All posts by elPrez

saturday 6th december – gooseberry hill

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ride report by peter.

 

december already and there is a lot of things on the plate.  christmas, christmas parties, spr christmas breakfast, new kit to be ordered, oh, and a new baby needs to be scheduled in there at sometime.  it looks to be a busy few weeks.  in keeping with the season of giving, i am giving you guys the chance to step up and take control of the group.  when #2 son appears, it is unknown how much time i will be able to spend in the saddle but we need to keep a tight reign on the group or it will just become another group ride. 

see, we do have some girls in the group
see, we do have some girls in the group

to that end, i devised a cunning plan.  in the words of the great blackadder, “as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed professor of cunning at oxford university”.  i needed to split the group up to protect the weaker riders from the pace of the stronger ones.  then while the fast boys are smashing themselves apart, the rest of the group can build to a more sustainable pace.  as riders progress in their ability, they can then step up to the faster group, or if the stronger guys have been brought down by illness or injury, they can use the second group as a recovery ride.

now how this helps me, is that when the stronger riders are self flagellating at the front, the only guys that they will be hurting are those that have volunteered to go in group one.  if they get dropped, they are usually strong enough to make their way back without me having to worry about them.  with group two, the natural order of things will find a few guys and girls that will step up and take control of the group to keep it together and help the struggling riders.  russell was that person today and i thank him for it as it makes my life easier. 

so, how to make the split.  how do you tell someone which group they are in.  well i didn’t have to.  i put a bloody great hill in the middle of the ride and that made the decision for me.  gooseberry hill is long and steep.  not as long as some of the sunday hills nor as steep as some of the others, but definitely a new thing for the saturday ride.  for many it was the extra incentive to say “group 2 for me” for others it would be a long painful morning. 

about 40 were willing to ride this morning and we set out on a fairly new route.  a zig-zag course through belmont and maida vale found us on hawtin rd which is the last stretch of the hale rd route.  this gave us and easier approach to gooseberry than i had originally mapped out as we could cross kalamunda rd at the lights.  the selection point was the roundabout and i barked orders as we approached and then watched the group split fairly well in two with about 20 heading straight up gooseberry and the other 20 turning left via ridgehill rd. 

as i had slid back through the group to let everyone know what was going on, i started the climb well down in the placings and had a lot of ground to make up.  i was surprised at the amount of traffic that this road gets and we had to go single file at the start which allowed a few of the boys a fair gap up ahead.  i stuck on hugh’s wheel for as long as i could and we picked up a number of riders before the road flattened out slightly.  knowing that this was the calm before the storm, i tried to pick up as much ground as i could before the steepest part of the hill started.  as the gradient sapped the strength from my legs, i was past by judd and a couple of others, including julian  who is climbing exceptionally well lately (note to drug testers).  ryan was well ahead and i have a feeling that hugh was also up the road.  as the grade finally settled to the point where you could actually see the finish, i accelerated around judd and the others since i could now measure the effort to the line.  i managed to hold julian’s wheel, but was in no state to try to come around.

we waited and watched the riders come up one by one in many a state of emotional and physical disrepair.  the last rider was rob, an old mate from work who was back on break from liberia in west africa.  not much riding going on there and i was surprised to see him volunteer fro group one.  the look on his face at the top of the hill said it may have surprised him too.

a nice descent down the zig-zag complete with a view of the city made it all worthwhile and provided a good reprieve for the legs.  a regroup at the top of ridgehill rd provided us with an indication of just how far ahead the second group would be.  a looooong way.  it took us ages to get up gooseberry, then the zig-zag is not the most direct route to the bottom, so we were at least 15 min behind with about 45 min of riding to go.  the group splintered on the descent and quite a bit of organisation was needed to get it back together for the run into town.  once we were complete, the boys on the front lit the fuse and were off.

i expected that we may roll through, or even half the group roll through, but the front few were keen to just power through the wind running single file until the pace slackened.  another rider would then come to the front and take the strain.  the tailwind combined with the diesel motors of judd and nick along with the turbo of ryan and the rotory engines in james and ben, kept us humming along at around 50 kph for most of helana valley rd.  by the time we hit great eastern hwy it was clear that there was a group 1 and a group 1.5 due to the pace. 

we had picked up another rider on the way and i spent most of helena valley rd chatting to sean o’neil who has been one of, if not “the”, top triathlete in perth the last few years.  he was a handy asset to have on the return journey and did a lot of work on the front as we came through the rollers in mt lawley.

every time we regrouped at the lights, the pace would be on so that only the strongest survived to the end.  if we discount gooseberry hill, as we did regroup three times after the climb, then it is actually pace that determined who should be in group 1 and 2.  as far as i was concerned, it was the best and hardest saturday ride i had been on in ages. 

we rolled into the coffee shop about 10 min after the first group had landed and they all had their coffee’s

ryan's new bum hole
ryans new bum hole

and sustenance on the table as we arrived.  there was no way we were going to catch them, but it had them worried and they were trying to stay away for the rest of the ride.  the important thing was that they stayed together.

as for the saturday ride from now on,  am keen to get feedback on whether this is the way to go.  i think that people will eventually fall into the group that they feel comfortable with and it should make the ride more pleasant for all.  if we do proceed down this path of two routes, it will not always be a hill that will be added, but usually a extra lap to give the group two riders a head start for the ride home.  however, expect the pace to be high in group one as the chase begins.

in other non-riding type news, just a reminder that the ride on the 20th of dec will be the christmas breakfast in which we will not (as tradition dictates) be riding hard and you will all be encouraged not to be too serious and either dress up or decorate your bike.  the breakfast will be held at jerry’s palace in city beach so just be aware that the ride home will be a bit longer that usual and it may pay to organise some small groups to ride home together.

the next run of team kit will be underway soon and i will be posting details on the blog just as soon as i bolt down some of the finer points.  like price.  there will be the standard kit plus potentially some extras, like undergarments and t-shirts, as long as we get enough orders to reach the minimum required per style.  keep an eye on the blog as well as look for the signup sheet circulating around the coffee shop.

i forgot to mention that ryan fell off and hurt his bottom on the way to the ride this morning.  luckily it wasn’t his spr kit that he got a hole in.

your cycling holidays in the alps

you may occasionally see some of the group riding in an “aussies in france” jersey and wonder what the hell that is about.  last year, christophe took a group of cyclists over to france to ride some of the little hills they have over there.  after a bit of a hiatus this year he is organising it again for august next year.

fabrice, who acted as a guide last time, will be joining the tour again and will be organising a quote over the next couple of weeks.  the distances have been kept below 100km per day to make sure that everyone enjoys themselves without being too exhausted the next day.  total rider numbers will be kept down to 20 so if you are interested contact christophe by e-mail.

 

Arrivée From To 17/08/2009 km Climbs
Etape 1 Eze Eze 18/08/2009 58.3 Col de la Madone de Gorbio
Etape 2 Eze St Martin de Vésubie 19/08/2009 79.2 Col du Turini
Etape 3 St Martin Vésubie Isola 2000 20/08/2009 58.1 17 km de montée pour Isola 2000
Etape 4 Isola 2000 Barcelonnette 21/08/2009 86.6 Col de la Bonnette – le col le plus haut d’europe
Etape 5 Barcelonnette Embrun 22/08/2009 71.3 Col du lauzet, col de st apolinaire
Etape 6 Embrun Briançon 23/08/2009 73.5 Col de l’Izoard
Etape 7 Briançon Alpe D’Huez 24/08/2009 72.0 Col du Lautaret, Alpe d’Huez
Etape 8 Alpe d’huez Alpe D’Huez 25/08/2009 94.0 Col du Glandon, Col de la Croix de Fer, Alpe D’Huez
Etape 9 Alpe d’huez St Michel de Maurienne 26/08/2009 88.5 Col du Lautaret, Col du Galibier
Etape 10 St Michel de Maurienne Val d’Isère 27/08/2009 89.0 Val d’Isère
Etape 11 Val d’Isère Beaufort 28/08/2009 70.5 Cormet de Roseland
Etape 12 Beaufort Le Grand Bornand 29/08/2009 98.4 Col des Saisies, Cote d’araches, Col de Romme, Col de la Colombière
Etape 13 Le Grand Bornand Annecy 30/08/2009 74.8  
Etape 14 Annecy Genéve 31/08/2009 73.9  
Départ     1/09/2009    
      TOTAL 1088.1  

ride for youth

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some of you will know anna who regularly does the sunday hills rides but may not know that she is doing the ride for youth fundraising bike ride.  the ride travels from albany to freo over 5 days, covers 700kms and is raising money for youth focus.

youth focus is a WA non-for-profit community based organisation that works with young people 12-18 years of age who are showing early signs of suicide, depression and self-harm.  so as part of the fundraiser, she is selling wines, by the dozen, from salitage wines.  there 6 different wines available and would make a good christmas present.  prices are below that of the bottle shops and you can find the order form here.

sunday 16th november – f_kenberg & urch & observatory

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ride report by peter.

 

so, it was jens’ last sunday ride with us so i gave hime the honour of choosing his last route.  his last sunday supper, so to speak.  he chose the f_ckenberg.  why?  who knows.  maybe it was his way of saying thanks, by making us hurt a lot more.  no matter what the reason, we were headed south today.

 

a decent turn out as it should be with a beautiful day forecast, but the wind left a little to be desired.  we rolled out with about 22 people and headed down albany hwy.  the turns at the front switched a lot sooner than usual as the wind was coming as a head/cross and was taking the toll on the workhorses. 

 

we were caught by another group just before maddington and it turned out to be some rowing mates of hugh.  they were heading down to the bedford hill on albany hwy so hugh stayed with us as he thought that they had never heard of half the climbs we were doing today.  we must have been riding along at a far to sedate pace for them as they soon came around and took off down the road.

 

just after gosnells the call of flat went up and we ground to a halt.  stu pulled out a tube that already had three patches on it and guessed that it had seen better days and binned it instead.  brendan initially thought that it was michael again, but he has since changed his tyres out to a more reliable pair. 

 

once we turned onto brookton hwy, the wind was directly in our faces and making both riding and hearing hard.  whoever was on the front went to turn up the wrong road which would mean that we would miss the nasty climb.  we were yelling at them to go straight but with the wind, the first few people still turned up the wrong road.  i headed back to the front to make sure that we got the correct turn (big orange building, can’t miss it).

 

the general call from the group was that jens should lead up the f_ckenberg as he was the one that wanted it.  he was at the front at the foot of the climb, but it seemed that mike was on a mission today, maybe to make up for our poor showing yesterday.  he danced up the hill with brendan and stu not far behind.  jens and i were dropped but i managed to get past him on the lower steeper section.  about halfway up ben came past me which was quite disheartening as i hate to lose position on the climbs.  we continued to slug it out but i don’t think that anyone made up any ground on each other and we crested pretty much in that order.

mike – 10, brendan – 7, stu – 5, ben – 3, peter – 1.

 

we were waiting at the top and someone said that one of the guys came off at the bottom.  mike b was in a too hard a gear and locked the bike up when the grade got too steep and managed to topple over.  a little bark off and the derailleur was a bit bent, but no major damage.  even just stopping on that climb makes it difficult to restart, let alone hitting the deck.

 

the next climb up canns is almost straight away and doesn’t really give you much time to get your breath back.  luckily it is not that steep and so wasn’t going to hurt my arms like the f_ckenberg did.  the pace was easy at the start and dr carl lead the field up the first part of the climb.  we were headed straight into the headwind again and there was surprisingly little protection on this stretch of road.  as the road pitched up, jens and ben moved around and upped the pace.  i jumped on and looked back to see what the others were doing.  the majority of the climbers were playing it cool and just going to grind this one out so we got a bit of a gap.  jens and ben took turns but i was content to sit in nicely protected from the wind.  i looked around and we were soon joined by brendan, steve and stu.  the road rolled along for a bit before it turned the corner and offered a bit more protection from the wind.  just before that point, i jumped ahead of the field and grabbed a decent gap.  i was waiting for the reaction but it never came.  i pushed on but was constantly looking behind myself to see when the counter attack was coming.  there was one last pinch before the finish and my legs were starting to fade.  i looked back to see the group gaining fast so i stomped on the pedals and extended the gap out again.  i had enough of a gap to cruise to the finish ahead of brendan who jumped off the front to take second.

peter – 10, brendan – 7, jens – 5, steve – 3, ben – 1.

 

a nice fast descent down soldiers rd (i am trying to map a course that goes up soldiers rd) and we were at the base of peet rd.  the next lot of points were on offer at the end of urch rd after tackling the base of peet and then onto urch.  i set tempo on brendan’s wheel until mike came past.  john had tried to get an advantage by heading up the road a tad earlier but we soon pulled him back in.  mike tried one attack on the steeper section but brendan and i managed to stay on all the way to the urch turn.  we had a substantial gap over the chasers as we headed down the slight reprieve before urch started in earnest.  mike still set the pace up the slope but steve had managed to bridge across to us.  somewhere along the climb, mike made another attack and it started to split us apart as i couldn’t hang on to brendan’s wheel. steve came around from behind with a great attack that took the other two by surprise and made them push hard to get on.  i just had to watch them head up the road, but now kept an eye behind me to make sure stu didn’t gain too much ground.  as i crested the climb, i saw that the three of them had slowed down as i am guessing that they assumed that the points were at the crest.  unfortunately the points were at the end of the road and i came past and continued along the road.  brendan and steve jumped on behind, but mike kept cruising to the finish.  i was rolled on the line (as i expected), but the aim was to try to grab as many points as i could and was already lucky on this climb.

steve – 10, brendan – 7, peter – 5, mike – 3, stu – 1.

 

the long hard slog to pickering brook was made interesting by the wind but not too bad overall.  we lost judd at the top of the kahuna and darren at pickering brook, but the group was generally intact as we approached the observatory climb.  mike and i led it out and i was content to let the pace maintain a tempo up the first part of the climb.  mike was out for revenge over the last climb and he hit this one hard.  we all kind of looked around to see who would react and by then it was all over.  he was gone.  i thought i would see what i could do and stomped it to try to bridge across.  i managed to get halfway there, but trying to catch mike on a hill was like trying to get ryan to lead out in a sprint.  i was running out of juice when brendan, stu and steve came past.  i jumped on for a while but the effort of chasing mike took it’s toll and i couldn’t maintain for very long.  ben eventually picked my up and we continued up the hill.

 

steve was dropped by the other two in their effort to catch mike by the top and he jumped on behind ben and i.  we began pacing it up for the run at the last pinch and chucked it in the big ring.  ben slipped back a bit but soon past steve as he dropped his chain trying to jump up from the little ring.  i hung on to the end, and stu managed to outsprint brendan at the top, but neither caught the elusive teacher.

mike – 10, stu – 7, brendan – 5, peter – 3, ben – 1.

 

one more climb and next stop was coffee.  jens had announced that as this was his last sunday ride, he was paying for coffee as a thank you for the great company during the rides.  i think he was hoping that we would help/allow him to get to the top first so that he could pay for them, but he was still going to have to fight for the points.

 

after the descent of the observatory and the undulations of bickley valley i finally managed to catch up steve and brendan so that they would not have an advantage heading into the final climb.  john was trying to replicate his final climb from last week and took off to gain some time advantage.  it looked like he over cooked it as he turned onto mundaring weir rd and may have dropped his chain as he was looking down and slowing up.  we started to set the pace up the hill and stu was the workhorse for all his effort.  he paced us up the main part of the first pitch until mike came flying past,  i tired to jump on and made a big effort to, but i didn’t last long and soon was caught in no-mans land all on my own. 

 

the train of steve, brendan and stu picked me up and once we hit the flat section, we rolled through to try to catch mike.  it didn’t seem to work.  he was powering along.  by the time we hit the last pitch, brendan and stu were within striking distance of mike but he saw them coming and put in one last effort to make sure of the points.  i was just barely hanging on but stayed away from ben for the finish.

mike – 10, brendan – 7, stu – 5, steve – 3, peter – 1.

 

as coffee was on jens, i splurged and ordered a “trio de chocolat”  which is a decadant interpretation of the chocolate indulgence.  basically it was a triple layered chocolate mousse/slice thing which was ace.  it went down a treat, and contrary to public opinion, did not come back up on the way home.  mmmmm calories.

 

the owner of the le paris brest café came out to tell us about this dvd that is being filmed on thursday to try to promote cycling in the hills area.  basically if you are not working on thursday, or are looking for a break for a couple of hours, if you head to the café between 11 and 12 you can get a free coffee and pastry for you efforts.  it is trying to promote cycling so if you are free i recommend that you head up there.  contact the café for more info and to acknowledge your participation – 9293 2752.  oh, and you should wear your south perth kit as a bit of shameless self promotion never goes astray. 

coffee points – steve, ben, stu, stan, michael, dan, hugh, jens, mike b, john, anna, brett 2, carl, simon, peter, brendan, todd.

 

a nice fast ride home and the tailwind down welshpool allowed me to break my previous speed record of 82 point something.  i managed to crack 91 this time and was upset that i couldn’t reach my hardest gear due to my lock ring problems. in reality, 90 does not really seem any faster than 70 but i am sure that it would remove a bigger patch of skin if you came a cropper.  best not to think about that when you are coming down at speed.  it may make you reach for the brakes.

 

a nice armchair ride home with jens doing the bulk of the work on the front just like his namesake on stage 10 of this years tour.  he even had energy left to sprint for the welshpool maccas.  the final sprint was interesting as dan jumped clear at the second last lights and managed to stay away until that last little hill when steve caught him after he jumped at the next lights.  i came home hard and picked up dan but brendan sprinted off me and up the road. 

 

so a good day and some hard climbs.  i had made a decision to try to stick with mike at the expense of mountain points as i think that going harder for longer and then blowing up will be better for me than riding tempo to maintain my position.  we will see anyway.  great perth bike ride for me next sunday, so my position on the leaderboard will be well under threat.

movember

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movember is a charity drive to raise money to benefit men’s health specifically ‘prostate cancer’ and ‘male depression’.  two very good causes especially after listening to the three urologists in our group talk quite openly about the finer aspects of their profession.  we can also see the signs of male depression whenever anyone beats ryan in the sprint.

anyway, ryan is becoming a mo bro this month and is looking for sponsorship for this cause.  just follow the link here to make your donation or just see how he is going (growing).

2009 ride calendar

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our good friends at ride magazine have a new calendar out for 2009.  if you read their magazine, you will know that it is a quality publication with only the best cycling action shots.  the calendar contains images from the 2008 tour and examples and explanations of the pictures can be see in the attachment below.

ride magazine 2009 Calendar

unfortunately (and i don’t know how they were missed) there are no actions shots of the spr crew.  cost is about $40 delivered and would make a good gift from someone who doesn’t know what to get you for christmas.  add it to your list and hope santa can collect it on his way past.  click on the logo for website details.

ride routes 25th & 26th october

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with a lot less fanfare than the 2009 tour de france route unveiling, i present to you the rides for this weekend.  just like the tour, there are flat stages, hilly stages and some brutal climbs.  very much unlike the tour, we are cramming all this excitement into two action packed days.

saturday will see us keeping things close to home with a circuit past jerry’s palace in city beach before a loop past cottelsoe and dalkeith.  just the slum neighbourhoods really.

sunday will see the return of the f_ckenberg climb in mt nasura so crack out the 27 tooth cogs or compact cranks because if you stop on this one, you won’t be able to start again.  ryan currently leads the mountain points classification, but with a chance that he will be racing instead, there is a maximum of 50 points on offer for a few riders to springboard past to take the october prize.  it should make for a competitive sunday ride.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 11 (rebold hill & cott)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 09 (patterson & canns & urch)

ride routes 11th & 12th oct

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so i added a couple more pages to the website this week.  all the saturday and sunday ride routes that we currently do have been posted for your perusal.  it also makes the blog part a bit neater as i will now just put the name and number of the saturday and sunday routes and you can look them up on the following pages.  i am currently working my way through them and re-mapping with the mountain and sprint points marked so people know what is going on.  i will add another page explaining the point system.

so, where are we riding today.

 

saturday 11th oct – saturday ride 09 (risely & south st)

sprint sections will be the portion of south street over the rolling hills then regroup and the normal final run into dalkeith.  take it easy past cottesloe as it is too busy to be playing boy racer.  i will not be riding this saturday for two reasons.  firstly i have races the next three weekends so am taking a family day instead.  secondly i finally got some new titanium hardware.  unfortunately it has been drilled into my lower jaw and i am not allowed to exert myself for three days.  should be right to go for the race on sunday though.

 

sunday 12th oct – sunday ride 03 (kahuna & peet & patterson)

as i will be at northam for the wonderful handicap race, someone will have to take note of the first five place finishers at each of the climbs.  the landmarks for the finish of the climbs should be pretty easy – first up kahuna, first to rolleystone high school, first to the top of the observatory and first to coffee.

sunday 5th oct – welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda

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ride report by peter.

 

after a wet day on the bike yesterday we were all looking forward to a nice dry ride and to forecast said it would be so.  however, the lack of cloud cover meant that the temperature bottomed out at around 4 degrees over night even thought we were aiming for a top of 20.  This always causes a dilemma for me as i know that it will be cold for the first part of the ride but hot at the end and i hate to overheat.  we had a smaller than usual group at the start this morning and some of our regulars are away which kept the numbers down to about 15 or so.  a couple of new riders came out and we found out later that this was to be jules’ longest ride he had ever done.  the winner of this years menzies-kalgoorlie race, paul was also coming along with us today.

 

the course took us out welshpool road before heading around mundaring weir and through darlington before heading to coffee via kalamunda road.  all up we were looking at over 100kms and over 1300m of climbing.

 

we rolled out and headed to welshpool via orong road for a change.  the trip was pretty much uneventful though i did discuss the idea of mountain points for each of the main climbs with a few of the guys.  basically to make the climb more “fun” a set number of points are available for the first 5 riders to crest the climb.  on today’s ride there were four “categorised” climbs that would yield points.  welshpool rd, two on the way round mundaring and finally kalamunda rd.  each climb would give 10, 7, 5, 3, 1 points for those places.  at the end of the ride, the points will be accumulated and at the end of the month, the climber of the month will be “awarded”.  this “competition” will continue regardless of whatever races are on.  for example, next week i intend to race the northam classic but since the hills ride will still be on, whomever turns up will still accumulate points.

 

so we hit the bottom of welshpool as a group and proceeded to find our own position in the group.  we strung out fairly quickly and tackled the first section at a reasonable pace.  after the first kink in the road ronny and alistar attacked and managed to gap the group a bit.  with still quite a bit of the hill to go, i wasn’t chasing and followed my plan of sticking to mike’s wheel as he ground his way up.  we eventually picked them up about halfway to the servo and spat ronny out the back.  alistar jumped back on the train and the five of us continued to follow mike’s wheel.  just after the servo ryan attacked and brendan and alistar went with him.  i was still on mike and he wasn’t chasing anyone.  i didn’t feel i had the legs to go anyway and thought i would stick to the tried and true mike method.

 

he continued to grind his way up the false flat section and onto the next pinch.  it didn’t seem to slow him much and he continued up at the same pace leaving me fighting for air by myself.  pretty soon he had caught the front three and they continued on.  by about the third pitch in this part of the climb, brendan had been unhitched from the group and i was making ground on him.  i managed to catch him on the second last bit of hill and saw that ryan had also been dropped by mikes relentless pace.  i gauged the distance and realised that i couldn’t make up that much ground before the end so resigned myself to fourth place. 

 

alistar – 10, mike – 7, ryan – 5, peter – 3, brendan – 1.

 

a regroup at the top and slowly the riders all filtered through.  we were waiting a while for declan and ronny had to go looking for him as we were unsure if he had turned off or not, but he finally made it to the regroup point.  we headed off through the picturesque bickley valley and onto mundaring weir road.  lisa, declan and ronny turned off and up to kalamunda as the rest of us headed towards mundaring weir and onto mundaring township for the next regroup.  this stretch contained two climbs that would yield points and i explained to everyone what was going on with the competition.  it definitely revved a few guys up as there were attacks coming almost straight away as alistar and then paul went hard up the first part of the hill and i jumped on.  we hit a good tempo but were reeled in by the first corner by a sizable group.  it seemed that people were going to push that bit harder for some points.

 

the top of the climb was to be at the intersection of asher rd which was just after the crest of the hill.  to get there, the road would step up a number of times and could be quite draining on the legs.  our pace was nicely high and we slowly dropped riders until it was only the same five as the welshpool climb.  just before the camel farm, ryan attacked and no-one reacted.  i jumped around the group and told him that we had a gap.  he wanted to know if that means we should go faster, but i said that if he keeps us away, i wouldn’t contest the points.  we stayed away.

 

ryan – 10, peter – 7, mike – 5, brendan – 3, alistar – 1.

 

steve soon bridged across to us as we continued downhill towards the weir.  we were riding like it was a race and people were taking turns and occasionally rolling through to keep the pace high.  we picked up another group out training in the hills and they hung onto us for a short time before our pace was too high.  we smashed it down into the weir and up the other side.  staying together well on the climb, it wasn’t until the final pitch up to the round-about that ryan attack and brendan and alistar went with him.  ryan was first to the top and did a victory lap of the round-about while mike turned left and continued onto mundaring township.  i mentioned to them that it was first to the roundabout in mundaring town, not mundaring weir, but they never really listen to instructions anyway. 

 

mike now had a sizable gap on us and the chase was on to bring him back.  unfortunately, getting him back on a hill usually takes a big effort that none of us were willing to make.  we took turns setting the pace and still had him in sight as we crested the last climb.  i was on the front and had just looked at my hr monitor to see it peak at 188 bpm when alistar attacked and tried to get away.  ryan and brendan jumped across and this seemed to take some impetus out of his attack and he slowed enough for me to catch back up.  as we got closer to the final roundabout we had made up some ground on mike but it still looked like he would nail it.  i attacked and made an attempt to bridge across.  brendan and ryan jumped on but alistar swore loundly as we screamed past him.  a moments hesitation from me as we caught mike entering the traffic islands around the round-about and brendan and ryan slipped past me before i managed to also get around mike.

 

brendan – 10, ryan – 7, peter – 5, mike – 3, alistar – 1.

 

the rest of the group all filtered in and i made a point to make the sprint line a bit further up the road as racing into an round-about was not ideal.  we continued onto darlington and most of this was generously downhill and even the uphill sections were taken at a moderate pace.  we came up over ridgehill rd past the base of the zig-zag which was celebrating some type of zig-zag family day.  it meant that we had a couple of impatient motorists behind us that wanted to show how tough they were by passing us very close.  nice.

 

we had to wait for jules once we got back to kalamunda road and this should have been a warning sign to us.  new rider, struggling, says he is alright.  we should have asked about food and drink, but we will get to that afterwards as it was discussed in depth at the coffee shop.  we took off and paul and clare turned for home as did doug.  the rest of us were headed into the final climb. 

 

mike was on the front early and pushed his relentless pace to the point were i fell clear of his wheel.  i dropped back a bit and alistar set the pace for a while to try to minimize the losses to mike.  on the first “plateau” ryan sprinted across to mike and i tried to join him.  alistar was left swearing to himself again but soon caught me as i only made it halfway across.  at the next pinch, he dropped me as i had nothing left to chase with.  i went into damage control mode for the rest of the hill, but kept an eye behind me to make sure brendan or steve didn’t zoom past for the points.  no need to worry as brendan said he bonked on the hill and went into hunger flat.  it was soon rectified at the coffee shop.

 

mike – 10, ryan – 7, alistar – 5, peter – 3, brendan – 1.

 

as we refueled the starving bodies, dr melvyn came in quite late with the new guy, jules.  jules looked like death warmed up and we quickly realised that he had totally hit the wall.  we threw food and drink at him and he then went to order dome stuff inside.  it turns out that it was his first hills ride and also the longest one he has ever done.  he went out with the bike force guys on saturday and they mentioned this ride but said it was pretty hard.  he thought he would have a crack anyway.  with no breakfast, no food and just one bottle of water, he hit the wall on ridgehill road and totally died on kalamunda rd.  we had a big discussion on pre-ride nutrition and what to bring on the ride.  i will have to make an effort to ask any new riders about this before we head out again.  after devouring a coke, hot choc, bread roll, a couple of croissants he was right to go.

 

lisa was still at the coffee shop once we got there but after turning off early she did two repeats of kalamunda road before meeting us for coffee.  so at the end of the day she also managed four pretty big climbs.

 

the return trip was pretty uneventful.  i was talking to jules with brendan and steve in front of us.  we got separated at the lights and never made it back onto the group until vic park.  i lead the group home along berwick and brendan and i kept and eye on ryan to watch him do the “i can’t clip in” thing at the second last set of lights.  we were held up at the final set but when they changed, he shot up the right lane and over the hill.  jens and i chased him but i ran out of puff by the time we came down the hill and watched brendan and steve fly past.  ryan managed to hold everyone off till the end.

 

so, 108kms on my speedo by the time i got home and over 1400m of climbing.  no wonder i am tired.  hopefully this puts me in good stead for the northam classic next week which covers 125kms with five times up the hill leading out of northam. 

 

the final wash up of mountain points were as follows –

 

ryan – 29

mike – 25

peter – 18

alistar – 17

brendan – 15

saturday 4th oct – spr breakfast ride

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ride report by peter.

 

which one will i ride today - my garage is finally how i want it
which one will i ride today - my garage is finally how i want it

i woke to the dreaded sound of rain this morning and the sound of cars swishing past.  normally this is not a problem, but this morning was our spr breakfast and a wet ride would mean soggy riders in my house.  the only saving grace was that the rain only lasted briefly and was over by 5:30am.  hopefully the roads would be dry by the time we started.

 

we had close to 40 people rsvp for the breakfast and we usually pick up a few more on the day, so i was expecting a decent turn out.  there are also those that will ride but not stay for breakfast, so our numbers were up over 50 by the time we headed off.  we were playing the amended banister road course this morning as we needed to finish in como rather than the city so the shorter ending meant we would extend the ride down to stock road.  back along south street and up banister before nicholson and albany hwy.  a detour along manning road would bring us to como rather than the causeway.

 

the ride started well enough, we managed to get caught at the lights quite a bit and it split the group as expected.  it was the usual disjointed start but we eventually found our way down canning at a leisurely pace.  the hill preceding the stock road intersection was always going to be interesting even at a leisurely pace it would be too fast for some riders and the group fell apart a bit there.  not real problem though as we regrouped at the red light.

 

along the rolling hills of stock road we maintained an easy pace and there was minimal damage to the group.  i continued to play the sheepdog roll and flitted between the front and back of the group to help it stay together.  once we turned onto south street, the rolling hills became a bit bigger and a few riders like stu and mike fell back to help some of the struggling ones get back on.  as this was a breakfast ride, i wanted the group to arrive as much of a group as possible.  a few friendly lights meant that we hit banister road as a pack.  it was also when the rain started.

 

when we left the car park this morning there was clouds to the north and to the south with showers pouring out of each.  we were dry but heading south.  looks like we caught up to it.

 

a sea of green in the lounge room
a sea of green in the lounge room

the rain wasn’t particularly heavy, but in a big group it doesn’t need to be as the spray from your own tyres, the rider in front and the one in front of that, all seem to be landing on your head.  the road was quite wet so the spray was probably double the actual rainfall.

 

the pace stepped up somewhat and riders began pushing to the front.  no real roll though, but more like a series of continuous attacks that drove the pace higher.  in the wet conditions it made for an interesting experience, but at no time did i feel like it was dangerous.  the aussie crates boys, brendan and steve, were forcing the pace along with the usual suspects like nick and jens.  the absence of ryan meant that there would be no last minute flyer up the side to blow everyone apart, but the pace was starting to take it’s toll.  i eventually made a move as i thought that we were coming to the end of banister road, but i miscalculated as we still had a way to go.  it was dryer at the front, however, until the aussie crates led the pack back around me. 

 

pretty soon we were at the end and from what i could see through rain drenched glasses, the crates boys got there first.  we slowed, or rather were slowed by the lights to allow the majority of the group a chance to rejoin.  a gentle pace along nicholson gave me a chance to drop back and help a few struggling riders. 

 

as we approached the lights at spencer rd i looked up to see a rider on the ground and a few others getting untangled.  the rest of the group were already up the road, so no real chance in getting them back.  it turns out that canadian bill, took off to fast and smacked into the rear wheel of jens.  canada came off second best in the coming together of nations as jens stayed upright, while bill ended up on the deck.  not real damage apart from a big can of humility, which has probably now doubled after everyone gets to read it on the blog. 

 

the group had gone, so mike, stu and myself got this litte group of about seven of us together and headed for home in the rain.  quite uneventful really, except for the dry roads around curtain uni, which showed that it had only rained around the canning vale area. 

 

more green
more green

the soggy group had started filing into the garage by the time i got home, and it was shoes and socks off and water wrung out of armwarmers and gloves before heading in.  lorraine and kate and jody had the place prepared and there was hot food and coffee awaiting.  the toasted ham and cheese sangas were a hit along with the big pot of hot chocolate which was not big enough apparently.  there were massive amounts of food and i am pretty sure that no-one went home wanting.  we had set up tables outside again, in the vain hope that the weather would have been nicer, but it wasn’t to be.  hopefully the next one in three months time will yield better results weatherwise. 

 

the breakfast entry also provided a ticket in the raffle and the two ritchey torqkeys went to doug and ryan.  the pump went to lisa and the conti attack/force tyres went to brendan, well actually his better half jody’s ticket won them, but he has the bike.

 

we then had the bike weigh in as people were dragging there bikes out of the garage.  the biggest surprise was the darren managed to whittle a bit more off his already exceedingly light bike to come in at 5.94kg.  well under the uci legal limit of 6.80kg.  fortunately for him, he doesn’t race so the uci will not be checking anytime soon.  after davina’s superlight specialized (the benefit of being sponsored) there is a massive glut of cervelos, with four r3’s coming within 100 grams of each other.  there may be some weight saving coming up before the next breakfast between these guys to see who can get the upper hand.  with this bulk of lighter bikes grabbing the top positions, my 8.34kg (forgot to reweigh mine) seems rather heavy.  that is till we chucked phil and noel’s 10+kg monsters on the scales.  these guys are carrying the equivalent of 4-5 full drink bottles of extra weight when they ride.   i think i can see a good purchase for that christmas bonus this year boys.  in the meantime, it will only make you stronger.

a couple of intruders in the house - the crates boys, brendan and steve
a couple of intruders in the house - the crates boys, brendan and steve

 

so another successful breakfast (in my opinion anyway) and it gave everyone an opportunity to catch up a bit more.  lorraine (and kate) did another outstanding job on the food and the doggy bags didn’t go un-noticed even though they were stuffed down the font of a few guys vests.  i now have enough evil brownies to last me a week, well a few days at least.  they will probably go straight to my hips.