race “participation event” report by peter.
the great perth bike ride (gpbr) has become one of those events whose reputation preceeds it. i know quite a few of the spr riders did not want to participate this year because they thought it was too dangerous. and the truth is, i agree with them. it is not the format or the route, it is the lack of skill that some of the riders show when riding in a group, and the riders need to keep trying to get to the front when the road is not wide enough for more than 2 or 3 bikes. anyway, i am getting ahead of myself again.
i signed up for the 106km (2 lap) event. work were paying for it so i decided to have a crack as the $100 entry fee was covered by someone else. this is probably one of the other reasons that some of the spr riders declined to play today, as the price had shot up dramatically since last year. anyway, all was good. we collected our race kits and new cannibal rio tinto jerseys. a change of logo and colours to the corporate banner meant that cannibal had a nice order for over 200 new jerseys. everything was set, and then i got sick. i was only at work for 1 ½ days this week and i was sure it was going to affect my ride. i deliberately didn’t ride on saturday to give the body more recovery time, but woke up early sunday not really much better. i forced down some porridge but it didn’t sit too well. feeling queasy on the bike is the worse thing especially when you know that the pace will be on from the start.
i turned up early enough to get to the front of the line and caught up with james, ryan, nick and mike. a few other spr guys were milling around and i saw big john from rio and doug as well. the weather was looking good and even though the roads were wet, the sky looked like it would stay clear for the race. gary suckling gave out some last minute instructions over the pa system and before we knew it we were off.
the pace was not too bad from the start but it did surge a bit especially at the back where i ended up quite quickly. we set a nice even pace along mounts bay rd as the wider stretch allowed people to find their position easier. not sure who was setting the pace, but there was a small line of guys at the front before the rest of the pack swelled behind them. there were a smattering of plan-b boys and girls in the pack, but they seemed to be keeping out of trouble and just milling around not forcing the pace or anything.
as we turned off mounts bay the fun really started. the tighter roads and multiple corners stretched the pack out as the masses hit the brakes leading into the corners. we seemed to get past the uni ok but the first fall happened on the turn off hackett drive. the pack moved to the middle of the road to negotiate the corner and some guy hit a patch of crap around the white line and went down. he immediately jumped straight back up and kept riding so he wouldn’t lose his position. i was trying to avoid being anywhere near him after that.
the hill near steve’s was the next obstacle and i was sure that it would sort out some of the pretenders. i put in an effort to make sure i didn’t get dropped too much as i knew that i didn’t have enough in the tank for a proper chase. some riders dropped off the back and i don’t think we saw them again. the pace didn’t really increase that much, but everyone always like to attack on the hills. we hammered through dalkeith and the corners again strung the group out. i managed to keep touch but only just and was constantly up and sprinting to keep up. after christchurch grammer i heard wayne from cyclemania talking to the plan-b guys saying that they were not to play at the front and were just here as a training ride. they all backed off and formed a second group to stay out of trouble.
we came down through devils elbow and i had lost touch slightly as there were some guys that obviously didn’t have the bike skills to be smashing through there at speed. i made up a bit of ground along the waters edge but started the mosman park hill behind the eight ball. i didn’t want to hit the hill too hard as i was sure that i would pop, but even at half pace i was passing riders on the bottom easier section of the hill. by the time i got to the top i was in amongst the group, but the fast boys were up the road. i past nick at the top and he looked knackered, but i couldn’t stop. after the corner, i caught up with james and with a couple of other guys we worked together to try to catch back up. as we approached the slight hill before stirling hwy, we caught sight of the group and got back on once we turned towards freo. the next hill on preston point road would be the tester but i managed to hold on and keep with the group. the roundabout at point walter became a problem for a couple of riders as someone went down and held up the group. we head to chase to get back on along attadale and this managed to dislodge some more stragglers from the back.
now i am sure that the majority of the riders in this group have ridden around the river a few times. probably more like 100 times. however, with the squeal of wet carbon rims and the constant hard braking and evasive action, you would think that everyone was actually surprised that we had to slow down for the corners and avoid the traffic islands. the amount of guys we saw going to the wrong side of the road to avoid the traffic islands when there was oncoming traffic was amazing. these guys were taking risks for a participation event.
more of the same through applecross fast, slow, squealing brakes, avoiding islands, etc, etc and pretty soon we were on the freeway. now the freeway deserves a special mention for absolutely stupid placement of cones and signs. we had a lane reserved for us plus the emergency lane. now the emergency lane is where all the crap goes that the vehicles flick up. crap like glass, rocks and the like, so not always the best place to ride. the lane we had marked out for us was also full of hazards. along the entire stretch the lane was demarcated with nice big cones so the cars would not stray into our lane. that was fine, but every second cone was a double cone that sat further into our lane. now as you are driving along the the road (setting up cones) these doubles are easy to see. when you are right up the arse of the rider in front of you and the train is about 20 or so people long, you don’t see them coming.
to make matters worse, for our safety, the cars on the remaining lanes of the freeway were restricted to 60kph. we know this because the speed signs were placed in our lane even further in from the double cones. these didn’t give as much as a cone when hit and caused a bit of damage. in the group following us, stan from the sunday rides heard a crash behind him just as his group hit the freeway after canning bridge. the guy just behind and to the right swerved to avoid a speed sign that was placed too far in and came off. big john from rio from the saturday rides was following him and had nowhere to go and cartwheeled over him. three other riders then rode over john and came tumbling down too. two of them had to be taken to hospital and one of the others was dr ronny whose carbon front wheel was no match for john’s body and now looks like a taco. no serious injuries to either of them, but a lot of gravel rash.
about halfway along the freeway, i rode to about midpack and found ryan. i told him that i was not going to make a second lap as i was really struggling by now. a couple of coughing fits as we rode along and all types of nasty flem was gurgling around my system. i also was struggling to take anything more than water down and i would eventually run out of energy. my day was done, but i needed to get my timing band back to the start finish line.
as our group approached the exit of the freeway the cones tightened up and the double cones caused a bit of grief. i saw one guy hit them at speed and i thought that i was going to clean him up but he managed to stay upright somehow. as we past through mends street another guy hip and shoulders a bollard as he came around the corner way too fast. these guys were crazy and taking risks that they didn’t need to. either that or they were way out of their depth as far as fast group riding was concerned and were only hanging on by the skin of their teeth. i would say half and half.
i managed to hold on all the way back through south perth and onto riverside drive. the biggest pain in the arse was the riders using the coned off road to ride to the start on their shiny new mountain bike, while a group of about 40 riders were trying to come through at speed. thanks guys.
we crossed the line and i peeled off and headed to the timing tent to hand in my band. i hate not finishing events but i was happy to stay with the main pack for the first lap which we took in 1:20 for the 53kms. just under the 40kph mark. i knew that i wouldn’t be able to stick out that pace, but even more so the bad gut meant that i would eventually run out of energy and may not even be able to limp home.
of the remaining few, ryan got a flat and had singles on so not sure if he finished. mike finished in the main pack giving jens the best rio tinto time for the event. something he will have to live up to when he returns next year. i managed to get up in the hills and have a coffee with the few chasing mountain points. stu now has a commanding lead with one more sunday to finish off the month.