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saturday 21st june – sth lake

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ride report by peter

today is the winter solstice, which, for those that remember some of the things they taught us at primary school, it the shortest day of the year. it was also probably the coldest start we have had as well. at 7:00 it was officially 3.4 deg in perth city. by 7:30 it was 3.3 deg but luckily an hour and a half later when we hit the coffee shop it was 12.6 deg. almost summer. hopefully, as the days get longer the less you will hear me whinge about the lack of daylight until daylight savings kicks in again.

so, due to the cold start and the short day, i was expecting a less than impressive turn out. to my surprise we had close to forty roll in all kitted up in whatever winter gear they could find. we were doing a new route today and it would be a learning experience. i will apologise now for the stretch along armadale rd as it was a bit busy and will be excised from the route in future. we intended to head down canning hwy and onto north lake rd till it hit armadale rd. we would then return via nicholson rd and albany hwy. as we had never used this route before, i was unsure about which spots to let the boys loose, so i picked a familiar spot were this route and the banister rd route combine. at least people should know where they were headed by then.

the majority of the ride was pretty sedate as it was a reconnaissance. north lake rd had a couple of rolling hills that tested the back markers a bit, but all in all the roads were good all the way down to beeliar drive. i was splitting my time between making sure the guys on the front knew where they were going to making sure some of our weaker riders were keeping up at the back. i felt like a bit of a sheep dog, roaming the edge of the flock, trying to keep it in check. ryan was also doing an admirable job helping lisa along when the going got tough. michael had one of our first mechanicals, with a flat tyre, but he waved me on when i was going to stop.

we turned onto armadale rd and lost our nice clear double lane. suddenly we were in a 90 zone of single lane traffic that was in a hurry to go do stuff and things. we battled on but i was hanging out for the left turn that would take us away from all of it. nick commented after we turned that we should have been single file as he saw a number of cars pass very, very close to the outside rider. it doesn’t matter now as the route will be changed.

swinging onto nicholson rd we were soon into nicer quieter roads that skirted suburbia. as we past livingston marketplace, where sharon has her optical shop, i was chatting to ryan about places to make the fast stretch, and this seemed ideal. nice smooth roads and double lane. next time we will know better. as this road came to an end, dr melvyn had our second mechanical with a suspected flat tyre.

as nicholson turned left and continued over roe hwy, it was on for a few km’s before we connected back with albany hwy. a few of the guys took advantage of the fact that ryan was on the back and took off hard to try to keep away. i was somewhere in the middle and struggling to hold pace let alone bridge across. rob came around to help, which was good for a while, but then i was fading fast and couldn’t hold his wheel. ryan came flying past about then and bridged across to the leaders but didn’t go past them as he was content at that. i managed to limp in, and with the benefit of a set of traffic lights, i kept in contact.

we slowed the pace down at albany hwy to allow the group to reform as we had spread out quite a bit by then. the next fast section was only just down the road and would take us back into town and to a well deserved coffee stop.

as albany hwy merged into shepperton rd, the pace was on again. the rolling hills make this last stretch interesting as do the traffic lights, as both can potentially allow a rider to get away for a solo bid. this time, however, the lights allowed the group to reform a couple of times as we all got caught. james took off after one set, but i was content to play the spoiler today and just pull back any breaks that went. everyone was itching to go, but no-one wanted to commit until ryan jumped at the base of a small rolling hill. as i was on the front, i managed to semi-stick with him. i was there, but not exactly on his wheel, but far enough from the rest of the group to say that it was a breakaway. unfortunately, when my body said enough, this left me in no-mans land and was pick up by the rest of the riders as we came down the hill into the causeway.

this is where is started to get messy.

a couple of the boys began to slide along side the cars at the lights like motorbikes do when you are stuck in traffic. this is fine for them, but on the bicycle, they are going to have to negotiate around us again, which puts us in a potentially unsafe situation. about three riders crept around while the rest of us waited behind the line of cars. this gave those guys a decent advantage when the lights changed and we were struggling to catch them.

ryan bolted out of our group and easily bridged across to them. chris hit the front of our group and tried to bring them back all by himself. knowing that i had no top end speed for a sprint, i rolled around to the front to try to time trial the group up to the leaders. it didn’t last long and by the time we had crossed the causeway, i was spent and peeled off to the side.

no idea how the ride finished, though i can make a good guess, as i limped in minutes afterwards. not a good sign for a big hills ride tomorrow.

no coffee stop for me as it is bens 2nd birthday today and we were having a party. i did manage to catch up with lorraine, who was there with her wrist still in a cast, to talk about a potential bike kit launch breakfast. i will keep you informed as it comes closer.

i am running a tour tipping comp again this year and will have that up and running soon too. same format as last year, where you must pick a new rider everyday, but not the same rider between rest days. confused??? don’t worry, i will post the rules on a separate blog soon.

Sunday – Welshpool Rapids & Kalamunda River

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Report by John
Updated with Video

All those with nothing better to do, and either no decent coffee machine, or indoor trainer turned up – i think there were 6 or 7. i waited in the rain hoping no one would turn up but alas they trickled in like drowned rats – equally disappointed in seeing a fellow cyclist…so we had to go.

someone murmured about going straight for a coffee – and thus a mutiny was hatched.
pete’s planned route was sabotaged before we even started.

i was little disappointed – i mean if you make the effort to go riding in the rain, may as well get hypothermia and make the most out of it. then again i must confess i was not totally unhappy as it started to ‘persist‘ down.

the ride up welshpool for me was better than anticipated – i kept in touch with the front guys (kept in touch at about 100m behind) for half the climb. todd was on my tail most of the way until he had a spell in front with me taking him on the last little kick before the finish.

the other climb up kalamunda hill felt good as well. trailed dr carl for a bit then took him. there is a flattish section about half way up that i’ve learnt to change into the big ring and scoot along. managed to keep about 35kmh for a while there but never caught sight of the front 4 guys. i reckon they must have been about 400m in front.

Pete and young Ben met us for a much needed hot drink (thanks carl for the $5) , and i think pete was filming us on the way back down the hill. at first glance i thought some cop was trying to make sure we weren’t speeding…no chance of that!

every time i climb it’s a learning experience balancing lungs, heart and lactic acid (”the kids in the back seat” ) with my brain telling everyone to “settle down”.

i think lance was right – we ride not for the pleasure, but for the pain. it gives us such a sense of achievement to ‘handle it’ – not matter where one is in group’s pecking order.

all in all, happy i did the ride (so nearly piked out), but very relieved to make it down the hill and back home in one piece.

apologies for not mentioning everyone who rode, but i have trouble enough remembering what i did let alone anyone else…

saturday 14th june – benara rd

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ride report by peter

as saturday rolled around, the predicted ne winds did not appear and we had calm conditions instead. usually this would be better, but i was banking on a nice tailwind on benara rd to give us a push. with the predicted clear 23 degrees meaning very little overnight cloud cover, the temp had dropped to about 6 deg by the time i rolled out from home.

the usual suspects were there this morning minus ryan who we expected had slept in again, but would probably join us as we rolled by his house. we headed out great eastern hwy and crossed the river at ascot, turning onto guilford rd. the group took it really easy this morning and it made a good change from the last time we did this route. there were some hot-heads which split the group up early when they got a draft from behind a truck. this made for a very splintered and dangerous trip through guilford. no truck this time so everyone was together by the time we hit benara. everyone except dr paul and dr greg who turned off early for a shortcut.

i was sitting at the back of the pack with ryan when the pace came on. not ideal positioning, but the road is long and i was sure that there would be wheels to catch to propel me forward. after the second round-about, i had made my way to the front and launched a nice attack where i managed to gap the field significantly. i had a really good group ride on thursday and thought that my form was up and ready to play. unfortunately, this was saturday and i found i had no legs. i pushed on trying to will some more power out of my body, but i was going slower and slower. the bunch lead by nick reeled me back in and back was the direction i was going. everyone who was in that group managed to get past me as i was struggling to hold the pace.

i managed a bit of recovery before finding my way to about mid-pack again. at the two main sets of lights that stopped us, it was strange to hear that not a word was spoken. maybe i wasn’t the only one feeling it today. as we came through the last roundabout and started the final stretch, i attacked again. this time i didn’t get as far before ryan came screaming around me like i was standing still. i tried to hold out as long as possible but soon the rest of the pack engulfed me. i managed to hold on and limp to the end of benara rd.

we slowed it right down for the next section to allow any stragglers to catch back up and also allow us a bit of a breather. as we headed towards whatley crescent, the pace picked up a bit as the guys saw dr paul and dr greg up the road a bit. this forced the group to “line-out” and i was stuck at the back talking to shao as we approached the intersection. bad positioning again, and i was sure that we would miss the lights altogether, but managed to scrape through on the amber.

a handful of boys had attacked straight away and managed to get a bit of a break. i sprinted around the main group and headed into no-mans land. wary of my previous two efforts i tried not to max out, and aimed for a steady pace to try to reel them back in. i past dr paul just as the lights changed which stopped the rest of the pack. i was seriously screwed now. the guys were up the road in front of me, and the ones behind were now stuck at the lights. i decided to keep plugging away, and hoped that i could make up the ground.

a group of five or so should have been able to keep away from me on my own, but there weren’t really sharing the work load. it took a few km’s but i finally managed to grab a wheel. it turned out to be dr greg who had latched on as the train went past. rob had been doing the majority of the work with a turn from christophe, but then rob was soon back in front again. he was frustrated and so kept going through the lights at guilford rd when the rest of us stopped. not a yellow card, or a red card, but a serious black card as the lights were very red.

i got on the front as the lights changed and time trialed my way along east parade with the other five in tow. it turns out that the other group then got every single red light on whatley cres and was never in sight of catching us. we caught and past rob and kept the pace on over the police station hill as usual. with only a handful available for the final sprint, i decided to lead it out as i felt i had no top end speed. with james on my wheel i wound it up along riverside drive until about halfway. gasping for air, i signaled for james to make his move, but he said he had nothing. ryan and jerry came flying past and that was the end of the sprint for me. ryan managed to dodge the sloooow car that i was catching and held on to the end.

the rest of the crew rolled in a few minutes later, all grumbling about the lights on whatley cres. by then the day had seriously fined up and so we really shouldn’t have had anything to complain about. coffee and a big breakfast for some offered a nice end to the ride. the shorter distance on this one also meant that we had longer to chat at the coffee shop too.

i have been playing with some new routes for both the saturday and sunday rides that i hope to unleash on the group soon. variety helps keep it interesting.

Sunday 8th June 2008 – Part 2, Canning Mills, Peet and Lawnbrook.

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Sunday Ride Part 2 By Ryan (following on from Darren’s report)

Well, I was not feeling the best today (I dehydrated my body on Sat arvo playing in the park (boxing, rugby finishing up with soccer) and do not think I refuelled it adequately even though I drank a lot of fluids on Sat night (coke and lemonade are good rehydration drinks? J), also have a cold sitting in the background threatening to become full blown given half the chance (flus are in the head after all, they need to be suppressed).

Quick summary of my ride, it was my first time up Canning Mills road and it beat me mentally. I started spinning at the bottom and everyone dropped off, then the road kept going and kept on pointing north.. Passed another lone rider and said g’day. Then my legs started to say they did not want to play, my heart was pounding and my head was asking “When does this end?”. I took a look back and saw Michael B was not too far behind so I thought it was fine to ease up a smidge and wait for him to catch up.

Michael B caught up and went past saying it was only him. I asked how much further but received no response. I went past him momentarily, then Stuart came past and Michael B jumped on his wheel. I thought I would just sit on behind them which I did for a little while until my head gave in and I eased right up (not happy with myself for breaking but will endeavour not to do it again). I then spotted the road I had been given orders to stop at, I had to be sure and read the sign properly and in this time, Stuart and Michael B were still going up the road, I made a poor attempt at telling them we had to stop but then felt they would notice noone had followed and would turn around (they did eventually).

I was at the back at the start of the downhill section but was in second spot behind Mark (who loves downhill sections) when we hit Peet road. I was still feeling rough but was thankful as I looked right at the steep section of Peet road (looked very steep when looking down it) that we had not had to come up it. I was happy behind Mark then Stuart came past and Michael B jumped on the back of the train. I sat in for the rest of the uphill section. When the road went flat, I thought I would have a turn on the flat and pull everyone along at a decent rate of knots. Coming out of the roundabout and the road started going up again, I let everyone go past and resumed my stalking position (riding like a sprinter Michael B said).

I sat there until the hill up to the school and I saw Stuart stand and give it a bit, followed by Mark, I took this as my cue to up the anti and I had to dig deep to get the weary body out of the saddle and press hard towards the summit. I managed to summon the required energy and power to gap everyone by the top.

Next section is short and sharp to Karragullen servo and I started at the back. Turning onto Brookton, I slowly went around people where there were some gaps until I was up front and I started pulling at a decent pace. Then Melvyn did his special and shot past then it was all on till the servo (I arrived first to find CRT people already there waiting). Brief regroup and we were off again, now wrapped up with CRT folk. CRT group were good and had some strong ladies.

I decided to take it easy again and sat in behind the group with Stuart at the front do most of the work. I was a little confused where we were and picked up the pace and went past at a time when I thought we had a little while to go, turns out we were almost at the intersection where we had a small regroup, sorry Stuart, a little rude to take off with not much time left, I told myself I would do more work on the final climb of the day (turned out to be Lawnbrook).

Lawnbrook is not my favourite climb as it is one which is a little steeper than I can comfortably climb but I told myself to put some in this climb so when I hit the bottom, I kept the gears heavy and started grinding up and passed Michael B at the start of the climb. Kept on going and then the head started playing tricks and body did not want to play. No, I was keeping on going, I kept on pushing and I thought the road was flattening out and I looked down at my back wheel and there was another wheel right behind it, a red one, it must be Michael B. I eased up a little and he came up next to me, I said I did not want to play anymore and how much further to go. No response but he was breathing hard and pushing hard. So I decided to dig deep again and passed him on the right.

I kept pushing till the road flattened out, I thought this is where it would end, then Michael B came past again and kept the pace high. Fair enough, we are on the flat now, my territory so I upped the pace and pulled Michael along at a steady rate till I thought I could ease up and past me he went again. Hmm, seems this tussle was not going to be over till the T section so I put my head down and bum up and went past again and pushed hard till the T section where we were regrouping. Tough climb it was and Stuart rolled in 50seconds after we arrived and then about another minute back till others started to roll in. Time Trialled to coffee shop for some fun, I think Melvyn tried to latch on as I went past.

Coffee shop was uneventful, but please note matching Dashing Assos Doctors.

Ride home was puncture ridden. Jerard and I arrived at the Albany Hwy/Shep Hwy intersection first and wondered where everyone had got to. Jerard said Mark had pulled up with a puncture and everyone must have stopped with him. We sat there for a little while watching some ‘locals’ having a lovers quarrel. Which moved from the MacDondalds to some bushes. Mark rolled in and saw the quarrel and stopped to tell the ‘fella’ off for slapping his missus about. The ‘fella’ then started moving towards Mark so Jerard and I rolled up the road to where he was (a ute had stopped as well and was telling the ‘fella’ not to lay a hand on the girl (ute man disappeared fast).

‘Fella’ proceeded to tell Mark not to tell him how to live his life as he did not tell Mark how to live his. Mark told him that he would tell him what to do if what he was doing was breaking the law. Mark then told ‘fella’ to stay away from him. I took out camera (phone) and ‘fella’ told me to tell the police his name was JT and they would know him as he was recently out of prison (quality ‘fella’ I tell you). I told him I was not calling the police and he then accused me of being a paedophile (I asked how old he was and he said he was a man, I told him I was not a paedophile if he was a man.. Not sure he grasped the concept).

We learnt Dr Mark had punctured twice and fallen off (when pulling over to change first puncture). We rolled off when we saw everyone arriving but g
roup broke up again. It was late now and I had a little sprint with Jerard coming up to Canning Hwy (well Jerard did not play so it was a solo sprint working on technique). Rushed home to wife.. I had some sucking up to do (no photos included).

Sunday 8th June 2008 – Part 1, Canning Mills, Peet and Lawnbrook.

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ride report by darren.

part 1, – only because i scrambled home after the last climb. I encourage anyone who was
1. close to the front.. or
2. made it to the cafe
to fill in the rest.

sunday morning could be described as cold – but not too bad. the wind was coming from somewhere but didnt really play a factor in the days activities.

todays route had us going up canning mills rd, or did it, most of us were confused, was this cohuna? so i stepped in… “definitely canning mills road”, that made me the leader for the first part. this would be the only correct piece of info i would dish our for the day. i guess i was still distracted by the amazing mr dickhead, must have been the same guy from the saturday ride, who swung straight into the car parking spot i had been waiting 5 minutes for at the shops on saturday afternoon, who refused to move or apologise no matter how loud my protests.

a fairly ugly looking bunch today, luckily bella joined us for her second day in a row in the hills despite a physics exam tomorrow. as the minutes ticked past 7am and after a bit of banter in the carpark Mark reached deep into his lycra and produced a measuring device….a portable bike scale, to become the official (enough) bike weight measurer for the group. nice work, but still some calibration required as mine came out heavier than anticipated – back to the drawing board.

about 16 brave souls headed down the new route to albany hwy, via manning road. stuart and mike b led the way for a fair chunk at a decent pace. mark and i found ourselves at the front after cannington and worked up a sweat as we pace the group down albany hwy to gosnells.

at the tonkin hwy lights i told ryan the regoup point thinking that is all the instructions required . we held a moderate pace down connell ave to the end, ryan kept asking, “is this the climb yet”, not yet ryan. I found myself at the back of the pack as we swung left into luchich to start the ascent, if only we were heading in the right direction, a quick u-turn and off to canning mills we went.

back on track, we snaked our way up canning mills which can be described as nasty. I initially stayed at the back while ryan, mark, stuart and jerry led the way. mike b was back in the pack taking it easy, well for about 10 seconds, he held a consistent strong pace, picking off riders one by one and caught the lead guys somewhere near the top. as i took the initial climb easy i had a little in reserve (despite holding 180bpm for the climb) and soon found myself holding jerrys wheel with mark a few meters ahead (no chance of passing either). stuart, ryan and mike b were the first to the top, with evidence that stuart held on for the kom points (if only i told ryan the correct regroup point). so telling everyone to regroup at urch was a mistake, as stu and mike headed off to the correct regroup point (wasnt fast enough to reach them) with ryan waiting with us. no one seemed to mind too much and ryan sped off to round up the pace setters (sorry guys and gals). Bella complained that her rear derailleur was playing up and she was locked out of some easier gears (this didnt seem to slow her down on the climbs).

the steep descent down urch is always fun and a little scary especially as you hit a bend just after the last really steep section. the climb out of urch onto peet and then to the school hurts a lot. with ryan, stu, mike, mark and gerry setting the pace i found myself behind dr marc and bella with shao on my tail. shao pushed me on the steep parts so i decided to dish out a bit of pain on the flats and just as he would get back on my wheel again i would accelerate again (now i am starting to understand this theory of inflicting damage). dont know who was first to roleystone but marc beat me to the top in our own little mini comp.

After a short break we all headed off down brookton hwy to the servo. The pace was definitely on as we descended the hill with mark, melvyn and ryan pushing for the karragullen sprint points (where-ever they are measured?). At the servo, no one seemed to want a coke or a gatorade so we headed off but found ourselves amongst another group of CRT riders (chain reaction training). the CRT group seemed to have many more x chromosomes that y (a point not lost on some of the group). so whilst mark, marc and i took it in turns to smash out a decent average at the front of the pack (later joined by stu, jerry and ryan), dr carl, todd and melvyn enjoyed the view from the back. dr jerry’s excuse was retinal hypoxia – or something.

as we headed down toward the observatory turn off we were passed in the opposite direction by the ultimate bogan mobile (a black SS clubman ute with spoilers, flares, 20 inch mags, lowered at the front and raised at the back- the mining boom has a lot to answer for), todd and i had a chuckle. The climb to the observatory was uneventful with Stu leading the usual suspects at break neck speed and those not fit enough to hang on falling behind. As ryan stole the KOM points in the last metres from stu, i found myself a few hundred metres back battling with dr marc again with the heart rate well and truly in the red zone.

at this point we debated where to go to next, others wanted to do mundaring weir road but my vote was for lawnbrook since we had not done that for a while and since it was the designiated route, convinced them that we should. the run down walnut was fun and i decided to take it it easy up lawnbrook. at the top I heard that dr gerry hurt mark and I think ryan hurt himself as he said that he was feeling like crap.

I will leave it to someone else to finish the day off as I headed for home with a few other at this point… thanks everyone for a great ride.

saturday 7th june – ridgehill rd

ride report by peter

cold, dark, throw in some more cold. welcome to winter. dry though. if it was wet it would have been a horrid day. we are expecting some showers during the week but they are always predicting that. i think we had close to 30 on the roll out and almost everyone had their winter longs on. melvyn and i headed the pack as we took off up mill point rd towards the great eastern hwy. today’s route would see us do a figure eight as we headed out to helena valley and over ridge hill rd before crossing our path and heading home through guilford.

after a while brett and jerry came to the front to ease the load for melvyn and myself. melvyn commented on the fact that guys just don’t look good in tights. i thought it may be like that beer ad where the guys cover their beer to stop it going flat when the two guys in lycra roller-blade past. that’s right, don’t drink beer while riding in lycra. the un-manliness of it will make it go flat.

we had a very cruisy start to the ride and the journey out great eastern and into south guilford gave everyone an opportunity to catch up and have a chat. no-one was going hard as i think everyone was saving it for the hill. as we crossed the railway tracks dr wally seemed to be having a bit of trouble. it seems his handle bars slipped and so dr paul slowed down to help him. there is a bit of a trend amongst the older doctors at the moment. they all seemed to have ritchey breakaway bikes. there are four (carl, greg, paul, wally) that have these swish titanium folding frame bikes that you can easily pack into a standard size suitcase. great for bike for traveling, if you do a bit of it.

so, paul and wally slowed down, but i knew that they knew the shortcut for the day and i was sure that they would be using it. we pressed on. as the group snaked it’s way towards the base of ridge hill rd, i flitted between talking to those at the back that may be struggling, to keeping an eye on the boys at the front to make sure they were being nice. i rolled around to the front just before the start of the climb to make sure i wasn’t boxed in when it started.

the ridge hill climb is nothing compared to the normal sunday rides, but we don’t often do any climbs on saturday, so it is always interesting to see how the group will react. i was on the front leading into the climb and started at a steady pace whilst watching behind myself in case anyone (ryan) put in a big attack. nothing was happening and the pack was staying well together, so i thought i better start to thin things out a bit. i upped the pace and watched john p fall back through the pack. jerry came with me and rob sprinted around to keep up. it started to string out a bit by the time we were on the first plateau.

just as it kicked up again, i came past jerry to try to set the pace higher. i thought i was doing a good job until ryan came past at pace and i’m sure he was in the big chain ring too. i tried to hold on to his wheel, but to no avail. i set my own pace, but used him as a guide to try not to lose too much more ground. i managed to gap jerry slightly on the next plateau, but by the time we had past the old quarry, i was starting to fade fast. mr dickhead was driving a green barina (or something) today and managed to come past us without much breathing space between. unfortunately the camera was facing the sun (as it was for most of the ride) and so i didn’t get his number plate.

as the road gently headed up for the final time, stu came flying out of the chase pack and past jerry and me. i tried to jump on but had nothing. the legs didn’t want to play nad jerry came past me at the end too.

down the other side and we had a regroup before heading along kalamunda road. the trip through high wycombe and back to guilford was taken at a moderate pace as the windy road can be dangerous if the group is all strung out when people are attacking. mr dickhead had changed cars now and was driving a 4 wheel drive that started to come around us just as we hit the bridge into guilford. no where to go he started to squeeze the cyclists off the road.

as we enter bassendean, the road extends to two lanes all the way back to the coffee shop and so the guys were given their head of steam. there were no attacks initially, but the group started to roll through to pull the pace up into the 40+ km/h.

unfortunately when we hit the undulation section of guilford rd, i was on the front and was very wary of any attacks going off the front. on the second hill, hamish and bruce did the bolt and gapped the field a bit. i had decided that i still needed to prove something to myself after and aborted kalgoorlie race and wanted to hurt myself and anyone else that dared to follow today. i chased the attack down, but it was bruce’s last as he turned down garrett rd, just as we caught them. ryan had jumped across with me and not the three of us had a slight gap over the field. chris and another guy had managed to bridge across so ryan and i swapped off turns to keep the pace high. unfortunately we came close to getting every single traffic light, so the pack regrouped a number of times.

i stayed at the front as much as i could and pushed the pace and my heart rate into the +180’s for the majority of guilford rd. by the time we turned onto east parade, i had wanted to spew at least twice and had dropped back a bit. the group eased a bit on east pde so i took the opportunity to try to time trial off the front and managed to get away for quite a while until ryan chased me down. i tried to stay with him, but had pretty much spent everything by then. the rest of the pack engulfed me as we crossed over the graham farmer.

i took it easy up the plain st hill and it turned out to be my undoing. the group was split into two packs at the lights and i was in the second one. we hit every light after that and never caught the front boys again. so not sure who even got up for the sprint. if i had to guess, i would say, ryan was first and jerry the eternal second.

no ride for me tomorrow, but the group should be heading out as normal. i will bring the young lad along for coffee in kalamunda and try to time it right to meet the group during the ride. then it is down to wandi to watch the 100km state title. i bought a wee-ride (kids bike seat) today from glenn parker south and so will do a lap or two (the opposite way so i don’t get in the way) while the race is on progress. show him what bike riding is all about.

sunday 1st june – menzies to kalgoorlie race

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race report by peter

the menzies to kalgoorlie is one of those iconic races on the wa racing calendar. if wa was europe, it would probably be referred to as a monument much like paris-roubaix. it has been run and won since 1928 when the road was only a dirt track. a event history can be found here.

the race is run as a graded scratch which meant that groups all got a head start based on the grade that they nominated. the “a” grade or “scratchmen” would take off last and be trying to catch “b” grade, who were trying to catch “c” grade, who were trying to catch “d” grade, who were dodging the remnants of “e” grade which is the participation race. so generally if the handicapper has read the field right (and this is a very difficult job) all the groups should come together at the finish for a mass sprint. this doesn’t always happen as it depends on how well the groups work together.

the most important thing about this race is the prize money. first place gets $3,000. being a handicap event, this means that everyone has a chance of getting it if they have the legs at the end of 132km. there is also a generous breakdown of cash prizes for the different grades and fastest times as well as money for the criteriums on saturday. the total prize pool this year was $15,000. that is what generally attracts people to the race.

so before i even got to the start of the race, i needed to actually get to kalgoorlie. this meant either a 6+ hr road trip or a flight to kal. one of my sunday training partners, davina and her hubby luke were also heading up for the race so i car-pooled with them to ease the drive a bit. davina got sixth overall in last years race and first female across the line, so she was looking to improve on that this year. my goals for the race were just to finish.

we set off on saturday morning early enough to get to kal before the criteriums that afternoon. i had not nominated for the crits as i didn’t really think i had the legs for two events. my list of excuses was starting to grow. i had been battling a sore throat and runny nose all week plus i woke up at 4:30 that morning with a serious cramp in my calf. it was all heading towards a memorial weekend, no matter which way it turned out.

so a long boring drive with many toilet/food/driver change stops on the way and we finally rolled into town at around 2pm. both davina and i had nominated for “c” grade and her crit was due to start in about 35min time. we quickly got her bike out and she kitted up and headed out to register and warm up.

the circuit was laps around the main street of kal for about 25 min plus a couple of laps. the field attacked quite a lot and davina was there to chase down most of them until the final lap when some guy went hard with one lap to go and managed to stay away till the end. a strong showing by the field and it would be interesting to see what the pace would be like the next day when it was over 132km.

a compulsory race briefing at 6:30 that night and it was time for a quick bite to eat and off to bed to close out an already long day. luke was going to drive us to the start, so it allowed a bit more of a sleep in compared to the other riders that would have to catch the bus. bike was ready, kit was ready, rider was…..interested to see how the day would pan out.

race day
the race started at 10am at menzies. being a one-way race, meant that we had to endure the 132km drive out to the start. after the previous day, it seemed like nothing at all, but did give a bit of a preview of the terrain. it is considered flat, by most standards, but the road actually undulated quite a bit along the entire course.

the handicaps are not posted till the morning so it was well into our warm-ups that we found out that “c” had to make up 11 min on “d” but stay the 9 min away from “b” grade. the “a” and “e” grade were either side of that, but weren’t really a concern at that time.

when our time finally came to toe the line, murray hall gave a bit of a pep talk encouraging everyone to work well together and make sure you did your fair share of work. murray is one of the most experienced riders around the wa scene and has raced at almost every level of the sport. also as he is over 55 yrs old (masters 6 last week state titles) and still as strong as an ox, he has a lot of respect from the other riders.

the clock struck 10:35 and we were off.

we had a field of about 20 and there were some familiar faces amongst the group from other races that i had been in this year. the pace was on as soon as we crossed the railway track just outside menzies and soon we were rolling through at an average of 45km/h.

with the aim of keeping away from “b” grade reinforced by murray’s speech, everyone was rolling through well and keeping the pace high. there was a nominated sprint point at about the 30km mark and each grade was given a prize for first to cross the line. funnily enough, there were calls for people not to sprint but keep working together just before a bunch of guys took off the front and went for the money.

we regrouped and started to work again. occasionally as we rolled from the back you would notice a couple of people sitting on and not doing a turn. i was still struggling with the pace at this time and really felt like my body had not warmed up to the event. i felt a bit cheated that even though i was feeling crap i was still doing turns while a couple of others were just sitting in. anyway, by about the 40km mark i started to feel a bit better.

i was trying to drink more than i usually do but i actually felt like my stomach was not talking it too well and felt a bit bloated. i stuck with mostly water to make sure i wasn’t trying to force too much sugar through my gut. it usually works after a while as it give it time to flush though. at the halfway point there is a feed station set up. luke was meeting us there to give out drink bottles and davina and i managed to grab one each. very quickly afterwards the pace was back on.

we were beginning to pick up remnants of both “d” and “e” grade the further we got up the road. as the roads are very long and straight, you could see other riders for quite a long way before you actually reached them. we were also on the look out for the flashing lights of the “d” grade support car which would give us an indication of how far in front they were. looking back down the road we also couldn’t see the “b” grade support car, so that was a relief.

by about the 75km mark i was really starting to feel my legs. the hamstrings were beginning to feel tight and i had to occasionally get up out of the saddle to stretch them. my quads had not felt any cramps yet, which was a good sign, and the tight calf from the other morning had not given me any grief. the hammies felt like they did the first few times on the track where you are forced to spin more at a high speed. i didn’t want to over gear though as then i may upset my quads. i just kept it going as best i could.

at the 85km mark i really needed a break and fell to the back of the pack and sat behind sarah-jean who had been lurking back there. i skipped a few turns and tried to get some recovery, but it really didn’t seem to work. my muscles didn’t want to play and my cardio was still sitting high. at 88km i fell totally off the back and watched the pack continue up the road.

f@ck. i was so disappointed in myself. couldn’t even finish the race. as i started to slow down my body really started to rebel even further. the tightness in my hamstrings and glutes turned to pain and it was uncomfortable to even sit in the saddle. i managed to keep going by alternating betwee
n standing and sitting until my quads then began to cramp. it hurt to sit. it hurt to stand. what the f@ck was i doing out here in the middle of nowhere.

i managed to keep going for another 4km after being dropped before pulling up at an intersection and reaching for the mobile phone. limited service so i rang luke, but he was out of range. luckily “b” grade came around the corner a few moments later and luke was stuck in the convoy behind them. he saw me and pulled over. very gratefully i loaded the bike into the car and was glad to not be riding anymore.

as we finally got past “b” grade and up the road, we saw that “c” had caught “d” and had formed quite a large pack. this would certainly make it interesting for the finish. as we headed towards kalgoorlie i was trying to work out what went wrong. the encrusted snot around my nose and the salt crystals i could feel an almost every inch of exposed skin was a good indication that my body was not performing as expected. i probably went into the event a little too dehydrated and should have spent most of friday and saturday sculling water to make sure i had enough in my system. i was still coughing up crap, from my “cold” but i didn’t really feel that bad. the most telling sign was when i downloaded my heart rate monitor and saw that for the 2hrs that i was racing, my average heart rate was 177bpm. this meant that after doing a turn on the front and hitting the high 180’s, i wasn’t recovering properly before doing another effort. the 44km/h average up to that point hadn’t helped the situation either.

so, we pulled into kal and took up position near the finish line. a number of “e” grade riders came in first in dribs and drabs, but as they had a 35min head start on “c” grade, it would be expected that some of them would. not long after, a big bunch came around the corner and started jockeying for position. there is a tight roundabout to negotiate and the pack thinned as it went through to avoid having a pile up this close to the end.

down a couple of blocks of hannan st and a sharp u-turn before the sprint to the line. “b” grade had not caught “c” and the winning group was made up of “c” and “d” grade. the sprint to the line started early and being a couple of blocks it was too long for some who fell back at the finish. paul lamond managed to come away with the win but davina held onto fourth overall and was only a tire width away from claiming third. her race report and video of the finish can be found here.

the top six spots were all “c” grade riders as it seems that both “b” and “a” grade self destructed along the way and stopped working together to save themselves for the sprint of their own grade.

so, not a good day for me but a few lessons learned. lack of water, lack of speed work, lack of heart all may have contributed to my downfall. i was quite disappointed with my effort and will try to learn from it for the next lot of races. i don’t think i was really prepared for the speed that the group went as i had only contested scratch races so far this year. with the next handicap race being the collie-donnybrook race in august, hopefully i will have my shit together by then.

Sunday 1st June – Carradine & Peet

3 Comments

ride report by rob

another warm morning – still in for the arms and long fingered gloves though. with the weather being the way it was yesterday (thunder, lightening, flash floods, etc) it was pretty wet on the road – but alt least it wasn’t raining anymore. looked like it’d hold off too, so it was going to be a nice trip up in to the hills.

our number was 10 this morning – a lively looking bunch with some of the stronger riders in the pack. thankfully emma was with us providing some welcome relief from the hairy, gnarled faces of the rest of the crew. it was about 5 past 7 when mark rolls in. he pulls up to a halt, with some ominous bubbles coming out of his tire (or at least the air coming out of it onto the puddles on the road!) – yep, nice piece of glass in that one mate! “will you wait for me?'” he pleads…

once mark gets that sorted out, and gerry finishes his story about some dodgy shipment he’s trying to get flown into the country (from cuba???), we finally make our way out of coode st car park and on to mill point road.right at douglas and half way up the hill the call goes out to michael and me on the front, “mark’s lost his glasses!” mmmm, starting to see a pattern forming here – this is not a designated recovery ride! after a quick re-group we continue on to hayman and then round on to manning. and we nearly made it to albany highway without further event when another call from the back goes out “mark’s dropped his chain!” – the ‘other’ mark that is. stu turned round to go and collect him while the rest of us waited at the side of the road. re-group.

rounding on to albany highway i was thinking surely that has to be it, don’t these things come in 3’s? traveling along the highway was really quite spesh. beautiful sunday morning, not too many cars, nice flat road to warm the legs up before the climbs, everything’s feeling pretty good…”get off the f*%@king road, you wa*$%ers!!” is what i think the bloke said as he flew past in his camper van…at least i’ve got a house mate – back to the trailer park with you fella!

ryan, stu, michael and me did most of the front work along the highway – good to stretch the legs and get the heart going. i hadn’t ridden this route before so wasn’t too sure what to expect. knowing the routes pete plans though, i expected it’d probably start to hurt pretty soon. we rounded on to carawatha ave just before armadale, and my suspicions were confirmed. holy crap son, what is that??! looming large in front of us is what can only be described as something most people take their crampons and ice picks to get up…lovely. stu and mark move to the front and start working their way up. i drop down to what feels like a comfortable gear and try and hold mark’s wheel. ryan scoots past with gerry on his wheel. stu picks up the pace and leaves me and mark grinding our way up. about 2/3rds of the way up i looked at my heart rate – 97% of max and climbing – the breathing is so laboured that i’m sure i’m about to hyperventilate. finally reaching the top and started to spin my legs trying to get some oxygen back into my lungs and get my heart rate back down to something that resembled normalish. the re-group allowed for the needed rest – michael and emma arriving a short while after – respect to emma getting up it at all! and the re-groups are always a bit of a furphy – the stronger guys get to the top and get a nice long rest, and when the last person rolls in, it’s like “right, all on? lets go”. suggest new rules – lead pack turns round and heads back down to the last person (which is what stu started to do anyway) and push back up the hill again! then all re-group at the top and have equal rest….or is it just me??

anywho…on we head, michael flies off down the hill to the next turn and we head on to canns road. more climbing lies ahead, but nothing like that nasty, nasty cliff we’d just worked up. we make our way up through the bush to churchman brook road – quite a stunning piece of the world up there. great views and the scents of the wet bushland are something you only get to experience when you’re riding. pretty uneventful along this stretch with a few of us engaging in a conversation – others just enjoying being out in the open. a fairly fast descent down to the righthander at butcher road which takes u back up to brookton highway. ryan decides to test the pack up the hill and stu holds his wheel. mark, me, michael and gerry follow, but not with enough to keep on the tail of these guys – stu is really testing the fynn today it seems..good to see.

re-group at rolystone – mark mentions that they had breakfast there one ride – “mmm, that sounds good…shall we do that today” i think…ryan then starts to test the water on whether the group wants to pike it on peet road and just follow brookton around canning rd. as i hadn’t ridden this way before, i could only imagine what this next bit must look like. stu says that he’s doing peet road “for fun”, so it looks like the rest of us are too then! wouldn’t be right not too, really…! as we round on to peet road, it’s pretty obvious why there was some resistance…what the hell!!! off goes ryan, which was most unusual for him – normally likes to fly past with a giggle (at least thinking it, if not actually doing it) about 1/2 way up. stu takes off after him with me just off his wheel. i tried as hard as i could to hang on, but to no avail. 1/3rd of the way up the road flattens out and stu kicked. i looked behind me to see gerry about 100 metres back with mark, michael, john and mark just behind him. oh well, may as well give it what i’ve got, so i pushed again. that really began to bite and i could here gerry starting to close in. ryan was already off into the distance and i could see stu still trying the bridge the gap on him. gerry came past me just after the roundabout – is that the BIG ring he’s in!! mate, respect. i grabbed his wheel and held on for a while, and then it looked like he began to crack. grabbing for the smaller cogs at the back and then up out of the saddle….then clunk, off it goes on to the little ring. that’s me i think and go round. with the rest that i’d got in his draft, i was able to find just a little bit more and managed to get to the top in third. heart was certainly working and the head was beginning to ask the question “are you for real??”. stu headed back off down the hill to ride up with the back of the pack. as each one came in to the top there was a definite look of relief on their faces. ryan had the camera out taking pictures as they came in – any good ones mate?

after the re-group, we took off again, down to canning road – stu and me were off the front along brookton highway – i turned around and there wasn’t anyone else there?? i mention this to stu who seems not too concerned – something about ‘coffee shop’ and ‘first orders’ i think he said? quick regroup at the gull servo and we head out to go and find mundaring weir road. quite a nice rolling ride through to get there – the fast stretch along glenisla road had ryan on the front for most of the way doing all the work with the rest of us content to tuck in behind and get ready for what lay ahead. we wind our way down to mundaring weir road and round on to the final climb of the day. michael pulls off to the side to ride up with emma. stu’s on the front, with ryan, mark, gerry and me tagging on. the pace is high and the legs are all spinning. from what i can tell from everyone’s head position, we were very much at the business end of the day. being on the back, it felt like stu was putting in little mini attacks every 200 metres or so. as each of us responded it took just a bit more out of us. i was really struggling to keep in touch with gerry’s wheel…looking ahead there was another rider about 500 metres up the road. it felt like now there was a rabbit to chase down so the pace picked up again…reeling in this loan dude became a matter of principle and the effort stayed high. as we closed in, i could really feel the end of my run coming up…not much m
ore in the legs and the heart racing at 96% of max. we come up to the loan rider, and low and behold it’s darren – one of our usual crew. “slept in” he says as we work our past. darren jumps on to my wheel and i think the words were ‘holy shit!’ as he realized what pace we were going at. i think i only lasted another 100 metres or so before my legs packed it in for good…darren goes past and jumps on gerry’s wheel. so, from a distance, it looked as though stu really did have everyone’s measure today – mighty impressive effort, and as far as i can tell he was numero uno at the top. darren dropped his chain before getting up there and by the time i arrived at the round about, there wasn’t anyone there to greet me – guess i wasn’t getting first orders in after all!

rolling in to the coffee shop, there was lots of chatter from the four at the front about the climb. it was a big effort and the sweat count on gerry was running at what looked to be about 1.5 litres! time for a well earned coffee and food.

the group headed back out 1/2 an hour later and off to find the lesmurdie and welshpool fun parks. nice fast downhills with plenty of space to play. heading down welshpool road, ryan kicks off the front with darren and me in pursuit. as we got up to what felt like about 75 (must get that resh battery back in the computer!!), michael flies past in full aero position – ryan and darren look sideways and start pedaling furiously. a broken down car in the left hand lane made for some interesting times. ryan waves us round, darren moves out and i was forced across to almost the right hand lane. i wasn’t too fussed about a) going into the right hand lane and b) hitting the reflectors in the middle of the road. my indecision about where to steer then resulted in a wobble of the front wheel, an involuntary tightening of the sphincter the result. i managed to hold the thing square and came back in behind darren, deciding that the best lesson to learn is the one that doesn’t, but almost, result in a loss of blood. we get to the bottom and michael has really kicked off the front. darren had got round ryan and i was on ryans wheel. darren then did the lions share of the work to try and reel michael in until he blew up and ryan and me go round. ryan works hard to chase, with us only getting to michael just before the lights. a fine effort on his part. darren rolls into the lights remarking that ryan and i had not been gentlemanly in the way we had let him drop off the back. sorry mate.!

dodgy dude was at the school again today. we’re now thinking it’s boys in lycra, and not the kiddies, that he’s there for. i swear it’s the same guy – grey toyota camry. when a couple of the others roll in to the bus stop, mark has some serious piece of skin missing from his shin. another dropped chain – slipped out of the pedal and ‘whamo’ – ice packs and detol on that one my son. anyway, re-group of sorts – emma and mike b (the “other” mike b) head past and leave the rest of us to chase them down. rounding off orong and back on to welshpool, the pace picks up. michael and me are on the front and my legs are really starting to feel every one of the 80kms so far. i managed about 2 kms before having to come off the front and let someone else take the wind. a nice rest at the back for a while and then i could see a roll through of sorts happening. darren and me ended up back on the front again as we crossed the train tracks, just when gerry flies past for the first sprint. he’s really smoking it and then ryan flies past with michael on his wheel. it’s a long way up to albany highway, and it looked from where i was (read: nowhere near them, not even on a good day..) that ryan managed to get round gerry and hold michael off for the win.

albany highway was a nice cruise back, round on to hillview and then on to berwick. a few of our number got caught up at the lights so we had a relatively easy run along most of berwick. as we waited from them to get back on. after darren pulled off to head home, i was on the front as we came over the final rise. michael kicked for the final sprint with gerry and ryan pushing hard to reel him in. it looked as if he might just have held them off too – not quite sure what the finish line is along there, but he was well and truly in the mix at the end.

anyway, that’s it for now. i’m off to the airport – my wife is flying back over this afternoon…and if all went to plan she’ll have hooked up with the father of those two kids we’ve had at our place for the last few years and he’ll have taken them off our hands…and if not…

…no more sundays…no more coffee shop…!!

Ciao!

Saturday 31st May – Reverse Canning

ride report by robreally warm this morning – no boot covers or leg warmers (sounds awfully 80’s!). About 25 in the group this morning and with our fearless leader heading over to kalgoorlie to try his luck in the menzies classic, chris called the route….”and when can we go fast?” comes the well known south african call from the back…bannister road and shepperton road…just like ‘normal’!! ‘that’ll be my ‘breakaway point’ nick reminds us.

we head off up coode street and round on to canning highway. everyone appears to be in good spirits as the rain looked like it was going to hold off. we get down to north lake road (which has been the usual left hander for this route in the past) and the pack seemed to almost lead itself! not this time though – on to stock road. as we came round the final turn on canning the reminder that there is a reasonable climb before stock road looms large in front of us. feeling good this morning i thought i’d give it a bit and see who came with me. nick was on the front and seemed to slow just before the incline started so i went round…must have been a ‘mechanical’ something or other?? half way up i was still feeling good but could hear some heavy breathing just behind me. give it a bit more to see what happens…3/4 of the way up and i’m thinking i might even hold them off before….ryan flew past…again…then chris…then nick…then…doh! regroup at the top of the climb and round on to stock road.

an easy cruise along stock road to south street. after the climb i was content to sit back in the pack and have a bit of a rest. rounding on to south street we rolled down the first drop and then prepared for the first of several rolling hills. the guys on the front started to pick up the pace a bit with about 4 getting a bit of break on the group. i decided to go up and play and the pace stayed quite high…until chris came past and spoiled all our fun…(just kidding mate) – we’d dropped a couple off the back from the first climb, so as is our group’s philosophy, keep it together for the most part and play on the flats, we pulled back and sorted out a re-group.

the rest of south street was an easy cruise although by the time bannister road came up i suspected that i may have stayed out the front for just a little too much of the ride. this might challenge to hang on. just as we rolled up to the turn i was about to step on the gas and a car rounds from the right hand land and straight in front of us – those of us on the front throw the anchors out with the familiar ‘SLOWING’ call…but i think that given the close call on this one there where a few other words included in the call that may not warrant reporting! with most of the wind taken out of our sails and also being in the big ring, it was a grind to get back up to speed. that also meant a bit of cat and mouse started to see who was going to go first. not long before melvin takes the initiative and flies past with one other on his wheel. a couple more of us stand up and start to chase them down. then its on. legs start spinning and hearts start pumping. a bit of a gentlemanly roll through starts but it’s at pretty high speed. soon it comes down to every rider for themselves and the grimacing looks forward commence, pleading for the road to end. ryan takes off the front and pushes his wheel hanger hard. this doesn’t last long and he’s off by himself leaving us all to mop up the scraps.

rounding on to nicholson road the front group slows down for a well earned breather and the standard regroup. we head back up to roe highway and i turned around to see mike b at the back, most unusal to see him there, but understandable. will be good to have him back up to top gear when everything gets sorted. once we’re all on we get back up to cruising speed with nick on the front starting his usual push. the call goes out to start a roll through which everyone seems happy to oblige – nice stretch of road along to albany highway and then up along to shepparton road. paul comments to me that the bannister road stretch was ok this time, but the rolling hills on shepparton road may test. yep!

as we round on to shepparton road, the usual suspects start to step it up. chris comes past and i jump on his wheel. as he moved across to the left i don’t know why, but i thought it might be fun to push off the front as hard as i could. felt pretty good too for about 2 or 3 hundred meters. then it hurt. i was coming up to the lights and praying for them to go orange because i really needed the rest now. no such luck. nick, melvin, chris, gerrard, ryan, paul….bugger it…push now or you’re off the back! managed to stay on and got a much needed respite behind the group. clearly making breaks on the pack is not my strong point…might stick to the hills i think. the rest of shepparton road was fast but the front pack stayed in touch. everyone appeared to be getting ready for the riverside drive sprint.

lights at the causeway slowed us up coming off the downhill on shep road so we all got a standing start. just as we come up on to the first bridge, melvin decides to take the lead and puts in a spurt off the front. i’m sure i heard chris say ‘leave him out there’…but i could be wrong?? the rest of us hang back and the group is pretty bunched up as we come around on to riverside drive. chris is coaching the guys around him…”wait til the lights; wait til the lights”…we all oblige and by this time melvin’s back with the rest of us. as we get to victoria avenue lights the call goes out and we’re off. nick pushes off the front with chris on his wheel. i try to hang on with the knowledge that there’s a big group behind me. nick pulls left and chris goes round. ryan flies past and a couple of others try to hang on. ‘car right!!’ we hear from the back and gerrard goes past, legs flying. as i looked up front it appeared that ryan won the sprint, but not by too much…the rest of us sit up and start sucking in the oxygen.

as we rounded into the coffee shop there’s a whole bunch of chatter about gerrard’s sprint – apparently the “car right” call was directed at him mainly, given that he figured the left hand land was full and there was a perfectly good bit of road just the other side of that little white line with a nice clear run to the front. i’m still not not sure that he managed to get up to the 70km/h he said he was doing…but who am i to say…? there was a radar set up on the side of the riverside drive as well. ryan said he had to brake because he didn’t want to get fined….mmmmm??

lorraine was at the coffee shop sporting her new look (the hair AND the plaster cast). bit bored she says, so much so that she’s started to make homemade marmalade…so we can all expect some lovely darlington preserves coming our way next week…lorraine??

thanks gerrard too…the details of that operation you performed (a fractured ‘what was it again’?). the information to us blokes about how to avoid a similar outcome ourselves is most helpful!

and yes, i got to actually stop in and have coffee this week – she who must be obeyed and those 2 kids she keeps insisting are mine are all over east at the moment…ahhh the simple things in life!

thanks for the ride all.