All posts by lisa

State TTT – “The Ladies!”

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Our Team – Nicole, Jill and I

Getting the car sorted on Saturday night, bag of clothes, wind trainer and bike in the car……. snuggling down on the sofa for a chilled out evening….9.15pm f*+k not got my aerobars on the bike….9.45pm (had to find the things!) all good and back on the couch! 

After a brief stop to pick some wheels up for Davina we were on the road, sun was shining and the clouds were around but there was still the hope that the weather forcast was wrong and that the clouds would stay away…

On arrival in Pinjarra it wasnt long before a) the heavens opened and b) SPR crew started to arrive.  Preparation time over it was time to get on the start line.

9.03am – we’re off.  Our aim was to hold the Plan B ladies off until the 5km mark (they were the next group off and I knew they were wanting to hunt everyone down!!)  we started off strong and hit the 5km mark….no Plan B – YAY-  I managed in between breathes to get out a “excellent work ladies – no Plan B” before tucking in again.  Between 6-7km all you could hear from behind was wooosh wooosh woooosh – the sound of multiple disc wheels…they had caught us – Davina yelled out some words of encouragement as she went past knowing that our little goal was the 5km mark and as they rode off it was time to get back in our rythm.  30 sec turns were working really well our communication was fantastic.  As we turned on the first right which was a short hill I knew from there that any type of incline was not going to be in my favour – Jill was looking strong on the hills and dragged me up.  With a full training week in me my legs were definitley being challenged today. 

We eventually hit the turn around and I always get a little nervy when they are tight but we got there and excellerated out well.  This then started what I like to call an inconvenient incline in the road – not steep but just enough to make you push extra hard to maintain your speed… there was another incline that was a little greater and my legs just started screaming at me – at this point I was in the middle with Nicole in front and Jill behind – Jill yelled out something which resembled “suck it up princess” which I did and kept in the mix. 

When we got back onto the home straight there was a head wind – Nicole had been pretty solid through out – Jill great on the inclines and me – the head wind was my baby and of course the thought that there was about 8-10k’s to go also helped!!  Over the railway tracks and the roll throughs just started getting more frequent and productive the speed had increased again  – the 1km mark came and we stuck our heads down and dug deep.

All in all a really good ride by all – we all had different strengths and I felt we utilised them well, communication was great and to get 3rd was awesome.

 Lisa  😉

SPR BREKKIE REMINDER

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SPR breakfast Saturday 19th September

As per usual the breakfast will be held immediately after the ride, if your not planning on riding you are still more than welcome to come along – there will be coffee and muffins, brownies and hot chocolate, toasties and OJ and much more yummy goodies….

There will be a raffle with some cool prizes and I am sure Ben’s counting has now reached higher than, I quote, “nummer four” so good news for the other 50 odd people that will be there, your number could be called!!!!

Only $10 a head to be paid on the day EVERYONE WELCOME!

Please RSVP by 16/09 either by posting a comment or emailing me to me so that we can have approximate numbers for catering.

lwood@claytonutz.com

Mark de Castro has kindly opened his house up for our festivities so if your not planning on riding with the group I can email you the address.

See you there…

Lisa

SPR BREKKIE – 19th September

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” I said what about breakfast with SPR”  (think Breakfast at Tiffany’s tune!)

….Ok well its that time of year again,  SPR breakfast Saturday 19th September.  As per usual the breakfast will be held immediately after the ride, if your not planning on riding you are still more than welcome to come along – there will be coffee and muffins, brownies and hot chocolate, toasties and OJ and much more yummy goodies….

There will be a raffle with some cool prizes and I am sure Ben’s counting has now reached higher than, I quote, “nummer four”  so good news for the other 50 odd people that will be there, your number could be called!!!! 

 Only $10 a head to be paid on the day EVERYONE WELCOME! Please RSVP by 16/09 either by posting a comment or emailing me to me so that we can have approximate numbers for catering.

lwood@claytonutz.com

Mark de Castro has kindly opened his house up for our festivities so if your not planning on riding with the group I can email you the address.

See you there… Lisa

TEAM B (B is for Brilliant!!) – Cyclo Sportif

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race report by lisa

After lying awake for most of the night listening to the howling winds and rain I was hoping for a little text to say its cancelled….. no text came and up I got when my alarm called!! 

We (I grabbed a lift with Jerry) arrived at the speed dome to see a congrigation of SPR crew already forming – Lorraine went and registered our team and the pre-race preparations began.  I was good enough to get a flat prior to the race starting (basically Jerry’s pump ate my valve and it pinged off into oblivion!!)  so tube was changed and then tyres pumped.  Time was getting close and there were lots of calls from the officials to get a move on and get to the start so off we trotted.

With only a little wait at the start line it was not long until we were off… Mark meant business and got the tempo up straight away.  The first lap we were rolling through nicely and getting used to the wind speed and direction (namely head and cross wind – I dont think we had a tail wind or if we did I didnt notice it!)  As we were getting used to riding together and the wind direction the magic really started to happen – with Mark’s knowledge and encouragment a perfect echelon formation was formed and we (even if I do say so myself) looked good!!!  (or so I am told I seemed to be towards the front 9/10 when we rode like this 🙂

The communication was great and people were not affraid to yell if they were dropping off round corners or just feeling tired – Brett got a little push from Mark and I got a well and truly appreciated HTFU push from Jason which sent me zooming back on the wheel that I was dropping off of and on we continued.  Brett was struggling a little with cramp and on the last lap within the last couple of k’s it got a little too much and he had to get off and stretch – we were all a little concerned as he didnt look like a happy camper and I think the last couple of k’s were agony.  As we approached the home straight Paul and Jason were at the front and stepped up the pace.  Me being me and always getting a touch of white line fever decided it was time for the final sprint.  After comfirmation from Paul that the line in fact was the finish I went – Loz knows what I am like and seen as she had the timing band on jumped on my wheel and we all cruised across the line – THANK F*%K we made it 😉

There was plenty of encouragement and great team work – if we could have taken our hands off the handle bars without being blown off I am sure there would have been alot of high fiving too 😉

 

G       South Perth Rouleurs Team A        2:11:07             35.693 
Qq    South Perth Rouleurs Team B         2:17:24             34.063
Z       South Perth Rouleurs Team C         1:56:59             32.003
Oo    South Perth Rouleurs Team D         1:57:17            31.923 

SPR BREAKFAST – 20th June 2009

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Yes its that time again, toasties, muffins, BROWNIES…. and not forgetting coffee 😉

 

  The next  SPR breakfast will be on

Saturday 20th June

at Pete’s place immediately following the group ride.

 Lots of yummy food… lots of great fun… and great prizes to be won!

 

Only $10 a head to be paid on the day

spr-breaky1EVERYONE WELCOME! 

Please RSVP by 17/06  either by posting a comment or emailing me to me so that we can have approximate numbers for catering.

lwood@claytonutz.com

See you there…

Lisa

 

 

 

spr-breaky2

Who needs directions……….

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Ride report by Lisa.
So Julian had given us all our instructions and off we went. We split from the main group at some lights in Ascot and off we trotted along Great Eastern Hwy. The pace increased but wasn’t too bad to start off with. Since starting to go with the fast group I’ve reverted back to using the trusty Google maps to print off the route just in case I need some “Lisa” time aka I get dropped 😉 As we were zooming along Great Eastern Hwy a few riders went to turn off right and there was a lot of voices erupting in the group shouting “is it this road is it the next one?”……Aha I thought they wont take the piss out of me again for carrying maps, so little old me pipes up “we need West Parade” as that is indeed what Mr Google Maps had told me. So onwards we went over the bridge and onto the next right…………Nick was leading and I beetled on up as this road didn’t look familiar (nor was it called West Parade!) I pulled out my trust map and we studied it for a split second before putting it away. As we went round the corner the road came to an end… with a little bit of cross country mountaineering and scooting over footpaths we made it out onto James St and then turned onto West Swan Road.

You could feel in the group that now we were on our way we needed to up the pace and indeed we did with some rolling through on West Swan road. Benara road soon was upon us and off we turn. From her the pace stepped up a notch again with chief time trialer Nick working his wonders and getting the pace up to the reported late 40’s kph – I love Benara road you can really fly along it. It wasn’t long before Nick, James and Kimbo had taken a small lead on the group with the assistance of a huge draft from a truck! Kimbo got caught at some lights and we were back together as a group (though Nick and James had made their bid for freedom).

Due to our small short cut we ended up being the first lot back to the café where comments began about women and map reading even though I only commented that we needed to get onto West Parade!!!! – I of course blame Google maps and lets face it, it gives people something to talk about!!! 😉

 

9th May – SPR 1st Birthday

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untitled2Dont forget that if you would like to come to the SPR Lunch next Saturday if you could let me know by Monday 4th May so that I can order the catering. To confirm It will be held at South Perth Church and will cost $12 for members, $15 for non members. Children are free if U12 and over 12 $5. If you can either post a comment on the blog or email me at lwood@claytonutz.com that would be great.

I will post the directions to the venue next week.

thanks Lisa 😉

1st Anniversary of SPR – 9th May

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 untitled2
On the 10th of may 2008 a group of cyclists started meeting at the coode st carpark in south perth.   With a core team of experienced riders involved, it didn’t take long for this group to grow and now attracts up to 70 riders on a saturday morning.  From this the south perth rouleurs cycling group was formed and one of the reasons that this group is so popular is the family-like atmosphere that we promote within the group.
 
 Now, almost a year later, the group is still going strong with a good turn out at all of our training rides.   We have since added some formality to the group and have become the south perth cycle club but are really the same group that we have always been.
 
 So in order to share some of this family-like atmosphere, we want to invite your family to our first birthday.   This is an opportunity for your partner and kids to meet the other lycra clad people that they may have only heard about in your post ride embellishments of the truth.   This event will be held at lunch time and as such will not be directly after the morning ride.

Some of the details are below and cost will be confirmed as soon as I know a rough idea on numbers.

Date:  Saturday 9th May

Venue: SPCC (South Perth Church of Christ)

Time:  TBC but around 12.00pm

Cost: TBC

If you could let me know on lwood@claytonutz.com or post a comment that would be great and if you have children could you please let me know their age.

Thanks Lisa 🙂

 

A Grade – Ladies (Peter Clarke)

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8am and the SPR crew were starting to arrive – the mood was initially sombre but when Lozza’s Chocolate brownies aka “Rocket fuel” were brought out the fighting spirit entered into all those that ate them!

The start time came around quickly and we were off. The first lap was uneventful and we just stuck together with no real surprises – there was a head wind along Flynn Dr which turn into a cross wind and as you went round the course it never really felt like you got a tail wind – never mind 😉

Lap 2 and Holly and Bec (Fleet Elite) were leading the group and a comfortable pace – you could feel something was planned but, what you just didn’t know, I thought hold on where is Anna (Fleet Elite)? – no sooner had that thought entered my head and Anna zoomed past me on the outside and panicked the group well, the next thing you heard was gears changing and the group had reacted to chase Anna down (obviously trying to get round Holly and Bec in the interim!!)

Lap 3 this is where things started to happen (for me anyhow!) – Holly made a break and got some distance on the group – we were cruising a long at a comfortable pace – too comfortable. Me being me I sat there and was thinking “hmmm I wonder what would happen if I made a bit of a jump and tried to make a chase for Holly………….” before I knew it my thoughts had come to fruition, after all there was only one way to find out…….I jumped and gave it all I had – literally – I made some distance on the group which I was pleased with and no sooner was I pleased with myself did it hit home that I was in no man’s land with a head wind, tired legs (from a heavy training week) and nothing left in the tank I was on minus empty……..I heard a little voice behind me say come on jump on, my saviour – Lorraine had come to help me – bless her the problem was it was a little late – I was shafted 😉 I encourage Lorraine on to catch Holly as she looked as strong as an ox! and she did just that.

All of her effort to catch Holly was then lost as we went around the corner to find another large group of cyclists and we got completely tangled up with that group and the ladies we all together again.

It wasn’t long before the affects of my attempted and failed breakaway took their toll. I dropped off as did Anna and we did a lap together (Anna hasn’t been a well cookie at all and was looking a little green and fluey). After that I worked with another lady Danni Longsworth and completed the course a few mins behind the rest of the group.

Lap 6 – 4 girls broke away and 3 managed to keep away for the rest of the race. Lorraine stuck with the main bunch easily and didn’t feel too bad at all.

Mental note to self and moral of my story – “Lisa you are not fit nor strong enough yet to even consider trying to breakaway from ladies that have been a) cycling longer than you and b) have an idea on what an effective breakaway is !!!

All in all in was fun trying 😉