All posts by lorraine

The Women of Pemberton

Were there any chicks left at SPR?  We seemed to have them all down south!… the Fleet Elite contingent: Bec Halliday Holly and Anna; the South Perth “Roulettes”: Lisa, Bec Wheadon, Nicole and myself; and Jill from Elite Racing Cycles!

I’ll stick to the race reports as much of the rest has already been covered by John and Brendan…

Saturday morning started at a leisurely hour with a group recon of the road circuit.  A good course (well I liked it!) and even Pump Hill Rd seemed fine on our easy morning effort.

After that we coffee’d, ate and lazed our way through what remained of the map11day before the afternoon’s criterium. The road surface conditions of the crit course were less than ideal… railway lines, uneven road surface and a spattering of small pot holes. The presence of a reasonable hill at the back end of the course was the first real hill I’d encountered in a crit and the final stretch would also be going uphill.

pembo-2
The girls lining up for Saturday's Criterium

Now I just wanted this out of the way… I was dreading the crit! After a disastrous effort at Renae’s Race the week before I did not have exceedingly high expectations! About 20 of us lined up for the start with plenty of  faces I recognised from the week before.  The first lap was fast and furious and the first corner downhill and to the right had large padded barriers around the street signs… Very reassuring! My self-imposed week off must have paid off and I manged to stick with the lead group. The hill was certainly a bonus for me and on more than one occasion helped me keep in touch with the front. I was still in the front group on the final lap and pushed up the hill as hard as I could… TOO hard! No legs left at the top and I was over taken by 5 other riders before I crossed the line!  But I got 6th!!! Now how could I be unhappy with that?  Bec Halliday pulled off a great 4th place finish!

Saturday night the group whipped up a fantastic impromptu BBQ (apart from late arrivals Ryan and Kim who apparently thought the company and the pasta at the pub was better!) and mulled over the afternoon’s results. Early nights were the order for most people before the road race the next day. The exception

again were… surprise, surprise… Ryan and Kim who headed back to the pub again once the sensible cyclists had headed off to bed! I stayed up to wait for Ronny who was fresh (or not so fresh as the case was) from 27 hours of travel from the US, and being chauffeured down by his girlfriend Emma.

Up bright and early the next day for breakfast, registrations, warm up and the ever-essential milling around with nervous churning stomachs. Ronny was up surprisingly early too and handing out presents like Father Christmas.  Personalised stickers for Bec W and Lisa ; pump, side-loader bottle cages and new knicks for me! He even had the born-again Rolf front wheel (the one that has been trashed in the Great Perth Bike Ride) for me to put on the R3 for the race!

map_road_raceThe line up was pretty much the same as for the crit with one or two additions. I was worried that my chase for a placing the day before would take it’s toll today… I shouldn’t have worried too much! I found the pace comfortable enough and, apart from a few false attacks up the rolling hills leading away from Pemberton, I did not feel too stressed and stuck with the lead group of 7. The pace picked up on the straight back into town and I was holding Anna’s wheel as she rocketed along!  After almost coming to a complete halt to let the C grade pass us in the centre of town, Mel and Sarah-Jeanne got up to the front and mounted an impressive attack up the first ascent of Pump Hill Road . Riding back through town I chuckled as I saw Ronny and Emma on the sidelines… they had written all our names over the road in white chalk… Vive le Tour!!!

pembo-1
Sally Robbins and I in the road race

As we begun the cheap cialis online figure of 8 loop for the second time the rain started… OMG How it rained… and then the thunder and lightening!  Somewhere out behind us Lisa (who had not been having the best weekend) witnessed a tree being struck by lightening! Still suffering from the head injury of a week ago, her only recourse she decided, was to moo loudly at the cows as she cycled passed them (did it help Lisa?).  I, on the other hand, was thinking to to myself  “I bet I’m the only high maintenance chick here who bothered putting mascara on this morning and now has it running down her face”!  There was crap on the road everywhere… water, gravel, bark, you name it.  A huge lake of water lay ahead of us and we ploughed on through. Anna and I looked desperately down at our feet… both of us had new white shoes… which now were a muddy chocolate brown colour!

The second climb up Pump Hill Road was to be the decider and Mel and Sarah-Jeanne once again attacked strongly. At the top there was 4 of us trying to chase down the 2 of them but with no chance. With the finish line in sight I tried to break first at 200m but knew I was in no state to be of any threat to the others who spat me out and battled on for 3rd place.  Bec Halliday got there first and claimed the 3rd place! 6th again for me but once again I was delighted with my result.

A great feat for all of us who completed the race… the hills and rain would have seen lesser women (or men) crumble!

At the risk of this becoming an epic, I think I have said more than enough.

A huge thank you to everyone who travelled all that way and enthusiastically supported my idea to have us go down as a group.  It was the BEST atmosphere and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Thanks to Brendon, Ryan and Kim for those wonderful moments in the spa 😉 If only I hadn’t  been so tired after the race…

A personal thanks to Bec Halliday and Anna for your fantastic words of support and encouragement during the road race .

And of course many thanks to ALL the wonderful women I rode with that weekend: Lisa, Bec Wheadon, Nicole, Jill, Holly, Anna, Bec Halliday and our new SPR girl Emma who braved us talking about cycling ALL weekend!

Lorraine

Free Presentation by Emma Pooley tonight!

Emma Pooley, Olympic Silver medalist in the womens’ individual time trail at the Beijing olympics is currently in Perth for some “winter training”.

Olympics 2008 Beijing

She has kindly taken time to be available to talk about her cycling, the bike design for her olympic success and her balance between cycling and her studies for phD in

geotechnical engineering.

This is a women in engineering forum event and, while it is open to everyone, will likely have more women

than men attending… unlike most cycling events 😉

emma-pooley2

Sorry for the late notice!

Lorraine

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We have had a couple of withdrawals for the Pemberton Classic this weekend so there are one or possibly two beds available.

If there is anyone tempted to come down for a great weekend of socilaising and riding let me know ASAP.

Nominations must be in by 10.30 tonight!

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Lorraine

Renae's Rumble and Other Misfortunes

Report by Lorraine

I think it would be fair to say I have had a somewhat crappy week and my efforts at Renae’s Race were well in keeping with it!

After Ryan’s spin class on Weds night at South Perth a couple of us headed to the pub for a quick drink.  I get back to the car to find it had been broken into!!!
Amazingly my bike was still there… something for which I am still eternally grateful.  However ALL my bags had been stolen.  All my cycling gear including shoes, running gear, several sets of clothes, toiletries, makeup, cash, my groceries…the list goes on!!! It has added up to an amazingly large sum.

Note to other riders:  even if your house and contents insurance covers items stolen from your car there may be a cap on sporting goods…  in my case only $3000.  Not even a deposit on a new R3 these days!!!

The fact that

I still had a bike and managed to have shoes and cleats organised by Friday was nothing short of miraculous.  However, bad sleep, going hard on Saturday’s ride, working until midnight on Saturday night  and waking up with a touch of gastro on Sunday was hardly going to the best build up to any race!

I rocked up too late to see James’ spectacular finish… thanks for the photo though! Probably more of James’ arse than I need to see on a regular basis. Then I look at who’s racing in women’s… Emma Pooley, Josie Tomic, Sarah Kent, Sally Robbins, Melissa Hoskins…. Shit!!!

I struggled from the word go and got dropped after about 4  laps.  After about 15 min I had just been lapped by the bunch and decided I was going to call it a day.  As I came round the tightest corner I saw a rider lying on the verge…. LISA!!!!
I must have just missed seeing her go down. She had been on the outside of the bunch as they went wide on the corner.  She got pushed into the curb and flipped up and onto the verge. I jumped off the bike to help (nothing to lose at this stage).  She wasn’t moving at all and I think may have been out for a few seconds.  She was very shaken up and had knocked her head badly as she came down.  Her Bell helmet is history with 2 huge cracks in it!

Kept her still and waited for her to be checked out by the first aid officer.  Eventually we got her into a car and back to the start/finish.  She was very upset and dizzy and had to lie down. She looked up at me blankly and had the worst blonde moment of her life… “What happened?… How did I get here?”  She had completed lost the previous 10-15 min… a sure sign that her brain had well and truly been rattled!

Alex (hubby) took her to SCGH and had her checked out. They kept her in for observation for a few hours but then let her go home on the proviso that she rested.  Even though they confirmed it was a nasty concussion there was apparently no objection to her racing at Pemberton next weekend!  She even managed to persuade Alex to take her into TBE on the way home and buy a new helmet… What a girl!!!

Bec Halliday had had the worst luck!  She was in a great position in a breakaway and got a puncture just a couple laps from the finish… she was fuming!!!!

On a positive note though, it was wonderful to see so many SPR supporters on the side lines too to cheer us all on! Thanks guys.

So… I am choosing to reflect on what I should be grateful for this week…  Still having a bike that I love, still have my friends and team mates in one piece (although some are a little beaten up)  and still loving cycling whether I am crap or not.

Keep safe

Lorraine

Free Lecture at Edith Cowan University

Please see the flyer regarding a free presentation on:

MYTHS, SCIENCE AND PERFORMANCE IN CYCLING

to be presented by Dr

James Martin from the University of Utah.

Presentation commences 7.00pm
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Lecture Hall 19.141
Building 19
School of Exercise, Biomedical and
Health Sciences
Edith Cowan University
270 Joondalup

Drive, Joondalup 6027

Everyone is welcome. You do not have to ride with Elite or ECU.

If anyone is interested in meeting up about 6’ish for a drink or bite to eat leave a message in the comments.

Lorraine

Perth Crit Series

As Peter has already mentioned, the Perth Crit Series is on over the next 4 days starting Friday evening (tonight).

There will be some spectacular racing including Ryan with the WAR team

and the Fleet Elite girls (as well as a few other familiar faces).

Ryan -Team WAR - Leederville Series
Ryan -Team WAR - Leederville Series

Let’s look forward to having an SPR team (or two) out there for next year’s series!

Girl Power!
Girl Power!

All the event information is on the Trievents website.

Don’t forget to set your DVD recorder for Sunday

though… The sunday Crits are on at the same time as the live coverage of the final stage of the Tour Down Under.

Saturday 17th: Ride for the "Mentally Stable"

Ride report by Lorraine

Pete asked me to wite a post for the main group and, at the risk of being excommunicated, I have rather delayed my humble offering. Lucky for me Nev has written up one already in the comments under Pete’s post. Thanks Nev! So I shall try and keep it brief.

As I had not been on the bike for a couple of weeks I had no itention of fighting for dear life with the fast boys! “Leading” the group is also a bit of a challenge though as I look at the other volunteers… Russell, Nev and Jules and feel my mere 18 months on the bike pales in comparison!

New bike syndrome would have to be calcuted into the mix today with Lisa out for her first excursion on her new Merida AKA “McLovin”! Yes boys… I know you ALL name your bikes too 😉

"McLovin"
"McLovin"

The lead out with everyone was fairly uneventful except for Lisa dropping her chain near the turn off to Risely Street. Now Pete is often the one to stop and help riders in distress but I reckoned it was my turn to help today… girl power and all that!  Without much delay we were soon were going again and with Mike B and Pete’s help joined up again in no time.

I glanced at the fast guys and girls (and those with aspirations apparently greater than their speed) as they turned off and quietly thought to myself that the “more experienced and metally stable and only

slightly slower” group, as Nev so eloquently put it, was definitely the way to go.  Even Bec “Hell of a Day” Halliday had joined us… apparently some story about overtraining recently! There was a good mix of old and new faces so it would be interesting to see how we went.

After turning onto Stock Rd, Wally, Paul and Declan decided to do head off and do their own thing. The rest of us headed off at pretty reasonable pace over the rolling hills of Stock Rd and South St and with only a brief regroup manged to keep everyone together. After turning onto Bannister Rd Russell made the wise call to start rolling through. This was definitely going to work better than an intermediate sprint that would splinter us up and make regrouping a necessity… and, of course, our aim was to put as much time between us and the “Mentally Unstable” group! Well, what a well-oiled bunch we were!  We rolled through at well over 40k/hr like a bunch of pros.  So much so that when we hit Albany Highway we kept it going all the way to the causeway! The scent of coffee in the air urged the sprinters along Riverside Drive. My legs weren’t up to much and I had hopes that I could get sit behind Bec H’s wheel until the end was in sight but she was serious about not going too hard today and so we cruised to the end… not sure who got there first!

There was a

lot of compliments on the pace of our ride and the great team effort we all put in…. So congratulations to all on that!

Be sure to try and make it to the meeting after next Saturday’s ride. The best way to have your needs and concerns met is to get involved and have your say.  And let Pete know if you are at all interested in playing any part.

Update: Pemberton Classic

Due to the enthusiastic response to the Pemberton Classic post I have made enquiries for a place for Team SPR to lay their heads.  After numerous phone calls I have managed to find a great place for us to stay for the  long weekend.

We have all 5 apartments of The Old Picture Theatre (thanks to Stu for the tip) which can house 23 of us…

2 or 3 extra at a squeeze. It has some great features including a large communal BBQ area; a lockable shed for essential bike storage and maintenance, and a spa for soaking weary muscles.

As is the norm with long weekends, we have to pay for a 3 night minimum stay. As the crits are probably not until Saturday afternoon I am expecting that some may choose to drive down on Saturday morning instead. For simplicity, and in fairness to everyone I have decided to average the cost so it will be the same per night for everyone (regardless of which apartment you are in). For those who only want to stay Saturday and Sunday there will be a small surcharge to cover the Friday night minimum occupancy cost.

Based on min occupancy (10) on Fri night and max (23) on Sat/Sun:

3 nights @ $45pp/n = $135pp

2 nights @ $45pp/n + $16 Fri surcharge = $106

NB These are approximations and may change.

The managers have allowed us a week’s grace to finalise numbers and pay the deposit.

I will not be promising individual apartments or bedding arrangements until numbers are finalised but will endeavour to keep you all as happy as possible.

The first night’s cost of $45 per person paid to me will confirm your booking.  E-mail: lorraine.hartland@gmail.com for bank details.  A first in-best dressed policy will apply. If numbers exceed 25 I will look at options for extra accommodation.

At the moment a group ride has been suggested for the Saturday morning to recon the Sunday route and as an alternative for those not participating in the criteriums. I am intending to organise a group dinner for the Sunday evening at a local restaurant and most likely an informal BBQ for the Saturday.  Shared travel arrangements, etc can all be finalised closer to the date.

Lorraine

UPDATE MON 5TH JAN:

Places are filling up fast and we have close to 20 people confirmed already! If you want a spot you

need to be quick 🙂

PEMBERTON CLASSIC: 28 Feb & 1 March

With the spectacular SPR turn out at the Joondalup Classic I am keen for the same enthusiasm to carry forward into the New Year.

With this in mind I would

like to see how many of us are interested

to venture south on a SPR “Road Trip” to the wilds of Pemberton for the annual Pemberton Classic.

 

This cycle race is a regular event on the March long weekend.  The event program includes: Criterium “Race around the Town” on Saturday afternoon (Feb 28) and the Road Race on the Sunday (March 1).  The Road Race takes place in the beautiful surroundings of Pemberton’s farmland, vineyards and karri trees over a 40km circuit, with varying distances for different grades.

 

 

 

Make the most of the long weekend and explore the beautiful Pemberton area while you are down.

 

I am happy to coordinate and organise accommodation for anyone interested in going down (families are of course welcome) but as it is a long weekend, accommodation will be scarce if we leave it too late.  Please let me know if you are interested ASAP.

 

As yet the 2009 information link is not yet up but I will advise as soon as it is.

Lorraine

 

Don’t forget to get your racing licence for 2009 NOW!!!! You will get a whole year of racing value from it instead of forking out for day licences.

CHRISTMAS RIDE AND BREAKFAST

The Christmas ride and breakfast will be on Saturday 20th December


Christmas fancy dress for riders is highly recommended

And don’t forget some Christmas bling for your bike too!

A sumptuous breakfast will be waiting at the end of the ride

at Palazzo Ghossein in City Beach (details later)


Don’t miss out on this wonderful end-of-year social event for the South Perth Rouleurs

Everyone welcome!


$10 per person on the day

Please RSVP by Weds 17th December

if possible

admin@southperthrouleurs.com.au


Jerard’s wife Tania is helping me with the breakfast but if there is someone whose partner could also come and help it would be much appreciated.

Lorraine