Report by Julian 

A big crowd gathered for the Saturday sojourn along Benara Rd.  Instructions were dealt out, the novices sent on their way and the big pack headed out along Mill Point Rod.  After the usual break up of the group at the first set of lights, we all re-grouped by the time we past Burswood and onto Gt Eastern Hwy.  The first drama of the morning occurred when a Hilux Ute decided to stop on the inside lane.  I was towards the back so didn’t see what had happened but it was soon sorted out.  As we approached the split point I was in two minds which way to go, but I decided to stick with the fast group today.  There were about 15 of us and by far the smallest of splits that we’ve had in a long time, with most riders deciding to keep fresh for the Joondalup race the next day.   

Into the wind up Gt Eastern Highway, no one seemed keen on leading and by the time we hit Queens Rd, Chris, Ryan, Mike B, Jerry a couple of others and myself decided to up the pace a bit.  The group held together well and heading back into Midland with the wind now behind us the pace picked up again.  We bade farewell to Melvyn who turned off for an early breakfast and was nearly followed by Chris.  The trip through Guildford was a lot less eventful than the last time with no white van behind us. 

Onto Benara Rd and the pace picked up again.  I’d had a rough night, having picked up a dose of Durchfall (ask Heiko for a translation) the night before so tried to hang on to the back of the pack.  Jarrad and Steve both said I was looking a little rough and I was certainly feeling it.  We caught a couple of lights and this bought everyone back together but by the time we reached the end of Benara Road, a couple of riders had dropped off.  The roundabouts along the way through Nollamarra were successfully negotiated and soon were heading down Coode St towards Maylands and the final stages of the ride.  

There were no great surges today and the pace was kept fairly reasonable towards the end.  Jarrad and Jerry went first up the Plain St hill, closely watched by Ryan.  On the downhill we had the obligatory stop and Wellington St and the front runners down the hill got through (legally) the Adelaide Terrace lights and hit Riverside Drive with no chance of being caught by those who missed the lights.  I sat back at this stage and watched Chris and Jarrad battle it out.  However, everyone caught the final set of lights so the final sprint was an anti-climax.  We got to the bell tower a couple of minutes behind the main group with everyone still feeling reasonably fresh.  I had the usual cricket umpiring duties to attend so couldn’t stay for coffee and bade farewell to everyone, wishing the racers good luck for the Joondalup – details of which can be found in the following posts.

by dr ronny

I’m very proud this week and pleased to say that we didn’t get lost. I know, there are so many people to thank for this wonderful achievement but I couldn’t have done it without everyone in the group. And of course, God.
We had another good turn out with a new rider (Belinda) joining thanks to Pete’s recruitment at the Tour de Perth (apparently the tent impressed).
We climbed the two short hills at Applecross with Jacqui taking them both and Debra getting to the top of the Majestic for the first time without having to get off. Well done!
Our roll through was solid again and Belinda picked up on it quickly. On our way back, I mentioned about the “sprint” up Bull Creek Rd to Belinda who was looking strong and even warned to look out for the tricksy Jacqui. I rounded the left hander in first wheel and Belinda came out from my wheel to get a sizable lead. I looked back to see Jacqui trying to bridge the gap but honestly thought she had left it too late. Just near the top Belinda seemed to be slowing down as Jacqui continued to bury herself to close the gap. I’m pretty sure she won that one, only because Belinda stopped going full gas, but I did warn her about J……

A few options for next week:
1. start and finish at Coode st and then drive to Jerry’s  or
2. meet at Coode st, drive to Jerry’s, and then ride round there including doing a bit of Oceanic Drive near Reabold hill or
3. meet and Jerry’s at 7am and do a longer circuit (i was thinking claremont-nedlands-subi-reabold-jerry’s)

Please leave a comment if you have a preference. I think that 2 or 3 is better as I don’t wanna miss too much of the brekkie.

HO HO HO MEEEEERRRRY CHRISTMAS……

The sleigh bells are ringing in the distance and people are writing up their christmas wish lists…….yes its time to kick of festivities with an SPR Christmas brekkie celebration.

   SPR Christmas breakfast Saturday 12th December.

As per usual the breakfast will be held immediately after the ride, if your not planning on riding you are still more than welcome to come along – there will be coffee and muffins, brownies and hot chocolate, toasties and OJ and much more yummy goodies…. There will be a raffle with some fabbo prizes.

Only $10 a head to be paid on the day EVERYONE WELCOME!

Please RSVP by 08/12/09 either by posting a comment or emailing me to me so that we can have approximate numbers for catering. lwood@claytonutz.com

Jerry has kindly opened his Palazio up for our festivities so if your not planning on riding with the group I can email you the address (providing you give me your email address!!).

Been that we like to get into the Christmas Spirit – all riders are invited to dress up as their favourite Christmas legend or decorate themselves in copious amounts of tinsel……

See you there… Lisa 🙂

LAST CHANCE – ORDERS NEED TO BE IN BY THURSDAY EVENING.  AS THIS IS NOT A HIGH VOLUME ITEM WE PROBABLY WILL NOT BE ORDERING IT AGAIN.

if you want to get rid of those “oh so cool tanlines” on your arms or have some massive guns that you want to show off, then these are for you.  or maybe you are after an spr christmas present for a loved one.  hint, hint. 

minimum order is 20 so if we don’t reach that then each item may cost a bit more than the $80 we were originally quoted. 

if you want a sleeveless jersey then send me an email with your size.  to try to get these before christmas, i will need orders by the end of thursday 3rd december.

Report by Julian 

A new route was planned today so I had made notes on how to get out to Brigadoon for the climb-fest.  En-route to the rendezvous (that’s the limit of French for the day), I realised I hadn’t noted the course back to Kalamunda and was relieved to see Peter and his trusty Garmin, which had all the details entered.  I think there were about 25 people today, and plans for a shorter ride up the zigzag were being made before we set off.  

Gt Eastern Hwy was quiet today and the traffic was well behaved.  The pace was reasonable apart from Alistair’s turn on the front, when low 30’s suddenly became high 30’s.  Even accounting for the tail wind it was a bit quick and we yelled to the front to ease him back.  We bade farewell to the short-cutters at Queens Rd and continued on to Guildford and then Midland.  A few locals in Midland gave us some encouraging cheering (Emu Export at 7.30 in the morning will do that) and before long we were over Gt Northern Hwy and into the small rises round Jane Brook.  

On the first rise Alistair took off and crested the hill.  He then slowed down and found me in the pack to ensure I noted the points for the first climb.  Alas I informed him that said first climb was still 15 km away but his efforts in the bonus climb were noted.  We continued on for a few more kms before Davina decided to stretch her legs and put in some hard yards.  Mark DC followed here out and soon the two of them were long gone.  The rest of us got through the few kms before the climb and as we passed the ‘No Through Road’ sign indicating the start, the front runners were back in sight. 

On the climb, Dan, Alistair and I approached the tiring Davina and then went past.  Mark DC was up ahead and looking out of reach.  Mike B and Chris T overtook me as I shook off Dan The view up the valley from Bells Rapids was worth the climb and by the time we hit the roundabout Mark DC had come in first.  However, there was an edict from President Peter that Mark would be disqualified as he broke away on the flat before the climb started.  Rule is Rules and therefore the final classification from climb 1 was as follows: 

KOM 1: 1.  Mike B;  2, Chris T;  3. Julian;  4.  Chris A;  5. Peter 

The one noticeable thing about the re-group point was the distinct lack of trees/shrubs for shielding when relieving oneself.  Therefore the re-group time was slightly longer as those that had to travel a bit further.  The next two climbs were explained by Peter – in summary ~3 km down and then up again until we hit the next roundabout, re-group, then turn around and do it in reverse.  Going down the first hill I clocked mid 70s so the climb back wasn’t going to be easy.  The sun was quite hot on the road and there a few big efforts on both climbs.  Mike B managed to just pip Chris A on the first climb and going back, Chris T held out me to the line.  Russell and Melvyn waited at the line having discovered the shortcut after the second climb.  

KOM 2: 1.  Mike B;  2, Chris A;  3. Julian;  4.  Chris T;  5. Peter 

KOM 3: 1.  Chris T;  2, Julian;  3. Jerry;  4.  Brodie;  5. Dan

The three climbs in quick succession had taken a bit out of everyone and a few of us were running low on water.  The descent was very fast for me and I managed to hit 90 km/h.  Once on the flat a few splinter groups formed and Heiko and I rode together talking about the ways of the world.  We held an easy pace before all coming together again at Jane Brook to look for water taps.  Unfortunately there were none around so we skirted around Greenmount (saying farewell to Russell on the way) and finally found a disused service station that still had connected water.  Everyone took on water and it was noted that Brett and a couple of others were missing.  It turned out someone had a puncture (sorry I didn’t get names at coffee) and a couple of others waited behind to assist.  

After the water stop we were soon on Ridge Hill Road for the second of the bonus climbs.  Alistair took it a bit easier this time and there was only a short re-group when we reached Kalamunda Road.  There were a few tired bodies at this stage and a lot of effort was summoned for the final climb.  Alistair, Chris T, Chris A and I soon split from the group and about half way up Mike B made his trademark move from the back.  Chris T and I responded but after about 100 m I’d had enough so settled back in to my rhythm.  Up ahead it was a pretty close ride and I think (but can’t confirm) Mike B just got it.  

KOM 4: 1.  Mike B;  2, Chris T;  3. Julian;  4.  Chris A;  5. Jerry 

We headed off for coffee and managed to get a few tables in the shade.  There was a sense of achievement in the group as the new ride was conquered and in trying conditions – this will not be a summer ride.  I did a quick tally of points and found that the overall November winner was Chris A, who finished 1 point in front of me.  Luckily for Mark DC, his disqualification on the first hill did not cost him the title although he would have come 2^nd if it had counted. 

Back down Welshpool Rd we went and the final stages were fast without blowing too many people away.  I turned off at George Street and finished with 107 km under my belt so was pretty happy with that.  I won’t be available next weekend and the Joondalup race is on so if anyone does go out, can they keep a track of proceedings.

Well I decided to do my first 40km solo TT in over 2 years and debut my new skinsuit and sperm (aero) helmet.
Having done only a handfull of Atta events I had no doubt it would all be smooth on raceday so got the bike sorted the night prior with all the required goods.

Once out there sign on was a breeze, grabbed my transponder and numbers and went back to set the bike on the wind trainer for my warm up. The weather had allready decided to warm up but that meant the flys were obsolutly everywhere, talked about getting annoyed trying to warm up! I tried to stay friendly to them hoping they would help carry me along at somepoint on the hilly TT course.

Once warmup done and race wheels in, last nervous wee done 🙂 Jody took some pics and I headed up to the start. The bike was all fine all gears working and me not actualy feeling too bad considering the 100km done the day prior.

Goal was simple, have a negative split and get as close to 40 kmphr ave as possible on what I thought was undulating course. Well I knew teh first 10km but wasnt sure about the next before heading to the turnaround but I was off. I quickly settled in to my comfortable heartrate. Passing back through where the cars where Jody took a snap (later to find out it was of a tree, teach me to drag her out too early on a sunday morning:)) After a few kms the hills start and I was pretty motivated for a 40 ave so was finding myself smashing the 54 X 11 down the hills at upwards of 55-60 and not finding the uphills too bad I pushed hard over and by 10 or so kms had allready picked up quite a few people and looking at my speedo the average was 42 kms. I did think maybe I should back off a smidge but felt strong so pushed on. Once at the turn around Frans and the guys gave heaps of encouragement and we were back into it but looking at my speedo I had turned at 30mins 40secs with a 39.9 kms ave, the last 10kms were a little hillier than I thought but was still happy to be within a sniff of 40!

Once back up to speed the legs were starting to get heavy on teh climbs and I found my ave falling back closer to 38 but still tried to climb as smoothly as possible as I knew thats where the time was going to be made up to get me back to 40 ave.

I started to come good again and was wishing I brought another gel with me but kept on sipping away. Remembering the big hill with 3km to go was going to hurt I pushed as hard as I dared but managed to get my ave back up near 39.5 but then as I started on teh climb I found myself going back through the gears rather to quickly with the top not seeming to want to come any quicker. I pushed hard and with the heartrate climbing into the mid 190’s I knew that was as fast I could go.

I finally got over it and caught my breath as much as I could but still finding the heartrate at 190 I pushed as hard as I could for the remaining kms. As I approached the finish line I snuck at look at the Garmin and saw my Heart rate at 197 and ave at 38.6 and a time of 1.02.

On warming down I was pretty hapy happy with my effort but was feeling very smashed. I got back to the ute to find Jody sound asleep 🙂 haha talk about me at my max for the last hour and her at her minimum hehe. Caught up with the girls and some of the other folk i knew and saw Anna K had beaten the course record and then saw Bec had smashed it by 2 mins so teh girls are firing! Nicole was happy with a great hitout so all in all a good day debuting the skinsuit and new helmet.. Now to find out how to knock off a few minutes for the next one 🙂 Knowing that my PB from 3 years ago is 57min all be it on a flat course Im keen to do better next time.

Oh and chuck/Pete your info is right the sperm helmet is nosiy but thats the price of looking fast hey ??:)
Oh and the negative split didnt happen but hey you get that 🙂
Actual Garmin stats were 1.02.40 time, 38.66 ave, ave H/R 181 and max H/R 199.Max speed 63.97 and 1446 cal used.