the state crit champs are on this saturday down at armadale and so mike and i will be heading down to try to win some rouleurs gold. similar to fools gold in as far as we may be kidding ourselves with a flatish fast tight course. i would like to get another state masters medal, but we will see what happens on the day.
anyway, the important thing to note is that i will not be riding saturday morning, but instead, will be out on the course with the #1 spr cheerleader (ben) getting some photos again. so wear your spr kit if you have it so i can get some good team photos. also, be nice and keep the group together until the hot spots and regroup afterwards. there are 30km/h easterly winds predicted so this means benara rd. it will be a hard slog heading out guilford road, so make sure you stick together.
i also want to get photos at the coffee shop of individuals holding their bikes to add to the bike weight leaderboard page. you may notice the some of the names are highlighted and you can click on them to see a pic. and since i am such a nice guy, i will also be bringing the remaining water bottles along.
sunday will be the last hills ride for jens and he has requested a return to the f_ckenberg. i know that we only did this one a few weeks ago, but the german got very excited when i asked him where we should ride and for some reason he wants to tackle the +15% climb. yay. his final ride with us will be the following saturday 22ndwhere he will slip in a quick ride before jumping on a plane to the fatherland.
with a absolutely stunning day predicted, i expected a bumper turnout this morning but was left a bit under whelmed. around 15 or so decided to toe the line but we did manage to pick up a few more on the way. with the usual suspects like ryan and stu absent, i thought that i would have the mountain points all wrapped up. unfortunately for me, one of the riders we picked up on the way was mike. there was even a general murmur of “no points today” coming from the group. yes, it was true but on the other hand, having mike there meant that i would have to work a whole lot harder which will get me a whole lot fitter.
steve and i lead the group out and onto albany hwy at a leisurely pace. “fresh” from his 300km melbourne to warrnambool race a couple of weeks ago, he was also backing it up from a session on the track where he got the honour of being smashed by the likes of cj sutton, graeme brown and cam meyer. he was unsure on how he would go on the hills, but i thought i better keep an eye on him regardless.
the first climb of the day was up the kahuna. as we approached the foot of the climb, clare was doing circles around the roundabout waiting for the group to arrive. my aim was to stick with mike for as long as possible and see where it left me. i had my new “dr paul’s custom wheelset” on the bike which saved me a hundred grams overall. unfortunately as it was a rush job to get them on yesterday, i also managed to forget the speedo magnet and now realised that the derailleur could not access the easiest and hardest gear. well it could access the easiest, but that pinging noise that the spokes make as the rear derailleur brushes past them was not what i wanted to hear.
the climb got underway and the pecking order was quickly sorted out. i made tempo until mike came around me and then i latched onto his wheel, determined to hang on. steve was on our wheel for a while but detached somewhere along the first main pinch as the field really thinned out. i was watching my heartrate and listening to my breathing, but was really starting to struggle. as the road flattened out for the first “plateau” mike kept the effort up and rode away from me. i have talked about the same thing before and knew that i should also keep the effort up but my body said “no” as it had been abused for too long.
i rode tempo but looked around me to make sure that the gap was not reducing to the riders behind. mike’s gap was increasing ever so slowly as he ground his way up but i was more worried about the fact that riders were approaching from behind. i wasn’t sure at first, but a couple more looks confirmed steve closing fast. i was paying for my efforts to maintain mike’s pace and steve come past me and started chasing down mike. he came close to catching him too, but the road pitched up again and he didn’t quite make it.
the road flattened out again and i managed to recover enough to increase my pace to begin to chase down steve. no other riders were gaining from behind, so i just had to concentrate on catching him. another thing i notice about the new wheels is just how quiet they are. i scared the crap out of steve as i came past him and i tried to stay ahead. there was not far to go and it came down to a sprint for the line. the effort of catching him had me spent and my spew-meter was in the red. i fell a few metres short and came third. gregor the scottish mountain-biker from texas was back to show his climbing skills ans too fourth while clare was impressing some of the boys by kicking their arse to take out fifth.
mike – 10, steve – 7, peter – 5, gregor – 3, clare – 1.
a regroup had us at max numbers as we had also picked up doug on the climb. we had a nice fast descent down urch but soon the road pitched up and those with fast descending skills soon deferred to those with fast ascending legs. again the plan was to stick like glue to mike and see what happens. steve was fastened firmly to my wheel and we let mike set the tempo up the climb. luckily for me, the steepest part of peet rd is the section below the urch intersection and i managed to hold onto mike’s wheel till the top. we kept the pace up and did a couple of turns as we headed over the top and towards the school. the section past the fruit place always gets me as it is just steep enough to be painful especially after you think you have finished with the climbs. i dropped it back to the small ring while i noticed that steve and mike were still grinding away in the big.
mike hit the front again as we made the final run towards the school climb. steve and i were content to not help him as we were pretty sure that it would come down to a sprint. about halfway up the hill, steve started to come around with me on his wheel. the finish is deceptive and i made sure that i didn’t go too early (like the state champs race). i waited till the last moment and then started my sprint. steve stepped up and soon we were going side by side along the road seeing who could sustain the longest. after doing less time in the wind (ryan style) i had the fresher legs and he conceded. the spots for fourth and fifth also came down to a sprint with clare out gunning gregor for the points.
peter – 10, steve – 7, mike – 5, clare – 3, gregor – 1.
claire takes the hill
we were all present and accounted for and ready to rock and roll when we noticed that melvyn hadn’t arrived yet. he eventually turned up after suffering a bit of chain trouble when his quick link detached and he was riding sans chain. luckily the two pieces didn’t fall off so he could reattach quite easily. we headed down brookton hwy and onto the foot of canning mills rd.
as we turned onto the road leading to the hill, there was a call of “flat” so we passed it down the line. after the debacle of last week, it was good to see the group looking out for each other. after gregor fixed his flat we were off with the base of the climb starting only fifty metres away.
i was following my same game plan again but found myself boxed in a bit. mike was starting to move away from the front and i couldn’t get past. i quickly sprinted around to catch his wheel, but was not sure at what cost my legs had paid. this is a particularly steep and brutal climb but it is fairly consistent the whole way up. it makes it easy to get into a tempo and stay there. unfortunately it was easy for mike to get into a tempo that was obviously faster than i could handle. i lost ground after staying with him for a short time. gregor had been on my wheel just before the road steepened up but had slot ground when mike “took off”. i found my rhythm but was surprised when he caught back up to me. mike was surging ahead, and we were all losing ground, but i didn’t think that i was going that slow. no disrespect to gregors climbing ability, but i just don’t like being caught. soon steve came up beside us too. pushing a big gear doing strength endurance efforts, he ground his way past us. as the pitch of the road changed a bit he slipped back and gregor and myself began chasing mike down.
the last part of this climb really flattens off and is in stark contrast to the first section where trees and curves in the road give way to long straight open roads. quickly changing up the gears we tried to increase the pace to make up some ground on mike. it was a bit of a wasted effort in that respect, but i also wanted to distance myself from any other challengers to the points. about halfway to chevin road which was the rendezvous point, i put it in the big ring and put in a big effort to shake gregor. i didn’t want it to get to a sprint situation so managed to distance myself from him and maintain the gap to the end. mike was nowhere to be seen as he had finished the climb and just kept going to keep the legs moving. after a short wait, steve came in with clare and paul on his wheel, but managed to keep it in that order and maintaining paul’s 6th place just out of the points for the third climb in a row.
mike – 10, peter – 7, gregor – 5, steve – 3, clare – 1.
we rolled towards pickering brook but had lost three riders before we got there with various people having early commitments. after a regroup at pickering brook a split formed and five more took off for an early mark, opting for a quick descent down welshpool instead of a climb up the weir road. across the rolling hills before the main climb, john managed to get a bit of a break, but i was mainly concerned with hanging close to mike and steve. by the time we started the climb, there were a few guys already up the road. paul and steve said that i should probably go hard now, but i looked back at how close mike was decided to wait to see what he did. i didn’t really have a choice as he took off like a rocket and i had to sprint to get on board.
we passed the others on the climb like they were standing still and i was only just holding on for dear life. i started to wonder how long i could hold this pace for, but soon got my answer. we had just passed john who had the early break, and i started to slip off mike’s wheel. a couple of efforts to stay on really just buggered me up rather than kept me on and i slipped back. i tried to get into a tempo, but struggled under the weight of the previous effort and was not going as well as i could. i made my way up the bottom section of the climb, but looked back to see that john was gaining on me and soon grabbed my wheel. john has never been a climber and i can still remember his first saturday ride with us. a combination of new bike syndrome and some good training (maybe epo) has seen some god improvements lately.
judd the man in black.
we continued up the climb with mike nowhere in sight. we came to the last little pinch before it flattens out and i urged john to stay on my wheel. he dropped back a bit as we hit the flatter section, but a bit of yelling forced an effort out of him to get back on. as we started that long straight, i could just make out the figure of mike disappearing around the bend up ahead. we hammered along the “flat” and entered the last pinch of the day. i knew that john would not hold my wheel here after all the efforts he did on the bottom of the climb, so i yelled some encouragement at him before he dropped back. actually, i said “keep looking behind you and ride like you stole something. don’t let him catch you”. i made my way up the final climb and onto the roundabout. john managed to keep fresh air between him and the chasers, but it seems that steve caught gregor near the end and relegated him to fifth. i’m pretty sure paul took sixth again.
mike – 10, peter – 7, john – 5, steve – 3, gregor – 1.
by the time we hit coffee the numbers had dwindled dramatically.
steve, peter, paul, lorraine, mike b, anna, john & gregor – 1.
conversation ranged from what to eat while riding, to bec’s crash at the track last night, to davina riding with a broken arm, to lance’s comeback and what contador will do, to what brendan and steve’s partners got up to last night at the track. coffee’s, cake and coke (the non-tom boonen kind) devoured we were on our way.
quite a uneventful ride home as the smaller group means less egos to stroke. john broke away for the sprint at the welshpool rd maccas only to discover no-one was chasing. steve and i made a move on the hill heading into the final sprint but sat up once we rolled down the other side. this allowed paul to wipe the voodoo of the 6th place away to take the sprint at the lights.
so, not the best turn out but this allowed the points to be spread around a bit more. i had been told today that the state crit champs are actually on saturday next week, not sunday like most races are. this means that i will be missing the saturday ride, but will probably be available for sunday mountain points, to defend my lead.
damn, the melbourne cup was this week which means we are well and truly into november which means that we are almost to christmas which means that the year is almost over. where the hell did it go.
as you may have noticed on the previous post, ryan has become a mo bro so support him in the only way we know how…lots of crap about his bad mo.
there is a really good track meet this saturday night. last year was really good racing and if you have never been to the velodrome before, this is a good experience. there will be some really fast racing so come and support some of the riders that occasionally come out on the spr rides.
we are down to the last box of drink bottles and will be doing another visit this saturday to the coffee shop for collection. if you haven’t collected or paid, this will be a good opportunity to get it sorted out. please try to bring exact change as it is a pain when everyone brings $20 for $12 of drink bottles.
this saturday we will be tackling the majority of the river ride in preparation for the great perth bike ride. there is only a couple of weeks till the event so we might as well check out the hill at mosman park now so you can practice it if you need to.
sunday will be a big day with both sides of the kahuna to be ridden along with peet rd. four categorised climbs so lots of points on offer. looks like the weather should be clearing up too so i am expecting a big turn out.
an early morning text from chris claiming chain troubles had me heading to the startline a bit earlier that usual. a pin was had not been put back in properly and was only hanging on by one side of the chain. not the best thing for a hill climbing day that would place a lot of strain on the chain. we popped the link out and put on a sram powerlink that i had spare. it was spare cause i asked for a removable link and they sold me one that once it is on, it doesn’t come off. not really that removable. i need the wipperman one next time.
with an ideal cycling day predicted, the number of cyclist was sure to exceed expectations and did not disappoint. we had around thirty turn up ready to go by 7am. we had a few new faces with ronny trying to get extra points by bringing a friend, jill and the ceo of cycling wa, chris turning up to see how the group runs. most of the regulars were their but noticeable by his absence was ryan who we think had been scared off after we talked up chris’ climbing ability during the week. mike was also a no show, so stu and i would have to be carrying the torch for the spr team. just as we were about to roll out, dr melvyn turned up and told us that darren was just down the bottom of coode st with a flat tyre. i gave everyone directions and sent them off while steve and myself went to find darren. dr mark was also down there helping with tyre, but he had it fixed promptly and we were soon on our way.
while the rest of the group headed along angelo st and out onto canning, we passed the roadblock and headed out along mill point rd hoping to connect with them before too long. as we worked into the wind along great eastern, i was not confident that we would even catch up as we could not see the main group even when the road straightened out. as we got closer to the airport, we saw them at the top of the rise and managed to catch up just after tonkin hwy. that was my first effort for the day, and it hurt.
we eventually made it out to the base of greenmount and started the hill in earnest. after a blocking move by our chris, the real pace began to kick in. it took quite a while and is a testament to the increased climbing skills that the group has developed, but we eventually whittled it down to the final 8 riders. most had held on for the majority of the hill and it wasn’t until it really steepened up and the pace was on that they began to drop off.
a couple of bends in the road before the finish and i decided to see if i could shake things up a bit and went on the attack. i got a fair gap before i think steve led the group back to my wheel and i was swamped within sight of the finish. i explained to everyone where the line was and realising it was that close they all started sprinting for the finish. i had nothing left and should have timed my attack a bit later.
stu – 10, brendan – 7, chris – 5, jerry – 3, peter – 1.
a regroup at the top and we were on our way again. the winding, rough roads through john forrest always seem to break the group up and i told the guys on the front that we would regroup at oxley road before the next climb. luckily i did as the call when out that darren had gotten a flat again and was changing it. i went back to see if he was ok and found him on his own.
probably a good time to set the ground rules about what we should do about flat tyres. if during a climb or descent where it is going to be too hard to pull the group up, then the person closest to the flat tyre should stop to make sure that they have all the right equipment to change it. anyone else around should continue on and tell the rest of the group that there has been a flat so we can wait at the regroup point. during a normal transition stage of the ride where we are just cruising along and are easily forming a pack, the call should go out immediately for everyone to stop. if the person with the flat is on the back of the group then a call forward to stop should be passed down the line and a rider should also come forward to make sure the group knows what is going on.
the reasoning is simple. firstly they may not have all the appropriate tools (which in itself is an offence, but usually punishable by public shame) and secondly they may not know where the hell they are. we don’t always stick to main roads and some of the newer riders may not have even been on these roads in their cars let alone on a bike. the worse thing is a triple play of no tools, no mobile coverage and no idea where the hell you are. it is usually about then that you hear banjo’s playing and billy-joe wanders out of the bush and asks “what y’all doin’ out ‘ere all alone”.
so, i checked with darren and since it was his second flat of the day i bludgeoned him to death with his own sub-six kilo bike and left him for the bears. he was going to find his own way across to mundaring weir road. i continued down to the regroup point.
once there, i explained the hill and where the kom line was for the points. this was a particularly nasty climb and has some really steep pinches that test the legs. the move was made early by chris and stu and i tried to go with is for as long as i could, but both put distance into me. chris danced away from stu and neither of us made up any ground there. behind me jens was waiting for brendan and steve to make their moves but they never did so he had to attack to make sure that he didn’t have to sprint for the points. hugh came with him and made up the final points.
chris – 10, stu – 7, peter – 5, heiko – 3, hugh – 1.
when we got to the top, julian and nick were already there. it seems that thay didn’t hear the call to regroup at oxley and thought that they had the points in the bag. as the group gets bigger, it is important that messages, like regroup points and such, are passed on especially if people move forward to the front of the group. this message didn’t get through and created a lot of confusion.
we soldiered on and took a different route out of parkerville as we headed towards stoneville. this would allow us to skip the section of great eastern hwy that we usually tackle for about a km. it was at the turn though parkerville that nick received a puncture and the call went up. however, he was left to fend for himself which is why the rules of engagement have been set out above. by the time the message got to the front, there was confusion over who it was, what the problem was and how far back they were. this unfortunately meant that he was left with no mobile coverage, little tools and a banjo themed soundtrack.
the rest of us headed across to mundaring township and onto the weir road. i needed to stop to explain the next bit as we were not going to regroup until the coffee shop. there would be two lots of kom points on this next stretch of road and there would not be a regroup after the first. this meant that any chase group would have to go hard to catch up after the first main climb, and any leaders would have to go hard to stay away. much like racing really.
a group got together and bombed it down towards the weir. i was not initially worried as the main climbers were not in attendance, but stu managed to find his way into that group and they had made some ground. we chased hard and managed to catch him as the climb started. john had the dubious honour of leading the charge up the hill out of the weir and i was wondering how long that would last for. before we turned the corner at the carpark brendan had decided to up the pace and soon it was the two of us with stu and chris making up the front runners. as we hit the corner and the hill hit it’s steepest part, chris attacked and stu didn’t respond. i sprinted around and got on chris’ wheel but it didn’t last long and i had to watch him disappear up the road.
as the hill flattened out, i sat up and waited for stu as i thought that the two of us had a better chance of catching chris. we made some ground, but he always pulled away ont eh climbs and by the time we hit the last pinch, there was no way we were going to catch him. stu put in one last effort and i couldn’t respond so he ended up with the second place on the climb. i held on for third with a fast finishing brendan taking fourth and heiko rounding out the points.
chris – 10, stu – 7, peter – 5, brendan – 3, heiko – 1.
as this was not a regroup spot, i pushed on and headed down the hill. i was limiting my effort as i was worried about how much i had left in the tank. brendan scared the utter crap out of me as i flew past on the descent. no time to react and he was off down the road after stu. i made sure i kept an eye on the road behind me after that to make sure i didn’t give up any more ground.
the final hill was a lonely affair for me but we managed to pass dr paul, dr greg and darren who had found their own way along the course. there was no way that i was going to catch brendan and stu, so it was just a matter of continually looking back to make sure jens and jerry didn’t catch up. jens came close on the final pinch, but i made sure i had enough to stay in front.
chris – 10, stu – 7, brendan – 5, peter – 3, heiko – 1.
coffee at paris-brest
the beautiful day meant that the coffee shop was already busy but we managed to make enough people uncomfortable that they moved. we took over the bottom section of the outdoor area and made a pretty pattern with the tables and chairs. coffee points went to the following 1 – heiko, jill, dr ronny, lorraine, dr jerry, john, stu, dan, brendan, chris, jules, dr mark, dr carl, dr greg, dr paul, dr melvyn, mike, john, phil, steve, hugh, todd, peter, nick, darren, christophe, paul.
during the trip home we kept seeing this couple in a 4wd standing on the side of the road watching us go past. the first time was weird, the second time was freaky, and on the third time where they were waiting for us at the maccas south perth, jules explained that it was his and dan’s parents. not really sure why, but i guess it is like going to watch your kids at footy training. the sprint to the welshpool rd maccas was won by heiko who teamed up with john for a 1-2 punch where john gave a long lead out to make sure the german left everyone behind. the final sprint to south perth found christophe taking off early but brendan managed to overtake everyone and take the win.
so a glorious day weather-wise and a pretty good ride despite the issues with tyres and instructions. it does however allow us to reiterate the groups guidelines on flat tyres and why we should stop. remember, we have to look out for each other out there.
the redbull air race forced us to move up the road a bit this morning as they had commandeered our carpark. generally this is not a problem, but there are a few people that do drive to the start and i didn’t want to make it too difficult for people to get to the ride. also, the road blocks will be more extensive tomorrow and start at 6am so i had to make sure we could still get access for the hills ride. by the time i rolled up the majority of the group was lurking outside the south perth senior citizens centre. i know that this is not a young group, but i didn’t think we needed to sign up just yet.
as i was giving the morning spiel about the ride route, i was rudely interrupted by someone’s mobile phone. it was mine, with lorraine asking us to wait as she was stuck in the redbull restricted area and was getting an escort from two burly austrian security guards. i asked the group if we should wait and someone suggested that we could if she was bringing brownies. since she provided us with brownies and coke at the last cyclo-sportif, i was sure we could wait a couple of minutes.
great eastern hwy
the change in venue didn’t seem to affect numbers as we had around 40 roll out from angelo st. we picked up mike on douglas and doug on great eastern as we headed towards guilford. the wind was not that pleasant, but i have definitely survived worse heading along helena valley rd, and the group stayed together well. i was sitting well back once we hit ridgehill rd and was never in the hunt for king of the mountain points. i was taking it easy for a while but as the field thinned out i found that i had room to accelerate around the slower riders. i got to the top with paul, jules and dr mark but then waited for the back markers to make sure we had everyone when we jumped onto kalamunda rd. dr carl was in struggle town today after over a month of trekking in nepal with simon. different diet and different muscle groups while over there meant that it will be a long hard road back to full bike fitness. i said that it was probably the lower altitude air was creating too much resistance for him. good to see him straight back on the bike though.
we cruised though to guilford and created a bit of a mobile road block along parts of kalmunda rd which would have made traffic happy (but safer for us). once we hit the lights at lord st in bassendean, i announced that it was all on for rest of the way back to the city. christophe said that i should lead the way, but i said that i was hanging back to help the stragglers. he volunteered so i headed off, but luckily not at the front.
the pace picked up almost straight away with little breaks getting a few metres up the road before being brought back by a concerted effort or a lucky traffic light. i was just sitting in, but managed to move forward after we crossed under tonkin hwy. about half way up the first of the rolling hills, ben made a move and ryan took off after him with jerry. i managed to get around the rest of the group and eventually jumped on the back. we held it together for a while before we were pinned down by the traffic lights which allowed the rest of the group to rejoin. ryan and i just set tempo after that as it seemed that that was the end of our escapades. mike had a different idea and too off on the next rise. i didn’t react straight away as i wanted a few more wheels to follow as i was feeling like i needed so recovery time. after about 5 or so riders had come past i gave chase and jumped on the wheel. i managed to come around them and catch up with ryan and mike just as they had the lights change at the turn to east parade.
still on great eastern hwy
the majority of the group headed along the last stretch into the city and the last attack was on the hill near the police station. ryan was boxed in next to me and we waited till halfway up the hill before attacking together and gapping the group. the traffic lights soon paid heed to any break as did the road block as we approached riverside drive. the old guy manning the detour said that the cops went off a the last group of cyclists so i forced the group onto the bike path for the remainder of the ride. jules and his brother dan took the road and sprinted it out, but the rest of us took the more dangerous route along the path with all the tourists trying to walk and look at planes at the same time.
the coffee shop was full as expected but we managed to squeeze in and take up most of the outdoor tables. they actually had them set up ready for us, which was a complete contrast to last year where they told us off for moving them. service was slow as they were so busy, so i had to forego the hot choc that i had bought as i was on the clock today. another hour and a half of riding the mountain bike with ben on the front to watch the pre-redbull entertainment was to follow. it was all going fine until the f18 came past and was so loud it scared the crap out of him and he wanted to get back on the bike and go home. the rest of the arvo was spent cleaning the bike and adding a bit of bling to it. i managed to weigh it in as i missed out at the breakfast and i have finally got it below the 8kg mark to come in at 7.98kg. no cheating involved and it still had the computer mount, seat bag clip and two bidon cages on. dr paul said the the new wheels should be ready by next weekend, so hopefully i can shed a few hundred more grams. still a long way off competing with the cervelos in the group though.
with the redbull air race on this weekend our usual meeting point on both saturday and sunday wil be in the restricted access zone. this is not a concern to those that ride to the start, but the few that drive a distance to come and play with us, it will be a problem. for this week only we will be moving the start location to just up the road at the corner of coode and angelo street. there are a couple of car parks in the area that you can use and we will ride along angelo onto douglas and onto canning hwy to start the ride.
on saturday the coffee shop will also be in a restricted zone. as we come down off plain st we will probably be confronted with a road block. last year they were stopping cars, but pedestrians and bikes were still using the path along the foreshore. we will play it by ear and see if we can sneak though, but don’t hold your breath that there will be a sprint on riverside drive.
we may have to negotiate using the tables at bells like we did last year as they had them set up for lunch time and didn’t want us to move them. we will see.
daylight savings. it almost caught me out this morning. well actually last night. i was still up blogging and suddenly realised that 10:30 was actually 11:30 and i had to be up in just over 6 hours. i like my sleep and feel ripped off losing it just so some politician can go for a walk along the beach after work, in 40 degree heat, with 40km/h winds sand blasting your legs. nice. especially since the shops shut at 6.
anyway, i am assuming that the lack of clock winding vigilance was the reason that our numbers were down a bit today. a couple of text messages confirmed it a bit later that the clock was to blame. you will probably hear me bitch a bit more about daylight savings as the summer rolls towards autumn and it gets dark in the morning again.
so about 12 or so riders turned up to fresh conditions this morning and we headed out albany hwy. there were five categorised climbs mapped out this morning and it would have to be one of the most difficult routes that make up the sunday ride suite. we would start by peeling off brookton hwy to tackle the infamous f_ckenberg, before stomping up canns rd. a descent down soldiers rd before heading up peet and urch. a transition to the observatory climb and finish up mundaring weir rd with a coffee at paris-brest.
the fresh start was beginning to give way to a very nice day. little wind and seemingly not a cloud in the sky. less than half the group had actually ridden the f_ckenberg before and i was talking it up. “somewhere from steep to very steep”, “you won’t be able to start if you stop”, “hope you have a 27 tooth cog on there”, all those types of things. alistar was gunning for more mountain points as he was the only one close enough to challenge ryan for the october overall. the points reset next week so it was a bit of a battle for these two. alistar had definitely not ridden this climb and came past asking what it was like. i said that he will see when he rounds the corner. he headed up the road a bit and ryan tagged along to make sure he didn’t get too far ahead. i said to judd (i think) to listen to alistar reaction as we come around the corner. “holy f_ck” was what i am sure he said. judd had not ridden the climb either and was now dreading what he would see.
pete & stan. waiting on top of the world
alistar attacked the hill with gusto and managed to gap ryan from the start. i know that this climb will really wear you down and the only way to approach it is to get in your easiest gear, stand and find a rhythm you can maintain. on the bottom half, jens came around me when he surged a bit with stu. it didn’t last long and i came back past and put in a few hard pedal strokes to get ahead of both of them. there was no way that i was going to catch ryan and al, but i now wanted to keep ahead of the others to stay in the points. up ahead, ryan almost caught alistar near the top but conceded valuable points as alistar was first to the blackwood road intersection and the unofficial and invisible kom line. i had to put in a bit of an effort once the gradient slackened to stay ahead of stu with heiko/jens taking the fifth spot.
alistar – 10, ryan – 7, peter – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.
the regroup was a quick affair as the smaller group was quite well matched and it didn’t take long for everyone to reach the top. we were soon headed down to canns rd for the next climb. i had to give instructions to everyone on the fly as we hadn’t really stopped in one spot for the regroup and we had already started the next climb. this was a categorised climb and i had to tell everyone where the finish line was.
the first small rise in the hill (as it undulates as it climbs) was soon upon us and the group was relatively together. alistar asked if the top of the rise ahead was the end of the climb. we were only just really starting the climb and i think he was ready to sprint. i told them all that there was quite a way to go and everyone was just looking to see who would make a move. it was me.
i took off to see who would chase and only alistar and jens came with me. i looked back to see stu and ryan happily riding tempo up the hill not worrying about challenging for this one. i assumed that ryan had done the maths and realised that his initial 22 point buffer over alistar meant that he was fairly safe even if he came in mid points every climb. as the road rolled and pinched again we took turns at the front until we paced it up a bit too much for jens and he dropped off the back. the road starts to flatten out before the finish and i had to point it out to alistar to be fair about where we would be sprinting too. i made him lead out but at the end he pushed me too hard and i had to let him go to stop myself from actually spewing. it took me a few minutes of riding around to cool down before my spew-meter was not in the red. these mountain points are making for an interesting ride. jens held onto third with ryan and stu following close behind.
alistar – 10, peter – 7, heiko – 5, ryan – 3, stu – 1.
the always fun descent down soldiers rd was interrupted at the bottom when a couple of guys said that someone had a flat or someone had to stop to fix something. it turns out that judd’s “behind the back” triathlete drink bottle holders were coming loose and he didn’t want to drop a bottle in the path of another rider. a couple of minutes to fix and he met us at the bottom.
the next climb was the start of peet but then swung left onto urch for a change. the road was arguably as steep but had a slight reprieve in the middle before it hit you with the final ascent. john had jumped across the road before we got stopped by traffic so had a good head start on the climb. i took it as a tempo and was waiting to see who would try to go early on the lower steeper slopes. ryan and alistar took off but not at a blistering speed so i could easily hang onto the back of their train. stu was hanging off the back with me as we al pulled away from the rest of the group. john was caught and dispatched with little fanfare as the hill was now dictating what we were to use our breath for. by the time we reach the urch intersection, the rest of the group was a fair way behind.
true to form, both ryan and alistar didn’t actually listen to instructions (it is probably on their school report from about grade three) and were about to turn right to follow peet as we would normally do. ryan said that he didn’t hear me say that we were not going to stop at the school. i also didn’t not say a lot of things, but i did say that we were to turn left into urch. we rolled down the slight hill before hitting the next climb proper. again i was asked how far to the top and the answer was “a fair way off yet” as the climb kicks up twice and can be quite brutal. i got to the front and started setting the pace. once i thought that we were in a good rhythm i would put in five or six really hard pedal strokes before returning to the same pace. i was just testing the others to see who would come with me, or attack me. i managed about four small attacks like that before i finally dislodged stu and alistar. ryan and i kept going as we were very close to cresting the top of the climb and it flattens out for a bit before the intersection finish. we swapped off turns to keep away from al who had dropped stu in his pursuit of us. as we approached the finish, ryan sprinted off to make sure he maximised points and i was left with second. the points for fifth came down to stan and jens fighting it out along the flat with jens coming out on top.
ryan – 10, peter – 7, alistar – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.
refuel after the climb up urch
we headed towards the end of the kahuna climb and across to canning rd. i got to have a chat with a new guy out with us today. his name is hugh and he is a rowing cox out to do some cross-training. he did pretty well in the hills too so it was good to see him come along. he wasn’t the only hills “virgin” but the others were familiar faces from the saturday ride. the couple of bonus climbs as we headed towards the pickering brook intersection are not categorised in out competition as they generally do not split the field up enough. it now seems that without the points, no one is going to try to smash the rest of the field and so no-one took off where they usually do. i thought that i would make use of the nice smooth road and put it in my third biggest gear and just ground out the climb. in order to keep a cadence of above 40, i had to get the bike moving at a decent pace and was soon at the front of the field and led them over the next two hills and onto pickering brook.
we did a quick head count and with no-one opting for an early out (i didn’t offer it either) we all headed towards the base of the observatory. ryan and i talked tactics on the way down past the pickering brook school and decided to not attack and see if we could get to the top as a group sprint. the climb started and we set a very even pace. the group stayed together and there were even a few nervous joke thrown around as the rest of the group didn’t know whether we were going to go hard or not. alistar finally made his move and ryan, stu and myself had to go with him. jens hang in there for a while but soon was off the back.
as alistar had initiated the move with an attack, we were content to let him set the pace for as long as possible. he indicated the top of the main climb and asked if that was the top. not suite as there is a plateau before a final kick to the finish. we crested the top and he pulled over a bit to let someone else work. we slowly moved past, bu no-one was in a hurry to do a turn. i jumped on the indecision and attacked even though it was way too early. ryan and stu managed to come along and then past but alistar was spent from his initial attack. we stayed in that order to the top, with jens taking fifth again.
ryan – 10, stu – 7, peter – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.
one more climb to tackle before a well deserved coffee stop. the descent down the steeper side of the observatory is always fun and the rolling hills through bickley are a nice warm up before the main climb. i had to make sure that i did not lose too much time on the rolling hills as when mundaring weir rd starts there is not much time to catch back up. we hit the climb together the usual foursome plus judd and jens and started to set the pace. i slotted my way (pushed in front of judd) into fourth wheel behind ryan with stu setting tempo for the majority of the way. jens and judd fell my the wayside of the constant stu pace setting and pretty soon we were at the plateau of the climb. i noticed that ryan had left it in his big ring for the climbs so far so we obviously were not putting him in any distress. alistar wanted to step it up a bit so went to the front and too over the pace. i thought that this was not the best idea, as ryan will jump all over him when it comes to the final climb. in race situation i have adapted a technique where by i will be at the front but not actually put in much effort if nobody is willing to come around me.
alistar was going quite hard and by the time we reached the final pinch stu and ryam started to come around him. i tried to stay on ryan’s wheel but he was going for the win and i didn’t have the legs to go with him. the kom line came up fast and i held off stu to take second, although, both ryan and stu claimed that they didn’t even see the kom line which they must have ridden over at least 100 time in the last couple of years.
ryan – 10, peter – 7, stu – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.
coffee was ordered and croissants devoured with pretty much everyone staying for coffee. 1 socialisation mountain point for all that attended.
final points for the day.
ryan – 41, alistar/peter – 32, stu – 20, heiko – 10, stan/john/hugh/daryl/paul/kim/judd – 1.
the ride home was fast and furious for the first part. an unofficial sprint point to the tonkin hwy intersection meant that whatever buffer you could gain by descending like a demon was what everyone else had to try to make up once the road flattened out. even before we had left lesmurdie rd, the pace was on and people were trying to all get ahead before that small rise that breaks up the descent. the field was spread by the time we hit welshpool rd proper and i was with judd and alistar. judd jumped to the front and cut a nice hole in the air for me to follow. alistar was on my wheel until he must have thought that it was too slow and pulled out. it feels “slow” when you are in the draft and you have to touch the brakes a bit to wash some speed off, but once out in the clean air, that extra wind resistance pushes you back. he didn’t make any more ground so slotted back in behind me. we worked together with a couple of others that had joined us as the road flattened out but we didn’t make up the ground on the front runners and ryan, stan and john made it to the end first.
the next sprint point to the maccas at the end of welshpool road was uneventful for me. ryan shot up the road early and a string of other riders took off in hot pursuit. i was content to watch from afar. the final run to the berwick st maccas was a bit more eventful. ryan had a very small gap left after john peeled off his wheel to go home. he managed to get through the lights at kent st while the rest of us had to wait. when the lights changed, alistar took off up the road after ryan who had already disappeared. i was left on the front and stan asked if i was chasing. i said that i was hoping that the lights at george st would slow him down. they didn’t but we all got stuck when they turned red. as we took off on green, we looked up the road to see alistar waiting up ahead. he started going before we got to him but jens used the momentum off the hill and a bit of a draft from a passing car to get ahead of al to claim second.
so the final wash-up of the mountain points will be on the web soon, but it was clear that ryan ran away with the inaugural title. the points reset each month and next sunday will see the start of the november competition. all up i would say that it was one of the best hills rides i have done in ages. the points competition has really invigorated the climbs with attacks and tactics starting to come to the fore. if anyone has any ideas on how we can involve the rest of the group during the ride, i would love to hear it.
after a week of plus 30 degree days, it was a bit of a shock to have a rainy start to a saturday ride. the short shower at about 6:30 kept most away and numbers were down to about 25 or so. i think the majority turned up so that they could collect their new drink bottles. a complete turn around this morning as i was first on the scene so had to do a couple of laps to keep warm as a light misty rain fell around us. perfect rowing conditions as there was not a breath of wind and a few boats were out early. not really the strong south-westerly winds that were predicted.
a tour of the posh suburbs was on the cards today and we would loop around the back of kings park before cutting through subiaco and up rebold hill past city beach. a loop down through cottesloe before home via dalkeith. a convoluted route, but one that kept it close to home and allowed a few short-cuts for people if they needed it.
we rolled out as the rain eased and looped over the causeway and past the coffee shop. a pleasant pace up around kings park mean that we all headed through subiaco together. as expected, we were split occasionally at the lights but nothing a bit of soft pedaling didn’t account for. there is one nice hill on underwood drive before we turn towards rebold hill and everone was very well behaved and the group pretty much stayed together. after we turned onto oceanic drive, the pace started to pick up a bit. jens was on the front but ryan was not far behind biding his time. this was to be our first pace section and the boys were wanting to stretch the legs. ryan eventually made a move and hamish jumped on his wheel. it wasn’t a very long section of road, but the two or three rolling hills made it interesting and soon the group was spread along the road.
i tried to go with the move by found my legs were not playing the game yet and dropped back a bit. james came up and we did a few turns together, but never pulled back the ground we had lost. by the time we hit west coast hwy, they had about 50 – 75m on us.
we rounded the corner and slowed the pace right down to allow the group to re-form. i dropped back to see who we had and there were a few faces not present from this morning. as the group ambled along the road, i looked back to see the remnants of a couple of chasing groups. i let the pack go and dropped back to see if i could draft them back on.
about now the still calm day had begun to change and the south-westerly was blowing in our faces. i jumped in front of bill and lisa and began to try to catch the pack. there were a few more of the group further back, but this was about as far as i thought i could go and actually get back on again. we came up the rolling hills but never really made up much distance. i wasn’t sure whether the front group had upped the pace or not, but by the time we crested the hill and rolled towards the swanbourne shops, the main group was already heading out of sight along side the railway. it also looked as though the group had split, usually a good indication the pace had been on a bit coming up the hill.
we soldiered on but soon came to a halt as there was a pilot vehicle stopping traffic… again. same as last week we had picked a route the was being used to transport some massive piece of machinery. today it was a very large and very heavy generator. there were two semi’s on the front and one behind pushing. this made for a very slow trip. emma had joined us by now, and we set off towards the southern end of cottesloe. i was now worried that our delay meant that we would never catch the group so we detoured down eric st and headed straight for cott. what we didn’t know was that while we were delayed with the heavy haulage, the main group had also been delayed at eric street.
we turned north when we hit marine parade but took it easy, thinking that the group would engulf us at any time. the tailwind was now picking up and it was actually hard to go slow as you were pushed along the exposed coast. we headed the usual way home, occasionally looking back expecting the spr train to be barreling along the road. no train. no barreling.
when we crossed stirling hwy, i let the others go on ahead and decided to wait for the others so i could at least have a crack at the sprint. i waited. and waited. finally a green clad cyclist came across the intersection and stopped. it was russell but he said that he had taken a short cut and was ahead of the group. bit of a relief as i thought we may have missed the group altogether and i would be sitting there looking like a goose. russell kept on going, but soon another small gaggle of spr cyclists came around the corner. it turns out that jules had gotten a puncture and others had waited to help. we kicked back for a few more minutes before the rest of the group arrived. as the tyre had sidewall damage, they got him onto a train to get back to the city. we were off again.
as usual the pace picked up through dalkeith. we left the usual sacrificial lambs out the front for as long as possible and then turned up the pace just before the rolling hills. i was content to sit back and found myself on ryan’s big fat back wheel. my plan of attack on the thursday training ride had been to sit on his wheel and it worked quite well then, so why change. as the rolling hills started, ryan took off on the first step in the hills and i managed to go with him. as we crossed the plateau and up the next step, the group fell even further behind. ryan kept pushing over the crest but my lungs said no thanks and i eased up. jens had made a break off the front and was closing the gap fast but i managed to stay in front of him to the line. and there actually is a line on this one down past the war memorial just before you slow to turn right. this is why ryan keeps the pace up after actual the hill.
the pace slows and the roundabout and intersections make sure the group is pretty much back together onto mounts bay road. with a cross tailwind pushing us along, the pace quickened and we were strung out single file from the start. nick pushed the pace for quite a while and i again managed to be sat on ryan’s back wheel. it was now just a matter of biding my time and getting the kick right to get past.
the bottles are finally here
as we approached the brewery, the front of the group disintegrated into a number of attacks that were instantly swamped by the next. some other riders had also moved up from the back, but ryan was content to sit in till the last moment. i watched his gears and hand positions to try to pre-empt when he would jump and made sure i was in the appropriate gear to go with him. when he finally went we were already into the corners past the brewery car park. it would only be about 150 metres to the line from here so i had to get a good kick. i moved up one more gear and all i got was that tick, tick, tick of being in between gears. no time to dick around and i shifted back sown and would have to just spin more to get past. the front had moved off my now and judd had a small break over hamish but ryan and i were coming up fast. i tried to come around ryan, but the pace was too high (speedo said 66kph) so i just couldn’t make it. we got past hamish, but judd managed to hold us both off on the line, proving that ryan’s tactics of always sitting in does not always work.
the coffee shop was already full of some of the short cut crew and kate and ben had brought a couple of boxes of drink bottles along. we distributed them out to the group, but as the rain had diminished our numbers, i have still got a couple of boxes remaining to be collected. we will see how many we can off load during the week, but may have to bring them to the coffee shop again. it will also pay for people to put their names on their bottles, as they all look the same now. remember (if you read this tonight) daylight saving starts tonight, so it will give me something else to bitch about in my blogs.
some of you may have wondered what has happened to south african mark lately. he used to be a regular on our rides and he used to be the one that everyone had to chase up the hills on sunday. well it seems that recently he has taken to fishing as the sport of choice. not only that, but a handline from an oil rig off the vietnam coast seems the perfect place to catch lunch. work being that thing that gets in the way of cycling recently, he hopes to be back out with us soon. minus the fish but hopefully the orange jumpsuit remains.
you may have noticed that i have added a multimedia page to the blog. this contains all the photo’s that i took the other day when i was chasing the group around. i had to reduce them down a bit to make it more manageable, so if you need supersized pics, let me know.
there has been some discussion with cycling wa recently about the possibility of our group becoming a proper cycling club. what this would mean for us i am not 100% sure right now and i need to have a further talk to wacf. it could, however, mean that our rides would be classed a club training rides and may be covered by licence insurance in case of an accident. there are other benefits as well, but it would also mean a club fee, licence fee and a proper organisational structure (pres, sec, treas, etc). i am not sure which way we will go with this yet but i would appreciate your comments and opinions, as after all it is your group too.
over 500 riders entered for the last event of the season.this is an increase of 100 over last years event.it is a surprise really since this one is so close to home, i thought that a lot more would be coming out to play.there were more riders at the swan valley event, so i am guessing that this one suffers because the course is described as hilly.
the wind… what happened to the hot day, it was pretty cool when we started but didn’t take long to warm up.it wasn’t like we needed armwarmers and vest.and really i am just complaining because i didn’t take a jumper with me to the start.
three laps of a 25km circuit on roads that we often use for the sunday hills ride.especially the stretch between karagullen servo and pickering brook.any ride we do down towards armadale or the kahuna, will always follow that road to get to the coffee shop.i would not be able to count the number of times we have ridden along it.the little circuit around repatriation road had been added to our rides a couple of times recently mainly because we had this event coming up.
first corner, not tired just yet.
team of 8 – ryan, brendan, mike, michael, stu, jerry, bruce, peter.there is a maximum team size of 9 and a minimum of 5.it is rare for us to field a full team and even harder to get a good set of evenly matched riders.
teams off at 30 sec intervals meant that there would always be groups in front of us to chase down.it also meant that there would always be groups that we would have to pass which can be tricky.
michael gets a flat before we leave the car-park (for a change).he has a habit of flatting during these events, so hopefully this meant that we got that out of the way early.
lorraine also turned up to support the spr boys with evil brownies.i had one and it was probably the reason why i didn’t run out of energy during the race.
we started before the spr2 team (so we had no-one important to chase).the start order of the teams is usually reverse ability with the faster teams starting later.as we had not really raced these events before, the organisers did not know where to start us and put the second team starting 6 minutes behind us.
from about the halfway mark of the first lap, bruce was really struggling.he was finding it hard to keep the pace and couldn’t catch his breath.there was a burnt out area on the course and we suspect that he developed a bout of asthma from breathing in the smoke and other crap in the area.we changed tact and had six of us rolling through in two lines while bruce sat a the back with ryan pushing him to keep the pace up.at the end of the first lap, he peeled off and went to the medical tent with lorraine.
we kept the pace up for lap two and made good time passing other teams.it was getting more congested now as the 2 lap and 1 lap teams were on the course.this meant that some of the groups we were passing were alos getting passed by other groups.made things tight with riders coming the other way and general traffic on the road as well.on a couple of occasions we had to pass some cars that were unable to get around a group of slow riders.
start of lap 3, brendan realises his rear tyre is going soft.we are passing by the pickering brook school and he starts bouncing it to check the pressure.from behind, it is clear that it is going soft… fast.we go as far as we can, but he pulls over and i was expecting that he would change it.instead, ryan pulls out a gas bottle and they just pump it to get it hard again.we are off with minimum delay.
get to the turn around at karagullen and head back up the hill with brendan’s tyre slowly going down.we pull over again and ryan adds more gas.i was unsure whether they had enough so i grab my saddle bag, but the whole mount and everything comes off the bike. i then had to shove it all back in my pocket, wasting time as the rest of the group heads off.ryan waits for me and drafts me back to the pack.
end of first lap, getting tired now.
we head up the last climb before the finish and onto the nice smooth hotmix.brendan says that he can feel the valve every time the wheel rotates so it is pretty flat.ryan and he stop to gas again, while the rest of us just slow time it up the hill.some of the groups we have past are now passing us.once ryan and brendan catch back up, we all go hard to get to the finish.team u and i get caught up amongst us and we all finish in one big group.
finish in around 1:57 according to brendan’s speedo but we will wait for the official confirmation.each team captain was wearing a transponder which they will work the times out with.
as we regroup after at my car, lorraine pulls out the esky and provides everyone with a nice cold coke and brownies.we will be working on getting a spr sun shade to congregate around for next years races.
rob wins the leadership jersey for his work in keeping the spr2 team together and setting ground rules as to what constitutes a push and what is just touching another man’s bum.
all up a good hit out especially for spr2 as they had not raced this format before.
don’t actually know if this is an easier way to write the blog.seems to take just as long.
