ride report by peter.

 

daylight savings.  it almost caught me out this morning.  well actually last night.  i was still up blogging and suddenly realised that 10:30 was actually 11:30 and i had to be up in just over 6 hours.  i like my sleep and feel ripped off losing it just so some politician can go for a walk along the beach after work, in 40 degree heat, with 40km/h winds sand blasting your legs.  nice.  especially since the shops shut at 6.

 

anyway, i am assuming that the lack of clock winding vigilance was the reason that our numbers were down a bit today.  a couple of text messages confirmed it a bit later that the clock was to blame.  you will probably hear me bitch a bit more about daylight savings as the summer rolls towards autumn and it gets dark in the morning again.

 

so about 12 or so riders turned up to fresh conditions this morning and we headed out albany hwy.  there were five categorised climbs mapped out this morning and it would have to be one of the most difficult routes that make up the sunday ride suite.  we would start by peeling off brookton hwy to tackle the infamous f_ckenberg, before stomping up canns rd.  a descent down soldiers rd before heading up peet and urch.  a transition to the observatory climb and finish up mundaring weir rd with a coffee at paris-brest. 

 

the fresh start was beginning to give way to a very nice day.  little wind and seemingly not a cloud in the sky. less than half the group had actually ridden the f_ckenberg before and i was talking it up.  “somewhere from steep to very steep”, “you won’t be able to start if you stop”, “hope you have a 27 tooth cog on there”, all those types of things.  alistar was gunning for more mountain points as he was the only one close enough to challenge ryan for the october overall.  the points reset next week so it was a bit of a battle for these two.  alistar had definitely not ridden this climb and came past asking what it was like.  i said that he will see when he rounds the corner.  he headed up the road a bit and ryan tagged along to make sure he didn’t get too far ahead.  i said to judd (i think) to listen to alistar reaction as we come around the corner.  “holy f_ck” was what i am sure he said.  judd had not ridden the climb either and was now dreading what he would see. 

 

alistar attacked the hill with gusto and managed to gap ryan from the start.  i know that this climb will really wear you down and the only way to approach it is to get in your easiest gear, stand and find a rhythm you can maintain.  on the bottom half, jens came around me when he surged a bit with stu.  it didn’t last long and i came back past and put in a few hard pedal strokes to get ahead of both of them.  there was no way that i was going to catch ryan and al, but i now wanted to keep ahead of the others to stay in the points.  up ahead, ryan almost caught alistar near the top but conceded valuable points as alistar was first to the blackwood road intersection and the unofficial and invisible kom line.  i had to put in a bit of an effort once the gradient slackened to stay ahead of stu with heiko/jens taking the fifth spot.

alistar – 10, ryan – 7, peter – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.

 

the regroup was a quick affair as the smaller group was quite well matched and it didn’t take long for everyone to reach the top.  we were soon headed down to canns rd for the next climb.  i had to give instructions to everyone on the fly as we hadn’t really stopped in one spot for the regroup and we had already started the next climb.  this was a categorised climb and i had to tell everyone where the finish line was. 

 

the first small rise in the hill (as it undulates as it climbs) was soon upon us and the group was relatively together.  alistar asked if the top of the rise ahead was the end of the climb.  we were only just really starting the climb and i think he was ready to sprint.  i told them all that there was quite a way to go and everyone was just looking to see who would make a move.  it was me.

 

i took off to see who would chase and only alistar and jens came with me.  i looked back to see stu and ryan happily riding tempo up the hill not worrying about challenging for this one.  i assumed that ryan had done the maths and realised that his initial 22 point buffer over alistar meant that he was fairly safe even if he came in mid points every climb.  as the road rolled and pinched again we took turns at the front until we paced it up a bit too much for jens and he dropped off the back.  the road starts to flatten out before the finish and i had to point it out to alistar to be fair about where we would be sprinting too.  i made him lead out but at the end he pushed me too hard and i had to let him go to stop myself from actually spewing.  it took me a few minutes of riding around to cool down before my spew-meter was not in the red.  these mountain points are making for an interesting ride.  jens held onto third with ryan and stu following close behind.

alistar – 10, peter – 7, heiko – 5, ryan – 3, stu – 1.

 

the always fun descent down soldiers rd was interrupted at the bottom when a couple of guys said that someone had a flat or someone had to stop to fix something.  it turns out that judd’s “behind the back” triathlete drink bottle holders were coming loose and he didn’t want to drop a bottle in the path of another rider.  a couple of minutes to fix and he met us at the bottom. 

 

the next climb was the start of peet but then swung left onto urch for a change.  the road was arguably as steep but had a slight reprieve in the middle before it hit you with the final ascent.  john had jumped across the road before we got stopped by traffic so had a good head start on the climb.  i took it as a tempo and was waiting to see who would try to go early on the lower steeper slopes.  ryan and alistar took off but not at a blistering speed so i could easily hang onto the back of their train.  stu was hanging off the back with me as we al pulled away from the rest of the group.  john was caught and dispatched with little fanfare as the hill was now dictating what we were to use our breath for.  by the time we reach the urch intersection, the rest of the group was a fair way behind. 

 

true to form, both ryan and alistar didn’t actually listen to instructions (it is probably on their school report from about grade three) and were about to turn right to follow peet as we would normally do.  ryan said that he didn’t hear me say that we were not going to stop at the school.  i also didn’t not say a lot of things, but i did say that we were to turn left into urch.  we rolled down the slight hill before hitting the next climb proper.  again i was asked how far to the top and the answer was “a fair way off yet” as the climb kicks up twice and can be quite brutal.  i got to the front and started setting the pace.  once i thought that we were in a good rhythm i would put in five or six really hard pedal strokes before returning to the same pace.  i was just testing the others to see who would come with me, or attack me.  i managed about four small attacks like that before i finally dislodged stu and alistar.  ryan and i kept going as we were very close to cresting the top of the climb and it flattens out for a bit before the intersection finish.  we swapped off turns to keep away from al who had dropped stu in his pursuit of us.  as we approached the finish, ryan sprinted off to make sure he maximised points and i was left with second.  the points for fifth came down to stan and jens fighting it out along the flat with jens coming out on top.

ryan – 10, peter – 7, alistar – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.

 

we headed towards the end of the kahuna climb and across to canning rd.  i got to have a chat with a new guy out with us today.  his name is hugh and he is a rowing cox out to do some cross-training.  he did pretty well in the hills too so it was good to see him come along.  he wasn’t the only hills “virgin” but the others were familiar faces from the saturday ride.  the couple of bonus climbs as we headed towards the pickering brook intersection are not categorised in out competition as they generally do not split the field up enough.  it now seems that without the points, no one is going to try to smash the rest of the field and so no-one took off where they usually do.  i thought that i would make use of the nice smooth road and put it in my third biggest gear and just ground out the climb.  in order to keep a cadence of above 40, i had to get the bike moving at a decent pace and was soon at the front of the field and led them over the next two hills and onto pickering brook. 

 

we did a quick head count and with no-one opting for an early out (i didn’t offer it either) we all headed towards the base of the observatory.  ryan and i talked tactics on the way down past the pickering brook school and decided to not attack and see if we could get to the top as a group sprint.  the climb started and we set a very even pace.  the group stayed together and there were even a few nervous joke thrown around as the rest of the group didn’t know whether we were going to go hard or not.  alistar finally made his move and ryan, stu and myself had to go with him.  jens hang in there for a while but soon was off the back. 

 

as alistar had initiated the move with an attack, we were content to let him set the pace for as long as possible.  he indicated the top of the main climb and asked if that was the top.  not suite as there is a plateau before a final kick to the finish.  we crested the top and he pulled over a bit to let someone else work.  we slowly moved past, bu no-one was in a hurry to do a turn.  i jumped on the indecision and attacked even though it was way too early.  ryan and stu managed to come along and then past but alistar was spent from his initial attack.  we stayed in that order to the top, with jens taking fifth again.

ryan – 10, stu – 7, peter – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.

 

one more climb to tackle before a well deserved coffee stop.  the descent down the steeper side of the observatory is always fun and the rolling hills through bickley are a nice warm up before the main climb.  i had to make sure that i did not lose too much time on the rolling hills as when mundaring weir rd starts there is not much time to catch back up.  we hit the climb together the usual foursome plus judd and jens and started to set the pace.  i slotted my way (pushed in front of judd) into fourth wheel behind ryan with stu setting tempo for the majority of the way.  jens and judd fell my the wayside of the constant stu pace setting and pretty soon we were at the plateau of the climb.  i noticed that ryan had left it in his big ring for the climbs so far so we obviously were not putting him in any distress.  alistar wanted to step it up a bit so went to the front and too over the pace.  i thought that this was not the best idea, as ryan will jump all over him when it comes to the final climb.  in race situation i have adapted a technique where by i will be at the front but not actually put in much effort if nobody is willing to come around me. 

 

alistar was going quite hard and by the time we reached the final pinch stu and ryam started to come around him.  i tried to stay on ryan’s wheel but he was going for the win and i didn’t have the legs to go with him.  the kom line came up fast and i held off stu to take second, although, both ryan and stu claimed that they didn’t even see the kom line which they must have ridden over at least 100 time in the last couple of years.

ryan – 10, peter – 7, stu – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.

 

coffee was ordered and croissants devoured with pretty much everyone staying for coffee.  1 socialisation mountain point for all that attended.

final points for the day.

ryan – 41, alistar/peter – 32, stu – 20, heiko – 10, stan/john/hugh/daryl/paul/kim/judd – 1.

 

the ride home was fast and furious for the first part.  an unofficial sprint point to the tonkin hwy intersection meant that whatever buffer you could gain by descending like a demon was what everyone else had to try to make up once the road flattened out.  even before we had left lesmurdie rd, the pace was on and people were trying to all get ahead before that small rise that breaks up the descent.  the field was spread by the time we hit welshpool rd proper and i was with judd and alistar.  judd jumped to the front and cut a nice hole in the air for me to follow.  alistar was on my wheel until he must have thought that it was too slow and pulled out.  it feels “slow” when you are in the draft and you have to touch the brakes a bit to wash some speed off, but once out in the clean air, that extra wind resistance pushes you back.  he didn’t make any more ground so slotted back in behind me.  we worked together with a couple of others that had joined us as the road flattened out but we didn’t make up the ground on the front runners and ryan, stan and john made it to the end first.

 

the next sprint point to the maccas at the end of welshpool road was uneventful for me.  ryan shot up the road early and a string of other riders took off in hot pursuit.  i was content to watch from afar.  the final run to the berwick st maccas was a bit more eventful.  ryan had a very small gap left after john peeled off his wheel to go home.  he managed to get through the lights at kent st while the rest of us had to wait.  when the lights changed, alistar took off up the road after ryan who had already disappeared.  i was left on the front and stan asked if i was chasing.  i said that i was hoping that the lights at george st would slow him down.  they didn’t but we all got stuck when they turned red.  as we took off on green, we looked up the road to see alistar waiting up ahead.  he started going before we got to him but jens used the momentum off the hill and a bit of a draft from a passing car to get ahead of al to claim second.

 

so the final wash-up of the mountain points will be on the web soon, but it was clear that ryan ran away with the inaugural title.  the points reset each month and next sunday will see the start of the november competition.  all up i would say that it was one of the best hills rides i have done in ages.  the points competition has really invigorated the climbs with attacks and tactics starting to come to the fore.  if anyone has any ideas on how we can involve the rest of the group during the ride, i would love to hear it.