Race Report by Jarrad

After having foregone Saturday’s regular group ride for a nice, light, practice session, we were confident. The team of Myself, Daniel, Joseph and Steve were wanting to put it to the A Team. A reasonably decent warm-up under the very welcomed SPR tent got the spirits up and provided a good opportunity to show the latest in technology. Steve’s Polycarbonate-Silicon composite Vibration-dampening aero-bars ensuring that we were at the forefront of bike-technology (bike frames must be next off the production line).

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At exactly (give or take a few minutes) 0911 hours, we were off.

Once up to speed, we began rolling in formation at approximate 20 second intervals. I say ‘we’, but in reality, it should read, “everyone but me”, for I subconsciously felt that I needed to save my energy for sometime later in the race, and decided that I liked holding Steve’s wheel

so much that I’ll give it a little love tap while taking one arm off the bars to change gears.

The next part happened rather quickly, but a combination of the wet road, one arm off the aero bars and a clash of wheels culminated in a Denis-Menchov-Rome-TT@Giro-2009-esque spectacular (this may be a little exaggerated), skidding along the ground at somewhere North of 45 kph. The sounds of scraping carbon-fibre-along-pavement filled the air, and a few seconds later I came to a stop. Very graciously Steve, Jo and Dan stopped and waited to for me to set my gear, chase down my bidon, and get going.

Back up to speed and we were getting back into the rhythm, and within 20 or so seconds of resuming our race we had completed………..1000 metres. It was about another 500-1000 metres that the Elite Racing cycles team made their way past us, which from my calculations (completely forgetting the events of the previous 90 seconds) meant that they were FLYING!!! We gave them space however, it appeared shortly after that we were going catch them (how did we just catch a team which had made up a minute in 2kms – I was asking myself?) and we moved out to pass.

It was at this stage that one must note the similarities between the SPR and the Elite Racing colours. Once past Elite, our team was strung out and a little confusion ensued. It became evident after the (metaphorical) dust had settled that from the two teams of 4 riders, Elite, whom had again re-passed us, were down to just three, and ourselves were also down to three riders having dropped Daniel.

The next ten kilometres went by relatively quickly with Steve, Jo and myself rolling over, and (thankfully) without (further) incident. I began to notice a few things out of the ordinary though, things which perhaps can be attributed to the earlier incident. My once-white bar tape had now turned a nice hue of reddish-pink (fuschia?), along with a rather searing pain in my elbow and my legs, which I was hoping would pick up a bit of a tan, had some lovely new designs on them. I also became aware that approximately 60 percent of my left bum cheek was exposed (that’s not aero), and much of it also without skin (that IS aero), on the plus side, we’d kept a pretty consistent 20-odd second gap to the Elite team, which at times looked to even be closing.

Steve and Joseph were going strong at the 15 km mark, and I was becoming aware that I was operating solely on adrenaline and with somewhat compromised equipment (not to mention modesty).

At the turn-around, after a little confusion, adrenaline had worn off and my body packed it in and the pain kicked it up a notch (actually about 11 notches). Through the gallant efforts of team mates Steve and Joseph, we were back up to speed. A short while after the turn we saw the A-Team coming up (yes by this stage we were hallucinating throw-backs to 80s TV action-series) rather quickly and also saw Daniel in the new SPR/Elite hybrid team.

Both Steve and Joseph then rotated the lead while dragging my failing (and exposed) behind along for a ride and with what must have been around 5 kms to go B-A, Face-man, Murdock and Hannibal (yes that’s the A-Team) came flying past us with a somewhat relevant “howdy-doody” from Nico (although “I love it when a plan comes together” may have been more relevant, or maybe – “I pity tha fool!”).

With a final dig we pressed on to the finish and in a fashion similar to a 1980s Delorean with Michael J Fox at the helm, we managed to bend the laws of quantum physics and space-time to finish faster than than Mr T and the crew (what the???). Steve and Jo must be given all the credit for dragging me along through much of the return leg and I do hope that in future I’ll be able to return the favour (although without the incidents). Apologies to Steve and Jo, as I’m sure I somewhat ruined your morning and to Daniel as I’m sure you would’ve given a better return showing than I did.

Special thanks to Siobhan (apologies for the spelling) and Lorraine for patching me up, particularly given the location requiring patching, and massive credit to all the SPR guys Pete, Chris, Melvyn and anyone else I forgot for the tent, the help, the photography and the food. I look forward to the next event and promise to stay on two wheels!!

Also apologies for the dodgy A-Team references.

Our Team – Nicole, Jill and I

Getting the car sorted on Saturday night, bag of clothes, wind trainer and bike in the car……. snuggling down on the sofa for a chilled out evening….9.15pm f*+k not got my aerobars on the bike….9.45pm (had to find the things!) all good and back on the couch! 

After a brief stop to pick some wheels up for Davina we were on the road, sun was shining and the clouds were around but there was still the hope that the weather forcast was wrong and that the clouds would stay away…

On arrival in Pinjarra it wasnt long before a) the heavens opened and b) SPR crew started to arrive.  Preparation time over it was time to get on the start line.

9.03am – we’re off.  Our aim was to hold the Plan B ladies off until the 5km mark (they were the next group off and I knew they were wanting to hunt everyone down!!)  we started off strong and hit the 5km mark….no Plan B – YAY-  I managed in between breathes to get out a “excellent work ladies – no Plan B” before tucking in again.  Between 6-7km all you could hear from behind was wooosh wooosh woooosh – the sound of multiple disc wheels…they had caught us – Davina yelled out some words of encouragement as she went past knowing that our little goal was the 5km mark and as they rode off it was time to get back in our rythm.  30 sec turns were working really well our communication was fantastic.  As we turned on the first right which was a short hill I knew from there that any type of incline was not going to be in my favour – Jill was looking strong on the hills and dragged me up.  With a full training week in me my legs were definitley being challenged today. 

We eventually hit the turn around and I always get a little nervy when they are tight but we got there and excellerated out well.  This then started what I like to call an inconvenient incline in the road – not steep but just enough to make you push extra hard to maintain your speed… there was another incline that was a little greater and my legs just started screaming at me – at this point I was in the middle with Nicole in front and Jill behind – Jill yelled out something which resembled “suck it up princess” which I did and kept in the mix. 

When we got back onto the home straight there was a head wind – Nicole had been pretty solid through out – Jill great on the inclines and me – the head wind was my baby and of course the thought that there was about 8-10k’s to go also helped!!  Over the railway tracks and the roll throughs just started getting more frequent and productive the speed had increased again  – the 1km mark came and we stuck our heads down and dug deep.

All in all a really good ride by all – we all had different strengths and I felt we utilised them well, communication was great and to get 3rd was awesome.

 Lisa  😉

Race report by Rob

Saturday 19 – 6:45pm (The night before)

“Hello?”

“Rob. It’s Peter.”

“Hey mate, what’s up?”

“You’ve registered us in the Open Mens category, not Masters. What the ****?”

Sunday 20 – 7:30am – Pinjara Arrival

So, Melvin said we can only use the word that relates to the morning being damp, soaked, sodden, soggy, soppy, dripping or my favourite, moist. Anyway, you get the picture. After the requisite ribbing on my obvious error in registering our team, we head over the pub to see if we can’t “sort it out”. The kind lady indicates that a brief chat with ‘Geoff’ should see me making amends. Said chat with the very obliging ‘Geoff’ and he said, “I’ll see what we can do….”. Excellent. Paul wasn’t convinced. “It’ll be fine” I say.

With there being no space under the SPR tent (12 by my count) I did the only thing that made sense as the heavens opened up and chucked yet another shower down on us – I went and hid in the car and ate my Special K.

Upon passing over us, and while I proceeded to get changed into my knicks, Tanya kindly offered to put my numbers on my jersey. Just as she started, she asks “Are you sure this is your jersey and not mine?” Doh!!!

“Pete?”

“Yeh?”

“Got a spare Size M mens jersey in your car?”

“…………………”

“Thanks Mate. I’ll wash it before I give it back….”

Soooo, since there was STILL no room under the tent, and with about 20 minutes until our allotted departure time, I headed out onto the road to see about getting the legs warmed up. It had fined up somewhat and actually looked like it may even give us a break for the race. Excellent. 5 minutes out and back – legs good to go; lets cook this chook!

Pete, Stu, Paul and I headed over the start and waited to be called forward. Watching those in front of us, we could see a number of teams had missed their time and had to scramble fast to get going – not the best sign for a State title event being late for your assigned time!

Just as we were called forward, a young guy from the Peel club came over and indicated to Pete that he’d finally managed to reassign us to the Masters category so our time will be recorded accordingly. See! No dramas!!

5,4,3,2,1…GO!

The four of us rolled out with me on the front, the Pete, Paul and Stu. We’d decided to do 30 on the front then pull off so I got up into the big ring and started to set the pace. You don’t want to push too hard to start, but you also don’t want to leave anything in the tank either, so it’s all about trying to find a good pace and rythym and then settle in and push.

The first 10km were relatively uneventful with each of us rolling through our turns nicely and feeling our way as a team. Stu was pulling some slightly longer turns – obviously the effects of Timor are becoming a distant memory – which was nice as it helped to allow the heart rate to drop back down to a more manageable 165bpm before the next turn.

I was on the front when the first incline came along and was feeling pretty good so kept the pace on. Stu and I crested first and when I turned around it look like the effort may have taken a bit more out of Paul and Pete. We eased up a bit to make sure we got back into formation though as it was working really well. One of the main things with a team event is that working together is a lot more effective than pushing big solo efforts and smashing each other.

The next 20 to the turnaround was a little harder as the wind was coming in at 45 degrees. We formed a nice echelon across the width of the road, but in that formation you don’t get quite the same sort of rest as you do when you get a full draft. We also had to be mindful of the other teams on their return journey who had their echelon’s formed in reverse, so you end up passing pretty close. With about 1km to go to the marker I looked over my shoulder to see that the effort had taken its toll on Pete and he’d started to fall off Paul’s wheel. At the marker we regrouped and got going, but with Stu on the front and the wind in our face, Pete decided enough was enough and bid us adieu.

So Stu, Paul and I re-set the pace and kicked off. It wasn’t long though that Paul called that he was maxing out at about 185bpm and wasn’t going to last if we held the pace. I dropped back and lent a hand as we crested a couple of rises while the 3 of us worked together to figure out what a sustainable pace was going to be for the last 15kms. Stu was doing most of the work on the front, Paul held his wheel and I played sheep dog to make sure we maintained a tight formation. That seemed to work really well with Stu taking most of the headwind full on with me being able to take a couple of shorter turns to provide a breather,  we averaged what I think was about 39-40 for the last 10km.

The last 1000m was great and there is something really special about coming back into town in a tight echelon formation with the spectators watching on. The three of us crossed together and congratulated each other for the effort. Legs were burning and heart was pounding – but what a blast! I really loved it – the TT seems to suit my style of riding a bit better than the standard format of racing. Doing it as part of a team just adds to the fun & I’d recommend it to all.

Since there’s going to be six write ups for the event I’ll leave it there. Check out WA Cycling for the results. SPR on top of the Support Teams….HAVE TO BE!!??

the results from the state team time trial are up.  the spr women’s team managed to get a bronze medal in the event so a great job by them.  the two men’s open teams were very evenly matched with only 2 second separating them.  the masters teams rounded out a great showing by spr today.

it was a great sight to see all the spr jerseys around the sunshade today and i think it made a great impression on the rest of the competitors.  especially when we could continue to spin on the trainers under the tent while it was bucketing down and most others were hiding in their cars.  so congratulations to all that competed today and also to chris, melvyn and lorraine that made the effort to come down for support.

well another three months has rolled around and we are having a breakfast again.  this time mark has kindly offered his new patio for us to christen and as the weather forecast is for a half decent day (well in comparison to what we have been having) it may work out ok.  we will be having a fairly easy day and will not split but regroup after a couple of key points (mosman park hill being one of them).  marks house is in booragoon so you may need to work out how to get home afterwards, but you should have plenty of lorraines carbo goodies inside of you to power you home.  i will work out a route for the novice group to get you to the breakfast too.

south perth rouleurs saturday breakfast ride v2

sunday will see 23 of us line up for the state team time trial.  i think that this will have to be the best turn out to an event that we have had so far.  2 open men’s teams, 1 open women’s team and 3 masters men’s teams will all be heading down to pinjarra to take on the 42 km course.  hopefully the weather will be nice to us and not have a repeat of last year where it was blowing a gale. 

for those that are staying and still want to do a hills ride i have mapped out one that keeps close to kalamunda to give you a few options.  up gooseberry, down the zig-zag, up kalamunda, through to bickley and back up mundaring weir rd.  only three climbs but i am sure that gooseberry makes up for it.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 08 (gooseberry & kalamunda & bickley)