I’ll start but hopefully other’s can add/revise /delete as they see fit.
SPR racer’s included; Lisa, Lorraine, Bec W, Nicole, Brendan, Judd, James and myself.
As far as SPR was concerned the action began with James in the C grade race, I had tried to nominate for C grade but the organisers bumped me up to B grade. More on that later. James rode smartly within the front third of the field of 18-20 and did all he needed to be there for the finish. I caught the finish and with Lisette on the sidelines for the first time James had someone other than us pillocks to impress. In the sprint for the line it looked like a couple of guys duked it out for the win. James looked to be heading for a good finish and then decided to add to the excitement by tangling with another rider and crashing rather spectacularly after crossing the line. James is recovering with a few days at home grovelling to Lisette pondering a replacement bike (or parts) and possibly reassesing the need to shave his legs.
I missed most of the C Grade action due to having to warm-up so perhaps someone can fill in any other exciting details, much appreciated.
With no training in two weeks, unless you count a ride to work and 40 minutes on the trainer the day before, I knew I was in for pain. Happily i think I lasted half the race duration. Judd rode very well keeping himself in the first half dozen riders and not expending too much effort chasing breakways. Cyclemania were very active and with 5 or 6 riders were expected to be, with most moves being covered the race came down to a bunch sprint. With one of the cyclemania guys
away solo we encouraged Judd to go for it as he crossed the finish line for the penultimate time, perhaps stupidly he took our advice. Unfortunately he was swammped coming out of the final turn and finished safely in the bunch. Good ride Judd, sorry I was absolutely no good to you.
Brendan was next up for the A grade race and was really only looking for a workout ahead of next weekends double header at Pemberton. Brendan was all on his lonesome for this race and must have had a rush of blood early on as he ended up in a small break. The A grade race was a bit of a cracker with the usual aggresive team tactics and a number of other breakaway attempts. The final and succesful break was instigated by Eddy Hollands who was slowly joined over a number of laps by several others with this group finishing up with 8 or so riders. Eddy then proceeded to win the sprint from his breakaway companions.
Next up the ladies race. Plan B had almost all of their big guns (Davina is off enjoying Kiwi weather and hospitality) and were in my mind, undoubtedly the favourites, until of course I was made aware the Emma Pooley was out for some fun. Yes, this Emma Pooley. The SPR girls were thrilled to be racing against such a quality field, actually I think they might have been just a little intimidated. Proceedings began with a couple of parade laps in memory of Renae Baker before getting down to business. Unfortunately for a few of our girls the pace got pretty hot pretty quick lead Lorraine, Bec and Nicole to form their own race within a race. Lisa was hanging towards the back of the bunch and looked to be reasonably comfortable. Lorraine was the first to crack and after a rough week (with thieves stealing her unmentionables, amongst other valuables) took a break around the back of the circuit. I think Bec and Nicole hung in for the finish albeit a couple of laps down, good work ladies. I was a little distracted when the shout went up about a crash and Lisa was no longer with the bunch. After such a strong effort it was a dissappointing end to the day for Lisa. Punted out to the kerb, around the difficult top turn, Lisa introduced her helmet to the road/pavement with some force. After a trip to hospital for observation Lisa was released Sunday evening, we’ll see if there are any long term effects like purchasing a Cervelo soon enough.
Anyway, back to the racing. Surprisingly the Plan B girls were active in everything and eventually Josie got away for the break of the day. Working with Sarah Fraser, and with the remaining Plan B girls covering everything else, they pulled away from the chasing bunch(s). Josie kicked with a couple to go and went on for a solo win, nice work!
Anyhow, thanks to the otgher Rouleurs who turned up to support the racing contingent. I trust the jumbo point scorer on the Sunday ride made the most of it you have one more week and then Stu and Brendan will be back to claim what is rightfully theirs.
Well arriving at Coode Street today I was rather tired from being at work all week and our neighbours partying most of the night and neighbours having domestics at 2 in the morning but none the less looking forward to a hit out on the road rather than the wind trainer at work all week.
It was great to see a huge turn out yet again and goes to show we as a group/club are doing what cyclists seem to enjoy with bunch riding and great camaraderie
After I gave a short spiel about our route today etc we headed off into a light headwind along Mill point Road and onto Shepparton Road, I figured it was going to be one of those days as after the night I had we managed to get a Red light for the first 2 traffic lights and that set the tone for the day.
The ride out Shep to Welshpool Road was pretty uneventful just trying to keep everyone grouped together and steadily rolling along, again with more red lights we finally managed to get out to our Hale Road turnoff where we kept a steady but not fast pace up until one of the Hwy’s where the lights split the group but eventually back together we hit Kalamunda Road turnoff where the groups were meant to split, I roved the pack and reminded everyone to make a choice and the Road Runners (rabbits) or being the Coyotes (chasers)
The groups split fairly smoothly but as we headed straight for ridge Road Hill one of the other group will have to add to the Blog there spiel from here on as that would be the last we saw of them till the Coffee shop but getting ahead of myself…. We were abit disorganised and a few people put the hammer down straight away and headed to the left/right combo before headed over the bump call ridge Road, adding in cars trying to get past we were strung out single file with me trying to keep as many of us together and calling for re group at the roundabout on the other side of the hill. A few were happy to ride there pace and some rode it hard but we all managed to ride over without too many problems, once skirting down the other side we hit the roundabout and I rallied the troops to regroup.
Someone had some bike issues but told the group to go on and he checked his bike and caught up without any probs with some help of course. Ryan, Gerry, Nick and a couple of others obviously didn’t feel like waiting for the main peloton so rode of in the distance while we slowed for the regroup. Once regrouped we made our way towards Guildford and I managed to have everybody rolling turns fairly smoothly after a few smashing turns at the start everyone was at a comfortable speed and rode as a group really well which was great to see. We were averaging 40kmhr without too many issues until we hit Guildford Road for our tail wind home with a faint hope of reeling in those rabbits err road runners
It was pretty obvious after the first few traffic lights today was not going to be our day as all the way in to East Perth I am positive we hit at least 80% of red lights, when we had the chance the group rolled over really well, albeit those chances were few and far between. We finally managed to get to our turn off to head to East Perth down to riverside drive and yet again we got split by a red light but re grouped at the base of the East Perth Hill and headed off to riverside Drive with yet again another 2 red lights and you wouldn’t believe it another one right before our sprint ends at the speed sign just before the coffee shop turn..
So needless to say we came in approx 5 minutes behind those pesky road runners with Ryan’s lil group not quite reaching them either.
So as the outside area was full we took over the inside area and had the whole lot to ourselves to enjoy coffee, drinks and muffins had and quite a few good laughs.
After I headed home to rest up for tomorrow’s race at Technology Park.
Hope to see a few there racing and cheering for club SPR, Thanks for the ride peoples it was great not having any accidents or incidents to report on.
my bike has never fitted me. in the early years i don’t think i really noticed it too much. but then again, i wasn’t really riding that much either. the old repco traveler that i first got back in the mid 80’s was measured up by standing over the top tube to see what my inseam clearance was. yep, she’ll be right. even my next bike a repco superlite was not sized up too much different. i can not remember any measurements of my body and a match to a particular frame size. the fact is that it wasn’t a real bike shop either. it was a toy shop that sold bikes, but growing up that is all we had. chrome-moly steel and superlight it wasn’t.
a peugot ventoux frame was a second hand purchase from a mate and we were a similar height so i guessed it would be ok. however, after reminiscing with him after catching up after 15 years on the weekend, it is clear that we aren’t the same body type and never have been. it was a frame upgrade for me and served me well for many years.
starting to work in the mining industry and actually earning money meant that my next upgrade would be better. With the experience gained, I was able to explore better job opportunities at https://euworkers.fr. i visited tbe in belmont after flying down from paraburdoo, and saw phil (now at riders choice). i was put on a “fit bike type thing” and worked out that i needed a 56cm frame. as i had already chosen the frame type, the “fit” was more about seeing what size off the rack frame i needed.
i started doing triathlons and was trying to make my road bike into a triathlon bike by changing posts and stems. after a lot of complaining i was given permission to get a specific triathlon bike. i was looking at a number of brands, but was interested in making sure i was getting the right size bike for me. i went to see budgie in bassendean and he took many a measure from many bits of my body. he then did a few secret calculations and came up with a few choices of frames. luckily he suggested a frame that i had been looking at and i went with that one. as with most new triathlon specific new bikes, they came in small, medium and large frame sizes. if i was going to buy one without a sizing, i would have probably have bought a large as i am around six foot tall. however, budgie said that i am all legs with a short torso. in fact he said that for my leg length, i should be around 6 foot 8. he therefore put me on a medium frame to make sure i could reach the bars without being overstretched. we had the front jacked up to the max with lots of spacer and a short stem that was almost vertical. it looked a bit funny, but was really comfortable and i could smash out lots of power on it.
i was allowed to upgrade my road bike and as it was just before the birth of number 1 son, i thought that it may be my last bike for quite a while. i opted for an Italian carbon that was more about style and name than fit. as i thought that i was happy on the cannondale, i just got the same size frame (didn’t really check the other crucial measurements like seat tube angle though). i set it up and thought that i was comfortable riding it. however, as i stared doing more kms i found that i was not feeling that comfortable and felt stretched out. after doing the bike fit for the tribike, i thought that i knew what i needed and started experimenting with different components and setups. i changed the stem length a number of times and went from a 120mm to a 105mm to a 90mm. during that time i also turned them upside down effectively shortening it again and bringing it up. i also slid my seat forward on the rails to bring me closer to the bars. all this because it felt like i was trying to hold two bricks out at arms length. well that is what i looked like when i was “relaxed” on the bike. i debated going to see a bike fit expert in perth but was waiting to see if the adjustments i made would help. i bought some short reach bars which have now pulled my levers back in about 15mm. i thought that i would now be able to rotate my stem back over so it was not facing upwards. not so as now i would hit my knees on my bars when i was up out of the saddle. so in the end i am now running a saddle pushed far forward as possible, with a 90mm angled up stem and a short reach handle bar. i opted not to get a zero offset seatpost as i thought that this would put me even further forward of the bottom bracket and thought that i would decrease power when seated climbing. the net result was that i was marginally more comfortable, but was now riding a bike that was not that balanced.
options
carbon neutral.
after my discovery of the upturned stem, i thought that maybe what i need was a longer had tube to get my controls higher and therefore closer to me without getting in the way of my knees. as the cycling world has finally come full circle and discovered that we don’t just come in small, medium and large, some companies had started doing special frames that may cater for freaks like me. the cervelo rs and the look optimo are two frames that offer a longer head tube to bring the front up. i started toying with the idea of getting one of them. i knew that i really wanted/needed a custom frame, but costs are always a prohibiting factor. there are cheaper custom alternatives around, but i was not going back to and aluminum frame after riding carbon. i figured that i may be able to get a last years rs cheap over the net if i looked hard enough and that would fit into my budget (allowance) for bike upgrades. i could then just transfer my parts over and sell my fondriest frame. i mentioned this plan to my financial advisor (wife) and she was not really impressed. so, you are going to spend a couple of thousand on a new frame and there is no guarantee that it will even fit you properly. hmm, not very convincing. she knew that my master plan involved getting a custom framed bike and i even tried to convince the chiro to tell her that i needed one or my current bike would do me damage. that wasn’t very convincing either. i wasn’t really getting anywhere and with the arrival of the new baby was having trouble justifying any spend on the bike at all. i was hoping that the baby bonus would allow me a bit of cash spare to do some upgrades this year, but that was vetoed in order to put new aircons in the bedrooms. things were looking pretty grim for the bike this year.
then for some unknown reason, we were discussing finances and the offer of a custom framed bike was bought up and approved.
factory visit
welded perfection
you do not ask questions, you just run with it. a few quick arrangements and i had extended my leave (2 ½ months off is cool) and we had flights booked to head home to victoria. of course we were really heading back to visit the family and to show off the new baby, but there would be a visit to the baum factory in geelong while we were there.
first call and i talked to james and organised a time to visit. pretty quick phone call and didn’t really discuss much of what i needed or what the process was. i had a talk to dr paul about his visit and what he went through to fit the bike. how long it would take and how long from fit to delivery would be. it seemed that the biggest issue would be just what colour to get.
a second phone call to confirm the time and i got to speak to darren baum himself. we had a quick chat and i talked to him about what i had issues with and what i was after. not a problem, just need to bring my shoes and let him know what pedals i used.
fit day arrived and i got a phone call to say that it had been double booked and whether i could drop in a bit later. i was on holidays and we were only staying 45mins away, so no real problem. i found my way to the factory and it turned out to be just a big shed in a light industrial area. the only give away was the name “baum” in big letters on the front door, but if you didn’t know what it was, it was just another factory. i entered to find a guy on a fit bike spinning away with a big fan in front of him. i thought that it would be a “measure the body and how does this feel” type fit, not a session on the ergo. this was our double booking and i was ushered through to the next room and introduced to darren. we sat down for a talk so that he could get an idea of how much riding i did and what type of rider i was. we had a bit of a tour of the factory floor and david took me around as darren had to deal with some manufacturers that they distribute. after my frame has been sized, a list of tubes would be put into a box and they would then work their way around the different stations. i got to have a look at some bottom brackets and drop outs before they are on a bike, as well as a whole bunch of nice titanium tubes. for my frame, the tubes would be cut and mitered to form a snug fit at all junctions. the tubes would then be also milled down in certain areas to reduce weight. as i am not a heavy rider, the tubing can take the reduction in strength quite easily. the tubes would then be placed into a jig to be held together whilst they are being welded. the usual cleaning, brushing and painting would then take place. all up the whole workshop was not that huge but as they only pump out about 100 frames a year it wasn’t really a production line.
“fit bike”
what size frame would you like?
i caught back up with darren and he began setting up the “fit bike” for me. everything was taken into account such as crank length, saddle type, handlebar width and reach and levers brand. now i just thought that these parameters would just be more numbers in the calculation, but no, darren actually pulls out a flite saddle, checks the bar width, changes the adjustable cranks, puts the shimano pedals on and adds some sram brake hoods. i said that i was going to put the new dura-ace on but apparently the sram are the same size hoods. it also gives me some options to go with red if i want to (or afford).
no measurements were taken from my body at all.
he set the frame up to a fairly standard size that he thought would suit my body and got me onto the bike to start riding. the stem was 120mm and i felt stretched out to the max. he watched me for a few moments and then commented – “there is something not right here”. he called in jarred who was doing the previous fit and they both watched me ride for a moment. “your femurs are too long” was the assessment. hmmm, i’m not sure i can fix that one. so the frame was adjusted a number of times mostly up and back. a lot of the time it was a combination of what i felt and what i looked like on the bike. the earlier comment about holding two bricks in front of me came from darren, but it totally makes sense. apparently when riding in the hoods, i just don’t seem to relax. he said that he could constantly see tension in my triceps as i am holding up my body. a number of adjustments were made until it looked pretty much right. he then called jarred back in again and they had a talk about what else to try. a few minor adjustments were made to see how i would react to them. fairly minor adjustments in one direction and i could feel extra tension in my lower back so we knew which way not to go. a few more adjustments and we were pretty much their. the funny thing was that when it was put in a big gear and the power was on, my body position looked fine whether i was on the hoods or in the drops. however, the same position didn’t quite feel right when just cruising. maybe i just shouldn’t ride easy.
i was running out of time and had to head home as i had already missed two phone calls asking where i was. i made a date to come back the next morning and finish off the process. i was unsure just what was left to do, but i felt that i was pretty comfortable on that setup.
design
made for me
the next day i was shown the process from “fit bike” to frame design. a special measuring jig was placed on the “fit bike” and the angles and lengths taken from it. there is then a special “bike cad” program that takes all the measurements and converts them into a bike design. my overall size was the equivalent to a 58cm seat tube and a 55cm top tube which equated to a 185mm head tube. to compensate for my long femurs, the seat and head tube angles were laid back to around 71.5 degrees. this meant that my knees were not so far in front of the pedals and i may be able to put a bit more power down. the cad program also allowed for the right sizes and angles of the components like stems etc. and then gave overall measurements for the bike fit. i had requested that the geometry be traditional with the top tube parallel with the ground. however, when designed like that, the longer head and seat tube, meant that the back of the bike looked way too big and the gap between the back wheel and the seat tube junction was massive. darren had taken some artistic licence with the design and as he looks at bike designs all the time, he knew what looked good. so we ended up with a semi-sloping design and he added the reynolds forks as they are a bit longer so make the head tube look a bit smaller. all up these cosmetic changes didn’t worry me as the most important thing was that the bike was sized for me to begin with. if it looked stupid, who cares as long as i can ride effectively. however, darren made sure it looked good.
the height of the bottom bracket was also lowered a bit (few millimeters) and i asked how that will effect the handling of the bike. as i said i don’t like doing crits, it wouldn’t really be a problem, although 5mm will not make that much difference to the cornering. my main concern was that i would get a bike that was balanced. the chain stays were a bit longer to compensate for the relaxed geometry and still maintain a balanced bike. the stem was left at 110mm and the length of the top tube allowed me to reach this easily. darren said that he generally designed for at least a 110mm stem as shorter one affected the balance of the front end. i certainly notice it on the current bike when i am out of the saddle as you feel like your arms are locked by your sides.
a few other options were discussed and carbon seat stays were something we could go for. i asked what it would actually do for the bike and the result would be a little more comfortable as it would take out the high frequency vibrations. the suggestion was that the titanium rear is a more classic look and would retain it’s classic characteristics. as there would be no change in performance, i decided to go classic. a carbon post will hopefully do the trick for the vibrations through my bum.
what flavour?
colour was the next choice and apparently this can cause a whole lot of problems as it is such a personal choice. there are a number of standard choices for the frame of your choice and then there is number of upgrades for extra dollars. for the cubano, i had a choice of ½ colour or ¾ colour with decal logos. any of the fancy paneled paint jobs or multiple colours would cost extra as would painted logos. i was shown a number of frames that they had in the workshop and they also have a bunch of tubes all painted up in the standard colours. i had downloaded a bunch of photos from the baum flicker album that showed a number of paint schemes that they have previously done. nothing was really catching my attention and i was still liking the pearl white that dr paul had on his corretto. i thought about a really understated logo on the frame and asked about the pinstripe version or a silver logo on the white background. darren suggested that it is important to balance the frame with the colour of the logos and if you drop them it looks a bit lost. i said that i wanted to have understated logos and he showed me what it looks like via a photoshop program. he was right, it looked washed out and lost. i went with pearl white with black logos. same as dr paul. maybe we can say that it is the new spr team colours.
so, the frame dimensions all calculated, and colours chosen (can be changed before the build) so i dropped a deposit on it to put it in the system. i am looking at a late may delivery and i said that my birthday is on the 25th and it would be a nice present (so they wrote down the date). i have to work out what groupset to put on the frame now, but have a few months to find the cheapest prices. the dr paul special wheels are going onto the new bike as are the new short reach bars and current saddle. unfortunately i will be just impatiently waiting till may before i can ride the new steed.
I was quite fired up to go to the lecture at ECU as posted by Lorraine earlier in the blog. The title was a tantalising “MYTHS, SCIENCE AND PERFORMANCE IN CYCLING” and the promise of an international speaker in little old Perth was always a good endorsement.
My wife actually conceded to spend some “bike time” with me and come along as she has a passing interest in training and exercise physiology (we get entertained by that geeky stuff at home).
After rushing through the all day operating list to make the 7pm start (no patients were disadvantaged by trying to get out on time – only trainees) and gulping down a quick dinner we made our way to Joondalup ECU. My wife was co-piloting, and I have learned long ago that she always is right.
We progressed slowly up Thomas Street to be confronted with something not usually a hinderance on the bike – rush hour traffic. More tedious than doing a trackstand at the lights, I was secretly jealous as I saw rider after rider pass. It also gave me a chance to reflect on (appaling) Perth drivers’ behaviour. I think one problem is the attitude that every last spot needs to be fought over and cars left and right were revving up to beat the Yaris to the next lights. People simply cannot stand to “lose” position in the stream of cars, and the senseless swerving and lurching makes traffic less predictable and consequently less fluid.
That behaviour is carried over with merging, as it is not the done thing to let someone into the lane lest they actually drive in front of you. Some drivers couldn’t believe it when I wouldn’t contest the spot in front of myself and gave way. They seemed quite smug to be 3m ahead of me in a queue moving at 3kph. One day I’ll go for the spot, but preferably in an old beat up uninsured Valiant. Newer cars like Prados and polished HSV utes seem to shy away when a carefree old banger with no paint to lose muscles in.
Anyway we arrived at Joondalup ECU with most of our cool intact in plenty of time to find that the talk was titled “MYTHS, SCIENCE AND PERFORMANCE IN CYCLING“. Unfortunately we found out it was subtitled something like “the influence of crank lenght and pedal velocity”…….. Oh dear – we had left out eggheads at home and were not keen on a tedious dissertation (that is what we go to work for).
Anyhow as 7pm rolled up, the room filled with young cyclist types, older masters been cycling before you were born types, not sure if you are an exercise phsiologist or a cyclist or both types, two women who were somewhat patronised by the predominantly male crowd who looked like they were actually very fit riders themselves and demonstrated their seriousness by actually brining paper to take notes types, myself, fuming wife, Jerard, simmering Lorraine (spearate incident the night before).
James martin himself was actually quite good speaker, but had unfortunately lost some of the crowd in his esoteric talk. I will summarise:
Crank length does not seem to matter with MAX POWER (study of 16 with 3 crank lengths from 140-220mm at differnt cadences)
Crank length does not seem to affect fatigue due to the lever effect (as we have gears on our bikes). Fatigue occurs proportional to a pedalling harder, and more times (duh!!)
Pedal speed seems to be the buzzword with regard to making more power.
Pedal speed is proportional to metabolic cost (duh!)
No magic formulas or secret tricks – to go harder and faster you need to get stronger and fitter and more aero/reduce load.
All that stuff about making circles round the pedal stroke is likely to be fallacy – we have ample proof in Johnny and in the past Alistair who kick butt riding in tennis shoes and not doing an upstroke.
I actually suspected as much, although physiology reseach is seriously underpowered statistically when comparing to larger trials in medicine. There were other “highlights” of the night in some questions that came up, but even now I can feel the heat radiate from my wife as they came up. I must say however that it was quite worthwhile to see a scientific discussion although I probably owe my wife bigtime for indulging in my hobby.
Maybe she would like a new bike? Something in 48cm frame?
as there was some destruction of the group last week, we will split the pack this week and send the fast group over ridgehill so that they can expend a bit of excess energy. i want the group to stay together all through shep rd and welshpool as well as hale rd. hale is only 1 lane so we need to keep the group together for safety. if you watched a current affair (it may have only been over here) there was a story on cyclists and how much of a menace we were. keep together and obey the road rules.
once the group hits kalamunda rd, the fast group goes straight at the lights while the main group turns left to head back to guilford. make sure you know the route (especially the fast group or you will be heading up gooseberry by mistake). if by some chance the fast group catches the main group, do not merge the groups together. last time some of the fast boys got to the front of the main group and started pushing the pace. this made it hard for everyone as some people struggled while others then couldn’t get around to the front. keep them separate and overtake when safe, or if no chance to do so, both groups go single file and the fast overtake the main.
on sunday, a nice pleasant ride through parkerville and mundaring weir.
also thanks to jonny and mark for writing up the rides last week. don’t be shy and we would like to hear your view of the ride. if you are hanging on to the back and are struggling the whole way, it is fine. people like to read your experience. it is not a race so there are no winners therefore everyone’s view is important. if you want to blog, let me know.
Well firstly apologies to all those for the lateness of the blog. Not many volunteers this week and with many of the usual bloggers not on the ride I was the best they could come up with. ! Also apologies for not knowing everyone’s names but after a year and a half out with injury there has been a number of new faces to appear in the bunch.
Looking round the car park at 6.55 their was only four of us gathered around Lorraine’s car wondering if anybody else was going to turn up; but by 7am like lambs to the slaughter the herd had gathered.
After a gentle role round to Riverside drive the bunch seemed to have grown again back to the usual numbers we have come to expect. A tail wind meant no shortage of willing workers and a pleasant role down towards Nedlands. After the first drag up it was interesting to see that a small group of six had a little gap at the top and four of those were from our strong female division. The tail wind and a good effort from Anna and the Fleet mechanic guy (sorry names) had us continue at 40km/h and a break at the Stirling hwy lights was welcomed to get the heart rate down.
I thought it would be a good idea to stick pretty close to the front for the run down the dog leg and then not be too far back at the start of Mossman park hill. All those who have done the Great bike ride would know this hill but for quite a few this was their first time up and a bit of a shock to the system. Dan and his Milram twin decided being off the front is even better than being near the front and attacked before the dog leg to get a nice gap before the start of the climb. I’m not sure if they were still at the top by the water tower as the pace definitely picked up on the hill once certain riders were unleashed. John commented later that it would take him a while to get over the image of me going past him up the hill in my Nike trainers.
After a re-group at the water tower the bunch continued towards Fremantle. Now this wouldn’t be a ride write up without the incident with a car. This time it looked like while we were heading down Stirling Hwy a car moved into the lane in front of us then didn’t seem to pull away. I was at the back at the time so didn’t see exactly what happened but what I did see was some quick reactions by everybody in the bunch to avoid any crashing.
Heading up Preston point road we picked up Team Bic – Dr’s Paul and Wally in there matching kits; quite how these guys got ahead of us to this point without a boat I am not sure but I suspect they might well have avoided Mossman park hill. After a little work with Ryan on the front he suggested a role-through into the wind and I was very happy with this. By Burke Drive the pace was on and the bunch seemed to have created a new form of riding into the wind with an inside and outside lane moving forward and a middle lane coming backwards. We might see this being adopted in the Tour’s team time trials but I somehow doubt it. A few riders tried to get off the front here but with the winds it was never really going to happen in the strong wind.
After another re-group the bunch followed Canning Hwy back to Perth. I think the combination of a headwind and traffic lights meant the bunch fragmented quite a bit and a few times I looked back to see a bunch catching us up only to be caught at traffic lights or else someone in our group would drive the pace and they didn’t get on. The same thing was happening in our group with people riding off the front only to get caught at lights and us catching them up again. The only incident on the Canning Hwy was a motorbike that seemed to accelerate from the lights very slowly and then at the last minute put on his left indicator and slow right down. Seems it’s trendy now to hit a motorbike as Andre Griepel and Lance Armstrong have shown, but luckily none of the Rouleurs decided to follow this trend.
At the traffic lights coming onto the causeway a group of 12ish was together and as we re-started Ryan went off up the road. Myself, Bec, Anna and another gave chase with the wind behind us and although each time I checked my computer we were doing 50km/h we could not get across. Looks like lots fun was had at lights and in the wind as groups seemed to be coming in for a while afterwards.
the river looked glassy as i rode in from home along the bikepath up the freeway, and i had a good feeling about todays ride. we started off with 21 riders on what was the most perfect morning i’ve had so far this year.
there was a good mix of new and familiar riders, young and more experienced (i’m starting to prefer that to “old”) and included two girls. with pete and a few of the big guns away, things looked a bit more open on the points chase. stu must have been happy when he saw that.
john b and i lead the way out, and after a little confusion up front, we headed off via douglas street towards albany highway. the traffic lights all seemed to be changing at the right time; more indications of a good ride ahead. i couldn’t help comparing it to last week, when we had a howling headwind along the same road, which made things very different.
all the way thru gosnells, past brookton highway, (some of the group took a short cut up brookton hwy) to the somewhat imposing climb of carrawatha rd. it’s short but it sure as hell ain’t sweet.
i took it easy as a salvo of eager guns roared past me as the hill kicked. i knew if i chased here i could spoil the rest of my morning, and with great weather and some hill points up for grabs (not something i’m usually interested in) i wasn’t about to do that. i watched my heart rate and kept it below 180 for the climb, and ended up at the top with moderately aching legs, but still content to carry on with one of my least favourite hills; carradine.
the positions at the top of carawatha were: 1 stu, 2 jerry, 3 jeff.
dr carl had to turn back at the top to attend to his overseas guest at home. the rest of us had a careful descent, knowing that the t-junction kinda sneaks up on you, and then turned left for the long steady climb up to the next t junction at canns rd. this time i tried; i really tried to stay with the front runners, but no luck. stu took off as usual, with jeff and dr jerry on his wheel. i sat with them for about 500m, and then decided the heart rate was not good for me. dr mark came past me quickly, and i sat with him for a while, and even took a turn in front, but he was more determined, and i watched him go after the others in the last 500m. that gave him 3rd place. jerry did well to pass jeff and take second place, with dr mark 4th, me in 5th. Stu took first.
a couple of the new lads looked tired at the regroups, but they were keen to press on, and so we did. we stuck together well enough to all remember the right turn at churchman brook road, and had a leisurely decent past the dams, safely around “scott’s corner” and on to the next regroup stop at brookton hwy. at this stage the weather was still pleasantly cool, although the humidity was unusually high for a clear blue-sky day. as we started to climb pete rd, i knew that i had to stay with the front boys to have any chance of points. after the steep bit of pete rd, it flattens out a lot, and if one has a bit of a break, two or three riders are hard to catch for a lone chaser. jerry made the mistake, and i hung onto stu and jeff for dear life, that is until stu got bored and went ahead to play on his own after the roundabout on raeburn rd. i sat on jeffs wheel till i thought i could outsprint him, which i did, to take second. jeff was third, followed by shao, and i think dr mark or jerry was next. john b told me over coffee that he chased like hell there, and overtook, thinking he was going for a point, only to find he had chased for 6th. bummer, i’ve done that a couple of times.
we regrouped again at the servo, where some stocked up with various performance enhancing fizzy drinks and lollies. still the weather felt fresh, and there was hardly a breeze to speak of, as we coasted through pickering brooke. stu decided that he didn’t need any more points, so he went off to do the observatory; and he took two other suckers for punishment with him. we were suitably impressed.
we cruised round to the start of the last climb, with everyone pretty much together as we rounded the corner at the bottom of mundaring weir rd. my speedo wasn’t working by that stage, which was a good thing, as i didn’t really want to know my heart rate. the wind was slightly into us, which meant no record breaking speed, but still just as much effort. it’s fair to say that jeff did all the work up the hill – not even most of it. so jerry and i did feel a tiny bit bad when we dropped him at the last kick after the false flat. but only a tiny bit, and it didn’t diminish the joy we felt at getting first and second. i stayed with jerry on his first kick, and wasn’t sure how much it took out of him. i was disappointed to find out that the answer was “not enough” – he timed his second kick perfectly just before the last right hand bend, and had nothing to answer with. he took it by 50m or more. jeff got third, with bill and dr mark taking 4th and 5th.
the coffee was good, and it was great to see 15 of us there, including some first timers, herman & shun. on the home run, it was good to see everyone riding single file again along the canning rd, and i think the motorists appreciate it. jerry got a break as we crossed onto welshpool, and stayed away on the descent. john b and i caught him at the bottom and kept a good pace to the lights, where john took the sprint. as we approached albany hwy, anna let rip with a break, and no-one was quite sure what to do. then lisa jumped, and the two of them were away. the levels of testosterone in the pack went ballistic; gears ground and chains hopped as everyone tried to save face for the male species. it was close but i think we just made it. anna went again at the approach to macdonalds, but jerry was ready for it and eased past for the last spoils.
i came home the long way, along the river all the way. south perth, freeway bike path, and mt pleasant esplanade; and on a day like today, even though it was pretty warm by then, i realised why perth is such a fantastic place to live if you’re a cyclist. a total of 118 km for me for the day, which was just what the doctor ordered.
Presentation commences 7.00pm
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Lecture Hall 19.141
Building 19
School of Exercise, Biomedical and
Health Sciences
Edith Cowan University
270 Joondalup
sorry, been without internet access for a couple of days.
a nice ride around the river planned for saturday. we will keep together as one group so make sure that you regroup at the standard places and keep the fast sections to just the hill at mosman, and burke drive. the fast run home can start once the group passes the como hotel. look after each other please.
sunday, just a nice climb up around mt nasura and roleystone. good training if you are doing the pemberton classic in a few weeks time.
