sunday 5th oct – welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda

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ride report by peter.

 

after a wet day on the bike yesterday we were all looking forward to a nice dry ride and to forecast said it would be so.  however, the lack of cloud cover meant that the temperature bottomed out at around 4 degrees over night even thought we were aiming for a top of 20.  This always causes a dilemma for me as i know that it will be cold for the first part of the ride but hot at the end and i hate to overheat.  we had a smaller than usual group at the start this morning and some of our regulars are away which kept the numbers down to about 15 or so.  a couple of new riders came out and we found out later that this was to be jules’ longest ride he had ever done.  the winner of this years menzies-kalgoorlie race, paul was also coming along with us today.

 

the course took us out welshpool road before heading around mundaring weir and through darlington before heading to coffee via kalamunda road.  all up we were looking at over 100kms and over 1300m of climbing.

 

we rolled out and headed to welshpool via orong road for a change.  the trip was pretty much uneventful though i did discuss the idea of mountain points for each of the main climbs with a few of the guys.  basically to make the climb more “fun” a set number of points are available for the first 5 riders to crest the climb.  on today’s ride there were four “categorised” climbs that would yield points.  welshpool rd, two on the way round mundaring and finally kalamunda rd.  each climb would give 10, 7, 5, 3, 1 points for those places.  at the end of the ride, the points will be accumulated and at the end of the month, the climber of the month will be “awarded”.  this “competition” will continue regardless of whatever races are on.  for example, next week i intend to race the northam classic but since the hills ride will still be on, whomever turns up will still accumulate points.

 

so we hit the bottom of welshpool as a group and proceeded to find our own position in the group.  we strung out fairly quickly and tackled the first section at a reasonable pace.  after the first kink in the road ronny and alistar attacked and managed to gap the group a bit.  with still quite a bit of the hill to go, i wasn’t chasing and followed my plan of sticking to mike’s wheel as he ground his way up.  we eventually picked them up about halfway to the servo and spat ronny out the back.  alistar jumped back on the train and the five of us continued to follow mike’s wheel.  just after the servo ryan attacked and brendan and alistar went with him.  i was still on mike and he wasn’t chasing anyone.  i didn’t feel i had the legs to go anyway and thought i would stick to the tried and true mike method.

 

he continued to grind his way up the false flat section and onto the next pinch.  it didn’t seem to slow him much and he continued up at the same pace leaving me fighting for air by myself.  pretty soon he had caught the front three and they continued on.  by about the third pitch in this part of the climb, brendan had been unhitched from the group and i was making ground on him.  i managed to catch him on the second last bit of hill and saw that ryan had also been dropped by mikes relentless pace.  i gauged the distance and realised that i couldn’t make up that much ground before the end so resigned myself to fourth place. 

 

alistar – 10, mike – 7, ryan – 5, peter – 3, brendan – 1.

 

a regroup at the top and slowly the riders all filtered through.  we were waiting a while for declan and ronny had to go looking for him as we were unsure if he had turned off or not, but he finally made it to the regroup point.  we headed off through the picturesque bickley valley and onto mundaring weir road.  lisa, declan and ronny turned off and up to kalamunda as the rest of us headed towards mundaring weir and onto mundaring township for the next regroup.  this stretch contained two climbs that would yield points and i explained to everyone what was going on with the competition.  it definitely revved a few guys up as there were attacks coming almost straight away as alistar and then paul went hard up the first part of the hill and i jumped on.  we hit a good tempo but were reeled in by the first corner by a sizable group.  it seemed that people were going to push that bit harder for some points.

 

the top of the climb was to be at the intersection of asher rd which was just after the crest of the hill.  to get there, the road would step up a number of times and could be quite draining on the legs.  our pace was nicely high and we slowly dropped riders until it was only the same five as the welshpool climb.  just before the camel farm, ryan attacked and no-one reacted.  i jumped around the group and told him that we had a gap.  he wanted to know if that means we should go faster, but i said that if he keeps us away, i wouldn’t contest the points.  we stayed away.

 

ryan – 10, peter – 7, mike – 5, brendan – 3, alistar – 1.

 

steve soon bridged across to us as we continued downhill towards the weir.  we were riding like it was a race and people were taking turns and occasionally rolling through to keep the pace high.  we picked up another group out training in the hills and they hung onto us for a short time before our pace was too high.  we smashed it down into the weir and up the other side.  staying together well on the climb, it wasn’t until the final pitch up to the round-about that ryan attack and brendan and alistar went with him.  ryan was first to the top and did a victory lap of the round-about while mike turned left and continued onto mundaring township.  i mentioned to them that it was first to the roundabout in mundaring town, not mundaring weir, but they never really listen to instructions anyway. 

 

mike now had a sizable gap on us and the chase was on to bring him back.  unfortunately, getting him back on a hill usually takes a big effort that none of us were willing to make.  we took turns setting the pace and still had him in sight as we crested the last climb.  i was on the front and had just looked at my hr monitor to see it peak at 188 bpm when alistar attacked and tried to get away.  ryan and brendan jumped across and this seemed to take some impetus out of his attack and he slowed enough for me to catch back up.  as we got closer to the final roundabout we had made up some ground on mike but it still looked like he would nail it.  i attacked and made an attempt to bridge across.  brendan and ryan jumped on but alistar swore loundly as we screamed past him.  a moments hesitation from me as we caught mike entering the traffic islands around the round-about and brendan and ryan slipped past me before i managed to also get around mike.

 

brendan – 10, ryan – 7, peter – 5, mike – 3, alistar – 1.

 

the rest of the group all filtered in and i made a point to make the sprint line a bit further up the road as racing into an round-about was not ideal.  we continued onto darlington and most of this was generously downhill and even the uphill sections were taken at a moderate pace.  we came up over ridgehill rd past the base of the zig-zag which was celebrating some type of zig-zag family day.  it meant that we had a couple of impatient motorists behind us that wanted to show how tough they were by passing us very close.  nice.

 

we had to wait for jules once we got back to kalamunda road and this should have been a warning sign to us.  new rider, struggling, says he is alright.  we should have asked about food and drink, but we will get to that afterwards as it was discussed in depth at the coffee shop.  we took off and paul and clare turned for home as did doug.  the rest of us were headed into the final climb. 

 

mike was on the front early and pushed his relentless pace to the point were i fell clear of his wheel.  i dropped back a bit and alistar set the pace for a while to try to minimize the losses to mike.  on the first “plateau” ryan sprinted across to mike and i tried to join him.  alistar was left swearing to himself again but soon caught me as i only made it halfway across.  at the next pinch, he dropped me as i had nothing left to chase with.  i went into damage control mode for the rest of the hill, but kept an eye behind me to make sure brendan or steve didn’t zoom past for the points.  no need to worry as brendan said he bonked on the hill and went into hunger flat.  it was soon rectified at the coffee shop.

 

mike – 10, ryan – 7, alistar – 5, peter – 3, brendan – 1.

 

as we refueled the starving bodies, dr melvyn came in quite late with the new guy, jules.  jules looked like death warmed up and we quickly realised that he had totally hit the wall.  we threw food and drink at him and he then went to order dome stuff inside.  it turns out that it was his first hills ride and also the longest one he has ever done.  he went out with the bike force guys on saturday and they mentioned this ride but said it was pretty hard.  he thought he would have a crack anyway.  with no breakfast, no food and just one bottle of water, he hit the wall on ridgehill road and totally died on kalamunda rd.  we had a big discussion on pre-ride nutrition and what to bring on the ride.  i will have to make an effort to ask any new riders about this before we head out again.  after devouring a coke, hot choc, bread roll, a couple of croissants he was right to go.

 

lisa was still at the coffee shop once we got there but after turning off early she did two repeats of kalamunda road before meeting us for coffee.  so at the end of the day she also managed four pretty big climbs.

 

the return trip was pretty uneventful.  i was talking to jules with brendan and steve in front of us.  we got separated at the lights and never made it back onto the group until vic park.  i lead the group home along berwick and brendan and i kept and eye on ryan to watch him do the “i can’t clip in” thing at the second last set of lights.  we were held up at the final set but when they changed, he shot up the right lane and over the hill.  jens and i chased him but i ran out of puff by the time we came down the hill and watched brendan and steve fly past.  ryan managed to hold everyone off till the end.

 

so, 108kms on my speedo by the time i got home and over 1400m of climbing.  no wonder i am tired.  hopefully this puts me in good stead for the northam classic next week which covers 125kms with five times up the hill leading out of northam. 

 

the final wash up of mountain points were as follows –

 

ryan – 29

mike – 25

peter – 18

alistar – 17

brendan – 15

saturday 4th oct – spr breakfast ride

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ride report by peter.

 

which one will i ride today - my garage is finally how i want it
which one will i ride today - my garage is finally how i want it

i woke to the dreaded sound of rain this morning and the sound of cars swishing past.  normally this is not a problem, but this morning was our spr breakfast and a wet ride would mean soggy riders in my house.  the only saving grace was that the rain only lasted briefly and was over by 5:30am.  hopefully the roads would be dry by the time we started.

 

we had close to 40 people rsvp for the breakfast and we usually pick up a few more on the day, so i was expecting a decent turn out.  there are also those that will ride but not stay for breakfast, so our numbers were up over 50 by the time we headed off.  we were playing the amended banister road course this morning as we needed to finish in como rather than the city so the shorter ending meant we would extend the ride down to stock road.  back along south street and up banister before nicholson and albany hwy.  a detour along manning road would bring us to como rather than the causeway.

 

the ride started well enough, we managed to get caught at the lights quite a bit and it split the group as expected.  it was the usual disjointed start but we eventually found our way down canning at a leisurely pace.  the hill preceding the stock road intersection was always going to be interesting even at a leisurely pace it would be too fast for some riders and the group fell apart a bit there.  not real problem though as we regrouped at the red light.

 

along the rolling hills of stock road we maintained an easy pace and there was minimal damage to the group.  i continued to play the sheepdog roll and flitted between the front and back of the group to help it stay together.  once we turned onto south street, the rolling hills became a bit bigger and a few riders like stu and mike fell back to help some of the struggling ones get back on.  as this was a breakfast ride, i wanted the group to arrive as much of a group as possible.  a few friendly lights meant that we hit banister road as a pack.  it was also when the rain started.

 

when we left the car park this morning there was clouds to the north and to the south with showers pouring out of each.  we were dry but heading south.  looks like we caught up to it.

 

a sea of green in the lounge room
a sea of green in the lounge room

the rain wasn’t particularly heavy, but in a big group it doesn’t need to be as the spray from your own tyres, the rider in front and the one in front of that, all seem to be landing on your head.  the road was quite wet so the spray was probably double the actual rainfall.

 

the pace stepped up somewhat and riders began pushing to the front.  no real roll though, but more like a series of continuous attacks that drove the pace higher.  in the wet conditions it made for an interesting experience, but at no time did i feel like it was dangerous.  the aussie crates boys, brendan and steve, were forcing the pace along with the usual suspects like nick and jens.  the absence of ryan meant that there would be no last minute flyer up the side to blow everyone apart, but the pace was starting to take it’s toll.  i eventually made a move as i thought that we were coming to the end of banister road, but i miscalculated as we still had a way to go.  it was dryer at the front, however, until the aussie crates led the pack back around me. 

 

pretty soon we were at the end and from what i could see through rain drenched glasses, the crates boys got there first.  we slowed, or rather were slowed by the lights to allow the majority of the group a chance to rejoin.  a gentle pace along nicholson gave me a chance to drop back and help a few struggling riders. 

 

as we approached the lights at spencer rd i looked up to see a rider on the ground and a few others getting untangled.  the rest of the group were already up the road, so no real chance in getting them back.  it turns out that canadian bill, took off to fast and smacked into the rear wheel of jens.  canada came off second best in the coming together of nations as jens stayed upright, while bill ended up on the deck.  not real damage apart from a big can of humility, which has probably now doubled after everyone gets to read it on the blog. 

 

the group had gone, so mike, stu and myself got this litte group of about seven of us together and headed for home in the rain.  quite uneventful really, except for the dry roads around curtain uni, which showed that it had only rained around the canning vale area. 

 

more green
more green

the soggy group had started filing into the garage by the time i got home, and it was shoes and socks off and water wrung out of armwarmers and gloves before heading in.  lorraine and kate and jody had the place prepared and there was hot food and coffee awaiting.  the toasted ham and cheese sangas were a hit along with the big pot of hot chocolate which was not big enough apparently.  there were massive amounts of food and i am pretty sure that no-one went home wanting.  we had set up tables outside again, in the vain hope that the weather would have been nicer, but it wasn’t to be.  hopefully the next one in three months time will yield better results weatherwise. 

 

the breakfast entry also provided a ticket in the raffle and the two ritchey torqkeys went to doug and ryan.  the pump went to lisa and the conti attack/force tyres went to brendan, well actually his better half jody’s ticket won them, but he has the bike.

 

we then had the bike weigh in as people were dragging there bikes out of the garage.  the biggest surprise was the darren managed to whittle a bit more off his already exceedingly light bike to come in at 5.94kg.  well under the uci legal limit of 6.80kg.  fortunately for him, he doesn’t race so the uci will not be checking anytime soon.  after davina’s superlight specialized (the benefit of being sponsored) there is a massive glut of cervelos, with four r3’s coming within 100 grams of each other.  there may be some weight saving coming up before the next breakfast between these guys to see who can get the upper hand.  with this bulk of lighter bikes grabbing the top positions, my 8.34kg (forgot to reweigh mine) seems rather heavy.  that is till we chucked phil and noel’s 10+kg monsters on the scales.  these guys are carrying the equivalent of 4-5 full drink bottles of extra weight when they ride.   i think i can see a good purchase for that christmas bonus this year boys.  in the meantime, it will only make you stronger.

a couple of intruders in the house - the crates boys, brendan and steve
a couple of intruders in the house - the crates boys, brendan and steve

 

so another successful breakfast (in my opinion anyway) and it gave everyone an opportunity to catch up a bit more.  lorraine (and kate) did another outstanding job on the food and the doggy bags didn’t go un-noticed even though they were stuffed down the font of a few guys vests.  i now have enough evil brownies to last me a week, well a few days at least.  they will probably go straight to my hips.

ride routes 4th & 5th october

as it is the spr spring breakfast this saturday, the ride route will finish at my place in como instead of the usual coffee-shop sprint.  please remember that it is $10 per person and you will get more than enough food and coffee as well as a chance to win some raffle prizes.

the sunday hills ride will tackle most of the major climbs around kalamunda as we will need to burn off all the muffins and those evil brownies that lorraine makes.

saturday 4th oct – spr breakfast ride

sunday 5th oct – welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda

new rider for south perth rouleurs

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chris and anthea had a baby boy on tuesday.

no name as yet, but he weighed in at 4.025kg which is around half the weight of his ridley damocles.  congratulations to you both and chris, we expect to see you back on the bike in a few years time.

junior chris - ready for the hills ride
junior chris - ready for the hills ride

thursday 2nd oct – spr training ride

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Ride report by Nick.

 

The misty rain cleared into heavy downpours so Nick took it easy around the roads to Christchurch, albeit with a quick dash to follow on the wheel of Nick who was responding to a rush of blood by Nick. At Christchurch the group all agreed with Nick, that maybe a change of route was called for, so a mad climb up to Eric Street ensued with Nick taking line honours before resting in the pack with Nick.

 

Port Beach Road saw the first rider stretched out into a fine pencil like moustache under the ongoing pressure of Nick on the front, who then exploded with a degree of skill not seen since Floyd Landis, the easing pace then allowed Nick to take the sprint points.

 

By this stage the heavens had opened up for the twentieth time, and Nick took shelter on the open road, although a slight tailwind with some horizontal rain made life easier to keep the relentless pace up to the last few metres along Burke Drive. Nick looked like he was down for the count but an inspection in the long hall of mirrors saw a recovery, not seen since Floyd Landis.

 

Majestic Point was the next testing point, after a determined effort by Nick to make a break, but thankfully Nick dragged him in to allow Nick to pip him on the last rise. Due to the horrid conditions and uncoordinated teamwork, Nick led the group back to South Perth.

Not that much of a recovery ride (Monday 29th September)

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ride report by heiko/jens

Around 30 people showed up to this year’s Queen’s Birthday recovery ride.  Although Michael explained the route to us, but as I still don’t really find my way around Perth, I just knew that we would go around the river.  (You gotta love that MapmyRide feature on the blog!)  On our way towards the first river crossing everything was cruisy and there was time for a chat.  As we followed the river along Shelley and Rossmoyne the pace picked up and we were rolling along with the speedo hitting almost 40 km/h.  Still there were people taking off at the front which kept the pace pretty high.  I happened to find myself at the front with young Alistair through Mt. Pleasant along the river. 

The first re-group point was after the small climb, or should I rather call it bonus climb, in Attadale.  I think that one was taken out by Michael, Michael (wearing the Giro de Italia Climber’s Jersey) and Jerard, with other words the usual suspicions.  However, there might be some irregularities to the actual arrival on top of that bonus hill, as I was getting hold up on the left side of the group when the smash fest started.  Some of us were already thinking about the recovery of this ride by then.  Despite these comments from almost everyone of us we just took it easy the first few kilometers after the re-group.  The speed picked up again as we were getting closer to the turnaround point in Fremantle.  Our group seemed a lot smaller now compared to the beginning of the ride, but no one really knew who was missing or if we were still complete in numbers.  It might be really a good idea to introduce the buddy system. 

I reckon the real split of the group came when we drove north along Cottesloe towards Swanbourne.  I decided to go to the front and keep up the speed.  I figured it might be a good idea to train my time trial capabilities.  Right when I started to suffer a bit that small hill, well it doesn’t really deserve the name hill, came up and Michael rushed by with a few other guys on his wheel.  I was really tempted to jump on the end of that group, but I was really destroyed, and no one else was really in the mood to go to the front.  And by the way: did I mention the head wind? 

The ride back home was quite uneventful, but still at a moderate pace.  The usual attack at the hill in Crawley and the sprint along Mounts Bay Road (We need a line here!!!) ended the ride.  To sum it up: I suffered quite a lot for a recovery ride, I don’t know what you guys thought…

Happy Birthday!

sunday 28th sept – carradine & peet & observatory

ride report by peter.

 

dr mark doing it hard
dr mark doing it hard

a long weekend sunday ride will always produce interesting results as far as the composition of riders.  sometimes more people turn up because it is a free day for them, other times less people turn up because the long weekend brings other plans.  this weekend was a bit of a mixed bag.  some new riders to our group, some others that don’t usually come and some regulars that didn’t appear at all.  so we celebrated the birthday of our queen (apparently a different queen to the eastern states) with a nice ride in the hills.

 

the morning was pleasant and not as brisk as it has been.  a very light shower was moving in from the west, but we got moving before it set in as it always seems worse when you are sitting still and getting rained on.  the course today would take us down south towards armadale and up mt nasura via carawatha rd and carradine.  a quick descent along solidiers rd before heading up peet rd and the rest of brookton hwy.  heading towards kalamunda we would take in the observatory before heading to coffee via lawnbrook rd.  all up five main climbs plus the usual bonus ones.

 

so around 20 of us headed along albany hwy to the first climb.  two of the new riders, rick and blake, were at the front and setting quite a strong pace.  probably a bit higher than we would normally do, but that is because they didn’t know what to expect today and would probably save their legs next time.

 

we hit the first hill as a group and blake jumped up the road with mike chasing him down.  i am not really sure how that one turned out as i stayed back with lisa who was venturing out on the hills ride for the first time today.  this is a bitch of a hill to do first up and i wanted to make sure she got up it alright.  the steep section was a bit testing, but she made it in the end and we headed down the other side to go and tackle carradine.

 

we rounded the corner and blake was out in front early on.  i sprinted up to join him as i wanted to see how he was going as a climber.  he has only been riding for a year and a half and know that he has work to do on the hills, so davina recommended to him to do our sunday ride.  i sat on his wheel for a bit before he noticed me there and pulled over to ride side by side.  we chatted for a bit while i upped the pace to test him out.  his breathing began to get heavy and eventually he slipped back to sit on my wheel.  i left him there for a bit and listened to his breathing before slowly accelerating away.  i looked back to make sure i had broken him before slowing done to ride with him again.  as i have always said, cycling is about trying to make other people hurt.

 

davina doing it easy
davina doing it easy

we continued up the hill and were soon joined by mike and steve.  they were not racing it and we kept a good pace to the top.  at the last 50 metres or so, steve and i sprinted it out for the line and both threw the bikes at pretty much the same time.  too close to call. 

 

a regroup at the top and we headed along to churchman’s brook road which become the great descent down soldiers road.  steve and i rode back with lisa to make sure she got down the descent well as some of the corners can get a bit hairy.  at the bottom, dr mark dropped his chain so we waited for him to make sure he got going again. 

 

after the regroup, lisa and melvyn headed straight up brookton hwy and would meet us at the gull servo at karagullen.  the rest of us would have fun going up peet road into rolleystone.

 

my aim was two-fold.  firstly i wanted to see how blake would go on the steeper climbs and secondly i was going to try to stay with either mike or stu, depending on who was going to be in front of me.  usually it was both of them. 

 

the hill started and blake moved to the front pretty well straight away.  i sat on his wheel as we tackled the first steep section which would average over 10%.  mike soon came by and i swapped blake’s wheel for his and held on for dear life.  i thought i was going pretty well as we had made it up the first pinch and had gapped the rest of the pack.  we just hit the second steeper section when mike stood up and put in a solid attack.  i had nothing and could not respond at all.  i just tried to maintain my tempo and hope like hell that his heart condition kicked in and he had to slow down to recover.  i kept the momentum up as we veered right past urch road and tried to keep the distance between us to a minimum.  as the road steepened up again, he put more into me and i was really starting to suffer.  i looked back and could see stu gaining on me too.  by this stage i was about 100 metres behind mike and 50 metres in front of stu.  the road gradient evened out a bit and i started to accelerate. 

 

the trick to hill climbing is to make sure that whatever effort you put in to the steeper sections, you do the same for the not as steep sections.  a lot of people relax when the gradient relaxes, but this is the time to go faster.

 

i started to gain ground of mike and lost sight of stu as he was still further down the hill.  i chased for a while but had a lonely ride from the top of the climb to the finish line at rolleystone high school. by the time i started that last little climb, mike was already crossing the finish.  close but no cigar.  it made me think about a mountain points table for the blog.  i was talking to jeff from cyclebuzz the other day and they have sprint points on their saturday morning ride that people accumulate for both winning sprints and also just turning up.  maybe we could have designated mountain and sprinters points for the sunday ride.  we all try to race to the top and we all know where the sprints are on the way home, so this would just be verifying the winners each week.  something i might think about anyway.

 

john at rolleystone
john at rolleystone

the rest of the group made their way to the regroup and doug commented that he didn’t even realise that there was a high school behind all the trees and bush land that skirt the road side.  he said that he has always been to buggered to look at the signs whenever we have ridden up here before.

 

we jumped onto brookton  highway and kept heading towards the servo.  a few of the riders wanted to test themselves on the run into karagullen and sprinted off for a nice fast descent.  toilet, water and food stops all taken care of and we were off again.

 

the group was spread along the road with little packs forming as riders found their rhythm or more than likely and nice wheel to follow.  i hung back with ronny to help melvyn and lisa along.  it was a pretty uneventful stretch of road.

 

at the regroup quite few riders turned off and headed either home of to the coffee shop.  the rest of us headed towards the observatory but with a detour to take in part of the next cyclo-sportif course which will be held in a few weeks.  repatriation road has a short sharp hill in it which can make things interesting when you are trying to hold a group together in a cyclo race.  i just wanted to make sure i remembered how crap it was to be ready for the race.

 

once we hit patterson road and started the observatory hill proper, the group began to find it’s pace.  no-one was attacking and there was a lot of talk amongst the front of the group.  jens and stu were on the front and we were trying to egg jens on for an attack to break things up a bit.  he declined the offer and fell away as stu upped the pace a bit.  pretty soon it was stu, mike, blake and myself and i was happy to be sitting behind the old men as they drafted blake and i up the hill.  at the last moment, blake sprinted around to get to the top first while the rest of us just watched him go.  this could be even more incentive for a mountain points tally.  we may not have been so complacent.

 

the group then headed down the fast descent and towards the final climb of the day up lawnbrook.  a number of riders swapped it out on the front as people were keen to go fast down the hill.  i was just keen to try to gain some ground on mike and stu before the hill started in earnest. 

 

i changed gear and began to tackle the hill.  steve commented on me being a bit too keen, but i said that  wanted to get ahead of mike.  too late.  he quickly came up behind me and put in a big effort to make sure i was not on his wheel.  i tried to tempo up to cut my losses, but i was losing more ground than i was gaining.  pretty soon stu and steve caught me as well so i sat on their wheels unto the road swept left past the carmal primary school.  i was pretty much spent by then and let the boys go play.  by the time they left my sight, steve had already made a move on stu and was in the process of trying to catch mike.

 

i chucked it in the big ring and decided to smash out some se efforts instead as i might as well use the hill for something.  blake eventually caught up to me and we rode the rest of the way to the regroup on canning road.  next stop was the coffee shop.

 

when we turned up, the guys that had turned up earlier where already eating and drinking and had a table set up for us.  on another table sitting on his lonesome was cj sutton as he was out training with josie today, but left her to do more intervals while he had coffee instead. 

 

it was a good break for us and well deserved as the number of climbs today certainly took their toll on the group. we took our time at the shop but eventually had to saddle up and head off home.  halfway along canning road, michael got a flat tyre so the group had to wait while he changed it.  luckily he has new tyres coming this week, so hopefully that will be the end of his bad run. 

 

doug hanging tough in the hills
doug hanging tough in the hills

we kept it together along lesmurdie rd but when we hit welshpool it was all on.  the lack of cross winds during the descent meant that it was a pretty tight group as we sped down the hill.  as i am still on chris’ bike i don’t have a speedo so have no idea what we were doing.  it felt fast though.

 

once on the flats, it was on t be first to the lights at tonkin hwy.  we prettu much all took it in turns to try to smash it off the front but would generally all get pulled backing before another attack would go.  it was lots of fun, but i wish i had the legs to cause more damage.

 

the sprints at the two maccas were both taken out by blake who must be modeling himself on ryan as he hid nicely in the pack and just took off at the last minute.  on the final one along berwick i tried to lead out davina, but ran out of legs leaving her too long a run with blake stuck on her wheel.  all in good fun though.  the points system my make that a bit more competitive.

 

so a good ride and we got to meet some new people and inflict some sunday pain.  the weather is steadily improving and i look forward to the day when we don’t need arm warmers and vests at the start.

saturday 27th sept – scarborough beach road

ride report by peter.

after the downpour we had on thursday, i was looking forward to a nice ride this morning and the weather, at least, didn’t disappoint.  a bit chilly first thing, but with the predicted max of 20 and not a cloud in the sky, it was not going to take long for the day to warm up.  the sun is getting up earlier as well which is making the ride to the start easier… until daylight savings comes along again.  thanks for letting us vote on that one.

there was already a fine contingent of riders waiting by the time i arrived (fashionably late) but the numbers swelled to over 50 once we started.  the course was an old favorite and was a good one for testing your legs over rolling hills at speed.  today would contain three sprint sections with regroups afterwards.  a section on scarborough beach road, one on west coast highway and the final one taking in the home run through dalkeith and mounts bay road.  the course was set, announcements made and we were set to go.  not quite.  judd had a flat tyre.  a five minute wait allowed even more riders to arrive a bit late to swell the numbers more.

as we rolled out to cross the causeway, we picked up a couple more riders and i am sure we were at about 60 strong by now.  it was a gentle cruise along mounts bay and up the hill around kings park.  i can remember not long ago we used to start the smashfest about now.  someone was always willing to go hard along mounts bay even though it was only the start of the ride.  now we were more relaxed and it allowed a bit of social time.

the group managed to get caught and split at a number of traffic lights as was expected when we get it above abut 30 riders, but pretty soon we were on scarborough beach road heading towards the coast.  as we approached the sprint section, i was on the front with michael and we were discussing what landmark we need to pick as the start.  there are a number of shops along the roadside and i was hoping for something memorable, like the adultshop.com, but the fast section starts at the lights by bunnings.  something i will have to remember for next time in the pre-ride briefing. so we were off.

michael and i pulled off the front and let the boys have their head of steam.  i drifted back into the pack but may have gone too far as gaps started to appear.  i made a move to get back into the front pack and sat in the back while the pace increased.  we rolled over the first hill and the group was still quite large as everyone got into a aero-tuck on the descent.  we lucked out the lights and managed to get through unscathed and approached the next rolling hill.  these are all power climbs and they are pretty much uphill sprints.

as we got about halfway up the next hill i jumped from the back of the group and started coming around the outside to try to make it to the front.  ryan also made a move from midway through the pack and the timing was impeccable as we both hit the front with me tucked into his wheel.  we crested the hill with a gap on the group and ryan kept the power on during the descent.  i was content to sit in as my heart-rate was pretty much peaking by this point.  we came up to the final hill and i couldn’t hold his wheel as he applied the pressure again.  the group then swept me up as we crested and rolled into scarborough beach.  we turned the corner and pulled up on the side of he road to regroup.  there were a lot of panting riders and i could feel the blood pumping through my head.

the good regroup allowed everyone back on before we headed off down west coast highway.  we took it pretty easy and generally stuck together until the small rise coming towards oceanic drive.  the group had already started to splinter as we crossed the intersection which indicated the start of the next sprint section.

nick was driving the group hard and the first ten or so riders had already strung out.  john was in front of me but there was no-one in front of him so he was coping the full brunt of the wind and pulled into the line.  “bugger this” i thought and powered around the group and past nicj who was still pushing hard.  i held the front for a while before james came around to lend a hand.  we had cleared the first rolling hill and i came around again to do another turn.  on the final rise the whole group (whatever remained) came barreling past and left me to fend for myself with the other dropped riders.  most of us managed to catch up at the turn into swanbourne.

as i was too far back, i couldn’t get the group to stop for a proper regroup, but the pace slowed significantly as we rolled towards claremont.  by the time we crossed stirling highway, i would estimate that we were probably down to 30 riders with the others still playing catch up.  but the pace was on again as soon as the lights changed.

as we scooted up through the first hill into dalkeith, i looked up the road to see steve and doug had broken away and had quite a good gap on the chasers.  a lack of real coordination on the chasers part meant that they stayed away till after the left hander into jutland parade.  a number of the guys were doing work on the front to force the pace, but most were waiting till the final undulating climbs on birdwood before showing their hand.  when it came i think jerry was on the front, but i saw ryan pull out and around as well as jens made his move.  i was content to sit on wheel and watch everyone else try to match the pace at the front.

as we rolled past steves and onto the uni, we picked up young nick who was out riding by himself.  he used to go on the other south perth ride, but was by himself today.  i chatted to him a bit and told him what the go was for the final run along mounts bay.  he was heading that way so was keen to join in.

we didn’t have to wait for the lights at mounts bay and started the final run with some speed.  i got trapped on the left hand side and just had to sit and watch as guys made moves to get to the front while big nick pushed the pace along.  as we got closer and closer to the swan brewery, i didn’t think that i would ever get out when a gap appeared and i indicated that i was moving.  it was a bit early, but i was committed now so checked the right lane and started my run around the group.  judd and another rider had already broken free by the time i got to the front and i was chasing to get onto them.  as i started to fade a couple of riders moved around and it turned out to be young nick with ryan in tow.  they shot up the road and i resigned myself to just getting home.  event this was interrupted as a bus pulled out and slowed the rest of the group down.  we then had trouble getting into the right hand lane to take the turn to the coffee-shop as there was a long line of traffic to negotiate first.  but we got there in the end.

the rest of the group dribbled in and we managed to take over the café again.  this won’t be a problem next week as we will be having our second group breakfast at my place.  for $10 you get food, coffee, raffle prizes and a chance to reweigh the bike to account for any modifications you might have made.  if you are coming please let us know (southperthrouleurs@hotmail.com) so we have an idea of numbers for the catering.  thanks.

The website for the South Perth Cycle Club