well another hot day was forecast, so i thought that we would stay close to the coffee shop as possible. the temp only dipped to 25 deg overnight so this generally meant that a crap night was probably had as well.
saturday 2nd feb – ridge hill rd
wanted to go early, as ryan wasn’t there to do the long lead out. chris and i were on the front and everyone was just looking around. dr emma deceided to have a crack and came around the pack early on. everybody just looked at each other, unsure whether to chase or not as it was still a way to go. bugger it, i thought and went after her. up out of the saddle to ensure chris would not get on my wheel, i managed to catch, pass and then stay away from the pack till the lights turned red at the end of the road and allowed everyone to catch up. as the lights changed, steve r came around everyone and gave a two arm salute for his victory sprint. first to the coffee shop wins.
ride routes for 2nd & 3rd feb.
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saturday 2nd feb.
ridge hill rd
Sth Perth Saturday Ride 10 (Ridge Hill Rd)
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sunday 3rd feb.
welshpool & observatory & kalamunda
Sth Perth Sunday Ride 06 (Welshpool & Observatory & Kalamunda Rd)
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sunday 27th jan – gooseberry & kalamunda
well it was forecast to be a hot one today and was already over 20 degrees by the time we started. about 25 rolled up to the start today which is a good turn out considering yesterday was australia’s national drinking day.
ted at the base of the zig-zag and had beaten everyone else up the hill. well first to the coffee is the winner, so i couldn’t begrudge them that.
being a short ride, and doing a bit extra after coffee meant that we rolled up early for a change and promptly took over most of the outdoor section. service was excellent and one of the waiters continually bought out jugs of ice water which was well received. paris-brest cafe kalumunda (free plug).
the conversation at the coffee shop is varied and will often cover most topics. mostly bike orientated, but with eight doctors on the ride today, it can sometime take a bizarre twist. i recommend staying for coffee just to listen in on what is said as i can’t remember every detail. however, i would say that at least once every ride the whole table is pissing themselves laughing over some comment or story.
instead of the usual decent straight down welshpool rd, we were going to head down mundaring weir rd and though bickley valley, before heading back to the city. we usually head up this as the final climb of the day, so it was a pleasant change to be going down. we lost quite a few with a group of them deciding to take the quick way home. i was bring up the rear of the decent when i saw simon on the side of the road taking off his helmet. dr nick and myself pulled over to see what the problem was. apparently he had hit a bee at speed which had gone straight into his helmet and stung him on the scone. no allergy that he knew about so we continued, but i rode the rest of the way with him, dr nick and lindy.
the pack had waited near carmel school and we headed towards welshpool rd for the final decent. no cross winds today and i managed to keep up with the front guys. i even changed lanes at the bottom to take advantage of a passing 4wd’s draft and manged to crack 85 km/h but was pedalling at 140 rpm to do it. i need more gears for both higher and lower.
after a regroup, we headed along welshpool rd proper when adi dropped onto the tri bars and attacked off the front. unusual move as he is a very passive rider, probably cause he is young compared to the rest of us. with the wind behind us, most people took the opportunity to stretch their legs and took off after him. it was earlier than we usually go, but a fun diversion nevertheless. as we approached the final stretch along berwick rd the set of traffic lights at kent rd kept us fairly well together. i jumped at the lights and actually got on behind a couple of cars which were helping me to extend the gap. however, the road works conspired against me as one of the cars was turning so the other now couldn’t get around.
in the interest of making the world a safer place for pedestrians that don’t know how to look both ways, they are converting the rest of two lane berwick into single lane with huge traffic islands in the middle. these “traffic calming” devices are fine if you are a single cyclist, but now the cars cannot get around groups of riders as they don’t have enough room to pass before another traffic island appears. it just makes them hate us more.
anyway, we got the next set of lights which let everyone group up again. michael hit out hard and i jumped on his wheel, letting him draft me to the final sprint. as we approached the end greg and i think jerry started coming around so i got up out of the saddle and went for it too. the sore legs came back to haunt me as i got a bit of a gap but couldn’t maintain it and greg slid past at the end.
no last second car park crashes like last week, so i good ride all around. the morning was heating up so it was off home to a shower and an air-con, before watching the crits in vic park. legs are also looking forward to the recovery ride tomorrow. the picture is supposed to be of where the bee stung simons head, but he didn’t do the decent thing and swell up for the camera.
saturday 26th jan – rebold & cott
smaller turn out today as i expect that some people were taking advantage of the three day weekend and had gone away. probably about 30 or so which is definitely more manageable with getting through the traffic lights.
today’s route was basically a combination of the christmas ride and other routes close to the city. we took out the confusing city bits and would head down mounts bay rd instead. up winthrop past kings park, along hay st till we cut through perry lakes and up over rebold hill. back down west coast hwy then loop around past cottesloe and home via dalkeith and mounts bay rd.
we headed out canning hwy after saying that i would like to keep it together as long as possible and hoped like hell that they would. i had talked to a few of the better guys about not chasing down people that took off early so hopefully it would all be good.
a nice easy pace along riverside dr and mounts bay rd meant the the group kept together well. once we turned up winthrop the steady climb, i suspected, would convince some people to go hard cause they can. michael and i were second wheel heading up the rise and held a steady pace. steve b at the front decided to push a bit and would get a small gap before looking back and realising that no-one was coming to play. he did this a few times before getting bored and dropping back into the pack. a nice easy run down hay street in subi was nice as it is one way and the latte crowd hadn’t woken up yet. even the speed humps are quite low and don’t cause much grief.
a couple of undulations as hay st became underwood and we were still all together. passing through perry lakes drive there would have been at least 20 – 30 women on mountain bikes and other cruisey style bikes. must have been some “get to learn cycling” group which is good to see. we need more people on bikes.
over rebold hill, a couple of guys upped the pace a bit but nothing too drastic as everybody got back on (as far as i know – add comments if i am wrong) once we hit west coast hwy. i thought this may have been an area where we would lose people as it was heading into the wind, but a number of light changes meant that the group held well.
i ended up back on the front again and kept the pace steady with ben, down to the marine pde roundabout. a new smooth surface and slight tailwind was just begging for an increase in pace. ryan came to the front and asked if he could use his big chain ring. as long as we regrouped once we headed back towards west coast hwy there was no problem.
it’s not like i am trying to restrict people riding, but i am also trying to increase peoples social time during the ride. have a chat to the guy next to you. find out what they do for a living. see if they have any daughters over the age of consent. it is amazing the cross-section of humanity that cycling brings together.
anyway, the result of letting ryan go was that people like to test themselves and went with him. which is fine, except the guy that past me on the left side without warning me. i have a new toy for my bike. and all in one video camera that you can mount either on your helmet or bike. this was an experiment and i captured way too much sky, which meant that the riders came out a bit dark. anyway, i stuffed up and missed getting footage of the sprint later on, so below is the best i could do. (sorry about the sound, i thought i had turned it off)
anyway, the group spread significantly along past cott, which is a shame as you spend more time chasing than looking at the scenery, but regrouped at the lights as we turned to go past swanbourne shops. i suspect that we lost a few along the way, but time was starting to get away from us and we had to continue on.
that has been a bit of a problem lately. i lengthened some of the rides to make sure we didn’t finish early, but now the slowing of the pack has meant that we are taking longer. i am happy to let the boys smash it from the start, as long as there is someone to control the second group. not that we are all idiots. people just like to be told what to do, none of those stupid decision things.
well we were on our way home so the boys could do what they wanted. as expected the pace started to increase, but it was strange as the usual drivers were not at the front. it was as though the group new that we were going to increase anyway, so guys that don’t always push hard, were at the front forcing the pace anyway.
as victoria ave swings into jutland pde, and the road rises slightly, a group came to the front headed by ryan. this is his usual attack point as he know that he can hold it all across the slight rises, all the way to steves hotel. i got boxed in and had to fight my way around to chase back on. then got boxed again on the next rise. maybe i’m just no good at choosing wheels.
things calmed down a bit as we made our way past the uni as everyone was getting ready for the final push along mounts bay rd. ryan was about second wheel and i was sitting around fifth, so i thought that i may have been a bit too far back to get him when he jumped. however, as the lights changed and we rolled onto mounts bay rd, he slowed down and let some of the others lead him out.
the pace was on, but people weren’t rolling through as they wanted to hold there position, so the guys on the front started to flag a bit. michael decided to push the issue and took off up the road by himself. still no-one chased and the guys at the front didn’t change position. once the swan brewery was just around the corner, i started to chase michael down. i didn’t “explode” off the front, so i knew that i had everyone else on my tail. in typical cyclist thinking, if i wasn’t going to be first, then neither was michael. i managed to catch him before the brewery but was already into the 190’s and rapidly approaching the spew zone. a quick flick of the elbow and pretty much everyone else came past me as i gulped air.
so in the end i don’t know who got to the line first, but i have a fair guess that it was ryan.
being australia day, we got caught up in some bike path closures and had to back track a bit to get to the coffee shop. some of the others turned off and went back across to mends street, but the majority ended up at bells. with the road closures, though, there were not many people at the cafe, so service was prompt.
brett had decided to make the effort to come down and have a coffee with us as his arm is still in a sling from his fall. no pins or plates so it will be probably 5 weeks will he is back with us. his bike, however, will not heal that easily and a frame replacement may be in order. apart from that, he seems ok but it is not a situation that any of us want to go through again…..especially brett.
on a further note. i went down to watch the criteriums on riverside drive in the arvo. when i say that we upped the pace, it is probably not even half of the standard pace the open men’s division was doing into the strong head wind. those boys are in a different league.
correction – apparently wayne took ryan in the sprint at the end.
ride routes for 26th, 27th & 28th jan
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saturday 26th jan.
rebold hill and cott
we will keep a moderate pace up until we get back to christ church grammer
this still gives 15km of smash-it time, so no going hard beforehand
a really good short-cut on this one as you can turn off while the rest of us do a loop of cottesloe.
Sth Perth Saturday Ride 11 (Rebold Hill & Cott)
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sunday 27th jan
gooseberry & kalamunda & bickley
we are keeping it close to home this weekend as it will be 36 degrees
lots of short-cut options as we are staying around kalamunda
one extra climb after the coffee shop for a change
Sth Perth Sunday Ride 08 (Gooseberry & Kalamunda & Bickley)
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monday 28th jan.
public holiday ride.
very easy pace. recovery ride. no going hard.
Sth Perth – Public Holiday Ride
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sunday 20th jan – patterson & canns & urch
well today was going to be the hardest set of hills that we have planned. of course i could devise a total bastard of a course, but i do want some people to come back again. we had 18 starters this morning, as i actually remembered to count before we left. none of the usual climbers had turned up so i was a bit unsure how the ride would go. there were a couple of new boys along for the ride, so i thought i would wait to see how things developed.
ng to climb. the bottom section is quite steep. it probably averages about 10% and you can really feel it. greg set a good pace so i decided to just hold his wheel to see how he went. we dropped the others and quite quickley put a big gap into them. by the time we reached urch, we could not see them further down the road.
saturday 19th jan – reverse hale rd
not a bad turn out this morning. about 40 or so but it may have looked even bigger as mickey’s novice group is also growing. bruce was back with us after his girlfriend had a baby girl last week which meant he couldn’t ride. no commitment from some people.
as going to have a rough time as i was gear limited, but managed to hold pace as a number of the stronger guys went to the front. as i have said in earlier posts in needed to work on my spinning, so it was probably good for me. i was glad i had an eleven cog on. the lights at leach pulled us back together slightly and the new hotmix they had laid was very nice to ride on. no real attacks followed, but just a general upping of the pace till shep rd.
ride routes for the 19th & 20th jan
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saturday 19th jan.
reverse hale rd.
we will keep a moderate pace up until we get back onto welshpool rd.
Sth Perth Saturday Ride 12 (Hale Rd reverse)
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sunday 20th jan
patterson, canns & urch
easy pace out to brookton hwy.
regroup at top of patterson, canns, urch, canning mills rd & pickering brook.
coffee at kalamunda.
Sth Perth Sunday Ride 09 (Patterson & Canns & Urch)
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update for saturday 12th jan
i have talked to the three involved in the crash on saturday and all are doing ok.
wally has a few grazes and was a bit sore on saturday and sunday but generally ok.
he is very glad that he had a helmet on as it pretty much smashed in half.
darren went to see a doctor as a precaution and has a bit of tendon damage in his left hand and a bruised bone in his right wrist, which is why he said holding the bars was difficult.
apart from that, just a bit of skin off and some bruising.
brett said he felt like he has been hit by a truck. not surprisingly.
definitely a broken collarbone and may need to go see a specialist to have it pinned and plated.
also missing some skin from a few places, but back at work now but probably only typing one handed.
i think we were lucky there was no traffic and we were at a slow speed, otherwise it could have been a lot worse.
again, just to reiterate not to cross wheels, hold a straight line and call out any obstacles.
stay safe.