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Respect

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Opinion by Chris.
So, I rode to work today, as I do four days a week. I do this for a number of reasons but the best one is that it gives me some time to clear my head both at the start and end of the day. It’s almost meditative sometimes particularly if doing some intervals or focusing on another goal for the ride.
Anyway as happens occasionally some peanut decides to test my nerves by seeing how close they can get to me as they pass me on my right shoulder. OK I figure that’s it for the day relax and enjoy the rest of the ride. But I wouldn’t be writing this if that was the case now would I?
This same or similar happens a couple of more times on the way to work and I’m starting to think there is a vendetta against me. I put it down the law of averages and think no more of

it until my ride home.
After getting cut off two more times on the way home and having a couple more nerve testers I am pretty pi$$ed.
This gets me to thinking about respect on the road and the main reason this behaviour grind my gears. These people appear to have no respect for cyclists as road users. Hopefully this will change over time but there I guess there will always be the minority.
I am sure I will continue to yell at some of these guys , particularly when I feel the actions have been premeditated or particularly uncalled for. More importantly, I will aim to earn the respect of other road users by simply obeying the road rules, as I expect them to, and hope you will do the same.
See you on the road

sunday 31st august – kahuna & canning mills

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ride report by peter

a quick look at the current weather on the web this morning showed a nice 9 degrees. i was a bit dubious as it did seem cold in the house when i got up but at least it was not showing something like 2 deg. it was a bit brisk, but nothing to really complain about and i was sure today’s route would get things warm as soon as we hit the hills.

the city2surf claimed a few of our regular riders today with ryan, rob and heiko deciding that they would rather run than ride. we could hear the pre-race festivities from our side of the river while we waited for the allotted hour to arrive. jumping ahead a bit, i did ask mike b later why he wasn’t doing the run today. he said that he gets disappointed that he can’t beat his best time anymore. he came second one year with a time of 36min. that was quite a few years ago though. kind of makes sense now why he is so fast in the hills.

anyway, we still had a good group of regulars and some return riders like josie toe the line this morning. about 15 riders all up i would say, with dr paul and dr greg starting with us, but doing their own thing once we hit the hills. the route today would be a challenging one. up the kahuna and down urch before up the rest of peet rd to rolleystone high school. down brookton hwy and through some back streets before up canning mills rd to join back up with the top of the kahuna, before the usual way to kalamunda via mundaring weir rd. four climbs and some bonus’ for a total of just under 100 kms. hopefully it wouldn’t rain.

so we rolled out and headed towards albany hwy. the pace was pleasant and gave everyone an opportunity to have a chat. as we past carousel shopping centre, steve got a flat, but told us not to bother waiting as he had an issue with his tyre anyway. i was in two minds as we usually wait for flats, but we were still close to the city and he would be right to get home if he was in trouble. we left him to his misery and pushed on.

as we approached the base of the kahuna, there was someone doing laps of the roundabout just before it. it turned out to be clare who was patiently waiting for us to arrive. the road up the kahuna starts off gentle before it kicks up to it’s average gradient and luckily it was the gentle section we were on when my phone rang. it turned out to be steve, who had fixed his flat and was now looking for us. he had not done the kahuna before and i was trying to give him directions while i started the climb proper (gotta love hands free kit). i tried to make it as clear as i could in between breaths, and i also gave him other directions in case he got lost. he said that he would call in about half and hour when we should have got to the second regroup point. i wasn’t sure that we would see him again.

so the group hit the hill and everyone settled into their respective positions according to climbing ability. the kahuna can be quite steep in places but also contains a number of shallower gradient sections (i can’t really say flat) that either give you respite, or break your rhythm. i find that it breaks my rhythm as i tend to spin out more and use different muscle groups that then also start hurting.

mike and stu found their place at the front and i jumped on their wheel to try to hold on as long as i possibly could. it seemed like a long time and i was pretty happy, but in reality, it was probably still on the first steep section on the climb. they began to power away with that slow steady “grind out the hill” style that both of them have. as they got further and further away it was clear that i was not going to be able to catch back on without some type of motor attached to my bike. i began to wish that i was 50 year old. both those guys are well on the wrong side of 40 and we cannot keep up with them in the hills. i hope that i am going that strong when i grow up. however, i am thinking that it probably has more to do with the years of marathon running that both these whippets had done in their earlier years.

so i am drifting back and am trying to set myself a nice tempo. i look back and find that ben is gaining on me and soon over takes me. bugger. i continue my tempo and allow ben a bit more space ahead of me. i am hoping that once we hit the shallower gradient towards the top, i can regain a bit of ground. i manage to up my pace and catch back up to ben. i put in a hard, but consistent effort and manage to shake him from my wheel before we hit the top. mike had dropped stu before the top, and i ended up within 75 – 100 metres of stu by the time we reach the regroup point.

as we regrouped, both the effort of the climb and the increasing daylight meant that it was beginning to warm up. holly (pictured) took off her vest to reveal a fat cyclist jersey underneath that matched her fatty socks. if you haven’t heard of fatty, there is a link on my “other blogs” to the right and even though he blogs mostly about mountain biking, he has many an insight into riding and balancing his passion with his wife’s illness. it makes you realise how good we have it sometimes.

so we headed for the next climb up urch and peet. this at least was preceded by a nice descent down part of urch before the road kicked up again. once it did, a bunch of riders like stan, ben and melvyn took advantage of their momentum and started to smash it up the other side. stu also came past and i was determined not to give him too much head start, so jumped across to his wheel. mike also made his way up through the pack and was on my wheel when we all joined ben. melvyn and stan had dropped back by the time we turned the corner onto peet and ben managed to hold on for a little way before he also fell off the back. the boys must have been kind to me, or i was finally warm after the first climb as i managed to stay with them to the top.

as we crested the hill, mike lead us out towards the high school and to the state champs finish line. after a few turns, mike pushed for the last effort up the climb with stu and i sucking wheels to get a good lead-out. stu eventually went so i jumped on his wheel and waited for the last 50 m to come around for the sprint. i barely had enough to stay in front of him as he also turned it up a notch heading towards the line. it’s good, as we both need practice sprinting for that line as two races this year had already finished there and both came down to a bunch sprint. a couple of riders later, steve also made it to the line. he had come up the kahuna but then across chevin rd and into the top of peet road to meet up with the rest of the group.

after a regroup we headed down brookton hwy to give the legs a bit of respite. we don’t often climb up brookton and i remembered why as we were descending. it is not really that hard as we had to pedal quite a bit to maintain speed on the descent. we turned just before the road joined back up with albany hwy and took a couple of back streets. steve asked whether there was a house down here i was looking at buying as it did seem a bit off the beaten track for us. unfortunately, no, we were on the right road and soon we were at the base of canning mills rd.

this is the steeper side of the kahuna and averages about 9% for the steep section. it flattens off towards the top and is not as long as the kahuna, but much, much harder. however, it is fairly consistent and does not contain many “flat” spots that break the rhythm when climbing. you can set yourself a nice pace to the top, but it is when you want to chase others that you will get into trouble and blow-up.

i know that stu headed up the road pretty early in the climb and i had nothing to go with
him. ben caught and past me about halfway up after i started to fade. steve surprised me with how fast he came past, and i expected him to blow up as he had never done this climb before and didn’t know what was around the corner. luckily for him, and probably more testament to his ability, he maintained a good pace to the top and didn’t pop. after that, my memory gets a bit fuzzy and i remember there being another rider up the road. it was probably mike, but i can’t be sure as i know that stu stayed away from everyone on the climb. i just ground my way to the top and was happy to be there.

this climb took a bigger toll on the group and we had to wait a bit longer for all the riders to come in. it is a really challenging climb so we don’t do it that often. but to do it as the third climb in a set of four is just cruel. but sometime you have to be cruel to… get a laugh… i mean be kind. it will make all the riders stronger in the long run so it can’t be that bad.

as we turned to follow the rest of the kahuna rd back towards pickering brook, josie took off back down the hill to head home. her knee was not feeling 100% so she did not want to risk it with another climb. the rest of us ambled our way through the back blocks of canning mills and on to pickering brook. holly had said that she was going to skip the final climb and go straight to coffee. peer pressure made sure that she came with us in the end.

on the little rolling hills (that seem big by now to your legs) stu managed to get away a bit and headed into the final climb with about 50 m or so. jerry went hard as soon as the hill started and thought that he could get some advantage that could be whittled away. in reality he just caught and past stu and paid the price to get there. mike came up from behind and i jumped on his wheel as he moved up behind stu. the four of us started the climb together but it would not stay that way for long. jerry was first to step off after mike moved to the front and set the pace that he was comfortable with. i hung onto stu’s wheel as long as i could and thought i was doing really well when we reached the part where there is a fence and wall on the right. after doing this climb a hundred times, i know that it is not far to the “flat” section on this climb. unfortunately, i also know that the road pinches up ever so slightly more that what we were climbing.

the pace and pitch was too much for me and i also had to step off the train. i tried to set myself a tempo with the hope that i could catch back up when it flattened out. i looked back and saw jerry not that far back and thought that we could work together to catch stu and mike. i eased up my pace and let him get on before starting to wind it up along the “flat”. i thought that if i could out in a hard effort, then jerry could smash the last bit of the hill and maybe catch them as they were still in sight. jerry had the same idea and came around me early and set a high pace. i went as the road got steeper again and realised that i really didn’t have that much left in my legs. i made it almost to the top before jerry came back past me within 10 metres of the kom line. we were probably 100 metres behind stu and mike.

as the rest of the group came into the coffee shop i was surprised to see bec finishing to high in the pack. she said that she finally was feeling good and managed to go hard on the last climb to beat in half the guys. the coffee stop was good today and soon we were off and running again. a nice descent down welshpool and we stayed together for much of it. i pushed hard on the last bit of hill to make sure the speedo clocked over 80 km/h and came past the rest of the group. it did cost me dearly as i then had nothing when jerry and stan headed up the road together. i jumped in behind the others and sat in for the majority of the chase. as we approached the curve in the road, i found my legs enough to do a cancellara and time trialed across the gap to come past the boys at the front. by the time we got through the lights at the highway, the group was all back together.

no sprint at the end of welshpool and we had it saved up for the final push up berwick. i was on the front (again) leading into the sprint when brett and anna came flying past on the slight rise before the lights at george st. i didn’t react as i was sure that they would get stuck at the lights. as they were waiting behind a left turning car when the lights went green, i jumped into the right hand lane and sprinted past them and up over the hill. i looked back and saw jerry closing fast but thought that i had to keep going to stay away. i did ease back on the descent to conserve as much energy for when he jumped, but realised that i probably didn’t have much left in reserve. as i started to run out of puff he came along side and we both looked at each other. i shrugged indicating that i was done, but he didn’t go as he thought that it was mean making me do all the work to just take out the final 100 metres. i was cool with that so we ambled towards maccas. however, when i looked back i saw bec coming off steve’s wheel and heading towards us fast. we didn’t really have enough time to react and she had way too much momentum so overtook us for the final sprint win of the day.

so a good day but a tough one with the number and severity of the climbs we tackled. i can’t say that we will do an easy one next week, as we must punish those that had forsaken us to go running instead. also, since it is fathers day, the blokes should be allowed to stay out longer to do a big ride. i know it doesn’t work like that, but it is worth a try.

The Daily Grind

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sunday 24th august – welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda

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ride report by peter

as i stumbled out the door just before 7 i reflected on the fact that i was lucky to even be on the bike this morning. we went to the shops yesterday after the saturday ride and from about 11 onwards, ben was totally out of it. constant mournful crying and pretty much inconsolable for the rest of the day. by the time we got him to sleep that night it seemed like a very, very long day. i prepared my bike stuff as usual, the previous night, but i was aware that it would depend on how he woke up in the morning. he woke fine so i was off.

as i turned off my road and onto canning hwy, heading along was dr nick, so i rode alongside and had a chat. she was not heading out with us as there was mountain biking to do that arvo and it was her first love. i rode with her till douglas ave and turn off to meet the others. late as usual.

we had a good size group of about twenty and most were keen to tackle all the climbs today. the course was taking us back up welshpool road and around mundaring weir and darlington, before climbing back up kalamunda rd and on to coffee. all up there was four major climbs and about three or four bonus climbs.

we headed out along great eastern hwy and onto orong rd for a change of pace. it definitely has more traffic, but it is double lane and it was sunday morning, so more traffic really meant more than dead. pretty uneventful start to the day and i chatted with our new guy dr ronnie. he knows lorraine and she told him about the ride so he decided to come out with us. another dr and another cervelo to the group. the more the merrier. riders that is, not cervelos.

as we approached the base of the climb, everyone started to eye off young alistair after his exceptional climb last week. still resplendent in his dunlop sandshoes and toe clips, everyone was keen to see how they would rate against him. it would be interesting.

the hill started and the usual players were straight to the front. the pace didn’t start high and alistair led myself, brendan, stu, mike steve and ben up the hill. we were approaching another large group of mostly triathletes that we had seen up the road previously. they had already started to splinter on the climb and presented a number of targets for us to chase down.

the climb settled into it’s steepness and alistair attacked hard. i was on his wheel and decided not to go with him as expected him to die in the arse and we would pick him up later. brendan had other ideas and took off after him. i jumped on his wheel and took steve up with me. we caught alistair and i think brendan wanted to prove a point so attacked him almost straight away. i managed to hold his wheel, but only just and was beginning to struggle. not sure where everyone really was at this time as lack of blood to the relevant brain functions meant that the only signal out was push pedals and only signal in was pain now.

at some point stu and mike cruised effortlessly up the hill towing either steve or ben. they went past and overtook the group. unfortunately for me, they just kept going at this pace and left alistair, ben and i to fend ourselves, while brendan and steve latched onto the train.

as we slipped further and further behind, i tried to go again and managed to gap alistair but he always seemed to claw his way back on. we ended up riding together after the servo and tried to pull back any ground. my phone started to ring and i tried to answer it via and hands free, but the button didn’t work. after the family issues yesterday i was expecting it to be bad news, but it would have to wait till i reached the top.

as the hill started again ben just kept accelerating and started to gap alistair and i. another expletive erupted for the young lads mouth and i understood where he was coming from. after his efforts last week, we were all keen to attack him just to see how good he was. i sprinted around to get on bens wheel and we gapped alistair again. he clawed his way back again as the road evened out a bit. on the penultimate hill, we picked up steve who’d had enough of the pace men in front. as we crested the top and ran into the last little rollercoaster to start the final pinch, alistair attacked on the downhill.

tactically not the best spot as we all jumped on and were freewheeling behind him as it pushed hard to try to get away. as the road went up again, i attacked and ben also went off my wheel. we sprinted to the top and were soon joined by steve as alistair must have been a bit spent by that final effort. as we cruised down the final hill to the regroup point, i noticed that we were only about 100 metres from the front boys.

a quick check of the phone revealed all. a message from ryan earlier on saying he wasn’t coming and then the later call was from home. i rang to confirm the i was needed back asap. i waited till the rest of the group had arrived before reminding everyone of the route and seeing who knew their way through darlington. brett said he knew so that was good enough for me and i was off.

a quick run down welshpool and back the usual way which did seem a lot longer and harder when you are doing it yourself. family issues meant that i was needed on ben minding duties, so i packed his bag and headed up to kalamunda. we took the long way and came up kalamunda road to see if the group had made it that far yet. they had just began the climb as i came past, so would be up to coffee very soon. i sat with ben for a while before all the bikes came streaming in. i managed to catch up with everyone that made it to coffee as a few had turned of early, but spent most of the time chasing ben around as he wanted to climb the stairs. the he found the eiffel tower and started to climb that too. fun, fun, fun. as everyone headed off, we stopped the car on welshpool rd and managed to capture the group descending at speed on the camcorder. will post it once i drag it off the video.

so i was there for the start and the end-ish, but someone else will need to blog the middle section for me as i don’t know what went on.

saturday 23rd august – ridgehill rd

ride report by peter

another fine winters day was predicted today. not a cloud to be seen and heading for a top of 20 meant that there would be a freezing start to the day. the official temp said sub 4 degrees as i exited the nice warm house and i had lots of layers on as protection. i was a bit concerned as i approached the car park this morning as i thought another group must have been setting up as well. there were stacks of people all huddled together, but, on closer inspection, it looked like they were all riding with us. a quick estimate put the group at about 60 riders. a massive turn out for a winters day.

the route today also didn’t seem to scare people off. we were heading out to ridgehill rd at the base of the zig-zag in kalamunda before a return trip via guilford rd with (hopefully) a tailwind. we got off to a rough start as is usually the case with a group this big, and split at the first set of lights just near the carpark. we split again at the turn onto canning hwy (my fault for not seeing the lights change), and again further up great eastern hwy. we generally had to take it easy until we got out of the city to ensure the group stayed together.

i cruised up and down the pack a bit to make sure it was all going well and to get an idea of who was present today. mainly for two reasons. firstly, who was going to make my life hard on the climbs and secondly who i needed to keep an eye on when the pace picked up and they may not be able to cope too well.

i moved to the front again as we came through the back of rosehill golf course where there is a small roundabout that always causes navigation problems. it is a funny intersection and it is easy to take the wrong road so i moved up with mike to ensure we went the right way. unfortunately this meant that we stayed on the front for the next seven kms until the base of the main climb. as ryan had been hiding neatly in the pack, i was a bit worried how much pain he would cause me today.

as we turned the corner and started the climb, i looked back at the group and saw ryan, obvious in his bright red knicks, sitting way back with about 50 riders in front of him. great i thought, as the pack spreads out, it will be harder for him to get up the front. mike and i pushed ahead but not at a strong pace as most of the group was still sitting on our wheel. i then heard a yell from chris, i think, that a rider was coming up fast. sure enough ryan came barreling up the hill with hamish (barista boy) and hunter straight to the front.

we stepped up but were still pretty much all together at the first step in the hill. as it kicked up again, i came around ryan and stepped on the gas. everyone jumped to get on, but we pretty much made a break of three with ryan and hamish gapping the rest of them. a redline induced easing off meant that jerry, mike and hunter moved back onto our wheel as we approached the last pinch. mike made one last moved and split our group up again as we dragged ourselves up to the base of the zig-zag.

i stopped here to chase the last rider along as the rest of the group headed down the hill to the regroup point just before kalamunda rd. three of the docs were leaving us at that point as they were going to climb the zig-zag instead, so i bid them adieu. i chased lisa down the hill and gave her a draft back onto the group as they waited for starters orders. we had a bit of trouble getting back onto kalamunda rd but had regrouped by the time we hit roe hwy, less than a km away. it was important that we stuck together along this next stretch as it was back down to single lane and got a bit twisty.

finally back to guilford rd and across the bridge into bassenden signaled the beginning of the end. double lane all the way back to the coffee shop and the pace was on. i had drifted back at the lights to inform everyone that it was fast pace for the rest of the ride and now sat comfortably on last wheel. had a bit of a chat to hunter especially about the forks on his cervelo and whether he was going to replace them. we have quite a few cervelos in the group, so it was a hot topic on today’s ride.

the pace was quick, but no overly so as the group was slowed a few times by traffic lights. unfortunately, the set at tonkin hwy, changed a little to quickly and a group of around 6 of us got left behind. bugger. on the change we were off in pursuit but it would not be easy as just ahead the rolling hills of maylands started to split the group proper. we kind of rolled through on the flats, but as soon as the hill started, it was every man for himself and mike and i powered away with hunter. the group was a long way ahead and it was beginning to leave riders behind, like breadcrumbs as a trail for us to follow.

after a few hard turns and a couple of roll throughs, we saw them stuck up ahead at the lights and managed to catch them at the change. another set of lights at the east parade turn meant that most of the group would be together all the way to the end. we usually try to thin the ranks out a bit before the coffee shop as it gets quite congested, but today was going to be full.

no real attacks on the last hill near the police station in east perth and it wouldn’t have mattered as we hit the lights again and again before we got to riverside drive for the final sprint. i was sitting in on jens’ wheel and thought that he would give me a good lead out, but things started getting messy. chris was egging me on from behind and so i took off with way, way too far to go. i moved up around the aussie crates boys and came teo the front for a final effort. when my legs finally gave out there was still a couple of hundred metres to go and so boys started their sprint in earnest. all i saw was brendan and ryan heading up the road with a group in tow only to get stopped by the final set of lights. how very appropriate.

so a brew was on the cards and it was very crowded today as the bikeforce guys were still in attendance when we arrived. service was as expected with such a large group and we are still making moves to change coffee shops.

Cervelo Voluntary Recall – Dodgy Forks

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For those who have not heard, cervelo has just announced this:
“Cervélo has identified a potential safety issue involving the Wolf SL fork. This fork is designed and manufactured by True Temper Sports of Memphis, Tennessee, using a blade shape supplied by Cervélo. All other aspects of the structural design, development and manufacture were done by True Temper Sports.
Under certain conditions, the fork steerer can crack and eventually break during normal use, which may cause the rider to lose control, fall and suffer potentially serious injuries. To date, there have been reports of injuries in the field resulting in minor abrasions and one broken wrist.Though the fork passes US and international standards, this particular problem was not uncovered during those standard tests and the fork only showed this weakness in the field, typically after being damaged. The truck accident lawyers in Augusta states that the company must ensure a lot of time whether the product is safe to handle as it reaches all age groups of people and it might prove fatal if this product was in the hand of a baby.
After much work, we did develop a new test protocol that was able to replicate the same failure mode as seen in the field. If the fork steerer is damaged by impact (eg. by a crash, a fall from a roof rack, or another impact) then the damage may progress very quickly during use to complete separation.We have seen that incidence of failure on this fork is higher than on other forks, and there is a potential for injury upon failure. Whatever the fact maybe, people can hire attorneys for injury claims here. The Portland auto accident attorneys are the best choice for those who are in need to claim compensations for their injuries and think about leading a recovery life without pain.
True Temper Sports feels that the fork meets the industry standards and that the fork is therefore acceptable and no further action is required. Cervélo does not share this opinion and therefore, is proceeding with a recall of the True Temper designed and manufactured Wolf SL forks ourselves. True Temper Sports has declined to participate.
In order to conduct a recall one must be able to demonstrate that any replacement product does not display the same failure mode. We have demonstrated to the authorities that the forks we will use as a replacement – the 3T Funda Pro and the Easton EC90 SLX – pass all standard industry tests as well as the new Cervélo test that the True Temper Wolf SL fork fails.
We have obviously discontinued all use of the True Temper Wolf SL carbon bicycle fork. However, please note that this does not affect the Wolf CL and Wolf TT in any way, as both have a completely different structural design (and have passed the new Cervélo test protocol).
Although it is not usual for a third party to recall a product manufactured by another company, we feel it is a necessary step to take care of our customer, and we will proceed with the full recall at no cost to the dealer or consumer.”
Update:
I rang Runners’ World today to listen to their take on the situation. they said they were a bit dissatisfied with the process because you have to basically return your fork, then wait for the new one to be ordered/shipped, then you’re on your way again. no such thing as preemptive ordering in advance unfortunately.

sunday 17th august – welshpool & observatory

ride report by peter

i knew i was going to be struggling today. after the collie-donnybrook yesterday and the late return home, it was always going to be hard to back it up. i was running a bit late again today and it was a family effort which delayed me. my sleeping in combined with ben’s early wake up combined with kate going back to sleep all meant that i didn’t turn up till a smidgen past seven. i had dressed appropriately for the cold start, but was concerned that i would be caught out later in the morning as we were headed for another beautiful day. i had double jerseyed again and also had leg warmers on. it was a brisk morning and i was happy with the extra layers.

i knew that ryan and stu would not be coming this morning as stu was probably staying done south after the race yesterday and ryan had a bucks night to go to as soon as he got home. i was hoping for not too much competition as i was not sure how i would cope with the climbs. brendan had turned up after yesterday race but he is training up for a pretty big race over east in a months time so is doing 1000 kms a week when he is on break. our sand-shoed friend from the saturday ride had turned up again, but i had not met him yesterday, so had no idea what to expect. there were a bunch of other regulars for a total of about 15 riders. brett was out for a change and i asked him how he got a leave pass. he said that jerry had left a message to his wife saying that he’d had a hard week so should be allowed out to play on sunday. she did not want to seem like and ogre so let him come and play. i think everyone is going to get jerry to leave some messages now.

the route today would be a looping affair with a trip up welshpool before climbing the harder side of the observatory, up mundaring weir rd to kalamunda, before heading down the zig-zag and back up kalamunda rd for coffee. that was the plan, anyway.

as we headed out, brendan remarked to me that he was so buggered after the race yesterday that he didn’t even bother to change his race wheels. he was on his tubular shod zipps and did not have any spares. if he got a flat today, he would have to ring the missus to come and pick him up. as we came along mill pt rd there was quite a bit of glass and brendan managed to collect a bit of it. he ran his gloves over the tyres and tried to shed as much as he could. we were hopeful he got it all. we picked up mike b as we headed out, so at least i knew who would be pushing on the climbs.

as we came through east vic park and were about to cross shep rd via hill view, brendan felt his front tyre going down. he took off down shep rd to try to get home before the tyre completely flattened. we continued onto welshpool rd and towards the hills. before we got to the welshpool/orrong rd intersection, we picked up holly who lives very close by. she watched us warily as we rode past before joining us as she had already joined the wrong group once this morning.

as we approached the base of the welshpool climb i was still unsure on who would be setting the pace today. the young lad with sand-shoes, alistair, headed to the front and had mike on his wheel. the young lad kept looking back to see who was going to go with him and a group of us were sucking onto mike’s wheel. mike was definitely feeling better than last week and soon came around alistair to up the pace. i was trying to hold wheel but my legs just didn’t want to play. i indicated for the guys behind me to come around as i was losing the wheel, but no-one did. i looked back and there was no-one behind me. i maintained my rhythm and tried to see if the guys would tire and allow me back on. we were passing lots of triathlon chicks on the hill as there were a few groups taking advantage of the nice weather.

i pushed on, marveling at the fact that this young guy was smashing us with just sneakers and toe clips on. i would hate to see him if he got some proper shoes and pedals. or i probably wouldn’t see him as he would be too far up the road in front of me.

anyway, closer to the servo, jerry and mark caught up to me so we pushed on together. we did a few turns but it was clear that we would not catch the two up the road. funnily enough the old man, mike, had put quite a bit of distance into the young lad, alistair. quite a bit by the top of the hill. we regrouped and headed towards the base of the observatory via glenisla rd. bit of an issue with quite a few gum-nuts scatted on the road during the fast descent near the sanitarium school, but no crashes luckily.

mike turned off to head home via lawnbrook as he had a previous engagement to attend, so i was left to deal with al on my own. mark went out hard for the first part of the climb but mainly to get to the top of the steep section as quickly as possible and we had all caught up by the top. as the gradient eased off i was not willing to attack but wanted to see just what al would do. i was on the front pacing up the hill and was happily to do that for a while as i was not pushing hard. al finally made his move and came around me to up the pace. i jumped on his wheel and sat in for the ride. we gapped the others quickly and pulled away from the pack. i thought i would test his legs out and as he backed off the pace i came around to stretch him. he sat on my wheel for a while but i eventually pushed him so that he dropped off. he clamboured back on so i attacked again and this time when i looked back he was looking behind himself to see if he could find another wheel. the rest of the pack was down around the corner so he made the decision to try to get back on. i was hurting by now and so had backed off the pace. he thanked me for letting him back on, but i said that i didn’t really have a choice. we continued up the rest of the climb together and waited for the rest of the group.

we took the descent down the observatory at a nice pace, always wary of that corner at the bottom which also had some broken glass on it this time. it was like there had been the national bottle breaking contest on during the week as there was glass everywhere. once we hit the bottom, there was a call to stop as dr mark had broken something on his bike. it turned out that he had thought that he had dropped his phone so had to stop to check. during that time, brendan called up to find out where we were. he had changed wheels and climbed up welshpool rd and was on glenisla waiting. i told him the direction we would be heading so he would reverse that and meet us along the road.

we headed down glenisla again avoiding the gum-nuts and headed towards mundaring weir rd. i had asked that everyone stay together as i wasn’t sure everyone knew the way but we would regroup at kalamunda. mark took off once we turned towards kalamunda and brendan, al and i started to chase hime down. my legs said no and i eased off and watched them head up the road. by the time we hit the second corner there was a clear split with brendan and al ahead of jerry and mark with dr mark and myself trailing behind.

a couple of corners later and i decided that i needed to make an effort. i said bye to dr mark and started chasing down jerry and mark as i could still see them up the road. it took a while and i picked up jerry before the false flat and he jumped on my wheel as i headed towards mark. i picked him up just on the corner before the flat and came around him. i put it in the big ring and ground out a plus 40 pace to the next pinch in the climb. i signaled for them to come around and i was done for this climb.

a regroup in the carpark and we had lost stuart a friend of brendans. he went searching and gave him a call but came up empty. we were concerned that he had turned right instead of left and was now heading towards the weir. we tried, so not much more we could do. he was a big boy after all.

a brief discussion and all in favour of m
issing the final climb and heading to the coffee shop say i. “i” was the call, with my legs being the loudest voice as they were screaming. the race yesterday had not been kind to me.

during coffee, stuart rang brendan to say that he had turned up lawnbrook and had to head home anyway, so he was fine. we broke bread as is the tradition on a sunday and enjoyed a coffee in the nicer weather. i should have taken this time to take off my leg warmers, but as we were sitting in the shade, i wasn’t reminded too.

we headed off and down the hill through lesmurdie with little incident. a smidgen under 75 km/hr for me on the descent, but the time trial along the flat took a lot out of me and i had to ease off. clare had joined us at the coffee shop after missing the start and was on the descent with us now. as she and holly lived just off welshpool rd they turned off early and would miss any of the sprints.

there was a big acceleration along welshpool, but i was not able to go with it, so not sure what really happened. i was happy to be still riding. the final sprint along berwick saw brendan unintentionally leading out as he needed to turn off just after the last rise, but couldn’t get out due to traffic. he just shrugged it off and kept pushing the leadout. i was biding my time and waiting to see who would go and when. it was getting later and later but then jerry started his move so i came out to jump on his wheel. i cut brett off by doing so, but apologised afterwards for doing so. jerry wound up but i managed to come past him as we approached macdonalds. shame i had no reason to sprint yesterday.

so a good ride if not a tad abbreviated due to lack of legs on my behalf. sorry to anyone who wanted to do that last climb, but the option was still open to do it if you wanted. coffee seemed like a much better option at the time.

saturday 16th august – river ride


So, Pete asked me if I’d look after the flock as he was away racing. Wasn’t really sure but
since impending doom (aka fatherhood) had already meant I was missing the Collie –
Donnybrook I figured what the hell.

Another beautiful if a little cool start to the day meant a reasonable turnout.Nice to see the Barista boys joining us, meaning a little added heat to the ride, particularly with the absence of the young Mr Fynn.

So pleasantries over and done with we headed off on the intended route, a lap of the river with the added bonus of a trip via mosman park. A little more challenging than the usual trip down the coast.

A nice quick start with the headwind, along by Kings Park I asked James how quick we were going and 38km/h was the response. Whoops! It seems this early pace was hurting a couple of our less strong riders. The roadworks behind UWA meant a little rest at the temporary lights. Soon however young Lisa was suffering and without Ryan to offer his special kind of assistance Lisa was happy for us to leave her and with the group not waiting up I chased to get back on. Mr DH this morning met us at the end of our run through Dalkieth, nice Range Rover mate perhaps in your next life you’ll develop some patience. At least it was over and done with early in the ride.

So a brief regroup along the highway before we turned back along the river and since I hate the nasty climb behind the bowls club I hit the front in order to minimise my losses. The carnage after this climb was pretty bad with riders spread all down the road. A brief regroup at the water tower and off we headed towards Freo.

So at about this point I started thinking about the sprint along the Attadale foreshore. With no Ryan I figured I had a fair chance however Poulidor having joined the group was conspicuase by his absence. Jerard had been doing a Ryan and hiding down the back of the bunch.

Anyway we hit Freo and headed for Pt Walter at a steady pace pushing back into the breeze. I was happy to have done my share earlier and save my legs a little.

Things got split up pretty quickly along Attadale and the pace at the front was being maintained by a few of the suicidal gang. Six or eight or so were swapping off turns, I hung back at about 8th wheel looking to hit things hard with a couple of hundred metres to go. Things worked out ok and I managed to gap the bunch and stay away.

Another quick regroup but we had dropped a few by a fair margin, the usual end of ride mania meant we weren’t waiting for them. We kept rolling back up the Canning Hwy headed for coffee and breakfast and the pace was held at a consistent effort. Interestingly there were a couple of breaks off the front but with the head wind these guys were just testing themselves. The group was well together once we hit the Causeway and things started heating up. I was again hoping to get amongst it in the coffee sprint and new that this time Poulidor would not be hiding. It seems our banter from earlier meant that he was also watching me. We were both smart enough to avoid the front and with the Barista boys helping to keep the pace up this was easily done.

With a couple of hundred to go Jerard launched, I was caught behind a couple of wheels and had to wind things up a little too late to catch him. I was happy that I was able to close the gap if not catch him. So a good solid ride for me playing the sheep dog role and getting amongst it for the first time in a while. Happy to be feeling good again on the bike and use my brain to focus on and achieve some positive outcomes.

Good to see Mr Bonner out with us after his hiatus, if only we could all have two trips to europe per annum. And who was the young fella with toe clips? Props to you young man.

Coffee was fine, I have to recommend the bacon and eggs on toast, don’t know why more people don’t have a feed after the ride.

A bit of the usual bike talk after the ride but mainly James and I were tied up discussing the impending end of our cycling lives due to rapidly approaching fatherhood for us both.

Finally something to ponder; Did Jerard order his Cervelo S3, will he go for the Super Record? If so what wheels will he get to go on the new steed? For all this and more turn up next week and ask him yourself.

sunday 10th august – carradine & canning dam

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ride report by peter

another fine day was predicted but only if you were looking at the temperature alone. the wind was similar to saturday and was cutting through you to drop the temperature another 5 degrees. the act of riding into the head wind probably dropped it another couple just to make it freezing. so even though the overnight temp was a very pleasant 9 deg we were all waiting for the sun to come out properly to counteract the wind chill.

so, we had around twenty riders on the line this morning and a few were discussing a change to the route as i was turning up a bit late. the course today was a long one but not necessarily hard as there was a lot more riding in between climbs. most of the climbs were not too difficult either. not by the standard of other rides we do. or by the standard that dr melvyn described last week. however, late though i was, i arrived with loads of time to quash any rebellious thoughts of changing the route.

we would be taking the hard slog down albany hwy into a harsh, cold, strong crosswind coming down from the scarp. a quick heart starter up carawatha would thaw out the bones before another ascent up carradine. we would then cross over to albany hwy and tackle the last part of it’s ascent, regrouping at the turn off to canning dam. a nice cruise along past the dam before a final assault out of the valley back to karagulen servo. the normal way back to the coffee shop via mundaring weir rd would follow. that was the plan.

we headed out into the fray and copped the breeze right into our faces. by the time we hit albany hwy the wind had picked up significantly. ryan was again sitting pretty at the back of he pack keeping out of the wind. this is how he always ends up with nice fresh legs for the climbs and the sprints.

anyway, the fresh morning, combined with a hydration regime the night before put extra pressure on me for the first few kms of the ride. i had to duck off in the bushes along the way to relive some unwanted pressure (and about a kilo of weight). as the day progressed, i was not the only one as there were multiple “nature breaks” along the way. a quick sprint into the wind to catch up and i was all warmed up.

as we past by gosnells, we managed to pick up a couple of chicks. i’m sure that they were enticed by the tight lycra and rippling leg muscles, and i am quite sure that ryan probably thought that they were drawn to his charismatic aura. however, holly and claire read the blog and knew where we were headed, so decided to join in to get a bit of hills work. unlike the other type of chicks you may pick up in gosnells, these were actually cyclists.

the first climb of the day was soon upon us and we started climbing the lower section of carawatha. this is where is sits about 7% or so and james pushed hard and put a bit of a gap in us. once we hit the small plateau in between the inclines, heiko came around me and headed up the road. since he had not done this hill before, he wondered why we were taking it so easy. as we came around the corner realisation dawned on him like a dodgy curry at 3am in the morning. ahhh, shit. as we started the final climb at 14 or 15% heiko started dropping back through the riders that had been conserving their energy. ryan, stu, brendan and a couple of others caught and past me on the hill, but we all eventually made it to the top.

after a quick watering of the gardens from some, we where off down to carradine. i didn’t realise that they had been doing road works on the other side of the climb and the surface was not the best when combined with the cross wind. all safely down we grouped together to start the climb.

we stayed in quite a bit group for a while and there was probably about 8 or so riders tucked in behind. the wind was coming down the valley towards us so it was a hard slog for whoever was at the front. after a bit i thought that i would see if i could dislodge a few hangers on, and pushed hard. it wasn’t an attack as i came past ryan close enough for him to grab my wheel, as i thought that i will need some help later on.

the group stretched and split as the pace increased and soon there were only four of us up the road. after i did a decent turn at the front, ryan took off again and i couldn’t keep up. stu and brendan managed to get on, but i looked back to see no-one else on the road. taking a leaf out of thomas voeckler’s book from the 2006 tour, i just kept a consistent pace and managed to get back on the back.

on the next rise, ryan took off again and this time brendan was done. lots of km’s of training were taking their toll and he didn’t have the legs to go with us. i managed to claw my way back on with stu in tow as we approached the final section of road. ryan upped the pace again, and it was all too much for me, but i was happy to let him and stu fight it out for line honours as long as i kept ahead of brendan.

after another nature break, there was an opportunity for a short cut if people wanted but peer pressure kept everyone in line. i basically said that i give the people a choice (democracy) , but let them know that they are a bunch of wusses if they take the shortcut (dictatorship). like anyone really has a choice. exercising their right to a choice, brett and anna turned off to head down albany hwy while the rest of us headed further up the hill.

the climb is not too difficult and the group was managing to stay together well. dr melvyn was setting the pace early on before ryan got impatient and came around for a turn. after a bit he got even more impatient and shot off the front. it was all on and stu, brendan and i managed to latch on behind him. we swapped off turns for a while over the rolling hills and managed to put quite a bit of distance in to the rest of the group. by the time we reached the turn off for canning dam, the road behind us was empty as far as we could see.

the riders rolled up in little packs and claire managed to hold onto the second group. she is climbing well considering the issues that she has had with her back recently.

another toilet stop and we were off towards canning dam. there were a few rolling hills and one bonus climb that split everyone up. ryan and i were just discussing climbing techniques and how i preferred to climb standing while he is trying to sit more. next thing we know we had gapped the rest of the field. we slowed a bit and said that we would wait at the bottom of the descent into the dam. the wind luckily didn’t cause too many problems and we had a nice descent clocking up over 70km/h. the road surface past the dam is usually shocking but it looks like they were halfway through resurfacing it. it wasn
’t perfect, but to me it looked like they were preparing to put a hot-mix top coat on it. that would make this route a lot more pleasurable.

an orange ford focus past us about three times on that road. not sure if they just got their licence or thought that they were a rally driver, but he just kept popping up all the time.

a regroup at the little bridge and we lost a few more riders. the girls and mike decided to call it a day and headed down brookton hwy as the rest of us climbed up via gardiner. it was a nice climb and we took it fairly easy for the first section. ryan hadn’t done this one before so asked me how long it was. quite long I said, just so he wouldn’t take off on me just yet. it started to steepen up but I managed to hang on to ryan and stu while the others fell back. as we turned at the fork in the road, i was spent and had to let them go. i paced myself up the rest of the hill until jerry and james caught up to me and rode the rest of the way with them.
we regrouped at the karragullen servo where a couple of people had to refresh supplies. it was a long ride and energy levels were low. we were soon off and heading for pickering brook. james and i set the pace from the gun and kept it up until that first hill. we didn’t push too hard but some people felt the strain and dropped off early. once we hit the rolling hills ryan took off up the road with stu not far behind. the rest of us just seemed content to ride the hill at pace without straining too much. once we hit the false flat, we noticed that ryan and co was not too far ahead so we upped it a bit to try to catch them. they stayed away, and i was pretty much done by then anyway.

after a regroup, dr mark decided to call it a day due to family commitments, and was heading straight home. the other mark was going to go with him, but peer pressure forced him to stick with us for one last climb up mundaring weir road. heiko didn’t know where we were so i was reluctant to leave him behind so a stuck with him over the rolling hills through bickley valley. by the time we reached mundaring weir road, the other guys were too far ahead to warrant a chase from me. i left it in the big ring and rode a 53 x 14 to the top while staying in the saddle. my cadence was under 40 rpm for the majority of the climb, but my knees actually felt ok.

we rolled into the coffee shop and sat for a well deserved rest. as it was a longer ride, we turned up quite late and were expecting a bad service day. fortunately for us, the cold wind must have kept the punters away and we were served promptly. bruce made an appearance on the sunday ride, but only in civvies as he was meeting his brother for brunch. we said that he should at least been wearing his spr vest to show his support.

coffee’s sculled, as mark still needed to get home and james was on the phone explaining why he was late. we headed down welshpool road with mostly a tailwind, but a few swirls on the descent made for some interesting times. stu apparently had the speed wobbles again and reckons that his heart rate download pinpoints the exact moment he thought he would die.

the tailwind continued to push us home and it gave us a good run. dr melvyn made his early charge as usual and set off the boys a little too early and we were soon spread along the road. the lights at leach hwy soon got us back together and we headed along the last stretch of welshpool rd. the call went out to box ryan in and we had him set on the inside second wheel. dr melvyn went again, and we thought we were safe to let him go, but ryan had been tricky and slowed down to manage to slip out the back. soon everyone was sprinting up the road again.

the final run along berwick rd had ryan doing his usual tricks. slowing down to force others to come to the front so that he can conserve himself for the final sprint. i told him that it will make him stronger if he does all the work and then still contests the sprint, but he wants the easy gold medal. i ended up on the front for the final stretch but managed to get a bit of a jump at the last set of lights to gap the field. by the time i was on the descent, ryan had bridged to my wheel so i just coasted to try to recover. as we paced along the flat, he jumped and i could not hold his wheel. so had to settle for second. or i would have until brendan also past me before the macdonalds drive thru point.

so, over 100 kms by the time i got home and 5 main climbs “conquered”. hopefully this puts me in good stead for collie-donnybrook this coming saturday, but i think it will all come down to who i get in my handicap group. we have three of the team entered with ryan and stu also heading down to play. ryan was in a good position to win last year until a flat with no spares played heed to his grand plans. hopefully this year, team spr can come away with… something. aim for mediocre, and there are less chances of getting disappointed.