ride routes 16th & 17th august

ryan, stu and myself will be down at collie this saturday for a leisurely 104 km handicap event to donnybrook and back. should be a fun day. as for the rest of you, i am sending you around the river.

sprint points are at the climb past the mosman park bowling green with a regroup under the water tower further up the hill and around the corner. again on burke drive along attadale with a regroup before you get back on the hwy for the run home.

make sure someone looks after jens as he still doesn’t know his way around perth. stick together and generally look after one another.

sunday will be a fun day too. we are keeping it tight and looping around the same area. a strong will is necessary to pass the coffee shop and head down the zig-zag, but i am assuming peer pressure will keep the group together again.

sorry, the orginal post had the maps that were wrong. i thought they were fixed.

saturday 16th august
river ride
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/505052704

sunday 17th august
welshpool & observatory & kalamunda
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/404541584

second hand bike

there is another guy at work who is looking for a bike. this time he is looking to buy as an upgrade from his old steel framed ironhorse brand bike. he is 6′ 3″ but has a shorter torso so would probably be looking at a 56cm frame. he has a budget of around $1,500 and would like something with a carbon frame. i said that may not happen, but we will see what is out there. anyone with an old giant or such that has not been touched since they upgraded recently and would like to make some room in the shed, let me know.

southperthrouleurs@hotmail.com

sunday 10th august – carradine & canning dam

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ride report by peter

another fine day was predicted but only if you were looking at the temperature alone. the wind was similar to saturday and was cutting through you to drop the temperature another 5 degrees. the act of riding into the head wind probably dropped it another couple just to make it freezing. so even though the overnight temp was a very pleasant 9 deg we were all waiting for the sun to come out properly to counteract the wind chill.

so, we had around twenty riders on the line this morning and a few were discussing a change to the route as i was turning up a bit late. the course today was a long one but not necessarily hard as there was a lot more riding in between climbs. most of the climbs were not too difficult either. not by the standard of other rides we do. or by the standard that dr melvyn described last week. however, late though i was, i arrived with loads of time to quash any rebellious thoughts of changing the route.

we would be taking the hard slog down albany hwy into a harsh, cold, strong crosswind coming down from the scarp. a quick heart starter up carawatha would thaw out the bones before another ascent up carradine. we would then cross over to albany hwy and tackle the last part of it’s ascent, regrouping at the turn off to canning dam. a nice cruise along past the dam before a final assault out of the valley back to karagulen servo. the normal way back to the coffee shop via mundaring weir rd would follow. that was the plan.

we headed out into the fray and copped the breeze right into our faces. by the time we hit albany hwy the wind had picked up significantly. ryan was again sitting pretty at the back of he pack keeping out of the wind. this is how he always ends up with nice fresh legs for the climbs and the sprints.

anyway, the fresh morning, combined with a hydration regime the night before put extra pressure on me for the first few kms of the ride. i had to duck off in the bushes along the way to relive some unwanted pressure (and about a kilo of weight). as the day progressed, i was not the only one as there were multiple “nature breaks” along the way. a quick sprint into the wind to catch up and i was all warmed up.

as we past by gosnells, we managed to pick up a couple of chicks. i’m sure that they were enticed by the tight lycra and rippling leg muscles, and i am quite sure that ryan probably thought that they were drawn to his charismatic aura. however, holly and claire read the blog and knew where we were headed, so decided to join in to get a bit of hills work. unlike the other type of chicks you may pick up in gosnells, these were actually cyclists.

the first climb of the day was soon upon us and we started climbing the lower section of carawatha. this is where is sits about 7% or so and james pushed hard and put a bit of a gap in us. once we hit the small plateau in between the inclines, heiko came around me and headed up the road. since he had not done this hill before, he wondered why we were taking it so easy. as we came around the corner realisation dawned on him like a dodgy curry at 3am in the morning. ahhh, shit. as we started the final climb at 14 or 15% heiko started dropping back through the riders that had been conserving their energy. ryan, stu, brendan and a couple of others caught and past me on the hill, but we all eventually made it to the top.

after a quick watering of the gardens from some, we where off down to carradine. i didn’t realise that they had been doing road works on the other side of the climb and the surface was not the best when combined with the cross wind. all safely down we grouped together to start the climb.

we stayed in quite a bit group for a while and there was probably about 8 or so riders tucked in behind. the wind was coming down the valley towards us so it was a hard slog for whoever was at the front. after a bit i thought that i would see if i could dislodge a few hangers on, and pushed hard. it wasn’t an attack as i came past ryan close enough for him to grab my wheel, as i thought that i will need some help later on.

the group stretched and split as the pace increased and soon there were only four of us up the road. after i did a decent turn at the front, ryan took off again and i couldn’t keep up. stu and brendan managed to get on, but i looked back to see no-one else on the road. taking a leaf out of thomas voeckler’s book from the 2006 tour, i just kept a consistent pace and managed to get back on the back.

on the next rise, ryan took off again and this time brendan was done. lots of km’s of training were taking their toll and he didn’t have the legs to go with us. i managed to claw my way back on with stu in tow as we approached the final section of road. ryan upped the pace again, and it was all too much for me, but i was happy to let him and stu fight it out for line honours as long as i kept ahead of brendan.

after another nature break, there was an opportunity for a short cut if people wanted but peer pressure kept everyone in line. i basically said that i give the people a choice (democracy) , but let them know that they are a bunch of wusses if they take the shortcut (dictatorship). like anyone really has a choice. exercising their right to a choice, brett and anna turned off to head down albany hwy while the rest of us headed further up the hill.

the climb is not too difficult and the group was managing to stay together well. dr melvyn was setting the pace early on before ryan got impatient and came around for a turn. after a bit he got even more impatient and shot off the front. it was all on and stu, brendan and i managed to latch on behind him. we swapped off turns for a while over the rolling hills and managed to put quite a bit of distance in to the rest of the group. by the time we reached the turn off for canning dam, the road behind us was empty as far as we could see.

the riders rolled up in little packs and claire managed to hold onto the second group. she is climbing well considering the issues that she has had with her back recently.

another toilet stop and we were off towards canning dam. there were a few rolling hills and one bonus climb that split everyone up. ryan and i were just discussing climbing techniques and how i preferred to climb standing while he is trying to sit more. next thing we know we had gapped the rest of the field. we slowed a bit and said that we would wait at the bottom of the descent into the dam. the wind luckily didn’t cause too many problems and we had a nice descent clocking up over 70km/h. the road surface past the dam is usually shocking but it looks like they were halfway through resurfacing it. it wasn
’t perfect, but to me it looked like they were preparing to put a hot-mix top coat on it. that would make this route a lot more pleasurable.

an orange ford focus past us about three times on that road. not sure if they just got their licence or thought that they were a rally driver, but he just kept popping up all the time.

a regroup at the little bridge and we lost a few more riders. the girls and mike decided to call it a day and headed down brookton hwy as the rest of us climbed up via gardiner. it was a nice climb and we took it fairly easy for the first section. ryan hadn’t done this one before so asked me how long it was. quite long I said, just so he wouldn’t take off on me just yet. it started to steepen up but I managed to hang on to ryan and stu while the others fell back. as we turned at the fork in the road, i was spent and had to let them go. i paced myself up the rest of the hill until jerry and james caught up to me and rode the rest of the way with them.
we regrouped at the karragullen servo where a couple of people had to refresh supplies. it was a long ride and energy levels were low. we were soon off and heading for pickering brook. james and i set the pace from the gun and kept it up until that first hill. we didn’t push too hard but some people felt the strain and dropped off early. once we hit the rolling hills ryan took off up the road with stu not far behind. the rest of us just seemed content to ride the hill at pace without straining too much. once we hit the false flat, we noticed that ryan and co was not too far ahead so we upped it a bit to try to catch them. they stayed away, and i was pretty much done by then anyway.

after a regroup, dr mark decided to call it a day due to family commitments, and was heading straight home. the other mark was going to go with him, but peer pressure forced him to stick with us for one last climb up mundaring weir road. heiko didn’t know where we were so i was reluctant to leave him behind so a stuck with him over the rolling hills through bickley valley. by the time we reached mundaring weir road, the other guys were too far ahead to warrant a chase from me. i left it in the big ring and rode a 53 x 14 to the top while staying in the saddle. my cadence was under 40 rpm for the majority of the climb, but my knees actually felt ok.

we rolled into the coffee shop and sat for a well deserved rest. as it was a longer ride, we turned up quite late and were expecting a bad service day. fortunately for us, the cold wind must have kept the punters away and we were served promptly. bruce made an appearance on the sunday ride, but only in civvies as he was meeting his brother for brunch. we said that he should at least been wearing his spr vest to show his support.

coffee’s sculled, as mark still needed to get home and james was on the phone explaining why he was late. we headed down welshpool road with mostly a tailwind, but a few swirls on the descent made for some interesting times. stu apparently had the speed wobbles again and reckons that his heart rate download pinpoints the exact moment he thought he would die.

the tailwind continued to push us home and it gave us a good run. dr melvyn made his early charge as usual and set off the boys a little too early and we were soon spread along the road. the lights at leach hwy soon got us back together and we headed along the last stretch of welshpool rd. the call went out to box ryan in and we had him set on the inside second wheel. dr melvyn went again, and we thought we were safe to let him go, but ryan had been tricky and slowed down to manage to slip out the back. soon everyone was sprinting up the road again.

the final run along berwick rd had ryan doing his usual tricks. slowing down to force others to come to the front so that he can conserve himself for the final sprint. i told him that it will make him stronger if he does all the work and then still contests the sprint, but he wants the easy gold medal. i ended up on the front for the final stretch but managed to get a bit of a jump at the last set of lights to gap the field. by the time i was on the descent, ryan had bridged to my wheel so i just coasted to try to recover. as we paced along the flat, he jumped and i could not hold his wheel. so had to settle for second. or i would have until brendan also past me before the macdonalds drive thru point.

so, over 100 kms by the time i got home and 5 main climbs “conquered”. hopefully this puts me in good stead for collie-donnybrook this coming saturday, but i think it will all come down to who i get in my handicap group. we have three of the team entered with ryan and stu also heading down to play. ryan was in a good position to win last year until a flat with no spares played heed to his grand plans. hopefully this year, team spr can come away with… something. aim for mediocre, and there are less chances of getting disappointed.

saturday 9th august – sth lake

ride report by peter

so a good turn out this morning with over thirty riders ready to go. i was running a bit late so turned up to find a sea of green awaiting departure instructions. it is good to see and makes me feel good about this group. there are still quite a few riders without out new kit as we have picked up a few more since we did the initial order. hopefully we can get them all kitted out at the end of the year.

anyway, it was a crisp morning and even though the official temp said around 8 degrees, the wind made it feel much colder. when you were standing still (like at the lights) it hardly felt like any wind at all. however, once you were moving, it felt like it was a headwind. the official website said that it was 13 km/h easterlies, but gusting to above 30km/h. we must have had the gusts all morning.

with the cooler mornings i used to just put a wind jacket on. with the new kit i now don’t want to cover it up and have started experimenting. this morning i had on two jerseys and it worked a treat. brendan rocked up in his aussie crates sponsored kit and they provided him with a fully sponsored wind jacket too. it might be something that we look at in the next order.

the course today was one that we experimented with about a month and a half ago. it went down canning rd and onto nth lake rd all the way to berrigan drive. last time we crossed the freeway on armadale rd and it was very busy and not a very wide road. after that we would head home via nicholson rd and albany hwy.

i introduced heiko, our german vacation student, to the rest of the group and talked him up so everyone thinks he is a young jens voigt.

the roll out was pleasant enough. nice easy pace all the way down canning hwy. i was playing sheep-dog again and would roam from the front to the back occasionally to bark and sniff butts and nip at heels or whatever it is that sheep dogs do. we turned down nth lake rd and kept a very easy pace. i managed to find myself on the front again so that we could turn at the right spot. this time we were turning early onto berrigan drive and it was a corner that could creep up on you.

as we turned to cross over the freeway, the wind was fair howling into our faces. when we stopped at a set of lights, it seemed to be hardly a breeze at all. a very confusing and strength sapping day. we turned again and i began to doubt we were on the right road. the map had said turn right onto mason rd but the street sign said we had just turned onto jandakot rd. i had checked the satellite view earlier and i knew that we turned at the roundabout next to the shops and we seemed to be heading the right way. it was going to be a wait and see.

a bunch of guys all did turns on the front to ease the load in the wind, and pretty soon we came to the end of the road and turned onto warton rd. we were on the right road after all, just google maps had named it wrong.

the wind had not abated and we were now coping it as a head cross, which makes it harder to hide from. a few kilometres more and we turned onto nicholson, but the road hadn’t become double lane yet. this meant that we had to stay close to the edge and couldn’t hide offset from the rider in front to avoid the wind. i dropped back to find a number of riders struggling to hold on and a few of us drafted them back to the group.

we managed to catch up just as the group was about to be released by the traffic lights near livingston marketplace (home of livingston optical, for all your optical needs). this marked the start of the sprint section and i was trying to keep the group together before that point.

as the fast boys took off, nick came back through the group sporting a flat rear tyre. carl had commented to me earlier that both nick and himself had forgotten to bring any spares today. fate was teaching nick a lesson. i started slowing down but was in two minds as the group was racing up the road. they were too far gone to pull back now, but i needed to make sure that the didn’t take the wrong turn. luckily i saw chris dropping back to help him, so i pushed on ahead.

i was now stuck in no-mans land. the main group was up the road and around me riders were struggling to fight into the wind. i helped bec get back onto carls wheel and moved on up the road. there was a small group of about 3 or 4 riders off the back of the main group and i managed to bridge across to them. i came around the front to do a turn and pretty soon it was only rod and myself left from that group. we swapped off turns a few times, but could not make any ground on the main bunch.

we picked up a few more riders as we came closer to the finishing roundabout, but then the front guys anti-navigational skills saved us again. not sure who was leading, but nicholson road actually turns to the left at the roundabout and the guys kept going straight. the rest of us turned the corner and we could see them looking back to see which way we were going, before back-tracking themselves.

once they caught up to us, i had to really settle the group down to make sure some of the back-markers managed to rejoin the group. the field was spread pretty thin due to the wind and i know we lost quite a few. unfortunate route selection on my behalf today and we would have been better off doing benara rd instead. oh, well. whatever doesn’t kill you will make you… weak as a baby crying for your mamma. and later hopefully make you stronger.

as we cruised along the remainder of nicholson road, we didn’t actually see that many more riders coming up the road. not sure what happened, but sorry if you didn’t make it back on. we kept the pace to a minimum and i though about stopping, but by then we were on albany hwy going past the carousel shopping centre where there were cars everywhere and not much room for us to pull over. we pushed on ahead, but i made sure the pace wasn’t too high.

when we hit the albany hwy shep rd intersection it was all on to the end. dr melvyn made one of his trademark attacks from too far out and a bunch of people made their intentions clear, by taking off as well. the next set of traffic lights paid heed to their early move.

i was content to sit in a while and wait for the last hill before launching, so that if i made it, i could recover on the descent. a further surge went and everyone was moving around a lot, trying to be near the front. as we had swung around, we now had a tailwind into the finish and the guys were not as reluctant to be on the front.

just as we crossed an intersection where the lights were changing, i attacked and managed to get a bit of a gap. ben had sat on my wheel and was holding fast as we approached the next set of lights. everyone may have eased up a bit thinking that the lights would hold me up, but luckily they changed quickly so i took off again. i managed to get over the last hill in front, but now had ryan and brendon baring down on me. i recovered on the descent, but they kept pushing on and started pulling away. the traffic lights meant that we were soon back together as one group, although some of the guys slid up the side of the cars which is a no, no.

as we crossed the causeway, it seemed that brendan was doing most of the work and no-one was coming around to help. ryan had resumed his position a little way back to avoid the wind and get ready for the sprint while jerry assumed his normal position on ryan’s wheel. as we turned onto riverside drive, john took off like a shot. “too early” i cried out to the group as there is still over 2 kms to go before the finish. some of the guys didn’t listen and headed up the road only to be overtaken with
john less than halfway down the drive. ryan eventually went and took jerry with him. i tried to latch on, but the earlier effort had sapped me and my quads didn’t like what i was doing to them. i had to let them go and roll into the coffee shop a broken rider.

ryan took out line honours, with jerry bridesmaid again. i wasn’t stopping for coffee, so am unsure how the backmarkers faired on the way home. heiko, held his own well today and showed some glimpses of jens voigt with some strong riding. i think he will do ok.

i was off to take the young lad out on the bike and managed to make it up mounts street with him on board, but was a quivering mess by the time i reached the top. next week the collie-donnybrook race is on the saturday, so i will miss the morning ride, but will try to give you a good course with a tailwind the whole way around.

ride routes 9th & 10th august

ride routes posted by peter.

so we will have another crack at the sth lake route that we tried out almost two months ago. i have taken out the section of armadale rd and we now turn onto berrigan drive instead. hopefully this is a better choice.

on sunday, we will try the canning dam route that i posted a few weeks back. due to the weather, we didn’t make it all the way out there so will try again this week.

the mapmyride maps are still not working as an embedded map so you must click on the link to go to the actual site.

saturday 9th august
sth lake
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/222757718205

sunday 10th august
carradine & canning dam
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/93434412

olympics tipping comp

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ok as the olympics is starting this weekend i have organised a tipping comp for the men’s road race. so as not to make it too hard all you have to pick is the order of the countries that will take the medals.

i.e.
gold – spain
silver – australia (runner up again)
bronze – spain

this comp will be free and i will organise some prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd.
go to the blog linked below and have a look at the details.

http://tourtipping.blogspot.com/

sunday 3rd august – gooseberry & kalamunda + extra

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“coming from behind” – ride report by melvyn (deliberately missing out capital letters)

i was inspired by the first warm weather forecast to drag myself out on sunday to do the ride.i was pleased that this would be a shorter ride, and not a “special” new tryout ride that pete dreamed up for those who are not racing. the first real climb would be gooseberry hill rd which always is a test, but the rest would be manageable (i hoped).

i even got to the meeting point early, having given the bike a bit of a clean the day before to find no huddled group of lycrans surrounded by flashing lights like some exiled extraterrestrials waiting for the mother ship to pick them up in the dark. i knew i was early, but really??? moments passed and i thought – what if no-one else turns up? do i do the ride by myself? it would be a bit of a boring blog with all this “i looked back to see myself pedalling furiously, so i attacked to just win the hilltop sprint against myself by barely a wheel…” thankfully john rolled up to join us (and provide someone else to write about). unfortunately as we eyed each other we still did not have the critical mass to qualitfy as a group ride. i’m sure we were both thinking if we could cheat a little if no-one else turned up and modify the course (perhaps doing gooseberry twice then kalamunda a couple of extra times?)

it was all academic when more joined in just after 0700. darren arrived with “greased lightning” (his bike must surely be inspired by the hot-rod that john travolta and his gang do up in the movie “grease”), ben (to give some credibility to the overall pedalling ability of our group), schneiderman (uneasy in his winter mankini), nev (who i cant recall coming out on a sunday before – poor befuddled boy must have his days mixed up), ronan, and a newcomer bronwyn who has chosen perth (!!!) to settle down in for a while after finishing a round the world trip. must have been lured by the vibrant cafe culture.

soon it was time to go off! if we waited we probably would have seen every cyclist in perth ride past. i had to lead out and pretended i knew the way. the secret is that really i don’t have to know the way for any of the rides because i always get to ride at the back. the only time i sprint for the front is when i actually recognise the roads and know i won’t get lost. anyway, after a bit of “no, turn left” we got onto great eastern highway to run the gauntlet of cold air, cars and hobos shouting encouragement after passing the casino. As we pedalled east, we were greeted by the warm rays to the sun. however riding into the sun is not to be recommended as mainly you don’t get to see. if you are in the front, all manner of glass and potholes come into your vision all too late. if you are in the back, you are hoping that cars will be able to see your 1/2 watt flashing tail-light against the sun which puts out 368 yottawatts (1024 watts)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(power) admittedly 93 million miles away. You get the picture.

i had not cleared our mind of those thoughts when the next traffic hazard presented itself. it was outside the 24hour macdonald on great eastern highway (who really eats maccas at 0730 on a sunday?), where a green hyundai pulled out to turn right. i’m sure he saw us as he wasn’t looking into the sun to look at us. i could see that his intentions were to pull out 10 metres in front of us. fine i thought, we’ll be right. we weren’t right, as he stopped in the lane in front of us. there were lots of emergency manouevres to avoid this car, but no one fell off. obviously (to give the driver the benefit of doubt) he had thought better of turning into the path of cars that he couldn’t see because of the sun shining from his left. as ronald macdonald says “look left then right and left again before crossing the street”. silly boy, no happy meal for you.

we soon interrupted our ride (near the cement factory) with schneiderman’s scheduled puncture. we usually have one later in the ride which is handy for catching our breath back. its impressive to see schneiderman extract a tube from the mankini (where does he put it), but i think that if he keeps this up, we will have to chip in to buy him a seat bag that fits two tubes. it was about this time that i noticed that mike b had joined in to add pace uphill. i later found out that he was trying to get back into condition after a holiday in europe where he actually viewed the tour from the mighty tourmalet. he obviously hasn’t lost as much condition as myself as he easily outpaced me on the mighty “kalamunda”.

soon we were at ridgehill road which doesn’t count as a climb. the ride played out like it always does with me attacking for the first 20m before running out of steam in the slope. at least it gives me a chance to check out if any others have made new purchases as they ride past. something very unusual started to happen on the flat bit of the climb. i actually started to catch up and pass people. i don’t usually rub it in, but i must say that that does not happen often. was it my new wheels (probably 500g lighter than my previous set), or was everyone taking it easy? the reality was that i probably don’t ride up that well, and there was not very much going up by that stage. evidently i had run out of power-ups as that was the last time that happened on any of the climbs that day.

the regroup point was the base of the zig-zag, and then it was down (yay!) before the left turn at the roundabout to gooseberry (boo!) we had egged newcomer bronwyn on about how steep this one was going to be but it was only half joking. in any case being a ex mountain biker from new zealand i don’t think many hills scare her. soon it was reverting to the familiar tempo of breathing and pedalling (two breaths for every pedal stroke) when before you knew it the hill stopped. really after several european experiences, these hills don’t come close to he definition of pain. these are just the light dripping of hot wax type of pain, and not the chained to the bedpost with a red ball in your mouth before being whipped by a cat-o-nine-tails by a suspiciously masculine lady in a leather mask named steve sort of pain. you get the picture.

bronwyn chose a good day to come out on a hills ride as the next stage was down the zig-zag, which truly made it worthwhile. the sun was out and warming, birds were singing, the air was clear and most importantly dry, and the scenery was breathtaking. I can see why people live in the hills. best not enjoy the view too much though as gravel can make the hairpins tricky. I wanted to push the cornering properties of the wheels a bit as that is apparently one of their strengths, but woosed out a bit, not wanting to do an oscar pereiro. it was over however all too soon.

a short transport stage found us at the base of kalamunda road which i find terrifying sometimes. mainly because of the honky nuts that often cover the outside of the road, and the hoons who insist on driving at full pelt. we planned to keep going past the coffee shop (sacriledge!) and regroup at the coles roundabout. i spent about half the climb thinking of excuses to shorten my ride and retreat to the coffee shop, but was disappointed to find everyone full of energy and enthusiastic for more. the power of peer pressure again pushed me down mundaring weir rd and up lawnbrook. at least this was a good form of peer pressure, as it usually ends up with poorer consequences in other instance. we rode single file as traffic was increasing, and had time to wave at russell and ian(?) coming up the other way.

by the time we got to the coffee shop it was already quite full. they obviously were short staffed that day. the conversation was considerably
cleaner that day as we were not up to our usual compliment of urologists. by then a few of us had elected to go home early, and after making short work of the food and drink it was time for us to head back. but that is another story for another day (a day which you are not doing very much because basically nothing exciting happened).

……………………and so children ends the chapter on the exploits of this small band of intrepid cyclists who went out to conquer far lands over infrequently travelled roads, laughing at what destiny would serve up to them (and still making it home in time to avoid getting in trouble with their wives).

the end

sunday 3rd august – pinjarra classic support race

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race report by peter.

UPDATED with video below

i faced this race with quite a bit of trepidation as i hadn’t raced since the ill fated menzies-kalgoorlie handicap quite a while ago. my motivation seemed to have taken a trip away and i was struggling to keep on top of the training. basically i felt i was really under-done and not ready for quite a hilly ride at race pace. however, since our new kits had arrived i was determined to give them an outing and had to convince the other guys to join me. in the end we had six sign up for the race. ryan, michael, stu, jerry, mark and i all signed up for the support race which would be contested over 65 kms. chris wasn’t racing due to lack of form (heart/spine/guts) but was coming along to try out his new video camera.

it was going to be a pretty big day for bikes at pinjarra. the main race was the a grade men doing two laps of our course for the 130 km, as well the cyclo-sportif race was happening at the same time on some of the same roads. not sure how many riders the cyclo race had but it would have been a few hundred. our race also had a strange mix as the women’e event had been combined with the support so there was twelve women in the mix too. all up there was between 50–60 riders in our group.

but i am getting ahead of myself a bit. i had taken a family day yesterday and didn’t ride but still was able to give my bike a good clean which it desperately needed. you know when it is wet and that black sooty stuff that comes from your drive train and accumulates on your brake pads? well i had so much of that on my wheels i thought they were black. well they are, but this was a different black and looked crap and was making everything it touched dirty. so the bike got a birthday but i still haven’t managed to get that seat post out and will have to take it to a bike shop to get them to pry it loose.

i also spend an hour or so yesterday on a bit of body maintenance, as the lack of motivation had lead to my legs taking on the appearance of a slightly anorexic yeti. people always ask why we shave/wax/whatever our legs, but the only real reason i can come up with is it looks more athletic. i was going to suffer today, i didn’t want to look like a hack rider as well. but that is just my opinion for me. you might think that hairy bike legs are fine. that is up to you.

so bike and legs maintained (or at least both looked better) and we were set for another race. since the menzies race i had been a bit worried about dehydration during the races. last night i drank lots of water to see if it made a difference. then on the way to the race i had another drink bottle just to make sure. it seemed to be going down fine but caused me to stop on the way to pinjarra. at least i knew i was hydrated.

the weather was quite brisk too. the cows in the paddocks i was passing were breathing out big clouds of condensation to further emphasis the coldness. they were only predicting a max of 16 degrees for the day too. it is days like this that i worry about what i should wear. if i put my vest on, will i get too hot and overheat on the climbs. if i don’t will i freeze on the descents. should i wear an undershirt to try to keep some heat in. i worry about all these things for two reasons. one, i tend to overheat easily, but at the same time get cold quickly due to minimal insulation. two, in a race situation, there is no way i can change on the fly. i still have trouble riding no hands so changing while riding would be a disaster.

anyway, with the first hill only 15 kms into the race, i needed to warm up first as my legs usually take longer than that. i jumped on the trainer for a good 20 minutes of spin beforehand. it was then i discovered just how warm it was in the sun. no vest and no undershirt. just arms should be fine. i was still worried, but that was just me being stressy.

so we lined up behind the “a” grade race and waited for our turn to go. stu and mark were out for a warm-up ride and i wasn’t sure if they knew where and when we needed to meet. race time approached, the “a” graders were off and we were having roll call. still no stu and mark. i wasn’t going anywhere, they would just have to chase to catch up if they were late. luckily, with a few minutes to spare they turn up and ryan rolls forward to sign them in. stu missed the start to the dardanup race and had to chase to catch up. i need to keep the boys under control a bit more.

anyway, we rolled out and i settled in to a position at the back of the pack, trying to catch up on some sleep. there was 15 kms of straight, flat, slightly rough roads to cover before things got interesting, so i was trying to use the opportunity to warm my legs up some more. my hamstrings seem to take a while to get comfortable and the harsh roads make sitting in the saddle no a pleasant experience. i was already beginning to have doubts over this race and we were not even really into it. the new kit made it easy to spot the rest of the team and i could see mark and ryan trying to move forward and hold a better position. a few guys tried to take off the front, but they were going nowhere fast.

a bit before our turn onto del park rd, i moved myself towards the front. ryan and another guy had the same idea, but the first guy found a hole to slot into while ryan and i moved further to the front. there was a poor guy at the front that was doing a bunch of work and was getting shafted again. same as most races, when he pulled off to the right, the line just followed him and no-one was willing to do a turn. that just shits me as we are all there for the same reason, so why not share the load.

a guy found this the perfect opportunity to take off the front as the rest were dicking around. taking up my role as domestique i moved to the front to up the pace a bit. i started reeling him back in but was flagging a bit so pulled over to the right. the rest of the pack just moved with me like a bunch of pricks. thanks guys. i sat up and just kept pedaling, which allowed the dude to get further up the road. the turn to del park rd was suddenly upon us so luckily i was already on the right hand side of the road and took the turn. i put in an effort again to try to reel the guy in before the hill but couldn’t sustain it for very long. i pulled right again and this time actually sat up and almost stopped pedaling. stll no-one would come around, so i just cruised along at a grandma pace for a while.

as the hill started, then they all wanted to show how strong they were and started to come around me. one guy attacked and a whole bunch of riders scrambled to get on his wheel, blowing the field apart. i was stuck in amongst the mayhem and riders where going everywhere. some were putting in a big effort while others were flagging and going backwards. the big effort guys then hit the wall and became road blocks while still the front guys were putting more distance into us. i was hoping that my heart rate monitor was playing up as i saw a lot of 185+ and some 190 readings when i looked down. not really sustainable for me and i was really thinking that i was watching the race slip away from me.

a big effort got me around a small group and halfway to the front runners, but it took it’s toll and i was over taken by the chasing group again. i was beginning to worry and self doubt meant that i was beginning to think about just not trying. michael was just in front of me and was putting in a good effort, so i thought i better stick with him for some team unity. ryan
had made it up front and stu had come from the back to join that group too. jerry and mark were somewhere behind. i wasn’t looking back, ahead was hard enough for me.


at the end of the first king of the mountains (where we didn’t get any points) the time check from watching the video footage went like this –
0:00 bunch with ryan & stu
+ 0:18 michael & pete
+ 1:08 jerry & mark
the rest of the field was pretty much spread across the rest of the hill.

after quite a bit of climbing, where michael and i swapped turns a few times, stuart from glenn parkers south informed us that our little group of michael and i along with mel who does the sunday ride with us occasionally, ben one of the junior riders and stuart, were the only ones left. we had dropped all the others and were stuck in between. we started rolling through and eventually got to the point where we could see the front runners. we were hoping like hell that they would not attack again, or we would never catch them. it took more than a few rolling hills before we finally latched onto the back of their pack and could have a rest.

i was still worried that they would put in a few attacks on the remaining climbs, but for now we were just sitting in. i remarked to mel that she was to only female in the group so she just had to sit in to clean up that prize. she had not ridden the course before and was unsure what was coming up. we did the cyclo-sportif race the last couple of years and were now past their turn around point, so i kind of knew that there would be a couple more climbs to contend with.

we were content to sit in for a while and recover as much as possible. michael said that he could see stu but not ryan so were we in the front pack or was ryan up the road a bit more. we then spotted him close to the front and deduced that we must be in the front pack. we had four of us in the group, so were pretty happy with how things were progressing so far. after a few rolling hills, the pack did not seem to want to push hard at any time but rather just set an even pace. i had recovered by now and noticed that ryan was too close to the front and was doing work again. i moved around the pack to the front and chastised him as i came past saying that he needed to save it for the sprint. i would do a turn for a while then break off, or be overtaken by another rider. unlike the initial section of the race, there were some people willing to do a bit of work. not many but some. i lead up the kom hill which the “a” grade race contested but no points for us. as the hill kept going, i started fading a bit and slowly fell back through the pack. by the time i crested the hill there was a small gap in front of me and a bunch of riders behind me. i didn’t look back but rather put my head down and chased to get back on. the field had effectively been reduced once again, though not through any attack just attrition on the steeper longer hills.

i recovered, moved forward, and found ryan at the front again. i told him off again and went to the front for some pace setting. there were a few more rolling hills before we hit dwellingup and i managed a couple of turns on the front. its not that we needed to (i thought) but rather if no-one else takes up the load, then ryan feels compelled to and then has nothing left at the end.

after the turn at dwellingup, the road flattened out a bit and even started going downhill. people were keen to be on the front for the descents but not when the road swung upwards soon afterwards. there were two little rolling climbs to go before we started the descent proper and so i was back on the front to set the pace. as long as i didn’t hit my max, i could sit comfortably on the front for a while.

by now we were seeing many more of the cyclo-sportif teams coming up the hill towards us. some looked strong, while others were spread out along the entire climb. we had a choice for todays race and chose the wacf event rather than the cyclo-sportif as proper road races were the reason that we formed this group in the first place.

we started the descent and were soon flying down the hill quite comfortably at 60 or 70 km/hr. no-one really tried to attack and anyone who gained an advantage was soon swept up when we slowed for the rail crossings half way down the hill. we spotted one of the rio tinto teams just as we crossed the first rail line and they seemed to be doing it tough on one of the steepest portions of the hill. i used to organise the rio tinto teams but now the south perth group is my focus. hopefully we can get a couple of spr teams at the next cyclo-sportif event in york in september.

so right towards the bottom of the hill there was one more small bump of a climb and this guy attacked. i saw him go from the back and started coming around to do a turn to pull him back. as i was skirting the bunch, ryan took off after him as well. i yelled at him to not bother but he had committed, so i stood up and sprinted after him. there was a guy on my wheel and soon the we had all caught the attack. unfortunately, the rest of the field had also caught back up too.

i told ryan not to bother as we could easily have caught him once we hit the flats. michael had disappeared on the last major climb, but we still had three of us that could work together with a couple of the other guys to pull back any last minute break.

i went to the front for my final turn and brought the group down onto the flats before peeling off and dropping right to the back. i was pretty much spent and needed to recover so i could try for one last lead out if ryan needed it. i had told stu to get up to the front once we hit the flats and keep ryan out of trouble, so he move up as i fell back.

we had very little wind protection now and it was crossing us up from left to right. the group had echeloned out to the right and the last few of us were riding right on the centerline. we had to keep pulling in every so often whenever a car was coming towards us. i basically sat in for the rest of the trip and was trying to get around about the two kms to go point, but couldn’t with the field spread across the whole road. i left ryan to his own devices and hoped that he had enough for the bunch sprint. at around 750 metres to go, ryan jumped and sprinted for the line. i tried to hang on but fell off the back with stu and cheered ryan on from there. it looked like he got it but i wasn’t sure.

it was then that stu tells me that there was another guy up the road. what the f__k. why hadn’t anyone told me about this earlier. as we had come onto the back of the pack late when still in the hills, we just assumed that it was the front pack. when i was on the front, i wasn’t chasing but just pace setting. the guy won with only 20 or so metres to spare. i had enough energy to finish with the group, which meant that i hadn’t given it my all. if i had known, maybe stu and i could have smashed ourselves to try to bring him back. there were a couple of other guys that were working at the front, so we could have worked together. coulda, woulda, shoulda. but didn’t and so had to be content with second place. this is becoming a bit of a theme with ryan.

anyway, we rolled around and back to the line to watch the rest of the guys file in. michael wasn’t that far behind at the end, and mark and jerry came in a minute or so later with a very convincing sprint over one of the female riders. we all sat around and had a bit of a chat with some of the other guys. managed to introduce ourselves to a couple of the other work horses that were doing turns for most of the ride and found out that sam who started to come out on our sunday rides was in our bunch. i hadn’t noticed as i was either head down at the front , or gasping for breath at the back. anyway, it was good to have a chat with the other riders.

as we were waiting for the rest of the field to come in, i asked bec (another one of davina’s girls) whether she had seen sandy come in yet. i used to do triathlons with sandy and she has come out with us a few times on the sunday rides. she is a good time-trialer and i had been hassling her to come and do a road race. apparently she hit a pothole on the descent and came off big time. the ambulance was sent to get her and she was beat up pretty bad. i managed to get hold of her later and found out that she has not broken anything, but had lost a lot of skin off her face, shoulder, leg, elbow, pretty much everywhere. i think she said that she has one finger that is not cut up. apart from that, her brand new trek madone 6.5 is now in multiple pieces. not good for her first race. she said that she did enjoy herself (probably up till that point) and would be back for more races.

so, for the spr team though, i think we had a fairly good outing as a team. we worked together were we could and ryan still came away with $120 prize money. i was happy with my domestique duties and happier still that i managed to finish with the front group after getting dropped so early in the race. so the collie–donnybrook race is in a couple of weeks time and i am questioning if i am ready for another handicap event after menzies. after this race i am 80-90% sure i will do it. on the first hill of this race, i was 20-30% sure. i think i will give it a crack as with my track record, i am bound to be given a good handicap.

saturday 2nd august – freo & cott

2 Comments
ride report by rob

2:30am bucketing down – looking like a lie in.
4:30am teeming down – no way am i riding
5:15am gale force winds – decision made
6:25am can’t hear rain; still windy – gulit commences
6:40am can’t hear rain; wind easing – guilt wins

7:00am roll into coode street car park to find around 12 of the usual crew fully kitted up in wind/rain gear. ryan had already warmed up his legs with the ride down from inaloo (oh, what, no? not from inaloo? oh, just from around the corner where the car is parked?…mmmmm.) lots of chatter in the group about the THE OFFICIAL EURO CYCLIST CODE OF CONDUCT that was doing the rounds of the group. lots of comments about compliance with the code among the sp rouluers. disscusion of the possibility of making anyone in kit sign it as their commitment to the faith! gerard was in full compliance with number 39 thanks to his wife’s assistance. apparently the recent trip to europe has ‘changed his life’…!

with no pete (family commitments due to race day tomorrow we’re lead to understand) we were leaderless for the ride. i hadn’t looked at the blog to see what the route was – thankfully paul had (such a detail guy – gotta love you geo’s and engineers!) and advised that it was freo/cott. questions were directed at ryan as to his desire to take the lead – yes, he says “we go flat out from here to the coffee shop…and i don’t know the route.” the faces on some of the others told the story so i hopped in and called the route “pete style” but neglected to call the ‘smash’ points – ho well i thought, it’s a well known route and those that don’t know the designated smash points will find out when we got there!

so, the group rolled out just after 5 past 7 with a few looming black clouds overhead. an uneventful ride up to canning hwy and then along through to applecross. gerard and ben came around ryan and me to do some work on the front. it was at this point that greard thought it’d be fun to signal left at risely st – must have been a message from the man upstairs given his newly aquired compliance with number 39. we all barked at the guys to keep going straight and then i stuffed it by calling a right hander at cunnigham st. woops.

finally arriving at the ‘right’ righthander another 2 kms away, we reach the first roll through section. it was ok to start with a few of the stronger guys doing a bit more of the early work and the others coming through when they coould. with the wind in our faces it was pretty tough going so it wasn’t long before there were only 6 or so pushing off the front. we reached the golf course climb and ryan pushed off the front with me trying to keep up the pressure. i could feel james trying to get up past me and thought ‘can’t have that’ so pushed on a bit – that hurt, but managed to take 2nd. we regrouped at the top and then headed off to freo. that’s when the first real rain came and made it very pleasant. rain, full sou westerly and grit fllled wheel spray in the face – LOVE IT!! how good is riding a bike!!

turning down on to the left bank section most fo the group were together. this is the next designated smash point but in true rouleurs fashion, and without pete to come round in his infamous time trialling position, no one seemed to want to be first to go. oh well, here goes. i came round the front and pushed the biggest gear i could considering the wind in my face. that lasted about a minute and i thought by then i must have a decent gap on the group. pity james, ben and ryan had grabbed my wheel as i came round and got the tow through – mental note – don’t go first! it was a good section though and we managed to keep the pace high. ryan took line honours with ben second. i couldn’t bridge the gap he’d put in james and me so third would have to do.

re-group. ben and me took the front across the bridge and around to the lead up to cott. with the wind now well and truely on our backs, we had a fantastic hero ride all the way up the coast. i looked at ben and could see the smile on his face while we were pushing 40 with no effort. as we came round to cott, melvin came past and put a gap on the group – something he seems quite fond of doing. the rest of the pack upped the pace a bit but we all kept it safe and didn’t try anything stupid. it’s pretty busy along that section of the ride so safer to stay within the boundaries of good sense.

uneventful back up to stirling hwy and across to the return trip through dalkeith and nedlands. i was doing a fair bit of the work on the front when james called that he’d roll through and help. i think he was expecting others to do the same but then realised that wasn’t going to happen. gotta love that – being a team player can find you out on your own sometimes!

the group rolled through to the first hill up to nedlands with paul and james on the front. as we rounded the bend, ben moves up and tries to gap. i go round and try to kick off the front too. i manage to hold it over the first rise but then gerard, james and ryan come past and gap me – no chance of a wheel there! ryan and gerard duked it out for line honours and james took third. ben and me cruised to the line with no other contenders in the near vicinity. the group was pretty fractured by that last push but an unoffcial re-group at the roadworks on matilda bay drive brought everyone back together for the final sprint.

rounding on to stirling hwy again, i was riding at about 5th wheel. feeling pretty comfortable, i thought i’ll hold it here and get a good lead out when we get closer to the brewery. that worked for a while until melvin takes his usual kick and flys past. that’ll do i think and grab his wheel. love it – getting closer, closer, closer, steady, steady, hold it, hol….freaking Cannondale belts past with gerard and paul on his wheel. i try to kick but nothing left to get up to the pace so relegated to 4th! ryan 1st, gerard with diviine intervention 2nd, and a cleverly ridden 3rd for paul.

no coffee shop for me today – mother in town; must be good.

THE OFFICIAL EURO CYCLIST CODE OF CONDUCT

1. Image and style shall be your primary concern. When suffering, one must focus first on maintaining a cool, even composure, and second on performance. Winning races is an added talent, and only counts if said euro cyclist wins with appropriate style.

2. You shall NEVER, under any circumstances, wear plain black spandex shorts or any team kit containing non-prominent Logo’s.

3. The Socks must extend no less than 2cm below the main bulge of your calf muscle, and shall never extend further than 1cm past the primary calf muscle bulge. All socks shall be white in colour with prominent logo placement.

4. Cycling shoes must be of white colour only!
-in certain circumstances, other colours, such as world
cup stripes are perfectly acceptable and encouraged.
-Red shoes are NOT ENDORSED by this group.

5. If white cycling shoes are not available where you reside, white booties with prominent logos shall always be worn.

6. You’re bike frame must contain more than 3 colours, and must always fit tastefully with your wheel selection.

7. Zipp’s
are to be used as training wheels ONLY. You shall race only on Lightweights and occasionally Bora’s if no lightweights are accessible.

8. Ridiculously stylish eye wear is to be worn at all time without exception.

9. In most circumstances, hair shall be kept neatly short, and matching helmet shall be worn (again with prominent logo placement). Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES shall a clashing helmet colour be worn with your euro kit.

10. In several cases, it is deemed acceptable to have long hair. In this event, hair shall be neatly slicked back in maximum euro-styling, and helmet shall not be worn. Stylish sport eyewear shall be worn at all times while exercising this option.

11. A prominent line where your kit ends and where your tan begins is essential to your image. Artificial tanning is banned,
the tan shall reflect the level of training commitment.

12. All podium shots (pictures) shall be taken with the euro-rider wearing team kit and appropriately matching casual euro shoes (such as puma’s). Socks shall remain within the guidelines above. The rider is expected to display an appropriate degree of bulge while receiving kisses/trophy.

13. The seat shall ALWAYS be white along with the handlebar tape, and must be made in Italy or France.
– Exceptions to this rule are seats or handlebar tape
containing the following colours: WorldCup Stripes,
Olympic Gold, Italian flag colour combo (green red
white).

14. You shall not, under any circumstances, acknowledge the presence of a cyclist riding a bike costing less than $4000 USD in a public place. This could be severely detrimental to your image.

15. Legs will be SHAVED year-round. ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS. In some cases, certain hair removal creams endorsed by succesful euro’s are deemed to be acceptable.

16. A rider will ALWAYS have liniment applied to his legs before appearing in public.

17. Facial hair will be restricted to a goatee, and even this is discouraged. Moustaches are EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED.
The only exception to the facial hair shall be SHORT sideburns–these are acceptable at the discretion of Cipo or a similar authority figure, on a case-by-case basis.

18. Ceramic bearings shall be used at all time on both training and race bikes.

19. Campagnolo shall be the only acceptable componentry and is hereby deemed superior to ANY Shimano product in ALL circumstances. You are expected to have nothing less than an ENTIRE campy grouppo. Crank substitutions are NOT permitted.

20. ALL wheels shall be equipped with tubulars, regardless of your ability in gluing them.

21. You shall NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, associate with triathletes. It is FORBIDDEN to have any number inked onto your body before a race.

22. Any physical activity, other than cycling, is STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. This includes any form of running or swimming and their derivatives (this includes walking).

23. You shall never rearrange your package while riding. Adjustments regarding seating/hanging comfort are to be done in private in order to preserve image.

24. In a circumstance where any cyclist ever displays aggression or disrespect towards you, you shall ride up uncomfortably close to them and slap them in the face with your team issue gloves. (Which must be white)

25. MTB gloves are FORBIDDEN in all instances. Cycling gloves will be slick, white (in accordance with kit), and have minimal padding. Padding will be beige or white in colour. In the case where said euro cyclist is wearing a leader’s jersey (This should be always) special gloves will be made to match the colour of the jersey while blending the team kit colours simultaneously.

26. In the event a motorist disturbs your ride, you shall proceed to ride up beside the car, form a clenched fist and bang the trunk of the car while doing your best attempt to sound irritated in Italian. Wild arm/head are strongly encouraged to enhance the apparent rage.

27. Training is based solely on feel while racing is be guided by sensations and instinct. A real Euro cyclist never gives in to scientific training methods.

28. Gearing is restricted to a titanium Campy Record 11-23 cassette with a ABSOLUTE MINIMUM of 42-53 up front. One shall never be seen pedaling at a cadence over 90 in case it detracts from his calm/smooth factor. The use of 25t cog is acceptable in special training circumstances.

29. ALL BIKES shall feature personalized nameplates next to ones home country’s flag located on the top-tube within 10 cm seat-tube ON ONE SIDE ONLY.

30. Pedals MUST be either Speedplay, Time, or Look. No other pedals are to be considered and ANY form of Shimano product is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. If one is found possessing Shimano pedals, title of euro cyclist will be stripped immediately.

31. Coffee is a necessity and as such must be consumed strong (ie. espresso) on a patio in Italy in full kit, it shall be drunk black. Sugar is STRONGLY FROWNED UPON. The only milk present shall appear frothed on top (if at all).

32. All pre and post-race activity will be conducted under a gazebo (this includes massage, interviews, and looking fantastic) leaving one in reasonable distance of the Euro-sun to top up your enviable tanlines or pose for photo’s.

33. Post-race, you must be utterly tied to your mobile phone, making endless calls to your incredibly attractive euro-girlfriend or important executives from modelling agencies. This will be done under the protection of the post race gazebo.

34. ABSOLUTELY NO FORM of seatbag, frame pump, mud guard or mirror shall come within 2 meters of the bike.

35. Team bikes will be built up so that they violate the UCI weight limit, in order that weights might be attached to the frame to demonstrate its superiority and lightness.

36. White bar tape shall be kept in pristine white condition and NEVER extend further than 3cm past the hoods (exception during spring classics, where standard bar tape wrapping is allowed). This state shall be achieved either through daily cleansing or frequent replacement. These jobs will NEVER be performed by the cyclist as you must maintain your image.

37. Motivational music during training MUST consist of Late 90s house and power ballads, or deep-trance hard-style German techno hereby known as euro beats. NO EXCEPTIONS.

38. Nothing short of a naked black ALL CARBON water bottle cages (manufactured by ELITE CAGES) will be used. The only exception is special edition 24k gold cages which can be preferable in some situations (such as photo shoots or prologues) where colour coordination is key (this is always). Ex. Gold Cage with Olympic Gold/white team kit.

39. A gold pendant on a very long, thin chain bearing some form of religious icon is STRONGLY recommended for mountain races.

40. While soloing in for a victory, you will ensure your jersey is fully zipped and straight, so all title sponsors are clearly visible. You will then smile and flex arms while pointing skywards. The projection of ones fatigue is EXPLICITLY FORBIDDEN in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

41. When appearing in a photo spread for sponsor’s products, one shall appear either fully nude or in full Armani 3 piece suits. Smiling is prohibited in these instances.

42. When riding, under the helmet, a team issue cycling cap (white in colour), shall be worn (depending on the hairstyle). The bill shall remain in the downward position at all times. Cycling cap can be worn forwards or backwards to coincide with current hairstyle. During spring training, cycling toques WILL be worn at all time in place of caps.
——————————————————————————————–
RULES BELOW THIS LINE ARE NOT FINAL, AND NEED REFINEMENT/OPINIONS

Dugast tubulars are the only appropriate rubber for your Lightweights.

One shall remove all
excess from frame when in the mountains (M Rasmussen’s stipulation at the 2005 TDF).

While training a Tag Heuer or other suitably classy watch shall be worn at all times.

Nokon cables are to be used as much as possible.
Additional parts/accessories should be produced by: AX Lightness, Tune, Schmolke, Walser, or Swissstop.

Stem stack height is critical. The stem of a true Euro shall be slammed down all the way to the frame. Stems shall also be aluminum as with bars, aluminum.
Bars should be classic, shallow drop. Deda newton oversize stem, deda shallow classic bar is preferable.
Other brands that work are:
ITM, Pro, stella Azzura, Fsa, cinelli

A one-piece carbon bar-stem combo is equally acceptable.

The website for the South Perth Cycle Club