some gold, silver and bronze were on offer today at the state criterium championships. the masters division was tempting enough for mike and i to enter even though we are not noted for our “crit skillz”. the one benefit of being over 35 is that you don’t have to compete with 20 year olds anymore. it was a stunning day but the wind was really picking up by the time i headed down to armadale. the race didn’t start till 1:40 with the juniors and support men heading off first. parking was a struggle as they had blocked the road off as this race is held in conjunction with the highlands festival. this meant that in the background were highland dances, bagpipes and caber tossing. also kilts as far as the eye could see.
i met up with mike and we headed off for a good half an hour warm up around the roads of armadale. as race time approached we headed to the start to find about half the field was to be made up of glenn parker boys. slight exaggeration, but they did have the dominate numbers. as the support race finished, we were allowed onto the circuit for a couple of laps warm up. as i crossed the line i noticed my tyre was going very soft. i rolled back to the start and asked how long i had. four minutes to get back to the car and change it. as it had not gone all the way down, i sprinted off to the car.
thanks to mel’s dad peter and stu for helping me do a quick change and thanks to peter for offering me mel’s spare wheel for the race. we got it changed and i hurried back already in a fluster. holly had also ridden back to the start line to let them know that i was on my way. we were off.
whoa, no easing into this thing. after one lap we had already started to string out. i was struggling to hold my position and some of the guys in front of me were too. i was too far back and had to get a better position. unfortunately, this meant getting around people who were starting to lose contact fast. the glenn parker boys were doing a number on the field and the numbers were thinning fast. i was starting to lose contact and it was only about lap three. mike was also back with me and i was guessing that he could not surge with his heart condition. there was a small hill on the back of the circuit and you had to fight every lap to make sure you didn’t lose more time.
i had passed mike and another guy earlier to try to make the junction back to the pack. i was hoping it was going to be similar to the pinjarra race where they eased off after the first few surges and we got back on. unfortunately a parkers boy was off the front and the pace didn’t let up.
i began to fade and mike and passenger picked me up. we worked together for a bit but lost the passenger up one of the hills. basically mike i tried lap after lap to catch up, but to no avail. pretty soon the breakaway rider was making ground on us. i said to mike that when the main field catches us, i was pulling the pin. it only took another couple of laps.
fifteen laps all up for us and about 25 min. the race was not going that much longer and they never caught the breakway. i think that glenn parker took the 1, 2, 3 in the race. good team tactics. not the best outcome for spr, two dnf’s.
in the women’s open event, bec who rides with us sometimes, got in a breakaway with sarah-jean and stayed away till the end. she did the majority of the work and still managed to take out the sprint to claim a state title.
the open men’s was a fast and furious race with both brendan and steve having a crack. brendan did a whole lot of work early on for their team (aussie crates) and eventually popped out the back. steve held on well to the end, but the main group did not catch the breakaways. rabobank sprinter graeme brown sat on the back of the plan b boys up front and took the sprint ahead of brad hall.
so, it was a better day as a spectator then it was as a cyclist, for me. but that is racing, and you get out what you put in. long training days in the hills just don’t make for good crit racing days.
the state crit champs are on this saturday down at armadale and so mike and i will be heading down to try to win some rouleurs gold. similar to fools gold in as far as we may be kidding ourselves with a flatish fast tight course. i would like to get another state masters medal, but we will see what happens on the day.
anyway, the important thing to note is that i will not be riding saturday morning, but instead, will be out on the course with the #1 spr cheerleader (ben) getting some photos again. so wear your spr kit if you have it so i can get some good team photos. also, be nice and keep the group together until the hot spots and regroup afterwards. there are 30km/h easterly winds predicted so this means benara rd. it will be a hard slog heading out guilford road, so make sure you stick together.
i also want to get photos at the coffee shop of individuals holding their bikes to add to the bike weight leaderboard page. you may notice the some of the names are highlighted and you can click on them to see a pic. and since i am such a nice guy, i will also be bringing the remaining water bottles along.
sunday will be the last hills ride for jens and he has requested a return to the f_ckenberg. i know that we only did this one a few weeks ago, but the german got very excited when i asked him where we should ride and for some reason he wants to tackle the +15% climb. yay. his final ride with us will be the following saturday 22ndwhere he will slip in a quick ride before jumping on a plane to the fatherland.
As birthday boy I get to write the ride report and pay for coffee. This is my oppourtunity to cross the line first – irrespective of where i actually came in the sprint. Those who write the minutes of meetings know that you can twist the record of the meeting to suit your purpose!
I knew about the committment to buy coffee for those I beat home, as I had made it, but being ‘volunteered’ to write the ride report after the ride meant that I did not pay attention to all the normal details that Peter ususally gets in.
The ride around the river in my view is a 5 star rides and one that really showcases our Perth waters. You cannot do a decent river ride in Melbourne, Adelaide and many other cities – but Perth is absolutely made for it. My recollection was that we kicked off with about 40 or 50 riders from South Perth after the pep talk from Peter including the acknowledgement of my impending 50th Birthday and the ‘lead out’ that was going to be set up. We were going to ride the route (almost exactly) of the Perth Bike ride (this weekend?) and it was to include the steep pinch in Mosman Park. Fast sections were to be up the hill to the water tower and then along Burke Drive and the sprint home.
Everybody rolled out and was well behaved all along Mounts Bay road and through the leafy suburbs of Nedlands and Dalkeith. Perth waters were like a millpond – a sensational day. I kept myself in the front 3rd of the bunch and kept calulating how much my shout for coffee was going to cost me. It was a bit disconcerting to see couple of the back riders pop out in front of the group after taking short cuts – this was a trend that was to occur a few times in the morning – it either smacked of desperation or a charitable desire to save me from buying them coffee. Your choice dr’s wal and paul.
The bunch had a nice ride past all the private schools, schools whose fees are so high their parents cannot buy the bike they really want, and down the bumps past devils elbow. Everybody that I could see ahead of me stuck together until the start of the Mosman Park hill and then kicked on. The bottom part is normally chaotic as fast guys from the back come past, there is lots of position changing in the middle of the bunch (not that the fast guys ever see that) and one or two almost stall as they miss a gear or crunch a gear change. Top of the hills are ususally pretty safe as everybody seems to have their own space and their own slow agony to deal with.
It did not take long to regrouped at the water tower as it was a short climb and not much opportunity for big gaps from front to back. Don’t know who made it there first but I think I stayed about a third back. After the regroup we headed past the manicured lawns, range rovers, bmws and transplanted grass tree to get back to Stirling highway. I think dr’s wal and paul were infront again as we went down the highway.
Orderly procession through Fremantle and Bicton (- did we pick up another rider or two?) before the normal fast flog along Burke Drive. Things got exciting there for a little while as we tried to roll through, overtake a few riders and dodge cars overtaking cyclists coming the other way. From there is was hop back onto Canning Highway all the way to the causeway and the bell tower.
Things seemed to stayed together along the highway to Canning Bridge, until we hit all the lights at Applecross, where drs wal and paul again appeared at the front. The last time I had cycled along from Canning to Causeway with the bunch I had got dropped as the bunch pushed through the undulations at speed. This time I was determined to stick with the leading group and was trying to engineer a wind break by forcing Christophe to get out from my rear wheel. Through South Perth we tried rolling through until I was in front only to find the roll through had turned to a breakaway that I couldn’t stick with. Melvyn came to my aid and provided some shelter. We had all reformed by the causeway lights and I was againing thinking of the rash promise to pay for coffee.
Since I posted that i would now pay to get to the front a couple of the fast guys had made some suggestions about hooking onto their wheel for the sprint. However as I have no kick whatsoever I needed to line up behind a turbo diesel not a dragster. Coming past the gardens at the causeway Ryan took off – way to fast for me, then Jerry (i think) also too fast, couple of others came around then my turbo diesel – Christophe, and I could hop in behind him for a while. Christophe faded and I and others had to pass and I was left out high and dry until Nick offered his wheel to stop me being swamped by everybody. But I had nothing left to push past and had to stay there until the pressure came off.
So at the coffee shop I was infront of some and behind the fast guys – I had fun, made a couple of good riding decisions, worked hard and was not disgraced. And i bought coffee for all those behind me. Special thanks to Melvyn, Christophe and Nick for keeping me in touch with the front runners.
And I look forward to ridding with you all next week – I will still be trying to stay in the front half of the bunch even if i am over 50
with a absolutely stunning day predicted, i expected a bumper turnout this morning but was left a bit under whelmed. around 15 or so decided to toe the line but we did manage to pick up a few more on the way. with the usual suspects like ryan and stu absent, i thought that i would have the mountain points all wrapped up. unfortunately for me, one of the riders we picked up on the way was mike. there was even a general murmur of “no points today” coming from the group. yes, it was true but on the other hand, having mike there meant that i would have to work a whole lot harder which will get me a whole lot fitter.
steve and i lead the group out and onto albany hwy at a leisurely pace. “fresh” from his 300km melbourne to warrnambool race a couple of weeks ago, he was also backing it up from a session on the track where he got the honour of being smashed by the likes of cj sutton, graeme brown and cam meyer. he was unsure on how he would go on the hills, but i thought i better keep an eye on him regardless.
the first climb of the day was up the kahuna. as we approached the foot of the climb, clare was doing circles around the roundabout waiting for the group to arrive. my aim was to stick with mike for as long as possible and see where it left me. i had my new “dr paul’s custom wheelset” on the bike which saved me a hundred grams overall. unfortunately as it was a rush job to get them on yesterday, i also managed to forget the speedo magnet and now realised that the derailleur could not access the easiest and hardest gear. well it could access the easiest, but that pinging noise that the spokes make as the rear derailleur brushes past them was not what i wanted to hear.
the climb got underway and the pecking order was quickly sorted out. i made tempo until mike came around me and then i latched onto his wheel, determined to hang on. steve was on our wheel for a while but detached somewhere along the first main pinch as the field really thinned out. i was watching my heartrate and listening to my breathing, but was really starting to struggle. as the road flattened out for the first “plateau” mike kept the effort up and rode away from me. i have talked about the same thing before and knew that i should also keep the effort up but my body said “no” as it had been abused for too long.
i rode tempo but looked around me to make sure that the gap was not reducing to the riders behind. mike’s gap was increasing ever so slowly as he ground his way up but i was more worried about the fact that riders were approaching from behind. i wasn’t sure at first, but a couple more looks confirmed steve closing fast. i was paying for my efforts to maintain mike’s pace and steve come past me and started chasing down mike. he came close to catching him too, but the road pitched up again and he didn’t quite make it.
the road flattened out again and i managed to recover enough to increase my pace to begin to chase down steve. no other riders were gaining from behind, so i just had to concentrate on catching him. another thing i notice about the new wheels is just how quiet they are. i scared the crap out of steve as i came past him and i tried to stay ahead. there was not far to go and it came down to a sprint for the line. the effort of catching him had me spent and my spew-meter was in the red. i fell a few metres short and came third. gregor the scottish mountain-biker from texas was back to show his climbing skills ans too fourth while clare was impressing some of the boys by kicking their arse to take out fifth.
mike – 10, steve – 7, peter – 5, gregor – 3, clare – 1.
a regroup had us at max numbers as we had also picked up doug on the climb. we had a nice fast descent down urch but soon the road pitched up and those with fast descending skills soon deferred to those with fast ascending legs. again the plan was to stick like glue to mike and see what happens. steve was fastened firmly to my wheel and we let mike set the tempo up the climb. luckily for me, the steepest part of peet rd is the section below the urch intersection and i managed to hold onto mike’s wheel till the top. we kept the pace up and did a couple of turns as we headed over the top and towards the school. the section past the fruit place always gets me as it is just steep enough to be painful especially after you think you have finished with the climbs. i dropped it back to the small ring while i noticed that steve and mike were still grinding away in the big.
mike hit the front again as we made the final run towards the school climb. steve and i were content to not help him as we were pretty sure that it would come down to a sprint. about halfway up the hill, steve started to come around with me on his wheel. the finish is deceptive and i made sure that i didn’t go too early (like the state champs race). i waited till the last moment and then started my sprint. steve stepped up and soon we were going side by side along the road seeing who could sustain the longest. after doing less time in the wind (ryan style) i had the fresher legs and he conceded. the spots for fourth and fifth also came down to a sprint with clare out gunning gregor for the points.
peter – 10, steve – 7, mike – 5, clare – 3, gregor – 1.
claire takes the hill
we were all present and accounted for and ready to rock and roll when we noticed that melvyn hadn’t arrived yet. he eventually turned up after suffering a bit of chain trouble when his quick link detached and he was riding sans chain. luckily the two pieces didn’t fall off so he could reattach quite easily. we headed down brookton hwy and onto the foot of canning mills rd.
as we turned onto the road leading to the hill, there was a call of “flat” so we passed it down the line. after the debacle of last week, it was good to see the group looking out for each other. after gregor fixed his flat we were off with the base of the climb starting only fifty metres away.
i was following my same game plan again but found myself boxed in a bit. mike was starting to move away from the front and i couldn’t get past. i quickly sprinted around to catch his wheel, but was not sure at what cost my legs had paid. this is a particularly steep and brutal climb but it is fairly consistent the whole way up. it makes it easy to get into a tempo and stay there. unfortunately it was easy for mike to get into a tempo that was obviously faster than i could handle. i lost ground after staying with him for a short time. gregor had been on my wheel just before the road steepened up but had slot ground when mike “took off”. i found my rhythm but was surprised when he caught back up to me. mike was surging ahead, and we were all losing ground, but i didn’t think that i was going that slow. no disrespect to gregors climbing ability, but i just don’t like being caught. soon steve came up beside us too. pushing a big gear doing strength endurance efforts, he ground his way past us. as the pitch of the road changed a bit he slipped back and gregor and myself began chasing mike down.
the last part of this climb really flattens off and is in stark contrast to the first section where trees and curves in the road give way to long straight open roads. quickly changing up the gears we tried to increase the pace to make up some ground on mike. it was a bit of a wasted effort in that respect, but i also wanted to distance myself from any other challengers to the points. about halfway to chevin road which was the rendezvous point, i put it in the big ring and put in a big effort to shake gregor. i didn’t want it to get to a sprint situation so managed to distance myself from him and maintain the gap to the end. mike was nowhere to be seen as he had finished the climb and just kept going to keep the legs moving. after a short wait, steve came in with clare and paul on his wheel, but managed to keep it in that order and maintaining paul’s 6th place just out of the points for the third climb in a row.
mike – 10, peter – 7, gregor – 5, steve – 3, clare – 1.
we rolled towards pickering brook but had lost three riders before we got there with various people having early commitments. after a regroup at pickering brook a split formed and five more took off for an early mark, opting for a quick descent down welshpool instead of a climb up the weir road. across the rolling hills before the main climb, john managed to get a bit of a break, but i was mainly concerned with hanging close to mike and steve. by the time we started the climb, there were a few guys already up the road. paul and steve said that i should probably go hard now, but i looked back at how close mike was decided to wait to see what he did. i didn’t really have a choice as he took off like a rocket and i had to sprint to get on board.
we passed the others on the climb like they were standing still and i was only just holding on for dear life. i started to wonder how long i could hold this pace for, but soon got my answer. we had just passed john who had the early break, and i started to slip off mike’s wheel. a couple of efforts to stay on really just buggered me up rather than kept me on and i slipped back. i tried to get into a tempo, but struggled under the weight of the previous effort and was not going as well as i could. i made my way up the bottom section of the climb, but looked back to see that john was gaining on me and soon grabbed my wheel. john has never been a climber and i can still remember his first saturday ride with us. a combination of new bike syndrome and some good training (maybe epo) has seen some god improvements lately.
judd the man in black.
we continued up the climb with mike nowhere in sight. we came to the last little pinch before it flattens out and i urged john to stay on my wheel. he dropped back a bit as we hit the flatter section, but a bit of yelling forced an effort out of him to get back on. as we started that long straight, i could just make out the figure of mike disappearing around the bend up ahead. we hammered along the “flat” and entered the last pinch of the day. i knew that john would not hold my wheel here after all the efforts he did on the bottom of the climb, so i yelled some encouragement at him before he dropped back. actually, i said “keep looking behind you and ride like you stole something. don’t let him catch you”. i made my way up the final climb and onto the roundabout. john managed to keep fresh air between him and the chasers, but it seems that steve caught gregor near the end and relegated him to fifth. i’m pretty sure paul took sixth again.
mike – 10, peter – 7, john – 5, steve – 3, gregor – 1.
by the time we hit coffee the numbers had dwindled dramatically.
steve, peter, paul, lorraine, mike b, anna, john & gregor – 1.
conversation ranged from what to eat while riding, to bec’s crash at the track last night, to davina riding with a broken arm, to lance’s comeback and what contador will do, to what brendan and steve’s partners got up to last night at the track. coffee’s, cake and coke (the non-tom boonen kind) devoured we were on our way.
quite a uneventful ride home as the smaller group means less egos to stroke. john broke away for the sprint at the welshpool rd maccas only to discover no-one was chasing. steve and i made a move on the hill heading into the final sprint but sat up once we rolled down the other side. this allowed paul to wipe the voodoo of the 6th place away to take the sprint at the lights.
so, not the best turn out but this allowed the points to be spread around a bit more. i had been told today that the state crit champs are actually on saturday next week, not sunday like most races are. this means that i will be missing the saturday ride, but will probably be available for sunday mountain points, to defend my lead.
Nice to see Bruce on the start line but neither of us were anticipating featuring in the results. Bruce has done minimal miles recently, similarly me. So it was a case of hoping we finished with the bunch and our dignity intact.
There was a pretty decent field of around 30 riders which would at least offer us the opportunity to hide in the bunch.
Things got off to a pretty quick start which seems to be the usual but there was no real let up for the duration of the race. Some new faces and the size of the bunch resulted in a pretty attacking race. So for the majority of the race we were strung out single file with the odd respite whenever a break away attempt was caught by the bunch.
had a turn on the front, more to measure ourselves than anything. Bruce got away with another fellow for a bit but with the race averaging over 39km/h they, like all the other breaks, were never staying away.
So as anticipated, it came down to a bunch sprint and the Kewdale circuit is all about positioning on the last lap. Something neither Bruce nor I got right this week, both of us finishing just outside the top 10 with Bruce pipping at the line.
Both of us were happy to finish well and safely after a quick race.
Stats:
Duration: 44:42 min
Distance: 29.6 km
Min
Max
Avg
Power (W)
0
883
195
Heart Rate (bpm)
100
185
153
Cadence (rpm)
31
209 ??
94
Speed (km/h)
8.5
52.4
39.8
The image below is my Power/Heart data from the race and shows the variability of the work in a criterium. I haven’t included speed or cadence for clarity.
Well guys (and girls) Saturday will be my last ride with you while I am in my 40’s. On Sunday I turn 50. Over the last couple of years I have been riding with you I have had great fun and it has helped kept me fit but I have had limited success at the finish line. I have tried training, tried getting a better bike, tried getting lighter wheels, tried to find a person bigger than me to shelter behind etc – all of which make the cycling more enjoyable (except cycling looking at a big persons backside) but have not changed my performance significantly and sustainably. So, in a last desparate attempt before I join the veterans class and no longer care where I finish, I am going to try and bribe my way closer to the front.
Therefore on Saturday, I will pay for the coffee (or hot chocolate, tea) of everyone behind me at the finish line!
damn, the melbourne cup was this week which means we are well and truly into november which means that we are almost to christmas which means that the year is almost over. where the hell did it go.
as you may have noticed on the previous post, ryan has become a mo bro so support him in the only way we know how…lots of crap about his bad mo.
there is a really good track meet this saturday night. last year was really good racing and if you have never been to the velodrome before, this is a good experience. there will be some really fast racing so come and support some of the riders that occasionally come out on the spr rides.
we are down to the last box of drink bottles and will be doing another visit this saturday to the coffee shop for collection. if you haven’t collected or paid, this will be a good opportunity to get it sorted out. please try to bring exact change as it is a pain when everyone brings $20 for $12 of drink bottles.
this saturday we will be tackling the majority of the river ride in preparation for the great perth bike ride. there is only a couple of weeks till the event so we might as well check out the hill at mosman park now so you can practice it if you need to.
sunday will be a big day with both sides of the kahuna to be ridden along with peet rd. four categorised climbs so lots of points on offer. looks like the weather should be clearing up too so i am expecting a big turn out.
movember is a charity drive to raise money to benefit men’s health specifically ‘prostate cancer’ and ‘male depression’. two very good causes especially after listening to the three urologists in our group talk quite openly about the finer aspects of their profession. we can also see the signs of male depression whenever anyone beats ryan in the sprint.
anyway, ryan is becoming a mo bro this month and is looking for sponsorship for this cause. just follow the link here to make your donation or just see how he is going (growing).
2. ECU have a study that needs cyclists (I haven’t called as I’ve only been riding for a few months so I don’t know what it involves but it might be worthwhile and interesting).
I’ve included the flyer about it via the ERC website:
