All posts by peter

ride routes 20th & 21st december – christmas breakfast

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ho ho ho.

on the twelfth day of christmas

my true love sent to me

a twelve inch balance kids bike

eleven super record gears

ten speed electronic dura-ace

a nine function bike computer

eight-ball valve caps

a seven titanium road frame

a super six cannondale

five anodised chain bolts

four carbon brake pads

three chain ring crankset (for the alps)

two carbon lightweight wheels, and

a custom made titanium road bike

 

you can leave any or all of these things under my tree.  maybe except number 8, i was grasping at straws for that one.

 

don’t forget that breakfast is at jerry’s place in city beach so have a good look at the map in case you get lost.  my involvement in the ride is yet to be determined so someone have a good look at the course to give directions.

cost is $10 and i have no idea what will be provided as lorriane has done everything without my involvement.  based on the previous two breakfasts though, it should be good. 

you are encouraged to add some decorative flair to your bike or person for this ride as we will be passing through the city to spread some festive cheer.  whether it is a santa hat, some tinsel on the bike or a full on santa suit, it is up to you.  but remember, scarborough beach road may get a little fast for the fat man.

south perth rouleurs saturday christmas breakfast ride

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 03 (kahuna & peet & patterson)

saturday 13th december – hale rd

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short ride report by peter.

 

with so many people racing tomorrow, it was never going to be a fast day.  a group of about 50 were keen for a ride and we headed out shep rd towards welshpool.  the slow pace combined with the large group meant that we were bound to be caught out at a number of traffic lights and the group was split a number of times.  the worst was probably along hale rd where it crosses tonkin hwy and the second group was delayed significantly.  as we hit kalamunda rd, michael turned off to do more hills as he is not racing tomorrow and is training for the alpine classic in victoria in january. 

the pace was still easy as we headed through high wycombe and didn’t step up until we crossed the bridge in bassendean.  the stretch along guilford road through to maylands was a high pace with the boys at the front pushing along at about 45kph.  the group was still holding together, but you could see some of the riders slipping back as they were not used to the sustained high pace.  the tailwind was helping though. 

once we hit the rolling hills of maylands, jerry went off the front.  the pace and hills began to splinter the group and some of the guys just could not help themselves and began to chase.  once jerry was back in the fold, james and then ryan went off the front.  they pulled quite a gap but were slowed by the lights allowing the majority of the bunch a chance to catch up.  byt the time we were on east parade, there was quite a group together.

as we approached the final stretch along riverside drive, ryan slipped back in the group to get a good lead out.  the group was quite big in comparison to other days on the same route so it was always going to be messy.  a number of riders hit out hard but it wasn’t till the last 100 m that ryan started his sprint and (i am assuming as i was so far back) took it as the lights turned orange. 

a special mention today and i really don’t know how to explain it.  it thought of in terms of awards – the award for “getting dressed in the dark” or the award for “i am trying to cover up my advertisers” or the “superman wears his undies on the outside too” award.  anyway, it goes to dr mark for some how getting his knicks on inside-out.

christmas breakfast next saturday at jerry’s palace in city beach.  i will map a nice easy course so don’t expect any sprints or too hard a ride.  it will be $10 per head and if you are coming, please let us know by sending an e-mail here.  there will be food and coffee and a special appearance by anorexic santa.

anorexic santa
anorexic santa

we have another run of kit going, so have a look at the kit page on this website and send an e-mail if you need anything.  final orders need to be in by next weekend.

the prizes on the www.perthcycling.com.au are being drawn next saturday, so if you haven’t registered on the forum, do so now so you can get in the draw.

ride routes 13th & 14th december

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no baby as yet so i am planning to ride saturday and race sunday.  fingers and legs crossed that he doesn’t come till monday. 

so a nice easy one saturday and we will take a pleasant cruise up hale rd and back along kalamunda and guilford rds.  the pace will step up once we cross the bridge in bassendean, but apart from that i am expecting an easy ride.  as there is racing on sunday, we will not split into 2 groups as we need to save the legs.

sunday will be a case of “who is not racing”.  so far we have our best turn out ever for a race event at the joondalup classic.

“a” grade men – brendan

“b” grade men – ryan, judd, stuart, peter, james, jerrard, mark, ben, paul, mike, melvyn, chris, john

“b” grade women – lorraine, bec w, lisa, nicole???

as this takes out most of the regular sunday riders, there are many a mountain point available to be claimed.  the map shows some cat 2 climbs, but make them all cat 1 and let me know the first 5 riders to the top.  for those that are planning to tackle the sunday ride, make sure you check the map as there will be a few tricky points to navigate.  good luck to you and we will see if we can get a rouleur onto the podium.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 03 (hale rd)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 02 (darlington & mundaring weir)

ride routes 6th & 7th december

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holy crap it’s december.  where has my year gone.  i think i must have left it in my other pants.  we are looking at a warm one on saturday and it will be good to get the riding gear on without having to worry about armwarmers, vests, bootie covers, knee warmers, etc, etc, etc.

to celebrate such a nice warm saturday ride we are going to do something different.  i want to try to break the group up a bit.  i.e. a group 1 and a group 2.  the way we are going to do this is by imposing a massive hill in the middle of the ride.  namely gooseberry hill.  if you have joined the fun of the sunday ride, then you may have experienced gooseberry.  if not think hard about which group you want to play in.  the group 2 riders will skip gooseberry and head over the easy side of ridgehill rd.  it will then be up to group 1 to try to catch group 2 on the way home via guilford rd.  with easterly winds this may be a hard task.  so make sure you look hard at the map so that you know exactly where we are riding as this is a very new route.

sunday i will have to miss out on the fun as i will be taking number 1 son to the christmas parade in the city.  after the work kids christmas party the night before, at adventure world, we should be all santa’d out till christmas day.  so to make it easy for you i am sending you on a kind of reverse of what we did last week.  most people should know the roads, but make sure you tally up the points as we start a new month in the mountain points this week.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 15 (gooseberry hill)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 01 (carradine & peet) 

sunday 30th november – soldiers rd and canning mills

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ride report by peter.

 

after a successful outing on the bike yesterday, i decided to have a run at the hills to really test out how bad this cold has affected me.  dr ronny’s big brother kenny was in town from over east and ronny wanted to make sure we took him out to see some hills.  there were a number of our current routes we could have followed to show him the hillier parts of perth, but instead i mapped out a new one that meant that we had to go exploring.  this is always dangerous as sometimes google maps does not exactly match the real world.  i tried to add in a number of climbs that we generally have only done as descents.  solidiers rd being the main one as this is one of the best mid-ride descents that we do when we head out to ride around rolystone. 

about 20 or so riders toed the line this morning and dr paul and mark kicked things off with a couple of jokes.  if you have every shared a table at the coffee shop with dr paul, you know that this can be a very dangerous thing.  but always very funny.  we headed out to albany hwy for a pleasant and uneventful trip to the base of the kahuna.  we were not headed up the kahuna, but this was the back way into kelmscott and kept us off the main roads.

we then headed towards the base of canning mills rd which loomed large above us.  i was saving this for later so we turned off just before the climb started.  a slight detour and u-turn and we were soon on brookton hwy and going up our first categorised climb.  this was a short section of brookton and was only to get us to the start of soldiers rd.  it was only a cat 2 climb as the grade was not steep and the distance short.

stu set the pace from the start and i sat on his wheel.  a couple of looks over the shoulder and the group was still pretty much together.  it was going to come down to a sprint and when we saw the turn off, stu, kenny and i wound it up.  it was a short sprint and then we had to negotiate a right hand turn to get into soldiers rd.  i will be changing parts of this route soon.

stu – 5, peter – 3, kenny – 1.

 

i cannot remember the climb up soldiers rd.  we have done it before, but it was probably well over a year ago, if not longer.  i can remember coming down it so many times, but the grades and distances are deceptive when you are descending.  we took off with mark and john leading the charge.  it starts with a quick descent followed by a sharp uphill before leveling out for a bit.  by the time we hit the main part of the climb, a group of 5 had established themselves at the front.  stu was on the charge again with brendan marking him close by.  kenny was climbing alongside and seemed to be doing it easily while jerry and i sat at the back hanging on as best we could. 

the lower slopes with the nice hotmix surface were not too steep and no-one could really get away easy.  as the road wound its way past churchman’s brook dam, it steepened up somewhat and the corners made it hard to know what was coming next.  the corner where scott came off ages ago was actually quite steep when tackled form this direction and this is where brendan made a move.  he said later that he had a look at stu’s heartrate monitor and thought that he was almost at max, so to hit him now.  kenny easily went with him and i had to chase to try to get on. 

i didn’t quite make it but kept the pace on as best i could to stay ahead of stu and maximize points.  i was losing ground to brendan and kenny who were engrossed in their own tussle with little attacks on each other to see who would crack first.  stu made up a bit of ground a couple of times, but i was constantly looking over my shoulder to see where he was and make sure he didn’t creep up on me.  on the last few pinches of the climb, brendan managed to shake off kenny and had a nice gap at the top.  a flattish section to the line provided a nice run for me to time trial up to kenny and pass him within about 50m of the finishline.  sorry, but i needed the points.  stu dropped jerry but he managed to hold on to fifth place.

brendan – 10, peter – 7, kenny – 5, stu – 3, jerry – 1.

 

we regrouped and headed down canns rd another road we usually do the other direction and this time it made a nice change.  at the bottom we turned into carawatha but the other side from which we usually tackle.  the descent is always fast so i expected that the climb would be hard and it was…a bit.  it wasn’t as hard as the f_ckenberg and it certainly wasn’t easy, but overall it was a bit short to really cause any damage.  everyone is usually panting when we come up the other side, but this side didn’t seem as brutal.  kenny had shot up the hill like a rocket and brendan took off after him.  it was a bit too steep for me and stu and jerry also left me behind.  as it was not that long, there was no time to make up any ground and that is the finishing order.

kenny – 10, brendan – 7, stu – 5, jerry – 3, peter – 1.

 

we changed the route somewhat and headed down the other side of carawatha and onto albany hwy.  as we turned onto brookton and about to head towards the base of canning mills rd, there was the depressing sound of air leaking out of a tyre.  michael had another puncture.  i think starting next year we will have a page of the most punctures during the saturday and sunday rides.  i’m sure michael will “win”.  as we pulled over to watch him change it, someone wondered out load where melvyn was.  he was definitely with us a the top of the last climb, but had managed to disappear.  i rode back up to the base of carawatha but didn’t see him.  as i rode back to brookton, i heard him yell from a side street.  he had got a puncture and had rolled around the corner to change it.  i was lucky to see hear him as i didn’t see him at all.  i rode back to the group to let them know what was going on and so we could wait for him.

we headed towards canning mills rd and to the dreaded climb.  this is not a favourite of mine as it is just too steep for me to get into a proper rhythm.  kenny and brendan took off up the road again and left me to my own world of pain.  as i kept them in sight for a while, i watched kenny put in a number of attacks on brendan to try to break him, but he just set tempo and pulled him back each time.  i eventually was past by stu but tried to keep him in sight to not concede much ground.  i was starting to struggle a bit and found holding the effort for a long time a challenge.  i started slipping back but it wasn’t till hugh caught up to me that i thought i better pull my finger out.  a few hard pedal strokes and he was off my wheel.  i kept the pressure on as best i could and eventually caught up with stu.  it was close to the top of the climb so i continued to push to make sure he didn’t come with me as the hill flattened out.  i saw brendan and kenny in the distance and i thought that i may be able to chase them down.  however, they were playing a chase game of their own so were pushing a big gear as well to stay away.

i eventually made it to chevon rd and the official finish line but brendan and kenny were nowhere to be seen.  they had continued up the road to the end.  stu kept plugging away and stayed ahead of hugh till the end.

kenny – 10, brendan – 7, peter – 5, stu – 3, hugh – 1.

 

we took off along chevon rd and headed towards karagulen servo for a quick stop.  the chevon rd used to be used a lot by us but back in the old days where we would only do one or two hills on a sunday.  those days are long gone.  a quick refill and we headed to pickering brook.  a truck was held up as we climbed one of the bonus climbs but provided a nice draft for a couple of us as he slowly came past.  nice to climb a hill with no effort.  quite a few turned off as we headed through bickley valley as some were headed home while others were looking for a quick way to the coffee-shop.  michael and mark managed to get a nice break on the rolling hills through bickley and started the last climb with a buffer.  this has worked in the past for some riders and they were a dangerous pair to allow to escape. 

as we climber the last little pinch before the mundaring weir climb, kenny changed down from the big ring wth an almighty crunch.  chain off and he was stopped.  bad timing, and this put him out of contention for the climb.  i was also just off the back as the days efforts and lingering sickness were taking their toll on my energy levels.  by the time i started the climb, brendan, stu and jerry were up the road.  i couldn’t push my cardio up for an extended period so thought it best not to chase.  being a sadomasochist (cyclist) i put it in the 53×14 gear and pushed a 40rpm seated cadence all the way to the top.  i picked up and past a few riders but john managed to stay just ahead of me the whole way.  just as we reached the last pinch, we saw another rider up ahead.  it was mark hanging on to fifth spot and he was nervously looking over his shoulder to make sure he held it, which he did…just.  in retrospect if i had pushed a descent gear at a constant tempo, there wasa  chance i may have caught him and grabbed a extra point.  unfortunately not the case.

brendan – 10, michael – 7, stu – 5, jerry – 3, mark – 1.

 

at the end of the day this meant that brendan was now 1 point ahead of me on the total november mountain points.  that one extra point would have been good, but as he has “won” the weekly overall for two weeks, he would have still been ahead on a count back.

i’m getting tired and running out of time so i will summarise the return trip.

  • coffee shop was good if not a bit busy.  there was a table booked where we usually sit.
  • no land speed records today on the descent as the wind was not favourable.
  • mr dickhead was in a small 4wd and decided that two lanes were not enough and passed us very close which made mark comment on the apparent small size of the drivers manhood.  he took offence to that and words were exchanged.
  • no sprint along welshpool but john and melvyn did the work along the entire stretch.
  • a pretty messy sprint along berwick as traffic was everywhere and taking up both lanes.  either melvyn or brendan got there first.

 

so, i made it to the end even though my top end is still a bit clogged up.  a week off the bike didn’t heal me, so a week on the bike is planned for this week.  see if i can blow it out of my system, or just blow up my system.

saturday 29th nov – freo and cott

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ride report by peter.

 

so a week off the bike with the vain hope that it would give me time to recover from my cold.  unfortunately it is still lingering and starting to piss me off somewhat as everyone else i know got over it quickly.  i am still somewhat snotty but at least i am not having coughing fits that kind of screwed me around on the great perth bike ride (gpbr).

so, with a pleasant day predicted with the sun shining and little wind to speak of, i was expecting a big turnout and was not disappointed.  there were between 50 – 60 riders waiting to go this morning by the time i turned up (late again).  we were going on a gentle lap of the river but the reverse direction of the gpbr and including cottesloe to break things up a bit.  it was a fairly standard route that we used to do quite regularly and one that i often map out when i am not coming as everyone knows the way.

we rolled out and didn’t even make it to the lights at mill point rd when chris was out with a flat.  he told us to keep going as with a group this size, we would be taking up a lot of space.  also, as the ride had only just begun, we would be on cruise mode for a while and with the help of james and ryan, who stopped with him, he should be able to catch back up. 

the rest of us headed out to canning hwy and down towards freo.  i didn’t last long on the front and soon joined the tail of the group so that i could get a good draft.  i just found that i could not sustain a decent effort for very long and was probably more of a hindrance at the front.  we turned off the hwy and onto burke drive which was our first designated fast section.  usually the group really goes to town here as the long stretch with no intersections to slow you down makes for a fast pace.  for some reason, no-one was in the mood for dancing.  i was also content to sit on the back of the train and watch the frustrated car drivers not be able to get around due to all the traffic islands on that stretch of road.

about ¾ of the way along burke drive i see a figure heading up the road.  young bec decided to have a crack and went off the front.  melvyn thought that he better not be shown up by her and took off in pursuit.  however, he was no match for the current state women’s criterium champion and never came close.  the rest of the pack soon picked him up on the hill over pt walter.

the group was playing nice today and stopped after the roundabout, but it was not necessary as since the pace had not been on, the pack had not been strung out.  we happily continued down towards the left bank.

along this stretch the pace was on and some of the boys were keen to go off the front.  i made a half-arsed attempt (as i only have half an arse worth of effort in me) and got caught in to man’s land.  i did notice jerry and brendan and a few others off the front, but it was all a bit of a haze for me by then.

a nice cruise past cottesloe with an opportunity to enjoy the view (i love summer or even summer-like weather), and we were headed for home.  i got a text and as we are almost at baby-time, i had to check it in case i had missed a call.  it was however from chris, and he wrote – “i’d like to publicly apologise to my team mates ryan and james for my use of faulty equipment.  i hope they caught back up.”  it turns out that chris didn’t have the proper valve extenders for his deep dish rims and could only put half the required amount of air in his tyre.  the other guys left him at raffles and chased us down in swanbourne.

the pace home was actually quite civilised and i got to have a chat with a few people that i hadn’t caught up with for a while.  mike (tall guy, ice-cream jersey and argon 18 bike) is now working a 4 and 2 roster out of china so most of his riding is confined to a trainer.  and lisen who used to be a regular, but has been caught up doing the whole doctor thing and has not had time lately.  it was good to see them out again along with a few new faces to the group.

the pace did eventually pick up as the road rolled through dalkeith and jerry made sure that he sat on ryan’s wheel so that he could take him on the line by the war memorial.  i was happy to still be with the group by now and had to laugh when lisen asked if i wanted to get out when i was boxed in on the left hand side.

we ended up passing the elite cycles group around the university and this may have caused some confusion leading into the sprint.  we had enough spr riders up front to set the pace, but elite were tucked in behind all the way along mounts bay rd.  i managed to get to the front early on to test the body out on a extended effort, but was soon overtaken by james and then got boxed in by the other 30 or so riders that came around.  in the end i am pretty sure it was ryan on the line, but i was too far away to make out the minor placings.

coffee for all and we managed to fill up the outside area easily as the pace had not been high enough to lose too many riders.  ronny had joined us from the elite group and it was good to see him and john up and about after their altercation with a spped sign at the gpbr.  i am riding on borrowed time at the moment as the imminent birth of son #2 will be putting a serious cramp on my riding hours.  however, regardless of my situation, this is a reminder that our next spr breakfast will be on in a few weeks time on the 20th dec.  this will be the christmas breakfast and will be held at jerry’s place palace in city beach.  the ride will be very casual and fancy dress will be recommended.  stay tuned for more as we get closer.

ride routes 29th & 30th november

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well some lovely weather predicted for the weekend so why don’t we go for a “gentle” lap of the river.  for something different (for those that were dodging cones last sunday) we will go in the opposite direction with a quick detour through cottesloe. 

sunday will be the final push for november mountain points which close off at the end of this month.  stu has a commanding lead but with a new course planned, there is a chance that it could come down to the wire.

i will be hoping that my cold has moved on and i can actually get some riding in this week.  it has been quite depressing to not ride before work this week and i have actully missed the 5am starts. 

i have been talking to cannibal this week and we should be ready to do another jersey order very soon for those that missed out last time, or those that want a bit of extra gear.  we will also be offering some different garments on top of the usual jersey and knicks, but i am waiting to confirm.

 

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 01 (freo & cott)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 16 (soldiers rd & canning mills)

sunday 23rd nov – great perth bike ride

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race “participation event” report by peter.

 

the great perth bike ride (gpbr) has become one of those events whose reputation preceeds it.  i know quite a few of the spr riders did not want to participate this year because they thought it was too dangerous.  and the truth is, i agree with them.  it is not the format or the route, it is the lack of skill that some of the riders show when riding in a group, and the riders need to keep trying to get to the front when the road is not wide enough for more than 2 or 3 bikes.  anyway, i am getting ahead of myself again.

 

i signed up for the 106km (2 lap) event.  work were paying for it so i decided to have a crack as the $100 entry fee was covered by someone else.  this is probably one of the other reasons that some of the spr riders declined to play today, as the price had shot up dramatically since last year.  anyway, all was good.  we collected our race kits and new cannibal rio tinto jerseys.  a change of logo and colours to the corporate banner meant that cannibal had a nice order for over 200 new jerseys. everything was set, and then i got sick.  i was only at work for 1 ½ days this week and i was sure it was going to affect my ride.  i deliberately didn’t ride on saturday to give the body more recovery time, but woke up early sunday not really much better.  i forced down some porridge but it didn’t sit too well.  feeling queasy on the bike is the worse thing especially when you know that the pace will be on from the start.

 

i turned up early enough to get to the front of the line and caught up with james, ryan, nick and mike.  a few other spr guys were milling around and i saw big john from rio and doug as well.  the weather was looking good and even though the roads were wet, the sky looked like it would stay clear for the race.  gary suckling gave out some last minute instructions over the pa system and before we knew it we were off.

 

the pace was not too bad from the start but it did surge a bit especially at the back where i ended up quite quickly.  we set a nice even pace along mounts bay rd as the wider stretch allowed people to find their position easier.  not sure who was setting the pace, but there was a small line of guys at the front before the rest of the pack swelled behind them.  there were a smattering of plan-b boys and girls in the pack, but they seemed to be keeping out of trouble and just milling around not forcing the pace or anything. 

 

as we turned off mounts bay the fun really started.  the tighter roads and multiple corners stretched the pack out as the masses hit the brakes leading into the corners.  we seemed to get past the uni ok but the first fall happened on the turn off hackett drive.  the pack moved to the middle of the road to negotiate the corner and some guy hit a patch of crap around the white line and went down.  he immediately jumped straight back up and kept riding so he wouldn’t lose his position.  i was trying to avoid being anywhere near him after that.

 

the hill near steve’s was the next obstacle and i was sure that it would sort out some of the pretenders.  i put in an effort to make sure i didn’t get dropped too much as i knew that i didn’t have enough in the tank for a proper chase.  some riders dropped off the back and i don’t think we saw them again.  the pace didn’t really increase that much, but everyone always like to attack on the hills.  we hammered through dalkeith and the corners again strung the group out.  i managed to keep touch but only just and was constantly up and sprinting to keep up.  after christchurch grammer i heard wayne from cyclemania talking to the plan-b guys saying that they were not to play at the front and were just here as a training ride.  they all backed off and formed a second group to stay out of trouble. 

 

we came down through devils elbow and i had lost touch slightly as there were some guys that obviously didn’t have the bike skills to be smashing through there at speed.  i made up a bit of ground along the waters edge but started the mosman park hill behind the eight ball.  i didn’t want to hit the hill too hard as i was sure that i would pop, but even at half pace i was passing riders on the bottom easier section of the hill.  by the time i got to the top i was in amongst the group, but the fast boys were up the road.  i past nick at the top and he looked knackered, but i couldn’t stop.  after the corner, i caught up with james and with a couple of other guys we worked together to try to catch back up.  as we approached the slight hill before stirling hwy, we caught sight of the group and got back on once we turned towards freo.  the next hill on preston point road would be the tester but i managed to hold on and keep with the group.  the roundabout at point walter became a problem for a couple of riders as someone went down and held up the group.  we head to chase to get back on along attadale and this managed to dislodge some more stragglers from the back. 

 

now i am sure that the majority of the riders in this group have ridden around the river a few times.  probably more like 100 times.  however, with the squeal of wet carbon rims and the constant hard braking and evasive action, you would think that everyone was actually surprised that we had to slow down for the corners and avoid the traffic islands.  the amount of guys we saw going to the wrong side of the road to avoid the traffic islands when there was oncoming traffic was amazing.  these guys were taking risks for a participation event. 

 

more of the same through applecross fast, slow, squealing brakes, avoiding islands, etc, etc and pretty soon we were on the freeway.  now the freeway deserves a special mention for absolutely stupid placement of cones and signs.  we had a lane reserved for us plus the emergency lane.  now the emergency lane is where all the crap goes that the vehicles flick up.  crap like glass, rocks and the like, so not always the best place to ride.  the lane we had marked out for us was also full of hazards.  along the entire stretch the lane was demarcated with nice big cones so the cars would not stray into our lane.  that was fine, but every second cone was a double cone that sat further into our lane.  now as you are driving along the the road (setting up cones) these doubles are easy to see.  when you are right up the arse of the rider in front of you and the train is about 20 or so people long, you don’t see them coming. 

 

to make matters worse, for our safety, the cars on the remaining lanes of the freeway were restricted to 60kph.  we know this because the speed signs were placed in our lane even further in from the double cones.  these didn’t give as much as a cone when hit and caused a bit of damage.  in the group following us, stan from the sunday rides heard a crash behind him just as his group hit the freeway after canning bridge.  the guy just behind and to the right swerved to avoid a speed sign that was placed too far in and came off.  big john from rio from the saturday rides was following him and had nowhere to go and cartwheeled over him.  three other riders then rode over john and came tumbling down too.  two of them had to be taken to hospital and one of the others was dr ronny whose carbon front wheel was no match for john’s body and now looks like a taco.  no serious injuries to either of them, but a lot of gravel rash.

 

about halfway along the freeway, i rode to about midpack and found ryan.  i told him that i was not going to make a second lap as i was really struggling by now.  a couple of coughing fits as we rode along and all types of nasty flem was gurgling around my system.  i also was struggling to take anything more than water down and i would eventually run out of energy.  my day was done, but i needed to get my timing band back to the start finish line.

 

as our group approached the exit of the freeway the cones tightened up and the double cones caused a bit of grief.  i saw one guy hit them at speed and i thought that i was going to clean him up but he managed to stay upright somehow.  as we past through mends street another guy hip and shoulders a bollard as he came around the corner way too fast.  these guys were crazy and taking risks that they didn’t need to.  either that or they were way out of their depth as far as fast group riding was concerned and were only hanging on by the skin of their teeth. i would say half and half.

 

i managed to hold on all the way back through south perth and onto riverside drive. the biggest pain in the arse was the riders using the coned off road to ride to the start on their shiny new mountain bike, while a group of about 40 riders were trying to come through at speed.  thanks guys.

 

we crossed the line and i peeled off and headed to the timing tent to hand in my band.  i hate not finishing events but i was happy to stay with the main pack for the first lap which we took in 1:20 for the 53kms.  just under the 40kph mark.  i knew that i wouldn’t be able to stick out that pace, but even more so the bad gut meant that i would eventually run out of energy and may not even be able to limp home. 

 

of the remaining few, ryan got a flat and had singles on so not sure if he finished.  mike finished in the main pack giving jens the best rio tinto time for the event.  something he will have to live up to when he returns next year.  i managed to get up in the hills and have a coffee with the few chasing mountain points.  stu now has a commanding lead with one more sunday to finish off the month.

ride routes 22nd & 23rd november

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i had a couple of days off this week as ben has been sick and kate came down with it on monday night.  i stayed home to look after ben and now the inevitable has happened.  i got sick.  sore throat and so very tired, i struggled on the ride this morning and sat on the back instead of rolling through.  so much for a good lead up to the great perth bike ride. 

as such there is a good chance that i will not be riding this saturday when you tackle scarborough beach road.  so play nice and take it easy till you hit the lights near the bunnings before giving it some gas.  make sure you regroup at scarborough beach and go easy till oceanic drive.

sunday is the double figure eight around kalamunda and includes points up welshpool, the observatory (hard side), mundaring weir rd and kalamunda rd.  the map currently does not have mountain points marked, but i will endevour to redraw it soon (as soon as my account revives from being shaped).  i will be trying to keep up with the fast boys for a couple of loops of the river.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 05 (scarborough beach rd)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 06 (welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd)

 

 

 

saturday 15th nov – state criterium championships – armadale

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race report by peter.

 

open men's state criterium championship
open mens state criterium championship

some gold, silver and bronze were on offer today at the state criterium championships.  the masters division was tempting enough for mike and i to enter even though we are not noted for our “crit skillz”.  the one benefit of being over 35 is that you don’t have to compete with 20 year olds anymore.  it was a stunning day but the wind was really picking up by the time i headed down to armadale.  the race didn’t start till 1:40 with the juniors and support men heading off first.  parking was a struggle as they had blocked the road off as this race is held in conjunction with the highlands festival.  this meant that in the background were highland dances, bagpipes and caber tossing.  also kilts as far as the eye could see.

 

i met up with mike and we headed off for a good half an hour warm up around the roads of armadale.  as race time approached we headed to the start to find about half the field was to be made up of glenn parker boys.  slight exaggeration, but they did have the dominate numbers.  as the support race finished, we were allowed onto the circuit for a couple of laps warm up.  as i crossed the line i noticed my tyre was going very soft.  i rolled back to the start and asked how long i had.  four minutes to get back to the car and change it.  as it had not gone all the way down, i sprinted off to the car.

 

thanks to mel’s dad peter and stu for helping me do a quick change and thanks to peter for offering me mel’s spare wheel for the race.  we got it changed and i hurried back already in a fluster.  holly had also ridden back to the start line to let them know that i was on my way.  we were off.

 

whoa, no easing into this thing.  after one lap we had already started to string out.  i was struggling to hold my position and some of the guys in front of me were too.  i was too far back and had to get a better position.  unfortunately, this meant getting around people who were starting to lose contact fast.  the glenn parker boys were doing a number on the field and the numbers were thinning fast.  i was starting to lose contact and it was only about lap three.  mike was also back with me and i was guessing that he could not surge with his heart condition.  there was a small hill on the back of the circuit and you had to fight every lap to make sure you didn’t lose more time. 

 

i had passed mike and another guy earlier to try to make the junction back to the pack.  i was hoping it was going to be similar to the pinjarra race where they eased off after the first few surges and we got back on.  unfortunately a parkers boy was off the front and the pace didn’t let up.

 

i began to fade and mike and passenger picked me up.  we worked together for a bit but lost the passenger up one of the hills.  basically mike i tried lap after lap to catch up, but to no avail.  pretty soon the breakaway rider was making ground on us.  i said to mike that when the main field catches us, i was pulling the pin.  it only took another couple of laps. 

 

fifteen laps all up for us and about 25 min.  the race was not going that much longer and they never caught the breakway.  i think that glenn parker took the 1, 2, 3 in the race.  good team tactics.  not the best outcome for spr, two dnf’s.

 

in the women’s open event, bec who rides with us sometimes, got in a breakaway with sarah-jean and stayed away till the end.  she did the majority of the work and still managed to take out the sprint to claim a state title.

 

the open men’s was a fast and furious race with both brendan and steve having a crack.  brendan did a whole lot of work early on for their team (aussie crates) and eventually popped out the back.  steve held on well to the end, but the main group did not catch the breakaways.  rabobank sprinter graeme brown sat on the back of the plan b boys up front and took the sprint ahead of brad hall.

 

so, it was a better day as a spectator then it was as a cyclist, for me.  but that is racing, and you get out what you put in. long training days in the hills just don’t make for good crit racing days.