by Ben

After enduring incredulous comments during the week from non cycling friends that I would be driving to Collie to go for a bike ride, I headed off early Sunday morning for a pleasant trip along SW highway. Left plenty of time to stop off at a bakery to stock up for an early lunch and arrived in predictably cold Collie with almost a couple of hours to spare. Came across Bruce at registration, where I got the bad news of the day that Peter was unwell and I had B grade all to myself.

Bruce and I went out for a short warm up ride on the first part of the course, with me worriedly checking that he was not intending on doing a full lap to warm up! What we saw looked like a nice scenic course, no wind and a couple of small hills to keep things interesting. Back at the start/finish we met up with the rest of the SPR riders, including the tough guys Rob and Paul fresh from their “warm-up” in Busselton the previous day.

After stuffing down some more food, we lined up on the start and rolled out on time 5 minutes after the A grade boys. The main rules from the briefing were: “keep away from the solid white line ($100 fine) and “no victory salutes crossing the line”! I didn’t think there would be much risk of breaching that one anway. The race was to be 4 laps of the 21km circuit and conditions were perfect with not a breath of wind – a feeling most of us riding in Perth are unaccustomed to.

The only familiar face really was Matt in the Kalamunda cycles kit who rides with us on Sundays, and he took the lead around the first part of the circuit, with everyone happy to sit in behind and warm up. I tried to stay near the front as much as possible, which has the bonus of knowing what is going on, the downside being that when you get on the front it is difficult to get anyone else to come past and help out. There were a few half-hearted attacks on the first lap, with everyone getting a feel for the circuit. There were 2 undulations/hills on the home stretch back into town before a fast crossing of the bridge and railway, and a small uphill toward the main street and finish.

Sitting at 3rd wheel at the end of the lap and feeling OK, the pace started to increase into the second lap. The “squadra pirata” team seemed to have an unlimited supply of riders and their team tactics came into play throughout the remainder of the race. They would send an attack off the front, let one or two of us chase them down, then launch another rider just as the main group caught back up. It showed how having a few numbers in a team can really help you manipulate the whole field, and wear down those riders who are on their own. This continued fairly consistently for the rest of the race.

Nothing much seemed to have changed coming into the 3rd lap, except that looking back we seemed to have dropped a few riders off the back by this stage. I remembered to have something to eat although unfortunately got caught out by an attack with a mouthful of muesli bar which had to be stowed in the sides of my mouth while breathing through my nose to avoid an embarrassing choking episode! I managed to hang on to the bunch, swallow, have a drink and not fall off by the time the action was all over. Was disappointing to see some people throwing their wrappers etc. into the bush on the side of the road though.

Into the 4th lap and the “pirates” continued their attacks in earnest. By now a few other faces that I had not seen earlier had moved up and it looked like the main players were establishing themselves. The main driving group had shrunk significantly it seemed. A couple of local riders, some Cyclemania boys and a few others started to string out up the road as the pace gradually increased. Coming around the last corner before the long home stretch and hills, my left calf suddenly cramped – not sure what was going on here as had never had any cramping problems before, but it seemed to settle with a few stretches as we headed into the business end of the race.

3 or 4 km before the end, one of the pirate boys launched an attack on the first hill, and it seemed no one was willing to follow. I decided to try and go with him, and we started swapping turns with the main group about 200m back. Coming over the hill I saw the C grade escort up ahead, and thought that if we got past them at least it would be a psychological advantage. By the time pirate guy and I had passed the main C grade bunch we were almost at the bridge just before town. Looking back now it was impossible to tell who was in C or B grade, and then the C grade boys started to sprint for the finish at the same time. Understandably it was instant chaos as I felt myself being forced back as the bunch surged around me. Seeing a gap open up I slipped through to the front of the bunch again which was now a definite mix up of B and C riders. On my right I saw 2 guys lock handlebars and go down, with the rider on the left and his bike skidding across the road into the path of the remainder of the bunch. Just as I thought I would be going over the top of him I was past and sprinting for the line. We all crossed pretty close together, and I thought I had managed 4th or 5th, but with the mix of B and C graders it was pretty hard to tell.

I was hoping that the rest of the SPR guys in C grade had gotten through the carnage OK, and rolled around the corner to get out of the way of the rest of the finishing riders. There were some words exchanged between a couple of B and C graders arguing over who was in the way of who but fortunately it did not eventuate into any physical exchanges! The instruction came to go and claim places so I went over to the marshal to try and work out where I had crossed. 1St, 2nd, 3rd and 5th were all accounted for so I figured I must have been 4th. Pretty happy with this as the aim for the day had been to finish with the bunch.

Managed to track down the other south perth riders and watched the womens finish with Lorraine featuring high in the standings once again – well done. Paul seemed pretty energetic still considering just completing the half IM, while Rob had treated the race as a bit of a warm down by the look of it. Fantastic effort to do both events! After a quick bite to eat we went in for the presentations and I was surprised and happy to be announced for 3rd place so there must have been a bit of shuffling about with the final standings. All in all a great day out and am definitely getting hooked on this racing business.

Here’s my take on my second real race since Joondalup at the end of last year…

Three of us decided to take the middle sized option and enter B grade for this event. As mentioned earlier, James and I did a quick reverse reconnaissance of the circuit which seemed pretty straightforward; without any hills the real challenge we thought would be the easterly heading up Flynn Road. Pete, Stu and I lined up with 57 other riders and before I knew it we were away. Given how Peter was feeling I was impressed that he turned up at all – always thinking of the other Rouleurs at least he was able to donate James a pair of socks!

It took me about half a lap to realise that I was actually riding at the back of the field – now I don’t know too much about race tactics but have an idea that it is not the best place to be, especially with a big bunch like this. As I learnt one of the problems was that I had no idea until quite late in the piece that there was a breakaway group that had a minute on the main bunch by the last lap. So the first few laps I basically tried to work my way through the group to the front 1/3 without getting into any trouble. Unfortunately lost track of Stuart and Pete early on.

Most of the laps seemed pretty uneventful from where I was, with the main challenge being not expending too much energy getting back on a wheel out of the turn from Flynn onto Yanchep – coming out of the headwind into a cross wind. The tailwind leg was usually fairly high paced coming out of a corner with a nasty bit of sand on the inside which as far as I know didn’t catch anyone out.

The pace picked up on the last couple of laps when there seemed to be some interest in attempting to catch the breakaway (always ahead of the game this was about when I realised there was a breakaway!). Feeling OK I started doing some work at the front and, having heard Pete talk about this phenomenon before, realised that there are always a couple of guys that yell out “roll through” or “keep working” but they never seem to actually be taking part physically! Well I don’t think we would have caught the front guys anyway, but the roll through was pretty half arsed and short lived.

Disaster finally struck on the last corner of the last lap, turning left from Pederick into Mather drive. Most of the riders took the corner very wide leaving a big area of unused tarmac on the inside. I didn’t feel the corner was that sharp and managed to stick to the inside. Anyway was pretty glad to be in that position at this time, with several riders coming unstuck – hearing the noise of expensive bikes hitting the road I glanced over my right shoulder and saw someone rolling through the sand at pace!

With the finish in sight the riders who got through this safely took off for a sprint to the end. I grabbed the closest wheel and made it across the line in less spectacular fashion than James at the Bentley crit. My goals for this race were to get a bit more experience and not crash so was pretty happy with the result. I have no idea how far ahead the first guys across were, so will wait and see the results. Mental note for next time to take more notice of what goes on at the front and at least know there is a breakaway even if I can’t do anything about it! Look forward to the next race and hope to see more SPR colours out.

ride report by ben

Having had a couple of weeks off the bike due to a minor but annoying injury was looking forward to a Sunday ride. Wasn’t sure what the turnout would be with the long weekend and a few of the regulars hills riders flying the SPR colours at the “away” fixture in Pemberton, but about 15 riders rolled up at what is now sunrise at 7am. Pete had set us a slightly shorter ride with 4 points climbs scheduled with the usual finish in Kalamunda. Mike B who had requested a “moderate” course joined along mill point road so I knew that we would have to work hard on the climbs to stay in sight of his back wheel at his “moderate” climbing pace.

We headed out on great eastern highway into a bit of a breeze. The roads seemed nice and quiet today, and we managed to avoid any abuse, car attacks or punctures which makes for a much better day for all. I think everyone took turns at the front on the way out, with some smooth changes and the group moving up through the middle when the front riders peel off as dictated by group ride rules! (http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6731&status=True&catname=Latest%20News). This feels a lot safer than having the inside rider try to get across to the right and let the group pass on the left.

The first climb was up coulston road along the southern edge of greenmount to get everyones legs warmed up. Some of the boys headed off for a shorter ride around this point I think. Hunter set the pace early up here and I managed to sit in for most of the windy bits thanks for that! We kept the pace up and towards the end and I was expecting mike or jerry to shoot past but we managed to hold them off to the T junction. Points as follows:

ben – 10, hunter – 7, mike – 5, jerry – 3, dr mark – 1

Next climb up toward glen forrest drive started pretty sharply, with pete advising that we would probably get split up from the start. Bill led out near the start but we were soon overtaken by mike b whose wheel I managed to hold for approx 5 seconds before being dropped off. He makes it look too easy! Peter seemed to have warmed up his holiday legs and put in a good chase toward the intersection with the points ending up being:

mike – 10, ben – 7, jerry – 5, peter – 3, bill – 1

The regroup time was pretty short with everyone seeming to get stronger every week. Mark led all the way through to the Mundaring roundabout in time trial position, and for the rest of the day it seemed like he had too much energy to spare. A short pause to check all were on and mark was off again. From here to mundaring weir is probably one of my favourite rides – plenty of speed with gentle rolling hills but overall downhill through some pretty nice scenery, a right at the roundabout and down to the weir. The call went out to keep together from here up the next climb out of the valley and from what I saw this seemed to work well with the bunch staying close. Somewhere near the top pete made the move to encourage us up the final stretch to asher road with bill setting the pace initially. I seemed to have missed where asher road was but thankfully peter was paying attention and it ended being:

ben – 10, jerry – 7, hunter – 5, bill – 3, mark – 1

we headed straight on without stopping toward Kalamunda with hunter and I sitting behind gerard into the climb. Gerard set a good pace from the start of the climb, and I was hoping we would be able to hold the others off to the top. For some reason this bit seems short on some days and to go on forever on others. Today it seemed long… (much like this report is getting!) As I expected mike b came past just before the half way point, having gained any ground that we had made on the downhill. He must have been taking it easy today as I managed to get past again. Gerard looked strong at the end to take final points:

jerry – 10, ben – 7, mike – 5, hunter – 3, mark – 1

I don’t know about everyone else but I had lost a fair bit of fluid by coffee – the humidity meant that there was not much evaporative cooling going on. 11 of us squeezed around a couple of tables perched on the stairs to take the bonus point. The service was pretty quick today, we saw how many surgeons it took to change a mountain bike tyre, and got the rest of the details on petes new baum. A nice run down welshpool, with pete stashing his breadstick in case required to beat off any bogans in 4x4s. Mark D now loaded up on stimulants from paris brest got down on the bars again and towed us back up to the shepperton road intersection at a good pace just in time to catch some boy band music at a disturbing volume from someone’s astra at the lights.

All in all a great ride with perfect weather really. Hope the pemberton crew were successful and hope to hear all about the weekend soon.