the redbull air race forced us to move up the road a bit this morning as they had commandeered our carpark. generally this is not a problem, but there are a few people that do drive to the start and i didn’t want to make it too difficult for people to get to the ride. also, the road blocks will be more extensive tomorrow and start at 6am so i had to make sure we could still get access for the hills ride. by the time i rolled up the majority of the group was lurking outside the south perth senior citizens centre. i know that this is not a young group, but i didn’t think we needed to sign up just yet.
as i was giving the morning spiel about the ride route, i was rudely interrupted by someone’s mobile phone. it was mine, with lorraine asking us to wait as she was stuck in the redbull restricted area and was getting an escort from two burly austrian security guards. i asked the group if we should wait and someone suggested that we could if she was bringing brownies. since she provided us with brownies and coke at the last cyclo-sportif, i was sure we could wait a couple of minutes.
great eastern hwy
the change in venue didn’t seem to affect numbers as we had around 40 roll out from angelo st. we picked up mike on douglas and doug on great eastern as we headed towards guilford. the wind was not that pleasant, but i have definitely survived worse heading along helena valley rd, and the group stayed together well. i was sitting well back once we hit ridgehill rd and was never in the hunt for king of the mountain points. i was taking it easy for a while but as the field thinned out i found that i had room to accelerate around the slower riders. i got to the top with paul, jules and dr mark but then waited for the back markers to make sure we had everyone when we jumped onto kalamunda rd. dr carl was in struggle town today after over a month of trekking in nepal with simon. different diet and different muscle groups while over there meant that it will be a long hard road back to full bike fitness. i said that it was probably the lower altitude air was creating too much resistance for him. good to see him straight back on the bike though.
we cruised though to guilford and created a bit of a mobile road block along parts of kalmunda rd which would have made traffic happy (but safer for us). once we hit the lights at lord st in bassendean, i announced that it was all on for rest of the way back to the city. christophe said that i should lead the way, but i said that i was hanging back to help the stragglers. he volunteered so i headed off, but luckily not at the front.
the pace picked up almost straight away with little breaks getting a few metres up the road before being brought back by a concerted effort or a lucky traffic light. i was just sitting in, but managed to move forward after we crossed under tonkin hwy. about half way up the first of the rolling hills, ben made a move and ryan took off after him with jerry. i managed to get around the rest of the group and eventually jumped on the back. we held it together for a while before we were pinned down by the traffic lights which allowed the rest of the group to rejoin. ryan and i just set tempo after that as it seemed that that was the end of our escapades. mike had a different idea and too off on the next rise. i didn’t react straight away as i wanted a few more wheels to follow as i was feeling like i needed so recovery time. after about 5 or so riders had come past i gave chase and jumped on the wheel. i managed to come around them and catch up with ryan and mike just as they had the lights change at the turn to east parade.
still on great eastern hwy
the majority of the group headed along the last stretch into the city and the last attack was on the hill near the police station. ryan was boxed in next to me and we waited till halfway up the hill before attacking together and gapping the group. the traffic lights soon paid heed to any break as did the road block as we approached riverside drive. the old guy manning the detour said that the cops went off a the last group of cyclists so i forced the group onto the bike path for the remainder of the ride. jules and his brother dan took the road and sprinted it out, but the rest of us took the more dangerous route along the path with all the tourists trying to walk and look at planes at the same time.
the coffee shop was full as expected but we managed to squeeze in and take up most of the outdoor tables. they actually had them set up ready for us, which was a complete contrast to last year where they told us off for moving them. service was slow as they were so busy, so i had to forego the hot choc that i had bought as i was on the clock today. another hour and a half of riding the mountain bike with ben on the front to watch the pre-redbull entertainment was to follow. it was all going fine until the f18 came past and was so loud it scared the crap out of him and he wanted to get back on the bike and go home. the rest of the arvo was spent cleaning the bike and adding a bit of bling to it. i managed to weigh it in as i missed out at the breakfast and i have finally got it below the 8kg mark to come in at 7.98kg. no cheating involved and it still had the computer mount, seat bag clip and two bidon cages on. dr paul said the the new wheels should be ready by next weekend, so hopefully i can shed a few hundred more grams. still a long way off competing with the cervelos in the group though.
with the redbull air race on this weekend our usual meeting point on both saturday and sunday wil be in the restricted access zone. this is not a concern to those that ride to the start, but the few that drive a distance to come and play with us, it will be a problem. for this week only we will be moving the start location to just up the road at the corner of coode and angelo street. there are a couple of car parks in the area that you can use and we will ride along angelo onto douglas and onto canning hwy to start the ride.
on saturday the coffee shop will also be in a restricted zone. as we come down off plain st we will probably be confronted with a road block. last year they were stopping cars, but pedestrians and bikes were still using the path along the foreshore. we will play it by ear and see if we can sneak though, but don’t hold your breath that there will be a sprint on riverside drive.
we may have to negotiate using the tables at bells like we did last year as they had them set up for lunch time and didn’t want us to move them. we will see.
our good friends at ride magazine have a new calendar out for 2009. if you read their magazine, you will know that it is a quality publication with only the best cycling action shots. the calendar contains images from the 2008 tour and examples and explanations of the pictures can be see in the attachment below.
unfortunately (and i don’t know how they were missed) there are no actions shots of the spr crew. cost is about $40 delivered and would make a good gift from someone who doesn’t know what to get you for christmas. add it to your list and hope santa can collect it on his way past. click on the logo for website details.
daylight savings. it almost caught me out this morning. well actually last night. i was still up blogging and suddenly realised that 10:30 was actually 11:30 and i had to be up in just over 6 hours. i like my sleep and feel ripped off losing it just so some politician can go for a walk along the beach after work, in 40 degree heat, with 40km/h winds sand blasting your legs. nice. especially since the shops shut at 6.
anyway, i am assuming that the lack of clock winding vigilance was the reason that our numbers were down a bit today. a couple of text messages confirmed it a bit later that the clock was to blame. you will probably hear me bitch a bit more about daylight savings as the summer rolls towards autumn and it gets dark in the morning again.
so about 12 or so riders turned up to fresh conditions this morning and we headed out albany hwy. there were five categorised climbs mapped out this morning and it would have to be one of the most difficult routes that make up the sunday ride suite. we would start by peeling off brookton hwy to tackle the infamous f_ckenberg, before stomping up canns rd. a descent down soldiers rd before heading up peet and urch. a transition to the observatory climb and finish up mundaring weir rd with a coffee at paris-brest.
the fresh start was beginning to give way to a very nice day. little wind and seemingly not a cloud in the sky. less than half the group had actually ridden the f_ckenberg before and i was talking it up. “somewhere from steep to very steep”, “you won’t be able to start if you stop”, “hope you have a 27 tooth cog on there”, all those types of things. alistar was gunning for more mountain points as he was the only one close enough to challenge ryan for the october overall. the points reset next week so it was a bit of a battle for these two. alistar had definitely not ridden this climb and came past asking what it was like. i said that he will see when he rounds the corner. he headed up the road a bit and ryan tagged along to make sure he didn’t get too far ahead. i said to judd (i think) to listen to alistar reaction as we come around the corner. “holy f_ck” was what i am sure he said. judd had not ridden the climb either and was now dreading what he would see.
pete & stan. waiting on top of the world
alistar attacked the hill with gusto and managed to gap ryan from the start. i know that this climb will really wear you down and the only way to approach it is to get in your easiest gear, stand and find a rhythm you can maintain. on the bottom half, jens came around me when he surged a bit with stu. it didn’t last long and i came back past and put in a few hard pedal strokes to get ahead of both of them. there was no way that i was going to catch ryan and al, but i now wanted to keep ahead of the others to stay in the points. up ahead, ryan almost caught alistar near the top but conceded valuable points as alistar was first to the blackwood road intersection and the unofficial and invisible kom line. i had to put in a bit of an effort once the gradient slackened to stay ahead of stu with heiko/jens taking the fifth spot.
alistar – 10, ryan – 7, peter – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.
the regroup was a quick affair as the smaller group was quite well matched and it didn’t take long for everyone to reach the top. we were soon headed down to canns rd for the next climb. i had to give instructions to everyone on the fly as we hadn’t really stopped in one spot for the regroup and we had already started the next climb. this was a categorised climb and i had to tell everyone where the finish line was.
the first small rise in the hill (as it undulates as it climbs) was soon upon us and the group was relatively together. alistar asked if the top of the rise ahead was the end of the climb. we were only just really starting the climb and i think he was ready to sprint. i told them all that there was quite a way to go and everyone was just looking to see who would make a move. it was me.
i took off to see who would chase and only alistar and jens came with me. i looked back to see stu and ryan happily riding tempo up the hill not worrying about challenging for this one. i assumed that ryan had done the maths and realised that his initial 22 point buffer over alistar meant that he was fairly safe even if he came in mid points every climb. as the road rolled and pinched again we took turns at the front until we paced it up a bit too much for jens and he dropped off the back. the road starts to flatten out before the finish and i had to point it out to alistar to be fair about where we would be sprinting too. i made him lead out but at the end he pushed me too hard and i had to let him go to stop myself from actually spewing. it took me a few minutes of riding around to cool down before my spew-meter was not in the red. these mountain points are making for an interesting ride. jens held onto third with ryan and stu following close behind.
alistar – 10, peter – 7, heiko – 5, ryan – 3, stu – 1.
the always fun descent down soldiers rd was interrupted at the bottom when a couple of guys said that someone had a flat or someone had to stop to fix something. it turns out that judd’s “behind the back” triathlete drink bottle holders were coming loose and he didn’t want to drop a bottle in the path of another rider. a couple of minutes to fix and he met us at the bottom.
the next climb was the start of peet but then swung left onto urch for a change. the road was arguably as steep but had a slight reprieve in the middle before it hit you with the final ascent. john had jumped across the road before we got stopped by traffic so had a good head start on the climb. i took it as a tempo and was waiting to see who would try to go early on the lower steeper slopes. ryan and alistar took off but not at a blistering speed so i could easily hang onto the back of their train. stu was hanging off the back with me as we al pulled away from the rest of the group. john was caught and dispatched with little fanfare as the hill was now dictating what we were to use our breath for. by the time we reach the urch intersection, the rest of the group was a fair way behind.
true to form, both ryan and alistar didn’t actually listen to instructions (it is probably on their school report from about grade three) and were about to turn right to follow peet as we would normally do. ryan said that he didn’t hear me say that we were not going to stop at the school. i also didn’t not say a lot of things, but i did say that we were to turn left into urch. we rolled down the slight hill before hitting the next climb proper. again i was asked how far to the top and the answer was “a fair way off yet” as the climb kicks up twice and can be quite brutal. i got to the front and started setting the pace. once i thought that we were in a good rhythm i would put in five or six really hard pedal strokes before returning to the same pace. i was just testing the others to see who would come with me, or attack me. i managed about four small attacks like that before i finally dislodged stu and alistar. ryan and i kept going as we were very close to cresting the top of the climb and it flattens out for a bit before the intersection finish. we swapped off turns to keep away from al who had dropped stu in his pursuit of us. as we approached the finish, ryan sprinted off to make sure he maximised points and i was left with second. the points for fifth came down to stan and jens fighting it out along the flat with jens coming out on top.
ryan – 10, peter – 7, alistar – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.
refuel after the climb up urch
we headed towards the end of the kahuna climb and across to canning rd. i got to have a chat with a new guy out with us today. his name is hugh and he is a rowing cox out to do some cross-training. he did pretty well in the hills too so it was good to see him come along. he wasn’t the only hills “virgin” but the others were familiar faces from the saturday ride. the couple of bonus climbs as we headed towards the pickering brook intersection are not categorised in out competition as they generally do not split the field up enough. it now seems that without the points, no one is going to try to smash the rest of the field and so no-one took off where they usually do. i thought that i would make use of the nice smooth road and put it in my third biggest gear and just ground out the climb. in order to keep a cadence of above 40, i had to get the bike moving at a decent pace and was soon at the front of the field and led them over the next two hills and onto pickering brook.
we did a quick head count and with no-one opting for an early out (i didn’t offer it either) we all headed towards the base of the observatory. ryan and i talked tactics on the way down past the pickering brook school and decided to not attack and see if we could get to the top as a group sprint. the climb started and we set a very even pace. the group stayed together and there were even a few nervous joke thrown around as the rest of the group didn’t know whether we were going to go hard or not. alistar finally made his move and ryan, stu and myself had to go with him. jens hang in there for a while but soon was off the back.
as alistar had initiated the move with an attack, we were content to let him set the pace for as long as possible. he indicated the top of the main climb and asked if that was the top. not suite as there is a plateau before a final kick to the finish. we crested the top and he pulled over a bit to let someone else work. we slowly moved past, bu no-one was in a hurry to do a turn. i jumped on the indecision and attacked even though it was way too early. ryan and stu managed to come along and then past but alistar was spent from his initial attack. we stayed in that order to the top, with jens taking fifth again.
ryan – 10, stu – 7, peter – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.
one more climb to tackle before a well deserved coffee stop. the descent down the steeper side of the observatory is always fun and the rolling hills through bickley are a nice warm up before the main climb. i had to make sure that i did not lose too much time on the rolling hills as when mundaring weir rd starts there is not much time to catch back up. we hit the climb together the usual foursome plus judd and jens and started to set the pace. i slotted my way (pushed in front of judd) into fourth wheel behind ryan with stu setting tempo for the majority of the way. jens and judd fell my the wayside of the constant stu pace setting and pretty soon we were at the plateau of the climb. i noticed that ryan had left it in his big ring for the climbs so far so we obviously were not putting him in any distress. alistar wanted to step it up a bit so went to the front and too over the pace. i thought that this was not the best idea, as ryan will jump all over him when it comes to the final climb. in race situation i have adapted a technique where by i will be at the front but not actually put in much effort if nobody is willing to come around me.
alistar was going quite hard and by the time we reached the final pinch stu and ryam started to come around him. i tried to stay on ryan’s wheel but he was going for the win and i didn’t have the legs to go with him. the kom line came up fast and i held off stu to take second, although, both ryan and stu claimed that they didn’t even see the kom line which they must have ridden over at least 100 time in the last couple of years.
ryan – 10, peter – 7, stu – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.
coffee was ordered and croissants devoured with pretty much everyone staying for coffee. 1 socialisation mountain point for all that attended.
final points for the day.
ryan – 41, alistar/peter – 32, stu – 20, heiko – 10, stan/john/hugh/daryl/paul/kim/judd – 1.
the ride home was fast and furious for the first part. an unofficial sprint point to the tonkin hwy intersection meant that whatever buffer you could gain by descending like a demon was what everyone else had to try to make up once the road flattened out. even before we had left lesmurdie rd, the pace was on and people were trying to all get ahead before that small rise that breaks up the descent. the field was spread by the time we hit welshpool rd proper and i was with judd and alistar. judd jumped to the front and cut a nice hole in the air for me to follow. alistar was on my wheel until he must have thought that it was too slow and pulled out. it feels “slow” when you are in the draft and you have to touch the brakes a bit to wash some speed off, but once out in the clean air, that extra wind resistance pushes you back. he didn’t make any more ground so slotted back in behind me. we worked together with a couple of others that had joined us as the road flattened out but we didn’t make up the ground on the front runners and ryan, stan and john made it to the end first.
the next sprint point to the maccas at the end of welshpool road was uneventful for me. ryan shot up the road early and a string of other riders took off in hot pursuit. i was content to watch from afar. the final run to the berwick st maccas was a bit more eventful. ryan had a very small gap left after john peeled off his wheel to go home. he managed to get through the lights at kent st while the rest of us had to wait. when the lights changed, alistar took off up the road after ryan who had already disappeared. i was left on the front and stan asked if i was chasing. i said that i was hoping that the lights at george st would slow him down. they didn’t but we all got stuck when they turned red. as we took off on green, we looked up the road to see alistar waiting up ahead. he started going before we got to him but jens used the momentum off the hill and a bit of a draft from a passing car to get ahead of al to claim second.
so the final wash-up of the mountain points will be on the web soon, but it was clear that ryan ran away with the inaugural title. the points reset each month and next sunday will see the start of the november competition. all up i would say that it was one of the best hills rides i have done in ages. the points competition has really invigorated the climbs with attacks and tactics starting to come to the fore. if anyone has any ideas on how we can involve the rest of the group during the ride, i would love to hear it.
Thanks, Chris, for the write-up and the pictures which were taken largely for Ryan’s benefit (2nd place getters as winners too etc.). Good to have some green and black support on the day.
As he suggested, this was a final physical test to see whether the atrial fibillation problem had stabilised prior to visiting the EP/Ablation specialist next week. The news should be good after two months of impeccable cardiac behaviour through some tough Sunday rides, the Northam Classic, SPR1’s assault at Pickering Brook and today’s effort, which maxxed out at 158 BPM with an average of 132 during the race. Sinus rhythm all the way – don’t ask me why. One can only consider the old Chesnutt: “The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of the universe”.
Given that this was meant to be an examination, there was a choice to be made. Sign up for the Open race and try to hang on like grim death before eventually being unceremoniously dropped (Hi to our Barista friends) or to take one’s rightful place as a Masters rider in the combined Support/Women’s race. Seeing future neo-Pros on the line of the former suggested that I had chosen wisely in not being too ambitious on a sprinters’ course (Flat 5 x 16km laps).
Courtesy Davina. Royalties in the post.
Of the 30 or so starters, about half were blokes. There were a couple I recognised from the Veterans (not Affairs) races, a young Benson (?), Sunday regular Anna, and quite a few of Davina’s mates from the Sunday rides, a couple of Eddie Hollands’ nicks etc. With this eclectic mix, the tactics were always going to be erratic, and there was just enough wind about to stop anyone on the front from working too long. Only Bianchi man and young Benson tried to smash it off the front a couple of times during the first 2 laps without success, but at the start of the 3rd lap Bianchi man had taken Josie Tomic with him and things were looking interesting. I bridged across the 60 metres, taking faded Assos man and Holland knicks x 1 along and we quickly had a group of 5 rolling through. Perhaps it was Josie’s presence, but our breakaway lasted less than half a lap as the peleton chased hard and reformed for a recovery half-lap.
Into the zephyr up the home straight at the start of Lap 4, my new best friend Mel Hoskins attacked with young Benson following, and I managed to hook onto his wheel. He didn’t last and soon Ms Hoskins and I were 100 metres off the front. We began swapping 30 second turns and gradually built up our lead. 2 echappeurs mustn’t have looked like much of a threat and the other Plan B girls were presumably blocking for her, so we worked hard to be about 30 seconds up with a lap to go. We picked up a refugee from the Open race who sat in for half of the final lap before we managed to get rid of him, and we were able to hold on to our advantage on the good roads heading back to Champion Lakes.
By the time we turned into the Lakes complex, the chasers were nowhere in sight, which was just as well as old age had suddenly crept in that last kilometre. The sap that had risen during the breakaway was now nowhere to be seen and I afforded myself the luxury of being able to ride within myself to the line. The gap also allowed me to avoid the very probable ignominy of being outsprinted by a young woman (as those of you who have seen me “sprint” will understand). NBF Mel rode a very strong race, never shirking her turn, and thoroughly deserved her solo victory. With 1st and 3rd (Josie), women’s cycling is evidently very strong in this state and Plan B should be very happy with their sponsorship.
So all up, a good experience in this debutant event; invasive procedure hopefully averted for the short to medium term, getting into two breakaways and staying away successfully for 32km, $150 prize purse, and a victory by any other name would smell just as sweet. Not bad for a climber.
left to fend for himself as the only entry from the bunch in the Golden Spokes Support race Michael B was treating the race as a personal test. Whilst the rest of the racers were off chasing Rouleurs points Mike reeled off a fine second place winning the mens support race. Mel Hoskins who has ridden with us on the Sunday rides in the past pulled off the overall win (and obviously first woman) after outsprinting Mike for the line.
The pair escaped at about half race distance and with no concerted effort by the bunch to chase them down extended their lead to finish 30 seconds in front of the bunch.
Another some time Rouleur, Josie Tomic, finished with a third after being heavily marked by the other ladies.
As an aside two defacto Rouleurs, Julian and Hamish, from the Barista boys raced in the Open. They were taught a couple of lessons by the big boys, not the least of which was to make sure they enter the support race when there is one. However, sounded like they enjoyed the outing, particularly the opportunity to race with the fast guys.
In the Open, I believe Luke Durbridge took out the win. He was with a breakaway bunch of 3 from the first or second lap and left them with two to go. Not bad beating home the likes of Ben King and Cam Meyer even though this was probably not a priority race for them.
Good to see Davina out and about, it seems the broken Radius isn’t holding her back too much. Check her blog for an update soon.
I went along to have a look and liked what I saw, the circuit was fast & pretty safe. The organization looked pretty solid aside from a minor hiccup with the witches hats causing a delay to the start.
One concern to my mind was the presence of tri-bars in an Open road race, not sure how they slipped passed the commissaires. As it turned out they didn’t figure in the results or I believe the accident that occured, so no harm done.
A great result for Michael and here’s hoping this event grows into something over the coming years.
after a week of plus 30 degree days, it was a bit of a shock to have a rainy start to a saturday ride. the short shower at about 6:30 kept most away and numbers were down to about 25 or so. i think the majority turned up so that they could collect their new drink bottles. a complete turn around this morning as i was first on the scene so had to do a couple of laps to keep warm as a light misty rain fell around us. perfect rowing conditions as there was not a breath of wind and a few boats were out early. not really the strong south-westerly winds that were predicted.
a tour of the posh suburbs was on the cards today and we would loop around the back of kings park before cutting through subiaco and up rebold hill past city beach. a loop down through cottesloe before home via dalkeith. a convoluted route, but one that kept it close to home and allowed a few short-cuts for people if they needed it.
we rolled out as the rain eased and looped over the causeway and past the coffee shop. a pleasant pace up around kings park mean that we all headed through subiaco together. as expected, we were split occasionally at the lights but nothing a bit of soft pedaling didn’t account for. there is one nice hill on underwood drive before we turn towards rebold hill and everone was very well behaved and the group pretty much stayed together. after we turned onto oceanic drive, the pace started to pick up a bit. jens was on the front but ryan was not far behind biding his time. this was to be our first pace section and the boys were wanting to stretch the legs. ryan eventually made a move and hamish jumped on his wheel. it wasn’t a very long section of road, but the two or three rolling hills made it interesting and soon the group was spread along the road.
i tried to go with the move by found my legs were not playing the game yet and dropped back a bit. james came up and we did a few turns together, but never pulled back the ground we had lost. by the time we hit west coast hwy, they had about 50 – 75m on us.
we rounded the corner and slowed the pace right down to allow the group to re-form. i dropped back to see who we had and there were a few faces not present from this morning. as the group ambled along the road, i looked back to see the remnants of a couple of chasing groups. i let the pack go and dropped back to see if i could draft them back on.
about now the still calm day had begun to change and the south-westerly was blowing in our faces. i jumped in front of bill and lisa and began to try to catch the pack. there were a few more of the group further back, but this was about as far as i thought i could go and actually get back on again. we came up the rolling hills but never really made up much distance. i wasn’t sure whether the front group had upped the pace or not, but by the time we crested the hill and rolled towards the swanbourne shops, the main group was already heading out of sight along side the railway. it also looked as though the group had split, usually a good indication the pace had been on a bit coming up the hill.
we soldiered on but soon came to a halt as there was a pilot vehicle stopping traffic… again. same as last week we had picked a route the was being used to transport some massive piece of machinery. today it was a very large and very heavy generator. there were two semi’s on the front and one behind pushing. this made for a very slow trip. emma had joined us by now, and we set off towards the southern end of cottesloe. i was now worried that our delay meant that we would never catch the group so we detoured down eric st and headed straight for cott. what we didn’t know was that while we were delayed with the heavy haulage, the main group had also been delayed at eric street.
we turned north when we hit marine parade but took it easy, thinking that the group would engulf us at any time. the tailwind was now picking up and it was actually hard to go slow as you were pushed along the exposed coast. we headed the usual way home, occasionally looking back expecting the spr train to be barreling along the road. no train. no barreling.
when we crossed stirling hwy, i let the others go on ahead and decided to wait for the others so i could at least have a crack at the sprint. i waited. and waited. finally a green clad cyclist came across the intersection and stopped. it was russell but he said that he had taken a short cut and was ahead of the group. bit of a relief as i thought we may have missed the group altogether and i would be sitting there looking like a goose. russell kept on going, but soon another small gaggle of spr cyclists came around the corner. it turns out that jules had gotten a puncture and others had waited to help. we kicked back for a few more minutes before the rest of the group arrived. as the tyre had sidewall damage, they got him onto a train to get back to the city. we were off again.
as usual the pace picked up through dalkeith. we left the usual sacrificial lambs out the front for as long as possible and then turned up the pace just before the rolling hills. i was content to sit back and found myself on ryan’s big fat back wheel. my plan of attack on the thursday training ride had been to sit on his wheel and it worked quite well then, so why change. as the rolling hills started, ryan took off on the first step in the hills and i managed to go with him. as we crossed the plateau and up the next step, the group fell even further behind. ryan kept pushing over the crest but my lungs said no thanks and i eased up. jens had made a break off the front and was closing the gap fast but i managed to stay in front of him to the line. and there actually is a line on this one down past the war memorial just before you slow to turn right. this is why ryan keeps the pace up after actual the hill.
the pace slows and the roundabout and intersections make sure the group is pretty much back together onto mounts bay road. with a cross tailwind pushing us along, the pace quickened and we were strung out single file from the start. nick pushed the pace for quite a while and i again managed to be sat on ryan’s back wheel. it was now just a matter of biding my time and getting the kick right to get past.
the bottles are finally here
as we approached the brewery, the front of the group disintegrated into a number of attacks that were instantly swamped by the next. some other riders had also moved up from the back, but ryan was content to sit in till the last moment. i watched his gears and hand positions to try to pre-empt when he would jump and made sure i was in the appropriate gear to go with him. when he finally went we were already into the corners past the brewery car park. it would only be about 150 metres to the line from here so i had to get a good kick. i moved up one more gear and all i got was that tick, tick, tick of being in between gears. no time to dick around and i shifted back sown and would have to just spin more to get past. the front had moved off my now and judd had a small break over hamish but ryan and i were coming up fast. i tried to come around ryan, but the pace was too high (speedo said 66kph) so i just couldn’t make it. we got past hamish, but judd managed to hold us both off on the line, proving that ryan’s tactics of always sitting in does not always work.
the coffee shop was already full of some of the short cut crew and kate and ben had brought a couple of boxes of drink bottles along. we distributed them out to the group, but as the rain had diminished our numbers, i have still got a couple of boxes remaining to be collected. we will see how many we can off load during the week, but may have to bring them to the coffee shop again. it will also pay for people to put their names on their bottles, as they all look the same now. remember (if you read this tonight) daylight saving starts tonight, so it will give me something else to bitch about in my blogs.
with a lot less fanfare than the 2009 tour de france route unveiling, i present to you the rides for this weekend. just like the tour, there are flat stages, hilly stages and some brutal climbs. very much unlike the tour, we are cramming all this excitement into two action packed days.
saturday will see us keeping things close to home with a circuit past jerry’s palace in city beach before a loop past cottelsoe and dalkeith. just the slum neighbourhoods really.
sunday will see the return of the f_ckenberg climb in mt nasura so crack out the 27 tooth cogs or compact cranks because if you stop on this one, you won’t be able to start again. ryan currently leads the mountain points classification, but with a chance that he will be racing instead, there is a maximum of 50 points on offer for a few riders to springboard past to take the october prize. it should make for a competitive sunday ride.
some of you may have wondered what has happened to south african mark lately. he used to be a regular on our rides and he used to be the one that everyone had to chase up the hills on sunday. well it seems that recently he has taken to fishing as the sport of choice. not only that, but a handline from an oil rig off the vietnam coast seems the perfect place to catch lunch. work being that thing that gets in the way of cycling recently, he hopes to be back out with us soon. minus the fish but hopefully the orange jumpsuit remains.
you may have noticed that i have added a multimedia page to the blog. this contains all the photo’s that i took the other day when i was chasing the group around. i had to reduce them down a bit to make it more manageable, so if you need supersized pics, let me know.
there has been some discussion with cycling wa recently about the possibility of our group becoming a proper cycling club. what this would mean for us i am not 100% sure right now and i need to have a further talk to wacf. it could, however, mean that our rides would be classed a club training rides and may be covered by licence insurance in case of an accident. there are other benefits as well, but it would also mean a club fee, licence fee and a proper organisational structure (pres, sec, treas, etc). i am not sure which way we will go with this yet but i would appreciate your comments and opinions, as after all it is your group too.
When I volunteered for the second (translation: slower) “A-team”, childhood memories of dodgy TV shows from the 80s came immediately to mind. Rob, our team captain, did a great job. Emails were exchanged the week leading up to the event and a ride strategy was formed. Judd got early team kudos for reconning the circuit and then sending us his polar computer readings complete with altitude, speed (interestingly displayed as minutes per kilometre), heart rate and hand written annotations.
The remaining members were: Schneiderman, Paul O, John B, Ben S and myself.
all smiles for a lovely day on the bike
Arriving last, I was greeted by the team and an injured but brownie wielding Lorraine (who tried to use them to lure some of the Plan B Wealth Management boys into her car).
Our strategy was simple, stay together, ride safely and have fun. We were towards the back of the A distance group, drawing Jj as our team letters (Pete and the others drew W).
The start was uneventful, we negotiated the windiest part of the course well and worked through the first lap. We were a little confused at the turnaround (that was my fault) and it wasn’t until the third lap when we finally got the hang of it (the trick is to enter it single file) but kept the paced steady heading back for the second lap.It was great to have John and Judd’s family cheering us on each lap whilst Lorraine took pictures of us (amongst the ones she took of the Plan B boys).
On the second lap, Rob began helping John up the steeper hills which prompted a discussion on what constituted a “push” versus a “touch”. After a short debate, we all decided that the difference begins when one starts to close the hand – so, an open palm was deemed a push whilst finger action constituted touching a man’s bum. The debate then moved on to whether John might ride faster if Rob began to “touch” him. Although team captain, Rob felt underqualified for this job and we made plans to try to recruit someone more qualified like a urologist to our team solely for this purpose next time.
We made good ground on the other teams on the downhills and caught about half of the teams that had already passed us heading out. After another turnaround, Judd got a puncture. At first he didn’t want to stop but we decided to pull over and fix it. Paul, John and I rode ahead slowly while we waited for the others to catch up.
All together again, we managed to finish as a team, proud we weren’t lapped by Pete and boys and with smiles on our faces. We found Lorraine handing out cans of Coke (another fanciful plan to lure the Plan B boys to her car) and then had lunch.
the leader of the pack
Rob deservedly won the “Le Petit General” award for keeping us together, making sure we had fun and most of all, for clarifying the intricacies of how to acceptably touch a man in lycra during a ride.
In all, we all had a lot of fun and we’re hoping for at least two “A” and two “B” teams for each event next year, so keep an eye out for the Cyclosportif calender and get your yearly licences for ‘09 so you don’t have to get a day licence each time.
Addendum by Rob (from here on to be known as the “pusher”; NOT the “toucher”)
Two points (thanks Ronny for a great report):
Judd’s flat – not sure how this happened but by the time it came to pump the changed wheel, Judd had managed to hand off to both Ben and me who then took turns pumping it up! Nice work if you can get it, Judd!
Fun – this was a great event, well organised and a great turn out. While I think we’ve all known that we have a great bunch of guys and girls in the SPR crew, it’s at these events and riding in a ‘team’ style, you really get to appreciate how lucky you are to be part of something like the Rouleurs. Thanks from the SPR2 crew to Pete for providing the platform for what everyone has come to really bond to. See you out there!
