All posts by stuart

The Tour of the Forgotten Climbs (aka The Ride of the Boiled Brains)

4 Comments

I’m not sure how I became defacto blogger for Sunday’s “Tour of the Forgotten Climbs” (aka the Little Big Day Out) – because I’m pretty sure that occasional KOM premier is no qualification. And I’m sure that club “secretary in waiting” is not much of an endorsement either although I suppose that such folks are supposed to be able to write, right? (Note1 to self – standing for office can have unforeseen consequences – be more careful in the future!)

Prologue

Anyway, a hardy group of about 15 sprouleurs rolled out from Coode St car park at about 7:05. Why “hardy” you say? Coz all good adventure stories start like that. Well, at least I’m sure that Enid Blyton stories start something like that, and a certain degree of hardiness was to be required for the ensuing ride. Or was that fool hardiness? Ride of the forgotten climbs indeed! More like the “ride of the missing flats” – no no cancel that order, we got plenty! More like the ride of the boiled brains – yeah that’s it – the “ride of the boiled brains”! The sprouleurs ( I just made that up, coz I can!) made it as far as Swansea St in Vic Park before the first of the missing flats was found. Strangely, and possibly cunningly, it was found at the bottom of the route designer’s front wheel. Now, I’m not one to suggest that Pete deliberately rode over the patch of glass that indicated we were passing through the drinking warriors feeding ground, but it does seem suspicious that Pete, knowing exactly what verticality was ahead of us, insisted we ride on and he’d make his own way (in blue 4-wheeled aircon luxury, as it turns out). So, we travailed on (I think I made that up too), only to find that one of our hardy bunch has taken another route. Bugger! Where’s drronnie? Loz was most concerned, and thinking that this was an opportunity to show how concerned I was and take some pressure off myself to burst up the Welshpool Rd climb, I turned back to search for our lost soul. However, it was a fruitless errand, and upon turning back and rejoining the adventurers, drronnie was found to have shortcutted back in to the group. Drama over. And so we settled into a nice happy little party at the bottom of the Welshpool Rd incline.

KOM1

I like the Welshpool Rd climb, whether it’s to the end of Welshpool Rd itself or diverting up Lesmurdie Rd. Perhaps I like it because it’s long and boring and not too steep. Or perhaps it’s because I can still recall my first climbs up the hill over 20 years ago (on the same bike as I’m riding now as it turns out) on a 42T front chainring and maybe an 18T or 19T rear cog. And no fancy light bike either. Now that was a grind! Mostly all out of the saddle, with no lower gears to fall back on. The ride these days seems like a breeze in comparison – and I am certainly not complaining. I know the hill pretty well, and I also listened to Pete’s instructions about the KOM points finish line – sort of! Consequently, during the ride up the Lesmurdie Rd section I was quite amused and relieved to see Danny D sprint past us near the roundabout near the small shops at the hollow on Lesmurdie Rd. I wasn’t saying anything.  So as we approached the proper finish near the servo, I put in an effort to try to gain maximum points. The only problem was that Warren the Wolfman was pretty keen to huff and puff and blow my plan down, and so a keen tussle to the finish ensued. As the bus shelter near the servo approached, despite a modest lead I pointed it out to ensure that I wasn’t overhauled on the line. Woops – wrong bus stop – the real one was about 100m further up the road. Sorry!

Order: Stu, Warren, Danny D, Ben, Hunter

Discussion at the regroup point at the servo focused on “where’s Dan?” It was eventually determined that he had passed through and after a respectful wait in case he returned we headed off again toward the observatory. There’s not much to report on for the next stage, except that subsequent reference back to the course map shows we took a short cut by turning left at  Carmel Rd instead of Glenisla Rd.

KOM2

The descent down Walnut Rd past our normal turn at Aldersyde Rd is fast and short, and easy to miss-time the gear change on the steep ascent up the other side. We normally come from the other direction so it was nice to appreciate a different perspective. I was happy to lead for most of the climb, but when the finish approached I had little strength or inclination to fight this one out. Ben took the points. The road surface past our usual turn point at Patterson Rd was smooth and fast (if you had the strength) allowing a pleasant ride up to the regroup point at the boom gate. It would be great if this little piece of road could be linked to other routes. Pete had driven up and was now waiting at the boom gate to give us encouragement for the next section, and take photo evidence of the torture.

Order: Ben, Warren, Danny D, Stu, John D

KOM3
This KOM section commenced immediately from the end of KOM2 and retraced the route we had just come. However, instead of continuing further up Lawnbrook Rd we diverted to the right at Heidleberg Rd. At quick left turn at Hill St  gave little warning of the impending pain. Note2 to self – make sure you’re in your lowest gear before you turn from Heidelbugger Rode into Hill (hoho) St. Note3 to self – double check you are in your lowest ring, front and back. Another left turn led to Karwina Rd. Now initially I wasn’t too fussed about the supposed 17% gradient. I’d been up 15%  many times before, so a little 2% would only be a bit harder right? Wrong! Especially if the 2% is more like 5%! My first look at the climb caused a severe baulk! I’m a not going up there! However, the embarrassing consequence of this option eventually caused a change of heart, not to mention that it might be caught on camera. Let me say – its steep! Kinda like verticality meets traverse, and wins hands down. Note4 to self – make sure you put a 25T cassette on the wheel next time this ride comes up. Ben and Warren showed great strength and determination to take prime points.

Order: Ben, Warren,  Stu, Bill, Jeff

Regroup and discussion at the top of the “chookenberg” centered around two main themes: the fowl smell and whether or not we’d done enough riding and suffered enough pain to justify not completing the remainder of the mapped ride and head straight for coffee. Nobody wanted the points that desperately, so good sense prevailed. An early arrival at the cafe and good service were truly welcome.

Coffee points:  Ben, Warren, Carl, John D, Lorraine, Danny D, Stu, Bill, Pete, Shao, Mark D, drMark, drRonnie, Hunter?, Lisa, who else?? (claim in the “leave a comment” zone!)

During discussion at the cafe Warren indicated that he was headed back to the US next weekend and that it was his last Sunday ride. Hopefully the few rides he’s had with us will give him a little “out of season” advantage over his competitors when he starts racing again back home. However, there’s a chance he may be back so we look forward to some more huffin’ and puffin’ in the future.

The ride back down the hill was safe and uneventful. Mark easily took honours at the first sprint point helped by another fearless descent down the hill, whilst Danny D took honours at the Bunnings stop with a desperate sprint at the bottom of Berwick St.

stooge

Grittings From The Bitumen

1 Comment

Well Peter asked for a different perspective on the “Hell of the North” and being the leader of the pack (fall), here is mine..

Firstly let me say that I am OK and thank you for the help and best wishes I have received over the last few days. The support from the SPR community (and my family and partner too) has been outstanding – it’s really appreciated! Special thanks to Melvyn and Jerry who helped all the the way along the journey, and to Mark DeCastro and Stuart Durham at the crash scene. And to Ryan for his banter, and and…

Reflecting back to the start of race when we were looking forward, it is difficult to reconcile the difference betweeen how things should have turned out, and how they did. A good day (albeit somewhat hot) and a big field of 58 on a testing 72 km course with lots of compatriots gave great opportunity for some SPR success, surely!

My first 3 laps were spent near the rear of the field, mainly because it takes that long for me to warm up and also I was not expecting any breakaways to be successful, and certainly I wasn’t ready to be doing any chasing anyway. During this time I was near John and Melvyn and we felt the elastic stretch tight on the hill at the 4km mark of each circuit. I was feeling some sympathy for the maiden racers as I felt a bit stressed already, although the previous night’s wines could be partly blamed for that. At the start of the 4th lap I decided it was time to move to the front, not so much because I wanted to (or could) do anything special, but rather to try to cover the moves which might happen soon. I was correct – the attack came on the hill of the 4th lap, and although I was in a good position to chase, it was hard work. My memory doesn’t serve me well, but my recollection is that there was a small break of 3 going up the hill, which a few of us chased. I sucked a wheel near the crest in order recover and we made ground on the leaders over the top when they slowed, I think. As we started to speed down the other side I “touched a wheel” – I’m not really sure why! Anyway, there was no gentle easing away per more fortunate circumstances. This time my wheel turned hard and I spilled quickly. My speedo later revealed that we were travelling at 53kph, but this may be incorrect because it also showed that we had travelled 39km which does not seem correct!

The imagery in my mind is that the scene was just as you would expect, with bikes and riders piling in on top. My tumbleweed imitation ceased fairly quickly without pain, and the next concern was to get out of the way of the following pack – hence the “rabbit in the spotlight” impersonation as described by James. The peloton passed around, and the race proceeded as described well by Jerry elsewhere in the blog. On the bitumen with me was Ryan, Fred Landon and a few others I didn’t recognise, plus Mark who had already phoned for an ambulance. Fred didn’t look happy and seemed to be nursing his shoulder. My elbow was leaking quite a bit of claret, to the considerable concern of fellow ceased racer Stuart Durham who stemmed the flow by wrapping his race jersey tightly around my elbow. Mark was able to be convinced that the ambovan was not required, and the DNF was formalised by a lift back to the finish where capable first-aid was provided.

Inspection of the bike revealed that the once mighty R3 was now only about R0.3. It’s remarkable how quickly such things are accepted. The other remarkable thing about the whole incident, still only 1/3 travelled at that stage, is the lack of pain suffered – never more than 2 out of 10, and I was asked enough times!

I was able to watch Lorriane’s great win and the good performances by Nico in A-grade and Ben, Jerry and Spud in B-grade – great efforts all!

Next port of call was hospital. After much discussion within the group, including Melvyn ringing Freo ED, it seemed that Joondalup was the best option. Certainly it was the closest. To cut a long story short, after admission at midday, I finally entered theatre at about 10pm for debridement (kinda like a chain-wash I guess) of the gash on my right elbow, to ensure that it was totally clean and thereby minimise risk of infection, given the closeness to joint and bone. Despite that progress through the system was seemingly slow I was well looked after and much better off than some of those in “emergency” around me. I spent the next day in hospital and returned home late on Monday. Subsequent review of the wounds (8 stitches in elbow) indicates they are healing well, but riding is not endorsed for a week or so. At least the timing is acceptable!

Aside from my personal damage, Fred Landon suffered a dislocated shoulder and broken bike (new BH I think) and Ryan received some gashing. I guess there is more that I am unaware of. These things cause me pain. Plus my own equipment damage which includes fractured top tube, gouged and twisted shifters (ouch), ruined hanger and rear derailleur, scratched rear rim (bought wheelset the day before), minor scratches/dings, and busted watch. Like I said, its amazing how quickly one accepts these things and starts looking forward. The frame is now with Aldo at Quantum Bicycle Manufacturers under investigation. All options are up for consideration, but a rebuild is the most likely.

Once again, thank you all for the support. I look forward to riding with you again soon.

R0.3
Click me - R0.3

stuART