thought about not bothering this weekend. not bothering posting the route. not bothering turning up to lead the group. not bothering to organise the cycle kit. but a few e-mails of support have made me feel better, so here is the routes for the weekend.
sunday you are on your own again as five of us are heading down south to collie for the tom lowry memorial race. ryan has decided to ride the busso half in a team on the saturday and then back it up with the race on sunday. oh to be young again (he still doesn’t qualify for a masters licence like the rest of us in the race team)
saturday 3rd may
risley and south st
Sth Perth Saturday Ride 09 (Risley & South St)
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sunday 4th may
kahuna & peet & patterson
Sth Perth Sunday Ride 03 (Kahuna & Peet & Patterson)
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sunday 27th april – carradine & peet
a sunday without a race for us made a change. well there was a race on but i wasn’t keen to drive down to albany for it and neither were the other guys. we had a team meeting yesterday to work out which races we were going to target over the coming weeks so will be traveling to collie next sunday for a few laps.
anyway, there was only a very small turn out when i arrived this morning. i had checked the rain radar before i left and it didn’t look pretty especially down in bunbury. only minimal showers expected where we were riding, but i guess it was enough to keep the fans away. i was surprised, however, to see lennie and a few of mickey’s saturday morning group waiting in the carpark. i was a bit confused and enquired as to whether i had the right day or was it actually saturday. long weekends confuse me. about five of them were heading down to mandurah with the intent of coming home via the train. good to see a few more people backing up with a sunday ride as well.
as i was chatting to them, the rest of the guys turned up. it was definitely “the guys” too as no girls were keen to play. about twenty headed out today into the dull grey morning, luckily it wasn’t that cold…. yet.
the route would take us down to mt nasura near armidale and up our favorite couple of climbs at carawatha and carridine. it was then intended that we jump across to albany hwy and up to canning dam before joining up with brookton hwy near karagulen and the usual way back to coffee in kalamunda.
we picked up todd and doug along the way as they intercepted our group thanks directions from the blog map (got to remember not to make changes on the fly). the trip down albany hwy was fairly uneventful with a bit of rain to freshen things up a bit and a flat for doug after a non-call on a pothole. we sheltered under a shop awning in kelmscott while doug and simon changed the tube.
as we past brooketon hwy, shao turned off, opting for an easy ride. he has just come back from doing the port mac ironman, so he has nothing to prove. sub twelve hour too is a pretty solid effort. anyway, we continued up the incline to the start of our main climb, but the group started to fragment a bit with cade and robbie speeding on ahead. unfortunately for them, without someone to yell at them to turn left, they continued down the road for a bit before realising we had turned off.
ryan went to the front straight away and i jumped on his wheel. he didn’t hit it hard, but enough to give us a fair gap to the rest of the pack. as we turned onto the steeper section, he went again, but this time i just wanted to find my rhythm as this climb is way too steep for me. ryan’s “attack” didn’t last too long either and he settled into the climb. about halfway to the top stu came past me but ryan had already reached the peak. as the road started to settle down, i looked back and saw cade and robbie closing fast, so i added a bit of effort to make sure they also didn’t come past.
a short regroup to make sure the climb hadn’t killed anyone and we were off again. doug hadn’t stopped and was already on the climb by the time we turned up carradine. cade and robbie began to chase so i sprinted around to make sure that i didn’t miss the break. doug was hauled in and overtaken quickly and the three of us started working together to keep away. the easterly winds affect the early part of this climb and cade was initially taking the full brunt of them. i looked back to see if ryan was going to come across, but he seemed content to not contest this one.
i made a bit of a move to see if we could shake cade after his turn and robbie jumped on my wheel. it was a nasty move, but i’m sure it has been done to me before. commendably, he fought back and managed to get back on our wheels. we kept the pace on towards the top and cade made a move when the road steepened up a bit. robbie dropped back a bit and we took advantage to try to get away. swapping off turns we made it to the end where i thought that i would sprint for line honors. i started a bit early and was sure that cade would just come over the top, but he was just as buggered and had dropped back a bit.
once everyone else had arrived and regrouped, we decided that we would change the course after seeing the dark clouds moving in from the south. the trip around canning dam doesn’t really leave many options and if we got caught in a downpour, or the predicted thunderstorms, we would get… well… wet. anyway, we were going to head down soldiers rd and climb peet rd into roleystone. the roads were better and the climbs harder. it would just drop about eight kms off our total for the day.
the decent was not too bad as the roads were not wet, just damp. ryan complained that he could not get past me as i was moving all over the road. damn right. it is a nice fast road in the dry. with a bit of moisture around, i was keen to use as much grip and road as necessary. we regrouped again to make sure it was a safe decent and headed up peet rd.
a little bit of traffic, well a lot for 9:15 sunday morning in roleystone meant that we started the climb in staggered formation. however, i made sure i was close enough to ryan and cade so is didn’t have to chase too much from the start. the climb started with traffic trying to get past as we picked up slower riders meaning we had to do little sprints to get around without getting run over. normally this is fine, but this climb has some nice 10% sections that make it very testing. once we found some clean air, a group containing ryan, cade, myself and the two young lads matt and robbie found a rhythm and began to stretch it out from the rest. stu was caught behind, and was still fighting his way up the hill to try to join up. probably a form of karma from the other week when he had a fifty metre headstart on the same climb.
i’m not sure who it was, but either cade or ryan upped the pace and young matt was off the back with robbie. however, with his high cadence, bouncy style, robbie managed to spring his way back to join us by the time we reached the urch rd intersection.
as we made our way up the next section, stu put in a big effort and bridged across to get right on my wheel. unfortunately, that was the exact time that ryan launched again and cade and i had to fight hard to stay on his wheel. stu must have been spent from the previous effort and dropped back with robbie while we surged on ahead.
the three of us took turns to keep the pace up as we approached the roleystone highschool final climb. this is where the tour de perth stage one and two finished and will be the finish line in a few weeks when we contest the state road championships. i came to the front for the final stretch to make sure that ryan got a good lead out for the line. cade was on my wheel and came around as soon as the climb started but had nothing for ryan who powered past. stu had been working with robbie and managed to gain a bit of ground back and sprinted up the hill to pass me about halfway up. i made sure robbie didn’t do the same.
a regroup at the high school before a quick dash to the karagulen servo for any toilet stops/refreshments. we headed towards pickering brook and doug got on the front to power it along once the road headed down. i was on the front with him but decided to save my legs for later and headed down the back. the small climb up towards the gun club is always an attack point, but i was content to sit at the back and watch the proceedings. when the move went, and it was predictably ryan, i noticed the excellent road conditions. it has been a few weeks since i had ridden this particular stretch of road and it was now a very sweet hot mix surface. there was no way i could let that past without a bit of speed, so set off to chase down as many as i could. by the time we hit the pickering brook intersection, ryan was still well in front, but i had managed to claw my way back to the main chase group.
at the regroup, cade, doug, robbie and darren decided to head home when we turned down towards bickley valley. this still left a good core group of riders “keen” for one last climb up to coffee. as we wound out way along the undulating road, i wasn’t concentrating on where ryan and stu were in relation to me. by the time we hit the start of the mundaring weir rd climb, they had a considerable advantage.
i was so far off the back that there was only one rider behind me when the road headed upwards. i decided that i would try to catch them on the hill. knowing ryan and stu’s abilities, this was a close to impossible task, but i thought that it would be good training for me. i powered up the first part of the climb and quickly past the main pack. about this time reality set in and my legs started to rebel. i eased off a bit but still kept forging ahead. there were a couple of others on the road that weren’t from our group that acted as rabbits for me to chase to maintain my momentum. however, it wasn’t till just before the road flattened and straightened out that i finally saw stu up ahead. he must have been chasing as by the time i hit the false flat section he had streaked ahead, but there was still no sign of ryan. i just kept the power on as long as i could and made it too the top.
as the guys filtered in to the coffee shop we had lost one more. stu is never content with the climbs we do and so headed out for another time up mundaring weir rd. i was happy to have a break. even better was the fact that they now have brought back the chocolate muffins that they stopped making about six months ago. it went down a treat with the hot chocolate. also got a few more guys to sign up for the cycle kit which we will get ordered next week. hopefully in a few weeks time there will be around fifty or so riders getting around in their new south perth cycle kit.
the wind was favorable on the way home and the decent wasn’t as scary as it has been as there were minimal cross winds. i even felt “comfortable” crusing down the main section at close to 80km/hr. i did manage to grab stu’s slipstream which gave me an extra few km/hr to crack 84.
the mandatory sprint along welshpool rd was not instigated by dr melvyn as we had him working at the front instead. i took off after we started to get the group rolling through and ryan chased me down and spat me out the back… again. the final sprint into south perth and we had to stop at the lights. more team tactics as i told ryan that i would practice leading him out and went to the front. when the lights changed, simon and rob both jumped to try to get an advantage, but i chased them down and was past both before the road swept down towards maccas. i still had some energy so i kept the lead out going for another block or so before giving ryan the signal to go. stu had already started to come around, but ryan had the more explosive sprint and took it to the line.
so, even though there was a little rain early on, it turned into an exceptional day. not too hot, not too cold. just right for riding.
saturday 26th april – benara rd
saturday morning rolled around once again and about thirty or so riders were keen to play. the course was picked to take advantage of the easterly wind, which didn’t seem to be blowing too hard at south perth. a nice easy pace out to guilford before a hard session on benara rd, a further cruise and regroup down to whatley crescent where we would go hard all the way into town. that was the plan anyway.
up great eastern hwy and out to ascot was a pleasant pace allowing us to hold a conversation and generally catch-up with the group. once we hit guilford rd the easterly wind was a lot more evident. after we past under the tonkin hwy i tried to get the group to roll through to make it easier for everyone. however, it actually had the opposite effect, as some of the more experienced guys thought that we were doing it to try to up the pace and started pushing harder. the group started to splinter and some guys couldn’t pull through for a turn. luckily we hit the lights at bassendean station and had a chance to regroup. unfortunately for john b, the stop meant that he almost ended up on the ground as he touched wheels with the guy in front and ended up riding his bike like a bucking bull trying to stay upright.
so we moved along, and gave up on the roll through and just let a couple of the stronger boys do the work. just before the bridge that separates bassendean from guilford, a couple of big slow moving trucks past us. the road was going from double to single lanes and the trucks were trying to get past before the bridge. unfortunately, chris decided to jump on the back of one and get a draft, but didn’t see the next one coming. he didn’t get run over, but the next thing we know, half the pack is now chasing to try to catch a draft. this basically spread the group along a couple of hundred metres making it difficult for traffic to get around.
it continued this way up west swan road and the nice and easy pace soon became a hard slog as riders battled the cross winds. i was stuck towards the back and was cursing the front guys for splitting the group up. i couldn’t get around to get to the front as there was a stream of traffic tryig to get around the little pockets of riders. i managed to jump up a driveway and get onto the bike path that ran alongside. it was pretty wide and in good condition so i managed to clip along at a fair pace. reaching the front pack i jumped off the curb and raced to the head of the field just as they were turning onto benara rd. our designated go hard point. as most of the group had already gone hard, i gave the guys my best gordon ramsey impersonation and a number of expletives about spltting the group up. i then made them all go easy pace to allow the rest of the pack time to catch up before we turned the pace up again.
after we past the first roundabout, i let them have their head of steam and the attacks happened soon after. nick, chris and ryan all sped off the front at some stage along benara rd and soon the pack was stretched out again. i was practicing my domestique duties and just chased down everything but didn’t attack my self. we came across dr paul and dr ian who had managed a very good short cut and were easily halfway down benara by the time we caught them. we did manage to catch most of the lights, but still thinned the group out by the time we reached the end. it is a nice long stretch but can be ruined if we don’t get a good run on the lights.
a easy pace down through morely and onto bayswater for the final run home along whatley crescent. this road contains a number of rolling hills and only a few traffic lights so you can get a good run in if you are lucky. i had discussed team tactics with chris earlier on in the week and we had decided that we would attack and wait for the others to chase. when the attack was caught, we would send another rider off the front to force them to chase again. hopefully, chris had talked to ryan, so he wouldn’t chase me down.
anyway, i went early and hard. bruce wasn’t far off my wheel so managed to jump across with me. he did one turn then turned off on garrett rd to head home early. i was on my own again as the road climbed up the next hill. a quick look over my shoulder and i saw that the group was closing fast. however, as i powered down the other side i managed to widen the gap again giving myself a nice buffer. not long after, i hit a set of red traffic lights and was brought to a standstill. my gap meant that i at least had a little time to grab a drink and get my breath back before the group descended on me.
as the lights changed, chris sped off with ryan close behind. i set off with the others but it seemed that no-one was really keen to chase. only a few had set off after them but no-one was really making much ground. i had recovered sufficiently and thought that i could give it another go and try to bridge across to them. if the rest of the pack came with me, then i would ease off, but no-one else jumped. jerry was off the front and i came around him too fast for him to get on so left him in noman’s land. by the time i hit east parade i had caught chris and ryan so tucked in behind to get a rest. a few turns between us and we still had a good gap by the time we cross the graham farmer freeway.
unfortunately the next set of lights put a stop to our shenanigans as the group caught us. dr melvyn sped past as the lights changed and charged through east perth to the hill next to the police station. the group splintered on the hill as normal but we managed to reel dr melvyn in or should i say that the hill forced him to slow down. we caught every single light between there and riverside drive which meant that the group was pretty much together for the final sprint. i had chris on my wheel and i was hoping that ryan and jerry would line up as well. we needed practice at the leadout train and this is a nice long stretch of double lane road.
nick jumped first at the light change and started to speed down the road. it was a long stretch, so i wasn’t too worried as even if i didn’t catch him, the next guy may do it. i didn’t accelerate hard as i wanted to make sure the chris stayed on my wheel. we pushed the pace and caught nick easily. james dropped in behind chris’ wheel with jerry just behind. ryan had to fight for position and come around a few bikes but was behind chris by the time i dropped them off. chris didn’t have much left after a few days off the bike due to a cold, but ryan still sped off dragging jerry along. the rest of the field was quite a way behind by then and everyone was pretty buggered after so chasing so many time today.
christophe commented on jerry being in his usual position of behind ryan’s wheel. he renamed him poulidor a french rider who always seemed to come second to the greats in the 60’s and 70’s.
so a good ride, and I felt strong which was good after a very poor showing on our thursday training ride where the guys had to wait for me a couple of times. hopefully a good sign for tomorrow’s hills ride.
friday 25th april – anzac day
anzac day public holiday means a number of things for australians; dawn service, parades, two-up. for us it was an opportunity to slip another ride into the week. we lined up our normal public holiday route which took in shelley, attadale, freo and cottesloe. as always it is meant to be a recovery ride and no sections were designated as “smash the crap out of the group” sections… meant to be.
anyway, had quite a good turn out with probably around twenty riders. as usual, a public holiday is an oppurtuntiy to get away, get on the turps the night before, or get told by the missus that you will be doing something other than riding. my missus had let me come out and play so off we trotted for a nice casual lap.
it was cold again, and i was rugged up. i had been out on thursday morning and didn’t fare too well. the other guys had to stop and wait for me twice, which is quite embarrassing. i’m putting it down to work stress and lack of sleep caused by work stress. i am coming to the end of a major project at work and there is a lot on. i usually don’t care, but for some reason this one has affected me a bit. so it was either that, or i was coming down with something. hence the extra layers of clothing.
it was a nice pace as we came down through kensington and past curtain uni. the roads were fairly empty so we were not expecting any hoon trouble, especially not this early. so as we were coming down lawson st and were just about to turn onto manning rd, we had an interesting altercation with a motorist.
lawson st is a double lane rd and we were taking up one lane as we have the right to do. this car, and i can’t even say it was a hoon car as it was a rav4 or honda crv size, came past and gave us a very aggressive blast from his horn the pulled back into our lane so he could also do a left hand turn. anyway, the left hand turn is not the usual, just give way, but has a set of lights which, unfortunately for the motorist, were red.
right, i thought, i am going to see what this dickhead is on about. i rolled up to the drivers side window and knocked on it. this 60 plus year old guy was sitting there, deliberately looking forward with his hands on the wheel making sure he didn’t make eye contact with me. probably silently praying that the lights would change. so andrew also pulls up next to me and actually opens his door and says ‘what did you do that for’. the driver is visibly shocked and probably close to shitting himself as we have now invaded his nice safe little cocoon of a car. he makes some excuse that we were taking up the whole lane, which we reply that we are allowed to. then andrew asks him why he used his horn as he came past, to which he says that he only wanted to warn us that he was coming around. bullshit, it was a full blast to show what a man he is. anyway, the lights change and i am trying to get him to go, which for some reason, he doesn’t want to and wants to argue. here is a guy that was in too much of a hurry and got pissed off that we were delaying him now didn’t want to drive his car. so we shut his door and we headed off first. he then had to come around us again. stupid guy.
it was funny seeing the look of terror on his face when we opened his door. as i have said before, we may look stupid in our pretty lycra, but i’m sure that the twenty of us could have put his car on it’s roof. i know that cyclist have the reputation that we are all testosterone fuelled menaces to society, that run over pedestrians and deliberately hold up traffic, but drivers need to look at us like their old grandmother. we are slow, take up the whole lane and if you collide with us, you will probably kill us. i am probably preaching to the wrong audience, but some people just don’t seem to care that they take our lives into their hands. see lexus.
anyway, we made our way down to shelley, via fern ave and saw some other public holiday ride coming back the other way. there would have been about 100 riders, so it was probably the old papas ride. shelley was very contained and the group stayed together well. apparently lennie lost her chain at the end of the road before we hit the bike path, but no-one let me know so i didn’t realize she was gone till to late. we cruised up canning hwy and missed the appelcross section of the river ride. if we do it when going clockwise, we then have to go past the old folks home on the bike path and with a group this big it is too dangerous.
once we turned onto burke dve the pace picked up a bit. not too much like there was an attack, but enough to start stretching the group out. stu was the main antagonist, which was strange as earlier in the ride he had said that he was not feeling too well. the pace stayed on till pt walter where the hill sorted the group out a bit. luckily there was a general slowing once we were over the top and most people managed to clamber back on.
we turned to get onto riverside drive and past the left bank, the pace picked up once again. still no real attack, but just stu pushing hard to make everyone hurt. darren commented on the nice cruisey public holiday ride we were having. the pace continued until we caught up to a small car with learner plates on. the car alost came to a stop when it went over the speed hump, so about four riders diverted around it. the car was still moving and john almost got squashed between it and the median strip which had started again. silly boys. even worse since it was an inexperienced driver who could panic and just run you over by mistake.
i gave them a stern talking too as we past through freo and headed up to cott. the wind was starting to pick up, or was it there all the time and we just didn’t notice as in was on our backs. either way, it made things difficult as it was almost a direct crosswind so you couldn’t hide behind the wheel in front. the pace stepped up again as we hit marine parade and headed towards cott. i just let it go and sat in where i could. most of us were expecting a nice quiet ride and like chris previously, was looking forward to seeing some nice scenery in cottesloe. not to be as we came through with enough speed to ensure the mind was focused on the wheel in front. i don’t even know who was driving the bunch by this stage, but a number of guys were keen to stretch their legs.
the return through dalkeith was the usual fare, with the pace coming on as the undulations started. i was keen to stay out of it, but when three guys shot off the front, i did a turn to pull them back just before the main climb on birdwood parade started. can’t even remember who was in the break and it was only yesterday. anyway, they went again as the gradient increased, and the guys i had dragged back up to them, didn’t have anything to go with, so they gapped us again. cresting the hill we could see a road block up ahead. probably the wrong thing to do even though the guy said it was ok, but we went through and past an anzac memorial service being held in an adjacent park. the group kind of stayed together till mounts bay road ready for the final line up.
with the wind in our faces, the slog along mounts bay would be hard. with ryan contesting the crit up in midland, there were very few real long range threats in the group. i was second wheel and when the front guys peeled off i thought that it was too hard to go it alone so started to roll through instead and signaled for the others to join in. it worked fairly well until one new guy got a bit confused, left his run too late and formed a big gap that he could recover from. by the time i rolled back to the front we were less than a k from the end so i thought that i would put in a big effort. all this
did was give a nice lead out to a bunch of the guys who rolled past me and onto the finish line, while i dragged myself to coffee.
only a small group was at coffee and we were joined by my family for a hot chocolate and muffin. with not many public holidays left in the year, and the group generally getting faster, i fear that the cruisey ride may be a thing of the past as people try to take advantage of the extra ride. oh well, at least we were riding.
ride routes 25th, 26th & 27th april
not sure if i will be riding on anzac day, but i am sure that there will be a group taking off at seven in the morning. benara rd on saturday to take advantage of the strong easterly’s, and a long hilly sunday ride to round out the weekend.
friday 25th april – anzac day
public holiday ride
Sth Perth – Public Holiday Ride
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saturday 26th april
benara rd
Sth Perth Saturday Ride 08 (Benara Rd)
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sunday 27th april
carradine & canning dam
Sth Perth Sunday Ride 05 (Carradine & Canning Dam)
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sunday 20th april – b grade trophy race
sunday and another race day. this would be the third weekend in a row for me and i was beginning to get the feel for what racing was all about. it was an early start as i met davina at canning bridge for a warm-up ride down to wandi. it was less than 30km but we wanted to get there with time to spare so allowed an hour which meant a pretty cruisey pace. it was freakin’ cold again and i had rugged up with big gloves, vest, jacket and booties on. anything extra that i didn’t need i figured i could chuck in someone’s car during the race.
there were plenty of triathletes on the bike path as the half ironman was only a couple of weeks away. from groups to individuals they were all making their way down to the end of the freeway bike path as it is a pretty popular run with very few stops. justin also past by on his way down to the race, but was doing quite a bit faster than we intended to.
the roads were a bit damp and the clouds on the horizon showed that it wouldn’t be a dry morning. a few sprinkles early on weren’t a real concern and actually after the rain event that we raced in during the tour de perth, anything short of a thunderstorm would be manageable. bruce, chris and ryan were already down at the start by the time we arrived and stu turned up not long after. a quick registration and we headed out for a loop of the circuit to get an idea of what we were up against. it was a nice square taking about 8km to get around. the corners weren’t too bad and the undulations were not steep enough to really make a difference. the only real concern was the roundabout on the back straight and the huge traffic island that separated the two lanes as the road swept round towards the finishing straight.
so, about 60 riders pitched up at the line. this was the “b” grade trophy race and as such, the “a” grade riders were riding the support race. we also had four girls sprinkled in amongst our field. it would be a nine lap race and we were sure that it would probably stay together till the end. the point was made by the race officials about having your race number under your vest and it not being able to be seen. i was pretty sure that it would not warm up that much and got the other guys to re-pin it on to my vest.
it had sprinkled with rain again before the start and the roads were wet enough in places to cause some spray off the back wheels. it made me wonder about the state of some of the corners we had to take and at what speed the pack would want to take them.
the first lap was a pretty standard fare with guys testing their legs on the “climbs” but not really getting away. the corners were not too bad but there were a few patches where the road was a bit potholed and you had to be careful each lap. the roundabout, as expected, caused a bit of concern early on as people tried to get through about three wide. this took us a couple of laps to sort out and by the end was a lot more controlled.
just after the roundabout was a small rise and almost every lap, someone would put the hammer down to try to stretch the group out. i spend the first few laps towards the back, getting used to the pack and when it would make surges. i watched davina a bit during this time and noted how she anticipated the surges in the pack and got up before the people around her moved so that a gap wouldn’t form. i was learning.
i would say that there were about four or so punctures within the first lap and a half. the wet roads make it so much easier for bits of crap to work their way into the rubber. also, i suspect that some of these guys had the good going out rubber on the bike with a bit less protection from punctures. there was a spares ute but none of us had any wheels in the back. if we punctured, too bad. stu has had a run of bad luck with one last race at gnangara and then again on saturday as we were lining up for the sprint on mounts bay rd.
ryan had begun to stalk a cyclemania rider and was now up near the front. this guy had won a couple of stages of the tour de perth support race and stu had told ryan that if there was going to be a move, then this guy would be in it. after spending the last race chasing down the break, rayn was keen to use that energy to get in it instead. anyway, the coffee boy from cyclemania (mattiaccio – cause it sounds like a coffee) was near the front so ryan was sticking close.
attacks were going at almost every one of the main rises in the road, but none really got very far. it was pretty much the same each lap until lap six. i think it must have been the rise after the roundabout, ryan and two others got away off the front. the coffee boy had dropped back and ryan had went when some others attacked. they had a bit of a gap and when we turned up the next rise, a couple of others tried to bridge across. i was near chris at the time and asked him if that was ryan up the road. he guessed that it was, so it made it easier for the rest of us. i thought about getting to the front and trying to control the speed to let them stay away, but there was a few teams up there already and i didn’t know how long i could actually stay up front. so in typical team p0rn0 tactics, ryan, you are on your own.
by the end of the lap, only one of the chases had bridged across to the break and it turned out to be the coffee boy, forming a fairly strong group of four. with three laps to go, we were unsure whether it would all come back together or not. it seemed like a long time to be off the front.
on the second corner of lap seven, something didn’t feel right. i bounced my front wheel a couple of times to check the pressure and it felt a little down, but not too bad. oh well, must have just been the road surface tricking me. on turn three the bike heavily understeered and i almost clipped the traffic island. a few more bounces and it confirmed my fears. the front tyre was going down fast. damn.
i pulled over and waved the spares ute along as i had nothing in it anyway. nothing i could do except change the tube and roll back to the start line. even if i had a spare, the pace was picking up a bit and i doubted that i could have got back on.
i got to the line before the group finished lap eight and watched ryan go past and get the bell. his little posse of four still had a decent gap, but the pack was not that far behind and it didn’t look hopeful. the “a” grade support race had already finished and they were all lining up to watch the sprint finish, so there were a few spectators around.
coming into the final straight, the break was still ahead and had started the sprint. ryan was in too hard a gear and could not go with the coffee boy who took line honors over ryan with the other two from the break following behind. not long after, the main field came barreling down the road. they were spread across both lanes and were throwing bikes everywhere, looking every bit as dangerous as a “b” grade race. our boys managed to finish in the group but kept out of trouble at the end.
it turns out that it was similar to last week where everyone was trying to get position early and was taking up the whole road even before the sprint started. position, position, position. it is so important and i am still learning where i should be. i find it hard in such a big group too as there is a lot of ground to make up if you are hanging at the back.
so, ryan got a second place and a trophy to collect dust. i wasn’t happy with getting a flat as i was feeling quite good up till that point. after hearing from the other guys what the finish was like, i think that it might be better to put it all on the line and take off before all the carnage happens fro the final sprint. if you can stay away, all good, but the sprint itself seems pretty full on to be caught up in. it was good to get some more race k’s into my legs and the ride back home would be a good warm-down.
no races for us over the anzac weekend, although ryan was talking about doing the stan gurney memorial crit at midland on the friday. i will take the opportunity to do a long hills ride to work on my issues i had during the tour de perth.
thanks to the melville fremantle cycle club for the video and picture
sunday 20th april – welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd
ride report by darrenrolling into the carpark i was a little earlier than usual but a few has arrived already. i was hopeful that we going to get a few more than last week? unfortunately, racing, the cold weather, and/or lack of commitment ( i can only assume) meant that there would only be about 9 of us today. huddled and shivering rob sat on the step, head in hands, looking like he did last week, was this déjà vu, another big night? turns out he was under the weather, well under. when john arrived we had a brief conversation about how cold it was, he said it was only 8c or 9c. felt about 2c, turns out you were closer to the mark and we are all woosies for being so rugged up.
with no one to lead the way we stood around in the cold until 7:05am or so. this weeks route was reasonably familiar so ‘someone will know the way’ i thought – so up welshpool rd we went. melvyn and i took the group out, camille turned off before we hit welshpool road, probably because most of the usual suspects were not there, luckily young matt and his micro front chain rings were there to keep us honest.
it was an uneventful ride to the foothills. we picked up a few passengers whose cyclosportif team piked on them. it still felt baltic as the sun was well hidden behind the scarp. the pace slowed as we started to climb, so it was up to me to get things rolling. young matt was not far behind. as we hit the straight exposed section i could feel the heart rate increasing, and hit the front derailleur changer to get an easier gear. oh no, stuck in the big ring. fiddling with gears i eventually locked everything up and had to step off, reset and started all over. matt sped off to the summit.
as we rode past the petrol station we ran into doug who had tried and meet us on welshpool rd but turned around at the grain terminal as he thought he missed us, not realising that we were late. at the top, there was daylight between matt and the rest of us. a quick chat at the top and off to the observatory we went.
the group held it together until the start of the observatory climb, i went with matt off the front and we were joined by todd. matt decided he would play cat and mouse with us, clearly overestimating our climbing and acceleration abilities. so todd and i played wile-e-coyote to matts road-runner. matt would slow up, wait for us to pass and sprint past as quickly as possible (beep beep) until he has put 100m or so into the gap and then waited up again. so todd and i endured this humiliation until the top of the climb. we were shortly followed by rob and john, with the others not too far behind.
a bit of procrastination we headed off down walnut descent, with doug, melvyn and rob trying to keep pace with matt. i stayed at the back, a bit nervous that the new bike may get the speed wobbles. as we headed over the top of aldersyde rd i had made up a bit of ground on the lead group as we turned into mundaring weir rd.
feeling good i set a good pace and headed past rob and john, surprisingly matt stayed with them. head down, i found good rhythm and after a little while looked back to see quite a gap had opened. maybe i was half a chance to get to the roundabout first? ……..not likely! matt made the gap in about a minute and despite staying with him for a while and trying to dig deep on the flat section near the top, matt dug deeper and sped off to the top to finish several hundred metres in front. rob also recalled that he was surprised that matt stayed with them for so long, only to take off like a rocket (beep beep) and bridge the gap. soon we were joined by john, closely followed by rob (coughing all the way).
once we were together again we all headed off to the zig zag, only to cop a sprinkle of rain and some wet roads. where did this rain come from?. most of the group descended at a fast but sensible rate, but the freshly washed roads did raise the stress levels a tad. at the bottom, matt took off home. the scenic views down zig zag showed us that there was more rain on the way so we sat around discussing whether we should make a run for home to avoid the weather or go to the coffee shop and face certain drenching on the way home. i wanted to go straight home, robs vote was via bushmead road (surely there is a coffee shop in midland) but the deciding vote went to todd, lindy and mike who were resolute that they needed another climb. doug headed home via forrestfield.
melvyn led the way back to kalamunda rd. rob suggested that goosberry hill rd could be a good option (joking), but was the first to hit the climb back to the coffee shop, and waved todd and i through. todd took the lead most of the way up while i tried to decide if i had any energy left, sort of, maybe, not sure. i stayed with him on the steep sections and when it levelled out on a nice flattish section, the big ring and plenty of beats per minute saw me pass and open a gap. so… first time to be first to coffee shop but i have no illusions about where my form is. john, rob and todd were not that far behind.
just enough time to re-arrange some tables and my double shot mini-bowl arrived, that was fast! some water, some more cyclists, a hot chocolate here and a flat white there, all served in rapid time. melvyn and mike ordered what would only be described as lunch (which they inhaled). we sat around discussing the finer points of interval training, sally robbins’ rowing efforts, shimano shoes and all facets of personal lubrication (for triathlon, get your minds out of the gutter).
instead of asking the group who would write the blog for today i asked melvyn (as he has previous credits and regularly comments on articles) if he or i should contribute this week. his well considered response “you should write the blog, because (long pause)…… you should write the blog” nuff said, so here it is.
heading back john led the way and when the group hit the downhill on lesmurdie rd they all seem to step up the pace. rob made the mistake of taking my wheel and we dropped to the back, so rob went around to catch the leaders. melvyn and i were last to welshpool rd at which point he took off to get to the bottom fast. i was the slowest descended on the day, but didn’t get speed wobbles even at 70kmph, so the new bike is looking ok so far.
a time trial effort brought lindy and i back to the field but it was clear that john had won the honours of being first to the bottom. at the tonkin hwy lights we encountered our first boy-racer/bogan/redneck who zipped past at a rapid rate with inches to spare.
melvyn and john dragged the group back up welshpool rd into the cold westerly wind. i went for the bonus points at the grain terminal. mike reacted but i managed to hang on despite dying on the hill before the leach hwy lights. being too exhausted to contest the macdonalds sprint, i watched john take off with absolutely no one chasing, john was also surprised when he looked back, so slowed down. melvyn peddled slightly faster than everyone else and managed to pass john on the line.
on the way back to the shop i got dropped at a set lights so i dont know how many made it back. props to rob for winning last weeks final sprint effort against stan and myself despite both of us turning off along berwick a few hundred metres before, but well done this week for some strong efforts with a chest cold and paving our way in mucus. good lu
ck to lindy in the 1/2 ironman in a few weeks, hope those 19hr training weeks pay off.
in summary: cold start, nice middle, bit of rain, windy end. seems that the climb up kalamunda rd and coffee rest, meant that we missed the rain and did not get wet! nice!
saturday 19th april – rebold and cott
cold, damn cold. i had to go back in the house and get my jacket this morning, much to the disgust of my sleeping wife. i always prepare everything the night before (including pumping my tyres) so that i minimize the noise when i get up. if i creep around quietly, i can usually be out the door before anyone wakes. this morning was not my stealthiest. if i was smart enough to thoroughly check the weather report the night before (it is all about preparation) i would have noticed that it was forecast to be freaking cold overnight and i would have got the jacket out just in case. so no, not a good start.
the course today was added not long after christmas as we kind of went this way for our christmas ride. a few extra hills, some fast paced sections and a few more km’s turned it into a standard saturday ride course. today it would take us around the bottom of kings park, onto hay street through subi and over rebold hill. a quick lap around cottesloe and we would then head back the normal route through dalkeith.
despite the cold we had a decent turn up as we would have had close to 40 riders roll out. a nice and gentle trip along riverside drive and onto mounts bay road allowed the group to ease into the ride. even the climb up thomas rd was not too stressful as the group remained under control. as we rolled down hay st which becomes underwood ave, i was surprised when we hit the few rolling hills that there were no real attacks as everyone found a nice climbing pace to the top.
once we came around rebold hill, i was going to allow the group it’s head of steam up the climb and along west coast highway till we hit swanbourne. as we turned onto oceanic and started the two small climbs around rebold hill, dr nic came charging up the road from almost the back of the pack. she hit the front and kept going with nev not far behind. i was waiting to see who would react but the group looked content to let them go. i switched it up a gear or two and started setting a faster pace which the guys could get a tow behind. we picked up nev and then dr nic before the top of the hill and by the time we crested, had a group of around 7 or 8 riders. with the chase and hill over, the momentum left group and the rest of the pack caught up by the time we hit west coast highway.
the group really seemed to not want to go hard at all today, and it took a few prompts to get it to start chasing. michael and nick finally broke clear along this stretch of road before the group reacted. however, it didn’t even manage to get strung completely out as no-one seemed eager to flat out chase them down. we regrouped around the lights at swanbourne and made our way down to the southern end of cottelsoe to come back up marine parade. a few of the boys wanted to stretch their legs a bit and i was content to let myself slip to the back of the pack and take up position as last wheel. with the race set for tomorrow and my flu like symptoms forcing me to have tuesday off this last week, i was a bit dubious of my form. i had already struggled a bit on some of the climbs for today, and worried that it my be a bad sign for tomorrow.
so, the group stayed together through a relatively fast tour of cottesloe and we meandered our way past the swanbourne shops. a nice big 4wd decided that we were too slow and tried to get past only to find that he was running out of road before the intersection. he had to slow down and push back in, splitting the group in half. smart man. if he had waited ten more seconds he still would have made it to where he wanted to go.
the route took us back home through dalkeith and the group will always go hard along here. always??? not today. with team p0rn0 making other plans to see how we can control the sprint, none of us were planning to do any work on the front. this left nick and a couple of others to force the pace, and they were not keen to hurt themselves either. chris stamped off the front to try to get something going but no-one would chase and he soon grew tired of playing and was absorbed back into the pack. finally as the group approached the last few undulations on birdwood pde, the pace picked up thanks to nick, christophe and nev. the group strung out a bit but not to the extent that we have seen it smash everyone apart.
team tactics were still in play and we were trying to keep mid pack to keep us out of the work load and in position to attack. a car interrupted us on the turn onto hackett dve and the front guys got a bit of a break. i mentioned to chris that is they got a good set of lights onto mounts bay, we were done for. it would have been an unusual set of events to get that to happen, and we caught them as they sat waiting for the green.
now, the team tactics for the day was to sit in till about two km’s out and then we all go hard down the right hand lane to get a break. we would all line out and try to deliver ryan to the line in one piece. now it didn’t quite go to plan. just before we were due to go, stu got a puncture and was off the back for a quick change. when i finally did decide to go there was too much traffic and i couldn’t get into the right hand lane, so i knew that there would be some hangers on.
brendan had made a break earlier and had a bit of a gap on the field. nick was on the front chasing him down with the rest of the train strung out behind him. as i led off the front, with (hopefully) the rest of the team in tow, i knew that we were not going fast enough, or over far enough to stop anyone jumping on board. too late for second chances as we had committed to the move already. i did a turn and manged to pick up brendan from his breakaway. i flicked the arm for michael to come through and looked back to see what the move had created. half the field were attached to us and the rest were still being pulled along by nick. i hadn’t totally smashed myself as i was hoping that i could jump on board as the tail came past. as i waited for the many riders to pass by, i started to doubt that the move would pay off at all. i ended up letting them go up the road and paced myself to the coffee shop. it turned out that chris had done an extra big turn to deliver ryan to the line but with steve firmly attached to his wheel. steve wasn’t too happy with some of our tactics and was unhappy with a blocking move by chris at the end when he released ryan. oh well, not a complete failure, but we will try something different next week.
coffee stop was good, but with a notable exception. big john who works with me at rio, didn’t make it back to the shop. his wife was waiting for him (as is the tradition) but he phoned up saying the he had four flats on the way back from cottesloe. with stu hitting a pothole to puncture and dr melvyn’s brake levers coming loose (after some dyi maintenance) we were lucky that there wasn’t a stack.
i have also started to take orders for the new group jersey, as had been posted on here earlier. if you want anything (jersey, knicks, vest, armwrmers) then see me after the ride or send me an e-mail through the blog. i will finalise the order over the next couple of weeks.
race day tomorrow at wandi, so hopefully we can get a ride report from the hills ride a well.
ride routes 19th & 20th april
i will be back on deck for the saturday ride this week after a couple of weeks of clashes. however, i will be doing the trophy race at wandi on sunday so will miss the hills ride again, but i promise i will be there on the long weekend. thanks to darren for blogging last sunday’s ride.
saturday 19th april
rebold hill & cott
Sth Perth Saturday Ride 11 (Rebold Hill & Cott)
Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia
sunday 20th april
welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd
Sth Perth Sunday Ride 06 (Welshpool & Observatory & Kalamunda Rd)
Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia
sunday 13th april – peter clark memorial part 02
peter clark memorial support race
race report by peter
so after tackling the tour de perth last week i thought that i really needed more practice in the hills and was going to skip this race. after a bit of e-mail banter, chris and bruce said that they were in as chris claimed that it was a flat circuit. i had a think about it and decided that i needed race km’s in my legs rather than just hills, so even though i really enjoy the sunday hills ride, i needed to play boy racer instead. there were a lot of excuses flying around team p0rn0 and i finally had enough and said that this will be an event that we will be doing, so make sure your excuses are good. from that we had five starters out a possible eleven. perhaps i should explain team p0rn0.
there are quite a few teams that race in perth and quite a few bike shops that have people riding for them. we have been happy riding with the guys that we ride with and therefore decided to form our own team and race together. an initial discussion on team kit and sponsors, threw up the potential to be sponsored by a company such as adultshop.com and therefore we nick-named ourselves “team p0rn0”. most of the regulars from saturday and sunday have been involved and the new jersey design is what we will be racing under once we get it made.
so come race day, bruce, chris, ryan, stu and i were all registered and ready to play. jerry potentially was going to turn up on the day after talking to the race organisers, but an early morning text from him claiming a late night involving wine paid heed to that. other excuses ranged from being in france to no excuse what so ever, just a big blouse.
so the race was being held out in gnangara which was well to the north and unknown territory for this southerner. i checked google maps and found the start line and course. i printed out a map and headed up the freeway for an early morning cruise. unfortunately, google maps was not exactly accurate and tried to make me take a road that doesn’t exist yet. luckily i had the backup ubd on hand to guide my path. i have no idea of anywhere that far north so i could have been driving around for hours otherwise.
anyway, i collected my race number and noticed that our field had 62 riders. pretty big pack for not so big roads. i thought that it would make positioning interesting if you wanted to make a move. ryan, chris, bruce and myself took a quick lap around the course, for three main reasons. 1. chris said that there was a hill in it so we wanted to see how big. 2. there was an hour till our start time so we needed to kill some time. 3. we all needed to find a secluded part of the course to take a pee as the portable toilet had not turned up yet. so after chris claiming that it was a flat course, and the main reason that he was doing it, it turns out that there were a number of hills that would cause some concern when tackled at pace. as chris said, i did get the bike trainer out to do some warm-up. after watching all the open divisions do it last week at the tour de perth, i guessed that ther must be something in it. also it takes about 35km for my hamstrings to even attempt to feel normal, so if there was a surge before then, there was a good chance i would be left behind.
there were nine divisions racing today and we took off after the open men with a lot of juniors already on the circuit. with quite a big pack you received a good draft at the back but at the expense of the yo-yo effect that the constant speed changes cause down the line. the first half of the circuit doesn’t really have any flat ground and there were little accelerations on the small climbs and out of the corners that made you keep alert. we had eight laps to complete to make up our 70kms while the open men did ten.
the main hill came after turn two and you started climbing straight out of the corner. it wasn’t long, or steep, but just enough to break people’s rhythm and make them sit after half the climb. this meant that each lap, we were up and sprinting to keep together, then sat down once we caught up halfway up the hill.
so, i took up my usual position at the back of the field with the other boys not to far away. i was surprised that ryan spent so long towards the back with us as he usually likes to be in the thick of things. the thin roads and sections of double white lines made positioning hard as you really needed to sprint around a lot of people to make it near the front. i wasn’t too worried as i was only there for experience not to make an impact.
we yo-yoed around for a couple of laps with the occasional one or two making a break but not getting very far. not sure when, but a group of around six or seven broke clear and scooted up the road. it was hard to gauge if they were support men or what as there were so many others on the road already. we were constantly overtaking single riders and small groups that had been dropped from other divisions. it seemed that each time we went over the hill we would lose a few off the back and a couple would scamper up the road. the strange thing was, that after the hill the road really flattened out and the pace was turned off and became almost pedestrian. this then allowed those dropped off the back to get back on with relative ease and those that escaped, a free run at catching the break.
on the fourth lap i was up out of the saddle as usual on the hill, but this time stayed standing and kept the power on over the top. when the rest of the pack sat to finish the hill, i basically sprinted around them and got myself a nice gap. unfortunately there was no-one else around me as i had gone from the back of the field and the next couple of guys were quite a bit up the road. the nice flat section also had the bonus of a slight head wind as well which made the chase a little bit too hard. by the time i caught them i was pretty much spent and could only manage one turn at the front. i thought about it and decided that i probably didn’t have another four laps at this pace so let the other three guys go. i looked back and saw how far the field was behind, so knew i didn’t have to wait long. i really only went off the front to see what was inside of me. should i have saved it for the end??? maybe, but i also wanted to know if i could escape during a race.
i past the open women’s section just before the finish line and continued to rol down the other side of the hill. a guy past by and i thought that he pack was about to swallow me up. next thing i know there is a hand on my back and another guy is trying to push me in front of himself so i can work for him. i sat up and said that i was waiting. giving him the benefit of the doubt that he probably could hear me in the wind, he pushed me again. i gave him the flick of the elbow and looked back at him saying that he can do it himself, i was waiting. so off he went. the pack was so close by then, that by the time i exited the first corner, they were all over me. luckily, as i had rested sufficiently, i could easily pace back up and not just be spat out the back.
the last few laps saw ryan and a few others doing a lot of time on the front trying to pull back the break. by about lap six, i was around mid pack with chris and we were discussing ryan’s tactics for expending all his energy before the finish. we thought that he would be the great hope for us especially with an uphill finish, but were concerned that he was going to be out of gas by the end. if we were smarter, we could have used him to pull back the break, and then one of us positioned ourselves for the sprint. it was not to be and we basically did the race as a bunch of individuals.
the last couple of laps and the pace and distance were starting to take there toll. a guy two bikes in front of me connected with someone when the shoulder disappeared on the edge of the road. he was so close to coming off that i