Sunday 8th June 2008 – Part 1, Canning Mills, Peet and Lawnbrook.

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ride report by darren.

part 1, – only because i scrambled home after the last climb. I encourage anyone who was
1. close to the front.. or
2. made it to the cafe
to fill in the rest.

sunday morning could be described as cold – but not too bad. the wind was coming from somewhere but didnt really play a factor in the days activities.

todays route had us going up canning mills rd, or did it, most of us were confused, was this cohuna? so i stepped in… “definitely canning mills road”, that made me the leader for the first part. this would be the only correct piece of info i would dish our for the day. i guess i was still distracted by the amazing mr dickhead, must have been the same guy from the saturday ride, who swung straight into the car parking spot i had been waiting 5 minutes for at the shops on saturday afternoon, who refused to move or apologise no matter how loud my protests.

a fairly ugly looking bunch today, luckily bella joined us for her second day in a row in the hills despite a physics exam tomorrow. as the minutes ticked past 7am and after a bit of banter in the carpark Mark reached deep into his lycra and produced a measuring device….a portable bike scale, to become the official (enough) bike weight measurer for the group. nice work, but still some calibration required as mine came out heavier than anticipated – back to the drawing board.

about 16 brave souls headed down the new route to albany hwy, via manning road. stuart and mike b led the way for a fair chunk at a decent pace. mark and i found ourselves at the front after cannington and worked up a sweat as we pace the group down albany hwy to gosnells.

at the tonkin hwy lights i told ryan the regoup point thinking that is all the instructions required . we held a moderate pace down connell ave to the end, ryan kept asking, “is this the climb yet”, not yet ryan. I found myself at the back of the pack as we swung left into luchich to start the ascent, if only we were heading in the right direction, a quick u-turn and off to canning mills we went.

back on track, we snaked our way up canning mills which can be described as nasty. I initially stayed at the back while ryan, mark, stuart and jerry led the way. mike b was back in the pack taking it easy, well for about 10 seconds, he held a consistent strong pace, picking off riders one by one and caught the lead guys somewhere near the top. as i took the initial climb easy i had a little in reserve (despite holding 180bpm for the climb) and soon found myself holding jerrys wheel with mark a few meters ahead (no chance of passing either). stuart, ryan and mike b were the first to the top, with evidence that stuart held on for the kom points (if only i told ryan the correct regroup point). so telling everyone to regroup at urch was a mistake, as stu and mike headed off to the correct regroup point (wasnt fast enough to reach them) with ryan waiting with us. no one seemed to mind too much and ryan sped off to round up the pace setters (sorry guys and gals). Bella complained that her rear derailleur was playing up and she was locked out of some easier gears (this didnt seem to slow her down on the climbs).

the steep descent down urch is always fun and a little scary especially as you hit a bend just after the last really steep section. the climb out of urch onto peet and then to the school hurts a lot. with ryan, stu, mike, mark and gerry setting the pace i found myself behind dr marc and bella with shao on my tail. shao pushed me on the steep parts so i decided to dish out a bit of pain on the flats and just as he would get back on my wheel again i would accelerate again (now i am starting to understand this theory of inflicting damage). dont know who was first to roleystone but marc beat me to the top in our own little mini comp.

After a short break we all headed off down brookton hwy to the servo. The pace was definitely on as we descended the hill with mark, melvyn and ryan pushing for the karragullen sprint points (where-ever they are measured?). At the servo, no one seemed to want a coke or a gatorade so we headed off but found ourselves amongst another group of CRT riders (chain reaction training). the CRT group seemed to have many more x chromosomes that y (a point not lost on some of the group). so whilst mark, marc and i took it in turns to smash out a decent average at the front of the pack (later joined by stu, jerry and ryan), dr carl, todd and melvyn enjoyed the view from the back. dr jerry’s excuse was retinal hypoxia – or something.

as we headed down toward the observatory turn off we were passed in the opposite direction by the ultimate bogan mobile (a black SS clubman ute with spoilers, flares, 20 inch mags, lowered at the front and raised at the back- the mining boom has a lot to answer for), todd and i had a chuckle. The climb to the observatory was uneventful with Stu leading the usual suspects at break neck speed and those not fit enough to hang on falling behind. As ryan stole the KOM points in the last metres from stu, i found myself a few hundred metres back battling with dr marc again with the heart rate well and truly in the red zone.

at this point we debated where to go to next, others wanted to do mundaring weir road but my vote was for lawnbrook since we had not done that for a while and since it was the designiated route, convinced them that we should. the run down walnut was fun and i decided to take it it easy up lawnbrook. at the top I heard that dr gerry hurt mark and I think ryan hurt himself as he said that he was feeling like crap.

I will leave it to someone else to finish the day off as I headed for home with a few other at this point… thanks everyone for a great ride.

saturday 7th june – ridgehill rd

ride report by peter

cold, dark, throw in some more cold. welcome to winter. dry though. if it was wet it would have been a horrid day. we are expecting some showers during the week but they are always predicting that. i think we had close to 30 on the roll out and almost everyone had their winter longs on. melvyn and i headed the pack as we took off up mill point rd towards the great eastern hwy. today’s route would see us do a figure eight as we headed out to helena valley and over ridge hill rd before crossing our path and heading home through guilford.

after a while brett and jerry came to the front to ease the load for melvyn and myself. melvyn commented on the fact that guys just don’t look good in tights. i thought it may be like that beer ad where the guys cover their beer to stop it going flat when the two guys in lycra roller-blade past. that’s right, don’t drink beer while riding in lycra. the un-manliness of it will make it go flat.

we had a very cruisy start to the ride and the journey out great eastern and into south guilford gave everyone an opportunity to catch up and have a chat. no-one was going hard as i think everyone was saving it for the hill. as we crossed the railway tracks dr wally seemed to be having a bit of trouble. it seems his handle bars slipped and so dr paul slowed down to help him. there is a bit of a trend amongst the older doctors at the moment. they all seemed to have ritchey breakaway bikes. there are four (carl, greg, paul, wally) that have these swish titanium folding frame bikes that you can easily pack into a standard size suitcase. great for bike for traveling, if you do a bit of it.

so, paul and wally slowed down, but i knew that they knew the shortcut for the day and i was sure that they would be using it. we pressed on. as the group snaked it’s way towards the base of ridge hill rd, i flitted between talking to those at the back that may be struggling, to keeping an eye on the boys at the front to make sure they were being nice. i rolled around to the front just before the start of the climb to make sure i wasn’t boxed in when it started.

the ridge hill climb is nothing compared to the normal sunday rides, but we don’t often do any climbs on saturday, so it is always interesting to see how the group will react. i was on the front leading into the climb and started at a steady pace whilst watching behind myself in case anyone (ryan) put in a big attack. nothing was happening and the pack was staying well together, so i thought i better start to thin things out a bit. i upped the pace and watched john p fall back through the pack. jerry came with me and rob sprinted around to keep up. it started to string out a bit by the time we were on the first plateau.

just as it kicked up again, i came past jerry to try to set the pace higher. i thought i was doing a good job until ryan came past at pace and i’m sure he was in the big chain ring too. i tried to hold on to his wheel, but to no avail. i set my own pace, but used him as a guide to try not to lose too much more ground. i managed to gap jerry slightly on the next plateau, but by the time we had past the old quarry, i was starting to fade fast. mr dickhead was driving a green barina (or something) today and managed to come past us without much breathing space between. unfortunately the camera was facing the sun (as it was for most of the ride) and so i didn’t get his number plate.

as the road gently headed up for the final time, stu came flying out of the chase pack and past jerry and me. i tried to jump on but had nothing. the legs didn’t want to play nad jerry came past me at the end too.

down the other side and we had a regroup before heading along kalamunda road. the trip through high wycombe and back to guilford was taken at a moderate pace as the windy road can be dangerous if the group is all strung out when people are attacking. mr dickhead had changed cars now and was driving a 4 wheel drive that started to come around us just as we hit the bridge into guilford. no where to go he started to squeeze the cyclists off the road.

as we enter bassendean, the road extends to two lanes all the way back to the coffee shop and so the guys were given their head of steam. there were no attacks initially, but the group started to roll through to pull the pace up into the 40+ km/h.

unfortunately when we hit the undulation section of guilford rd, i was on the front and was very wary of any attacks going off the front. on the second hill, hamish and bruce did the bolt and gapped the field a bit. i had decided that i still needed to prove something to myself after and aborted kalgoorlie race and wanted to hurt myself and anyone else that dared to follow today. i chased the attack down, but it was bruce’s last as he turned down garrett rd, just as we caught them. ryan had jumped across with me and not the three of us had a slight gap over the field. chris and another guy had managed to bridge across so ryan and i swapped off turns to keep the pace high. unfortunately we came close to getting every single traffic light, so the pack regrouped a number of times.

i stayed at the front as much as i could and pushed the pace and my heart rate into the +180’s for the majority of guilford rd. by the time we turned onto east parade, i had wanted to spew at least twice and had dropped back a bit. the group eased a bit on east pde so i took the opportunity to try to time trial off the front and managed to get away for quite a while until ryan chased me down. i tried to stay with him, but had pretty much spent everything by then. the rest of the pack engulfed me as we crossed over the graham farmer.

i took it easy up the plain st hill and it turned out to be my undoing. the group was split into two packs at the lights and i was in the second one. we hit every light after that and never caught the front boys again. so not sure who even got up for the sprint. if i had to guess, i would say, ryan was first and jerry the eternal second.

no ride for me tomorrow, but the group should be heading out as normal. i will bring the young lad along for coffee in kalamunda and try to time it right to meet the group during the ride. then it is down to wandi to watch the 100km state title. i bought a wee-ride (kids bike seat) today from glenn parker south and so will do a lap or two (the opposite way so i don’t get in the way) while the race is on progress. show him what bike riding is all about.

ride routes 7th & 8th june

with the predicted ne winds this saturday, i thought a nice smash down guilford rd with the tail wind would be in order. that small bump that is ridgehill rd was put in as a extra bonus.

i am out this sunday. not racing, but paying penance for leaving the family for two nights when i headed to kalgoorlie. hopefully i will be cross training on the mountain bike with the young lad in tow.

also, the cycle kit is underway at cannibal and we should have it (hopefully) within three weeks. i will be sending out an e-mail soon detailing how much you owe and how to pay. i really need to collect all the funds before the kits are dispatched, as the order is quite expensive.

saturday 7th june
ridge hill rd
Sth Perth Saturday Ride 10 (Ridge Hill Rd)
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sunday 8th june
canning mills & peet & patterson
Sth Perth Sunday Ride 07 (Canning Mills &amp Peet &amp Patterson)
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sunday 1st june – menzies to kalgoorlie race

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race report by peter

the menzies to kalgoorlie is one of those iconic races on the wa racing calendar. if wa was europe, it would probably be referred to as a monument much like paris-roubaix. it has been run and won since 1928 when the road was only a dirt track. a event history can be found here.

the race is run as a graded scratch which meant that groups all got a head start based on the grade that they nominated. the “a” grade or “scratchmen” would take off last and be trying to catch “b” grade, who were trying to catch “c” grade, who were trying to catch “d” grade, who were dodging the remnants of “e” grade which is the participation race. so generally if the handicapper has read the field right (and this is a very difficult job) all the groups should come together at the finish for a mass sprint. this doesn’t always happen as it depends on how well the groups work together.

the most important thing about this race is the prize money. first place gets $3,000. being a handicap event, this means that everyone has a chance of getting it if they have the legs at the end of 132km. there is also a generous breakdown of cash prizes for the different grades and fastest times as well as money for the criteriums on saturday. the total prize pool this year was $15,000. that is what generally attracts people to the race.

so before i even got to the start of the race, i needed to actually get to kalgoorlie. this meant either a 6+ hr road trip or a flight to kal. one of my sunday training partners, davina and her hubby luke were also heading up for the race so i car-pooled with them to ease the drive a bit. davina got sixth overall in last years race and first female across the line, so she was looking to improve on that this year. my goals for the race were just to finish.

we set off on saturday morning early enough to get to kal before the criteriums that afternoon. i had not nominated for the crits as i didn’t really think i had the legs for two events. my list of excuses was starting to grow. i had been battling a sore throat and runny nose all week plus i woke up at 4:30 that morning with a serious cramp in my calf. it was all heading towards a memorial weekend, no matter which way it turned out.

so a long boring drive with many toilet/food/driver change stops on the way and we finally rolled into town at around 2pm. both davina and i had nominated for “c” grade and her crit was due to start in about 35min time. we quickly got her bike out and she kitted up and headed out to register and warm up.

the circuit was laps around the main street of kal for about 25 min plus a couple of laps. the field attacked quite a lot and davina was there to chase down most of them until the final lap when some guy went hard with one lap to go and managed to stay away till the end. a strong showing by the field and it would be interesting to see what the pace would be like the next day when it was over 132km.

a compulsory race briefing at 6:30 that night and it was time for a quick bite to eat and off to bed to close out an already long day. luke was going to drive us to the start, so it allowed a bit more of a sleep in compared to the other riders that would have to catch the bus. bike was ready, kit was ready, rider was…..interested to see how the day would pan out.

race day
the race started at 10am at menzies. being a one-way race, meant that we had to endure the 132km drive out to the start. after the previous day, it seemed like nothing at all, but did give a bit of a preview of the terrain. it is considered flat, by most standards, but the road actually undulated quite a bit along the entire course.

the handicaps are not posted till the morning so it was well into our warm-ups that we found out that “c” had to make up 11 min on “d” but stay the 9 min away from “b” grade. the “a” and “e” grade were either side of that, but weren’t really a concern at that time.

when our time finally came to toe the line, murray hall gave a bit of a pep talk encouraging everyone to work well together and make sure you did your fair share of work. murray is one of the most experienced riders around the wa scene and has raced at almost every level of the sport. also as he is over 55 yrs old (masters 6 last week state titles) and still as strong as an ox, he has a lot of respect from the other riders.

the clock struck 10:35 and we were off.

we had a field of about 20 and there were some familiar faces amongst the group from other races that i had been in this year. the pace was on as soon as we crossed the railway track just outside menzies and soon we were rolling through at an average of 45km/h.

with the aim of keeping away from “b” grade reinforced by murray’s speech, everyone was rolling through well and keeping the pace high. there was a nominated sprint point at about the 30km mark and each grade was given a prize for first to cross the line. funnily enough, there were calls for people not to sprint but keep working together just before a bunch of guys took off the front and went for the money.

we regrouped and started to work again. occasionally as we rolled from the back you would notice a couple of people sitting on and not doing a turn. i was still struggling with the pace at this time and really felt like my body had not warmed up to the event. i felt a bit cheated that even though i was feeling crap i was still doing turns while a couple of others were just sitting in. anyway, by about the 40km mark i started to feel a bit better.

i was trying to drink more than i usually do but i actually felt like my stomach was not talking it too well and felt a bit bloated. i stuck with mostly water to make sure i wasn’t trying to force too much sugar through my gut. it usually works after a while as it give it time to flush though. at the halfway point there is a feed station set up. luke was meeting us there to give out drink bottles and davina and i managed to grab one each. very quickly afterwards the pace was back on.

we were beginning to pick up remnants of both “d” and “e” grade the further we got up the road. as the roads are very long and straight, you could see other riders for quite a long way before you actually reached them. we were also on the look out for the flashing lights of the “d” grade support car which would give us an indication of how far in front they were. looking back down the road we also couldn’t see the “b” grade support car, so that was a relief.

by about the 75km mark i was really starting to feel my legs. the hamstrings were beginning to feel tight and i had to occasionally get up out of the saddle to stretch them. my quads had not felt any cramps yet, which was a good sign, and the tight calf from the other morning had not given me any grief. the hammies felt like they did the first few times on the track where you are forced to spin more at a high speed. i didn’t want to over gear though as then i may upset my quads. i just kept it going as best i could.

at the 85km mark i really needed a break and fell to the back of the pack and sat behind sarah-jean who had been lurking back there. i skipped a few turns and tried to get some recovery, but it really didn’t seem to work. my muscles didn’t want to play and my cardio was still sitting high. at 88km i fell totally off the back and watched the pack continue up the road.

f@ck. i was so disappointed in myself. couldn’t even finish the race. as i started to slow down my body really started to rebel even further. the tightness in my hamstrings and glutes turned to pain and it was uncomfortable to even sit in the saddle. i managed to keep going by alternating betwee
n standing and sitting until my quads then began to cramp. it hurt to sit. it hurt to stand. what the f@ck was i doing out here in the middle of nowhere.

i managed to keep going for another 4km after being dropped before pulling up at an intersection and reaching for the mobile phone. limited service so i rang luke, but he was out of range. luckily “b” grade came around the corner a few moments later and luke was stuck in the convoy behind them. he saw me and pulled over. very gratefully i loaded the bike into the car and was glad to not be riding anymore.

as we finally got past “b” grade and up the road, we saw that “c” had caught “d” and had formed quite a large pack. this would certainly make it interesting for the finish. as we headed towards kalgoorlie i was trying to work out what went wrong. the encrusted snot around my nose and the salt crystals i could feel an almost every inch of exposed skin was a good indication that my body was not performing as expected. i probably went into the event a little too dehydrated and should have spent most of friday and saturday sculling water to make sure i had enough in my system. i was still coughing up crap, from my “cold” but i didn’t really feel that bad. the most telling sign was when i downloaded my heart rate monitor and saw that for the 2hrs that i was racing, my average heart rate was 177bpm. this meant that after doing a turn on the front and hitting the high 180’s, i wasn’t recovering properly before doing another effort. the 44km/h average up to that point hadn’t helped the situation either.

so, we pulled into kal and took up position near the finish line. a number of “e” grade riders came in first in dribs and drabs, but as they had a 35min head start on “c” grade, it would be expected that some of them would. not long after, a big bunch came around the corner and started jockeying for position. there is a tight roundabout to negotiate and the pack thinned as it went through to avoid having a pile up this close to the end.

down a couple of blocks of hannan st and a sharp u-turn before the sprint to the line. “b” grade had not caught “c” and the winning group was made up of “c” and “d” grade. the sprint to the line started early and being a couple of blocks it was too long for some who fell back at the finish. paul lamond managed to come away with the win but davina held onto fourth overall and was only a tire width away from claiming third. her race report and video of the finish can be found here.

the top six spots were all “c” grade riders as it seems that both “b” and “a” grade self destructed along the way and stopped working together to save themselves for the sprint of their own grade.

so, not a good day for me but a few lessons learned. lack of water, lack of speed work, lack of heart all may have contributed to my downfall. i was quite disappointed with my effort and will try to learn from it for the next lot of races. i don’t think i was really prepared for the speed that the group went as i had only contested scratch races so far this year. with the next handicap race being the collie-donnybrook race in august, hopefully i will have my shit together by then.

Sunday 1st June – Carradine & Peet

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ride report by rob

another warm morning – still in for the arms and long fingered gloves though. with the weather being the way it was yesterday (thunder, lightening, flash floods, etc) it was pretty wet on the road – but alt least it wasn’t raining anymore. looked like it’d hold off too, so it was going to be a nice trip up in to the hills.

our number was 10 this morning – a lively looking bunch with some of the stronger riders in the pack. thankfully emma was with us providing some welcome relief from the hairy, gnarled faces of the rest of the crew. it was about 5 past 7 when mark rolls in. he pulls up to a halt, with some ominous bubbles coming out of his tire (or at least the air coming out of it onto the puddles on the road!) – yep, nice piece of glass in that one mate! “will you wait for me?'” he pleads…

once mark gets that sorted out, and gerry finishes his story about some dodgy shipment he’s trying to get flown into the country (from cuba???), we finally make our way out of coode st car park and on to mill point road.right at douglas and half way up the hill the call goes out to michael and me on the front, “mark’s lost his glasses!” mmmm, starting to see a pattern forming here – this is not a designated recovery ride! after a quick re-group we continue on to hayman and then round on to manning. and we nearly made it to albany highway without further event when another call from the back goes out “mark’s dropped his chain!” – the ‘other’ mark that is. stu turned round to go and collect him while the rest of us waited at the side of the road. re-group.

rounding on to albany highway i was thinking surely that has to be it, don’t these things come in 3’s? traveling along the highway was really quite spesh. beautiful sunday morning, not too many cars, nice flat road to warm the legs up before the climbs, everything’s feeling pretty good…”get off the f*%@king road, you wa*$%ers!!” is what i think the bloke said as he flew past in his camper van…at least i’ve got a house mate – back to the trailer park with you fella!

ryan, stu, michael and me did most of the front work along the highway – good to stretch the legs and get the heart going. i hadn’t ridden this route before so wasn’t too sure what to expect. knowing the routes pete plans though, i expected it’d probably start to hurt pretty soon. we rounded on to carawatha ave just before armadale, and my suspicions were confirmed. holy crap son, what is that??! looming large in front of us is what can only be described as something most people take their crampons and ice picks to get up…lovely. stu and mark move to the front and start working their way up. i drop down to what feels like a comfortable gear and try and hold mark’s wheel. ryan scoots past with gerry on his wheel. stu picks up the pace and leaves me and mark grinding our way up. about 2/3rds of the way up i looked at my heart rate – 97% of max and climbing – the breathing is so laboured that i’m sure i’m about to hyperventilate. finally reaching the top and started to spin my legs trying to get some oxygen back into my lungs and get my heart rate back down to something that resembled normalish. the re-group allowed for the needed rest – michael and emma arriving a short while after – respect to emma getting up it at all! and the re-groups are always a bit of a furphy – the stronger guys get to the top and get a nice long rest, and when the last person rolls in, it’s like “right, all on? lets go”. suggest new rules – lead pack turns round and heads back down to the last person (which is what stu started to do anyway) and push back up the hill again! then all re-group at the top and have equal rest….or is it just me??

anywho…on we head, michael flies off down the hill to the next turn and we head on to canns road. more climbing lies ahead, but nothing like that nasty, nasty cliff we’d just worked up. we make our way up through the bush to churchman brook road – quite a stunning piece of the world up there. great views and the scents of the wet bushland are something you only get to experience when you’re riding. pretty uneventful along this stretch with a few of us engaging in a conversation – others just enjoying being out in the open. a fairly fast descent down to the righthander at butcher road which takes u back up to brookton highway. ryan decides to test the pack up the hill and stu holds his wheel. mark, me, michael and gerry follow, but not with enough to keep on the tail of these guys – stu is really testing the fynn today it seems..good to see.

re-group at rolystone – mark mentions that they had breakfast there one ride – “mmm, that sounds good…shall we do that today” i think…ryan then starts to test the water on whether the group wants to pike it on peet road and just follow brookton around canning rd. as i hadn’t ridden this way before, i could only imagine what this next bit must look like. stu says that he’s doing peet road “for fun”, so it looks like the rest of us are too then! wouldn’t be right not too, really…! as we round on to peet road, it’s pretty obvious why there was some resistance…what the hell!!! off goes ryan, which was most unusual for him – normally likes to fly past with a giggle (at least thinking it, if not actually doing it) about 1/2 way up. stu takes off after him with me just off his wheel. i tried as hard as i could to hang on, but to no avail. 1/3rd of the way up the road flattens out and stu kicked. i looked behind me to see gerry about 100 metres back with mark, michael, john and mark just behind him. oh well, may as well give it what i’ve got, so i pushed again. that really began to bite and i could here gerry starting to close in. ryan was already off into the distance and i could see stu still trying the bridge the gap on him. gerry came past me just after the roundabout – is that the BIG ring he’s in!! mate, respect. i grabbed his wheel and held on for a while, and then it looked like he began to crack. grabbing for the smaller cogs at the back and then up out of the saddle….then clunk, off it goes on to the little ring. that’s me i think and go round. with the rest that i’d got in his draft, i was able to find just a little bit more and managed to get to the top in third. heart was certainly working and the head was beginning to ask the question “are you for real??”. stu headed back off down the hill to ride up with the back of the pack. as each one came in to the top there was a definite look of relief on their faces. ryan had the camera out taking pictures as they came in – any good ones mate?

after the re-group, we took off again, down to canning road – stu and me were off the front along brookton highway – i turned around and there wasn’t anyone else there?? i mention this to stu who seems not too concerned – something about ‘coffee shop’ and ‘first orders’ i think he said? quick regroup at the gull servo and we head out to go and find mundaring weir road. quite a nice rolling ride through to get there – the fast stretch along glenisla road had ryan on the front for most of the way doing all the work with the rest of us content to tuck in behind and get ready for what lay ahead. we wind our way down to mundaring weir road and round on to the final climb of the day. michael pulls off to the side to ride up with emma. stu’s on the front, with ryan, mark, gerry and me tagging on. the pace is high and the legs are all spinning. from what i can tell from everyone’s head position, we were very much at the business end of the day. being on the back, it felt like stu was putting in little mini attacks every 200 metres or so. as each of us responded it took just a bit more out of us. i was really struggling to keep in touch with gerry’s wheel…looking ahead there was another rider about 500 metres up the road. it felt like now there was a rabbit to chase down so the pace picked up again…reeling in this loan dude became a matter of principle and the effort stayed high. as we closed in, i could really feel the end of my run coming up…not much m
ore in the legs and the heart racing at 96% of max. we come up to the loan rider, and low and behold it’s darren – one of our usual crew. “slept in” he says as we work our past. darren jumps on to my wheel and i think the words were ‘holy shit!’ as he realized what pace we were going at. i think i only lasted another 100 metres or so before my legs packed it in for good…darren goes past and jumps on gerry’s wheel. so, from a distance, it looked as though stu really did have everyone’s measure today – mighty impressive effort, and as far as i can tell he was numero uno at the top. darren dropped his chain before getting up there and by the time i arrived at the round about, there wasn’t anyone there to greet me – guess i wasn’t getting first orders in after all!

rolling in to the coffee shop, there was lots of chatter from the four at the front about the climb. it was a big effort and the sweat count on gerry was running at what looked to be about 1.5 litres! time for a well earned coffee and food.

the group headed back out 1/2 an hour later and off to find the lesmurdie and welshpool fun parks. nice fast downhills with plenty of space to play. heading down welshpool road, ryan kicks off the front with darren and me in pursuit. as we got up to what felt like about 75 (must get that resh battery back in the computer!!), michael flies past in full aero position – ryan and darren look sideways and start pedaling furiously. a broken down car in the left hand lane made for some interesting times. ryan waves us round, darren moves out and i was forced across to almost the right hand lane. i wasn’t too fussed about a) going into the right hand lane and b) hitting the reflectors in the middle of the road. my indecision about where to steer then resulted in a wobble of the front wheel, an involuntary tightening of the sphincter the result. i managed to hold the thing square and came back in behind darren, deciding that the best lesson to learn is the one that doesn’t, but almost, result in a loss of blood. we get to the bottom and michael has really kicked off the front. darren had got round ryan and i was on ryans wheel. darren then did the lions share of the work to try and reel michael in until he blew up and ryan and me go round. ryan works hard to chase, with us only getting to michael just before the lights. a fine effort on his part. darren rolls into the lights remarking that ryan and i had not been gentlemanly in the way we had let him drop off the back. sorry mate.!

dodgy dude was at the school again today. we’re now thinking it’s boys in lycra, and not the kiddies, that he’s there for. i swear it’s the same guy – grey toyota camry. when a couple of the others roll in to the bus stop, mark has some serious piece of skin missing from his shin. another dropped chain – slipped out of the pedal and ‘whamo’ – ice packs and detol on that one my son. anyway, re-group of sorts – emma and mike b (the “other” mike b) head past and leave the rest of us to chase them down. rounding off orong and back on to welshpool, the pace picks up. michael and me are on the front and my legs are really starting to feel every one of the 80kms so far. i managed about 2 kms before having to come off the front and let someone else take the wind. a nice rest at the back for a while and then i could see a roll through of sorts happening. darren and me ended up back on the front again as we crossed the train tracks, just when gerry flies past for the first sprint. he’s really smoking it and then ryan flies past with michael on his wheel. it’s a long way up to albany highway, and it looked from where i was (read: nowhere near them, not even on a good day..) that ryan managed to get round gerry and hold michael off for the win.

albany highway was a nice cruise back, round on to hillview and then on to berwick. a few of our number got caught up at the lights so we had a relatively easy run along most of berwick. as we waited from them to get back on. after darren pulled off to head home, i was on the front as we came over the final rise. michael kicked for the final sprint with gerry and ryan pushing hard to reel him in. it looked as if he might just have held them off too – not quite sure what the finish line is along there, but he was well and truly in the mix at the end.

anyway, that’s it for now. i’m off to the airport – my wife is flying back over this afternoon…and if all went to plan she’ll have hooked up with the father of those two kids we’ve had at our place for the last few years and he’ll have taken them off our hands…and if not…

…no more sundays…no more coffee shop…!!

Ciao!

Saturday 31st May – Reverse Canning

ride report by robreally warm this morning – no boot covers or leg warmers (sounds awfully 80’s!). About 25 in the group this morning and with our fearless leader heading over to kalgoorlie to try his luck in the menzies classic, chris called the route….”and when can we go fast?” comes the well known south african call from the back…bannister road and shepperton road…just like ‘normal’!! ‘that’ll be my ‘breakaway point’ nick reminds us.

we head off up coode street and round on to canning highway. everyone appears to be in good spirits as the rain looked like it was going to hold off. we get down to north lake road (which has been the usual left hander for this route in the past) and the pack seemed to almost lead itself! not this time though – on to stock road. as we came round the final turn on canning the reminder that there is a reasonable climb before stock road looms large in front of us. feeling good this morning i thought i’d give it a bit and see who came with me. nick was on the front and seemed to slow just before the incline started so i went round…must have been a ‘mechanical’ something or other?? half way up i was still feeling good but could hear some heavy breathing just behind me. give it a bit more to see what happens…3/4 of the way up and i’m thinking i might even hold them off before….ryan flew past…again…then chris…then nick…then…doh! regroup at the top of the climb and round on to stock road.

an easy cruise along stock road to south street. after the climb i was content to sit back in the pack and have a bit of a rest. rounding on to south street we rolled down the first drop and then prepared for the first of several rolling hills. the guys on the front started to pick up the pace a bit with about 4 getting a bit of break on the group. i decided to go up and play and the pace stayed quite high…until chris came past and spoiled all our fun…(just kidding mate) – we’d dropped a couple off the back from the first climb, so as is our group’s philosophy, keep it together for the most part and play on the flats, we pulled back and sorted out a re-group.

the rest of south street was an easy cruise although by the time bannister road came up i suspected that i may have stayed out the front for just a little too much of the ride. this might challenge to hang on. just as we rolled up to the turn i was about to step on the gas and a car rounds from the right hand land and straight in front of us – those of us on the front throw the anchors out with the familiar ‘SLOWING’ call…but i think that given the close call on this one there where a few other words included in the call that may not warrant reporting! with most of the wind taken out of our sails and also being in the big ring, it was a grind to get back up to speed. that also meant a bit of cat and mouse started to see who was going to go first. not long before melvin takes the initiative and flies past with one other on his wheel. a couple more of us stand up and start to chase them down. then its on. legs start spinning and hearts start pumping. a bit of a gentlemanly roll through starts but it’s at pretty high speed. soon it comes down to every rider for themselves and the grimacing looks forward commence, pleading for the road to end. ryan takes off the front and pushes his wheel hanger hard. this doesn’t last long and he’s off by himself leaving us all to mop up the scraps.

rounding on to nicholson road the front group slows down for a well earned breather and the standard regroup. we head back up to roe highway and i turned around to see mike b at the back, most unusal to see him there, but understandable. will be good to have him back up to top gear when everything gets sorted. once we’re all on we get back up to cruising speed with nick on the front starting his usual push. the call goes out to start a roll through which everyone seems happy to oblige – nice stretch of road along to albany highway and then up along to shepparton road. paul comments to me that the bannister road stretch was ok this time, but the rolling hills on shepparton road may test. yep!

as we round on to shepparton road, the usual suspects start to step it up. chris comes past and i jump on his wheel. as he moved across to the left i don’t know why, but i thought it might be fun to push off the front as hard as i could. felt pretty good too for about 2 or 3 hundred meters. then it hurt. i was coming up to the lights and praying for them to go orange because i really needed the rest now. no such luck. nick, melvin, chris, gerrard, ryan, paul….bugger it…push now or you’re off the back! managed to stay on and got a much needed respite behind the group. clearly making breaks on the pack is not my strong point…might stick to the hills i think. the rest of shepparton road was fast but the front pack stayed in touch. everyone appeared to be getting ready for the riverside drive sprint.

lights at the causeway slowed us up coming off the downhill on shep road so we all got a standing start. just as we come up on to the first bridge, melvin decides to take the lead and puts in a spurt off the front. i’m sure i heard chris say ‘leave him out there’…but i could be wrong?? the rest of us hang back and the group is pretty bunched up as we come around on to riverside drive. chris is coaching the guys around him…”wait til the lights; wait til the lights”…we all oblige and by this time melvin’s back with the rest of us. as we get to victoria avenue lights the call goes out and we’re off. nick pushes off the front with chris on his wheel. i try to hang on with the knowledge that there’s a big group behind me. nick pulls left and chris goes round. ryan flies past and a couple of others try to hang on. ‘car right!!’ we hear from the back and gerrard goes past, legs flying. as i looked up front it appeared that ryan won the sprint, but not by too much…the rest of us sit up and start sucking in the oxygen.

as we rounded into the coffee shop there’s a whole bunch of chatter about gerrard’s sprint – apparently the “car right” call was directed at him mainly, given that he figured the left hand land was full and there was a perfectly good bit of road just the other side of that little white line with a nice clear run to the front. i’m still not not sure that he managed to get up to the 70km/h he said he was doing…but who am i to say…? there was a radar set up on the side of the riverside drive as well. ryan said he had to brake because he didn’t want to get fined….mmmmm??

lorraine was at the coffee shop sporting her new look (the hair AND the plaster cast). bit bored she says, so much so that she’s started to make homemade marmalade…so we can all expect some lovely darlington preserves coming our way next week…lorraine??

thanks gerrard too…the details of that operation you performed (a fractured ‘what was it again’?). the information to us blokes about how to avoid a similar outcome ourselves is most helpful!

and yes, i got to actually stop in and have coffee this week – she who must be obeyed and those 2 kids she keeps insisting are mine are all over east at the moment…ahhh the simple things in life!

thanks for the ride all.

 

ride routes 31st may, 1st & 2nd june

i’m off to kalgoorlie this weekend for the menzies race. a 132km handicap with a $3,000 first prize. however, 6hrs drive each way should make it a loooong weekend.

hope you all have a good ride.


saturday 31st may
canningvale reverse
Sth Perth Saturday Ride 13 (Canningvale Reverse)
Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia
sunday 1st june
carradine & peet
Sth Perth Sunday Ride 01 (Carradine &amp Peet)
Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia
monday 2nd june
public holiday ride
Sth Perth – Public Holiday Ride
Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia

sunday 25th may – state road championships

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the road state champs at roleystone had a few changes this year. for one thing they were in may as opposed to august last year, and this year they did not have a support race. instead you had to enter to what was on your licence. in my case this was the masters 2/3 race as it was my birthday today and i turned the ripe “old” age of 36, making me well qualified for the category.

so this was to be my birthday present to myself. a 114km race, in potentially crappy weather, along undulating roads, with a bunch of guys that would try to hurt me and the worse uphill finish that i know of. sounds like a wonderful day…. for a masochist.

six of us had registered for the day. this was not without a lot of badgering, abuse and guilt trips from me. initially, when the registrations closed, i was the only one from our team entered. after they extended it by a few days, we ended up with mike, stu and mark entered. however, those three are all in the masters 4/5 category so it meant that i was still riding on my own. luckily, bruce and jerry had last minute entries to provide some company for me in my division.

so the day rolled around and i found my way to roleystone high school. i made a point of getting there early as i knew that parking would be a premium as this was a similar course as we did for the tour de perth. registration was fairly painless, but they couldn’t tell me what order we would be starting which seemed a little disorganized for a state title. i had time to catch up with a few people before i got ready, but is still hadn’t spotted any of my team-mates. as mentioned on saturday, mike had decided not to ride due to medical reasons. this still left another four guys that i was keeping my eyes out for.

as the start time rapidly approached, i finally caught up with bruce, so at least i had one team-mate to ride with. we later found out that jerry had to operate on some guys doodle instead. they joys of being a urologist. stu and mark rushed to get registered but we at least had two more in the other masters division. ryan was not racing today as he would have had to ride with the open men. it probably would have been good for him to see what the next level up was like to play with. i was glad that i was that little bit older.

the start list had out division at around 16 riders, so i expected that a break my get away, based on the previous few races that i had contested. it seems to be that in the smaller groups, there isn’t that incentive to chase. however, we would have to wait to see what happens. this was a state title after all.

a few non starters put our field at just under 15 riders for the roll out. the open men had a five minute head start on us and the masters 4/5 men would be leaving after. the last race at dardanup had a field that would not even roll through just to share the load. i was wondering if that’s what would happen again.

we headed out along brookton hwy where the road would undulate for an expected 55km before we would retrace out steps and head back to roleystone. the guys didn’t roll through, but everyone seemed content to do a bit of a turn at the front before peeling off and dropping back. this at least meant that the pace would not be as pedestrian as the last race, but not too hard that we would all be struggling early.

i was trying to take note of the terrain as we headed out past karagulen as i thought that it would be important as we headed back towards the finish. my game plan was to sit in the pack, do the appropriate amount of work on the front, and keep the group together as long as possible. after an aborted attempt to get in the break at dardanup, i found that i didn’t have the legs to keep a break going. i needed the numbers around me to get me to the end of a 100km plus race. therefore, i would chase down breaks in preference to trying to create them.

about 10 or so kms into the race a guy in budget forklift kit (budget-boy) got a flat and had to drop back to the support van. i didn’t take any spares as i thought that if i flatted, i probably would be able to get back on anyway. luckily this guy got a good draft from the support ute and made it back into the pack, though, not without serious effort.

about 20km into the race the first attack went out. i really couldn’t believe that this guy was serious as he tried to go out by himself. the group reacted well and quickly pulled him back. for such a small group there was not much team tactics and besides bruce and myself, the only other guys in the same kit were three elite cycles guys. those guys did play the team game a bit and would not chase if they had a team-mate who attacked. it was a bit strange though, as everyone jumped to get on the break, the two other elite guys would end up behind the pack and would have to chase to get on anyway.

all the way out to the turn around little attacks would head up the road. the main antagonists were bikeforce-boy, csc-guy, glennparker-boy and multiplex-dude. these guys would all try repeatedly to break away on almost every hill and small rise. however, they would only try to go by themselves. if they had worked together, they might have got away with it. at one stage, one of the four headed up the road. i turned to one of the elite guys and said, “lets leave the bugger out there”. he agreed and we didn’t chase but left him to suffer about 50 metres in front of us. he eventually got bored and came back to the group.

at the turn the group was all together, but three guys tried to go hard out of the u-turn to try to get away. everyone had to go hard but we all caught back up before the next hill. about then, glennparker-boy attacked and got a little way ahead. no-one really panicked and we left him out for a bit. it seemed the thing to do now and we would often leave them ahead to burn themselves out a bit. bruce was starting to suffer a bit as his new young baby has contributed to his lack of training/sleeping/fitness. he had done some work earlier to bring back some breaks and was now paying for it. however, he was about 25 kms further along than he thought he would get.

a further attack on a hill and bruce said farewell and dropped off the back with one of the elite guys. i managed to get back on the group but was also feeling it as my quads were starting to cramp whenever i got out of the saddle. bugger, i thought. i could now see myself getting dropped on one of the attacks if i couldn’t go hard at the appropriate time. i fell into damage control and sat at the back of the group and tried to get as much fluids into me as possible. i usually run quite dehydrated during rides but this was one of the side effects if i ran too dry. any climbs from now on, i needed to stay seated to keep the cramps at bay.

the attacks kept coming and at one stage we managed to drop a couple more guys. they managed to get back on but everyone was starting to feel it a bit. i had managed to drink most of my powerade and half my water and was feeling better in the legs. as we came towards karagulen servo the hills may have shaken a few more guys off the back. i wasn’t really concentrating on anyone else by then as i was trying to just stay in touch. as we came up the hill past the servo and headed towards the turn off, i saw the csc-guy and another rider have a quick chat and then the other guy went to the front. so, there seemed to be some collusion in the group that i didn’t know about. it didn’t seem to matter as multiplex-dude took off and put a few more into distress.

by the time we hit the turn onto chevin road, i was counting the amount of riders left in the group. wow, i thought. i have made it into the last eight riders. i was quite happy at that stage, but was still worried about the last couple of k’s and how they would pan out. the open men had already entered the circuit and it started to become interesting as we now had one or two of them dispers
ed amongst us.

i took the hill on chevin well, didn’t cramp and stayed with the others. i started to consider my options for the finish. at the tour de perth, i was just happy to be in the group at the end of the day, so didn’t really even sprint. today, with a few more races under my belt, i felt that i should actually do something. still not sure what that was going to be.

we turned off peet rd and on to the final couple of k’s up to the finish. i changed to the small ring to make sure i wasn’t over stressing my quads as the last bit was almost all up hill. i was sitting on the back and suddenly realized that there was a gap to the front. i sprinted around csc-guy and another rider as they had no more to give. you could actually see the finish from here and i was surprised that you couldn’t find anything else. all those previous attacks took their toll in the end. i looked around and realized that i was in the final six.

through the round-about and heading towards that last damn climb and i was waiting for someone to make a move. glennparker-boy was on the front and the others were all hanging off him waiting…waiting…waiting. the climb started and still no-one made a move. the group was actually sitting in the middle of the road, so there was room on both sides for the sprint.

at 200 to go, i decided that i better do something and started to sprint. i saw the multiplex guy start his sprint from the right just as i started mine a bit further back on the left. just as we were about to come past the from guys everyone reacted. the glennparker-boy stood up and crunch, his bike didn’t want to play and something went wrong at the worst possible time.

i didn’t care by then as i had committed myself and gave it all i had. 200 metres doesn’t seem like much, but the road just didn’t seem to want to stop and i was running out of legs. both quads had started cramping again, but i didn’t care by then and pressed on. i felt a rider come past me at speed and thought, bugger, i stuffed it up. i sat down but kept pushing letting out a bit of a scream as my thighs rebelled on me. the line was coming and so were other riders. i kept pushing and through the bike to the line, not sure whether i made it or not. i was not looking at the other rider and i swear there were black spots in front of my eyes as the blood was sent to the legs.

i knew i didn’t win, but did i hold on to second or not??? i rolled up the road a bit to get my heart-rate back down to something resembling normal. normal for finishing a bike race anyway. i headed back to the finish line to try to find anyone i knew that may have seen the sprint. mel’s mum amanda thought she saw me take second and clare also confirmed it for me. i now had to check with the judges. two had me second and one had me third. majority rules and i held onto second but not by much.

the guy that came third was bikeforce-boy who did quite a few attacks during the race, while the guy that won had the same strategy as me. conserve energy and wait to see what happens at the end. the discussions on e-mail during the week between the race team had been about training hard and racing smart. was i smart going when i did??? maybe, maybe not. i may have started a bit early as i ran out of puff before the end, but if i had waited a bit longer, would i also have to negotiate the other riders to try to get to the front. it didn’t matter, i was happy with a silver medal at the state level, even if it is for the old man division.

the masters 4/5 men were coming in after us and we had mark and stu in the group. when we saw them at the turn-around, they had a bigger group that seemed to be working well together. it also came down to a sprint and stu managed to hang in for a very respectable 4th not far off getting third. mark also finished in the pack which was a great effort considering how much time he has been spending off shore on oil rigs instead of the bike.

so a good day for us and it is only a matter of time before one of us can crack a first place. no money for 2nd but a nice medal instead, so i am off to kalgoorlie this week for a crack at the menzies race.

i got home after the race and was wearing my medal. my wife asked whether everyone got one (like a participation medal). yea of little faith in my ability on the bike. i had to set her straight and she was very surprised. not enough to let me buy a new bike though.

sunday 25th may – welshpool & observatory & kalamunda

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ride report by roba crisp but not cold this morning as it had been raining most of the night and some the heat was being kept in. with it raining throughout the night though, it was a struggle to overcome the pillow demons and get out the door. wasn’t helped when i arived down at the meeting point at 7am and there wasn’t anyone else there! pete had said that 6 of the usual crew were racing, but i thought there might still be a couple to go up into the hills with. as it is not my usual ride (family commitments and all) i had no idea of the route anyway so started to think about going back to bed (not really – i would have gone for ride…!). eventually a few others turned up and then ryan rolled in at about 10 past 7 (i think was hoping that he might have been able to chase us down again as he did last saturday and prove to us all the true awsome power he possesses… – so such luck gadget!). he then says, “does anyone know the route?” and we all look dumbly at each other. darren pipes up and says “i “think” i do, but i’m not…..” “good” we say – “you’re it!”

8 of us head out and roll along berwick street picking up one more along the way. darren and me are on the front through to welshpool road and then decide to take a break at the back for while before we get to the first climb of the morning. coming up to the lights at roe highway, some kid on a trail bike comes out of a side street on the right hand side of welshpool rd and crosses the dirt medium strip at a great rate of knots. he lands on our side of the road, wobbles about a bit (he is not a good rider), slips and slides around in front of us as he kicks the crap out of the throttle and heads off towards the lights. by the time he hits the intersection the 2nd set of lights are very red and the cars start to pull out from the left hand off ramp lights, as is their right given they have a green light and all. does trail bike dude care. nope. he gives it everything the bike has and swerves around the first car coming out and misses the bonnet by about a bee’s male appendage. not clever – dumb – will die.

he heads on, shaking our heads and discussing all the variations that little episode may have looked like if he wasn’t so damn lucky! we get to the first climb and start working our way up. ryan drops to the back as is his usual way. i lead off the front with a couple of the other guys holding on for a while. the group stretched out about 1/2 way up when ryan flies past me – do i break rythym and try and hold his wheel?? not likely (even if i wanted too!). we get to the top and start rolling around the intersection waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive. greg apparently decided that the hills for him wasn’t actually on for him today so pulled off. after the re-group we headed on up and around towards the observatory. john was commenting to ryan how with the way the weather was this morning it was like riding through belgium. wet roads but a beautiful mist and glistening trees it was really quite superb. had us “pining for the fiords..!”. the next climb up to the observatory was good…john lead with me on his wheel. ryan flew past…again.

after the re-group at the top we headed off down to the hill again to go and find mundairing road climb. now that was fun!! darren calls out “10 minutes of pain”….”15 for me” we hear from the back”. i lead off the front with john on my wheel, starting to hurt a bit but still able to keep a good rhythm going while remaining seated in a reasonably high gear. ryan flew past….again. we get to the top at kalamunda and i’m already thinking about the coffee shop. “right” says darren. “we head across to the zig zag, down there andback up to kalamunda for coffee.” “what???” my legs scream. another climb before coffee?? but we’re already up here!! why don’t we just go there now…??” must be my soft saturday ride mind talking to me – sunday ride much harder!

the zig zag is lots of fun – although you do have to pedal. the gravel all over the wet road on the hairpin turns are interesting. at the bottom ryan comments that his biggest fear is hitting a kangaroo at speed…certainly not unheard of! anyway, after the re-group we head across to kalamunda road with my mind wondering just where i was going to get the motivation for this climb – i’d been off the front every other climb so we couldn’t lose face now, could we. after the 1st 3rd i was dead set going to stop. this hurt. ryan flew past….again. where’s that friggin coffee shop….why did we come down….why did i get up this morning….is there a bus….?? john held my wheel all the way up…i could hear the heavy breathing and clunking of gears as he searched for something lower than granny gear….finally though we get to the top and head round to the coffee shop. quick service and a welcome break.

when we get back on the bikes and start out across to canning road, ben pulls up along side of me and comments that he’s feeling it now – 1/2 and hour off the bike and the legs do not appreciate being reintroduced to the pedalling motion. the ride along canning road was fast, but those rolling hills really hurt after the coffee break. arrived at welshpool road – woo hooo…! 73kms an hour and john and me actually overtook ryan….then ryan flew past….again. it’s a lot of fun down there and you certainly get a few looks from car drivers when you overtake them on the inside lane!

regroup at the school (some dodgy looking characters sitting in a car outside the school that ryan said someone should tell them that school kids aren’t here on a sunday — thanks for that mate!!). heading along welshpool road at a reasonable pace with ryan on the front doing the work. i pulled out from his wheel thinking i’d go to the front and do some work but as soon as the wind hit my chest i knew i didn’t have the legs for it so pulled back in, much to ryan’s displeasure who i think was looking forward to a rest by then. at the lights i suggested that we roll through and each have a turn doing some of the work. it would appear though that we neglected to set the ground rules so it took about 3kms to work it out by which time we had about 1km left of rolling through (which was good when it worked) and then hit shepparton road. the learner driver at the front of the lights stalled three times and made us all wait 2 sets of lights before she (well, we ‘think’ she, but then we couldn’t be sure….) finally got going. we headed back along shepparton road and the usual disintegration of the group took place til it was just me, ryan and john left at canning hwy. john headed off right and ryan and me finished off with the cruise back along mill point road.

all in all a good morning out. my legs know i rode today

saturday 24th may – tv stations

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well back to blogging again. it has been a while and it will probably take me a while to get back into the grove. however, what i would like to do is get a few more people involved and give them access to blog at will. all this means is that you have to register as a user on blogger and then i can authourise you to blog on this page. i will still post the ride routes and my view on the rides, but this will allow other opinions and views on the world of cycling. so, register yourself and drop me an e-mail to let me know. i want to set the blog up as a south perth ride site rather than my site.

so, after months of bitching about the dark early mornings due to day light savings, i can now bitch about it being dark as we are only a week away from winter. well, it was dark this morning, and i had to strap the lights on to get to the start. the threat of rain kept a few away, but we still had about 30 or so turn up. the tv stations was the route and it would take us north to nollamura and back down wannaroo rd before taking a diversion around kings park and the karrakata cemetery.

it was an easy roll out down mill point road and we got the opportunity to wave to the old bikeforce group as they headed the opposite direction. or more importantly, see who was still riding with them. their choice. we rolled quite easily all the way up great eastern and across ascot to the north side of the river. the group stayed together well until the end of grand prom, where we did a quick left/right turn to get onto dianella dr. this is a slight hill that takes us up to yirragan dr which contains some nice fast sections before hitting waneroo rd.

well the pace went on as soon as the front boys realized that everyone made it through the lights unscathed. i let myself drift towards the back of the group as i was racing on sunday and didn’t need to put too much into my legs. lisa was hanging on at the back so i fell back to help her up the hill. mike b was also at the back so we formed a protective draft around her to help her back to the group. meanwhile, a number of attacks had gone off the front along yirragan dr, with the usual suspects trying to shake it up. unfortunately the “hamstring injury” that ryan has, did not stop him from going hard off the front and forcing everyone to chase.

mike and i looked after lisa until we got to the regroup point on wanneroo rd where the group had found a nice bus-stop to park in. an easy cruise down onto charles st and across to thomas rd to take us around the back of kings park. mike then told me that he would not be racing on sunday as his previous medical condition had started acting up again, and that was the reason he was hanging at the back of the pack. hope he gets it sorted out, as he is a demon on the hills when he is in form.

about half-way down past kings park, we turned off to head around the back of the hospitals and cemetery to lengthen the ride a bit. this also allowed us to come home the usual way through dalkeith where the boys could give it another go. unfortunately, just as we came through the claremont shops, it started to rain. we had been pretty lucky up till then, but maybe pushed it a bit staying out so long. didn’t change the ride much as we were already on the home straight.

the usual attacks happened around the back of dalkeith, but i stayed out of it again, content to get towed along. by the time we “regrouped” at mounts bay rd, the rain had stopped, but the roads were now sufficiently wet enough to make it uncomfortable.

as we headed towards the coffee-shop, everyone was trying to get into the right hand file to get ready for the sprint. i got sick of getting a face full of water from the bike in front, so started to time-trial ahead of the group. i wasn’t going hard, but managed to gap them a bit and force them to chase. i let them catch me before they wound up for the sprint and got back into the right hand file. as we past the old swan brewery and the pace started to pick up, i checked my back and jumped across into the right hand lane.

this has two main benefits.
1. it cuts the corner.
2. it is harder for the guys in front to get on your wheel.

i started the sprint and got a good jump on the guys. so much for saving my legs for sunday’s race. i saw that ryan had also started his sprint, but he was a few bike lengths behind me, so i was hoping i had enough to keep him off. unfortuntately he took me before the line, but i managed to hold on to second. a sign for sunday maybe.

no coffee stop for me today as i had a mountain of things to organize for both my birthday and the state championships, the next day.

however, i heard the news later that lorraine had a bingle less than 50m after leaving the coffee shop and had broken her wrist. hope you get well soon and back on the bike. in the meantime, it will have to be on the home trainer like stuart o’grady and brad mcgee, so you are in good company.

The website for the South Perth Cycle Club