Ride Report – Sunday July 12

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Report by Julian 

Firstly, an apology for not getting around to doing the ride report for last week.  A combination of school holiday leave, visiting relatives from Brisbane and abject laziness prevented me from completing this important task.  The July points table was updated on Friday and will be again, after you’ve read this missive. 

Anyway, back to this week.  The day started with Jerry, dressed in his Caisse D’epargne outfit, awaiting the arrival of someone in an FDJ outfit so he re-enact Luis-Leon Sanchez’s win over Sandy Casar in Stage 8.  Luckily for Jerry, I had recently purchased some new FDJ knicks so the battle lines were set before we’d even started.  The fact that it was very cold did nothing to dampen the spirits of the 20 odd riders that turned up.  Neither did the fact than most riders had been up rather late watching Le Tour or, in two cases drinking too much, gossiping and having pillow fights.  Peter then surprised all by arriving on time for his ride briefing.  Instructions were dispensed, the short cuts were established, not even Peter could get Lisa and Lorraine to shut up and before we knew we were on our way up Great Eastern Highway. 

Ben and I sat out front at a modest pace and were yelled at for going too quick (we were only trying to keep warm), so we slunk off down the back and left the front-running to others.  During this time Declan informed me of the new points system for the short cut group, such as first to the coffee shop and fastest table service.  I wait with great interest to get further details.  Meanwhile, Rob, Lorraine, Peter and Brendan kept the pace going until we got to Ridge Hill Road, with the only excitement being avoiding a dead cat in Maida Vale.  We broke up on Ridge Hill Road and the short-cutters turned up the zigzag.  At the bottom of the first climb we re-grouped and faced the challenge of finding privacy for toilet stops.  

The climb up to “Pas-de-la-Darlington Rd” went fairly smoothly.  Brendan, Jerry, Peter, Ben, Rob and myself got away and there were various attacks.  Just before Darlington Road Rob noticed his bars were moving and sent out a request for an Allen key at the top.  Once it was confirmed someone had the right tools, we did the honourable thing and attacked again, leaving him to struggle behind.  Brendan continued to force the pace but I got him on the last climb and took the points.  Ben, Peter and Jerry rounded out the top 5.  The re-group meant that Rob could do his repairs, whilst everyone else recovered. 

KOM 1 – 1. Julian,  2. Brendan,  3. Ben,  4. Peter,  5. Jerry 

We safely crossed Great Eastern Highway and were soon in the peaceful surrounds of John Forrest National Park.  Although this road is pretty rough, the lack of cars and nice scenery makes it an enjoyable ride.  Paul and Lisa did a bit of the work and we were soon heading for “Alpes du Parkerville” for the second climb.  Regrouping at the bottom of the climb to ensure everyone was present meant that no head start could be gained on the climb.  Brendan, Ben and I made our escape from the pack for the short sharp climb and Brendan put in a good attack near the top to claim the stage.  He was feeling quite happy with his climbing and no doubt his recent engagement propelled him as well.  Rob was also feeling good with his repairs and took 4th spot ahead of Peter.  The re-group here was fairly short owing to everyone climbing very well. 

KOM 2 – 1. Brendan,  2. Julian,  3. Ben,  4. Rob,  5. Peter 

We passed trough Parkerville, Stoneville and Mundaring with incident, although the temperature hadn’t risen significantly.  At the start of Mundaring Weir Road we were joined by Ryan and the push was on during the downhill stage to the weir, followed by the climb to “Col du Asher Road”.  Coming out of the valley, Ben, Ryan, Brendan, Jerry, tall cyclist whose name I didn’t catch sorry, and myself got away and, once the initial steep climb was over, really lifted the pace.  Six riders going for 5 places meant that competition was hot.  Ryan took the spoils followed by Brendan and Jerry, then myself and Ben.  The re-group involved an interesting discussion about loading assorted naughty images, rather than maps, into Garmin computers to relieve the boredom of long rides.  We were also looking forward to the coffee shop, if only for the chance to warm up with a hot drink. 

KOM 3 – 1. Ryan,  2. Brendan,  3. Jerry,  4. Julian,  5. Ben 

The final climb – “Mont 50 km/h Road Sign” – started with me making a break for it but quickly being reeled in by Ryan.  I was surprised no else had followed so Ryan and I settled into a good pace up the climb.  The only harrowing moment came when a car came flying around the corner towards us on the other wrong side of the road and hopefully he slowed down before passing the others.  As expected Ryan took the points but I did jokingly suggest that he should only get half of them considering he missed the two climbs.  The rest of the group followed in and with such a cold morning, no fast times were recorded.  We took over our usual spot outside of the café and discussions mainly involved why SBS 2 can be picked up in South Perth and not Scarborough. 

KOM 4 – 1. Ryan,  2. Julian,  3. Ben,  4. Jerry,  5. Brendan 

The descent back home was uneventful although we lost Paul and Rob in Wattle Grove when Paul answered his phone.  We managed to get through Leach Highway lights without stopping but were then held up by two trains.  I peeled off at George St lights on Berwick St to go home at George St and nearly took Jason with me.  There was quite a head of steam up on the pack so it will be interesting to hear how the final sprint went.  All in all a great Sunday ride, 106 km by the time I arrived home.  Thanks everyone for the company.

Farewell

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Hi Everyone. Just wanted to say a huge thank you to you all. I have really enjoyed being part of this group and so wanted to finally move up to the main group!! But alas family calls me home.. but I will be back. I really love Perth and hope to move back in the future. You are all such a welcoming group and I am going to try and develop something on the Nth side of Canberra like the Rouleurs… there are masses of cyclists that don’t belong to official clubs and it would be great to have such a friendly group like yours. I have also contact the Canberra Vets club which is over 30s and am going to join their very novice road racing group… then I will REALLY know what it is like to be dropped. Cycling with you has increased my confidence and being in Perth has taught me that I am a lot stronger than I thought I was as a person.. so look out Canberra!! Thanks again everyone for your encouragement support yummy brownies and welcome. If any of you are every in Canberra drop me a line libbyoa@bigpond.com would love to catch up and here the news of my second home. Take care all of you Hugs libx

ride routes 11th & 12th july

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the west australian newspaper is doing an article on the popularity of cycling in perth and will be down taking some photos of the group on either saturday or sunday morning.  can i please ask that if you have a spr kit that you wear it as this is a good opportunity for us. 

the kit order is underway so no more orders can be taken.  what you have ordered is shown on the bottom of the team kit page.  make sure this is right and let me know asap if not.

if you didn’t notice, the tour de france is underway and our tipping comp is in full swing.  check out the tour tipping page to see who is tipping well.  hmm.  not me.

the novice group will be doing their thing as usual, but we will be saying farewell to libby who has decided to move back home to canberra.  hopefully the weather will be fine so you can say goodbye.

saturday route will see a race to freo with the main group taking leach and the fast group taking south st.

sunday will take some of the back roads that we don’t often travel before eventually swinging back through mundaring weir and up to coffee.

south perth rouleurs saturday novice ride

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 09 (risley & cott)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 14 (darlington & mundaring)

Main Group

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MAIN GROUP (Hale Road.)
We parted company from the Fast Group on Hale Road I do not think successfully, I was about fourth rider back once I saw members of the above group start to move forward I sat up to wait for other members planning to fine tune their skills within the main group. I watched as Russell went with the group as he was at the front before the split and I thought one cycle-sportif and he thinks he is fifty again; this was the last we would see of him until the coffee shop. The group was split up into just me, then another group then another that had caught the lights. I think it’s a good time to reinforce what Peter said at the Tonkin H’way lights that everyone should be ready at the lights and this would probably mean any set of lights that you must clip in and get going as quickly as possible to get as many thru before the change. The last group was a long way back ,we reformed and were on our way along Hale Road at a good pace staying in close to the side of the road with Christos and one other doing a lot of the work. About three quarters of along something fell from Christos’s bike, he was not sure what it was I then explained it looked like a little black box then he realized his GPS had left and he peeled off to go back and grabbed it. I told him we would wait at Kalamunda road for him and we pulled into the bus stop Doug and a couple went back to see if he needed a tow but along he came, it worked out well as couple of others also caught up. When he came up he said “Gee thanks for waiting “lovely manners. He was casino spiele one of the early riders at Bike Force he has been coming for a long time, I not sure if you know this but his is not really French his family has a farm 10ks the other side of Mukinbuddin, his dad owned a Citroën and Christos fell in love with all things French, his real name Chris Derek Beaumont can you see the similarities. Anyone can tell you when he goes to France he has an Aussie accent. Just say to him “How’s Mucka”and his face will light up. But enough about that back to the ride. A few new faces along today we took off from the stop and headed towards Abernathy rd we had lost a few with reports of a flat with a few stopping to help. They were lost from the group.
We moved along Kalamunda Rd no dramas still a good pace, then Gt East Hway still going alright, then Guildford rd and once past Bassendean Oval started to go into rolling thru, the fast group came up on to us at this point. Went to go straight past (just remember this must be done safely if it cannot be done the fast group must wait for a better chance ), a few were seduced by the flashy wheels ,the Knicks two sizes to small of the fast group, you must be strong, they just want your energy, they will take it from you and leave you on the side of the road like a used water bottle, not to mention your heart they will promise you the world with statements like we will wait, we do not go fast, it’s not far!, we have all been there the cut and thrust of the fast group but as we move thru time we realize that speed while enjoyable is not everything, we now like to prolong the ride, make it last, savior the moment, finding the best way to get the most out of what we have is more enjoyable, we like all parties have pleasure. It always upsets the balance when the Fast group comes thru although its only happened two or three times out of the fifthteen times we have split not that I’m counting! We reformed and pushed on and hit the hills at Maylands with everyone in a positive frame of mind. The ride then pretty normal until Adelaide terrace were Pascoe decided to have a go from a long way out the lights on Riverside drive did change for him and he still had the lead we went after I hooked onto another rider who helped me get to him then everyone came thru then the last set of lights slowed us down in the end Chris Beaumont took the money with El Paso wondering when will be his day. Good effort new rider at the front for a lot of the ride sorry I should have got your name, No not you Will.

saturday 4th july – hale rd

ride report by peter.

 

it was a crisp and clear morning, although the sun wasn’t due to get up till quarter past seven, as i sprinted my way to the start line.  i was late again and so blamed the fact that i didn’t win 53.2 million bucks on ozlotto during the week and couldn’t afford a house right on the foreshore.  in actual fact having both kids wake up within the usual “getting ready and out the door” time kind of made things hard.

i would have to say that there was about 40 or 50 on the road this morning, but i haven’t really done a head count for a while.  the break in the weather must have inspired a few people to kit up and make the most of it.  if it isn’t raining next weekend, then i expect even more as people get inspired after watching the tour.  maybe i schedule gooseberry hill as our own saturday morning pyrenees.  even mike b was out on a brand new cube bike after breaking his norco at the cyclo-sporitf last weekend.

the course would take us out shep rd and onto welshpool.  up hale then a variation where the main group turns left along kalamunda rd while the fast group get to do ridgehill rd before the routes converge for the stretch home along guilford road.

the size of the group meant that we were repeatedly split by traffic lights but we kept it pretty well under control and the group always got back together.  after we turned onto welshpool/orong rd, there was a sound of a tyre not feeling well and michael pulled off to the side.  he waved the group on.  he has been trialling the new tubeless rims and tyres so it is interesting to know how they go.  not a good advertisement for them so far.

after we turned onto hale rd we moved the fast group to the front so that after tonkin hwy they would take off.  it all went fairly well to plan and everyone made it across the intersection.  the fast group started to turn the pace up and i was content to sit at the back and take in the stretch and compress that you always find at the rear of the peleton.

i could see up the road the guys like jerry, ryan, judd and mike were forcing the issue.  the pace, however, was not that high as i think that people were saving themselves for ridgehill.  i know that i was.

we hit the lights at kalamunda rd and got a breather.  the group eased off a bit on the next section with the anticipation of the hill to come.  it is not that big, but as there is a long, long way to chase afterwards, it can make a bit impact to your day.

as we hit the base of the hill, holly and lisa both made moves to get closer to the front and onto ryan’s wheel.  however, as he started to power up the climb they both slipped back.  i jumped around and onto his wheel and found myself in unfamiliar territory.  i have not been this close to the front in ages.  while ryan stayed in the big ring, i dropped down and span out a bit.  the new bike geometry allows me to finally get more power down while seated.  as the road hit a sharper pinch, the bigger gear slowed ryan down a bit so i made a move to go around.  the fact that i was close to the front of the pack again, must have gone to my head as pretty soon i was struggling for breath as ryan, mike, jerry and judd came past me as we crested the hill.  i peaked at about 187 bpm on the heart rate monitor and knew that i was in trouble.  i also knew that if i didn’t get on, i would be chasing for the rest of the morning. 

even though i was feeling faint, i pushed on and was on their wheel as we reached the bottom and flew through the roundabout.  i looked around and saw two other riders on my wheel but could not sustain a long enough look to actually identify them.  ahead of me ryan, jerry, mike and judd continued to roll through.  myself and the other two riders just held on for dear life.  instead of rolling off the front, these guys were coming up from 3rd or 4th wheel to get back to the front.  there was no way that i would have had anything left to do a turn is i had made it to the front.  i just sat in.  judd admitted to me later that he would always leave a gap between 3rd and 4th wheel before he moved to the front to try to cause a split and get us three passengers dropped off the back.  fair call as we were not doing anything to help.

we made it back onto guilford road and started to get caught up in the traffic congestion.  as we were stopped at the lights in the centre of guilford, the main group turned onto the road in front of us.  we would be passing them pretty soon by the looks of it.  the lights also allowed some of the chasers back onto our group and this effectively doubled our numbers.

after the lights at lord st in bassendean we passed the main group and i noticed anthony speed up to jump on board.  tricky move.

with the bigger group and the double lane we had a more consistent roll through and the pace picked up again.  through the rolling hills of bayswater a few splinters appeared as the group attacked and surged.  we got a few lights though to bring it all back together.  on the final hill the group stretched out and i was at the back.  by the time we hit the lights onto east parade, they were well red so we got separated from the rest of the front runners.  the usual multiple lights stops and by the time we hit riverside drive, we could see the rest of them just getting the lights at the far end.  we upped the pace a bit, but no real sprint to be had.  the rest of the group filtered in so that there was a decent size group for coffee.  all up a good ride with some nice weather.

ride routes 4th & 5th july

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well lets take advantage of the dry weather predicted over the weekend as they reckon it will be raining all of next week again.  cold is easier to deal with than wet, so rug up and onto the bike to celebrate good ole american day.  actually with a nuclear powered american aircraft carrier anchored just off freo, i should be careful not to upset our overlords, i mean allies.

now don’t forget that the tour starts on saturday night, so stock up on no-doze as sbs is delaying our telecast so that we will know the result off the net 2 hours before the vision finishes.  i will endeavour to find a free link online and post it on the tour tipping page.  which links nicely to a reminder that if you want to enter the tour tipping comp, you better think up a witty name and get you team in fast.  we have over 25 teams in already, so the competition will be hot.

also, i have extended the cut off date for the new kit to after this weekend.  i still have to sort some things out with teschner and cannibal so if you want something, get you order in asap.  we are up to around $10,000 worth of kit ordered again and this is our 3rd order of this magnitude.  a few things may not reach the min requirements so if you think you may need arm or knee warmers or a vest then let me know as this may just get us the numbers to get them into the order.

saturday will see a split up hale rd with the fast group having to do ridgehill as well.  i want to take advantage of the ene winds to give us a push home along guilford road.

sunday there will be hills.  only 4 categorised climbs but no chance to better your climb time up mundaring rd as we will tackle lawnbrook instead. 

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 03 (hale rd)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 07 (canning mills & peet & patterson)

The website for the South Perth Cycle Club