Apologies for the late notice, but for those you who have a few hours to kill on Wednesday and want a good workout, there is a hill ride organised Wednesday morning to do the 5 Dams. This is the same route that Cyclosportif are doing in March.

Details:
When: Wednesday 30th december
Where: Bell Tower, 530am
Route: north to south
-out towards Gooseberry Hill Road
-Mundaring Weir (#1)
-Pickering Brook
-Churchmans Brook (#2)
-Wungong Dam (#3)
-Canning Dam (#4)
-Serpentine Dam (#5)
Total Distance ~230km

Report by Paul.

If you are into cycling, and unless you live under a rock, you would have know the Tour De Perth was on last weekend – 4 stages over 3 days showcasing some of the best cyclists from this state and country.

 
For the rest of us that aren’t up to the elite level required for the TdP, there were some support criteriums held on Sunday between Stages 3 & 4. I had never competed in a criterium before so I thought this would be a great chance to give it a go. I watched the TdP criteriums on Friday night and it was quite frightening the speeds the girls & guys were doing…especially around corners.

 
So Brettski, Daniel H. and I decided to race the Men’s Support B criterium. It was to be 30min + 1 lap. The 1.2km course used the last 300-500m on Perry Lakes Dr to the TdP finish line then loop onto a closed road internal to Alderbury Park. The internal road was rough…potholes throughout…covered in those pesky honky nuts (gumnuts for you eastern staters)…oh and there was also the added challenge of three speedbumps to negotiate at high speed 🙂

 
So after numerous warm up laps waiting for the juniors to finish, we waited at the start/finish line for our smashfe st. We were running about half an hour behind when they sent us out for a warm up lap (again). You could feel the tension in the group as we went around at about 28km/hr, I’m sure everyone was making mental notes on potholes, sharp corners, inclines…places were someone may attack.

 
My objective was very simple – stay upright and try to be with the pack on the final lap.
Due to being behind on time, our race was reduced to 25min + 1 lap. The first lap was quick and the legs were burning. As predicted as soon as the bunch got onto the smoother surface of Perry Lakes Drive the speed picked up even further, plus we had the aid of a tailwind…we were at 50+km/hr and strung out in a line. At this point my thoughts were mostly how the feck am I going to hold on for another 20 min?

 
The first attack took place on lap three (?) along Perry Lakes Drive with the rider coming from the back half of the group. The guy attacked to the right side of the road, whereas the group was on the left side. Two more riders managed to jump on quickly. I was about 4-5 riders back and after a few seconds realised that no one else was going to chase and that if I didn’t go now we would lose them. So I took off in pursuit moving over to the inside of a slight right-hand bend…trying to use the shortest distance on the bend to make up ground. It wasn’t until I managed to get within a couple of bike lengths of them that I realised I had taken the rest of the group with me, but the benefit was that next on my wheel was Daniel. This turn of chasing had pushed me into the red with my heart rate maxing out. It was at this point that I didn’t know how much longer I would last but I managed to slot back into the middle of the group and take off a few beats from my HR and recover somewhat.

 
For the remaining laps there were two places on the course that the strong guys tried to unload as many riders as possible – along Perry Lakes Drive and as we came out of the first turn over a speedbump. It was all about positioning yourself in the front half and holding. There was plenty of argie-bargie and elbows rubbing along with the usual ‘words of encouragement’ between riders but fortunately no one went down. I was relieved and nervous when the bell rang for the final lap – relieved as it was the final time I had to get around this loop with my ring hanging out, but nervous cause I knew the pace would increase once again. Daniel had pulled up next to me just before the final lap and asked how I was doing – he looked as though he had a bit left in him.

 
The final lap I was just hanging on and was out of gas. I managed to hang on to the front 8-10 riders along the final stretch to the finish but didn’t have the big kick in the sprint to match it up front. Daniel got himself into a great position and managed to hang on for 3rd…great to see SPR on the podium.

 
I really enjoyed the race and it was pretty much as I expected it would be – very fast with no let up at any point. I’m looking forward to doing some more criteriums. For those of you that are into details, the total km’s raced were 18.75km with an average of 39km/hr…my average HR was 176 bpm (85% of max) with a max of 195 bpm…literally my max!!

I now have even more respect for the elite guys who raced for 50 min + 3 laps at higher speeds.

Report by Paul.

Usually this time of year I do the half marathon at the City to Surf, but this year due to conflict of schedules I couldn’t make it. But when I saw that the Wandi Masters Classic Race was on and open to anyone 30 then I had an idea. My parents happen to live in Auburn Grove which is a 10 min ride from the race course, so a sleep over was on the cards for me and my kids. It was an opportunity for my kids to get down and watch dad race.

I entered B grade (8 laps for a total of 70 km) but was a bit nervous as the only other B grade race I had done this year had been a West Coast masters race at an undulating Pickering Brook and the Wandi course is flat and fast with it most suitable to the strong power racer, which I’m not. I looked at the race list on Friday and there were only 18 riders in B so there would be absolutely nowhere to hide.

The great thing about this race was that B & D grades didn’t start until 1020am so no early start. So had breakfast with the kids and got my last minute coaching instructions from my 10 year old daughter Georgia – my instructions were to go slow the first lap so I don’t use all my energy and go as fast as I could on the last lap to win…simple.

About an 8km ride to the start to sign-in and then a ½ lap warm up to get a feel for the run into the finish line. The final 2-3km were slightly downhill with a sweeping left-hand bend 500m from the finish, then a straight, flat 500m sprint for the line.

I caught up with Lorraine and a few other riders before the start, with whispers of a few ‘A’ graders slipping into B didn’t settle any nerves I had. The call finally went up and away we rolled…and it started quick! Strung out into single file even before the first turn some 1-2km up the road. The guys were obviously keen as we were doing 42-44km/hr down the back half of the course with an Elite Racing rider already breaking off the front. The rider was eventually pulled back in close to the end of the first lap.

It was evident early on that there were three small teams trying to work over the group and they were watching each other closely, taking turns in making breaks with at least one to two attempted breaks on every lap, but every break was eventually pulled in. Lots of poker being played, in fact it was the most tactical race I have been involved in so far…great fun to be a part of. I kept out of trouble and sat mostly in the front 4-8 riders with the occasional turn on front as I wanted to make sure I at least had a chance to grab a wheel when the big breaks went. With my kids watching on the sidelines at the start/finish line I also made sure I came past a couple of times on front just so they could see dad at the front.

So the final lap came and we were all still pretty much together with only a couple being dropped off the back. It was a real cat and mouse game between the three ‘teams’ and none of them wanted to be on the mobile casino front to take turns as everyone was waiting for the final sprint. My plan was to hang on until the final 500m and if I was fortunate enough to get into a good position I might be lucky to finish in the top half. Most of the guys were bigger and stronger than me so a flat out sprint was not going to be in my favour. Heading up the back straight for the last time I was second wheel and holding the speed at around 40km/hr. The lead guy pulled off and I decided to take a turn on the front but not to put in too much as I thought there would be a kick coming from behind soon. After a minute or so I looked back and realised that there were two of us up front with a gap appearing to the rest of the peloton. I keep up a steady pace and the second guy came around and asked how strong I felt and whether I wanted to make a break…so we did. We pushed up it up to 45km/hr and held it there for a couple of minutes swapping turns and realised we were actually pulling away from the group. They were too worried about watching each other and we now thought we may actually be in with a sniff. So head down with about 3-4km to go, up a couple of inclines which made my legs scream at me, then slightly downhill, all the time swapping turns every 10 seconds and constantly looking back to see whether they were coming…still no sign of them. Into the last left-hand bend and I couldn’t hold the last kick that my fellow rider put in…my legs and lungs were screaming and all the time I had that awful feeling of ‘they are going to catch me just before the line’. But they didn’t and I hung on to take 2nd.

But the real pleasure for me today was being able to race in front of my kids – they think I’m number one no matter where I finish.

On a side note while looking at the race results I also came across the current WA Cycling 2009 Road point tables. We should be very proud as a club to know we have some SPR some riders doing very well.
Female Rider of the Year – Rebecca is currently 2nd, Lorraine 3rd, Anna 5th, Holly 6th, Nicole 7th
Masters Championship Series – Stu Gee is currently 2nd, Michael Bonner 7th
WA Team Championship Series Support/B Grade – South Perth Cycle Club is currently 1st !!

Ride Report by Paul ‘dropped in dalkeith’

Since I enjoyed the experience of racing in Collie a few weeks back, I decided to do Men’s Support B at Dardanup. Support B was to be a 60km loop of what is best described as rolling hills, nothing of the gradients we do on the SPR Sunday rides, although they definitely took it out of your legs.

So unlike Men’s C grade at Collie, I was racing as the only SPR rider and as such my tactics would have to be different.  My main aim was to avoid any crashes and finish. Being a solo rider I would have to hope there are two or three teams that attack each other and I would hopefully be able to kind of hide in the pack. Of the 19 riders in Support B there were two teams with 3-4 riders each.

It was a perfect day for racing – sunny, no wind and around 15 degC at start time. We started off at a slow pace – and I mean slow – doing about 28km/hr for the first 5-7km with the occasional fake attack. Obviously everyone was conscious of the hills and were holding back. As soon as the group started up the first major incline then one rider decided to attack. The peleton let him go which was a mistake as he ended up riding alone for 40-45km on his own and took 1^st place. Once we got to the longest of the inclines (a climb of 5^o gradient according to mapmyride.com) the pace increased and it split the group. I managed to latch on to the front group of 4 riders, one being Bob Addy (Mike Bonner informed me pre-race Addy had competed in Le Tour de France in the past).

We rode together swapping turns on the front for the next 30km trying to bridge the gap on the front rider. A young guy in our chase group managed to escape from us up another incline and he stayed away to hold onto 2^nd place. So we were now 3 in the chase group. With 10km to go we were caught by another 7 riders which included 3 Avanti guys and 2 from Southwest Cycle Club. They were determined to chase down the two escapees and were doing all the work on the front. So Addy and I just sat in until the final 500m when I decided to attack in the final sprint for 3^rd place. Addy came with me and pipped me at the line by ½ a wheel length to grab 3^rd.

At first I was disappointed to have missed 3^rd but then it dawned on me that I had managed 4^th so I was really happy with my day, especially when I found out that they were awarding the first 4 places. So I got my first cheque from road racing J.

So a fantastic day, I learnt heaps and it was great to be there with the SPR crew.

by ‘dropped in dalkeith’

When the call went out to all SPR riders that there was a race at Collie on the same weekend as the Busselton Half-Ironman my first (and only) thought was ‘great, we can go and support the guys & girls on the way back to Perth’. Then Rob had this insane idea of not only showing support on the sidelines, but actually racing after completing in the ½ IM. After a week or so weighing up the pros and cons I thought why not – it’s not every weekend I get the chance to compete in two events, take the opportunity while it’s there.

So after a very successful event in Busselton (Rob will tell you all about it in another blog) we grabbed a well deserved quadruple shot latte from The Goose and left Busso early Sunday morning. C grade was scheduled to start at 1130am so we managed to get into Collie by 1045 only to find out they had put our start time back to 1200pm. No need to rush now. So we suited up, took in some calories, caught up with Lorraine and Nico in the car park then went for a short warm up through the town centre. The legs were feeling surprisingly OK considering the 90km ride and 21.1km run I had put them through the day before. The weather was perfect, as it had been for the past few weeks, with no wind to speak of on a bright sunny 25 deg day.

We got back to the start line and all of a sudden they called up C grade to line up…but it was only 1130 and they soon realised the start time had changed. Time for some more food, short stretch and bathroom break then we were called up to the start line for the second time. So there we were lined up along the side of the road ready to race when the timekeeper broke the dull noise of chatter with ’13 minutes’. What the? 13 minutes? He must be yanking our chain. But he wasn’t. We waited for what seemed to be an eternity in the sun before C grade was finally sent on its way.

There were 33 starters in C grade with most representation by Cyclemania and SPR…we had five riders – Ronny, Bruce, Mark Schneider, Rob and myself – which was a great turnout and the most for SPR in any grade. Ben had the toughest job riding by himself in B grade (but we’ll get to Ben a bit later).

The course was a 21km loop with around 3-4 undulations…nothing too serious. C grade was to do 3 laps for a 63km race. The most interesting part of the course was the last 800-1000m where we came down a small hill, over railway tracks then up a small incline that turned right before the final 300m-ish sprint to the finish. In the pre-race briefing they warned us this section was quite bumpy over the railway tracks…I mention this for a reason as it becomes important later on.  

It only took around 3km before the first break off the front by a Cyclemania rider. About 5 riders took off and then another Cyclemania rider sat on the front of the chase group and attempted to slow us down…this didn’t fly and we caught the break fairly quickly. So Cyclemania showed their hand early. The rest of the first lap (21km) was what I would call a reconnaissance lap with nothing really happening…lots of swapping turns at the front with no one really showing too much. At one stage on the back half of the loop I was being forced further back in the group and wasn’t feeling comfortable with some of the riders back there (safety wise) so I decided to go to a safe place – on the front. Not long after Rob came around and SPR all of a sudden had two riders on the front. It seemed to make the other riders take notice of the SPR representation because from then on whenever one of us went near the front we seemed to be closely watched. The only real surge on lap one was near the start/finish line funny enough were people wanted to be seen on the front.

The second lap saw the surging pick up with the occasional break. I managed to grab the first break of 4-5 riders but the pack soon caught on. The next break was then chased by Ronny, giving the other SPR riders the luxury of letting the rest of the group use their energy to chase. This is where we worked well together. Then Mark went to the front and did some work with the lead riders. Unlike the first loop, the pace picked up along every incline to see who had the legs to keep up. A few km from the end of lap 2 Rob told me that his day was over with his legs having no energy left to surge.

Into the last lap and once again the surges came. I didn’t realise Rob had pulled out at the start of loop 3 until Ronny informed me as we began discussing whether we wanted to start attacking. Ronny wasn’t too keen as the pace was a bit high to do it, which was the right call as we still had 15km to go. Mark was once again in the front half dozen riders doing some work – he was riding strong. The further went went and the closer we got to the finish you could sense everyone was wondering if anyone would break. Now my original plan was to see if i could get through 40km and then see how I felt. I was now through about 50km and was feeling pretty good so I decided to attack over one of the inclines and down other side. A Cyclemania rider immediately jumped on my wheel but the rest of the peleton let us go so the two of us picked up the pace for a few minutes before we realised we weren’t going to get away and sat up to let the group come together again. Ronny gave me some word of encouragement for my efforts then we sat back in the group to let others do the work. Once again Mark went to the front and immediately the group reacted.

So into the last few km and all of a sudden there was a call of ‘B grade coming through, stay left’ and then I see Ben come flying past on the front of B grade. So we now had the situation of B & C grade coming towards the finish line in a big bunch. A couple of the C grade riders thought this was an opportunity to make their move and latch on the the passing B grade train, which is a big no-no. We were barking at a few C grade idiots to sit up and let B grade through but they wouldn’t have a bar of it.

Now you remember me mentioning the final 800m into town with the decline over the railway tracks…well we had +50 riders trying to jockey for position over a bumpy section of road with railway tracks and a right-hand turn. And as predicted there was a crash with a couple of riders going down hard near the front. Lucky enough all SPR riders got through unhurt but it did slow a lot of people. It was a crappy way to end the race as there was no sprint finish and Ronny, Mark, Bruce and myself were all up in the front with a great chance to have a crack at it just as the crash occurred. I managed to get through and over the line in around 6^th or 7^th place but the finish was a mix of B & C graders so I don’t know how they manged to work out the podium places. My bike computer tells me we averaged 35km/hr for the 63km with a max of 56km/hr and my heart rate averaged 156 bpm (max of 171 bpm).

Overall I really enjoyed the experience with this being only my second race. The course seemed to suit me and it was great having 5 of us in the pack riding for SPR. Congrats to all those who competed in other grades and thanks to those who cheered us on from the sidelines. I’m looking forward to riding some more races with the crew this year. Thanks Rob for talking me into it J