Tag Archives: hills

SPR Sunday Main Group Ride 20/6/2010

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6:45 Sunday morning and again I find myself at Coode Street car park waiting for the Sunday Hills ride. I wasn’t the first to arrive today there were three or four others. Looking forward to when the days get longer as its still dark at 7am. Around five past 7 Peter rang his bell and gave his normal speech and then it was time to roll out.

Canning Mills Road was the first climb of the day and so we headed out past Curtin Uni towards Albany Hwy. We were broken a couple of times by lights so pulled over in Cannington and and waited for the rest of the group to catch up. Our transition out too Canning Mills Road was uneventful. At the lights crossing Tokin Hwy I was thinking turn off brain and wake me up once I get to the top. Round the round about and a short downhill roll until the road starts heading skyward. I remember thinking enjoy this feeling because its about to get bad. Quickly I took my rightful position at the back of the group. Watching everyone else zooming ahead is a real bummer. Clicking through the gears trying to find my rhythm. Up and on the pedals the climb begins. I managed to keep a speed of around 16 ~ 17kph on the way up. Around half way I managed to get on the wheel and pass Lennie. I think she was saving herself for the climbs to follow. Lots of cars passed us today. One came a little to close to me for comfort but sort of use to that now.

Once at the top I was not as buggered as I thought I would be and this time I didn’t ride past the regroup point. Short drink of water and Peter instructed the main group to head off. Back onto Canning Mills Road and only seven of us today for the main group. Again I quickly found myself as the sweeper (I like this description and will stick with it). Once we reached Canning road a short comfort stop for a few and the suggestion was raised to go though Pickering Brook. I haven’t ridden through there before so was keen to give it a go. I wasn’t prepared for it and that’s the best way. No time to dread it. I was expecting a real bad climb out here but it was only a gradual climb. Nice scenery out here and considering how long I lived in the hills surprised I didn’t know that area. Was some other cycling event being run out there because we saw a number of other riders and event ahead signs. Back to the story. A short regroup and then it was a very good down hill run. 60kph all the was down. Walnut Road was awesome. On the approach you see the bottom but you don’t see the drop. Then you reach it and it is virtually goes straight down. This was awesome. Best descent we have ridden. So good to ride a descent that is not just a straight run like Welshpool Road.

The group navigated our way to Mundaring Weir road. The group quickly spread out on the climb. A mention here through we owned the road up Mundaring Weir. A woman driving a small truck came up behind us and for majority of Mundaring Weir road this driver followed the road rules and didn’t over take us. Holding up a convoy of cars behind her. No rushing to get past. Was like a support car sitting on the rear. Was great.

All of us reached Kalamunda and were keen on the coffee shop stop. One of our group continued on and went home. Merchant had a couple groups already there but not too busy. Everyone got their order in around 10 minutes. I think we hung around for 30 minutes or so before heading back out on the trip back to South Perth. I clocked a speed of 80.9kph down Welshpool Road today. Fastest descent ever. The group sat on around 36 to 40kph for most the trip. We jumped on the back of another group who did their best to drop us but didn’t work. They turned off and it gave a couple of us the chance to catch up to the rest of the group that went with them. I don’t know what speed they were doing because we were doing 40kph. I think a tail wind helped because this was my dead patch just was not feeling it. Was a great return trip mostly sitting above 35kph back to Coode Street. Was a great ride today even though it was more than I was prepared for. Was pleased to see that for my segment between 80 – 90 kms I clocked an average of 39.1 kph. Very happy with that considering this was towards the end of my ride.

Route can be seen here.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/37474696

(drinking wine @ the folks and I’m tired so sorry if this write up makes no sense)

My Attack on SPR Sunday Hills ride (Gooseberry Hill)

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It’s been a while since I done one of these so lets see how it goes. Alarm went off at 5:45 and as opposed to yesterday it wasn’t raining cats and dog. So this meant was time to roll. By the time I got to the end of the street their was enough water on the road to make my brakes slip. Thankfully I still stopped. Bit of a head wind this morning and I was being blown around like a rag doll. Headwind was easier to deal with than the fences put up for the HBF run for a reason. “Cycle Path closed 8:30 – 10:30am 23/5/2010”. According to my time it wasn’t even close to 7am. More of a rant about this later. Was the first to arrive at Coode St and as it got closer to 7am I was starting to think I might be the only one here to ride today. Thankfully as is the SPR way everyone waits until 6:58am to start showing there faces and by about 7:05am I think we must have had close to 20 riders. Noticeably missing all the #spr twitter gossip bunch. I’m sure they would be tweeting there excuses later.

Peter announced the routes and added my suggestion for the main group of also doing Gooseberry Hill Rd. Its a Sunday ride one climb up Kalamunda was not going to be enough. After a show of hands I thought there would be a decent main group today. More on this later. We rolled out with Peter and Stuart I believe heading towards Burswood. Sitting on a comfortable 27 – 32km/h and a nice tailwind was looking like an easy start to the day. Stuart who had already had three flats in the Saturday ride (That’s what happens when you ride in crazy weather) felt his rear was going down and after taking a glance it looked like he could do with some more air. The group pulled over just near TBE Belmont for a quick tyre change but as things seemed to take longer than expected we were told to ride on. Taking the opportunity of the tail wind I rolled off and found myself on the front and not being gobbled up by the faster riders. At one point we took off from the lights and starting pushing over 40km/h (love tailwind) when we were told to back off. Bugger tailwind abuse it :). After the turn off Great Eastern Highway time to pull off and let these stronger riders do the work into the headwind for the ride down to Helena Valley. Just as we crossed the train line Darryl dropped his water bottle and thought he might have just blown a tyre. The group pulled over again and waited to see what was wrong. No flat it seems and we were soon rolling again. Another rider who sorry didn’t get your name was telling me he would come do Gooseberry Hill with me as he also thought today’s route was a bit short. Road was still wet and plenty of sand being picked up. It’s great to add weight to a heavy bike when you know your soon going to be climbing up hill.

Right at the round about and into the warm-up climb Ridge Hill Rd. Picked my gear and pounded away. Gotta get me a Garmin so I know how well I’m doing on these hills. Then again I will probably just be disappointed. Reached the top and wasn’t the last. Regroup was at the bottom of zig zags. Peter announced the whole group would detour slightly from the planned route so he could wave of those that were going to do the climb with me. Of we rolled and the whole group sitting on around 50km/h for the down hill and a nice spray coming off the road. On the approach to Gooseberry Hill Rd only saw one other rider turn left at the round about. With a quick good luck from Peter it was a flick of the finger and get the hell out of my big gear. Quickly realised it was only myself and Peter (another Peter) doing the climb. He was quickly around 50m in front of me and seemed to be doing well. I was jumping between gears trying to find my rhythm. I think I left it down the bottom. As we arrived at the crest before the second half of the climb I had caught back or Peter had backed off and I told him that was the easy part its the kicker at the end that kills you.

Rounding the corner and taking a quick look at the view it was down to the 3rd gear and up off the saddle for the next few hundred meters. Glace at the speed a few times it was between 12 – 15km/h which is little less than some of the other climbs but this was steeper. The rain from the past 24hrs had left enough branches and sticks to avoid but was no running water so that was good. Past the point I had to stop on my last attempt and thought I’m doing well. About 200m from the round about I thought for a second ok tallest gear. Ah wait sucker you already picked it keep going. Felt robbed I thought I had one more left but this was it. Was questioning why I chose to do this so this was it last 200m go for it. I got to the roundabout closed my eyes and prayed no car was going to make me stop because I was coming through. Into the round about no cars 30m and left turn then stop. I got to the top made the turn and stopped about 5m from the corner, head collapse over the handle bars. Happy I had finally ticked this one of the list and was thinking never have I felt so spent like I do right now. Just after me Peter pulled in front happy to have also reached the top. I think it was at least 2 minutes before either had enough air to say a word.

However after just a few minutes rest we started rolling down the road towards the Zig Zags. The easy roll helped to get the air back and quickly felt good again. Was a bit of a cross wind on the Zig Zag today and didn’t pick up the speed thought we would. I allowed plenty of time to slow down for the corners as the roads were wet and so were our brakes. Bottom of Zig Zags and back to where we were with the rest of the group not long before. Easy ride through to Kalamunda Rd. Soon it was the climb up Kalamunda. Second time for me and I was unsure. Legs felt ok but its the start of this climb that has the sting. Peter lead the entire length of Kalamunda Rd. Was a comfortable pace and nothing to gain by pushing each other. Greeted by three walkers managed to say good morning as we crossed paths. I think they thought cyclists on this road was a strange site. They should go for a walk more often on a Sunday morning.

Arrived at the Cafe expecting to see a few bikes lined up but there wasn’t. Only person I noticed was Darryl. All the rest had gone to suffer Peters route. Was a little surprised but thought oh well. Meant there was no line to get my chocolate muffin for a change. Like last week they had a new girl on the till and I must have said chocolate muffin 4 times and she kept entering Hot Chocolate, Mocha blah blah. Eventually the boss lady pressed the right button.

Having explained our climb to Darryl and finishing muffins, coffees etc back on the road. Because of the wet decided to take Canning Rd to Pommeroy Rd and Welshpool down the hill. Darryl and I were swapping turns on the front. Short turns each seemed to be working well. On the decent down Welshpool Rd was sitting right behind Darryl and I think I rolled past him However I don’t have the weight to carry me down and the headwind capped the top speed at 66.8 km/h Again Darryl was doing the work on the front and I kindly sat on his wheel. Didn’t have the legs yet. We got a rhythm going and shared the workload again until just after Roe Hwy when Peters rear tyre got sliced and he decided to call it a day. A phone call to his misses would see him finish his ride here. Least it was at a bus stop. Darryl and I continued on sitting above 30km/h. I took my care crossing the train line at Welshpool not wanting to repeat a previous blowout here. For a change we stuck to Albany Hwy and cruised through the Cafe strip. Haven’t been through this area myself for quite a while. Having arrived at the Causeway bid Darryl fairwell and decided I would take a route through East Perth home because of the HBF Run for a reason event being on. Last week had my avg speed destroyed by dogs on the million paws walk. This week I was stuck in traffic because of the chaos caused by this event. From what I could tell they owed the causeway which had an african band playing on henderson island. Runners on both sides of the road and cars not knowing where to go. Noticing that the runners seemed to be heading the same way I was I ditched the traffic and jumped into their lane. Best move because they couldn’t keep up :).

However caught at the lights for at least five minutes waiting for a green arrow. (This would be the pattern for all the other lights.) green light clip in go. Stop. Green Go. Climb the hill in East Perth Stop. Go, over the hill down the other side Red Light stop. GRRR was like this until I eventually got through and onto the East Perth cycle path and had a nice tailwind helping me sit on 36 – 37km/h all the way home. Distance of 86.5 kms and was only 10:30am. Good ride and look forward to Tuesday morning.

By Nathan Rzepecki

Transistional Ride Report – Sunday 7th Feb 2010

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By Nathan Rzepecki

Must have been Natalia Cooper lying about rain because numbers were down to just five again for the transitional ride this morning. All three groups headed of as one out of the car park this morning and down Mill Point Road towards Great Eastern Highway.

Peter noticed that the group wasn’t falling off the back as maybe he thought we would. He made a suggestion that we all stick together and then split at Helena Valley Road. At the intersection of Great Eastern Highway and Stoneham Street no-one turned left so the decision was to stick with the main group until Helena Valley Road. Keeping in line down the back along side of one of the more advanced riders the group was working well with no one getting dropped off the back and the pace keeping at around 30 – 35km/s. I will take a pot shot but it was slightly entertaining. We got held up by a train on West Pde. I have not seen 15 or so guys run up a hill to take a comfort stop apart from on a pub crawl making room for the next pint.  We only left South Perth 15 minutes or so before.  How much water are these guys drinking. 🙂

So after the train had finally past everyone was back on and off we rolled. At the T junction of Military Road and Helena Valley Road the Advanced and Intermediate group turned left and we headed for the hills. After the split there were only five of us. We had one other rider but they did a U-turn and headed back for the main group. Leading my fellow riders down Helena Valley Road towards the round about introductions were made for the new riders. (Sorry I suck with names and can’t remember, Remind me in the comments.).  Before turning right into Ridge Hill road I made the comment don’t sprint this first hill because for some there may be worse to come so just take your time.  By the time I looked up the road a couple of riders were already half way up the first hill. But as I dropped back the gears to the tallest lot ready to make my own assault I was already passing those that shot forward.  Having done this stretch a month ago and wanting to die I noticed this time it was not so bad. Once I travelled what seems three individual small climbs I waited at the base of the Zig Zags for the remaining four riders to roll in.

All made it to this point without too much trouble. Having been a local resident in Kalamunda up until just a few years ago I thought it best warn them that the Zig Zags is actually a one way road and that the direction was down. So keep left and listen out for any calls of cars coming. Also on the hairpins can be covered in a bit of gravel from boy racers.  Especially on a Saturday night. So off we headed up the bendy road. We maintained a pace of around 15 ~ 20km/h I think and reached the top in about 15 minutes. Peter was right this route was by far the easiest way up. From here you can easily see South Perth from where he had just come. Seems so much further than it felt riding it.

Onwards to Kalamunda. This section is still up-hill but its not that bad. Kept checking behind making sure hadn’t dropped anyone. Once I reached the Library I looked back and saw one rider in a white shirt which I hadn’t noticed had fallen behind. Now we were all together rolled into Hays street and into the Cafe for a break and coffee. Popular spot this cafe because there were around 20 -30 other bikes resting against walls and poles around the place.

After sharing stories over coffee it was time to get back on the road and head down the hill. Turning right onto Canning road and then left at the round about it was simple, for the next 2 or three kms.  Head down and pedal. Leading the group down Kalamunda road I was taking the brunt of the wind. As much as I tried I couldn’t reach the speed limit of 70kms. The highest I was able to reach was 68km/h. From this point on it was Virtually Flat and un-eventful back to South Perth, We stayed doubled up down Madia Vale Road and Dundas Road. The new road and bridge that is not on the map yet Shaw had a blow-out.  Not surprised. The side of the road was covered in so much rubbish I was waiting for the same thing but you couldn’t have missed it his wheel just went bang. We moved off the road and onto the cycle path which we probably should have done back at the junction.  Will remember for the next time we pass through there. After Shaw replaced his tube and exhausted himself inflating the new tube I pointed out I had an Air canister. My bad I forgot I had it because I have never used it. But its ok Shaw in two weeks when you have another flat I will remember and hand it to you. 🙂

Turning onto Abernathy Road we followed this all the way through Belmont. Past the Sunday markets at Belmont Forum to Great Eastern Highway. Single file on Great Eastern Highway but the drivers today seemed to want to kill some of us and a couple came very close. Just before reaching the lights at the Graham Farmer Fwy called for us to double up.  Make the two lane changes we needed to do a little safer. I was thinking of getting across the lane and onto the path at Burswood but didn’t have enough time to cross three lanes.  We were squeezed at the merge over the causeway again by drivers that just couldn’t wait a couple extra seconds. Back onto Mill Point Road and home too Coode St carpark.  Another good Sunday ride and a different route than we have done before. Average speed of just over 26km/h so not bad considering the climbs in there. Didn’t slow our overall speed too much. See you all on Tuesday and next weekend. For the two new riders please let me know your names in the comments so I remember for next time.