ride report by peter.
don’t you hate it when you think – “i will just get the kit on and be out the door” when you hear number 1 son get up. suddenly the perfectly timed exit from the house becomes a rushed effort to get him breakfast and entertained, before throwing on the kit and heading out the door. breakfast being weetbix crunch (bite size) sans milk and apple sans skin, washed down with a watered down juice. entertainment provided courtesy of channel nine and dora, dora, dora the explorer. jump into my kit, leave the sleeping wife, and head out the door. so i was late… again… or, as always.
there was a decent crowd of around 40ish by the time i arrived. nowhere near the crowds we used to pull, and i have no idea why. the threat of rain was a minor irritation as the temperature was very pleasant and it is hard to comprehend that it is only six weeks till winter. we rolled out and headed for the crossing at ascot and into the northern suburbs. these are generally unknown areas for me and i would get lost if i strayed too far from the well worn tracks that we… wear well.
after an uneventful 16kms in which i got to catch up with a few people we split the group. the main group would miss the hill at the tv stations but generally take the same course the we did, with just the head and tail chopped off a bit. at the split point i would say that 75% of the field went with the fast group today. this would make it interesting.
straight after the lights the road heads slightly upwards past the tv stations. the group kind of just formed up but did not really look like it was ready to explode. i took the initiative as i needed to hurt myself today, and went to the front to force people to chase me down. pretty soon michael was on my wheel with a few more strung out behind. by the top of the hill, jonny, mike and brendan had also made moves to up the pace.
we pretty much rolled straight onto the top section which provides a couple of fast slightly downhill sections leading to wanneroo rd. as far as i could see the group was pretty much staying together. actually, i was sure that we had dropped a couple of guys, but that is the risk when you take the fast option. unless you have a serious mishap or mechanical, then you are on your own.
i am sure that we pretty much got every light coming down wanneroo and charles, but insisted on making the group roll through. initially they kind of sat up as we used to take this stretch easy after the tv station hill. not any more. once we split, the pace should be on all the way till the end. so it was interval training the whole way back to leederville. start and sprint to get going, roll through at pace, stop at lights, repeat.
we came up over thomas/loftus to circ kings park but turned off at the hospital to take us towards claremont. this would allow us to still do the whole dalkeith run which always adds to the fun. as we approached dalkeith, the comments to john were coming thick and fast. lots of gumnut jokes and calls to “snuggles” were made, but it was good to see that it hasn’t slowed him down or freaked him out too much.
we made it safely through dalkeith and down to mounts bay road. the only issue was a couple of guys riding slowly along birdwood pde that decided that they didn’t want to move over at all when our group came past. thanks for your courtesy guys.
we didn’t have to stop at the lights at mounts bay rd either for a change and ran straight into pursuit mode. the group started to string out straight away and with only a few guys moving up. about half way along, i started to move to the front, only to find that there was no gaps for me to slot into. i just kept on going and went to the front. when i looked back, i had gapped michael who was powering along at first wheel, so i thought that i would see if i could stay away. it was a long way out and i just didn’t have the legs for it. michael, to his credit, stayed at the front and dragged the rest of the group up to overtake me, before they swamped him for the sprint.
out of nowhere (because i didn’t see him for any of the ride) kimbo came flying past to go for the sprint. he got a good gap on the field before brendan started to chase him down for line honours. now sure how that ended up as i was too far back by then.
onwards to coffee, only to find that just two of the main group were staying for coffee. apparently there has been a coup and a few riders have been heading across the river for a brew at atomic. service was very quick today, and they now seemed geared up to be ready for us when we turn up.
as mentioned in the previous post, the online membership for the club is now available and melvyn got in quick to become the first to use the facilities. have a read of the previous post and see if it is what you need to do. i would recommend some level of insurance for your own piece of mind.
The 260 kilometre race is the most prestigious single-day professional bicycle road race on the calendar, held in northern France and starting in Compiègne, the race finishes in Roubaix, near the Belgian