sunday 22nd june – welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda

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ride report by peter

so my first hills ride in a long time and before i even started, i knew it was going to hurt. if i hadn’t been racing, i had been unable to ride due to other commitments. the racing was generally on flatter courses too, so it has been a different style of riding.

many of the usual suspects toed the line this morning, but we had an influx of estrogen as we also had four girls come out with us. davina was out on her final hills ride before she heads to the usa for eight weeks of racing. you can keep tabs on her progress via her blog which can be found here. a friend of hers, bec, also joined us along with sandy, who i used to do triathlons with, and anna an old regular. as far as the blokes went, we had ryan to keep us honest on the hills and carlo, a friend of stu’s who was a bit of a dark horse.

i had mapped out a new route this morning to take in the mundaring weir road. we often ride mundaring weir, but are usually heading towards kalamunda for coffee rather than away from it. i thought the change would be good, but to get to it, we would have to get across the scarp via welshpool rd. after mundaring, we would head back through darlington and back up to kalamunda for coffee. it was planned to be just over 100km by the time we got home.

the morning was fresh, but not as cold as yesterday. everyone was rugged up but wary of the fact that it was going to warm up as the day progressed. we headed out great eastern hwy to get onto orrong rd and picked up mike on the way out. great, both mike and ryan to hurt us on the hills. nice and uneventful on the way out and pretty soon we were beginning to climb the “lower slopes” of the welshpool hill.

everyone had been doing turns on the front and just as the road began to point upward, the guys peeled off to leave sandy and anna to lead the way up the climb. michael came to the front with davina on his wheel and i jumped on as he set the pace. a train of ryan, mike, mark and a new guy, carlo came past as the climb got harder. i switched wheels to see how long i could stay with them. i was sitting on carlo’s wheel when ryan swapped turns with mike and set a higher pace. i pulled off to the side and i think jerry may have been there too. all blood was channeled to legs so the short term memory was not functioning properly. anyway, eventually it ended up being ryan, mike & carlo up the road and they had about 100 metres on mark and myself by the time we past the servo.

after that, i don’t really know what happened to the front guy’s navigational skills. all three turned up lesmurdie road. when have we ever turned up that way??? mark asked me if we were going straight and we just kept powering by as they eventually looked back down the road and realised their mistake. the aim now was to try to stay ahead of the hapless trio.

as we crested the next section, we saw a few cyclists a bit further up the road. these turned out to be, doug, dr paul & dr greg. doug had lives up that way so always joins after the start, whilst the docs had left early and were going to do their own thing.

after the second “step” in the climb, we were still ahead of them but they were closing fast. ryan and mike had dropped carlo and very soon they had overtaken us. it was now a matter of jumping on board and holding on till the end. on the final pinch i tried a bid for glory, but came up a little short as they caught me as we crested the rise. we then rolled down to the intersection together. there may have been a dispute as to who should really claim the first on this climb, but the commasaires have reviewed the tape and have declared that they were stupid to turn up lesmurdie road.

a regroup at the top and we were off into bickley valley. a few of us tried for the landspeed record down the glenisla rd as it was ideal weather with little wind at that time. as i said yesterday, it was the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. as we past through bickely valley it still had not seen the sun and was absolutely freezing. their winter solstice must mean a day of only three hours direct sunlight. another quick regroup to make sure we had everyone and we were off again, but unlike every other ride, we were heading away from the coffee shop.

the road to mundaring has a couple of main climbs and a lot of undulations in between. we hit the first one as soon as we turned onto the road and as i was “leading the way” i ended up with a decent gap on the rest of the field. carlo bridged across to me and soon ryan, mark and mike were there too. jerry briefly tried to make it across, but was a little short and didn’t manage to get a wheel.

the pace wasn’t high, but consistent, and we swapped off turns all the way to the weir. the decent into the dam wall was a lot of fun, especially the last couple of hundred metres where they have laid hotmix. all that road needs is about 20km more of it and it will be awesome.

as we came up out of the weir, we changed plans and would stop at the roundabout as i was concerned that some of the group may not know the way and would get lost. this meant that the second climb would not be that long, and ryan could go harder sooner. he did. about halfway up the first pinch out of the weir, he started going hard. mark and carlo dropped off but i managed to hang on, but only just. just as the climb approached the roaundabout and the grade steepened, both mike and ryan stepped on the gas and i had to let them go. i think mike pipped ryan for line honors.

regroup and off again. the pack stayed together till about the halfway point, where ryan, mike and carlo took off on one of the rolling hills. i again, managed to stay around for a bit but soon ran out of legs and could not hold wheel. mark and darren picked me up as they came past and we were only about 150 metres behind once we hit the regroup point again.

the rest of the decent into darlington was going to be controlled and the group would stay together. there were too many twists and turns for people to get lost in, and michael and i also wanted to take the group down one of the steepest hills in the area. this particular hill is called mills rd and averages about 17%. when going up (and we will do this one soon) your arms get sore from pulling up on the bars and you are always searching for an easier gear. when going down, you are going over the crest and still can’t see the bottom of the hill. you tend to ride the brakes the whole way down as you pick up speed in no time. there is also a semi-blind corner that you don’t want to cut, just in case. a small bonus climb to get us to darlington, and we started another descent.

this eventually brought us out at the base of ridge hill rd, our last bonus climb for the day. my legs were not cooperating by now and when carlo and ryan went, i couldn’t really respond. i just rode tempo to the top but kept them in sight till the start of the zig zag.

as we regrouped a coup happened. not from within the ranks, but rather from my legs. they said “i swear that if you make us ride up kalamunda rd i will put your foot through the spokes when you are coming done welshpool”. they were pissed, and who could blame them. i hammered them pretty hard today, and they were out of condition to start with. my cardio backed the legs and my brain made my mouth tell everyone that i think we should just go strai
ght up the zig zag. a few of the others turned off to go home and then ryan and mike took off up the zig zag at pace. i was content to just cruise along and enjoy the view for a while. a couple of other “hardcore” riders decided to still tackle kalamunda rd. darren, dr melyvn and anna all deserve the insanity medal for that one.

about halfway up i thought that i better make the most of it and took off catching mark by surprise. michael must have been expecting it and sat neatly on my wheel until i ran out of puff. he then took off up the road to leave me suffering alone. mark and jerry started the long chase and eventually swallowed me up then spat me out the back while they went after michael. i snuck down a back road and beat all three of them to the coffee shop.

as i said before, today was davina’s last ride with us for a while. i can still remember the first sunday when she and josie turned up. we went up carawatha hill in mt nasura near brookton hwy and davina had to push her bike up, claiming that she was a track sprinter, not a road cyclist. how things have changed, as now she is smashing it up those same hills and going racing in the usa. josie has also just returned from a few months racing in europe and will be heading back again soon. for the rest of us that are well past our prime, we can all live vicariously through those in the group that are doing well in the sport.

coffee was good. service was not too bad considering it was closer to 11 than 10 when we arrived. so refreshed, rehydrated and recovered (maybe) we were on our way again. a fast descent down welshpool was not an option as the wind was not in our favour. a group of us stayed pretty much together until the bottom, when i ran out of legs (again) when they began to time trial to the regroup point. all present and correct and we started rolling through to keep out of the wind. we managed to box ryan in almost till the end but he still managed to stretch his legs for a couple of hundred metres to the intersection.

lining up for the final sprint along berwick, both ryan and davina were eyeing each other off as neither wanted to be on the front. knowing i had no sprint, i went to the front and paced the final section from kent st all the way to the end. as we came onto the flat section and the final sprint, ryan, jerry and davina all jumped off my wheel but ryan was too strong and managed to hold off a fast finishing jerry at the unofficial invisible line.

so, a good first ride back for me, as i actually finished without totally dying and managed to keep the big boys in sight at the major climbs. we have a cyclo-sportif event next weekend so not hills for me, but after that the next race is not till august, so i expect that i would have reacquainted myself with most of the climbs in perth by then.

Team SPR @ Mt Helena and the Case of the Forgotten Shoes

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Race Report by ChrisSo another weekend and this time a hilly race was planned with the WC Masters. Bruce was keen, I needed another workout and with the weather looking good there were no real excuses.
A scheduled 9:30 start was sounding very civilised and meant I could have a proper breakfast before heading out. Ah Coco Pops, breakfast of champions.
A cool start for the day so I made sure I packed arm and knee warmers and warm shoe covers just in case. The drive out there was pleasant and I arrived with plenty of time to sign on and have a look around at some of the other toys. Young Steve Bush had come along for his first race with the oldies and quickly got shoved into B grade.
Bruce showed up eventually and we had a quick chat about strategy, sit-in was my plan. Bruce had similar ideas I think. Steve seemed a little apprehensive.
Numbers looked good for B grade and Bruce’s assessment of the course was rolling with no real climbs. Things were looking promising, I like rolling hills that rely on power to get over. Long climbs tend to bore me and so I don’t really commit to attacking them like I should.
Anyway, with ½ hour to start time I figured I’d best get organised and warm up, although there was a short neutralised section to the start I knew from previous experience that one of the guys would attack from the gun. In this case it’s always good to have done a couple of efforts so it doesn’t hurt as much.
So, back to the car to get kitted up. Out of my civvies and into the cycling kit, decided on the arm warmers but left the knee warmers in the car. Then the clincher, reached in to grab the shoes and…”sh*t, where are my shoes?”
Went through the usual looking in places I‘d never have put them in the first place but no joy. It seems I have joined the ranks of Forgetful Jones.
I was not happy! Motivated and ready to race it seems I wasn’t going

to be allowed to due to my own ineptitude.
With not a little embarrassment I went to let Bruce know I had no shoes and would not be able to race. As luck would have it to add to my shame Lorraine had come along to support a friend racing and got to hear my tragic tale.
So lesson learnt (I hope) I drove home fuming, 2 hours of driving and no riding not a happy camper. In case you were wondering, Bruce finished 13th but I have no idea about young Steve as he has not been listed on the results sheet.

Speed and Power Calculator

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by john

If you’re like me, wondering how much faster you could go without that 3rd helping of rockyroad ice cream…then look no further … 

http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm


P.S. if you see this…
Error 404 – Not found Die angegebene Seite konnte nicht gefunden werden.
(translated it means ‘the site cannot be found’.)

it’s a not a real server error but a fabricated 404 message. my guess is fritz is having a tantrum over the sudden amount of traffic hitting his server…you may have to be patient. maybe bookmark it then try again later.

saturday 21st june – sth lake

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ride report by peter

today is the winter solstice, which, for those that remember some of the things they taught us at primary school, it the shortest day of the year. it was also probably the coldest start we have had as well. at 7:00 it was officially 3.4 deg in perth city. by 7:30 it was 3.3 deg but luckily an hour and a half later when we hit the coffee shop it was 12.6 deg. almost summer. hopefully, as the days get longer the less you will hear me whinge about the lack of daylight until daylight savings kicks in again.

so, due to the cold start and the short day, i was expecting a less than impressive turn out. to my surprise we had close to forty roll in all kitted up in whatever winter gear they could find. we were doing a new route today and it would be a learning experience. i will apologise now for the stretch along armadale rd as it was a bit busy and will be excised from the route in future. we intended to head down canning hwy and onto north lake rd till it hit armadale rd. we would then return via nicholson rd and albany hwy. as we had never used this route before, i was unsure about which spots to let the boys loose, so i picked a familiar spot were this route and the banister rd route combine. at least people should know where they were headed by then.

the majority of the ride was pretty sedate as it was a reconnaissance. north lake rd had a couple of rolling hills that tested the back markers a bit, but all in all the roads were good all the way down to beeliar drive. i was splitting my time between making sure the guys on the front knew where they were going to making sure some of our weaker riders were keeping up at the back. i felt like a bit of a sheep dog, roaming the edge of the flock, trying to keep it in check. ryan was also doing an admirable job helping lisa along when the going got tough. michael had one of our first mechanicals, with a flat tyre, but he waved me on when i was going to stop.

we turned onto armadale rd and lost our nice clear double lane. suddenly we were in a 90 zone of single lane traffic that was in a hurry to go do stuff and things. we battled on but i was hanging out for the left turn that would take us away from all of it. nick commented after we turned that we should have been single file as he saw a number of cars pass very, very close to the outside rider. it doesn’t matter now as the route will be changed.

swinging onto nicholson rd we were soon into nicer quieter roads that skirted suburbia. as we past livingston marketplace, where sharon has her optical shop, i was chatting to ryan about places to make the fast stretch, and this seemed ideal. nice smooth roads and double lane. next time we will know better. as this road came to an end, dr melvyn had our second mechanical with a suspected flat tyre.

as nicholson turned left and continued over roe hwy, it was on for a few km’s before we connected back with albany hwy. a few of the guys took advantage of the fact that ryan was on the back and took off hard to try to keep away. i was somewhere in the middle and struggling to hold pace let alone bridge across. rob came around to help, which was good for a while, but then i was fading fast and couldn’t hold his wheel. ryan came flying past about then and bridged across to the leaders but didn’t go past them as he was content at that. i managed to limp in, and with the benefit of a set of traffic lights, i kept in contact.

we slowed the pace down at albany hwy to allow the group to reform as we had spread out quite a bit by then. the next fast section was only just down the road and would take us back into town and to a well deserved coffee stop.

as albany hwy merged into shepperton rd, the pace was on again. the rolling hills make this last stretch interesting as do the traffic lights, as both can potentially allow a rider to get away for a solo bid. this time, however, the lights allowed the group to reform a couple of times as we all got caught. james took off after one set, but i was content to play the spoiler today and just pull back any breaks that went. everyone was itching to go, but no-one wanted to commit until ryan jumped at the base of a small rolling hill. as i was on the front, i managed to semi-stick with him. i was there, but not exactly on his wheel, but far enough from the rest of the group to say that it was a breakaway. unfortunately, when my body said enough, this left me in no-mans land and was pick up by the rest of the riders as we came down the hill into the causeway.

this is where is started to get messy.

a couple of the boys began to slide along side the cars at the lights like motorbikes do when you are stuck in traffic. this is fine for them, but on the bicycle, they are going to have to negotiate around us again, which puts us in a potentially unsafe situation. about three riders crept around while the rest of us waited behind the line of cars. this gave those guys a decent advantage when the lights changed and we were struggling to catch them.

ryan bolted out of our group and easily bridged across to them. chris hit the front of our group and tried to bring them back all by himself. knowing that i had no top end speed for a sprint, i rolled around to the front to try to time trial the group up to the leaders. it didn’t last long and by the time we had crossed the causeway, i was spent and peeled off to the side.

no idea how the ride finished, though i can make a good guess, as i limped in minutes afterwards. not a good sign for a big hills ride tomorrow.

no coffee stop for me as it is bens 2nd birthday today and we were having a party. i did manage to catch up with lorraine, who was there with her wrist still in a cast, to talk about a potential bike kit launch breakfast. i will keep you informed as it comes closer.

i am running a tour tipping comp again this year and will have that up and running soon too. same format as last year, where you must pick a new rider everyday, but not the same rider between rest days. confused??? don’t worry, i will post the rules on a separate blog soon.

ride routes 21st & 22nd june

ride routes by peter

a couple of new routes this week as i was getting a bit bored with the others.

we will be heading down south on saturday along north lake rd and as it will be our first time, we will be taking it easy.

sunday is a monster day and i will be suffering due to lack of recent hills rides. four climbs plus a couple of bonus ones will certainly test the legs. should be a good day.

saturday 21st june
sth lake
Sth Perth Saturday Ride 16 (Sth Lake)
Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia
sunday 22nd june
welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda

Sth Perth Sunday Ride 12 (Welshpool &amp Mundaring &amp Kalamunda)
Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia

other training – track

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so anyway, in my quest of being a better biker, i have started going to the velodrome on a tuesday night. it is a scary experience the first time you head out there, but there are people to help the novices along and pretty soon you are scooting along on the banking.

it is good to develop a proper spin to your cycling and also some sense of where you bike is sitting in the group (as you have no brakes and can’t stop pedalling). i seriously have not had to concentrate so much whilst riding for such a long time. oh yeah, and it’s fast. so fast that you are just a blur on the photo.

it is pretty cheap ($10 plus bike hire which i think is $5) and goes from 6pm to about 8pm.
you just need to bring a helmet and pedals/shoes..maybe some bike clothes unless you want to do the whole world naked cycling thing.

there are quite few people that turn up and it caters for all abilities so i encourage you all to turn up and have a go.
peter

world naked bike ride

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opinion by peter

over the weekend there were some news reports of bunches of nude cyclists taking to the streets. mainly in spain and london, but apparently it is a worldwide “event” to highlight pretty much whatever cause you want. the website talks about “indecent exposure to cars”, but if you look at some of the pics, they are protesting anything from puppy farms to nuclear power. it’s funny that we really haven’t got past the “sex sells” mentality, even for environmental and moral crusades.

it hasn’t really taken off here, and it’s not just the weather. if you look at the website for the melbourne and sydney ones, there are only a handful of people participating. in london they have a couple of thousand. maybe we should have it incorporated as past of the cyclo-sportif race calendar. they usually get a few hundred riders. or maybe it would be a way to get more people to watch track racing if there was a nude match sprint (gotta watch those splinters).





not everyone should get naked though…

Sunday – Welshpool Rapids & Kalamunda River

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Report by John
Updated with Video

All those with nothing better to do, and either no decent coffee machine, or indoor trainer turned up – i think there were 6 or 7. i waited in the rain hoping no one would turn up but alas they trickled in like drowned rats – equally disappointed in seeing a fellow cyclist…so we had to go.

someone murmured about going straight for a coffee – and thus a mutiny was hatched.
pete’s planned route was sabotaged before we even started.

i was little disappointed – i mean if you make the effort to go riding in the rain, may as well get hypothermia and make the most out of it. then again i must confess i was not totally unhappy as it started to ‘persist‘ down.

the ride up welshpool for me was better than anticipated – i kept in touch with the front guys (kept in touch at about 100m behind) for half the climb. todd was on my tail most of the way until he had a spell in front with me taking him on the last little kick before the finish.

the other climb up kalamunda hill felt good as well. trailed dr carl for a bit then took him. there is a flattish section about half way up that i’ve learnt to change into the big ring and scoot along. managed to keep about 35kmh for a while there but never caught sight of the front 4 guys. i reckon they must have been about 400m in front.

Pete and young Ben met us for a much needed hot drink (thanks carl for the $5) , and i think pete was filming us on the way back down the hill. at first glance i thought some cop was trying to make sure we weren’t speeding…no chance of that!

every time i climb it’s a learning experience balancing lungs, heart and lactic acid (”the kids in the back seat” ) with my brain telling everyone to “settle down”.

i think lance was right – we ride not for the pleasure, but for the pain. it gives us such a sense of achievement to ‘handle it’ – not matter where one is in group’s pecking order.

all in all, happy i did the ride (so nearly piked out), but very relieved to make it down the hill and back home in one piece.

apologies for not mentioning everyone who rode, but i have trouble enough remembering what i did let alone anyone else…

The website for the South Perth Cycle Club