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saturday 29th mar – shelley

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UPDATED BELOW

well the final day of the so called daylight savings and it was still night when everyone started arriving. we had decided to change the course a bit as the roadworks on the esplanade in mt pleasant were not too bad. this would take us on the same course as mickey’s group, so we decided to combine the two. or should i say, his group tagged on behind ours and i don’t know for how long either.

with the streetlights still on, and cars with headlights blazing, we headed out at the allotted time. the trip down canning hwy was rather uneventful and we managed to get through the multiple stop lights unscathed. once we turned onto the esplanade, the group did manage to stay together well, especially since the roadworks kept everyone on their toes. it was not raw gravel that we were rolling over as it seemed that the road was just waiting for the top coat to be laid.

once we got past that and the road smoothed out a bit, nick headed to the front and began to flex his “i don’t get out enough anymore so i need to hurt you” legs. the pace began to stretch the two groups already, and we weren’t even at the designated tempo section. i’m guessing that we started to lose some of mickey’s group at about this point, but i’m not sure as i was to close to the front trying to keep the boys undercontrol.

once we hit riverton dr strangely enough, everyone hesitated as no-one wanted to lead out the group. it is a long sprint section and well utilised by many groups in perth as there are minimal intersections and only one where we would have to give way. i sat at the front with nick as we began to slowly wind up the pace, waiting to see who would make a move.

being a long way out from the end, it would be a suicide mission to attack so early. so i went. and didn’t get too far. it did however, cause the pace to increase dramatically. ryan and nick both chased me down and before too long the rest of the pack was swamping me. with the ice broken, this meant that more and more people would try to get off the front causing most of the group to revert to survival mode.

a surprising sight was mickey flying around the pack and gapping the field before being chased down and totally swamped. i think the boys were pretty sure that he would not be getting away.

the attacks started to slow and people formed back into a double file with a kind of roll through happening. kind of, because it was more of someone doing work till they were buggered and the rest of the group swamping them afterwards. towards the end of the shelley sprint, some of the big boys went to the front to fight out the finale. not knowing where the line actually is, the boys just went hard early and tried to rip each others legs off. i was out of it by now and watched as ryan and another nick fought it out.

a general slowing of the group allowed people to catch back up as we meandered our way through the suburbs to get across to vahland rd. this would allow us to take in the full length of banister rd which would be our next tempo section. vahland and south st were uneventful, and even once we hit banister we had to take it slow. everyone was trying to get to the markets and cars were backed up for ages.

once we maneuvered past the mobile road blocks, the pace started to increase some what. the group strung out to single file quite quickly as riders looked to hide from the wind. it was a head-cross wind, so even right on the wheel of the guy in front didn’t allow an armchair ride. this would have broken the pack but we were saved by the lights which allowed a general regrouping. after that a very subtle rolling through began to happen, but not excessively hard and it hardly felt like we were working at all.

once i got to the point were i could extract myself from the line i jumped out into fresh air. unfortunately this was almost at the very back of the group and it was a long way to the front. i started to sprint around the pack, not exactly knowing how far it was to the end, but generally just to try to get the group to have to work a lot harder. ryan was close to me in the group when i took off and also managed to get himself free. luckily for both of us, the main threats were also caught up in the left hand line and could not get themselves free of the pack.

well ryan blasted past me once i had a nice gap on the field and i could not get on his wheel in time. jerry also came past and again didn’t want me to play with him either. as they both shot up the road, chris also broke free and was chasing us down. he yelled out a warning to me as he approached allowing me to jump on his wheel and get a slight reprieve. he did a good turn on the front and managed to pull us up to ryan and jerry, who were looking a bit bewildered as neither really knew where the road ended. we managed to get up with them, but then ryan hit his second wind and took off again.

once we turned onto nicholsen road the group slowed enough to get back together. the plan was to cruise up to cannington and along albany hwy at a nice easy pace. once we hit the intersection of welshpool rd it would be all on until we hit the coffee shop. unfortunately some of the boys deceided that they need to show how strong they were and made it a lot more difficult along albany hwy. i maintained the pace that i thought we should be going, and by the time we approached the intersection, i was almost off the back. christophe did comment in his french accented english, that maybe english was not their first language. unfortunately it is, but the testosterone seems to wipe out all other thought from their minds when presented with a stretch of open road.

anyway, i had family matters to take care of and had to be home by….earlier than i got home, so i turned off down berwick st and off home. hopefully someone will fill us in with what transpired on the final run into town.

UPDATED RIDE CONCLUSION

the finale by chris

bruce fired off the front only to take the next exit heading home to nat & bub. this seemed to fire the boys up and the pace was on. i was aiming to look after myself for the final run along riverside dve. the number of traffic lights along shepperton rd means that it’s a bit of a lottery along this stretch. invariably any break is stopped by a red light bringing the bunch back together and potentially allowing a smokey to use their momentum to launch an attack.
today however six or seven of us managed to get through a set of lights and stay away to the café.

once onto the causeway nick decided he’d hit out for home but with the likes of the ryan the pool boy, mike, jerry and a couple of the squadra barista boys on his tail it was doomed from the start. as we all know, this has never stopped nick before.

i took first wheel with the vain hope that some of the other guys might swap off turns. surprisingly they left me there to cook myself. i decided that chasing nick down was bound to end in the boys smashing me once we had him, so i maintained the gap for a while. once we got well along the drive i upped the pace a few km/h in order to roll over nick. sure enough once we were within striking distance the pool boy launched with the others on his tail.

the final set of lights ran the usual spoiler to the finishing sprint but it’s safe to say the pool boy was the winner. it seems we need more people in the finale to box the bugger in.

sunday 23rd mar – carradine & peet & observatory

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UPDATED with video

well a beautiful moonlit morning greeted us as we rolled to the start. no daylight to speak of so everyone had lights flashing all over the place when they arrived. as the clock struck the hour, we were held up by young robbie who was changing a tube and changing a tube and changing a tube. he finally got it sorted out and we were about 15 min behind schedule, but at least the sun had come up by then. it also gave a few late comers a chance to start with us, rather than rolling back to bed like they had hoped. however, as we rolled out, he said that it had started going down again, so he decided not to tempt fate and call it a day. there are just some days that the bike tells you it’s had enough.

so we rolled out along berwick rd into a brisk headwind. we had about 19 riders once poor robbie had headed home. as i stopped to check that robbie was ok, i ended up at the back of the group for the duration of the ride. it was quite pleasant really as the wind did seem to be quite annoying for the guys at the front.

as we came through kenwick and approaching maddington, mr dickhead came past us in a large 4wd. this time he stayed in his own lane but instead of hurling abuse, decided that it was better to hurl a full can of diet coke at the group. luckily it wasn’t his wanking arm as it didn’t hit anyone directly, but a few copped some of the spray as the can opened up. maybe he thought that we were thirsty, or maybe he was just another inbred dick, that compensates for his own inadequacies by bullying others that seem vulnerable to attack. unfortunately the video camera wasn’t running at the time so i couldn’t get a look at his number plate.

as we past brookton hwy, dr paul, dr ian and lorraine peeled off for an easier day. the rest of us continued past the armadale hospital and ready for the first bonus climb up carawatha. ryan had previously complained that his legs did not feel well today and was hoping that we had already left when he turned up late. this would be the real test to see if he was foxing or not. the road turned upwards and everybody got into their rhythm. ryan still had it in the big ring and i commented that i would like to see him try that for the second half of the hill. the road turned and grade increased a lot.

ryan did drop it down to the small chain ring and set a nice pace up the hill. i had to come around darren and brendon to make sure i stayed on his wheel, but the bugger unhitched me before we got to the top. stu and mike b stayed out of this one as it was only a bonus. a quick regroup and off to the first main climb of the day up carradine.

as carradine is not a particularly steep climb, it means that little things like drafting can make a big difference. however, the road condition is bordering on crap so it really drags the bike back making it hard to keep a good line. the group started the climb well and i was waiting for someone to make a move. everyone seemed content to sit in as the wind was still in our face, but the road had not yet turned to crap. i decided that i was not going to get any better like this so chucked it up a few gears and sprinted off.

a quick look back and i saw that no-one wanted to play with me. fine, i will just have to work on my own. so i did for quite a few painful minutes while the group sorted out what it was going to do. eventually i saw that it had started to break up and a smaller group was stretching out to catch me. i was hoping that they would not just blow by me as my legs were starting to hurt by this time.

it turned out to be mike b, stu, ryan and darren that had gone off the front and i managed to latch on behind and catch my breath a bit. as we continued up the hill we started to up the pace a bit more to try to increase the gap to the rest of the pack. we began swapping off turns, but i didn’t do that much as i was starting to struggle by this point. on the last little kick towards the end the pace got too much for darren and he slipped off the back. he continued on to the end where stu and ryan had a little sprint for bragging rights. mike and i were content to let them use up the excess energy for the last 50 metres.

darren didn’t lose too much ground by the end and he is climbing very well at the moment. brendon and james came though next a couple of minutes later followed by the rest in dribs and drabs. we then continued on to the tasty descent down soldiers rd. we encountered a slight headwind as the descent started, but once we found the protection of the trees and the smooth roads, it allowed us to open it right up to a 70km/hr descent. a car and a couple of motorbikes coming the other way made it a bit tricky, but nothing too difficult. well at least not as difficult as actually having to pedal.

another regroup back at brookton hwy and we were ready to face peet rd. a couple of km’s at close to 10% is always going to be fun. throw in a couple of good climbing whippets and you knew that the pace was going to be high.

as we did our little right left to cross brookton hwy, i noticed that stu had taken a short cut and managed to get straight across to the start of peet via a path. the cheeky sod had grabbed a 50m head start before we even turned a pedal in anger. he said later that he felt a bit guilty so didn’t go too hard, but when he saw mike chasing him, he didn’t want to make it too easy.

i was a little boxed in when ryan came past to try to bridge to mike. once i managed to break free, i sprinted up to ryan who was really feeling it in the legs today. we were stuck in noman’s land as he hadn’t managed to bridge to mike, but we had a big gap over the chasing guys behind. we started to work together, but it was really a survival tactic rather than trying to catch mike and stu. i watched up the road as mike caught stu and spat him out the back as he continued up the hill. ryan and i managed to gain back a bit of ground once we came down the other side of the hill and started towards roleystone high school, which was the next regroup point. the road is not flat along this stretch either, but allowed the advantage from drafting more than the steeper side of the hill so we were still gaining. the final stretch before the last steep pinch to the finish and i told ryan that i would bury myself to lead him the hill where he could try to catch stu. mike by this time was so far ahead that it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had been home, had a shower, some lunch and came back out to finish the ride with us.

i dug deep and got him to the base of the hill before dying a horrible, horrible death. he took off in typical ryan style, but was soon running on empty and couldn’t quite bridge the gap. i slowly, carefully made my way to the top trying not to leave a lung or two behind.

we cruised up to karagullen after regrouping only to find that the servo was still closed. that made the refueling a bit hard so we continued on towards pickering brook. a fairly moderate pace was set as we were on the uphill section, but it soon amped up as we headed down. strung out and doing over fifty I decided to attack on the downhill to see how far I could get, as the uphill attacks were not making much of an impression today. i managed to gap the group by about fifty metres or so and held them off for a short time. just before
the road started to head upwards the group came past me and i slotted into the first gap i could find.

the hill spread the field across the road as riders found their rhythm and pace. mike b shot forward so i jumped around the group to get on board. the usual suspects of stu and ryan also came across. when mike kicked again, i found that i had no legs for it and had to let them go. about this time, michael happened to be coming the other way as he had a late start to the morning. he quickly turned around and joined the fun. not my fun though, he started to wait for me but i told him to chase the others down as my legs were shot. i slowed my pace down and waited for james to catch up so i could get a draft behind him. soon we were joined by brendon and i think dr marc as well. we didn’t make up much ground on the others but didn’t let them get too far ahead.

a regroup at the intersection and i checked to see if anyone wanted a shortcut straight to the coffee shop. no takers, which is always promising as we still had two climbs to go. as i mentioned previously, everyone seemed to be climbing so much better and it is still noticeable with the shorter waits at regroup points.

so we headed off into what was hopefully the final headwind but unfortunately chris and myself ended up at the front. we could have dropped back, i suppose, but it didn’t really seem fair, so we just kept an even pace to the base of the climb up the observatory. i said to chris that we should just keep a nice even pace up the climb and wait to see who puts in the attacks. his reply was that was always his plan anyway.

the hill slowed our progress down dramatically and the group bunched up behind us. eventually james came around and so i told him to attack to see how far he gets. off he went and managed to get a nice gap on the field. no one reacted immediately but the usual suspects started increasing the pace and the group started to splinter. a moderate size group had formed at the front led by stu who set a quite good pace. i was considering an attack, but as we reached the point that i attacked a few weeks back, the feedback from my legs said “no go captain”. i just tried to hang in as best i could. a couple of pace changes and we had past james’ earlier escape and managed to drop it down to the final for from the initial climb up carradine. working together to increase the distance, we almost made it to the top before my legs gave out and i fell off the back.

one last climb to go before coffee and everyone was starting to feel it. a welcome descent down the steeper side of the observatory before the road kicked up and kicked up hard. i wanted to make sure that mike didn’t get a large lead before the climb started like last time we were here, so made a move on the descent to get in front of him. it didn’t really matter though, as he just took off as soon as the climb started.

i tried to chase, but by now the last couple of days of towing my young lad in the bike trailer were catching up with me, and my legs rebelled. stu was also feeling bad, but managed to put an effort in to try to restrict the gap that was forming. i was content to sit on ryans wheel with michael and get a “free” ride to the regroup point on canning rd.

darren and mike took off home at this point while the rest of us headed to the coffee shop for a well deserved break. we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was not busy and we could get a table or four and a quick order. it must have been the easter break or the chilly wind that was keeping the customers away. we arrived late, after ten, and this is usually the busiest time.

hot cross buns were the order of the day and once we were fed and watered we were on our way. the blowy conditions made the descent interesting, but i still cracked 83 km/hr on welshpool. i am learning to be more relaxed on the bike on the descent but it is hard to convince your body to comply when all it wants to do is hang on tight.

a nice tailwind followed us home and the boys wanted to take advantage by going flat out from the word go. the group was down to single file and i didn’t really want to play so dropped back. dr nic was struggling so i got infront of her to try to close the gap to the main group. we were already doing over fifty and not really making a dent in the distance, and probably losing more ground. by the time we hit the lights at the roe hwy i had left dr nic but was still a way behind. i caught up to chris and still worked to bridge the gap, but then saw ryan start his sprint so figured that i might as well give up now.

we waited to regroup while ryan and james took off as it was late after such a long ride. this would make the final sprint along berwick interesting as the field had been thinned considerably. we were briefly held up at the final lights and when they changed, dr nic shot off like she was chasing down a car full of egg throwing hoons. i quickly took off and caught her on the slight rise, but thought that i should continue to see how far i could get before being totally swamped. i kept the pressure on down the other side and when i finally had a look behind, there was quite a bit of fresh air between me and the next rider. everyone else was too spend chasing ryan down on welshpool rd earlier.

so, no crashes, and no flats during the ride so in all a good day. i will trawl through the video footage from today to find something nice to post, but it may be tomorrow before that happens, so check back later.

UPDATE
after having a quick look at all the action from sunday, i have added a video that i think everyone would like to see.
one of the brutal climbs that we did up peet rd had ryan in obvious distress. so much so that he couldn’t stay on my wheel when i came past for a turn.

it’s not something that we see very often, so i thought that i should post it so we can all remember. thanks ryan.

saturday 22nd mar – tv stations

damn it was dark this morning. i was waiting for the sun to come up and looked at my watch to find that we were 5 min over time already. i usually give my spiel after mickey has taken the novice riders out first, but he was running a bit late, so we headed out first. he did quickly give ryan a new pair of cycling socks for winning the intermediate sprint last saturday.

today’s course took us past the tv stations in dianella and back down wanaroo rd past kings park, but then swinging around into claremont and getting the usual run back into the city through dalkeith and mounts bay rd.

even without the sunlight, the weather was warm. the cloud cover last night kept temperatures pleasant but the wind was moderate. we headed out great eastern hwy and i started on the back as i forgot to turn on the video cam. not sure of the footage as it doesn’t go well in low light. i’m guessing that i will check before i post this or it will not make sense how the footage got there in the first place.

anyway, i’m on the back and chatting with ryan but i notice that the pack is not holding together too well. the early pace was a bit high so gaps were forming as people lost the wheel. after this went on for a bit, i decided to sort it out and went to the front to set an even pace.

a few tricky light changes, some left right intersections and we were all together at the start of dianella dr where some of the tv stations are based. this was our first tempo section and the slight rise up dianella dr would make it interesting.

cade shot off like a thing that had been shot out of something, so i quickly jumped on his wheel with steve b latching on as well. his pace was quite high and i was struggling just to hold on. it took me half the hill to get right on his wheel but by then i had nothing to come around to help out. luckily we hit the top and lights, which held us up for a bit. the lights changed just as the others started to arrive so we headed off to try to stay in front. this section down yirrigan dr is always fast as it is slightly downhill, so i knew it was going to be hard to keep away.

cade and i swapped off turns on the front with steve b and ryan tucked in behind. we tried to keep the others away, but the group was almost upon us. the next set of traffic lights made sure of it. as they changed, dr nic came flying past with a stack of momentum, and managed to get quite a bit ahead of us. the boys all shot off after her forcing everyone to chase hard. i was pretty much cooked by then so slowly dropped back in the pack looking for whatever wheel i could hold. some of the early antagonists also fell back and were swallowed up by the group.

i finally settled on steve r’s wheel and we swapped off trying to bridge to the six guys up the road. christophe bridged across and also joined in the chase, but to no avail. by the time we hit waneroo rd, they were still 100 metres ahead.

a quick regroup and we continued our cruise down wanneroo/charles and across to loftus/thomas rd. we seemed to get every single light, which i supposed should be expected crossing the city on a saturday morning.

the pace was a bit high and erratic as we came down the back side of kings park. we used to just head straight to coffee from here, but it made the ride a bit short, so we now turn past the hospital and around the back of the cemetery. it was supposed to be moderate pace from here to claremont, but some of the boys started pushing hard early. i was in no mood to chase to the front to slow them down so i just kept my pace and slipped slowly to the back of the pack. i was secretly hoping that they would miss the turn and go all the way to the usual crossing at the grammar school.

unfortunately for everyone, chris took the initiative and turned a street too early which brought us out onto a t-intersection on stirling. a slight delay and some good hearted abuse on chris and we were back on track.

the usual wind up along victoria ave/jutland pde/birdwood pde was the typical smashfest with ryan, mike b and chris some of the main attackers trying to break the group apart. by the time we hit the last undulation on birdwood, ryan made a strong move and michael had the legs to stay with him. little dribs and drabs of riders were working together to try to keep up where they could.

even with a break, no-one ever tries to keep it going once we turn onto the avenue. generally the right hander onto hackett dr and the lights onto mounts bay rd cause the smaller droplets of riders to coagulate together ready for the final sprint. also, ten kilometres is a long way to try to hold off the pack, even if you get favourable lights.

so by the time we hit the lights at mounts bay rd most of the group was back together again. we even came across a small but smart group that took a shortcut through waratah rd.

so as we approached the intersection, ryan was trying to get people to go in front of him so that he could get a nice lead out. i jokingly warned him not to try the old “i can’t clip-in at the lights” ploy to get people to come around you. so we headed off into a general confusion.

all the main players for the final sprint were all trying to hide from the wind and trying to get others to do the work early on. the problem was that the high pace a bit earlier on seemed to blast the rest of the pack out the back so now there was no-one to block the wind. i tried to get the group to roll through, but after mike b, myself and dr marc, no-one else was willing to play. i looked back and a gap was starting to form as everyone was hiding in the pack.

“fine” i thought. “i’m off”.

it was a long way out, and i didn’t think that i could make it, but nothing was happening otherwise. a few hard pedals out of the saddle and i had easily gapped the group. a quick look back and no-one was chasing, and there seemed to be very little organisation in the group. i kept the pace on and managed to get quite a bit down the road. i think people started to panic a bit when they realised that i may stay away till the end.

eventually chris tried to get the group rolling through to chase me down, but people were still reluctant and only a handful wanted to help.

by this time the effort of doing in excess of 45 km/hr was taking it’s toll and was starting to hurt. luckily my heart rate monitor had decided to stop working, as if i saw how high my heart rate was, i probably would have given up. i saw the brewery approaching and was still ahead. i looked over my shoulder about five or six times to try to gauge how the group was travelling. as i rounded the corner to go past the brewery, i knew that i would be caught. i could hear chris screaming at the group to chase me down. nice. thanks team-mate. but it was all in good fun. i would have done the same.

with about a little over 100 metres to go, the group came past me at such a speed that i didn’t stand a chance. the last thing i saw was ryan flying ahead of the pack and i guess he stayed there til the end. my heart rate took a while to get back down to the stage where i could talk again, and relished the easy pace to the coffee shop.

friday 21st mar – good friday

ride report by chrisit seems fear of the pool boy and tennis coach were not enough to stop some of the guys from turning up for the ride today. a group of 16 was a reasonable turnout for a good friday ride.

after the last public holiday becoming a bit of a smash session this one was a lot more controlled. we only managed to drop two or three and dr paul “ninja” was able to get to the belltower ahead of us. how does he pull that off?
major disappointment for the day was the usual coffee haunt wasn’t open so we had to settle another location. i can’t comment on the quality of the coffee as i didn’t have one.

anyway, the ride was the usual public holiday lap of the river going clockwise via shelley following the river to freo, north along the beach and then back to the city along the river. a little longer than the usual weekend ride but when done at a sensible pace complete in under a couple of hours.

the usual shenanigans ensued along the riverton stretch but thankfully everyone had listened to my request to regroup along the leach hwy. a little detour around the roadworks at the applecross gave us the chance to admire homes i know i’ll never be able to afford. this wasn’t without incident though as stu dropped his chain , needless to say it wasn’t terminal and we continued on.

shockingly things were reasonably well controlled all the way to pt walter where the pressure put on by a couple of the guys meant the group split up a little. however it seemed the group had listened to the pre-ride briefing as another regroup at freo meant we were all back together. except for the ninja, who at this point used his mastery to do whatever ninja’s do.

so a steady roll along the beach allowed a suffering lennie (complete with secret weapon) to catch back on, not for long though as she decided to make a solo run for home.

from here on in things warmed up a little along the northern river foreshore. i set a steady pace on the front and things were strung out single file for a while at least. it has to be said, the speed along here wasn’t quite what it is on the saturday rides.

the group slowly got back together along by steve’s but not without incident. john went down after a moments inattention led him to touch the wheel of a bike in front. a little blood and a bruised ego was the only damage done thankfully.

all that remained was the finish along mounts bay rd. now by this stage my legs were pretty shot so i decided to tactically drop down the back and have a bit of a rest before the inevitable sprint finish. i knew the flying fynn was behind me somewhere as we headed towards the brewery and thought i’d find out where he was so swung out to go find him. sure enough, there he was sitting at last wheel. ready to kick hard as he usually does. well a thought came into my head; i could spoil his sprint if i boxed him in. at least someone else might get a chance at the “win”.

as the speed picked up

i was suffering sitting out in the breeze keeping ryan boxed in, anyhow my cunning plan was foiled and the two chaps who managed to get a break were mown down by ryan and others.

so, a good solid ride and several of us hung about afterwards for the usual bench racing and some tasteful jokes from the ninja. nice.

sunday 16th mar – kahuna & urch

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ride report by dr melvyn.

this sunday ride, as you would have expected, would have less participants due to the fact that the freeway ride was on that day. when i arrived, there was no group of super fit youngsters from wais to smash us on a “recovery” ride, and many of the experienced campaigners had elected to do the flat ride, or as it turns out sleep in, with (or in) their spouse. instead, nine hardcore riders turned up to see what the “kahuna” would offer.

initially there was confusion as the sheep needed a leader. simon stepped up and set out the plan. we went out berwick, past the glass, and eventually onto albany hwy. a surprising amount of traffic for that time of the morning kept us at the intersection for a while, before we settle into a relaxed pace down the highway. all was sweet as the headwind was not blowing, and the bogan count was still low. we were enjoying it so much that when stuart and i were taking our turn at the front, we almost missed the turn off at the caltex.

going up the kohunu, all was looking good, with no wind, not too hot, not too cold. it was peaceful with the golden glow of early morning light over the bushland. i waved to most of the riders who went off into the distance, as simon (who had charitably stayed behind) and i settled into the climb. at the turnoff we found them waiting, and it dawned on me one of the secrets of guiding the sunday ride. don’t tell them where we are going next, and people will settle for a natural regroup point. we took off again down the right, left then right before gravity took over and we were able to go down urch. this is where mark d demonstrated that his bike computer must be mis-calibrated by hitting 80 down the short downhill (either that or he gets very aero after pedalling like mad). either way it also shows his disregard for safety.

after the all too short descent, we turned left to go up peet. again the natural order re established itself as i saw stuart, mark d and stan (and everyone else) go off and play in front. simon again took the term “social ride” to it word, and we were joined by todd. we soon caught up (probably because the others stopped) and made quick plans to meet again at the karagullen petrol station. Now this next bit was real riding (as it was quite flat). the pace was high as obviously no-one was tired enough, and mark d wanted to get fit on the flat bit. we got to the petrol station to find it closed (palm sunday church before easter?). there were some other guys there on motorbikes. i heard one say that he would pull over if he ran out of gas – the freedom of being self powered!

we soon set off again at pace, as we were keen on coffee and pretty much stayed together until mundaring weir road. cue the usual grunting and sweating that we have done a hundred times until the coffee shop. some observations about the shop: the service is really tangibly improving, as the owner counted us out and brought us all water to the table. they also did not mix up orders (but usually that means we get a free coffee), and it was fast. as an aside the people at the belltower must have been reading the blog as the coffee came out fast yesterday. i was however looking for a suspicious can of international roast – it was that surprising.

anyway after an all too short break and tall stories we had to take off again for the hardest climb of the day. up the street from the coffee shop to the back road, before joining on to canning. pretty soon it was the sweet, sweet feeling of bombing down welshpool (no distracting crosswinds). the main group got to the regroup at the primary school to find mark d and stan guiltily coming out of the bushes. they claimed that they were waiting in the shade as we took too long, but i didn’t have the heart to tell them that schools out on a sunday, and they would have to come back the next day to give their lollies out to the kids.

the remainder of the ride ended like it usually does. all the elements were there: a nervous paceline down welshpool rd east, a half arsed sprint 300m too early, the real sprint starting and blowing past me, turning left on the footpath at the red lights on albany hwy, tentative sunday drivers on berwick shadowing us over our right shoulders, bogans screaming uninteligible gibberish from cars, fit looking sunday shoppers at bunnings. all in all it was a good ride.

sunday 16th mar – freeway bikehike more video

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after trawling through 1hr 23min of freeway footage, i have a couple more clips to post.

the first one shows us approaching the narrows and gives an idea of the size of our group.
i pushed a bit to get closer to the front so i could get a better position before the “hill” as we past through the city.
notice how the group moves around especially when the road goes up over the narrows and some riders slow a bit. we suddenly take up two lanes.
 


the next clip just shows us going up the hill through the city.
see how much the group gets strung out and nicely down to double file.
so much easier to control and so much safer.
this clip finishes with me coming past darren, who is one of the young riders that occasionally comes out with us on the sunday hills ride. i did catch some footage of him waving to the camera, but it was just as the road swung around the camera received a lens full of sunrise.

saturday 15th mar – conclusion

ride conclusion by ryan.

as pete peeled off to go home, i was thinking to myself ‘one less person to drag across the finish line’ but as it turned out, we lost many people along canning highway, including bruce who had been looking spritely on chris’s mavic carbones (i was looking forward to a decent show down in the sprint).coming over the last rise on canning highway before we go past berwick st, cade pulled off the front with his friend in tow, i decided to let him go to assess if anyone would follow. sure enough, peter dawson picked it up a little and started to bridge the gap on cade and his mate (who had now dropped off cade’s wheel i think), so i decided it was time to catch up so went past peter dawson close enough to let him on my wheel (just to seem sporting) but he kept going straight anyway.

i then caught up to cade who was beginning to fade, i told him he was not allowed to fade now as we had to keep on going. unfortunately the lights where canning meets the causeway were red and cade and i had to stop allowing the others to catch up. i took off slowly and let everyone go past. some people picked it up at the front and people started to drop back going over the causeway. i was watching the front and keeping my distance at the back, none of the real threats were left in the pack but i did notice a shadow following me as i rode around people getting dropped.

a look over my shoulder confirmed my suspicions as there was jerard watching my wheel closely (well i hope it was my wheel, lucky i did not have my white knicks on today as jerard was looking special in his white pinarello get up and people may have started to ask questions) and keeping nice and close behind me.

coming down riverside drive, we were doing a decent speed and i noticed cade had gone off the front. i decided to go just after the first set of lights, i changed down into a heavy gear, stood up and engaged my whole body into a few seconds of acceleration which saw we passing the field at a good few kms faster than they were travelling, i was then bearing down on cade at a rapid rate of knots and when i past him, i heard him make some sort of moaning sound but i feel he knew in his heart of hearts he was not going to stay away this time.

after passing cade, i sat down, kept the gears heavy and kept on powering along, focusing on a strong round stroke to keep me moving forward. then about 100m from the lights, they went red (everytime coming down riverside drive this happens), i looked behind and there was noone within at least 30metres, so i sat up put my arms in the air (stretching, not gloating, i promise) and continued rolling towards the lights, just before i came to a complete stop, they went green so i took off after the car in front of me (which took longer than i would have liked to get going) as i did not want someone who had just reached the lights to come past and claim the hollow victory as we past the 60km sign (there was no steve r in the group today so should be pretty safe).

i past the 60km sign, still in front, changed into an easy gear to spin the legs a little before getting to the coffee shop. melvyn came up along side me just before we turned into the coffee shop (did melvyn take second place in the sprint?). Upon arriving at the coffee shop mickey’s group was still there (a decent size group of beginners which was good to see), so i pulled up an extra table and went off to get my coffee but upon returning mickey had taken all his people and vacated the premises. my efforts to pull up an extra table (thus putting me further back in the coffee queue) had been for nothing.. grrrr..

i was looking forward to the freeway bike ride the next day but because i had no bike, i could not do it.. i was very disappointed. short version of the story, i left my bike at a friends house for an hour whilst we went to breakfast. after breakfast we decided i would come back to watch the force play at 1:30pm (a good time to collect my bike as well i decided) but my friend was then invited to watch the game at one of the injured force players houses and decided it was a more exciting opportunity than watching it with me. i was not phased, it gave me time to have a snooze and clean my race wheels anyway. i informed my friend to let me know when there was someone at his house so i could collect my bike. well at 1am, i gave up and went to bed, i guess at least i got a sleep in on sunday, it has been a long time since i have had one of those.

sunday 16th mar – freeway bikehike

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not much to report on this one.
a few of us rode down to kwinana in the dark.
a few thousand rode up to joondalup at great speed.
and a few of us rode back to the city afterwards.
my legs are a bit shot from the 130km round trip, but overall ok.

it was pretty dangerous out there today, but probably a bit less than last year. i thought we had it good when it strung out going up the hill through the city. we had it down to double file and rolling through. unfortunately the rest of the pack eventually caught up and we were back to eight or nine wide and people all over the place.

the footage below kind of shows a crash with less than 2km to go. probably doing 45 km/hr at this point as people were starting to line up for the final dig up the off ramp. you don’t see the point of impact, but look for the bike flying in the air and later the guy bouncing off the guard rail. best i could get without actually causing one just for the camera.

i missed getting footage of the other crash which happened just 5 min from the start. i was chasing to get on the group at that stage so didn’t see the initial impact but saw the secondary one where a couple of guys tried to avoid it and ended up tangling up with each other on the opposite side of the road. all i can remember is the smell of burning rubber. not nice.

will probably say the same as last year, and vow not to do this event again….but i always seem to end up organising it for work so also get roped into it.

saturday 15th mar – river ride

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it has started to get a bit cold in the morning. i actually had to go back in the house and get my arm warmers out of the drawer before i took off today. on the way to the shop i was shivering so much that i wished that i had put on the vest too. luckily it didn’t last too long, and my poor little body was warm once i arrived at the shop.

there were many a bike with lights on this morning. again a curse on daylight savings. and i’m not alone on this one, with the totally unbiased and politically neutral “the west” newspaper also highlighting the fact that the sun is not up at 7am. overall numbers seemed low, but maybe it was that i couldn’t see very far in the dark, as once we got started, i saw that the group was around the thirty mark.

today was the standard river ride loop. past the uni and through dalkeith, claremont and a bunch of other suburbs i can’t afford to live in. past freo, and pt walter then back via canning hwy and across the causeway. pretty standard loop for anyone that has ridden around perth.

we had predetermined three sections where we would increase the speed and then regroup at the end. the first came up quicker than my legs were ready for and i really felt it. but i am getting ahead of myself a bit. we cruised neatly along riverside drive and mounts bay rd before turning past the uni. these are usually sections where we take advantage of the nice flat wide road on the way home, but not this time.

the small hill after steve’s pub was the start of the tempo section and we had to get all the way to christ church grammar. i had pull off the front earlier on and was about mid pack when the pace went on. being a single lane road with double white lines, i decided to wait till the pack dispersed a bit before trying to head around. once at the top, there was the rare occurrence that we had to wait for traffic so this split the pack up a bit. worst of all it was bike traffic, so we weren’t going to cut them off.

however, it did allow cade and rob quite a bit of a gap once we finally got underway. i was in the third group with bruce and we worked to catch the second or main group that was being led out by mike b. we jumped on the back, but then saw how far ahead cade was getting so had to push the pace again. i said to bruce that i was going to chase them down and was he coming with me. we headed off to the front of the pack and started to split that group apart too. it was bout this time that my legs started to complain about the lack of warm-up. as i am getting older, my legs need longer and longer before they start firing.

anyway, bruce came around and then mike b and a bunch of others, so we began to chase. the undulating hills around dalkeith make it hard to keep a good rhythm, but a group of 10 or more that we had in the chase group meant that we caught cade and rob soon after the old hospital. the pace stayed high and as we approached the end a car decided to reverse out so we all had to slam on the anchors. bruce managed to scoot around in the other lane so the chase was on as we were close to the end. cade had his rhythm broken by the car and had enough by then so ryan and I chased down bruce. the last two corners before the end and ryan flew past bruce who hung on to stay in front of me by the roundabout.

a couple of minutes to get our breath back and allow the stragglers to catch up and we were on our way again. a pleasant cruise through some very expensive suburbs but before we knew it we were at the base of the mosman park hill. this was our next pace section and the plan was to hit the hill and the next rise before regrouping at the water tower opposite rose hancock porteous whoever’s now vacant block.

again it was a matter of getting position as the climb started as the pack spread across the lane. as it thinned out i managed to get ahead, but a couple of the boys were already bolting up the hill. from memory it was mike b and ryan. i thnk that cade and jerry was in there too, but i was busy concentrating on getting up the hill myself. the main climb and subsequent rise thinned the pack considerably and it filtered in to the water tower in dribs and drabs. a couple of minutes wait and we were off again.

the remaining route to freo was nice and gentle and the pack kept together well. even over the climb up preston point road fron canning hwy was very contained. as preston point road continued along the flat through bicton, it was suggested that we roll through as the wind was not really favourable. as a group we do need more practice at this, so we took advantage. the pace stepped up, as you would expect, but not to an unbearable rate.

turning up point walter road, the group was still fairly well together, and i wanted to keep it that way till we hit the bottom after the golf course. however, cade started up early and took off before we reached the roundabout. a few others gave chase and i eventually gave in and went with them. the rest of the pack seemed to keep together but upped the pace as well.

as we hit the flat on burke drive the pace jumped up again. we started rolling through but so had the main pack which closed up down fast. we continued that way the whole length of attadale and it was good to see the group moving through. at some point along the way we picked up peter dawson and a mate. for those in our group that don’t know who he is, he has won olympic gold in the teams pursuit and world records in the same. riding in a full “rock racing” kit (the team that mario cipollini has made his comeback thorough) i had to warn nick not to give him crap about riding in a full kit. he had previously made that mistake when cj sutton came out with us in full cofidis kit. he was only wearing it because he rode for them in the protour.

anyway, the group slowed down as we hit canning hwy allowing the others to get back on for the ride home. now the bug must have bit a few people as we started to roll through again. i wasn’t complaining as i had promised that i would be home early and miscalculated by a long way. as we cruised up canning hwy, i peeled off into my home street and onto taking my young lad to the zoo for the morning.

i will have to catch up with the others to see how the ride ended and add it to this blog later.

i’m off to the freeway bike hike tomorrow, as i ended up organising it for work again. as with the brw triathlon it seems to be the same few people at work that get it organised and if not it just doesn’t happen.

so stay safe, and if you are doing the sunday hills ride tomorrow, take note of what happens, and write it down for me. i will then post your version of events on the blog. trust me, people will read any old piece of crap you publish. just look at my attempts at writing.