Tag Archives: herdsman

saturday 24th jan – cresswell & herdsman

sorry for the lateness off the report and the content as well.  things have been a bit hectic lately.

firstly the formation of a club and the committee office bearers were appointed before the ride began.  as the number of nominations didn’t outweigh the number of positions available, there was no vote needed.

president – peter mah

vice pres – brendan nichol

secretary – stuart gee

treasurer – ryan fynn

team manager – chris norris

development officer – mike bonner

marketing/promotions manager – lorraine hartland

events manager – lisa wood

committee members – noel michelson, julian johnson, judd otley

 

these positions will be confirmed at a later date when we hold an official agm meeting.  we actually need members first for this to go ahead.  however, this plus the draft constitution is all we need to approach cycling wa to become affiliated to allow people to join via the regular channels.

as for the ride, it was a very controlled event and as we were heading through some of the main drags of the city, the group got caught at many a traffic light.  with our numbers totally about 60 it was no wonder we didn’t get a smooth run.  as we made our way up grand prom, paul broke away from the front and i thought that he must have to take an early mark.  however, it was a spot that we used to go hard back in the day and as he hasn’t spent that much riding time with us lately, wondered why no-one else was following him.  the hill at cresswell tested a few legs and james and brendan fought it out for line honors.  we regrouped at the top to find paul already waiting for us.  by this point i don’t think we had lost anyone.

we picked our way across to herdsmans lake (swamp) where we were to begin our next hard section.  the nice wide roads and double lane allowed us to pick the pace up nicely.  dr ronny made a valiant attempt to set the early pace as he now has the cervelo back, but found out that the training on the learsport had not increased his capacity that much.  the group splintered a bit but little echelons formed and people more or less worked together to keep their group going.  i wasn’t at teh front so not sure who (if anyone) claimed line honors as first to james and chris’ special synchronized spilling round-about.  a small wait for some back markers and we left julian to fix his flat as he said that he would intercept us along the way.

more extra kms at a nice pace found us in claremont and onto the normal road home via dalkeith.  the pace picked up in the usual spot and the big boys had an opportunity to push hard on the rolling hills.  the regroup at mounts bay gave little reprieve as the pace was soon on once the lights turned green.  with my bike still making bad gear crunching noises (i need to see yas) i was in no place to sprint and needed to stay seated as long as possible.  it all got a bit messy towards the end and there was some drifting of lanes during the sprint when there was cars coming.  i opted to sit up at that stage and let the group go.

a entire weekend of watching the crits followed and that plus taking in excess of 2000 photos (of which i only kept 800) has been a bit of a time waster for me at night.  the crits were good and apart from watching ryan get spat out the back of each race, the open men’s race was a bit ho-hum for me.  the open women’s however, had quite a few of our spr girls fighting it out. wins by holly, davina and bec and a podium picture of all three with their spr hats on, made it more exciting as we had a vested interest.  well done to lisa also for stepping up and taking the plunge with the other fleet elite girls.

saturday 13th september – cresswell & herdsman

ride report by peter

UPDATE – apparently chris has an oblique fracture of his collar-bone from the fall.

only the hardcore were out this morning. the wind and storms overnight had scared the rest of the riders off and we were well down from the 60 starters from last week. a core group of around 20 made up of mostly old-timers were the only ones to brave the spring storms. however, once the clock struck seven, there were blue skies on three sides with the hint of a rain shower saved up for later.

our route today would take us to cresswell hill next to the yokine golf course, an old favourite from back when simon used to run the show. we would then make our way to a lap of herdsman “lake” before heading across to claremont for the run home through dalkeith and mounts bay road.

the run out was pretty uneventful. chris made the smart decision to get on the front early as we were heading out with a tailwind. we knew this would change as soon as our route turned further north, so he took advantage of it. ryan was still unpacking his car as we left, so we made him play catch-up.

as we turned off the woodrow ave and onto cresswell, the hill looms in front of you as the road is dead straight and you can see to the top. some of the guys had not done this road before as it has been quite a while since we have tackled it. with a race on tomorrow, i was not going to stress my legs out too much and let some of the other guys smash themselves to get tot eh top first.

with such a small group, the regroup point was a bus-stop where we could wait off the side of the road. a little jaunt along royal and main st brought us out onto powis and under the freeway so we could start our next sprint section around the so called lake.

the pace was not initially high and no-one was really keen to step on it, especially with the wind coming across the open expanse of the marsh lands. once someone finally did hit out, the group started to split and i had to bridge across with stu to join back up with the front runners. to his credit (and i will take a repayment later in this blog) ryan seemed to be on the front for most of the time as we took our three quarter lap of the lake.

towards the end, ryan and judd made a move and no-one reacted so they got a gap. i jumped out from the back of the pack and tried to catch up but only really made it about halfway there. we started approaching the turn so i backed off and the chasing group started to make some ground on me.

as i followed ryan and judd through the right hand turn of the round-about, i head a crunch behind me and looked around in time to see chris and james doing a synchronized slide along the road. although it was not raining as we were riding, the previous showers had made the round-about quite slick and they both hit the deck. james bounced straight back up but chris sat on the road for a bit longer, before we had to move him to let the traffic through. both had some scrapes down one side and chris had hit his head hard enough to crack the helmet. well that is what it is for. better that cracking your skull. so the two guys that are both about to become first time daddy’s and both who shouldn’t be allowed out with due dates so close (james tomorrow) were the guys that hit the deck. since i am still on chris’ old bike, i didn’t have the video camera going and missed the perfect shot of these guys coming down. bugger.

after a bit of a rest and check that both man and machine were functioning properly, we headed off again. as we headed south down selby, the rain started up and gave us all a bit of a drenching. nothing too bad though and we soldiered on.

the final run through dalkieth was, as always, a bit disjointed with no-one sure who was going to work and guys getting left on the front then guys smashing off the front. so pretty much the usual. i was content to sit at the back and leap forward to fill any gaps that opened up. as we came towards the final rolling hills i saw jens come flashing past. i thought he was making his decisive move, but in reality he was watching ryan and saw that he was going now. judd was next to me and being new to the group was asking about the etiquette on our run through dalkeith. i told him that if you are really lucky you can get through all the lights and make it to the end unscathed. he didn’t think that anyone could be that lucky. basically the majority of the group were back together once we hit mounts bay road.

so, ryan was on the front at the lights and we were giving him crap about clipping in properly so he can’t just drift to the back and get a good lead-out. it did no good and to his debit (pay back from earlier) he stuffed around and slow timed to make sure he was not doing any work on the front.

jens had taken advantage of the situation and had scampered up the road for a solo bid at victory. 3 kms is a long way by yourself, even with a tailwind, so we just let him go for a while. he did pretty good and it took a while to pull him back. the group lined out quickly and barista boy dave was pushing hise massive frame along to give us all such a good draft behind. as he began to fade, i yelled at the guys in front to roll through. by the time i reached the front, three riders later, no-one else was coming through.

well if i was going to do the work, it was not going to be for someone else. i ticked it up a few gears and sprinted off, way, way too early. i picked up jens and powered past trying to cancellara it to the end. a quick look back and i had a good gap, but the finish line was still around the next corner and i was fading fast. a flash past and ryan had time trialed off the front and was now gapping me with ease. i sat up and slowly the other riders were trying to individually chase ryan down but to no avail. he was gone.

no coffee stop for me as i was looking forward to a day of building a play bench (like a work bench but for a two year old) in ben’s room for all his imaginative play toys. it took all day but finally got it finished. with two south perth rouleurs teams in tomorrows cyclo-sportif event, it should be a good outing.

saturday 28th june – cresswell & herdsman

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ride report by peter

rain, rain go away. wait till i have stopped riding… you bastard. i know it doesn’t rhyme, but i don’t care. i wanted a nice ride today. and despite the rain it was quite a good ride. only a handful of hardcore riders braved the elements and it was not raining when we left the carpark. probably 15 riders all up, but we had to wait a bit longer for some to arrive.

it was another new route today, but really just an old one that we hadn’t done for a while. similar to the tv stations ride, this would take us out grand prome but turn off before morley dr. another small detour and we would come up past the yokine golf course before heading over for a lap of herdsman lake. back down to dalkeith and the usual sprint home.

the roads were wet from the previous showers and i was glad to be at the front as you didn’t get as much spray in your face. we took it easy out great eastern and over the river at ascot. a few more showers made it interesting but not too bad for me as i had my bright orange rain jacket on. a few close calls at the lights with wet brakes made it tricky, and we probably went through a couple we shouldn’t have, to avoid a mass pile-up instead.

the cresswell hill adjacent to the yokine golf course used to be a favourite of vicki and her wednesday morning hell sessions. it is a stepped climb which means you can set intervals at each point in the climb. i.e. hard, harder, spew. today i was taking it easy as i have come down with a head cold and am supposed to be racing a cyclo-sportif event tomorrow. i made sure ryan knew were to regroup and then let them loose on the hill. not unexpectedly, ryan was first to the top with jerry (who is claiming to be sick) not far behind.

a slight change to the route as we went straight out to flinders to do a right hand onto royal. next time i will stick to the original as i think it would cause less problems. we took it easy along royal and main streets but the pace began to pick up once we started out lap of herdsman. similar to last week i had not picked a spot to go hard as i couldn’t quite remember the route. however, this stretch around herdsman is ideal as it is double lane and a good road surface the whole way around. there are a number of traffic lights but this can be both good and bad as it may slow the breakaways or hinder the chasers. this time we stayed together the whole way, but is was getting a bit rough towards the end for some of the weaker riders.

we turned onto shelby st and took it easy as we headed towards shenton park. a slight diversion due to road works but we were still headed in the right direction and turned done past the claremont hotel. once we hit the familiar territory of victoria ave, the boys started to pace it up a bit. a couple of extras caught up to our group and suddenly everyone wanted to show how strong they were. ryan managed to smash them up the small rises on birdwood parade to show who was boss and we all scampered after him on the decent.

by the time we hit mounts bay rd the “extras” had turned off onto the bike track even though they were heading in the same direction. we started single file pretty early and nick was on the front pushing a hard pace from the outset. after a while i came past him to do a long turn as no-one else was keen to play. i still had no sprint, so my job is to be domestique and just ride hard and consistant. nick eventually came back past me and went off the front hard. i couldn’t hold his wheel so i gave a flick of the arm to let the next person through. there was a hesitation which allowed nick a bit more space and i thought he may get away. we were not that far from the finish, so he may have had enough of a break. pretty soon, everyone came crashing past me and mowed nick down in their path. ryan held off jerry again for the line honors, and i past a completely spent nick as both we limped our way to the coffee shop.
the rain had stopped by now and it was looking to be a beautiful day. a quick hot chocolate and a bit of discussion about the new kit and launch breakfast coming up and i was on my way. the bike now filthy and no real time to clean it properly before the race tomorrow, i will have to hope the quick wipe and lube keeps the chain going. there should still be a ride tomorrow, for those that aren’t racing, and i have mapped out the kahuna for you… cause i won’t be there.

the picture is of darrens wet weather bike. even though he has the record for the lightest bike, he rides this 11kg monster, with full mudguards, when the rain sets in. i think his light bike will dissolve if it gets wet.