so avoid the city and come riding instead. the hills are calling. the sunday earlybird may need to resort to some bike paths as mounts bay road will have some closures.
saturday 27th august
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – spr earlybird ride
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)
transitional 1 – spr saturday 41.18km (reverse river ride)
fast, main 1, 2 & 3 – spr saturday 50.47km (south st)
sunday 28th august
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – spr earlybird ride
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
short – spr sunday 70.93km (kahuna)
Tiddles / Pussy sushi chef / Skinner / Curiosity Bonner can have my wheel set when I win the raffle. Get well soon!
Firstly, comiserations to you Mike; when Paul told me my first response was “Noooo – not this close to Belgium!!” – hoping that this will not impede a stellar performance in the North!
Now….plleeaassse let it be “Felix”!
On the ride this morning was just thinking that Felix was at the back probably to avoid any accidents. Didn’t realise that he had already been down the bitumen.
Hope all is well, and good luck Felix.
… was the moggy ok?
Don’t know.. haven’t been to Wing Bo yet
so, so wong.. >_<
I believe it is OK, but the owners are wondering why it has the word ‘Shimano’ stamped across it’s forehead.
I swear that stretch is cursed…
Looking on the bright side, you now have a great excuse to get a new set of wheels.
Wishing you fast recovery!
Thanks for all posts/emails of concern and/or wheel help. Have bounced back reasonably well and rode Thursday afternoon/Friday morning okay. Jorgy was partially correct about the feline-proof human shield tactics employed this morning. Also trying not to ooze on people.
One of my favourite poems to read and teach is Peter Porter’s “Mort aux Chats”. Seems I’ve taken him too literally. Heard all of the pussy jokes from Ryan already, so others need not apply.
See the early birders at 5:30 tomorrow.
What about Mr Jinx – the name of the cat from Meet the Parents.
Ride Two.
(How To Offend Someone Else*)
Well, this weeks ride was much more civilized and gentlemanly than last weeks smash-fest. Maybe the ‘real’ fast guys don’t have anything to prove and save their smash sessions for their secret training, and racing.
I was much more organized this week and managed to get up early enough to hook up with the early-bird group. It’s amazing how many nutters there are that will get up at 5:00am, in the dark and cold to punish their bodies mercilessly in the name of fun. Each to their own.
There seemed to be plenty of good riders this week, with the Eddy Hollands crew well represented. I did wonder if the one on the McMurdo bike was a ring-in, though.
Looking around I also saw the famed Mr. B, which I was pleased about. I have been following his riding ever since the UCI selection race – not as a stalking kind-of thing but rather as a… he’s about my age and I like to ‘think’ I can climb so he would be a good yardstick… kind-of thing. Mind you, sticking with the front group in A grade, or doing a 7min climb up to Kalamunda, might be a ‘bit’ beyond my capabilities.
I really wasn’t feeling that great, after a week of an inexplicable inability to stay off my bike, and 150kms of laps up Kings Park on Thursday and Friday. Main 1 was looking decidedly enticing, as we approached South Perth.
The gathering point was quickly swelling with riders and I couldn’t help thinking that the Asian boys are obviously doing very well – there must have been $50,000 worth of bikes amongst a small group of them. One had a set of wheels that I have been lusting over so I thought I should ask him about them at some stage.
Well, with my usual bravado I just took off with the fast boys. It was a good solid pace interspersed with, what seemed to be endless traffic lights.
I soon spotted Mr. B and decided to stay close by. He certainly does have ‘chicken legs’, I thought, he needs to work on his calves. I knew the hill at the start of Stock Rd might be interesting and was keen to see Mr. B’s climbing style. As we headed up the hill I stuck on his wheel and we were soon passing a lot of riders. I was also interested to see what a Mr. B’s 10/10ths looks like, so I urged him on from behind with a bit of a, go! go!, but to no avail. He just stayed at a solid pace. Guess I will have to wait to catch him at a secret training session or maybe a race.
The rest of the ride stayed good and solid with a smoking roll-through along South St and the continuing succession of traffic light to provide a bit of respite on the way home. Some odd fellow tried to tell me that traffic lights were a bad thing… between gasps I pretended to agree with him.
As we crossed the Causeway a young gun asked me if they have a sprint finish. It seemed an odd question – I’ve never seen a group of male cyclists that don’t do a sprint finish. I told him that they’re bound to ‘go’ along the river and to watch for the guys with the huge legs sitting at the back.
Well, the finish was a bit of an anti-climax really – another two red lights and it just petered-out to a meander to the tower.
… still not sure why it feels so good to be part of a group of nutters, though. Hills tomorrow?
* Characters depicted in this story are fictional and any similarities to real people are simply coincidental.
Nice write up, Ess, and no offence taken over the chicken legs comment (do they cross the road, in and around Dalkeith? And why?) You don’t know how many protein shakes and hours on the calf raise machine have gone into those pencils… ummm… legs.
It sounds like you’ve started training for next year’s UCI race, which has been set for March 25th with a Kings Park finish, already.
Stock Rd is all about bridging to the leaders who’ve usually worked hard to get to the front to take advantage of the sharp narrow corners; I’ve certainly got to keep a bit up my sleeve for the roll-throughs to come (so no 10/10ths). My athletics coach of many years ago, who may be chiefly responsible for the leg situation, insisted on “train, don’t strain”, good advice that I’ve kept to.
It was good to see all of the Eddie Hollands blue out this morning, some of whom did the two rides. The rolling always works much better with more people contributing and it was pretty democratic once we hit South St. There were a few other newish guys who mucked in pretty well too.
Definitely Hills tomorrow (as will be in Belgium next Sunday).
Ru saying our hills compare to Belgium’s?
Early bird ride was magnificent this morning. The view from the top of Mosman Park Hill with the crescent moon, flat river and red morning light (note the Kings of Leon reference for all you musical buffs) was the best view of Perth I’ve seen in 12 years of living here. Jordan also agreed with me as we shared an (almost romantic) moment of the view across to the scarp
Ess, please explain the ring in comment too, given it was me on the McMurdo and I had to get the groups underway today with El Presidente otherwise occupied with nappy changing duties!!
Cheers, Julian
only myself and nathan out on the sunday earlybird ride. i made sure that i didn’t share a moment when i reached the top of mosman hill.
Hrm @julian. If having a sweaty, breathless, unshaven old man say “nice sunrise” constitutes an “almost romantic” moment for you, then I pity your romantic life 🙂
Fussy!
Ride Three
(The Cure)
Well it seems like I have found the cure for my inability to stay off my bike – do a Sunday hills ride.
It was all very congenial as we rode out to Death Valley, almost like crusaders marching gloriously to our demise. It seemed like my cover might have been broken though, as a couple of people asked me whether I was the mysterious blogger. Of course I denied any knowledge, for fear of retribution. While leading the charge, I had bit of a chat with someone who introduced himself as Stuart – but I suspect he was a double agent trying to break my cover so I made sure not to reference anything that might incriminate myself.
Well the climbs came soon enough but sadly, I guess do to my state of near collapse, they became a complete blur and I have little recollection of what actually happened. It seems Mr. B and the young Turk would blast off the front and the rest of us would play leap-frog, strung out behind. I do seem to remember the double agent being a regular waiting at the top for the rest of us.
During one long slow grind I noticed someone ahead that seemed to be waiting for me to get on to his wheel. He had not long earlier past me so I thought, ‘what a nice fellow’. As I reached him I said thanks but at that moment I realized that he hadn’t been waiting but rather had popped, and as I rode by I felt very embarrassed – the thanks must have sounded like sarcasm.
My desire to see a Mr. B 10/10ths was also to no avail as he was so far in front. For all I know it might have been a 7/10ths or 8/10ths but it was all fairly irrelevant if I couldn’t be there to see it.
A lunch date meant rushing straight home but by the time I got to Welshpool I was so drained I had to stop and eat something. It was a strange sensation to be scoffing chocolate bars and sugary drinks, which I have not tasted in 30 years. Yuk. The only good part about the ride home was seeing a record breaking, 450km clock up for the week.
All in all though, some good lessons learnt:
1. Training on hills in the metro area just doesn’t do it for real hills. Note to self: do more Sunday hills rides.
2. Eat more!
3. Don’t make Sunday lunch dates
On the way up Mills Rd East yesterday I manage to pick up the lung I coughed up there last time.
Well, it seems that the heat is getting too much and it has been suggested that I should expose myself (figurativley speaking, of course).
Well, yes, I am… ‘The Newspaper’ (black, white, and read all over)