Pinjarra Sportif ‘SPR A-Team’

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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.

co2 canisters

i have a problem with gas
i have a problem with gas

for any of you that don’t like to carry a pump around with you but rely on the co2 canisters do we have a deal for you.

there is a new guy in the group,  josh, that who has a contact that imports the canisters and is about to do an order.  these are the standard 16g threaded canisters that most inflators use.  instead of the usual $6 each you can get them for $2.50 but have to order a min of 10 ($25). 

if you want to get a box, send josh an email here before monday 12th oct, 4pm.

sunday 4th oct – cyclosportif pinjarra

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race participation event report by peter.

 

the last cyclo-sportif of the year and after our good showing at the state team time trials, there were a lot of people wanting to put in a couple of good teams.  just like the team time trial, this would start at pinjarra.  unlike the team time trial, this one had a very big hill in it.

the course was one that we had done a few times before and has featured every year since the inception of cyclo-sportif events.  the only flat section is the first (and last) 10kms but there is always a headwind as it is so open.  after that you tackle 10kms of climbing to take you up to dwellingup before it rolls along del park rd where you turn around and head home.  there are a number of climbs both out and back along del park road, so even after you turn around, there are a number of climbs before the long decent.

we had two teams organised thanks to some running around by ryan, lisa and myself.  both were doing the long distance but there was a clear “a” team and “b” team. 

that “a” team had the following riders – ryan, brendan, steve, michael, judd, joseph, julian and david.  (hopefully ryan will get a race report out soon…)

the “b” team had – myself, davina, lisa, mark, alistar, shane, brett, dan and julian (the brothers making their spr racing debut).

we made good time down to pinjarra thanks to the shmick new freeway and by the time i got there, the spr tent was already set up.  a quick move away from the septic outflow and pretty soon we had it surrounded by almost all the teams cars.  it made for a great meeting point made things like sharing pumps and tools a lot easier.

seeing we had some first time racers in our group, the topic of race nutrition & hydration was discussed pre-race.  next thing we see is julian heading off in the car to get some powerade while dan minded the parking spot.  it was interesting to see who ate what over this sort of distance.  there were 56 teams doing the long distance and they were off at 30 sec intervals and we had the unfortunate “honour” of acting as a rabbit for the “a” team as we were starting only 1min ahead of them.  a short warmup and soon we were on the start line.  the game plan was set out.  form a single line and do 30 sec turns at the front.  if you were struggling do shorter turns.  once we hit the hills we had to stay together.  this meant yelling at each other to slow and pushing struggling riders if necessary.

the team that was meant to start 30 sec in front did not show up so we had 1 min to make up on our closest team.  we were off.  davina made sure that we didn’t smash it too much in the first few kms by getting everyone to do shorter turns at a slower pace until we had warmed up.  this was great as i usually rode with the “a” team and had my ring hanging out from the start. 

lisa driving the train
lisa driving the train

there was a definite head wind on the way out and we were hoping it didn’t swing around so that we had it on our backs for the return journey.  the road turned left and right a bit so we had to echelon across the road to get the best draft.  the long single file made this a bit hard in places, but we managed to slip through the first 9kms unscathed.  along the way some teams obviously hadn’t read the cyclo charter and tried to hang onto the back as our group came past to get an arm chair ride.  not really cool as this is a timed team event, but we soon dropped them as some of their crew couldn’t hold the pace.

at the 9 ½ km mark the “a” team swept past.  not too bad.  we were still passing teams and were travelling along at a comfortable pace so i wasn’t worried about them. 

they were still in sight when we started the climb and stayed not a large distance ahead for the first half at least.  it was interesting to see how the other teams tackled the climb.  some just totally disintegrated as a group as people did the climbs at their own pace.  we were past by a couple of guys from one team, but looked back to see that the rest of their team were still struggling a long way back.  we were determined to stick together to get the advantage once the road flattened out a bit. 

we crossed two sets of train tracks on the climb and one is just after a 12% section of the hill.  it makes for a tricky decent on the return but no time to worry about that now.

we reached dwellingup with everyone intact and turned left onto del park rd.  the road still climbed upward, but soon we were heading down.  these were the climbs we were going to tackle on the way home, but they felt good now.  mark had been doing some long strong turns on the way out and i asked him how he was feeling.  i was worried that he might burn himself out but he said that he had an easy week and had energy to burn.

the road was constantly up and down but we were picking up lots of teams along the way.  davina was making sure everyone was eating and drinking and alistar commented that he had never eaten so much on a ride before but it felt great. 

we had just came down a very long climb that was the king of the mountain point for the pinjarra classic when we noticed that brett’s rear tyre was going down.  we quickly pulled over to the side and actually got off the road as there were lots of teams following behind.  this gave a couple of us an opportunity to get some more food down while mark, dan and brett seemed to be all trying to change the tyre themselves.  many hands make light work or too many cooks spoil the broth.  the tyre was difficult to get off but soon a new tube was in.  one gas bottle later another tube was then put in.  some initial air from a pump to make sure it was ok before smacking another gas bottle into it.  ok.  we were off again.

a lot of the teams we had passed were now up the road and we started clawing them back.  the constant undulations and twisty roads meant that cars were having difficulty passing riders and seen we were stuck behind a car that couldn’t pass a few struggling riders.  we were bunched up behind it and couldn’t get around either.  this driver really didn’t want to put the foot down but eventually got enough clear air to get around.  it was getting busy as riders were now coming back on the return trip so it was difficult to pass, but we got stuck behind the same driver another two times before they eventually got free.  frustrating for them, but even more so for us as we were on the clock.

on the final climb up to the turn around, i noticed that dan had not done his seat bag up properly after the tyre change.  he stopped at the turn and fixed it while we slowed right down to wait for him.  we were soon off again and enjoying the descent when there was a pop and hiss in front of me and brett’s tyre was down for the count.  as per the “three strikes” rule he told us to leave him and he would get a ride back with the sag wagon.  i’m sure he can add his story to the comments as it took him a long time to get back.

mark was still doing big turns on the front and not seeming to be suffering for it.  the climbs put dan in difficulty and a bit of assistance was needed but the group stayed together well.  on the climb up to the king of the mountains, we got mixed up with a couple of groups that actually integrated with us for the climb.  strangely not their entire group, but just a few of them.  this meant that once we reached the top they all had to sit up and wait for the rest of their group to struggle along.

a few more rolling hills and pretty soon we were on the last climb before dwellingup.  unfortunately it is not just one long decent as it kicks up a couple of times which caused a few gaps.  people were keen to get home but the group still needed to stay together so had to slow to accommodate.

davina driving the train
davina driving the train

the start of the descent saw davina hit a hidden pothole (i.e repaired but sinking again) that dislodged her drink bottle.  i also hit the hole and thought of smashing carbon forks entered my head as it jolted my bike enough to ring the bell.  however, i then had to make sure i didn’t hit the drink bottle as it skidded across my path.  shane probably had a déjà vu moment as his bottle dislodged on the thursday group ride and jammed in between his spokes and frame causing the back wheel to lock up.  the subsequent skid ripped right through his tyre, tube and started eating into his rims.  not good.  luckily everyone made it through the incident today.

so we were screaming down the hill and as we came around the corner, there was a guy waving a flag (but not very well) so we started to slow.  as we exited the corner we realised that we had to slow real fast.  there was a very large steam train chugging across the road with a number of carriages containing a whole lot of people happily waving at us.  nice.  apparently we were the only team that got held up by the train today.

back into the fray and we continued down the remaining hill to find that the wind had continued from the south and we would actually get a tailwind home.  10 kms to go and it would soon be over. 

we formed into a line again but this time davina jumped on the front and stayed there for about 3 kms punching out around 48km/hr.  we all just held on for dear life but enjoyed the draft while we could.  as she peeled off, we all did short turns before mark and then davina both pulled out some big efforts.  this long/short process continued for a while before dan was really feeling the effects of fatigue and was struggling to hold a wheel.  with about 2 kms to go we formed up as two lines with mark and davina smashing along at the front so we could form the biggest draft window that we could to get the rest of us home.

we held together well and passed a number of teams that were just trying to make it home.  as we passed the 500m to go sign, lisa decided to go for the sprint but went a little too early.  we spat a couple out the back with that final effort, but that didn’t matter as i had the timing band on my leg and as i finished at the front, mine was the only time that mattered.

the “a” team were already at spr central and there was a litter of bike and bodies all around the tent.  some of the guys had a hard time on that team too but a great effort was made by all.  at the end of the day, only lisa and myself were the only two that stayed for lunch as brett was still making his way back with the marshals.  our nine raffle tickets yielded nothing so we then joined the mass exodus back to the freeway.

a great job by the team today and a good introduction to a few riders as to what racing is like.  awesome efforts by mark and davina to drag us around and a good finish to the cyclo-sportif season. 

the 8th november is the next proper race with the golden spokes event which is a flat circuit around champion lakes.  a good opportunity for those that want to get into the racing scene as there are no hills to make it too hard.

Canningvale reverse Sat Oct 3. Fast group

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Well after flying home a day early from site I was keen to see some sunshine. After hearing the rain the night before I was a little worried but on waking up was pleasantly surprised for it to be dry so off to the start to see who else was playing today.
I picked up my mate Stu who was out for his first ride since the freeway bike hike which was great to see.

After Petes spiel and catching up with some of the gang we headed off only to see ryan walking his bike back to his car minus one helmet… dare I say that will teach you for driving to the start Ryan 😉 wouldnt happen if you rode there hehe.
Ride up to Canning Hwy was very chatty with everyone and most in high spirits with the break in wet n wild conditions. Only a few little breaks and traffic lights were not too unfriendly (that changed later).

We arrived at stock Rd and the lights just dont stay green long enough these days while we have the group all as one so back it off prior to the rolling hills and re group and head back off, we didnt go too hard and kept a steady pace right around the loop until a few thought we were too slow and over took us and headed off towards Bannister Rd. I wasnt to keen on chasing so let them go, once we hit Bannister the main group waved us goodbye and we began our trip up to Nicholson. Pretty uneventful with no one really smahing it so with some gentle encouragement (read yelling) I managed to get everyone rolliing through quite well and with the pace reasonably high and keeping things fairly tight we turned onto Nicholson and opened up the throttle, a few seemed to want to hold teh high speed at the front but we gently reminded everyone again to start and maintain teh roll through and a) we would go faster and b) be allot fresher for the finale on Albany Hwy.

Once we hit the roundabout where we used to turn back to town I double checked with Melvyn on his GPS that we still keep going to Spencer st. Only a couple turned off early (that I saw) and we continued up to Spencer still rolling over and turned for Albany, only every now and again people needed the gentle reminder to keep the roll through going 🙂

The closer we got to town the more started to sit in wether by sheer exhaustion or waiting to pounce later on…
Once in Vic Park Mr Fox illegally used an external drafting source (read Big truck) to get away from the fast moving Gruppo, we let him mosy on,well no one seemed interested to chase much faster than we were. we made a group decision he was a DQ for illegal drafting purposes 🙂
and readied ourselves for the quick finale up over the smal hill in Vic Park and the series of lights that seem to get us 90%. About 10-15 managed to get away from the pack there and once onto the causeway Steve went to the front keeping the pace reasonably high. I decided to sit in and see what fire works opened once turning onto Riverside Drive. John powered through but seemed to sit up once through so Steve and another powered back to the front and they opened up a smal gap just prior to starightening up for the drag race to the cafe, no one seemed intent on closing the gap so I had a rush of blood and frustration with my high heart rate so attacked the group with everything and no one seemed to catch my wheel coming through so thought all good and quickly caught the front two.

Once I was there I decided to go again and hoped the 2 were allready smashed and quickly opened up a gap and managed to hold 50+ for most of the drag home but my heart rate hovered on 200 for the whole time and apon reaching the cafe the head was spinning but saw no one closed the gap down was a little chuffed at that and ordered my drink but had to do a little diversion to the toilet and emptyed my stomach and started to feel better straight away..

Service was mediocre, My Hot Chocy was nearly last I think and as it wasnt even Hot it was more like a cold Chocy.
So ride was good, didnt catch the front group but we were close so not a bad effort by all by everyone concerned. It was also good to see (by me) no red lights getting ran and the way our group worked their turns on the way home. Great stuff guys!

Pinjara Cyclo Sportif tomorrow seeing us have 2 teams in the long one, so what ever rides you do tomorrow, ride safe.
Maybe we could do with some of these:)
Traffic Go for Bikes :)
Nico

ride routes 3rd & 4th october

so, it’s october already.  almost summer but the cold mornings are still with us for a bit longer.  it was only 4 degrees this morning, but the sun is getting up way early and it makes a nice difference to be riding in daylight before 6am.  at least there will be no damn daylight savings to banish me to the darkness again.

cyclo-sportif this sunday will see spr field 2 teams in the long distance event.  a total of 17 riders will be heading down so we should have good showing again.

there is a previous post about about a “come and try” day for disabled athletes.  if you are free on the 17th it would be a good opportunity for a few spr riders to head down after coffee to check it out.

the route for saturday will take us on some nice familiar roads.  we will split the group once we get to south street and hope the lights don’t bunch us up too much again as this causes a bit of confusion as to who is in which group.  the main group returns home via bannister and the fast group should get a good run along nicholson.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 13 (canning vale reverse)

the kahuna plus three other climbs should see the non-cyclosportif sunday climbers well satisfied by the end of the day.

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

Cycling come and try day for people with disabilities

SPCC,

I am working on a project with the Australian Paralympic Committee and other organizations along with the support of SSDI lawyers for hire to provide cycling come and try day for people with disabilities.

I have a few coaches coming, and the Schwheelies team with tent and demonstration bikes. Other organisations will be offering hand cycling, tandem and trikes.

As South Perth Cycle Club is the nearest to the event location at Manning Road Karawara, I thought it would be a good promotion opportunity for your club.

20% of Australians have some kind of disability and the dedicated attorneys for helping employees are striving hard for this 20% people to lead a normal life. So there is a large recreational market of potential cyclists. With your clubs proactive development the inclusion of people with disabilities would be pretty easy. Most just people with disabilities just want to be treated normally and be involved in normal clubs and groups.

Maybe you could have a few riders there on the day in SPCC gear, hand out some club flyers and invite people to be involved with your clubs activities and rides.

I have attached the information flyer and I hope that SPCC can be involved.

Kind regards,

Toby Hodgson
Cycling WA, Development and Participation Officer
skype: tobyhodgsoncyclingwa ph: (08) 9328 3422 e: mailto:toby.hodgson@cycling.org.au
PO Box 481 Leederville, WA, 6903

Cycling Talent Search

Pinjarra Sportif

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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.

world champs – go cadel

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for those that didn’t stay up late to watch the world champs.  for shame.  even with the interupted telecast, it all came down to the last two laps and there were so many big names still in the running.

congratulations cadel.  first australian world road champion.

cadel evans - 2009 world champion
cadel evans - 2009 world champion

sunday 27th sept – greenmount, parkerville, mundaring weir

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ride report by peter.

 

it has been a long time since i have had to write up a sunday hills ride report.  massive credit to julian who has taken this job upon himself which takes an extra burden off me.  however, an early morning text told me that he would not be making it today, so i thought that i better take note of what went on during the ride.

i would say that we had in excess of 20 riders at the start this morning.  a few had other plans and the doctors went off to do their thing early.  we headed out great eastern and made it as far as the mcdonalds near the airport before josh (i think) had a flat.  a quick change in the carpark also meant that there was a chance for a toilet and drink stop.  i was hankering for an angus burger, but it was before 10:30.  we took a nice convoluted path through midvale/bellevue area to end up back on great eastern hwy and at the base of the climb.  unsure of how i would be climbing today, i was happy to follow any leads and see how the day progressed.

this climb starts off fairly lightly before hitting a more consistent grade which then continues pretty much to where we turn off at the entrance to john forrest national park (jfnp).  there was a decent group that set the pace and i held on for as long as i could.  there were no surges or anything, but i just didn’t really have the legs to go with them.  with about 10 riders in front of me there was no point in trying to catch up as i would blow all my reserves to bridge, then get spat out again.  i noticed a couple of riders had gone off the front of the group and this may have broken things up a bit. 

looking back i found myself pretty much halfway between the two main groups.  i decided to just to set my own pace and try to stay away from any chasers.  i didn’t make up much ground on the guys in front and bruce was starting to gain on me from behind.  i upped the effort slightly over the last couple of hundred metres to make sure he didn’t catch me.

the riders that broke away from the front group were mike b and matty u with mike taking off towards the end to drop matt.

the top five places for greenmount went to –

mike b, matt u, steve h, jerry g, anna k.

we waited for all the riders to make their way up before jerry and mel took off with brodie’s dad who came out with us today.  they needed a quicker day so were heading up gooseberry instead.  we continued on through the rough roads of jfnp towards our next climb.  this road is really crap and i can remember riding the old full aluminium cannondale along it and getting the crap shaken out of me.  davina went off the front to stretch her legs but came back into the fold after a few minutes.  john managed to set the pace well and full credit to him for just plugging away for the majority of that section of road.  we eventually made it to the foot of the oxley climb and started the next climb.

this is a fairly short climb, especially compared to greenmount but it has a section of close to 13% just to make sure that you are concentrating.  we had just passed that section and heading around the corner when i looked around to see who was there.  i realised that i was in the front group and suddenly felt good about climbing again.  it was hurting but sustainable so i though that i may be able to hang in for a while.  that is just the moment that mr bonner attacked with such ferocity that it forced an expletive from my lips.  i had nothing and just watched matty and steve jump on mikes wheel and disappear up the road.  medium alistar and jules were still in front of me and stepped up the pace a bit, but not enough to catch the front three.  credit to jules as he is climbing quite well.  maybe an indication that he should pack that footy thing in and concentrate on riding.

that was pretty much the way it finished too.

oxley – mike b, matty u, big-ring hedley, jules j and medium alistar.

a quick regroup and we headed to parkerville shop for a quick break.  at first there were only a couple of riders heading in but soon half the group followed and grabbed some refreshments.  the road to stoneville is really nice. smooth road and very little traffic.  so much better than how we used to negotiate part of great eastern hwy again.  however the bit from stoneville to mundaring is a bit tighter and with a bit more traffic.  we needed to go single file and even then the traffic was reluctant to come past.  we came out of it unscathed and had a quick regroup in mundaring to endure the group was all together.

our next regroup point was going to be a long way away and there was a nice decent plus a number of steps in the climb before we actually finished.

the group took off quite fast and revelled in the smooth downhill section.  there is a small kick up before the remainder of the decent towards the weir and i attacked as the group slowed to start the climb.  i almost made it to the top, but just ran out of puff before the crest.  this allowed medium alistar to come up alongside and we worked together for a bit.  the gap wasn’t enough and and soon we were joined by the majority of the group all bombing down the hill.  as we weaved our way around the roundabout and twisty roads to the base of the weir, matty and steve moved to the front to try to get a jump on bonner before the climb started.  it is a long climb with a number of smaller climbs after the main drag out of the weir.  in between there are a few flat or slightly downhill sections to give you a break, but also can allow the leaders to get further away. 

the first section is pretty steep and really takes a lot out of you.  there were a number of riders up the road in front of me and new that i couldn’t catch them on the climb.  i set my own pace and picked up a few riders on the way.  by the time i reached the top, i had kind of resigned myself to not catching those up the road.  there was a group coming up behind me and i jumped on behind davina, lisa and a couple of others.  they seemed willing to chase so i joined in to help out.  we managed to pick up a few others on the way and soon we had a decent size group.  i asked some of the others how many more riders were up the road and was surprised when i heard that it was only 2.  bonner and matty.  looking around there was still quite a few points up for grabs and i wondered how well i could go when it came down to the last climb.  as we approached it, shao said that he would give me a leadout for the final climb.  before it started, i noticed that the group was not actually working too well and they were leaving one guy on the front for a long time.  this usually meant that everyone was getting tired and didn’t want to work anymore.

shao took off just after the hill started and i jumped on his wheel.  he put in a great effort and we managed gap the rest of them quite quickly.  i looked back a couple of times, but we had committed now so had to give it my all.  shao eventually slowed so i came around and continued to keep the pressure on.  i left it in the big ring and tried to push for as long as i could to keep away.  i was constantly looking over my shoulder but it seemed that no-one wanted to chase.  my heart rate was close to 190bpm for the rest of the climb but i could see matty in the distance so tried to keep the effort up.  looked back enough to know that i would not be caught so backed off enough so the i would not blow up.  the next two positions were not contested as the group just crossed the line in dribs and drabs.

asher rd – mike b, matty u, pete m, track brett, steve h.

the final climb of the day was almost upon us and there was just a nice decent to negotiate first.  i was leading the group out when davina and young ben came flying past.  i stepped up to join them but ben sat up after a while.  d and i worked together to take up most of the decent, but i ran out of legs about halfway and had to sit up as well.  the group came down in little packs and a few riders got in front of me before the start of the final climb. 

not thinking that i had the legs for a surge and attack, i decided to do one big se effort and left it in the 53×14 for a seated climb.  it was a slow climb but the main group didn’t actually get that far away from me.  in hindsight i probably could have picked up some points, but when i saw mike and matty take off from the start, i thought that i how the climb would go.

mundaring – mike b, matty u, anna k, track brett, ben w.

coffee was a bit slow, but the merchant had no room for us today.  the nice weather has it’s downside as more people want to come out and do brunch.  there was only a few that stayed for coffee and even less that ordered it.  even so, it certainly delayed things for us and the guys had to scull so we could get away in time.

the ride home was interesting.  the decent down welshpool was held up by the wind making for a slow top speed.  davina and john bombed to the bottom and were miles ahead by the time the rest of us reached the traffic lights.  we had not seen the jacobs brothers at the top so pulled into the school to make sure that they got down alright.  it took about three light changes at the hwy before they finally rolled up.  each had a different excuse. one said that the other had seen his gay boyfriend in kalmunda while the other said that the first had trouble on the decent and had to hold his hand as they came down at 40km/h.  ah brothers. 

along welshpool rd it became obvious who still had some legs and a bunch of us just couldn’t go with the group as the pace increased slightly.  we caught up again at the lights of maccas, but only because they waited.  as we turned onto berwick st, davina and lisa took off with john and josh.  john turned off home bu the rest of us really had no legs to chase them down.  we caught them a the next set of lights, but lost them straight away.  it seemed that the girls were making a serious effort to put the rest of us well and truly in the hurt box.  it was working.  the rest of us made it into the carpark after quite a few minutes of rest time at the traffic lights.

so, a great ride today and even though only a handful made it to the end, it was a good solid hit out.  next week will see a few of us heading back to pinjarra for the next cyclo-sportif but there still should be a hills ride on regardless.

saturday 26th sept – hale rd

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ride report by peter.

 

with a sunny but cold morning predicted i was expecting a decent turn out for the ride this morning and was not disappointed.  there would have been between 50 – 60 riders which meant that we took up quite a lot of road length once we got going.

with the help of yas, michael and chris i managed to get my bike back on the road, but dr paul thinks that maybe i cannot be trusted with a baum any more.

we headed off in the direction of shepperton rd and snaked our way along to welshpool rd.  a very uneventful start but you could feel the wind increasing as we got closer to the escarpment.  i was hanging off the back of the group with mike just before we turned onto hale rd and helped a couple of struggling riders.  this was a big diversion from my game plan which was to sit in and do no work so i had something to get over ridgehill.  once we turned onto hale the crosswind made it very difficult to find any shelter and we were a fair way back from the pack.  mike waved me on indicating that he would take over shepherd duties and i tried to make my way back to the group. 

i was not sure what instructions had been shouted, but the group was approaching tonkin hwy which is where it would split.  some others had splintered off the back and i caught them before coming around to try to get them back to the group.  the crosswinds made that difficult and a few were dropped off.  i made it across to the back of the group just as the lights changed with alistar slipping in behind me. 

it looked like the split didn’t happen and the usual suspects were not driving the pace.  i spied a few of them sitting pretty in the main pack and conserving energy for the hill and long run home.  i was sitting in the last ten or so riders when a car split the pack at a round-about.  this made us chase for probably half (if not more) of hale rd further depleting my limited energy supplies.  between russell, shao and myself we managed to keep the pace up and just reached the group as the lights changed to cross kalamunda rd.  the main group turned left and apparently regrouped to allow those caught up in he crosswind catch back up.  the fast group headed towards ridgehill.

i knew that i should move forward before the hill or i would spend the rest of the ride chasing, but just didn’t have the legs for the effort.  the pack surged and swamped slower riders and i did manage to move up a bit, but could see a pack of about 10 strong crest the hill quite a way in front.  by the time i reached helena valley rd there was young ben, snuggles, dr mark and myself.  a group of about 4 were a bit further up the road and the main ten were further again (but in sight).  we worked together and caught the next group as well as some stragglers that fell from the front group.  with a bit of vocal motivation (read: yelling) we managed to get the group working well together doing 15 sec turns before peeling off.  the usual method of riding till you die (or being left at the front till you die) isn’t really sustainable.

by the time we reached guilford, the group was still just in front of us.  i was hoping for the lights to slow them, but unfortunately they caught us and let them get away.  by the time we stopped at bassendean the group behind had caught up giving us more numbers to spread the load.  unfortunately this didn’t happen and the roll through was less than effective.  people were either hurting or unwilling to keep the roll through happening so it would die after only 5 or 6 riders came past. 

some more motivational yelling and we got it working a bit better through the rolling hills of bayswater and into mt lawley.  we managed to get every single light which was the most frustrating bit.  probably a bit too frustrating for a couple of riders that ran the red near mercy hospital.  it was very red and most of us in front had stopped so no excuse.  maybe a 1 week suspension from the tribunal would be on the cards…

the group rolled on towards east perth but there was no way that we would reach the front group.  there was a sprint for the minor placings but i had run out of legs by then.  service was a bit slow with such a big group and i had to scull my hot chocolate to make it home before i got into trouble.  all up though a good ride and i do enjoy the chase home especially with a tailwind.

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