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 😉

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

” I said what about breakfast with SPR”  (think Breakfast at Tiffany’s tune!)

….Ok well its that time of year again,  SPR breakfast Saturday 19th September.  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 cool prizes and I am sure Ben’s counting has now reached higher than, I quote, “nummer four”  so good news for the other 50 odd people that will be there, your number could be called!!!! 

 Only $10 a head to be paid on the day EVERYONE WELCOME! Please RSVP by 16/09 either by posting a comment or emailing me to me so that we can have approximate numbers for catering.

lwood@claytonutz.com

Mark de Castro has kindly opened his house up for our festivities so if your not planning on riding with the group I can email you the address.

See you there… Lisa

Report by Julian 

A good gathering this week despite the forecast of showers and it was something old something new with a few old faces returning, together with a couple of newer riders.  Pre start discussion focused on bowel movements so it could only get better from here! 

Nothing exciting to report on the trip out along Orrong Road and Welshpool Rd.  We picked up Mike B along the way and everyone was in good spirits.  Once the climbing started Mike, Steve and Matt broke away and set the pace.  Matt dropped off up new Lesmurdie Rd and was overtaken by Ben and myself.  There was also a couple of other groups on the road but no problems were had on the climb.  At the end of the climb Mike claimed the points from Steve (NB. points summary will follow at end this week) 

We bade farewell to Brendan and headed off to the Observatory.  The wet roads meant the initial descent was kept in check and there were also a few gum-nuts on the road.  Starting the second hill, Matt and Steve set the pace and were soon joined by Mike and I.  We dropped Matt and I was determined to hang on this time.  By the time we reached the turn to the finish, we were still together and then Mike attacked.  I tried to go with him but Steve dropped off and gave me a push to keep going.  I dropped off about half way to the top and contented myself with second.  The rest of the group followed in good time and were still in high spirits at the re-group.  Stu was happily telling war stories from the Timor ride, which kept us entertained.  Peter gave a pep talk about the Mundaring Weir Rd climb and we were soon off through Pickering Brook, again taking it easy on the wet roads. 

The climb to Kalamunda was hotly contested.  Oliver and Alistair kept the pace early until Mike, T-Mobile Alistair (my new name to differentiate the two Alistairs) and myself put a space in the field.  We kept a good pace up the hill with Mike doing most of the work and in the last 100 m T mobile Alistair slipped around to claim the points.  My time of 7.55 was a 1 second PB and has fully justified my decision to get a new bike.  Jerard was very happy at the top as he claimed a point (and is now ahead of Ryan on the table!).  

Stu and Mike D left us for early coffee whilst the rest of the group went down the zigzag quite cautiously, due the amount of gravel on the road.  Big Matthew had a puncture on the descent but waved us on.  Back on Kalamunda Rd Matt and Steve peeled of home leaving the hard core to tackle the final climb.  Mike B and T-mobile Alistair broke away early as I started to struggle.  Ben came past me but I managed to hold his wheel and get my second wind.  We caught T-mobile Alistair and the three of us swapped positions until Ben made a break just before the roundabout.  Summoning one last effort I reeled him in and finished off the climb.  Oliver, who had 2 sixth finishes put in a good last climb to claim a point and make the day worth while. 

We initially headed for the Merchant but Jerard said Paris Brest was quiet so we ended up there.  Service again was very slow (30 minutes to get ordered) but it gave us plenty of time for discussion.  Paul, Peter, Jerard and Lorraine (who joined us at the café) sat up one end and discussed all thing Garmin, whilst the rest of the wondered what all the fuss was about.  Having refueled, on the stroke of 10.45 we were off and we left Kalamunda in the sunshine.  By the time we were down the hill a light mist was falling and this kept up pretty much all the way home.  The strengthening westerly wind also slowed us down but a good work out was had by all.  

KOM Summary. 

Climb 1 – 1.Mike B,  2. Steve,  3. Julian,  4. Ben,  5. T Mobile Alistair 

Climb 2 – 1.Mike B,  2. Julian,  3. Steve,  4. Ben,  5. Matt 

Climb 3 – 1. T Mobile Alistair,  2. Mike B,  3. Julian,  4. Ben,  5. Jerard 

Climb 4 – 1.Mike B,  2. Julian,  3. Ben,  4. T Mobile Alistair,  5. Oliver

Main Group
No Re- Group.
For members of the main group on Saturday, did you think I was going to let this one go thru to the keeper? We left the fast group at Risely and headed for Freo , I dropped back to see who was with us and how the group would go it looked ok with a couple of new riders that I had not seen before but looked like they would hang in on the ride.
I asked for the group to regroup at the car park on leach h’way at the cemetery. This has been a challenge for the group the last two times we have travelled this route, these are men who actually went to high school, with one rider saying he did not even see the cemetery. I told the new guys that we would regroup near the top of the second hill and not to panic should they fall off the back during these two hills. Three guys did fall back I went back to see how they were going then looked up and see the group ride straight past the car park. We were then 200 meters behind when the lights changed and off went the group with us left there and then had to chase. This one I could take but then online casino’s again near the end of the run along Cottesloe I tried my luck again asking for a stop around the bend at the first street to the left one we have stop at probably thirty times while riding SPR and Bikeforce. Once again two guys had dropped back.
James pulled in to this street and waited for us. I’m at a loss to understand why the group did not stop to regroup or why no one spoke up out of the whole group.
We advertise the Main group as a group that will regroup and of course this will not be needed every time and if riders are too far off the pace we will not regroup. This is a call to be made by someone and if anyone does not want to regroup they only have to say. If a regroup does interfere with your plans then the Fast Group may be the one for you or if working harder is what you want you need to go to the front time and time again that will work everytime. The potential for anyone to work harder is there and is always there it is just not about the sprint at the end.
Even though I spoke about it at the lights I felt it needed to be reinforced because we have all ridden with groups that are full of a bunch of tosser’s, that is not a reputation we would like.
The ride up thru Jutland parade was interesting with some serious position changing, quite exciting really?
Nev

Report by Paul.

Usually this time of year I do the half marathon at the City to Surf, but this year due to conflict of schedules I couldn’t make it. But when I saw that the Wandi Masters Classic Race was on and open to anyone 30 then I had an idea. My parents happen to live in Auburn Grove which is a 10 min ride from the race course, so a sleep over was on the cards for me and my kids. It was an opportunity for my kids to get down and watch dad race.

I entered B grade (8 laps for a total of 70 km) but was a bit nervous as the only other B grade race I had done this year had been a West Coast masters race at an undulating Pickering Brook and the Wandi course is flat and fast with it most suitable to the strong power racer, which I’m not. I looked at the race list on Friday and there were only 18 riders in B so there would be absolutely nowhere to hide.

The great thing about this race was that B & D grades didn’t start until 1020am so no early start. So had breakfast with the kids and got my last minute coaching instructions from my 10 year old daughter Georgia – my instructions were to go slow the first lap so I don’t use all my energy and go as fast as I could on the last lap to win…simple.

About an 8km ride to the start to sign-in and then a ½ lap warm up to get a feel for the run into the finish line. The final 2-3km were slightly downhill with a sweeping left-hand bend 500m from the finish, then a straight, flat 500m sprint for the line.

I caught up with Lorraine and a few other riders before the start, with whispers of a few ‘A’ graders slipping into B didn’t settle any nerves I had. The call finally went up and away we rolled…and it started quick! Strung out into single file even before the first turn some 1-2km up the road. The guys were obviously keen as we were doing 42-44km/hr down the back half of the course with an Elite Racing rider already breaking off the front. The rider was eventually pulled back in close to the end of the first lap.

It was evident early on that there were three small teams trying to work over the group and they were watching each other closely, taking turns in making breaks with at least one to two attempted breaks on every lap, but every break was eventually pulled in. Lots of poker being played, in fact it was the most tactical race I have been involved in so far…great fun to be a part of. I kept out of trouble and sat mostly in the front 4-8 riders with the occasional turn on front as I wanted to make sure I at least had a chance to grab a wheel when the big breaks went. With my kids watching on the sidelines at the start/finish line I also made sure I came past a couple of times on front just so they could see dad at the front.

So the final lap came and we were all still pretty much together with only a couple being dropped off the back. It was a real cat and mouse game between the three ‘teams’ and none of them wanted to be on the mobile casino front to take turns as everyone was waiting for the final sprint. My plan was to hang on until the final 500m and if I was fortunate enough to get into a good position I might be lucky to finish in the top half. Most of the guys were bigger and stronger than me so a flat out sprint was not going to be in my favour. Heading up the back straight for the last time I was second wheel and holding the speed at around 40km/hr. The lead guy pulled off and I decided to take a turn on the front but not to put in too much as I thought there would be a kick coming from behind soon. After a minute or so I looked back and realised that there were two of us up front with a gap appearing to the rest of the peloton. I keep up a steady pace and the second guy came around and asked how strong I felt and whether I wanted to make a break…so we did. We pushed up it up to 45km/hr and held it there for a couple of minutes swapping turns and realised we were actually pulling away from the group. They were too worried about watching each other and we now thought we may actually be in with a sniff. So head down with about 3-4km to go, up a couple of inclines which made my legs scream at me, then slightly downhill, all the time swapping turns every 10 seconds and constantly looking back to see whether they were coming…still no sign of them. Into the last left-hand bend and I couldn’t hold the last kick that my fellow rider put in…my legs and lungs were screaming and all the time I had that awful feeling of ‘they are going to catch me just before the line’. But they didn’t and I hung on to take 2nd.

But the real pleasure for me today was being able to race in front of my kids – they think I’m number one no matter where I finish.

On a side note while looking at the race results I also came across the current WA Cycling 2009 Road point tables. We should be very proud as a club to know we have some SPR some riders doing very well.
Female Rider of the Year – Rebecca is currently 2nd, Lorraine 3rd, Anna 5th, Holly 6th, Nicole 7th
Masters Championship Series – Stu Gee is currently 2nd, Michael Bonner 7th
WA Team Championship Series Support/B Grade – South Perth Cycle Club is currently 1st !!

Report by Julian

 There were about 15 of us gathered at the car park for the Sunday ride.  No doubt the City to Surf kept the numbers down and thankfully the temperature was a couple of degrees warmer than Saturday.  Despite the low numbers a couple of new faces were present and introductions were soon made.  Stu came down to see us off on his way to get the paper.  He had returned bloodied and bruised from Timor – courtesy of stray dog (no doubt more will be told about that) and had a chat for a few minutes before we motivated ourselves to got going.  We picked up Mike Bonner on Douglas Ave and soon were taking turns on the front on the way down Manning Rd and Albany Highway. 

I kept myself amused by telling Alistair (a Kahuna virgin) about the difficulty of the climbs ahead, to the extent that he approached Mills Rd with some trepidation.  The climb began and I decided to put my new bike to the test and went to the front.  Joe, Damir and Matthew followed and soon we were joined by Mike.  Mike and I broke away about half way up, before Mike dropped me on the last of steep bits.  I held it together on the final bit but the damage was done.  Matthew, Judd and Joe followed in behind with everyone else making their own pace.  At the top, the sprint group went directly to coffee, resulting in the group being reduced to about 12.  

KOM 1 – 1.Mike B,  2. Julian,  3. Matthew,  4. Judd,  5. Joe 

As usual, the Urch Rd descent was quick and the Peet Rd ascent slow.  I’m slowly getting to detest this hill less and today it felt pretty good.  Together with Mike, Steve (back on his first hills ride in over 6 months), Matthew, Joe (I think that was it) the pace was up on the way to the roundabout and the final climb to Roleystone.  I made a break half way up and dropped everyone except Mike. And he made me pay on the last section, leaving me behind.  Steve finished fast but I managed to hold him off for second.  The highlight of the re-group was watching Melvyn coming up the hill, closely followed by a kid on a BMX in jeans and a hoodie.  It looked set for a gripping finish and didn’t disappoint.  Melvyn got it by half a wheel, to the general cheers of the rest of the group and the hoodie kid rode off in search of new challenges.  

KOM 2 – 1.Mike B,  2. Julian,  3. Steve,  4. Matthew,  5. Joe 

We set off down to Brookton Highway and turned right for the descent almost back to Albany Highway.  At the bottom Judd and one other didn’t fancy another climb up the Kahuna so they headed back home.  The rest of up re-grouped for the more challenging of the 2 Kahuna ascents.  The steep sections quickly sorted out the group with Mike, getting away from me with Steve behind also getting a small break on the rest.  Alistair found his climbing legs and put in a good effort but couldn’t get to Matthew.  Pretty much everyone made it up the hill without much suffering – even Peter didn’t look too shattered at the top despite recent illness.  

KOM 3 – 1.Mike B,  2. Julian,  3. Steve,  4. Matthew,  5. Alistair 

Melvyn decided his triumph at Roleystone would not be bettered so he left us with his head held high, whilst the rest of us headed towards Kalamunda.  One good thing about having three climbs close together is that the longer ride to the last climb is a good chance to get the legs feeling better and to talk to others.  Daniel and Joe, two of the new guys were enjoying themselves and Brett and Anna were also hanging in there.  Peter and Steve dropped of the back for a chat and Carl followed them.  We all came together at Pickering Brook for the last hurrah through Bickley Valley before the final climb. 

One we hit Mundaring Weir Rd I decided to put the foot down and try to set a time.  Damir and Alistair followed but after the first part of the climb I managed to shake them.  I then noticed the shadow of Mike Bonner behind me and tried to maintain the pace.  Kindly, Mike decided to sit in behind me and so by the last little rise to the still absent 50 km/h sign, I was feeling pretty wobbly.  Predictably I was spat out by Mike in the finishing run but managed a 7.59, which I was pretty happy with.  The others followed in various intervals until at last we all reached the roundabout. 

KOM 4 – 1.Mike B,  2. Julian,  3. Alistair,  4. Damir,  5. Matthew 

A vote was taken and we headed off for coffee at the Merchant, where Simon and Brett had just settled in after finishing a mountain bike ride.  We sat outside and once again enjoyed very good service – my hot chocolate, ordered after Carl’s take way coffee arrived first, although points were lost as there were no marshmallows.  They also let themselves down by having mostly male wait staff this week. 

An uneventful descent back to South Perth followed with riders dropping off at regular intervals to head home.  By the time we arrived back the boatshed we were down to 4 and a very good ride was had by all.  The winter rides have now concluded and with spring starting next week everyone’s thoughts should turn to hills, hills and more hills.  I look forward to seeing big groups out in the next few weeks as the warmer weather returns.