funny thing about riding. when you are fit and healthy you love it. when it is calm and sunny you love it. however, when you are lying in bed and it is still dark outside because of the cloud cover, and the wind is strong enough to make that whistling noise, and you can still hear the rain dripping off the roof from the previous shower….well, that’s when it becomes less appealing. it showed in the numbers today as we started with only 21 riders. well down on the 60 – 70 that we have recently had on a sunday ride. being a looong weekend as well would have dropped out a few, but i think that the first real wet weekend in such a long time may have tested some people resolve.
as such, we only had one rider for the transitional group. he resigned himself to doing the intermediate group ride so i hope that he made it ok. the groups would split at brookton hwy with the intermediate group heading straight up while the advanced group would crisscross from mt nasura back to roleystone.
the wind was up but not too bad as we headed down albany hwy. there was only a light shower, but we probably got wetter from the road spray on the way down. as we turned onto brookton hwy, sam decided that the hills were not for her today and turned back. the groups made the split at the hardware store and we were left with only 9 riders to tackle the climbs today. when i had mentioned at the start that we were doing the f_ckenberg today, there were moans of despair from the group. however, some people hadn’t done it before so it was going to be a new experience. i was riding next to daniel when we turned to see the first view of the climb. “ahh crap” i think was his assessment. “wait till we turn the next corner” i replied as it only gets better.
this was also going to be a good test of my knee problems. after the aborted attempt of hill climbing last week, i was ready to see how it held up today. the f_ckenberg max’s out at about 21% so if anything was going to have cartilage snapping the tendons flying, it would be this. there were a few niggles, but it turns out that fitness was what i needed the most. after an early break by dean and daniel, mike b scampered up the hill to take line honors. i managed to overcome an early deficit to claw back to a solitary point on the climb.
f_ckenberg – mike b, dean, rob, daniel, pete
rob and phil are both looking at lining up for the half ironman in a months time so even though they are not regulars in the hills, they certainly have some km’s in the legs to help them along. also with us we had mike t, juni and mark h. the smaller numbers made the regroups quicker so we were soon on our way to the next climb up canns rd.
the pace wasn’t on initially and we rode as a group for a while. i probably instigated this as i knew that i don’t have the km’s in the legs lately, and was looking for a reprieve. as the climb got a bit steeper, dean shot off the front with daniel on his wheel. we all upped the pace a bit but were not really gaining back much of the gap they made. mike b took off in pursuit and we pretty much had to let him go. he bridged across easily and set the pace at the front. this shed daniel off the back and he was dangling in no-man’s land. the pace had increased enough now to split our group apart and i tried to ride tempo to get as close as possible to the leaders. i managed to catch daniel about halfway up the climb and thought that he stayed on my wheel. after a while i looked back to see him probably the same distance back that i was from the leaders. he came closer a few times, but i managed to hold him off while mike rode away from dean. daniel was looking back at the end to make sure that a fast finishing rob, didn’t pounce on him before the line.
canns – mike b, dean, pete, daniel, rob
as the road was a little damp out here, i warned the others about the decent down soldiers rd. i didn’t really want to be scraping anyone off the road at this stage, so most people took it tentatively for the first part. knowing the route has many advantages, so i wound it up a bit and past everyone before the smooth section of the road. i wasn’t going crazy, but was taking the corners at a fair pace, just making sure i didn’t lean too much on the wet patches. at one of the tighter sections, my eye strayed to the side of the road where there was a soaking kangaroo standing in someone’s driveway. hard on the anchors to wash some speed off just in case he jumped my way and a bit of noise to try to keep him off the road did the trick. however, the always seem to be in pairs so just around the corner, his mate jumps out in front of me and decides that it would cross the road. throwing out a few more anchors and a bit of swerving meant that i didn’t find myself wearing a roo skin jacket today. however, he did try to jump up a pretty steep slope, so i thought that he may play some havoc with the riders behind me.
with my speed all gone and the hill mostly behind us, i cruised along the flattish section with rob, until the call came from the back that dean had gotten a flat tyre. we turned back around to offer no assistance and just watch him change it. conversation turned to the tour of flanders tonight and how steep and cobbled some of the climbs were. strangely enough we had parked right next to someone’s driveway that would have easily have been over 20% and was rough enough to be classed as cobbles. no-one wanted to attempt to climb up it.
over to the next climb and suddenly we were heading up peet road. we were not going to the top and would turn onto urch rd to give us a slight reprieve. i was starting to run short on legs on this one so was sitting a fair way back at 6th wheel. there were three behind me but a fair way back so i just rode the majority by myself. didn’t see any of the shenanigans at the front my again mike came up trumps.
urch – mike b, dean, rob, daniel, phil
we transitioned across to canning road and onto pickering brook. a slight mechanical for phil who dropped his chain on the inside meant we stopped to make sure he was ok. once we hit pickering brook, the consensus was to skip the observatory climb and just do the final one up weir rd. my legs were pretty shot by now so it was going to be a slow one for me. i started near the front and watched as everyone flew past until i was last on the road. by about halfway i picked up juni, and drafted him to the top. about 10 1/2 minutes for my effort so almost 3 min slower than my best.
weir – mike b, dean, phil, mark h, daniel
everyone stayed for coffee even mike b as he said that it was his birthday today. i had to check the club membership list to see just how old he was. it is older than me, but he is not the oldest rider in the club.
all fed and watered we were off home. the decent was hampered by the wind and it was a low 70’s kind of day. we were in survival mode all the way home but the group stayed together until the end. all up a pretty good ride and the minor inconvenience of a light shower early on did not dampen the spirits for the whole ride.
daylight savings. it almost caught me out this morning. well actually last night. i was still up blogging and suddenly realised that 10:30 was actually 11:30 and i had to be up in just over 6 hours. i like my sleep and feel ripped off losing it just so some politician can go for a walk along the beach after work, in 40 degree heat, with 40km/h winds sand blasting your legs. nice. especially since the shops shut at 6.
anyway, i am assuming that the lack of clock winding vigilance was the reason that our numbers were down a bit today. a couple of text messages confirmed it a bit later that the clock was to blame. you will probably hear me bitch a bit more about daylight savings as the summer rolls towards autumn and it gets dark in the morning again.
so about 12 or so riders turned up to fresh conditions this morning and we headed out albany hwy. there were five categorised climbs mapped out this morning and it would have to be one of the most difficult routes that make up the sunday ride suite. we would start by peeling off brookton hwy to tackle the infamous f_ckenberg, before stomping up canns rd. a descent down soldiers rd before heading up peet and urch. a transition to the observatory climb and finish up mundaring weir rd with a coffee at paris-brest.
the fresh start was beginning to give way to a very nice day. little wind and seemingly not a cloud in the sky. less than half the group had actually ridden the f_ckenberg before and i was talking it up. “somewhere from steep to very steep”, “you won’t be able to start if you stop”, “hope you have a 27 tooth cog on there”, all those types of things. alistar was gunning for more mountain points as he was the only one close enough to challenge ryan for the october overall. the points reset next week so it was a bit of a battle for these two. alistar had definitely not ridden this climb and came past asking what it was like. i said that he will see when he rounds the corner. he headed up the road a bit and ryan tagged along to make sure he didn’t get too far ahead. i said to judd (i think) to listen to alistar reaction as we come around the corner. “holy f_ck” was what i am sure he said. judd had not ridden the climb either and was now dreading what he would see.
pete & stan. waiting on top of the world
alistar attacked the hill with gusto and managed to gap ryan from the start. i know that this climb will really wear you down and the only way to approach it is to get in your easiest gear, stand and find a rhythm you can maintain. on the bottom half, jens came around me when he surged a bit with stu. it didn’t last long and i came back past and put in a few hard pedal strokes to get ahead of both of them. there was no way that i was going to catch ryan and al, but i now wanted to keep ahead of the others to stay in the points. up ahead, ryan almost caught alistar near the top but conceded valuable points as alistar was first to the blackwood road intersection and the unofficial and invisible kom line. i had to put in a bit of an effort once the gradient slackened to stay ahead of stu with heiko/jens taking the fifth spot.
alistar – 10, ryan – 7, peter – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.
the regroup was a quick affair as the smaller group was quite well matched and it didn’t take long for everyone to reach the top. we were soon headed down to canns rd for the next climb. i had to give instructions to everyone on the fly as we hadn’t really stopped in one spot for the regroup and we had already started the next climb. this was a categorised climb and i had to tell everyone where the finish line was.
the first small rise in the hill (as it undulates as it climbs) was soon upon us and the group was relatively together. alistar asked if the top of the rise ahead was the end of the climb. we were only just really starting the climb and i think he was ready to sprint. i told them all that there was quite a way to go and everyone was just looking to see who would make a move. it was me.
i took off to see who would chase and only alistar and jens came with me. i looked back to see stu and ryan happily riding tempo up the hill not worrying about challenging for this one. i assumed that ryan had done the maths and realised that his initial 22 point buffer over alistar meant that he was fairly safe even if he came in mid points every climb. as the road rolled and pinched again we took turns at the front until we paced it up a bit too much for jens and he dropped off the back. the road starts to flatten out before the finish and i had to point it out to alistar to be fair about where we would be sprinting too. i made him lead out but at the end he pushed me too hard and i had to let him go to stop myself from actually spewing. it took me a few minutes of riding around to cool down before my spew-meter was not in the red. these mountain points are making for an interesting ride. jens held onto third with ryan and stu following close behind.
alistar – 10, peter – 7, heiko – 5, ryan – 3, stu – 1.
the always fun descent down soldiers rd was interrupted at the bottom when a couple of guys said that someone had a flat or someone had to stop to fix something. it turns out that judd’s “behind the back” triathlete drink bottle holders were coming loose and he didn’t want to drop a bottle in the path of another rider. a couple of minutes to fix and he met us at the bottom.
the next climb was the start of peet but then swung left onto urch for a change. the road was arguably as steep but had a slight reprieve in the middle before it hit you with the final ascent. john had jumped across the road before we got stopped by traffic so had a good head start on the climb. i took it as a tempo and was waiting to see who would try to go early on the lower steeper slopes. ryan and alistar took off but not at a blistering speed so i could easily hang onto the back of their train. stu was hanging off the back with me as we al pulled away from the rest of the group. john was caught and dispatched with little fanfare as the hill was now dictating what we were to use our breath for. by the time we reach the urch intersection, the rest of the group was a fair way behind.
true to form, both ryan and alistar didn’t actually listen to instructions (it is probably on their school report from about grade three) and were about to turn right to follow peet as we would normally do. ryan said that he didn’t hear me say that we were not going to stop at the school. i also didn’t not say a lot of things, but i did say that we were to turn left into urch. we rolled down the slight hill before hitting the next climb proper. again i was asked how far to the top and the answer was “a fair way off yet” as the climb kicks up twice and can be quite brutal. i got to the front and started setting the pace. once i thought that we were in a good rhythm i would put in five or six really hard pedal strokes before returning to the same pace. i was just testing the others to see who would come with me, or attack me. i managed about four small attacks like that before i finally dislodged stu and alistar. ryan and i kept going as we were very close to cresting the top of the climb and it flattens out for a bit before the intersection finish. we swapped off turns to keep away from al who had dropped stu in his pursuit of us. as we approached the finish, ryan sprinted off to make sure he maximised points and i was left with second. the points for fifth came down to stan and jens fighting it out along the flat with jens coming out on top.
ryan – 10, peter – 7, alistar – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.
refuel after the climb up urch
we headed towards the end of the kahuna climb and across to canning rd. i got to have a chat with a new guy out with us today. his name is hugh and he is a rowing cox out to do some cross-training. he did pretty well in the hills too so it was good to see him come along. he wasn’t the only hills “virgin” but the others were familiar faces from the saturday ride. the couple of bonus climbs as we headed towards the pickering brook intersection are not categorised in out competition as they generally do not split the field up enough. it now seems that without the points, no one is going to try to smash the rest of the field and so no-one took off where they usually do. i thought that i would make use of the nice smooth road and put it in my third biggest gear and just ground out the climb. in order to keep a cadence of above 40, i had to get the bike moving at a decent pace and was soon at the front of the field and led them over the next two hills and onto pickering brook.
we did a quick head count and with no-one opting for an early out (i didn’t offer it either) we all headed towards the base of the observatory. ryan and i talked tactics on the way down past the pickering brook school and decided to not attack and see if we could get to the top as a group sprint. the climb started and we set a very even pace. the group stayed together and there were even a few nervous joke thrown around as the rest of the group didn’t know whether we were going to go hard or not. alistar finally made his move and ryan, stu and myself had to go with him. jens hang in there for a while but soon was off the back.
as alistar had initiated the move with an attack, we were content to let him set the pace for as long as possible. he indicated the top of the main climb and asked if that was the top. not suite as there is a plateau before a final kick to the finish. we crested the top and he pulled over a bit to let someone else work. we slowly moved past, bu no-one was in a hurry to do a turn. i jumped on the indecision and attacked even though it was way too early. ryan and stu managed to come along and then past but alistar was spent from his initial attack. we stayed in that order to the top, with jens taking fifth again.
ryan – 10, stu – 7, peter – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.
one more climb to tackle before a well deserved coffee stop. the descent down the steeper side of the observatory is always fun and the rolling hills through bickley are a nice warm up before the main climb. i had to make sure that i did not lose too much time on the rolling hills as when mundaring weir rd starts there is not much time to catch back up. we hit the climb together the usual foursome plus judd and jens and started to set the pace. i slotted my way (pushed in front of judd) into fourth wheel behind ryan with stu setting tempo for the majority of the way. jens and judd fell my the wayside of the constant stu pace setting and pretty soon we were at the plateau of the climb. i noticed that ryan had left it in his big ring for the climbs so far so we obviously were not putting him in any distress. alistar wanted to step it up a bit so went to the front and too over the pace. i thought that this was not the best idea, as ryan will jump all over him when it comes to the final climb. in race situation i have adapted a technique where by i will be at the front but not actually put in much effort if nobody is willing to come around me.
alistar was going quite hard and by the time we reached the final pinch stu and ryam started to come around him. i tried to stay on ryan’s wheel but he was going for the win and i didn’t have the legs to go with him. the kom line came up fast and i held off stu to take second, although, both ryan and stu claimed that they didn’t even see the kom line which they must have ridden over at least 100 time in the last couple of years.
ryan – 10, peter – 7, stu – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.
coffee was ordered and croissants devoured with pretty much everyone staying for coffee. 1 socialisation mountain point for all that attended.
final points for the day.
ryan – 41, alistar/peter – 32, stu – 20, heiko – 10, stan/john/hugh/daryl/paul/kim/judd – 1.
the ride home was fast and furious for the first part. an unofficial sprint point to the tonkin hwy intersection meant that whatever buffer you could gain by descending like a demon was what everyone else had to try to make up once the road flattened out. even before we had left lesmurdie rd, the pace was on and people were trying to all get ahead before that small rise that breaks up the descent. the field was spread by the time we hit welshpool rd proper and i was with judd and alistar. judd jumped to the front and cut a nice hole in the air for me to follow. alistar was on my wheel until he must have thought that it was too slow and pulled out. it feels “slow” when you are in the draft and you have to touch the brakes a bit to wash some speed off, but once out in the clean air, that extra wind resistance pushes you back. he didn’t make any more ground so slotted back in behind me. we worked together with a couple of others that had joined us as the road flattened out but we didn’t make up the ground on the front runners and ryan, stan and john made it to the end first.
the next sprint point to the maccas at the end of welshpool road was uneventful for me. ryan shot up the road early and a string of other riders took off in hot pursuit. i was content to watch from afar. the final run to the berwick st maccas was a bit more eventful. ryan had a very small gap left after john peeled off his wheel to go home. he managed to get through the lights at kent st while the rest of us had to wait. when the lights changed, alistar took off up the road after ryan who had already disappeared. i was left on the front and stan asked if i was chasing. i said that i was hoping that the lights at george st would slow him down. they didn’t but we all got stuck when they turned red. as we took off on green, we looked up the road to see alistar waiting up ahead. he started going before we got to him but jens used the momentum off the hill and a bit of a draft from a passing car to get ahead of al to claim second.
so the final wash-up of the mountain points will be on the web soon, but it was clear that ryan ran away with the inaugural title. the points reset each month and next sunday will see the start of the november competition. all up i would say that it was one of the best hills rides i have done in ages. the points competition has really invigorated the climbs with attacks and tactics starting to come to the fore. if anyone has any ideas on how we can involve the rest of the group during the ride, i would love to hear it.
well today was going to be the hardest set of hills that we have planned. of course i could devise a total bastard of a course, but i do want some people to come back again. we had 18 starters this morning, as i actually remembered to count before we left. none of the usual climbers had turned up so i was a bit unsure how the ride would go. there were a couple of new boys along for the ride, so i thought i would wait to see how things developed.
the course today would take us down towards armadale and to the start of the brookton hwy. a quick turn before the big orange building (hardware or hire place) and we would take the first climb up patterson. down and then up canns rd before a really good decent along soldiers rd to pop out halfway up brookton hwy. cross over up peet and then urch which takes us to the top of the kahuna from a couple of weeks ago. the usual ride back towards kalamunda before the final climb up mundaring wier rd. all in all a pretty tough ride due to the severity of the climbs. it also meant that it would be fairly long as any ride we do down towards armadale will be around the +90km.
so we headed off along berwick and onto albany hwy. the predicted easterly winds were getting an early start and making it hard going, especailly once we got to gosnells and there was not as much cover alongside the road. a nice moderate pace was set, and people took turns on the front all the way to brookton hwy. it is about 25km to the first climb, so at a nice pace it gives you a good oppurtunity to have a chat. once onto brookton hwy we lost our first two as dr paul and dr ian decided they had nothing to prove and would ride straight up brookton then along to the coffee shop.
the wind was ripping off the hillside quite well which made the little section of brookton difficult. as we hadn’t even started the climb yet, i was starting to get a bit worried. we turned off and onto some suburban back roads which lead to the climb. now patterson is an absolute bitch of a climb. it would be less than a km, but i would say it averages about 15% with some steep pinches in the middle. it is so steep, but still has houses on either side of the road. i really can’t understand how half these people mow their lawn as even pushing one of them would be a challenge. i would recommend the flame thrower method of gardening.
anyway, the climb started and doesn’t rise that sharply. there is a left hand bend just after and you look up the road at at least another 500m of sharp climb, before it backs off a bit. i was at the front with one of the new guys. he had that whippet look about him, so i thought i would see how he goes. as ryan, stu & mike were not with us today, i was looking for someone to push me. this, however, is not the type of hill were you want to totally blow up as if you stop, it is really hard to get going again.
the new guy, turns out to be greg, who ryan had invited along. so even though ryan wasn’t there, he still sent someone to hurt me. well as the climb went skyward there was a loud ping/crunch from back in the main pack as nick had dropped his chain at the most inappropriate moment. as the climb progressed i started to fade and greg got a bit of a break. i just tried to maintain and keep ahead of the rest, but josie eventually caught and past me. i had a strange feeling. my inside elbows were feeling sore as i was pulling up so hard on the bars that my arms were fatiguing. i kept pushing as best i could and hit the top about 25m from josie and greg. jerry came in not far after me as he has been climbing well lately.
the remaining 12 riders followed in dribs and drabs as you would expect with a hill of this steepness. everyone agreed that it is a bitch of a climb but i think it was a good warm up. at least everything afterwards would seem easier.
a very short quick decent and we turned onto canns rd. this is a very moderate climb with only a few slight pinches that interrupt your rythmn. it is a good climb to really test your cardio endurance as you can hold a good pace and try to out run the others.
as the climb started and the pack started to spread out a bit i hear this car horn and look around. this white magna is trying to come around and has got impatient. he floors it to get around the guys then flys up past us missing me by about half a metre. there was nothing coming the other way so he didn’t need to do that. just another arse hole really. it did piss me off a bit so i actually chased to see if he turned off anywhere. all i ended up doing was gap greg, josie and darren, and left me on my own. i just ploughed on ahead not pushing too hard but enough to keep the gap.
we regrouped at churchman’s brook rd and continued on. the decent down soldiers rd is great for a mid ride reprieve. the top section is a bit rough but it soon turns to hotmix and widens out significantly. there is one tight-ish corner on the top rough section and scott got caught out there about a year ago. it is all left handers then a tight right hander by which time you build up quite a bit of speed. scott went in a bit hot and his front wheel folded underneath him. quite a lot of gravel rash and a taxi ride home for him that day. i didn’t want to go through that again.
so i lead the decent so that i could ease things up on the offending corner. but i guess as i have riden this way a lot, i have gotten used to the road a bit, so we stretched it out through the corners. once we hit the hotmix, it is all on. they have fixed a number of the bumps and you can easily get to 70 km/h just rolling. there are only a couple of corners where you may need to brush a bit of speed off, but over all the best part of the ride.
we lost a couple more as a mate of shao didn’t have quite a good decent on a full tri bike, so took it easy. they both had time commitments so we left them as they were going straight up brookton hwy.
we crossed over onto peet rd and began the next climb. unlike the other week, we were now doing the bottom half of peet rd then truning onto urch and continui
ng to climb. the bottom section is quite steep. it probably averages about 10% and you can really feel it. greg set a good pace so i decided to just hold his wheel to see how he went. we dropped the others and quite quickley put a big gap into them. by the time we reached urch, we could not see them further down the road.
slight reprieve at the start of urch as it headed back down slightly. the climb on the other side kicks up quite sharply, then flattens then up again and again. greg and i hit the climb and started to up the pace. once it got to the stage that we were standing on the climb, i deceided to see how far i could push him. i kept standing and pushed towards the top of the first pinch and managed to put a significant gap into him. i didn’t quite push into the red zone, but my heart rate was defientely in the 180’s and i was panting like a dog. i managed to keep the gap to the end and sat up when it flattened out before joining onto canning mills rd.
we regrouped on canning mills rd and we were lucky to have anyone with us as the rest of the pack got a bit confused on peet and wasn’t sure wether they had to turn onto urch. another pleasant surprise has been the waiting time at the top of climbs seemed to catch me out. i would be talking to someone and look up to see that everyone was ready to go. so off we went.
the trip across the top to the pickering brook intersection was relatively uneventful, with just a couple of small climbs to further weaken the climbing legs. another regroup and we lost another as josie turned off early as she didn’t need to do quite as many km’s today.
as we headed down past the carmel sanitarium school, the best sphincter tightening experieince happened to greg. on the little decent, where you can quite easily get to 70 km/h, he was hit with a slight cross wind and the whole bike started the speed wobbles. it’s not something you want to happen to you and if you have never had it before, it scares the crap out of you. he managed to get it under control, but i would say at the expense of a clean pair of knicks. i waited for him to make sure he was ok, and we made our way through bickley valley.
i deceided that i was now too far away from the front of the pack to push the pace on the final climb up mundaring weir rd. instead i waited for the back markers to make sure that they were ok. as we hit the bottom of the climb i put the power down and was going to see how many of the group i could catch before the top. heart rate well above 180, panting for oxygen, and legs screaming at me i managed to pass almost everyone on the lower slope and had jerry in sight by the time we hit the “flatter” section. he looked back at this point and saw me, but i was still a fair way back. whacking it into the big ring i pushed hard to gain as much ground as i could before the gradient increased again. by the time we were on the last pinch i had him well and truely within spitting distance. i was a bit afraid that i would max out trying to reach him, but dug deep regardless and pushed it into the 190’s and almost to the point of no return. however, i caught and past him about 10 m from the kom line on the road. he said he didn’t even hear me coming.
i was pretty much spend. it must look funny to the others at the coffee shop as we often look like crap when we arrive. sweat dripping everywhere, looks of pain or just that blank stare when the light has gone out inside.
dr paul and dr ian were waiting at coffee shop already so we pulled up a table and ordered. service was exceptional today and the coffee’s came out quick. probably trying to get rid of us before the brunch crowd gets in.
anyway, dr paul recounts their road wanker experience they encountered on the way to the coffee shop. on a very quiet back rd (near where greg had the wobbles), a guy in a car comes up beside paul and ian and starts abusing them for riding two abreast and making it hard for cars to get around. he is doing this while driving on the wrong side of the road. dr paul said that he was very polite, but he is also very sarcastic so i’m guessing he just told him where to go. people just hate us cause they can.
coffes’s down and back on the bike. another car deceides to try to take jerry out, by waiting till the last minute before pulling out of a side street. he had all the time in the world, but waited till it became dangerous. nice cruise down welshpool rd, but the wind was a bit funny and only got to 78 km/h or so. slowed down at the bottom so that simon could catch my wheel, then time trialed it to the lights at tonkin hwy. a last regoup and john told us that he had the wobbles on the decent. he had them really bad last year during a cyclo-sportif race so got rid of the giant to buy a pinerallo. he is a tall, solid guy, so unless he goes full custom, i don’t think it will make any difference. he managed to get the wobbles under control though, so no damage.
the last slog up welshpool was a pleasure with the tailwind and a couple of guys had a bit of at go to see how far they could get. as usual, dr melvyn was one of the main antagonisors. the final sprint to the coffee shop and i thought i would wait to see who would have a go. jerry decided to lead out early, but chistophe and myself managed to get on his wheel. right towards the end, christophe came around me so jerry started his sprint, i had the perfect lead out with these two side by side so managed to come past in the next lane.
as the remainder of the pack came into the car park, there was a noise like a bike skidding on gravel. we look around the corner, and dr marc had slid the bike out about 3m from the very end of the ride. no real damage besides a bit of skin, bar tape and pride.
