Menzies to Kalgoorlie
Race report by Brendan

After originally looking forward to this awesome event some weeks prior my world was turned around in the last few weeks with a back/leg injury that just refuses to go away, My dear old Gran passing away resulting in another week off the bike while back in Victoria and with the leg finally showing signs of getting better I caught the flu Thankfully no swine flu but still coughing and flem like no tomorrow I boarded my flight to Kal with Jody.

Upon arriving in kal we dropped our gear at our Hotel and thankfully being picked up by Jody’s sis and huge Thanks to Daryl Benson (WAIS) taking my bike up in his van made the flight up so much better. While I went off for my Chiro appointment to hopefully settle the back issue even more, jody went off with sis to visit the kids but as I had a lil time to kill I went for pancakes at Dome and joined Daryl and partner, WAIS girls with Sarah Jean for a few laughs and stories prior to Saturdays race start. Once I was sorted by my old Chiro I was meant to have a nice relaxing massage at another place I frequented whilst living in Kal, it was a nice 20min walk up there which helped to cough up as much flem as possible as I was really dreading the whole thought of racing 2 days. Once there they politely told me they couldn’t fit me in (even though I was booked) as the masseuse was sick, spewing that I was now not only sick but couldn’t have my massage I was rather p!ssed off to say the least so off I walked to a mates place instead and then we headed down to start to register. Once registered Jody had come up to join me we went off for some lunch in town where I made my decision that I would skip the Saturday’s criterium stage. So after lunch checked into our room and had a nice spa to clear the chest and head and then headed back to the main street to watch the days racing.

As many people will tell you I can’t sit still at the best of times so watching this while coughing what felt like my lungs up just didn’t sit well with me and was making me grumpy but we were entertained by some great racing, strange tactics and few crashes. After that we grabbed my bike from Daryl and headed back to the Motel to place Mr Hedley’s Zipp 404’s on as we had a nice tail wind by all reports for Sunday’s race. At 18.30 every rider had a compulsory briefing lasting for 30odd mins covering all things related to Sunday’s race from rules and requirements to general info. Once completed we headed off with friends for an awesome meal at a local restaurant before retiring for the night with enough tablets in my body to make me rattle.

I woke up early and had a hot shower to clear my chest and head and felt surprisingly better so did the usual breaky pre race thing, was picked up by friends, grabbed some drive through coffees and hot chocolates and headed up to Menzies. Trip there was full of stirring and stories between us boys about what we were and were not going to do. Once there we set the bikes up, got ready and went off for warm ups. A grade were off 6 mins behind us and C grade were 6 minutes in front so we were abit worried but committed to get the ball rolling and see what happens. As we only had 12 odd riders and the way I felt I was really in self doubt mode by was determined to have a crack. We were rolling turns averaging 50kmphr leading up to the first challenge the sprint at 30km mark, I so wanted to have a go but knew I was asking for trouble as I coughed and spat mucus like no tomorrow but safely through the sprint we re-grouped and were straight back into formation and surprisingly I was coming better and better, heart rate was sitting where it should be, no leg/back issues and I started to enjoy myself. We got the call A grade had only made 1 minute on us by the 50km mark in as they were attacking each other and refusing to work so that made us focus some more and try for the fastest time honors 2 years in a row (B grade won fastest in 2008). Some of the guys were starting to miss turns but about 8 remained strong and worked strongly for a majority of the way. We talked about things and made a call to smash the speed up for 10 mins to see if we could gain some of the 1 minute back from A grade and to get rid of some hangers on.

It pretty much worked and we were back as the core group again with each of us missing a turn here and there to get some feed in. With 20km to go we got time gaps and knew we had no hope of catching the 2 front groups and A still hovering around 1 minute behind we decided to keep pressing for time honors. With a few big turns we shelled a few remaining to be only 6 of us left with 3 Brooks/Mcmurdo riders I knew coming up to the end the numbers were swinging in their favour.
With 10km to go the attacks started and the Brooks guys took it in turns shelling out some punishment at full speed, personally I was feeling ok but knew deep down my lack of miles of late were bound to catch up with me but I pushed with the attacks for approx 5 km until it was whittled down to still 3 Brooks guys, Paul Lamond and myself. With each attack my zing was slowly going so tried to let others chase the initial surge but the legs were fading fast and knew on the last rise was going to be the spot and sure enough I pre empted it but to no avail as the legs just didn’t have the speed so the 4 of them got a gap of 30meters and I rode my tempo that my legs allowed and looking behind making sure I wasn’t caught I soloed in to lose about a minute but happy to finish reasonably high in B grade knowing that I gave my best and considering all my bad luck of late happy to be able to finish my 8th(from memory) Menzies Classic.

On finishing we waited to see who had the legs in A and with an awesome ride solo Luke Durbridge rode in approx 90seconds faster than us to claim fastest time and first A grader home. Dean Emslie won the race from C grade and from knowing Dean and knowing how honest he is a much deserving winner. He even shed his winnings around the core group of guys in C grade to show his appreciation as without them he couldn’t have won. Congratulations Dean! Sarah Jean came in the front group for 6th overall and first lady.

Over the weekend there were lots of team tactics and actions resulting in a few raised eyebrows just to show passion and politics in cycling remain 
Onto the dinner and presentation over many a drink and some great food we enjoyed some great stories from the 1950 winner who won while half of the course was still gravel! Now that is hardcore! Luke Hardy made us laugh with his impersonations of Russel Brooks, Matt Deck and Mark Petterson while collecting there prizes for them. After that we headed to the pubs and after Jody went home about 10pm I partied on with the boys to well into the morning to try and make sure my flu was well and truly drowned .
The event ran extremely well and coupled with great weather made for a great weekend of racing was had by all, what was a little disappointing was the lack of support from the Perth riders as we only had a total of 90 and compared to a few years ago we were nudging 200 and SBS were talking of televising it! So I am telling you guys now, try your best to be on the start line for 2010 Menzies to Kalgoorlie Classic and they have some great plans to make this event the Premier Western Australian road race it once was, as after all to win it you have to be in it.

Be safe and see you on the road soon (hopefully I will be back to normal by then)…. so I can get ready for my next goal “The Grafton to Inverel”.

Peeps, The time has has come to put your nominations in to travel up to Kalgoorlie to snare your part of $15,000 in prize money.
Remember you have to be in it to win it and as its a handicapp race anything is possible 🙂

MENZIES CLASSIC
ROAD RACE
And CRITERIUMS

MAY 30th-31st 2009
Kalgoorlie WA

http://www.kalgoorlie.com/cycleclub

or

Phone: 0418 945276 for more info

This race lends itself to an awesome weekend away in Kalgoorlie and sees itself high in prize money with the saturday criterium hotdog circuit and sundays handicap drag race from Menzies along 132km mostly flat terrain with people graded from A through to D eligible for the money.

Personally as I lived in Kal for 10 years this event is always popular and guaranteed to get big size bunches and with the case of C grade for the last few years they have actually split the grade in half and have a B1 + B2.
For accomodation I have booked at the Railway Motel
http://www.railwaymotel.com.au/
but there are heaps of differnt options and price ranges relitivly close to the city centre. See here http://www.kalgoorlietourism.com/accommodation.asp  

For more info on this great event Kals website is here
http://www.kalgoorlie.com/cycleclub/  

Which explains prize money, courses for sat and sunday and the events rich history.

In regards to travel there (I personally am flying for $300 return) but if time is no problem you can always train it up on the Prospecter or Bus it up on Goldfields Express services.

Skywest dont fly saturdays anymore but Quantas fly up saturday mornings and out monday lunchtime (not forgetting Monday is a public holiday).

Hope to see a large contingent of our SPCC members there for what promises to be some great racing.

Brendan

If anyone wants or requires more info please feel free to contact me and I will endeavour to help out as req’d.

Hey Peoples, I have mentioned this to a few people who were interested in sharing it around.
You can option to just save the home page to your web browser or actually subcribe online and yoy receive a free weekly email (every thursday). It has hundreds of great tips/stories/latest offerings from manufacturers etc.

Always a great read I find and you never stop learning new ideas and tricks relating to Bike racing/training or maintenace tips.

Link is here   http://www.roadbikerider.com/newsletter.php 

Hope you find it of some use..

Ride report by Brendan.

Well after a pretty ordinary sleep and a niggly thigh I dosed up on some deep heat and set out the door realising I was running abit late sped down to the to see the group still there so that saved me chasing them down 🙂

Lorraine was quick to point out Pete wasnt coming and asking if I knew the way which I did but the brain wasnt clicking into gear yet so a quick chat with the guys and we knew the route.. It was great to see a decent turn out of riders aprox 25-30 with several of the girls from lorraine, Lisa, Bella, Sam and several others that I cant remember the names of sorry. We also had 3 of the Aussie Crates boys which is proving just how popular our rides are becoming 🙂

So off we set through Douglas heading out to Albany Hwy to enjoy the flat section for a while before the fun starts at Carrawatha… Lisa had other ideas and wanted a stop 2/3rds of the way out as she had a rear punture, so a quick stop and some help from the gang and we were back of in search of them there hills 🙂

As we hit Brookton hwy a few of the others headed off towards kalamunda via a shorter route as we crested the hill looking for the turn into the heart starter known as Carawatha, after saying regroup at the top go as hard as you want a few of the boys tok off and we were quickly strung out over the smaler lead up hill as we hit the steeper section and with a crunch of gears we were up at a reasonably quick pace with the points at
KOM 1
Brad R
Darren R
Mike B
Ben

Brendan

Once everyone was up we headed down teh other side and into the rough hill at carradine, I always hate the rough section of this hill but after yelling to all regroup at the top Tee intersection the Aussie CRates boys took off and after a while Mike,Paul and myself headed after them as at first I was reluctant as just didnt seem to have the gogo today.
We caught them 1/3rd of the way up and I figured may as well set the pace so pushing pretty hard sat tempo until teh top section where the hill finishes but the tee is still a little bit ahead, I had done my part and let the guys sprint it out for points with the following results
KOM 2
Darren R
Matt
Brad R
Brendan
Mike

So once we were all up we headed down around to the turn leading down into solidiers road and a nice quick decent and it was nice to see the previous loose blue metal all but gone so we could safely decend at speed and down to the brookton hwy regroup before heading upward of the infamous Peet road 🙂 which we all know and love.

Starting on Peet I set the tempo up to just prior where the turn is and MIke came through with a slight surge to put most into higher Heart beats with some dropping off the pace. MIke and Darren were setting a solid pace and I was hapy to let them go with Matt trying to bridge the gap but as we know the second turn still keeps heading upward and Matt was spent and I crested the hill well clear of Matt and the group and not that far to Mike and Daren so bugger it I bridged up to them although did it steadily rather than flat tack and caught them as the road heads upwards prior to the round about so surged past them just to let them know I was still there but they too picked up my pace and we settled in towards the line for KOM 3, Mike came through and Darren was keen for the uphill sprint so I just sat on his wheel and let Mike set the pace with Darren constantly looking back at me wondering when I would go ( I didnt have the heart to tell him I wasnt going to sprint as my thigh was hurting and on the verge of cramping but he lept off only to see me not chasing so results were
KOM 3
Darren R
Brendan
Mike
Brad R
Matt

So after a few photos of people coming up in loking in sheer pain (although some where smiling, I think they are abit sadistic 🙂 ) We headed towards Karragullen for some water and after a brief stop we were off toward canning road in readiness for the final timed ascent towards our well earned coffee and muffins.

By this stage a few of the guys had headed off homeards as they live out that way but we still had a good size group and with people sharing the wind and talk still hapening I figured people still had some fuel in the tank.

As we crested the lead up hill we hit the start and it go on the timer Lorriane hit us hard looking for a PB up into Kalamunda. At first I wasnt really interested in chasing but as the testosterone kicks in and that competitive spriit always hits out a few of us set off in pursuit, I ended on the front as we passed Lorriane and knowing Mike was due for his attack due any second which he didnt let me down we were off I jumped on the wheel with Matt and Paul there somehwere too I figured as we started semi slow it wouldnt be a cracker of a pace but with Mike charging up the, it got the better of me I jumped to the front to bring the group up onto the flat part pushing very hard I looked back thinking I can lead Mike out for a PB time and I was bymyself so thought bugger it keep riding tempo and hope I recover if someone bridges so I can go, I heard a wheel get on mine and thinking it was MIke I surged again on teh flat but it turned out to be Paul who surged on the flat and I recovered quickly once behind Paul we hit the final 2 bends as it kicks up to the round about, Paul by now was starting to slow from his effort so I jumped with everything up to the line (50km speed sign) and looked down to see a time of 7.24 with Paul bringing close behind so KOm as follows.
Brendan 7.24
Ben 7.29
MIke (unsure of time)
John (unsure of time)
Julian 8.09

Many riders commented of PB’s today and it is great to see just how far everyone has come in terms of strength and times so we were all up in quick succesion and down to the coffee shop for a well earned drink and food but the place was pretty busy so we had to spread over several tables.

After afew laughes and refreshments we were off again but not before Julian had to change a fat and another re charge the front tyre. The run back into Perth was pretty quick but only managed 83 down Welshpool and no where near the PB of 92 set some months ago.

We all stayed together but soem of the guys waited a the School to ensure everyone came home safely. We set good tempo back through town and down Berwick. A quick chat in South Perth and we went our seperate ways home.

I decided to make use of the sun and head around the river for a cool down ride and to check out the beach fronts 🙂 too nice of a day not too i figured but after several car doors swung open on me and several driver strying to take me out I figured I should of headed straight home as I am sure I used all of any good luck I had during that ride but finally made it back to Raffles bridge but I had run out of food n drink and teh bonk had set in, silly me should of stoped there and re fulled but I figured I could make it home, how wrong I was. I pulled into the red canteen down where the water skies run under the narrows and added some urgent chocolate and coke and headed home.
So all in all a great ride with everyoneand some hard, fast hills with some laughs thrown in and with me ending up riding for some 6 and half hours, looking forward to the next one, cheers.

Just a quick note (from Steve) to say thanks for people dropping in and calling for best wishes with his recent back surgery (shaved disc in his spine basicaly, wont even try to say more)

But in true SPR style manages a smile and dons the hat fresh out of surgery!

After visiting him in hospital I am happy to stay he is doing great and should be back to hurting us on the bike in no time. (But I am glad to be able to put the hurt on him until he gets back to ful speed hehe).
See you on the road soon mate.

Brendan

Race report by Brendan

Well I was keen as mustard to get this race underway as I had scoped the course the day before and was happy enough with the smooth tarmac with exception of start/finish straight (made a mental note not to a “foxy”).

Once arrived and caught up with everyone I went and registered and set up the bike and headed off for a warm up and caught Brett so we scoped out the small hills and headed back to get my fluid organised and race fuel as A grade was off first.

Once we set off it was pretty tame until the tail wind section some guys had a brain freeze and attacked but nothing stuck and several attacks started from lap 1 onwards. Pretty much pace was on in teh tail wind secton consistantly high 50kmphr in the back tail wind and high 30’s low 40’s in the tail wind ensured various attacks were doomed. My aim was to get into a break and stay away but I pretty much was in every one but none stuck as the bunch always reacted before we got too far in front, although by midway the field was wittled down considerably but I stuck with teh aim of staying the top 3-8 riders so if a move went I was there.

As I race with Cyclemania team (we had 3 in the race as 1 couldnt make it) myself and John ensured everyone stayed on their toes by smashing the back hill and where posisble the head wind rolling hills, we even managed to get away together at one point for half a lap but apparently the guys didnt like us two getting away and Plan B hauled us back.

I was stoked how I was feeling considering how hard I was riding and attacking knowing we still had Chris sitting the pack with 3 laps to go Chris joined in with a big surge that shelled another 6 or so riders.

With the eventual winner attacking on the back hill with 2 to go I bridged up with a ECU rider shortly after but only lasted to teh end of teh tail wind section before once again being brought back, We even had a laugh while in the breakaway as they wanted to make sure no Ausie Crates guys we going to finish with us. Which brings me to another point with there “team manager” pulling up next to the bunch doing 50plus in the tail wind shouting what the guys should and shouldnt be doing, he got told pretty quick to knick off, some people have no idea as later on he was handing water out on the back staright even though there were no feed/water stations allowed in the race but luckily several other riders complained to the commisaire, fair dinkum the course was small enough as it was..

SO onto the last lap and feeling itchy to get away knowing my chances of out sprinting guys like Eddy were very slim on a downhill sprint!
Then just as we started to slow on the last head wind hill the Elite cycles guy jumped throwing everything at it I knew it was now or never, It took me till the top of the hill to bridge to him and we were at max speed smashing down to the bottom corner, affording a sneak back at the bunch they never reacted, right on!

So turning the corner we hit the back hill with everything until half way up my thigh went no-no time to rest and a vicous cramp set in so I yelled at Logon to go go go, so off he went and turning into the tail wind I was dubious he would hold it.

The bunch turned the corner as I was smacking my leg and doing all I could so that they wouldnt blow straight past me at warp speed. I managed to get into the line about 5th wheel and gritting the teeth trying to spin the gear and not push too much as I could feel that cramp just lurking there waiting to bite again we crested the hill and no one was interetsed in attacking and were content to let Plan B bring it home and it was then I realised Logon wasnt going to be caught! After thinking some bad thoughts and visualy kicking myself and cursing my stupid leg for cramping I settled in for my back up plan, look for a good wheel that I may be able to follow in the sprint hoping I could do one last effort…

Managed this and just couldnt push enough but managed to give Chris a small leadout back up to teh guys and he went on to get 8th and in the money, while I rolled in 10meters behind for 9th with John my other teammate 11th so reasonably hapy but also rather annoyed ruing my missed chance to sprint for a win!

Full marks to Logon from Elite as his plan worked to perfection and thoroughly deserved the win as he rode strongly all day. But at least the racing legs are coming with A grade finaly after building for so long and doing bits at a time so no injuries or sickness took over me.
One thing I can recommend to everyone dont overdo it in the training as t will catch up you and never in a nice way 🙁

So very happy we had a reasonable turn out for South Perth Cycling Club with some results to boot, next race we should aim on getting more to the start line as it is a blast mixing it up in the racing scene and you never stop learning different tactics etc, as Pete stated our saturday ride in probably faster than C grade at times so come on and give it a go 🙂

So final thoughts on the course er um well too small for my liking but in saying that we needed another couple of laps in A grade to sort some final riders out and very congested with everyone but bar B grades Sandpit excursion not too unsafe although on corner 2 coming around at 40plus with another car coming the other way makes you pray you wont slide at times 🙂

So congrads to all good effort al round I say 🙂

Bring on Collie and Menzies Classic.

Well on rocking up a few minutes early and seeing a reasonable crowd was gathering for the impending Hale road course, I must admit I got a little carried away chatting to some of the group after my 8 days up onsite catching up on the goss 🙂

After a gentle reminder by the bell ring and realising the time a quick spiel about where we are heading and how to choose your group prior to entering Kalamunda road turn off the “main group” (my bad called them the slow group at pre start and was quickly reminded its teh Main group) 🙂 we set off.
As usual the lights played havoc on teh way out to Welshpool and Hale road turnoff but with some cruisy pace setting where required we stayed reasonable bunched up.
With the only problems was the continuing tide of Irrisponsible motorists as they hurl abuse (even though they are travelling the opposite direction) stil astounds me how people that have licenses dont know the road rules!

Once at Kalamunda road turnoff teh “main group took off towards Guilford road aiming on beating us home and a still reasonable “faster group” 🙂 heading straight towards Ridge Hill the pace was on nearly straight away, once at the roundabout Judd and the Prince (gerry) took off aiming I guess on hurting us prior to the hill:) once at the base though things went a litle pair shaped for that break with Mike B and myself leading the group over the hill (pimple:)) and coasting down to enable a majority of the riders to get back before hitting the gas for home. A few of us wondered with Ryan had dissapeared too but figured he must be somewhere close (only to discover he got stuck at lights and took another 5km to catch us) good training for ya Ryan :), we all took reasonable turns and set a nice high pace with no real issues all the way back to guildford road with the only one yet again a motorist going opposite direction hurling abuse (sensing a theme here..)

We turned onto Guildford and got several Red lights on the way into town impeding our catch the rabbit race:) a few kms out we had yet again an angry guy driving (but going our way this time) yelling something about Lycra and sexual orientation we hoped the lights would get him so we could ask him to explain (I did offer some reasons at the time :)) but he was so unkeen to talk again he ran a red light… where the cops when you want them hey, or a red light camera for that reason:)

Just on our last turn towards East Perth we caught sight of a few riders but again within 50 meters we got another Red light and when it went green the cars didnt seem to want to go so once we got near the front of the turning lane it was red again… but none the less we chased on and finally caught Kimbo and a few others just before turning onto riverside drive, once we turned Ryan took off but no one was really interested in chasing Kimbo had a little play which lead me out but not really a big sprint, we were all thinking of the race sunday I feel.

Onward to the coffee shop for a few laughs and sharing the goss from the ride, I turned at the coffee shop and headed home as had things planned with Jodes, so for more info from the “main group” 🙂 someone can add to the post or any goss from the coffee shop, feel free to share 🙂

Thanks for the ride guys n girls..

By Brendan

Well Pemberton A grade…where do I start….hhmmm

Well after a leisurely drive down to Pemby, we were the first to arrive at SPR base camp so we had a god look around and was quite impressed by Lorraine’s choice (the owner couldn’t praise her enough for the organising and I can’t disagree). So I quickly unpacked the car put the bike together for the next morning’s ride and off to the pub we went for a very nice piece of cow and a beer .
Everyone else gradually arrived throughout the night without too many mishaps although Nicole’s late arrival at midnight must have been a nice drive for her..Not.

So up not so early after a nice sleep in we set off for a lap of the course and to suss these hills out, turns out to be allot of rolling hills and none not to steep but bound to cause some hurt with the quality of the A grade field…

On returning I set the race wheels up and double checked everything prior to the crit and went out for lunch with jodes to try and settle some pre Criterium race nerves..
I have been doing some training with CWA learning the fine art of the new Times7 timing system so I went to the start to help set up and do some more learning, awesome system relatively simple to set up but still more training for the programs to be had….So stayed at the start and cheered everyone else on released I better go get ready for my race.. nerves were settling in big time the crit course was a tough one with a nice steady pinchy climb up to the finish and a vicious downhill leading into a very fast corner and down the back some horribly rough road leading back to the hill…
My race didn’t go as well as I wanted as I went with the moves for the first 15 mins but for some reason my legs just didn’t want to race and I was popped off on the finish hill and watched what was left of the bunch disappear over the hill, looking around I realised just how many people had already dropped off and pulled out, made me feel a little better but not much… So I just watched Jordon steam up the hill for a great sprint win from Fitzgerald and Hall, very tough Crit I must say, don’t think any other course is that brutal especially at the speeds the guys were surging with… So went back and helped with the BBQ and readied myself for Part 2 the next day….

On the road race I had warmed p but still wasn’t feeling the best and as we headed out up the finish hill an attack went straight away, no one else seemed to care and I sure as hell wasn’t chasing him, after numerous vicious attacks my legs were responding OK but when Eddie and AJ jumped across the gap it left all the big teams with riders up front so the rest of their teams went to the back and let everyone else chase if they wanted.. was amusing that Aussie Crates missed the move and had to drive the pack if they didn’t want the race to disappear into the distance which was quite funny I though and several comments were made by the pack… Once out to the turn to come back into town the pace really picked up and I think we sat on 50-60 all the way back into town sort of rolling through with everyone knowing Pump hill will start the sorting, once on the hill (after a dangerous right turn in town into skinny roadway after flying downhill at over 60…nice) the attacks started, I positioned myself really well and was in the first 3 over the hill and feeling good I hoped that this was the scene for the day….

The hill got rid of about 5 riders some of who I thought were stronger so was a little surprised but on through town for lap 2 more attacks up the big hill through town but was going with them OK..
Once out on the smaller power climbs the pace really stepped up and so were the attacks and to top it off in the distance we could see the black as clouds with lightning coming our way…nice one I though… about 10mins later we were nearing the turn to town and down it came, huge Thunder, Hail and torrential rain but the pace was surging from 30kmphr up to 60 with no one really wanting to chase, then a small group of 4 got away but only lasted a few km before sitting up, I stayed near or on the front through town as I didn’t want to get mixed up with a crash on the nasty right hander before Pump hill, on looking back after the corner I opened a gap so set my own pace to the climb and hit it with about 60meters gap but before I knew what was happening some vicious attacks led the guys up the hill and my legs unable to increase enough in pace I crested the hill some 100 meters behind but found some guys to seek refuge with and we worked our arses off back to the group but didn’t get on till coming down into town then as we got on the attacks went again and my race was done as I couldn’t respond… I was rather annoyed (can’t say actual words here).

So was forced to just ride the last lap in pouring rain watching the leaders disappear, Steve Jansen caught me and we waited for another 2 guys from Aussie Crates and we pretty much just ticked over the turns back into town up and over Pump hill for the last time, Steve egged me into a sprint in pouring rain which was funny as when I forced the pedals the wheel spun so we were having a laugh as we sprinted the final 200meters for what was 13 and 14th place. While not overall happy about the race I was reminded just how many people didn’t finish and we only came in 10mins behind the winner as the breakaway was caught on the final lap. It must be one of or is the hardest local race course and with the talent in our group I guess I should be heartened for the season ahead considering 6 of the top ten are heading overseas in a few weeks.

                                                                                                                                     Sprint for 3,4,5 and 6th
All in all it was great to see club SPR do so well across all grades and pick up numerous prizes and have an awesome atmosphere at our camp The tea following the race was some of the best food I have had in a while and quite a few laughs were had with everyone that was left (hadn’t gone home) and I had arranged a surprise Choccy cake for Jody’s Bday of which Bec tried to hog half of the cake much to Lorraine’s disgust, but highly amusing and game considering Lorraine had a massive knife haha.

The cake stealer

Looking forward to the next time we can all go away again, cheers guys and gals for a top weekend.
I can highly recommend the lavender farm pancakes, best I have had and I lurve pancakes ..haha
Sure Ronny and Emma will back me up on that one…

Report by Brendan

Well arriving at Coode Street today I was rather tired from being at work all week and our neighbours partying most of the night and neighbours having domestics at 2 in the morning but none the less looking forward to a hit out on the road rather than the wind trainer at work all week.
It was great to see a huge turn out yet again and goes to show we as a group/club are doing what cyclists seem to enjoy with bunch riding and great camaraderie
After I gave a short spiel about our route today etc we headed off into a light headwind along Mill point Road and onto Shepparton Road, I figured it was going to be one of those days as after the night I had we managed to get a Red light for the first 2 traffic lights and that set the tone for the day.
The ride out Shep to Welshpool Road was pretty uneventful just trying to keep everyone grouped together and steadily rolling along, again with more red lights we finally managed to get out to our Hale Road turnoff where we kept a steady but not fast pace up until one of the Hwy’s where the lights split the group but eventually back together we hit Kalamunda Road turnoff where the groups were meant to split, I roved the pack and reminded everyone to make a choice and the Road Runners (rabbits) or being the Coyotes (chasers) 
The groups split fairly smoothly but as we headed straight for ridge Road Hill one of the other group will have to add to the Blog there spiel from here on as that would be the last we saw of them till the Coffee shop but getting ahead of myself…. We were abit disorganised and a few people put the hammer down straight away and headed to the left/right combo before headed over the bump call ridge Road, adding in cars trying to get past we were strung out single file with me trying to keep as many of us together and calling for re group at the roundabout on the other side of the hill. A few were happy to ride there pace and some rode it hard but we all managed to ride over without too many problems, once skirting down the other side we hit the roundabout and I rallied the troops to regroup.
Someone had some bike issues but told the group to go on and he checked his bike and caught up without any probs with some help of course. Ryan, Gerry, Nick and a couple of others obviously didn’t feel like waiting for the main peloton so rode of in the distance while we slowed for the regroup. Once regrouped we made our way towards Guildford and I managed to have everybody rolling turns fairly smoothly after a few smashing turns at the start everyone was at a comfortable speed and rode as a group really well which was great to see. We were averaging 40kmhr without too many issues until we hit Guildford Road for our tail wind home with a faint hope of reeling in those rabbits err road runners 
It was pretty obvious after the first few traffic lights today was not going to be our day as all the way in to East Perth I am positive we hit at least 80% of red lights, when we had the chance the group rolled over really well, albeit those chances were few and far between. We finally managed to get to our turn off to head to East Perth down to riverside drive and yet again we got split by a red light but re grouped at the base of the East Perth Hill and headed off to riverside Drive with yet again another 2 red lights and you wouldn’t believe it another one right before our sprint ends at the speed sign just before the coffee shop turn..
So needless to say we came in approx 5 minutes behind those pesky road runners with Ryan’s lil group not quite reaching them either.
So as the outside area was full we took over the inside area and had the whole lot to ourselves to enjoy coffee, drinks and muffins had and quite a few good laughs.
After I headed home to rest up for tomorrow’s race at Technology Park.
Hope to see a few there racing and cheering for club SPR, Thanks for the ride peoples it was great not having any accidents or incidents to report on.

BN