Category Archives: Uncategorized

saturday 9th august – sth lake

ride report by peter

so a good turn out this morning with over thirty riders ready to go. i was running a bit late so turned up to find a sea of green awaiting departure instructions. it is good to see and makes me feel good about this group. there are still quite a few riders without out new kit as we have picked up a few more since we did the initial order. hopefully we can get them all kitted out at the end of the year.

anyway, it was a crisp morning and even though the official temp said around 8 degrees, the wind made it feel much colder. when you were standing still (like at the lights) it hardly felt like any wind at all. however, once you were moving, it felt like it was a headwind. the official website said that it was 13 km/h easterlies, but gusting to above 30km/h. we must have had the gusts all morning.

with the cooler mornings i used to just put a wind jacket on. with the new kit i now don’t want to cover it up and have started experimenting. this morning i had on two jerseys and it worked a treat. brendan rocked up in his aussie crates sponsored kit and they provided him with a fully sponsored wind jacket too. it might be something that we look at in the next order.

the course today was one that we experimented with about a month and a half ago. it went down canning rd and onto nth lake rd all the way to berrigan drive. last time we crossed the freeway on armadale rd and it was very busy and not a very wide road. after that we would head home via nicholson rd and albany hwy.

i introduced heiko, our german vacation student, to the rest of the group and talked him up so everyone thinks he is a young jens voigt.

the roll out was pleasant enough. nice easy pace all the way down canning hwy. i was playing sheep-dog again and would roam from the front to the back occasionally to bark and sniff butts and nip at heels or whatever it is that sheep dogs do. we turned down nth lake rd and kept a very easy pace. i managed to find myself on the front again so that we could turn at the right spot. this time we were turning early onto berrigan drive and it was a corner that could creep up on you.

as we turned to cross over the freeway, the wind was fair howling into our faces. when we stopped at a set of lights, it seemed to be hardly a breeze at all. a very confusing and strength sapping day. we turned again and i began to doubt we were on the right road. the map had said turn right onto mason rd but the street sign said we had just turned onto jandakot rd. i had checked the satellite view earlier and i knew that we turned at the roundabout next to the shops and we seemed to be heading the right way. it was going to be a wait and see.

a bunch of guys all did turns on the front to ease the load in the wind, and pretty soon we came to the end of the road and turned onto warton rd. we were on the right road after all, just google maps had named it wrong.

the wind had not abated and we were now coping it as a head cross, which makes it harder to hide from. a few kilometres more and we turned onto nicholson, but the road hadn’t become double lane yet. this meant that we had to stay close to the edge and couldn’t hide offset from the rider in front to avoid the wind. i dropped back to find a number of riders struggling to hold on and a few of us drafted them back to the group.

we managed to catch up just as the group was about to be released by the traffic lights near livingston marketplace (home of livingston optical, for all your optical needs). this marked the start of the sprint section and i was trying to keep the group together before that point.

as the fast boys took off, nick came back through the group sporting a flat rear tyre. carl had commented to me earlier that both nick and himself had forgotten to bring any spares today. fate was teaching nick a lesson. i started slowing down but was in two minds as the group was racing up the road. they were too far gone to pull back now, but i needed to make sure that the didn’t take the wrong turn. luckily i saw chris dropping back to help him, so i pushed on ahead.

i was now stuck in no-mans land. the main group was up the road and around me riders were struggling to fight into the wind. i helped bec get back onto carls wheel and moved on up the road. there was a small group of about 3 or 4 riders off the back of the main group and i managed to bridge across to them. i came around the front to do a turn and pretty soon it was only rod and myself left from that group. we swapped off turns a few times, but could not make any ground on the main bunch.

we picked up a few more riders as we came closer to the finishing roundabout, but then the front guys anti-navigational skills saved us again. not sure who was leading, but nicholson road actually turns to the left at the roundabout and the guys kept going straight. the rest of us turned the corner and we could see them looking back to see which way we were going, before back-tracking themselves.

once they caught up to us, i had to really settle the group down to make sure some of the back-markers managed to rejoin the group. the field was spread pretty thin due to the wind and i know we lost quite a few. unfortunate route selection on my behalf today and we would have been better off doing benara rd instead. oh, well. whatever doesn’t kill you will make you… weak as a baby crying for your mamma. and later hopefully make you stronger.

as we cruised along the remainder of nicholson road, we didn’t actually see that many more riders coming up the road. not sure what happened, but sorry if you didn’t make it back on. we kept the pace to a minimum and i though about stopping, but by then we were on albany hwy going past the carousel shopping centre where there were cars everywhere and not much room for us to pull over. we pushed on ahead, but i made sure the pace wasn’t too high.

when we hit the albany hwy shep rd intersection it was all on to the end. dr melvyn made one of his trademark attacks from too far out and a bunch of people made their intentions clear, by taking off as well. the next set of traffic lights paid heed to their early move.

i was content to sit in a while and wait for the last hill before launching, so that if i made it, i could recover on the descent. a further surge went and everyone was moving around a lot, trying to be near the front. as we had swung around, we now had a tailwind into the finish and the guys were not as reluctant to be on the front.

just as we crossed an intersection where the lights were changing, i attacked and managed to get a bit of a gap. ben had sat on my wheel and was holding fast as we approached the next set of lights. everyone may have eased up a bit thinking that the lights would hold me up, but luckily they changed quickly so i took off again. i managed to get over the last hill in front, but now had ryan and brendon baring down on me. i recovered on the descent, but they kept pushing on and started pulling away. the traffic lights meant that we were soon back together as one group, although some of the guys slid up the side of the cars which is a no, no.

as we crossed the causeway, it seemed that brendan was doing most of the work and no-one was coming around to help. ryan had resumed his position a little way back to avoid the wind and get ready for the sprint while jerry assumed his normal position on ryan’s wheel. as we turned onto riverside drive, john took off like a shot. “too early” i cried out to the group as there is still over 2 kms to go before the finish. some of the guys didn’t listen and headed up the road only to be overtaken with
john less than halfway down the drive. ryan eventually went and took jerry with him. i tried to latch on, but the earlier effort had sapped me and my quads didn’t like what i was doing to them. i had to let them go and roll into the coffee shop a broken rider.

ryan took out line honours, with jerry bridesmaid again. i wasn’t stopping for coffee, so am unsure how the backmarkers faired on the way home. heiko, held his own well today and showed some glimpses of jens voigt with some strong riding. i think he will do ok.

i was off to take the young lad out on the bike and managed to make it up mounts street with him on board, but was a quivering mess by the time i reached the top. next week the collie-donnybrook race is on the saturday, so i will miss the morning ride, but will try to give you a good course with a tailwind the whole way around.

sunday 3rd august – gooseberry & kalamunda + extra

3 Comments

“coming from behind” – ride report by melvyn (deliberately missing out capital letters)

i was inspired by the first warm weather forecast to drag myself out on sunday to do the ride.i was pleased that this would be a shorter ride, and not a “special” new tryout ride that pete dreamed up for those who are not racing. the first real climb would be gooseberry hill rd which always is a test, but the rest would be manageable (i hoped).

i even got to the meeting point early, having given the bike a bit of a clean the day before to find no huddled group of lycrans surrounded by flashing lights like some exiled extraterrestrials waiting for the mother ship to pick them up in the dark. i knew i was early, but really??? moments passed and i thought – what if no-one else turns up? do i do the ride by myself? it would be a bit of a boring blog with all this “i looked back to see myself pedalling furiously, so i attacked to just win the hilltop sprint against myself by barely a wheel…” thankfully john rolled up to join us (and provide someone else to write about). unfortunately as we eyed each other we still did not have the critical mass to qualitfy as a group ride. i’m sure we were both thinking if we could cheat a little if no-one else turned up and modify the course (perhaps doing gooseberry twice then kalamunda a couple of extra times?)

it was all academic when more joined in just after 0700. darren arrived with “greased lightning” (his bike must surely be inspired by the hot-rod that john travolta and his gang do up in the movie “grease”), ben (to give some credibility to the overall pedalling ability of our group), schneiderman (uneasy in his winter mankini), nev (who i cant recall coming out on a sunday before – poor befuddled boy must have his days mixed up), ronan, and a newcomer bronwyn who has chosen perth (!!!) to settle down in for a while after finishing a round the world trip. must have been lured by the vibrant cafe culture.

soon it was time to go off! if we waited we probably would have seen every cyclist in perth ride past. i had to lead out and pretended i knew the way. the secret is that really i don’t have to know the way for any of the rides because i always get to ride at the back. the only time i sprint for the front is when i actually recognise the roads and know i won’t get lost. anyway, after a bit of “no, turn left” we got onto great eastern highway to run the gauntlet of cold air, cars and hobos shouting encouragement after passing the casino. As we pedalled east, we were greeted by the warm rays to the sun. however riding into the sun is not to be recommended as mainly you don’t get to see. if you are in the front, all manner of glass and potholes come into your vision all too late. if you are in the back, you are hoping that cars will be able to see your 1/2 watt flashing tail-light against the sun which puts out 368 yottawatts (1024 watts)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(power) admittedly 93 million miles away. You get the picture.

i had not cleared our mind of those thoughts when the next traffic hazard presented itself. it was outside the 24hour macdonald on great eastern highway (who really eats maccas at 0730 on a sunday?), where a green hyundai pulled out to turn right. i’m sure he saw us as he wasn’t looking into the sun to look at us. i could see that his intentions were to pull out 10 metres in front of us. fine i thought, we’ll be right. we weren’t right, as he stopped in the lane in front of us. there were lots of emergency manouevres to avoid this car, but no one fell off. obviously (to give the driver the benefit of doubt) he had thought better of turning into the path of cars that he couldn’t see because of the sun shining from his left. as ronald macdonald says “look left then right and left again before crossing the street”. silly boy, no happy meal for you.

we soon interrupted our ride (near the cement factory) with schneiderman’s scheduled puncture. we usually have one later in the ride which is handy for catching our breath back. its impressive to see schneiderman extract a tube from the mankini (where does he put it), but i think that if he keeps this up, we will have to chip in to buy him a seat bag that fits two tubes. it was about this time that i noticed that mike b had joined in to add pace uphill. i later found out that he was trying to get back into condition after a holiday in europe where he actually viewed the tour from the mighty tourmalet. he obviously hasn’t lost as much condition as myself as he easily outpaced me on the mighty “kalamunda”.

soon we were at ridgehill road which doesn’t count as a climb. the ride played out like it always does with me attacking for the first 20m before running out of steam in the slope. at least it gives me a chance to check out if any others have made new purchases as they ride past. something very unusual started to happen on the flat bit of the climb. i actually started to catch up and pass people. i don’t usually rub it in, but i must say that that does not happen often. was it my new wheels (probably 500g lighter than my previous set), or was everyone taking it easy? the reality was that i probably don’t ride up that well, and there was not very much going up by that stage. evidently i had run out of power-ups as that was the last time that happened on any of the climbs that day.

the regroup point was the base of the zig-zag, and then it was down (yay!) before the left turn at the roundabout to gooseberry (boo!) we had egged newcomer bronwyn on about how steep this one was going to be but it was only half joking. in any case being a ex mountain biker from new zealand i don’t think many hills scare her. soon it was reverting to the familiar tempo of breathing and pedalling (two breaths for every pedal stroke) when before you knew it the hill stopped. really after several european experiences, these hills don’t come close to he definition of pain. these are just the light dripping of hot wax type of pain, and not the chained to the bedpost with a red ball in your mouth before being whipped by a cat-o-nine-tails by a suspiciously masculine lady in a leather mask named steve sort of pain. you get the picture.

bronwyn chose a good day to come out on a hills ride as the next stage was down the zig-zag, which truly made it worthwhile. the sun was out and warming, birds were singing, the air was clear and most importantly dry, and the scenery was breathtaking. I can see why people live in the hills. best not enjoy the view too much though as gravel can make the hairpins tricky. I wanted to push the cornering properties of the wheels a bit as that is apparently one of their strengths, but woosed out a bit, not wanting to do an oscar pereiro. it was over however all too soon.

a short transport stage found us at the base of kalamunda road which i find terrifying sometimes. mainly because of the honky nuts that often cover the outside of the road, and the hoons who insist on driving at full pelt. we planned to keep going past the coffee shop (sacriledge!) and regroup at the coles roundabout. i spent about half the climb thinking of excuses to shorten my ride and retreat to the coffee shop, but was disappointed to find everyone full of energy and enthusiastic for more. the power of peer pressure again pushed me down mundaring weir rd and up lawnbrook. at least this was a good form of peer pressure, as it usually ends up with poorer consequences in other instance. we rode single file as traffic was increasing, and had time to wave at russell and ian(?) coming up the other way.

by the time we got to the coffee shop it was already quite full. they obviously were short staffed that day. the conversation was considerably
cleaner that day as we were not up to our usual compliment of urologists. by then a few of us had elected to go home early, and after making short work of the food and drink it was time for us to head back. but that is another story for another day (a day which you are not doing very much because basically nothing exciting happened).

……………………and so children ends the chapter on the exploits of this small band of intrepid cyclists who went out to conquer far lands over infrequently travelled roads, laughing at what destiny would serve up to them (and still making it home in time to avoid getting in trouble with their wives).

the end

saturday 2nd august – freo & cott

2 Comments
ride report by rob

2:30am bucketing down – looking like a lie in.
4:30am teeming down – no way am i riding
5:15am gale force winds – decision made
6:25am can’t hear rain; still windy – gulit commences
6:40am can’t hear rain; wind easing – guilt wins

7:00am roll into coode street car park to find around 12 of the usual crew fully kitted up in wind/rain gear. ryan had already warmed up his legs with the ride down from inaloo (oh, what, no? not from inaloo? oh, just from around the corner where the car is parked?…mmmmm.) lots of chatter in the group about the THE OFFICIAL EURO CYCLIST CODE OF CONDUCT that was doing the rounds of the group. lots of comments about compliance with the code among the sp rouluers. disscusion of the possibility of making anyone in kit sign it as their commitment to the faith! gerard was in full compliance with number 39 thanks to his wife’s assistance. apparently the recent trip to europe has ‘changed his life’…!

with no pete (family commitments due to race day tomorrow we’re lead to understand) we were leaderless for the ride. i hadn’t looked at the blog to see what the route was – thankfully paul had (such a detail guy – gotta love you geo’s and engineers!) and advised that it was freo/cott. questions were directed at ryan as to his desire to take the lead – yes, he says “we go flat out from here to the coffee shop…and i don’t know the route.” the faces on some of the others told the story so i hopped in and called the route “pete style” but neglected to call the ‘smash’ points – ho well i thought, it’s a well known route and those that don’t know the designated smash points will find out when we got there!

so, the group rolled out just after 5 past 7 with a few looming black clouds overhead. an uneventful ride up to canning hwy and then along through to applecross. gerard and ben came around ryan and me to do some work on the front. it was at this point that greard thought it’d be fun to signal left at risely st – must have been a message from the man upstairs given his newly aquired compliance with number 39. we all barked at the guys to keep going straight and then i stuffed it by calling a right hander at cunnigham st. woops.

finally arriving at the ‘right’ righthander another 2 kms away, we reach the first roll through section. it was ok to start with a few of the stronger guys doing a bit more of the early work and the others coming through when they coould. with the wind in our faces it was pretty tough going so it wasn’t long before there were only 6 or so pushing off the front. we reached the golf course climb and ryan pushed off the front with me trying to keep up the pressure. i could feel james trying to get up past me and thought ‘can’t have that’ so pushed on a bit – that hurt, but managed to take 2nd. we regrouped at the top and then headed off to freo. that’s when the first real rain came and made it very pleasant. rain, full sou westerly and grit fllled wheel spray in the face – LOVE IT!! how good is riding a bike!!

turning down on to the left bank section most fo the group were together. this is the next designated smash point but in true rouleurs fashion, and without pete to come round in his infamous time trialling position, no one seemed to want to be first to go. oh well, here goes. i came round the front and pushed the biggest gear i could considering the wind in my face. that lasted about a minute and i thought by then i must have a decent gap on the group. pity james, ben and ryan had grabbed my wheel as i came round and got the tow through – mental note – don’t go first! it was a good section though and we managed to keep the pace high. ryan took line honours with ben second. i couldn’t bridge the gap he’d put in james and me so third would have to do.

re-group. ben and me took the front across the bridge and around to the lead up to cott. with the wind now well and truely on our backs, we had a fantastic hero ride all the way up the coast. i looked at ben and could see the smile on his face while we were pushing 40 with no effort. as we came round to cott, melvin came past and put a gap on the group – something he seems quite fond of doing. the rest of the pack upped the pace a bit but we all kept it safe and didn’t try anything stupid. it’s pretty busy along that section of the ride so safer to stay within the boundaries of good sense.

uneventful back up to stirling hwy and across to the return trip through dalkeith and nedlands. i was doing a fair bit of the work on the front when james called that he’d roll through and help. i think he was expecting others to do the same but then realised that wasn’t going to happen. gotta love that – being a team player can find you out on your own sometimes!

the group rolled through to the first hill up to nedlands with paul and james on the front. as we rounded the bend, ben moves up and tries to gap. i go round and try to kick off the front too. i manage to hold it over the first rise but then gerard, james and ryan come past and gap me – no chance of a wheel there! ryan and gerard duked it out for line honours and james took third. ben and me cruised to the line with no other contenders in the near vicinity. the group was pretty fractured by that last push but an unoffcial re-group at the roadworks on matilda bay drive brought everyone back together for the final sprint.

rounding on to stirling hwy again, i was riding at about 5th wheel. feeling pretty comfortable, i thought i’ll hold it here and get a good lead out when we get closer to the brewery. that worked for a while until melvin takes his usual kick and flys past. that’ll do i think and grab his wheel. love it – getting closer, closer, closer, steady, steady, hold it, hol….freaking Cannondale belts past with gerard and paul on his wheel. i try to kick but nothing left to get up to the pace so relegated to 4th! ryan 1st, gerard with diviine intervention 2nd, and a cleverly ridden 3rd for paul.

no coffee shop for me today – mother in town; must be good.

THE OFFICIAL EURO CYCLIST CODE OF CONDUCT

1. Image and style shall be your primary concern. When suffering, one must focus first on maintaining a cool, even composure, and second on performance. Winning races is an added talent, and only counts if said euro cyclist wins with appropriate style.

2. You shall NEVER, under any circumstances, wear plain black spandex shorts or any team kit containing non-prominent Logo’s.

3. The Socks must extend no less than 2cm below the main bulge of your calf muscle, and shall never extend further than 1cm past the primary calf muscle bulge. All socks shall be white in colour with prominent logo placement.

4. Cycling shoes must be of white colour only!
-in certain circumstances, other colours, such as world
cup stripes are perfectly acceptable and encouraged.
-Red shoes are NOT ENDORSED by this group.

5. If white cycling shoes are not available where you reside, white booties with prominent logos shall always be worn.

6. You’re bike frame must contain more than 3 colours, and must always fit tastefully with your wheel selection.

7. Zipp’s
are to be used as training wheels ONLY. You shall race only on Lightweights and occasionally Bora’s if no lightweights are accessible.

8. Ridiculously stylish eye wear is to be worn at all time without exception.

9. In most circumstances, hair shall be kept neatly short, and matching helmet shall be worn (again with prominent logo placement). Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES shall a clashing helmet colour be worn with your euro kit.

10. In several cases, it is deemed acceptable to have long hair. In this event, hair shall be neatly slicked back in maximum euro-styling, and helmet shall not be worn. Stylish sport eyewear shall be worn at all times while exercising this option.

11. A prominent line where your kit ends and where your tan begins is essential to your image. Artificial tanning is banned,
the tan shall reflect the level of training commitment.

12. All podium shots (pictures) shall be taken with the euro-rider wearing team kit and appropriately matching casual euro shoes (such as puma’s). Socks shall remain within the guidelines above. The rider is expected to display an appropriate degree of bulge while receiving kisses/trophy.

13. The seat shall ALWAYS be white along with the handlebar tape, and must be made in Italy or France.
– Exceptions to this rule are seats or handlebar tape
containing the following colours: WorldCup Stripes,
Olympic Gold, Italian flag colour combo (green red
white).

14. You shall not, under any circumstances, acknowledge the presence of a cyclist riding a bike costing less than $4000 USD in a public place. This could be severely detrimental to your image.

15. Legs will be SHAVED year-round. ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTIONS. In some cases, certain hair removal creams endorsed by succesful euro’s are deemed to be acceptable.

16. A rider will ALWAYS have liniment applied to his legs before appearing in public.

17. Facial hair will be restricted to a goatee, and even this is discouraged. Moustaches are EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED.
The only exception to the facial hair shall be SHORT sideburns–these are acceptable at the discretion of Cipo or a similar authority figure, on a case-by-case basis.

18. Ceramic bearings shall be used at all time on both training and race bikes.

19. Campagnolo shall be the only acceptable componentry and is hereby deemed superior to ANY Shimano product in ALL circumstances. You are expected to have nothing less than an ENTIRE campy grouppo. Crank substitutions are NOT permitted.

20. ALL wheels shall be equipped with tubulars, regardless of your ability in gluing them.

21. You shall NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, associate with triathletes. It is FORBIDDEN to have any number inked onto your body before a race.

22. Any physical activity, other than cycling, is STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. This includes any form of running or swimming and their derivatives (this includes walking).

23. You shall never rearrange your package while riding. Adjustments regarding seating/hanging comfort are to be done in private in order to preserve image.

24. In a circumstance where any cyclist ever displays aggression or disrespect towards you, you shall ride up uncomfortably close to them and slap them in the face with your team issue gloves. (Which must be white)

25. MTB gloves are FORBIDDEN in all instances. Cycling gloves will be slick, white (in accordance with kit), and have minimal padding. Padding will be beige or white in colour. In the case where said euro cyclist is wearing a leader’s jersey (This should be always) special gloves will be made to match the colour of the jersey while blending the team kit colours simultaneously.

26. In the event a motorist disturbs your ride, you shall proceed to ride up beside the car, form a clenched fist and bang the trunk of the car while doing your best attempt to sound irritated in Italian. Wild arm/head are strongly encouraged to enhance the apparent rage.

27. Training is based solely on feel while racing is be guided by sensations and instinct. A real Euro cyclist never gives in to scientific training methods.

28. Gearing is restricted to a titanium Campy Record 11-23 cassette with a ABSOLUTE MINIMUM of 42-53 up front. One shall never be seen pedaling at a cadence over 90 in case it detracts from his calm/smooth factor. The use of 25t cog is acceptable in special training circumstances.

29. ALL BIKES shall feature personalized nameplates next to ones home country’s flag located on the top-tube within 10 cm seat-tube ON ONE SIDE ONLY.

30. Pedals MUST be either Speedplay, Time, or Look. No other pedals are to be considered and ANY form of Shimano product is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. If one is found possessing Shimano pedals, title of euro cyclist will be stripped immediately.

31. Coffee is a necessity and as such must be consumed strong (ie. espresso) on a patio in Italy in full kit, it shall be drunk black. Sugar is STRONGLY FROWNED UPON. The only milk present shall appear frothed on top (if at all).

32. All pre and post-race activity will be conducted under a gazebo (this includes massage, interviews, and looking fantastic) leaving one in reasonable distance of the Euro-sun to top up your enviable tanlines or pose for photo’s.

33. Post-race, you must be utterly tied to your mobile phone, making endless calls to your incredibly attractive euro-girlfriend or important executives from modelling agencies. This will be done under the protection of the post race gazebo.

34. ABSOLUTELY NO FORM of seatbag, frame pump, mud guard or mirror shall come within 2 meters of the bike.

35. Team bikes will be built up so that they violate the UCI weight limit, in order that weights might be attached to the frame to demonstrate its superiority and lightness.

36. White bar tape shall be kept in pristine white condition and NEVER extend further than 3cm past the hoods (exception during spring classics, where standard bar tape wrapping is allowed). This state shall be achieved either through daily cleansing or frequent replacement. These jobs will NEVER be performed by the cyclist as you must maintain your image.

37. Motivational music during training MUST consist of Late 90s house and power ballads, or deep-trance hard-style German techno hereby known as euro beats. NO EXCEPTIONS.

38. Nothing short of a naked black ALL CARBON water bottle cages (manufactured by ELITE CAGES) will be used. The only exception is special edition 24k gold cages which can be preferable in some situations (such as photo shoots or prologues) where colour coordination is key (this is always). Ex. Gold Cage with Olympic Gold/white team kit.

39. A gold pendant on a very long, thin chain bearing some form of religious icon is STRONGLY recommended for mountain races.

40. While soloing in for a victory, you will ensure your jersey is fully zipped and straight, so all title sponsors are clearly visible. You will then smile and flex arms while pointing skywards. The projection of ones fatigue is EXPLICITLY FORBIDDEN in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

41. When appearing in a photo spread for sponsor’s products, one shall appear either fully nude or in full Armani 3 piece suits. Smiling is prohibited in these instances.

42. When riding, under the helmet, a team issue cycling cap (white in colour), shall be worn (depending on the hairstyle). The bill shall remain in the downward position at all times. Cycling cap can be worn forwards or backwards to coincide with current hairstyle. During spring training, cycling toques WILL be worn at all time in place of caps.
——————————————————————————————–
RULES BELOW THIS LINE ARE NOT FINAL, AND NEED REFINEMENT/OPINIONS

Dugast tubulars are the only appropriate rubber for your Lightweights.

One shall remove all
excess from frame when in the mountains (M Rasmussen’s stipulation at the 2005 TDF).

While training a Tag Heuer or other suitably classy watch shall be worn at all times.

Nokon cables are to be used as much as possible.
Additional parts/accessories should be produced by: AX Lightness, Tune, Schmolke, Walser, or Swissstop.

Stem stack height is critical. The stem of a true Euro shall be slammed down all the way to the frame. Stems shall also be aluminum as with bars, aluminum.
Bars should be classic, shallow drop. Deda newton oversize stem, deda shallow classic bar is preferable.
Other brands that work are:
ITM, Pro, stella Azzura, Fsa, cinelli

A one-piece carbon bar-stem combo is equally acceptable.

sunday 27th july – carridine & peet & observatory

6 Comments

well the forecast said bad and radar confirmed it’s badness, but i didn’t care as it was not raining as i left the house. the road was a bit wet and it was still dark, but at least it was not cold…yet. the forecast was for strong winds and a 90% chance of 20 – 40 mm of rain. basically all the ingredients for an absolutely crappy bike ride. i was wearing my vest, but was also carrying my rain jacket as it folded up into bum bag and fitted snuggly under the vest.

i was running a bit late and hurried to make it to the start. i was afraid of what i would find. the things that run through your mind in this situation are very insightful. if no-one else was there, would i go home, would i still do the hills, would i just cut a lap of the river instead. i didn’t need to worry myself as there were two lonely riders waiting in the dark as i arrived. ben and declan were looking lonely and very soon, stu also turned up. we waited around for a bit longer to see if any stragglers would brave the weather but soon realised that we would be the only ones.

so were we the hardcore ones??? were we the stupid ones??? or were all the others just a bunch of pussies that made some excuse about having to wash their big girls blouses???

so the four of us rolled out into the spitting rain. it wasn’t coming down hard and was hardly a concern at all. however, it still took quite a bit of will power, not to turn off as we came within a few hundred metres of home. declan was not going all the way with us today as he usually doesn’t do the hills ride, but was just looking for some extra km’s. the plan was for him to ride with us to the base of the hills then he would find his own way back to perth. taking the new standard route out to albany hwy, i pulled over as we hit manning rd to put my rain jacket on. it wasn’t coming down any harder, but i figured that i would try to stay as dry as possible.

a very sedate ride down to mt nasura and as we turned off to tackle carrawatha, declan kept going to return via armidale rd and the freeway. so we were down to three, which meant that we would probably just tackle the climbs at our own pace rather than trying to smash each other. ben led the climb and as it kicked up for the second steeper half of the hill, i started falling back. stu was on his old tommasini rather than his cervelo and was having some issues with gear selection. he still came around me as though as i struggled up the 13% section of the hill.

very little waiting needed today and the guys just had to ease off a bit before starting their descent. we then turned up carradine rd and started plugging our way up the rough roads. we basically stuck together to the top with myself just falling off the back on the last little bit of the climb. at the top, a call of nature struck us all and we all found a cubicle in the bush toilet. i gave my vest to ben who only had his jersey to protect himself from wind chill. my rain jacket wasn’t going anywhere for now as it was keeping me dry and warm. a change of plans from the original route and we decided to forego the canning dam route in favour of the climb up peet rd. the threat of crappy weather, and the fact that the ride past the dam gives us no chance of any options, forced us to skip it all together. instead we would have a wet and potentially slippery ride down soldiers rd then a nice an gentle 10% ascent of peet rd.

the descent wasn’t that bad as we took it easy and there was no traffic. surprisingly enough, no-one else thought it was a good day to go outside either. we started on peet rd and set a fairly nice pace. i dropped off on the second steeper section but managed to claw my way back as it flattened out a bit. down the other side and up past roleystone high school to head out brookton hwy.

we past the site of the accident a few weeks ago and it is lucky that no-one had to place any little white crosses on the side of the road. it made me worry when i heard cars coming up the hill behind us.

nice pace setting along to pickering brook and we decided to throw in the observatory climb as well. a slight detour along repatriation rd made a change but still turned us out at the base of the climb. i stayed with both of them until the second half of the climb when i struggled to keep the pace. we regrouped at the top and came down the other side to only go straight back up lawnbrook. again the climb left me wanting and i fell back. at one point ben had to double back to pick up his glasses or something and this allowed me to catch up with him. we rode together the rest of the way and met back up with stu at the end of the road.

no coffee shop for us today and we headed straight down lesmurdie rd and onto welshpool. the combination of the wind and wet roads made it not the most comfortable descent and stu said his bike got the speed wobbles towards the end. with no antagonists in the “group” the remaining ride was quite sedate.

at the end of the end of the day, there was not a lo of rain to be encountered. the official perth weather station only recorded 1.6 mm during the time that we were out. the main down pour came at lunchtime but we were home well and truly before that. overall the 6.8 mm was nowhere near the predicted rainfall.

so, just under 100 kms and just over 1300m of climbing to round out the morning. a bit disappointing with the turn out, but not surprising really due to the forecast. it is winter after all but you can still ride when it is raining. i guess it just shows who is committed or more likely, who needs to be committed due to a poor mental state. it was a good ride though as we ground out the kms and did the climbs. a little bit of rain builds character.

saturday 26th july – hale rd

2 Comments
ride report by peter.

as i stumbled around the house this morning, trying not to wake anyone up, it did not occur to me to take a look outside. i had listened to the cars drive past and had not heard that tell-tale swish they make when the roads are dramatically wet. i had checked the internet and saw that the radar was clear. to me, that meant it would be nice weather for a ride. what a shock i received when i stepped out side. hmmm. thick, pea-soup like fog had engulfed the city and visibility was down to less than 100 metres.

i made sure my flashing lights were on and set off into the gloom, praying that drivers would be able to see a lone rider. with the city not visible from our side of the river, we huddled together and waited for the start time. about 30 or so were brave enough to face the day with us, so we headed out to tackle the day.

today’s route was a very simple one that contained very few turns at intersections. basically it was a big square that went out shep and welshpool rd, up hale rd along kalamunda rd and then home via guilford rd. for safety reasons, due to the fog we would only have one hard section and that would be the run into town from bassendean.

the run out along shep rd was a bit disjointed as the group was big enough to get caught and split at the lights. even when we turned from welshpool onto orong rd, we lost a few more. it was a fairly sedate pace and the guys on the back made there way back to the fold.

hale rd was also going to be an easy run as i wanted the group to stay together on the tighter roads. the fog had lifted in forrestfield and the temperature had dropped accordingly. ryan started coming up on the outside and looked like he was going to try to smash the group up a bit. i told him that we were not going hard along here but he was welcome to do some work on the front. he moved to the front and started setting the pace. he was going particularly hard, but he went through four or so other riders before i ended up at the front.

i found the trick with ryan is not to try to race him. if he goes faster, let him half wheel you until he realises and slows down a bit. if you try to match his pace, he will step up again and the will continue until you are suddenly doing 40km/h. it is better to keep the same pace. this happened a few times on this stretch of road until he got bored of it and started stepping the pace up. i kept the same pace and slowly slipped to the back of the pack, while ryan’s antics meant that the group was now lined out in a single file.

it wasn’t long till we turned onto kalamunda rd and we rode a sedate pace all the way to guilford. looking up ahead, it was clear that the fog had only cleared close to the foothills and we were heading back into it again. the group was all together as we crossed the bridge in guilford and the road widened out to double lane. at the lights in bassendean, i rolled back to the front and let everyone know that we would now be giving it some shtick all the way home. i let a bunch of them pass me as i was definitely not taking off from here as it was just under 15 kms to the coffee shop. the pace picked up and a few of the boys started off hard. the group started splitting and surging to try to stay together. we didn’t get very far though as about eight or so riders got through the lights at bassendean station while the rest of us had a bit of a break.

i announced that we would be rolling through so that we could try to catch up. we had the majority of the group so should have the upper hand. it started off fairly well and most people fell into line quickly. pretty soon we were scooting along at over 40km/h and were reeling the other group back in. i dropped back and helped a couple of struggling riders keep in contact with the pack. one of them was lorraine who was out on her first ride with us since breaking her wrist many weeks earlier. the pace and lack of training were taking their toll.

the group ahead got caught at the lights and allowed us to catch up. what i didn’t initially know was that a few riders got though and were further up the road. the fog had gotten very thick again, so it was hard to gauge how far ahead they were. i rolled to the front of the group to set the pace once the lights changed. we started rolling through again and picked up jerry and mark who had escaped the traffic lights. up ahead there were two riders disappearing into the fog.

we hit the first of the rolling hills and i upped the pace. i had a gap to the others so decided to take advantage of it. i slapped it into the big ring while still going up hill and put the hammer down. i built a nice gap to the pack and assumed that i was gaining on the break guys. assuming, because i still couldn’t see them. it was hurting but i thought i could hold this pace for a while. unfortunately the traffic lights soon caught me out and i came to a stop. the rest of the pack then caught me.

the rest did not do me well and my legs went lactic very quickly. the boys took off hard from the next set of lights and i just couldn’t follow. i jumped on the back of the next small pack to pass me by and held on for dear life. we got the lights again. now there was a substantial group up the road and no real chance that we could catch them. we worked together for a while but had pretty much resigned ourselves that we wouldn’t catch anyone. we didn’t.

we set up our own sprint for the end and i pushed hard on riverside drive to come around jerry and mark. mark jumped on my wheel and started to sprint to the line. i didn’t bother standing up and let him take it after trying to hold him off from the seated position.

as for the actual final sprint, ryan or one of the other guys can add to this post later.

coffee shop. now there had been some issues with the coffee shop and there are a few things we need to look into. service has been slow, it is cold in winter, we get diesel fumes form the boats and apparently the coffee is not that good (i don’t drink it so i don’t know). also, mickey’s group are usually there before us which can make it a bit squeezy.

however, in it’s favour is the central position and fact that we can sprint from both directions. but since we have moved on with our group, maybe we should look at a new finishing spot. somewhere in south perth has been suggested as we are a south perth group. i can adjust routes and give us new sprint lines, but what we need is somewhere that can cater for us and our bikes. have a think about it and add some comments to this post to let me know your thoughts.

sunday 20th july – kahuna & peet & canning mills

1 Comment
ride report by peter
video to follow.

with the mercury under 2 degrees at 7 this morning, i was expecting a poor showing. with the course i had mapped out for this ride, i was also expecting a poor showing. i was pleasantly surprised to see close to 20 toe the line ready for a big day. the course today was a bit of a monster and took in a number of the hard climbs around roleystone. first we would tackle the kahuna before taking on peet rd up to the high school. a descent down brookton hwy would bring us out at the bottom of canning mills rd which would take us back to the top of the kahuna. a trek along the top before dropping through bickley valley and back up mundaring weir rd to kalamunda. four major climbs would make this a decent effort for the morning.

we were about to head off sans ryan again, when young jordan from a couple of weeks ago turns up in a ute. he gets out all kitted up and his “driver” takes the bike out of the tray and he is ready to roll. we all wish we had a support crew like that. as we turned onto mill point rd, ryan turns up just in time…again. as we make our way through the suburbs, i notice that rachael was no longer with us. i’m guessing she heard today’s route and opted for an easier day. i could be wrong and maybe she thought it was too easy and went to find some harder hills.

we eventually hit albany hwy and worked our way down towards gosnells. we had briefly lost john to a call of nature and i was thinking much the same thing. just after the road bridged over roe hwy, i ducked off behind a bus shelter and into the bushes. what seemed like a good kilo lighter, i chased for a bit to get back on the group just as they were coming through maddington. a good stop for me as i lessened the weight i was going to carry up the hill and the chase put some warmth back into my fingers and a bit in my toes.

we turned up mills rd west and picked up doug along the way. the kahuna loomed above us and i let the fast boys know where we were going to regroup. jordan left it in the big ring and started grinding his way up. i managed to hold his wheel for a while before a gap appeared and the guys behind moved around to fill it. i couldn’t maintain and had to let them go. i watched jordan tow matt, robbie, ryan and rob towards the top. i was stuck in no-mans land with no riders to be seen i managed to keep ahead of the one behind, but could not make ground on the guys up the road. stu started at the back of the pack and was working his way through. he easily dispatched me and worked his way to the front group. from what i could see, he didn’t quite make it but caught rob who had dropped off the pace. apparently jordan could not hold the big ring for the whole climb and had to drop it back a notch. ryan claims that he took him at the top, but i am not sure of the context. i am assuming he was talking about the race to the top… on the bike… who knows.

we regrouped at the turn and bid farewell to jordan who was only using our ride as a gap filler before his shop one started at nine. we traveled down urch and started our next climb after a short sharp descent. i left it in the big ring and tried to power up the other side. unfortunately, the other side is quite long and i started to run out of puff. ryan came past and i jumped on his wheel. as the climb progressed, we shook off mel and bella who relished the descent, but mat and robbie were not far behind.

we turned up peet rd and ryan set a decent tempo. to hard for me, he gapped me and i had to let him go. robbie, with his bouncy style, hopped up the road and onto ryans wheel. i was again caught in the middle but managed to stay away from any of the chasers. on the descent, i eased off enough for mel and rob to catch up. as peet rd became raeburn and the road starts to climb again, rob came to the front and stepped up the pace. it was enough to shake mel but i just sat neatly on his wheel. as we approached the state champs finish line at roleystone highschool, we were caught by another couple of riders and my memory is vague, but i think it was stu and mat. taking off from the same spot as the state champs masters race, i came around rob, who was spent from too much time on the front, and took line honors in our group. as the group came in, melvyn started to make excuses about spending the last couple of weeks in spain not riding. he was going to take a short-cut, but through the power of peer pressure, we convinced him to keep going.

up this high, the fog had rolled in and we could not see very far at all. we were going to take a right turn across brookton hwy not very far from where the accident happened last week. mat and phil were riding with that group last week, but as most of them were off the bike, they were out with us instead. we stopped at the intersection and allowed people to put their flashing lights on, just to be safe. you could hear the cars coming, but not see them properly at all. we listened for a break in traffic and headed off for our descent. we kept a single file all the way down and the road was not really conducive to high speeds as it continually flattens out. we past a couple of groups heading up the hill and it surprised me how many were out in the cold weather.

speaking of cold, it was so cold that i got an ice-cream headache on the way down. the fog turned out to be more like low cloud as it wasn’t to be seen after we were halfway down the hill. doug and i swapped off turns to keep the pace high and we led the train to the bottom. we turned right just before we hit albany hwy and regrouped before heading to the base of canning mills rd. this climb has been used as the perth hill climb championships as it is a fairly consistent gradient to the top. it basically heads up for around 2 ½ kms at just under 9 % before flattening to 2.5 % for a further 2 kms.

i was on the front as we started the climb as people did not know where to go and managed to gap the field a bit. after the previous efforts i was not sure how i would go, but i preferred to be chased rather than chasing. i held off the boys for quite a while but was caught by ryan, robbie and mat. i still managed to hold wheel for a bit as ryan was still grinding big gears today so was not out to sprint off on everyone. stu caught up with us and came around. robbie chased him down and took off up the road. stu held a gap to us, but mat, ryan and i all kind of stayed together for the majority of the climb.

once the road flattened out, ryan and i stepped on the pace to catch up with stu. matt was spat out the back and had to fend for himself, while robbie was long gone. the climb really sorted the field out as it took quite a while for all the riders to filter back in for the regroup.

we headed across to canning rd through the windy track that is the extension of canning mills rd. mr dickhead was driving a old crappy sedan today as he sped up to pass us only to turn right into a driveway just after. he couldn’t have waited that extra 5 sec. as we waited to regroup on canning rd, the “mid-life crisis harley Davidson club” came past with about 50 or so riders. apart from that, it was a fairly uneventful trip with just the usual attacks on t
he rolling hills heading towards pickering brook.

on our final regroup, a number of riders opted for the straight to the coffee shop route or straight down welshpool rd and home. the rest of us were going to head back up mundaring weir rd. as we went to turn onto glenisla rd, we were held up by the “mid-life crisis huge 4wd club” as about 50 of the damn things were coming the other way. this gave stu and doug a headstart as they managed to get through the turn beforehand.

we didn’t really chase and they held their advantage as we came down the glenisla hill at 70 kmph. mel the daredevil flew past me as i must have been holding her up.

when the climb started up mundaring weir rd, ryan took off like a scalded cat in a bid to try to catch stu. a paced myself up with robbie and rob and we caught ryan who had eased off once he caught stu. no lead change for the majority of the climb as we all sat in a line behind stu. as we came towards the top of the steeper section, ryan started dicking around with his gears. he was trying to get it into the big ring, but it wouldn’t go in. in the meantime, stu was continuing to grind away up the hill and had started to gap us again. i yelled some abuse at ryan, and told robbie, who was on his wheel, to go around him as he was slowing us down. rob, who was behind me, thought that i was talking to him so he came around all of us to chase down stu.

once we hit the flattish section i came to the front to lead out the group into the final climb. when we were just about there, ryan shot past like a bout of gastro (very fluid, but not much substance). the rest of the guys came around me to try to chase him down, while i was left to complete the climb on my own.

a nice pleasant coffee stop today as it was not that cold sitting outside. there were lots of groups of riders also replenishing their carbo and caffeine supplies at kalamunda and a few familiar faces were seen. we set off for the run home and i had a good descent on welshpool rd. i had to come around ryan towards the bottom and topped out at 79km/h. bella beat everyone hitting about 81 km/h.

as we turned onto welshpool proper, ryan informed us we had a few passengers. the glenn parker group that jordan had left us to meet up with had caught us after the coffee and was now attached to our group. we started rolling through to share the load and made our way back to albany hwy. the glenn parker boys turned off there and we made our way along berwick.

ryan led the pack from kent rd lights along berwick where we were heading towards our final sprint. i said to him that he should lead out and then sprint to make sure he had to work hard. we got caught at george st lights and he started dicking around with his gears again. his usual tactic to force someone else to lead out. screw this i thought and took off from the lights hard. i managed a gap quickly and pushed hard over the small hill. maxing out the heart rate at 188 bpm i eased off a bit as i crested and coasted down the hill a bit for recovery. i put the power down again and kept looking back to see if i would be caught. the only riders i could see were a fair way back so i guessed that i was safe. sitting up and cruising in i was past just at the end by a 4wd. sucking along behind at 60 km/h was ryan who claimed line honours. unfortunately he received too much outside assistance and has been relegated to last place. shame, ryan, shame. it’s almost as bad as doping.

so a good ride but definitely a tough morning in the saddle. just over 100 kms by the time i got home and over 1300m of climbing. my form seems to be coming back slowly but surely, however, the late night tour de france coverage is still playing havoc.

saturday 19th july – special launch breakfast

3 Comments

what seemed like the shortest sleep i have ever had came to an end this morning at a smidgen before the alarm went off. the late nights of tour watching are starting to take their toll and last night also involved getting the house ready for the launch breakfast. this event was to mark the official beginning of our new group. we have been riding together for sometime, but the new kit now seals the deal as far as who we are. half of the kit had been distributed last week, but there were still quite a few that had not collected. it will look awesome when the majority of our riders are all matching.

a handful of riders were meeting at my place this morning as they were going to drive to and from the start. with the group ride finishing at my place for a change, i had a few friends to roll to the start with. the predicted overnight temp was dismissed as a bad prediction as it dropped to 3 ½ deg by the time we were underway.

quite a good turn out this morning, but as i had asked for rsvp’s, i kind of knew how many we would see. there were a few old faces making a return as well as some that had not pushed a pedal in anger for a while. on top of that, some new-ish faces were to be seen. the route would be an adjusted variation of a typical bannister rd sprint, but changed so that we finish at my place instead of the city. a easy roll down canning, along stock rd, up south st, sprint bannister, regroup on nicholson, swing onto albany, before detouring along manning and kent. with the only fast point being bannister rd, i was hoping that it would all stay together.

huddling together like penguins in the cold, the groups numbers swelled as the clock struck 7 and we were off. typically, ryan was still nowhere to be seen so we were hoping for a nice easy sprint along bannister. like some sort of permanently slow clock, ryan turned up like clockwork, just as we were leaving. as he lives around the corner, he can afford that extra bit of sleep-in. however, he is moving soon, so he better get his crap together when that happens.

we rolled down coode st and onto canning hwy. the pace was nice and easy and remained that way until we hit the first main hill coming towards melville. the riders found their own pace and soon the pack thinned out dramatically. i had already dropped back and was working my way through the debris of riders going backwards. i gave shazza a bit of a push, but she said to leave her as she would turn around and take a short-cut up risely. once we hit the top, the group had pulled over into a bus bay and was waiting for regroup. its good to see the group looking after itself.

stock rd was full of rolling hills and the group did it’s best to stay together. i was playing sheep-dog today and was trying to round up any strays from the back of the herd. dr greg was struggling big time and a rode with him a bit before he told me to go on ahead.

we turned onto south st and the rolling hills continued. lisa, bec and dave fell off the back and i was a bit unsure on my course of action. drafting wouldn’t have helped that much as the hills was the killer, rather than the wind. i ended up pushing lisa back to the group and letting the other two fall further behind. once we had been reattached to the back of the field and slowed again and waited for dave and bec. by now the road flattened out a bit and they could neatly fall in behind to get a draft back. we chased for a while and managed to get back on before we turned off onto bannister.

this was the designated fast section of the ride, and i could tell some of the boys were itching to go. chris lined up to go just as the lights changed to red so he sat back down again, his intentions known to all. he didn’t care though and as soon as the lights changed back, he was off up the road. a small group was on his wheel, but in true rouleurs style, no-one came around to help. i got down into time trial position and dragged the rest of the group up to an around the struggling form of chris. eventually i was overrun by riders and fell into step about halfway along the group. ryan had taken off and split the front of the pack up and gaps were starting to form.

it was beginning to look rather ugly, but then the saviour of the backmarker appeared in the form of a very, very big truck. well, the truck wasn’t that big, but the load it was carrying was massive. it was a steel truss for a bridge or building or something very large and it covered the two lanes we were in, the medium strip, the two opposite lanes and was still in the driveway. the driver was trying to negotiate the corner without brining down a light pole when he turned. as get smart would say, “he missed it by that much”. it was close. we debated turning around and heading back up another road, but then some bright spark remembered that we were on bicycles and we bypassed it via the footpath.

after that, i assumed wrongly that the group would just stay together as there was not much of bannister rd left. like a shot they were off and people were scrambling to get on board. i looked back and saw dr wally trying to help lisa and bec, back to the group. chris and i jumped on in front of them and started trying to pull the gap down.

with a favourable wind, we were not doing it too hard, but at the same time, we were not making up any ground. the group stayed that couple of hundred metres in front of us before we hit albany hwy. here we started to get the lights and this widened the gap and i thought we would have no hope of catching them.

a stroke of luck for us had out hope raised when it was obvious that half the group had missed the turn to manning rd. they went past but realized their mistake so came back through hamilton st. i thought we would cut them off, but they got a good set of lights and stayed in front of us. we were now split into three groups, but as the middle one contained all fast (but navigationally inept) boys, they quickly made up ground to the people who can read a basic map.

our group, unfortunately caught the set of lights at leach hwy. when they changed, we took off after the group kind of knowing that we probably would stand a chance of catching them. bec told chris and i to go on ahead, but i didn’t want to leave them on manning rd in too smaller a group. the undulations took their toll on our chase and soon we had broken down from a tight drafting pack. i got bec onto chris’ wheel then fell back to grab lisa. dr wally jumped across to chris as well and i dragged lisa across the final few rollers.

surprise, surprise, when we approached lawson st lights, the pack was waiting to turn right and was caught in the turning lane. we blasted past them asing what were they turning there for. they were quite a bit early and the super map reading skills said that any old road would do.


the main pack split apart and chased us down to be all together by the time we were at the correct turn up kent st. this would be the final run for the day, as we were turning up back streets to get to my place after this. i was not sure if people would know were to sprint too as we had not past by here before. it didn’t matter really, as they just needed an excuse to stretch the legs. ryan and co stepped it up and i managed to move forward a bit but stayed mid-pack till the turn. not sure of the final result as i was more concerned about getting the group to the breakfast on time and in one piece.

we rolled into the garage and there were already a couple of bikes parked inside. it turned out that sharon had found her way along south st and was waiting for us to catch up with her. dr greg eventually did catch her and told her that the pack was long gone. they took a shortcut and made it to breakfast before us.

with all the bikes packed into the garage for safe keeping, we ambled in to find a remarkable spread of food already set out and waiting for us. lorraine had catered well and people were eating the drinking in no time. the outside table was left bare as the heater was cranking inside and everyone was huddled around it. luckily it had not rained this morning so we weren’t too filthy by the time we turned up.

once we were fed and watered, i handed out the remaining cycle kits to those that needed it. we then raffled off a few of the prizes that lorraine had managed to aquire for the group. dannika, one of the girls that davina has been training, won a subscription as did anthony and paul. the “major” prize of a pair of euro optics sunglasses with four lenses, went to michael. the raffle was drawn by my ben so that it was obvious that no favorites were to be had. thanks to euro optics, ride media and bicycling australia for their contributions.

those that then wanted to, could have their bike weighed as we had james’ swish weigh scales. some people were not happy with their results, but i have been assured that these scales are more accurate than the cheaper bike weigh style. i will update the results on the blog soon.

so a very successful day today, with our inaugural social occasion being received well by all. even kate said that we should do it again, but probably when the weather gets a bit nicer.

sunday 13th – crash report

3 Comments

UPDATE from simon thu 17th
Winton will be in hospital until monday. He had plastic surgery around his eye last Sunday, but after the operation had blood in urine so had to stay in.
That fixed itself but then on Tuesday they discovered he has broken tibia and fibia at the ankle and has an operation tomorrow to put some pins in to fix that.

Paul Prottie is out but has a lot of skin off his inner thighs, arse and back.

Joe has a massively swollen calf where the bumper got him, they suspect broken leg but cannot do much until swelling goes down.

UPDATE from hannah via triwa forum mon 14th

Thank you to all of our cycling and triathlon friends who have sent messages of support.
We are so relieved that no one was more seriously injured from the impact.

To date, there are still three cyclists in hospital, but all are expected to be released today.

All cyclists were experienced riders, and were riding safely, within the shoulder/ bike lane of Brookton Hwy. We rode single file when neccesary, and stayed together as a group to be more visable to traffic.

My assumption is the young 17 year old driver who had been out all night and was on his way home, fell asleep at the wheel, judging from the way he moved across the road and ploughed through the group of 11 cyclists.

I was fortunate enough to be at the front of the group, and had time to turn away from the car. All I can say is make sure you wear a decent helmet when you ride. This is what helped save everyones lives.

UPDATE from watoday website
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/pplater-to-face-questions-over-crash-with-cyclists-20080714-3evq.html


UPDATE from simon sun 13th
Its incredible no one was killed.
Fortunate enough for me i was hiking this morning and didnt ride with the group.
Jeff, the owner of cyclebuzz and cyclerama, has started a sunday hills ride. http://www.cyclebuzz.com.au/
This morning Sunday 13/7/08 whilst up in the hills a 19 year old youth in his ute hit the peleton from behind destroying 6 carbon bikes, and wounding six riders.
The ambulances came and took three of the riders to Armadale hospital and the other 3 taken to Royal Perth.
I have just finished talking with Phil and Hannah who advise the following:
Armadale Hospital –
1. Gary – scans and xrays ok released cuts and bruising
2. Maricio – Hannah was riding next to him and watched him go onto the bonnet then off – scans and xrays ok released
3. Winton Lawton ( Hannahs husband )- ct brain scans ok xrays ok, he has face eye issues, plastic surgeon called in, is being transferred to Royal Perth for further assessment and maybe surgery.
Perth Hospital –
1. Joe scans etc ok released – his new carbon C1 Giant he bought from us last week destroyed
2. Jeff Appleton ( owner of Cyclebuzz and Cyclerama ) scans etc ok big black eye cuts etc. Was in Trauma section, was released this afternoon but started to feel bad so went back in for further observation.
3. Paul Prottie ( Shannon Arnotts husband ) – seems to have come off worst – is in Trauma section expected to be in overnight, hopefully no spinal damage, lets cross fingers for him.
The rest of the peleton not harmed. The Police are investigating the cause.
ORIGINAL POST
while we were up at kalamunda today, bobbie barnes from another group, mentioned about a crash that happened on brookton hwy this morning. it seems that a group from cyclebuzz/cyclerama were out climbing brookton when a P plater in a ute drifted onto the shoulder where they were riding and cleaned most of them up. no-one was killed but a couple of the riders were taken to royal perth with all types of injuries and are not in the best condition. They need to hire business lawyers located in Ormond Beach, in case of serious injuries. 

our group didn’t head out that way today, but we did go on some pretty tight roads. it pays to be aware of the traffic conditions and we often went to single file as cars got stuck behind us. however, it just seems that no matter how much you do to stay out of trouble, it only takes one driver to lose concentration and you are gone.

our thoughts go out to those that got injured today and hope that they make a speedy recovery.

stay safe

sunday 13th july – darlington and mundaring

3 Comments

ride report by peter

a smaller than expected group turned up this morning. the overnight temperature was quite a bit above the expected low of 4 deg as it was closer to 8 or so. this made the decision to wear a jacket or vest a hard one to make as you know that there will be cold spots in the hills, but at the same time, we are climbing a lot which makes it hot. i went with the jacket, and covered up my new kit, as the coffee shop is notoriously cold.

i received a text from ryan before we left, stating that his broken cranks, the cold weather and his lack of sleep all conspired to keep him in bed this morning. bit of a pussy really. without ryan or mike, the main contender on the climbs would be stu. but we would see what transpired.

the route today was a new addition to the suite of sunday climbs in our current arsenal. there would be a few new roads as well as a number of more familiar ones cobbled together to form the new route. it was planned to be a little over 100kms and climb over 1000m vertical. it would be a bit deceptive though, as there would only be three main climbs, but lots of little bonus climbs.

we would head out great eastern hwy but turn to head through belmont and across to maida vale to access ridge hill road. this cuts the corner somewhat and goes to the south of the airport rather than around the northern side. from ridge hill rd we would snake our way through a new route to darlington and back up to great eastern hwy. jump the hwy and into john forrest national park before jumping back to travel to mundaring township. down past mundaring weir and onto coffee in kalamunda. a wild convoluted route, but we need to go exploring some times.

as i said, not a big group and we probably only had 12 roll out with us. we cruised out to belmont and found our way across to kalamunda rd. they were good quiet roads and made it easy to get out to the hills. it gives us another option for both our saturday and sunday rides. along the way we picked up doug and russell to boost our numbers.

our first “bonus” climb was ridge hill road. we normally come up the other side, which is definitely harder, but today we were really just using it as a way to get to darlington. the pace started to increase and it was obvious who would be leading the climbs today. stu, brendan, rob and sam all rode to the front and left the rest of us behind. my tour de france coverage induced lack of riding is starting to catch up with me and i am just not able to hold the pace that i used to. i let the four of them scamper up the hill and over the top. we lost dr paul and wally at this point as they set their own route up the zig-zag instead.

we regrouped and headed through to darlington via clayton rd. this contained mainly rolling hills which were not tough enough to hurt the group until the last one near the end. the road did a sharp left hand turn and started a quite nice climb. the boys headed up the road again, but came to a intersection and milled around awaiting further instructions. i was confused as i had only ever come along this road from the other direction. russell lives close to the area and he provided direction. we turned down glen rd and continued to climb up to darlington proper. another regroup point, as this route has a lot of intersections to negotiate, and we lined up for the final climb up darlington rd. there was a bit of a shout and it turned out to be our marketing director, lorraine, going for a jog as she also lives close by. she is still not on the bike after taking a tumble and breaking her wrist. she likes to pretend that it happened during a final sprint along mounts bay rd where she was giving ryan a run for his money. we will just pretend that it is true.

we have never taken a group up this part of darlington rd before, as it terminates on great eastern hwy and doesn’t leave us with many choices. today however, we would use it as an alternative to riding greenmount as it will also get us to the enterence to john forrest national park. i had only ridien this hill twice before and really didn’t remember how long or how steep it was. the other guys also didn’t know this climb, so everyone was playing it conservatively. about five or six of us climbed it together as we dropped the rest of the field earlier on. anna stayed with us for a while but the constant tempo on the steeper sections eventually unhitched her. the same four from the previous hill finally dropped darren and i on the last pinch up towards the hwy where we regrouped again.

our detour through the national park did not contain any real climbs and was really just an excuse not to ride on great eastern hwy. the rough and windy roads made for an interesting ride as it forces you to ride quite hard in order to maintain a decent pace. michael and brendan di most of the pace making and soon we were back at great eastern hwy again. a nice easy cruise back up to mundaring taking thomas rd which parallels the hwy. we regrouped and set off for the final stretch to kalamunda.

the plan was to do the whole road without stopping as everyone pretty much knew the way to the coffee shop from here. the group held together well down to the weir which contained a great fast decent. once we hit the other side it was a different story.

the previous four and michael started the climb out of the weir and i scrambled to get on the back of that group. michael pulled off at the carpark to wait for emma while the rest of us continued at a decent pace. i was suffering again and the temp had dropped dramatically as we came down into the valley. my left quad started having the same tight feeling as last week so i am deducing that it is the cold that is affecting it. i need to get some knee warmers, i think.

halfway up the climb, brendan, stu and sam stepped up the pace a bit and rob began to fall away. i accelerated to come around him and tried to latch back onto the wheel in front. the effort took it’s toll and i also began to fall back. rob came past me again and set himself a tempo to try o catch back up. i recovered slightly and tried to just ride myself back into a tempo that would allow me to catch back up once the road flattened. it didn’t happen.
i just didn’t have the power in my legs and it depressed me greatly. i used to be the guy that would push the pace all the way back to kalamunda and would shed off the weaker riders with a tempo on the hills. now i was the weaker rider. my heart rate was not high so i didn’t feel i was working hard, but my legs felt leaden and did not want to push hard.

on the final climb before the decent into piesse brook, i thought i saw a rider a bit behind me. from that distance all i could see was they were wearing black. michael was wearing black, but i thought that i couldn’t be himas he was riding back with emma. i soldiered on hoping the decent would allow my legs a bit of respite.

once i hit the final climb up to kalamunda, i had decided to well and truly punish my legs for not being available today. i left it in the big ring and selected a cog from the middle of the cluster. strength endurance work it would be.

it turned out that it was michael behind me as he caught me on the lower slope of the climb and kept on going past me. i just sat down and pushed out the big gear, only standing if i needed to get on top of it during a change in gradient. the coffee shop finally appeared before me.

at the coffee shop we got the news about the accident in roleystone. see the previous post for more info.

we headed off on our descent and had a good run down lesmurdie rd. at the intersection with welshpool, there was a jag waiting to turn right. we rolled up behind it as there was some traffic approaching. as it cleared, we clipped in and started moving. however, the jag didn’t move. we had to skirt around it and by t
hen there was another car coming. it cleared and we looked at the jag and it still didn’t look like it was going to move, so we went. there is an added lane once you cross the traffic coming up the hill, so you don’t really have to wait for the opposite traffic to get across the road. we have no idea what the jag driver was doing, and didn’t care as we were now heading down the hill.

the wind, or lack of meant that the descent was not breaking any records. michael took off just before us and managed a good gap by the time we reached the bottom. we were all pedaling on the descent to try to make up ground, and then time trialed it along the flat, but still didn’t catch him. a long wait at the lights meant that the group was all together and didn’t need to wait at the usual spot.

with no ryan or melvyn present, there were no riders willing to sprint it out at the two mcdonalds sprint points. it actually made for a very pleasant return to perth.

so a nice ride with little to no rain besides a few drops on the return to perth. the new route is nice but quite convoluted coming through darlington so may not feature as regularly as others. but we will see. again, our thoughts go to the riders that got cleaned up today in roleystone and i hope that they recover well.