All posts by FlyingFynn

Sat 17th Jan 2010 Report from the pointy end – Ryan

6 Comments

Well, after a bout of the squirts on Wednesday and Thursday, I was not sure how much fuel I had managed to put back into the body on Friday.  The refuelling started with fluids in the morning and ended with pizza in the evening, I was hoping I would be good to go.

I decided to stop being lazy (new years resolution) and ride to the start.  As usual I ended up leaving a few mins later than I had wanted to but I was on the road with 30 mins to go which meant an ave speed with lights and all had to be a smidge over 30km/hr.  I was not happy with the head wind which seemed ever present but I arrived at the carpark almost dead on 7am, good work.

Julian gave his spiel and we were off.  I did my usual job of hanging at the back of the pack to help get group get back together when it was split by lights etc.  Once the group split, into main and fast, the fast group turned up Murdoch drive.  The pace went up rapidly at the front, which I was quite happy with and I waited for a roll through to start.  The roll through was going well, then on one of my roll throughs, Jarard came through after me and in typical Jarard style, he put the hammer down a little, head down and bum up.  I was fine with this and went to roll through him as we approached the lights at South Street in the hope we would get through as we had a gap over the rest of the group.  It would have made for a long ride with just the two of us but it would have been good.

Luckily for the others, we were stopped at the lights 😉  Once on our way again along South Street, the pace went up and a few of us were working pace up front.  I enjoy the undulations as they manage to work the hangers ons harder and increases the chance of a break getting away.  All along South Street, Jarard, Michael Bonner, Chris, Tugga and myself were attacking the little rises but the lights were doing a good job of ensuring any little gaps we got were closed down.

I was unsure of the route and rolled through Hampton street, Jarard and a couple others came with me but a quick U-turn and we joined up on the back of the group which made a nice change.  Things eased up a fair bit so I moved to the front again before we were on Port Beach road.  Once on Port beach road, the pace went up nicely and more people were joining in on the roll through.  Brother Dan made an appearance up front and then Julian (not Brother Jules but Hills Jules) was coming to roll through but decided that two bikes back from the front he was not wanting to put in any more effort and he put the call out for Brother Dan to ease up so he could give him a hand..  Hmmm, it was the first time I had heard the call to ‘ease up’ in the fast group on a Saturday ride.  I swiftly added my thoughts on the matter and said there was no ‘easing up’ in the fast group but Dan had already obliged and slowed things a little to allow Julian to finish his roll through.

I decided this was a good time to up the pace a little more and swiftly rolled through to get the pace back up as we turned left onto Marine Parade.  Jarard made an appearance once we were on Marine Parade (he had been quiet since we slipped onto the back of the pack) and Chris, Jarad, Michael B and I managed to get a gap along here.  Unfortunately we were rolling the wrong way into the wind but I decided it would be too hard to switch things around and I alerted the others we were down to 4 and to keep the pace up. Unfortunately we were stopped at the lights onto West Coast Hwy and I looked back to see Jerrard leading a little pack back to us.  Good to see Jerrard’s Thai massage injury was not affecting him too much when the pace was on.

Things were civil again until we were rolling through Dalkeith and the man in blue and white, sorry don’t remember his name but I believe he is a friend of Jason’s ?  He too was on a Bianchi, came shooting past us who had been rolling.  A little cheeky I thought as we had not seen him the whole ride and now he was going for Dalkieth points..  Hmm, so I said to Jarrard, lets hit it when we go past him (as I was sure he had spent a few of his matches in his little sprint).  Unfortunately it seemed a few others had also spent their matches through Dalkeith as I was heading down The Avenue by myself, I decided to ease up and let the others catch up quickly.

Jarard was up front when we turned onto Hacket drive, with me second wheel.  He rolled through so I thought road was clear, unfortunately there was a dark blue commodore coming the other way but fortunately it was going slow and proceeded to stop.  Apologies and thanks to the lady who was driving.

The next thing on the agenda was the sprint, hmm, ‘time to have troubles clicking into my pedals’ I was thinking as we took off at the lights onto Mounts Bay road.  I would have to watch blue and white bianchi man as he may have a good sprint.  I took off really slow from the lights but it appeared most people were happy to go really slow and sit behind me, thankfully Jarrard went off up the road and a few people followed him which seemed to release the bottle neck of people behind me.  I rolled onto Bianchi man’s wheel which was about 5 wheels back from the front.  I considered chasing down Chris and Jarard who were now up the road but felt better of it as Michael Bonner had moved to the front, Mike B would real them in slowly.

Jarard eased up up ahead as he had started to cramp which left Chris up the road solo running like a scared rabbit…  We were approaching the bend coming towards the brewery so I eased back a little from the wheel in front of me, changed gears, pulled out and put the hammer down to chase Chris who was 20 or so metres in front of me (sorry Chris for stealing your thunder, good work on the break away ;-).  I felt pretty good, even into the headwind.  The ride had been sufficiently hard to kill most peoples’ legs which would mean not many chasers in my wake.  Thankfully, I managed to hold off the chasers (by about 20m 😉 and I could shake my fist in the air as I passed the 60km sign (hopefully there were some spectators behind me to witness the shaking)  Jerard came in his customary spot (2nd, the Poulidor spot) and was very happy with the way his massage torn body had held up…

All in all a good hit out and it seemed the gastro had not taken much out of me (well not enough that I could not put back in on Friday)..  Now the question remained would I be man enough to race the crit on Sunday in A grade??  Hmm… Not as much fun as the race to the coffee shop me thinks..

Pinjarra Sportif ‘SPR A-Team’

12 Comments

Nearly a week on and I am slowly coming to terms with the team not getting the fastest time in the Pinjarra sportif, we slipped from 1st in Byford to 2nd in Pinjarra (I feel more comfortable coming 2nd anyway).
The team was almost completely different, with only Brendan and I being common denominators. The refurbished ‘A – Team’ was as follows:
Brendan – Fresh from Grafton, copious amounts of training and a light frame (on his bike too), will be able to hit the hills in Pinjarra at pace. Just need to keep him in check so others survive.
David – I am happy to finally get him on board (I have been trying for years now) as he is always a machine. Got the fastest time in the Menzies classic in 2008 and has gotten the fastest bike time at Anaconda (beating Mr Tim Bennet in the process, although Dave insists it was because Tim was tired from the race he had competed in over the week). I was hoping we would be able to hold his wheel without having to slow him too much.
Joe – I did not know who Joe was, but after reading the write up of the B-Team TTT, it was plain to see that Joe had been a force to be reckoned with as he had tired Jarrad out (and Jarrad has been riding strong). I was confident he would go well and be able to hold the pace for required distance.
Judd – He has recently been hit with the ‘swine’ flu but is throwing himself back into the training. He managed to crest Ridgehill in touch with the front pack and then helped out the most on the trip back into town. I know he is an asset on the flat and was confident he could get over the hills comfortably if we did not hit them too hard.
Julian – Mr Hills man on his new bike. I had no concerns for him in the hills, the problem was going to be, could we keep him under control when he had his turn up front? If we could not, he may go the way he went in the TTT, bury himself early on and blow too soon (apparently not a good thing).
Michael W – Mr Wlasenko is always a solid performer and has not cracked in any events I have been in with him. He also managed to hang on with the fast group over ridgehill and back into town so had faith he could go the distance, despite not seeing him on the bike often (another rider like myself perhaps?
Ryan – Getting back up to speed after time off running. I have had a few weeks of two solid rides a week (either a Thursday and a Saturday, or a Saturday with an event on Sunday). I am starting to feel strong again and I was confident I could hold the pace and last the distance.
Steve – Mr Hedley, coming back after back surgery. He is an ox and looked good coming over Ridgehill road on Saturday (he beat me over, then popped, but he got the mountain points which is what counted). He has been attending Sunday rides and picking up the points (I have seen on the blog, not in person) so no concerns over him handling the hills or the distance.
With 8 on the team we were ready to rock and roll. Arriving in Pinjarra, we found out Steve was cycling to the event (fecing crazy man) and Dave was cycling home (what is wrong with these people?). Let’s hope they had the legs for the event. A bit of a chin wag, a few loo stops and we were lining up to be set off. I had a word to everyone letting them know we would be rolling at a steady pace on the way out to the hill and then we would see what happens. Also pointed out we needed to be strong for the return trip and if people were feeling strong at the end, they would drive the train.
And we were off, Gary Suckling had nothing to hang sh*t on me today, so we were off with no further ado.
Fec, I was thinking, where did this wind come from?? Looks like we were in for more fun in the wind in Pinjarra, at least this time there were 8 of us and no tri bars to contend with.. The B team had set off 1 min infront so we had a carrot to chase. Pete said the hill was 7kms in and that they would stay away till then, we would see..

Rolling out easy
Rolling out easy

We started picking up teams pretty much straight away but none of them were the B team, they were going well and picking up these teams as well.. Noice, we should get 2 high placed finishes. A look down at the speedo, 7kms, no hill and no B team?? Hmm, we were rolling well and at a decent pace so on we soldiered confident we would reel them in eventually.. 2.5kms later we caught them and passed them, and then we were on the first ascent..
This was going to be interesting to see who would be the first to crack. We did not hit it hard but rather at a steady pace, then Julian got excited and did a little attack. We had to reel him in, easy does it, we are going up as a team, no mountain points available, even though it is a Sunday. The hill kept on going and we were picking teams off.
Then Michael popped and we had to slow a little so I could give him a gentle hand up the hill. We kept the pace reasonable and even with us pushing, we were overtaking teams. Michael was very apologetic, saying he was not usually this bad (a young woman can be ‘draining’ or so I have heard ;-). Hill evened out and I headed to front to ensure pace picked up quickly (easy to lose time taking time to get up to speed, no rest for the wicked and all that).
On next undulation, Julian dropped his chain and the call went out to ease up, Michael kept going, Dave turned back to help Julian and I stayed back to wait. Once he was on and getting up to speed again, I told them to hurry up (as I could see a team approaching) and we were soon together with Michael and working as a team. The approaching team yelled out very loudly when approaching and Nico was a little upset with the volume and tone used but I guess we were in their way and they wanted to be heard.. The team was Broad Warriors, slightly weathered warriors by the look, stearn faced they marched by. Perhaps we would get them later I thought to myself as I slipped back down the line to see how Michael was faring on the hill.
We continued to work well, getting pace up on descents (never seemed to be any flats??) and being safe whilst passing other teams and other cars who were not passing slower teams, till we got to the half way mark. We turned to come back home and on the next hill, the call when out from Judd to ease up.. Turns out the hills were taking their toll on him. I offered him a slight push but he declined so I went back to push Michael back up the pack. Judd kept on pushing on, gritting his teeth and managing to grab the wheel in front of him.
And so the story went on; very fast downhills, safe over taking, pushing Michael, Judd not accepting pushes ;-). Eventually on one of the rises, I gave Judd a little push and said it would give him a breather and make him feel stronger when the roads flattened, he said nothing but I think deep down he was grateful.
On the final descent, we were flying down when there was a 4wd stuck behind a slower group, we were going 60kms+ and they must have been on 30kms, what to do?? We eased up but then committed to passing single file around the 4wd and slower pack. Onto the right hand side of the road we went only to see another 4wd coming the other way. Shout went out there was a car coming and we hugged the white line. We were passed with room to spare before the 4wd arrived. Still a little scary.
Well, now we were on the final flat, 10kms or so with a tailwind… Time to crank it up (well as much as legs would allow and mine were starting to feel heavy) and we started rolling through quickly. Dave was looking really strong, as was Joe, Brendan had found his legs, Steve was trucking along, Julian had a huge smile on his face, he was loving riding at 50km+ on the flats, Michael and Judd were not looking so happy but were hanging in there.

Everyone looking like they were having a great easy ride.. :-)
Everyone looking like they were having a great easy ride.. 🙂

We then came across a CRT team who latched on behind for a little while, till it was my turn to roll through and they guy said ‘all yours’, did not see that team again. We also passed the Freo peleton which was the group which chased us for awhile in Byford but they did not chase today (sweet). Next team in our path was CRT team OO, well these chaps who started a fair time infront of us thought it was fine to jump onto our tail for over 5kms. I was not fussed as long as they stayed out the way. I rolled up our train and told people to sit in if they were not feeling strong as I wanted to pick things up till the finish.
The CRT OO team did not want to stay out the way and attempted to roll through, we blocked them a fair few times as we were riding as our team, they could go roll through alone behind us if they wanted to feel like they were contributing. A call went out from one of them that ‘They do not want any help’, for fecs sake a 17 man train is not the way forward. None the less one of their chaps managed to break into our line and rolled past me and out the front of the train. Fair enough I thought and I let him sit there for awhile, till he looked a little fatigued and started to fade, we then rolled through past him. We did not see team OO again.
The 1km sign came up and I was aware the timer was on my leg so I had to stay up front to ensure team got as good a time as possible. 500m, came up and we pushed harder for the line, no stand up and sprint but managed to roll through past David and Joe who still seemed rearing to go.
Another great team ride, we may have missed out on the top spot but we were 4 minutes up on the next team (who was the CRT OO team, so we helped them with their 2 minute gain over the Freo Peleton, who knows without our aid, Freo Peleton may have caught them up??). A shame the B team had so many hold ups as they would have definitely been well in the top 10 (finished 13th out of 56 with two punctures and a hold up by a train, impressive).
I look forward to next season as it appears the SPR talent pool is getting deeper and we will be making our marks in many events, not just sportifs. We will have A, B and C grade representation, we have strong females in the fold and we also have very strong Masters. Exciting times.

Pinjarra Sportif

8 Comments

Following on from Blog below..  The Pinjarra sportif is on this weekend on Sunday.  It is the last sportif of the season and can be described as slightly undulating (small hill during the ride with alot of flat bits) averages out as undulating?

Anyway, we have 12 people who have raised their hand thus far.  Abilities range from good to very good so no casual group participators as yet.  We are currently looking at 2 A distance teams (75kms).

I have chased a few people down and received numerous excuses from ‘don’t want my ring to be hanging out so taking it easy with my missus’ to ‘my house is almost settling so I have to stay at home and mentally prepare for it’.

If we have anymore willing participants, the cut off time is Wednesday night 12am.  Let me know who you are and we will pull some SPR teams together…

Remember, this weekend the weather is forecast to be good and your team needs

SPR Needs
SPR Needs

Add a comment if you are interested in participating or my email is rfynn@bannermanresources.com.au if you have any queries before you commit.

Byford Cyclo Sportif (better late than never)

6 Comments

Cyclo Sportif Byford SPR Group A

 
I tore my calf on the Thursday leading up to the Sportif which meant no running for awhile (not so good for city to surf), thankfully my physio said I was allowed to ride my bike but no hills and no sprinting allowed (I was allowed to ride on Saturday, I just had to control myself and stay out of the sprint). Leg held up ok on Saturday so I did not pull out of the Sportif (afterall, the hills in Byford are not proper hills ).
Sunday rolled up, listened to pre race brief where Gary Suckling indicated there were some proper hills on the course (nothing for us hardened hills men I thought (thinking of Mike B mostly) and hoped there were no strugglers as I did not want to push with dodgy calf).
The A team included:
Michael Bonner: Riding very strong as always, never a doubt to whether he will carry his weight (even though there is minimal to carry) more a case of will he get a work out riding with us.

Brendan Nichol: also riding very strongly possibly stronger than normal due to Grafton training (approx 900kms a week, noice). Although hope all the kms in the legs had not turned them to Jelo) But no concerns over him not being able to keep up.

Ben Stewart: Never a doubt as to his mountain abilities or staying power, glad we managed to get him to come out with us. He has been a little absent of late in the hills rides (much like myself, possibly a fair weather rider too) but always stealing the points when he does ride and always up the front making my life hard.

Jerard Ghossein: Dr Ghossein as always is riding very strong, Poulidor is know more for his sprinting prowess than his climbing but he has been regularly attending the Sunday hills rides and gaining points in the climbs. Never a doubt about his staying power due to his penchant for Psytomax (excuse spelling)…

James Fox: First time entrant to Sportif, has been riding well on Thursday mornings and on Saturday morning where his is always pushing the pace with the break away crew. His recent purchase of a race illegal Parlee coupled with his light body indicates he should handle the hills ok (even though his presence on Sunday rides is almost non existent).

Mark DeCastro: The smartest man in the bunch, tenacious and always there. Has ridden in prior sportifs and is always rearing to go faster all the way to the end. He has been riding regularly on Sundays and stealing points now and then too.

John Doyle: The quiet achiever, recently back from a cycling tour where he conquered some huge climbs in Italy and France. He should have his hill climbing legs and there were little concerns over him fading over the distance.

Gregor Urquhart: A slightly unknown entity for me as I have not been attending the Sunday rides but I had ridden with him before and he appeared to be another tenacious fella (mountain bike men usually are) who was attending the Sunday rides, so the 9th birth was given to him (even though he was slightly reserved about taking it).

Ryan Fynn: (myself) a little of an unknown entity at the time due to lack of riding and torn calf but I felt running had possibly helped my endurance which would enable me to hang on worst case scenario.

So all in all, a good group of guys who could tackle the hills.  The time came and we were all off to face the 86kms of gentle undulations. We took off at a reasonable pace and were soon rolling through nicely into what seemed a forever present headwind. We were soon overtaking other teams, some whom were still riding but a fair few who were stopped on the side of the road repairing punctures. Michael Bonner said jokingly that we had a chance of winning provided we did not get a puncture (if past events were anything to go by, we were almost certain to get at least one puncture).
A decent pace was set but when swinging left onto the main highway the pace seemed to drop alot, I am not sure why, we now had a tail wind? Mike B said everyone was catching their breath, then told me he was going to put a little effort into the hill and would wait at the top or turn around and come back to us in order to get a more solid hitout. I tried to hurry everyone along as any cruising time was time lost.
Once on the hill, we rode a steady pace as a group and started picking off other groups. Soon, Mark DeCastro was struggling a little so I helped push him to the front of the group to keep the pace up. Gregor was also struggling but was managing to hang on to the back of the group so did not get a helping hand up the initial hill I do not think. I dropped my glove as the road flattened so had to turn back to grab it, Michael B stayed back for me and we jumped back onto the group easily.
Along the undulations, I tried to keep the pace up again as I felt we could all hang on but some breaks formed so the pace had to be kept in check (James was wanting to head off the front ). Mark DeCastro was loving the downhills and set the pace when going downhill. I tried to tell him to take it easy to ensure he left some gas for the uphill sections.
We kept our roll through happening and everyone was taking their turns to the Dam. Coming down into the dam there is a pretty sharp turn which we had been warned about in the pre race brief, Jerard was the only one to indicate he felt it was a little hair raising as he took some speed into the corner. We had a little regroup to catch breath, drink and gu up whilst going across the bridge as we were sure there would be some more uphill after all the down hilling we had been doing.

Sure enough once over the bridge, the road faced north again. Here I was doing some more pushing (turns out I would rather push to keep the average pace up than let the average pace slip down), Mark DeCastro was struggling with the pace a little and I gave Gregor a push to the front as well. But we worked well as a team and soon the hill was behind us and we were up to speed along the undulations.

Then there was some really rough roads and I looked back and one of the teams we had just passed was just behind us (a triathlon team). I did not want them to draft off us so tried to up the pace a little more. This is when James popped and I had to drop back a little to get him and push him onto the back of the group. I did not shout out for the pace to ease up as wanted to keep away from Triathlon team who were just behind us. This had to be the hardest part for me as pushing at full pace into a head wind was tough.. Grrr But soon enough we were on the back of the group and James could look after himself… Phew..

Then the road went narrow and there was a car behind us and a car coming in the distance. This meant we slowed a little and once again the triathlon team came closer (they were always in the back of my mind, I did not want to help them along.. grrr), someone said to let them go through, noway, they were drafting us and would slow us down if we let them through. Soon we were at the turn around point and I said to the Triathlon team that I thought Triathletes did not Draft??

We were on the home stretch now with a tail wind and I tried to get the pace up as soon as we turned. Once again, any down time was lost time, have a drink when we are at full pace, not when we are going slow (I also wanted to get rid of triathlon team).. Soon enough we were rolling through and pace was on. Brendan, Mike B and Ben were still very strong and we soon pulled away from the Triathlon team. Then came a little zig zag where we had to cross the railway and we got stuck behind a lil old lady in her old car who was not sure where to go and was even less sure when I shouted out for her to get going from behind. I took the lead and went around her hoping others would to. We lost some time whilst we all regrouped and got up to speed again (which allowed triathlon team to gain some ground again… Grrrr).

Then last 10 or so kms was hard but good, Brendan put in alot of work (looking very strong in lead up to Grafton) and the call to ease up was only made now and then and when it was, we eased up till group was together, then picked pace up again. Well oiled machine I tell ya.  I then started to fade (head mostly as I looked down at speedo and we were at 84kms and the event was meant to be 84kms but there was no end in sight… Hopefully we had not missed a turn off somewhere).. We continued on at pace and Brendan asked where the finish was too but soon enough we spotted the turn and we were on the home straight. I moved to the front as I had the timing chip and drove the train over the finish line.

I felt like it was a great team ride and we all shook hands and gave each other pats on the back etc (clothes stayed on) before tucking into some of Lorraines great muffins which were washed down with coke (thank you very much Lorraine for looking after us when your body was broken and you needed the looking after).

When the results came out, it turned out we had the fastest time by over 3 minutes (when I sent out the results both James and John wrote back asking if they were interpreting the results correctly and if in fact we had the fastetst time), a fantastic result even if it was in a participation event our team work definitely paid off and I am looking forward to the next event.

Below is a table of heart rates for the event (some shorter distance participants in there to), you can see Gregor and Mark were definitely digging deep, whilst Mr Bonner was taking it easy waiting up for us to catch up 😉

Byford Sportif HR Data

Here are the links to some Garmin data to which is pretty interesting:

Ryan http:  //connect.garmin.com/activity/11799785

Jerard http:  //connect.garmin.com/player/11743536

Mark DeCastro http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11751615

Melvyn http://connect.garmin.com/player/11751289

Sunday 8th June 2008 – Part 2, Canning Mills, Peet and Lawnbrook.

2 Comments
Sunday Ride Part 2 By Ryan (following on from Darren’s report)

Well, I was not feeling the best today (I dehydrated my body on Sat arvo playing in the park (boxing, rugby finishing up with soccer) and do not think I refuelled it adequately even though I drank a lot of fluids on Sat night (coke and lemonade are good rehydration drinks? J), also have a cold sitting in the background threatening to become full blown given half the chance (flus are in the head after all, they need to be suppressed).

Quick summary of my ride, it was my first time up Canning Mills road and it beat me mentally. I started spinning at the bottom and everyone dropped off, then the road kept going and kept on pointing north.. Passed another lone rider and said g’day. Then my legs started to say they did not want to play, my heart was pounding and my head was asking “When does this end?”. I took a look back and saw Michael B was not too far behind so I thought it was fine to ease up a smidge and wait for him to catch up.

Michael B caught up and went past saying it was only him. I asked how much further but received no response. I went past him momentarily, then Stuart came past and Michael B jumped on his wheel. I thought I would just sit on behind them which I did for a little while until my head gave in and I eased right up (not happy with myself for breaking but will endeavour not to do it again). I then spotted the road I had been given orders to stop at, I had to be sure and read the sign properly and in this time, Stuart and Michael B were still going up the road, I made a poor attempt at telling them we had to stop but then felt they would notice noone had followed and would turn around (they did eventually).

I was at the back at the start of the downhill section but was in second spot behind Mark (who loves downhill sections) when we hit Peet road. I was still feeling rough but was thankful as I looked right at the steep section of Peet road (looked very steep when looking down it) that we had not had to come up it. I was happy behind Mark then Stuart came past and Michael B jumped on the back of the train. I sat in for the rest of the uphill section. When the road went flat, I thought I would have a turn on the flat and pull everyone along at a decent rate of knots. Coming out of the roundabout and the road started going up again, I let everyone go past and resumed my stalking position (riding like a sprinter Michael B said).

I sat there until the hill up to the school and I saw Stuart stand and give it a bit, followed by Mark, I took this as my cue to up the anti and I had to dig deep to get the weary body out of the saddle and press hard towards the summit. I managed to summon the required energy and power to gap everyone by the top.

Next section is short and sharp to Karragullen servo and I started at the back. Turning onto Brookton, I slowly went around people where there were some gaps until I was up front and I started pulling at a decent pace. Then Melvyn did his special and shot past then it was all on till the servo (I arrived first to find CRT people already there waiting). Brief regroup and we were off again, now wrapped up with CRT folk. CRT group were good and had some strong ladies.

I decided to take it easy again and sat in behind the group with Stuart at the front do most of the work. I was a little confused where we were and picked up the pace and went past at a time when I thought we had a little while to go, turns out we were almost at the intersection where we had a small regroup, sorry Stuart, a little rude to take off with not much time left, I told myself I would do more work on the final climb of the day (turned out to be Lawnbrook).

Lawnbrook is not my favourite climb as it is one which is a little steeper than I can comfortably climb but I told myself to put some in this climb so when I hit the bottom, I kept the gears heavy and started grinding up and passed Michael B at the start of the climb. Kept on going and then the head started playing tricks and body did not want to play. No, I was keeping on going, I kept on pushing and I thought the road was flattening out and I looked down at my back wheel and there was another wheel right behind it, a red one, it must be Michael B. I eased up a little and he came up next to me, I said I did not want to play anymore and how much further to go. No response but he was breathing hard and pushing hard. So I decided to dig deep again and passed him on the right.

I kept pushing till the road flattened out, I thought this is where it would end, then Michael B came past again and kept the pace high. Fair enough, we are on the flat now, my territory so I upped the pace and pulled Michael along at a steady rate till I thought I could ease up and past me he went again. Hmm, seems this tussle was not going to be over till the T section so I put my head down and bum up and went past again and pushed hard till the T section where we were regrouping. Tough climb it was and Stuart rolled in 50seconds after we arrived and then about another minute back till others started to roll in. Time Trialled to coffee shop for some fun, I think Melvyn tried to latch on as I went past.

Coffee shop was uneventful, but please note matching Dashing Assos Doctors.

Ride home was puncture ridden. Jerard and I arrived at the Albany Hwy/Shep Hwy intersection first and wondered where everyone had got to. Jerard said Mark had pulled up with a puncture and everyone must have stopped with him. We sat there for a little while watching some ‘locals’ having a lovers quarrel. Which moved from the MacDondalds to some bushes. Mark rolled in and saw the quarrel and stopped to tell the ‘fella’ off for slapping his missus about. The ‘fella’ then started moving towards Mark so Jerard and I rolled up the road to where he was (a ute had stopped as well and was telling the ‘fella’ not to lay a hand on the girl (ute man disappeared fast).

‘Fella’ proceeded to tell Mark not to tell him how to live his life as he did not tell Mark how to live his. Mark told him that he would tell him what to do if what he was doing was breaking the law. Mark then told ‘fella’ to stay away from him. I took out camera (phone) and ‘fella’ told me to tell the police his name was JT and they would know him as he was recently out of prison (quality ‘fella’ I tell you). I told him I was not calling the police and he then accused me of being a paedophile (I asked how old he was and he said he was a man, I told him I was not a paedophile if he was a man.. Not sure he grasped the concept).

We learnt Dr Mark had punctured twice and fallen off (when pulling over to change first puncture). We rolled off when we saw everyone arriving but g
roup broke up again. It was late now and I had a little sprint with Jerard coming up to Canning Hwy (well Jerard did not play so it was a solo sprint working on technique). Rushed home to wife.. I had some sucking up to do (no photos included).

saturday 15th mar – conclusion

ride conclusion by ryan.

as pete peeled off to go home, i was thinking to myself ‘one less person to drag across the finish line’ but as it turned out, we lost many people along canning highway, including bruce who had been looking spritely on chris’s mavic carbones (i was looking forward to a decent show down in the sprint).coming over the last rise on canning highway before we go past berwick st, cade pulled off the front with his friend in tow, i decided to let him go to assess if anyone would follow. sure enough, peter dawson picked it up a little and started to bridge the gap on cade and his mate (who had now dropped off cade’s wheel i think), so i decided it was time to catch up so went past peter dawson close enough to let him on my wheel (just to seem sporting) but he kept going straight anyway.

i then caught up to cade who was beginning to fade, i told him he was not allowed to fade now as we had to keep on going. unfortunately the lights where canning meets the causeway were red and cade and i had to stop allowing the others to catch up. i took off slowly and let everyone go past. some people picked it up at the front and people started to drop back going over the causeway. i was watching the front and keeping my distance at the back, none of the real threats were left in the pack but i did notice a shadow following me as i rode around people getting dropped.

a look over my shoulder confirmed my suspicions as there was jerard watching my wheel closely (well i hope it was my wheel, lucky i did not have my white knicks on today as jerard was looking special in his white pinarello get up and people may have started to ask questions) and keeping nice and close behind me.

coming down riverside drive, we were doing a decent speed and i noticed cade had gone off the front. i decided to go just after the first set of lights, i changed down into a heavy gear, stood up and engaged my whole body into a few seconds of acceleration which saw we passing the field at a good few kms faster than they were travelling, i was then bearing down on cade at a rapid rate of knots and when i past him, i heard him make some sort of moaning sound but i feel he knew in his heart of hearts he was not going to stay away this time.

after passing cade, i sat down, kept the gears heavy and kept on powering along, focusing on a strong round stroke to keep me moving forward. then about 100m from the lights, they went red (everytime coming down riverside drive this happens), i looked behind and there was noone within at least 30metres, so i sat up put my arms in the air (stretching, not gloating, i promise) and continued rolling towards the lights, just before i came to a complete stop, they went green so i took off after the car in front of me (which took longer than i would have liked to get going) as i did not want someone who had just reached the lights to come past and claim the hollow victory as we past the 60km sign (there was no steve r in the group today so should be pretty safe).

i past the 60km sign, still in front, changed into an easy gear to spin the legs a little before getting to the coffee shop. melvyn came up along side me just before we turned into the coffee shop (did melvyn take second place in the sprint?). Upon arriving at the coffee shop mickey’s group was still there (a decent size group of beginners which was good to see), so i pulled up an extra table and went off to get my coffee but upon returning mickey had taken all his people and vacated the premises. my efforts to pull up an extra table (thus putting me further back in the coffee queue) had been for nothing.. grrrr..

i was looking forward to the freeway bike ride the next day but because i had no bike, i could not do it.. i was very disappointed. short version of the story, i left my bike at a friends house for an hour whilst we went to breakfast. after breakfast we decided i would come back to watch the force play at 1:30pm (a good time to collect my bike as well i decided) but my friend was then invited to watch the game at one of the injured force players houses and decided it was a more exciting opportunity than watching it with me. i was not phased, it gave me time to have a snooze and clean my race wheels anyway. i informed my friend to let me know when there was someone at his house so i could collect my bike. well at 1am, i gave up and went to bed, i guess at least i got a sleep in on sunday, it has been a long time since i have had one of those.