Tag Archives: armadale

Race Report: Armadale Kermesse – E Grade

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So, training rides. What’s that about? Training for what? That 1% of me that’s actually competitive wanted to experience what it would be like to be in an event where it was mano-a-mano (womano-a-mano-awomano?). All those kilometres burning around South St, or Bold Hill. They had to amount to something.

Racing’s where it’s at! Armed with this new found revelation I did a bit of looking around and thought about entering a race. I wandered down to Collie a few weeks ago to check out the Tom Lowry Memorial. That was interesting. It all looked civilised, so I made the bold jump and registered for….E-grade in the Armadale Kermesse.

After an awesome training regime in the week before race (staying up late to watch the Giro, sleeping in and missing my Saturday ride, only riding my MTB due to rain and a crazy busy work trip to Sydney), I was “ready”.

Got the bike all polished up (Hey, if I’m gonna come last, I’m still gonna look the goods!) Rocked up on the day. Felt a bit pro pinning the number to my jersey and I was nervously excited.

The race itself was only 26km but quite technical. The fun came from concentrating on tactics, watching for breaks and doing your bit in the group. I found it a bit hard to adjust to the technical nature of the course and keeping up with a couple of younger guys AND girls who were far quicker than me out of the turns.

First lap was about settling in. We did take off at 40km/h though. That eventually settled down and the group did a good pace. Towards the end I found that the pace dialed back. I was feeling good in the legs and the group rapidly responded to a couple of breaks from a keen filly. We approached the ½ way mark of the main straight before the turn for the finish line, and there was a break!

I took off after him and got him! Oh no. I was heading into the last turn and he had cleverly tricked me into being his lead out man! I thought I was done for and I backed off as a another rider zipped past me just before we hit the corner. Hah! I had my lead out man. I leaned into the final corner, made sure I was in the right gear and booted it out from behind my courteous lead out man, put the head down, hit the drops and then I mustered my best Cav impersonation and crossed the finish line……FIRST.

My first ever race and my first ever win.

For me, I had well exceeded my expectations. All I wanted to do was experience a race.

For those considering a race. Do try it. I scored a win in my first outing. It may not happen for everyone. Won’t ever happen again for me. Being there with other riders wasn’t about looking down at someone because they didn’t have the latest bit of carbo-kevlar-lite-campimano whatever.

Everyone was united on the start line to learn more about his or her abilities. And that’s what it really was about. Our goal was to give it a go and experience a smidgeon of what people far more talented than us do for a living, and get paid lots of coin for, day after day on the pro-tour.

Luckily someone took a vid of my finish. So please enjoy my 5 seconds of fame.

Click here to view the E-Grade Finish video

Not quite pro...
Not quite pro…

Drop me a note, or have a chat with the race committee if you want to give a race a go.

A big shout out to Cycling WA, Roues Chaudes, PIHCG, Midland Cycle Club and the many SPR volunteers on the day. The whole Armadale event was well organised, safe and thoroughly enjoyable.

See you on the start line.

armadale classic – women’s “b” grade

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the southern districts armadale classic is on this weekend and they are offering a “b” grade women’s race.  the race is held on a short criterium circuit in conjunction with the armadale highlands gathering.  it is a timed event and good for spectators to watch as the riders flash past often.  having a “b” grade women’s event is an opportunity not to be missed so if there are any girls out there that want to give racing a try then this is the perfect chance.  there are day licences available for the lower grades so if you don’t have a race licence, you can use this as a “come and try” event.  there are a few of the spr girls heading down so you won’t be alone.  take that next step and you will be all set for our criterium race series over summer.  registrations need to be in by midnight tuesday 13th.

flyer can be found here.

registration can be found here.

sunday 28th feb – transitional group – armadale & canning vale

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ride report by peter.

after being off the bike for two weeks with firstly a cold and then a knee injury i arrived at the sunday hills ride ready to not actually do any hills.  the physio had given me the all clear to start riding again, but only as long as i go with the easier groups.  luckily that meant that i could still do a sunday ride as the transitional group allowed me to not have to stress the knee too much.  i had taken the transitionals out the previous day so was beginning to remember a few names, but forgive me if i get them wrong in this write up.

we had about 37 or 38 riders turn up this morning which made up the three different groups heading out.  the plan is to always get them riding together as a group for the first part and then split apart at the appropriate point.  in this case we were all heading down to gosnells and riding across to the bottom of the kahuna.  from there the advanced and intermediate would take the first climb together while the transitional group made a quick turn to avoid the climb all together. 

the first part of the journey went quite smoothly even when nicole got a puncture along manning road.  for any of the riders on the sunday ride, please make sure the group know that you have a puncture as we will stop to wait for you to fix it.  nicole pulled off to the side and was overtaken by most of the group but there was no call to halt the ride.  a few of us hung back to help her out while a couple of others sprinted up the road to stop the group.  we quickly got going again thanks to the intervention of a gas bottle.

no other incidents and soon we were at the base of the kahuna.  we bade the other groups farewell and watched them head up the hill while we traversed the flats at the base of the escarpment.  the road was undulating slightly and we sat at a nice even pace dictated by whomever was at the front with me.  there was about 10 or so of us which included doug and shun to help us along.  not that these guys really needed much help as we were ticking along quite nicely. 

we made it to kelmscott and headed back out to albany hwy.  one of the riders (insert rider #1 name here) turned off home at this point as she lived at the base of mt nasura very close to the f_ckenberg.  her husband rob was on the advanced ride and he has come out quite a bit in the past so good to see that we can now offer something for everyone.

back onto albany and as we went up the hill past the brookton hwy intersection, the group split up a bit.  doug and shun stayed back to look after those that had been split off while i headed up the road to make sure the group was on the right path.  even in the advanced group, this little ride before the turn to carawatha can often break the group up a bit.  the damage was mostly done by steve who astride his colnago decided to up the pace to see who would hold on.  there were some takers and pretty soon there was a group of about 4 up the road.  as i bridged across i grabbed nathan who was stuck in no-mans land and gave him my wheel.  we made it just before the crest of the hill and told the pack to keep going as we would regroup at armadale rd.  most impressive in this little pack were young jamie who has been out with us for a while now and a new girl alex who was about 16.  alex and her dad jeff usually ride with a freo group on saturday but were looking for a sunday ride and were told about us.  a couple of strong young riders which is good to see since the average age of our group would be well and truly north of 35.

as we waited for the lights at armadale rd, the backmarkers caught up so we were off straight away.  as planned, this stretch contained a very nice tailwind.  jamie and i sat on the front quite easily ticking over the k’s at around 40km/hr.  occasionally looking back, i checked that the group was all together and everyone seemed comfortable and revelling in the tailwind assistance. 

i was riding with one eye on the garmin as i know we needed to to make a turn to get onto ranford road.  i had not actually ridden or even driven out this was before so was just going off the map.  luckily google had done it’s job properly and all the roads were where they said they would be.

along ranford road, i swung off the front and sat at the back with doug and shun.  i told the guys on the front that they were responsible for maintaining the speed as after all it is their group.  this means that you must have an idea of what the rest of the group is doing.  there are two ways to do this and both need to be employed.  firstly, don’t just ride with your head down.  you may think that you are putting in a nice hard effort for the good of the group, but in reality, if you have gapped the rider behind you, then they are working just as hard as you.  secondly, pass the message along the group if a rider falls off the back.  often, a rider will not call out if they are struggling as they don’t want to cause a fuss or feel like they are holding up the group.  we once you are on the ride, you are committed so it is up to the rest of the group to make sure you get home in one piece.  it is sometimes up to others in the group to point out that a rider has fallen off the back and you all need to slow down to wait.  it often just takes one person to say something and everyone will slow.  be that person and look after the other riders in your group.

as we crossed the tonkin hwy and entered the “kennel zone” john (i think rider #2) dropped his chain at the lights.  i stopped to help him get it back on but we then had to chase to catch back up.  the group had slowed, but even that had split the group apart somewhat.  it is important that the group stays together as much as possible as this means that we don’t take up as much room on the road and piss the drivers off as much.

away again and we had a fairly uneventful trip into canning vale.  as ranford road became south street, so did the rolling hills that we needed to negotiate to reach stock road.  close to murdoch, jamie got in a bit of distress. he thought that something had bitten him on the back so we pulled over into a bus stop to investigate.  sure enough when he pulled up his top a bee fell out sans stinger which was still embedded in his back.  i dug it out and asked him if he was allergic.  he didn’t think so as he had been stung before so we kept going and would just have to wait to see if he died or not.

coming out of the north lake road intersection the hill totally blew the group apart.  steve took off again so i  bridged across to have a chat to him.  i told them to keep going as long as we regrouped at the top.  pretty soon a couple of others including the young ones had joined him to keep the pace on.  there was no regoup at the top but rather we were all together by the time we turned onto stock road.

we were pretty much on our homeward stretch but the rolling hills and the distance were starting to take a toll on some of the riders.  we crossed canning hwy together and made it onto burke drive for the final drag to raffles.  most of the group had stuck together, but emma and john were in trouble so steve and myself set the pace and broke the wind for them to try to get back on. we almost made it by the time we hit the applecross section, but a few more riders were struggling by then.  i jumped across to the main group and told doug to take them the normal route while we took the others along kintail instead.  steve, shun and myself each had a rider in tow and paced them towards raffles where we regrouped with the rest of them.

the final push back to the carpark was a bit disjointed, but we eventually made it and a few of us stopped for coffee at the boatshed.  i think that when i map these rides i make an allowance for a coffeebreak about ¾ along the course.  maybe i am too used to the more advanced groups where the distance and terrain would not pose an issue to the group, but the way that some riders were struggling, a rest would have allowed them to enjoy the last bit of the ride a bit more.

overall though, i think that everyone enjoyed the ride and even though nathan still hasn’t cracked the 30km/hr average for his rides, by the time he got home it was over 100kms on the clock.  depending on the physio visit this week, i may be back with the transitional group again this week.  if not, i think that there are some good riders there that will be able to look after that group.

saturday 15th nov – state criterium championships – armadale

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race report by peter.

 

open men's state criterium championship
open mens state criterium championship

some gold, silver and bronze were on offer today at the state criterium championships.  the masters division was tempting enough for mike and i to enter even though we are not noted for our “crit skillz”.  the one benefit of being over 35 is that you don’t have to compete with 20 year olds anymore.  it was a stunning day but the wind was really picking up by the time i headed down to armadale.  the race didn’t start till 1:40 with the juniors and support men heading off first.  parking was a struggle as they had blocked the road off as this race is held in conjunction with the highlands festival.  this meant that in the background were highland dances, bagpipes and caber tossing.  also kilts as far as the eye could see.

 

i met up with mike and we headed off for a good half an hour warm up around the roads of armadale.  as race time approached we headed to the start to find about half the field was to be made up of glenn parker boys.  slight exaggeration, but they did have the dominate numbers.  as the support race finished, we were allowed onto the circuit for a couple of laps warm up.  as i crossed the line i noticed my tyre was going very soft.  i rolled back to the start and asked how long i had.  four minutes to get back to the car and change it.  as it had not gone all the way down, i sprinted off to the car.

 

thanks to mel’s dad peter and stu for helping me do a quick change and thanks to peter for offering me mel’s spare wheel for the race.  we got it changed and i hurried back already in a fluster.  holly had also ridden back to the start line to let them know that i was on my way.  we were off.

 

whoa, no easing into this thing.  after one lap we had already started to string out.  i was struggling to hold my position and some of the guys in front of me were too.  i was too far back and had to get a better position.  unfortunately, this meant getting around people who were starting to lose contact fast.  the glenn parker boys were doing a number on the field and the numbers were thinning fast.  i was starting to lose contact and it was only about lap three.  mike was also back with me and i was guessing that he could not surge with his heart condition.  there was a small hill on the back of the circuit and you had to fight every lap to make sure you didn’t lose more time. 

 

i had passed mike and another guy earlier to try to make the junction back to the pack.  i was hoping it was going to be similar to the pinjarra race where they eased off after the first few surges and we got back on.  unfortunately a parkers boy was off the front and the pace didn’t let up.

 

i began to fade and mike and passenger picked me up.  we worked together for a bit but lost the passenger up one of the hills.  basically mike i tried lap after lap to catch up, but to no avail.  pretty soon the breakaway rider was making ground on us.  i said to mike that when the main field catches us, i was pulling the pin.  it only took another couple of laps. 

 

fifteen laps all up for us and about 25 min.  the race was not going that much longer and they never caught the breakway.  i think that glenn parker took the 1, 2, 3 in the race.  good team tactics.  not the best outcome for spr, two dnf’s.

 

in the women’s open event, bec who rides with us sometimes, got in a breakaway with sarah-jean and stayed away till the end.  she did the majority of the work and still managed to take out the sprint to claim a state title.

 

the open men’s was a fast and furious race with both brendan and steve having a crack.  brendan did a whole lot of work early on for their team (aussie crates) and eventually popped out the back.  steve held on well to the end, but the main group did not catch the breakaways.  rabobank sprinter graeme brown sat on the back of the plan b boys up front and took the sprint ahead of brad hall.

 

so, it was a better day as a spectator then it was as a cyclist, for me.  but that is racing, and you get out what you put in. long training days in the hills just don’t make for good crit racing days.