well i am sitting in the emirates business class lounge in dubai and it seems like a long time since i rode my bike.  it was actually only a little over 24hrs ago that i was handing out new kit in the coffeeshop.  a long stop over in the desert has given me a chance to see what i can type up for the ride report.

so, we had a decent turn out this mornng as i think the weather improvement and a bit lighter in the morning has gotten people out of their winter hibination.  we had a fast group this morning and numbers were good according to daryls report, but only one solitary rider for the novice group.  i was riding with main 1 and we had around 30 riders rolling out with us.  pretty uneventful heading out shep road and onto welshpool with only a couple of splits at the lights.  mark had to chase back on at one stage after attempting a mid ride strip at a set of lights.  leg warmers don’t really come off that easy when you have your shoes on still.  luckily there were a couple that helped him chase back on.

hale road was fairly sedate and even the split in the group at the round about, wasn’t too hard to recover from.  this was made a lot easier though after we came upon a EX3000 excavator owned by nrw being transported up to kalamunda road.  we sat behind it for a while, but they had to keep stopping to raise the powerlines to get it under.  and there were a lot of powerlines.

jorgy eventually went up to the pilot vehicle and we then went onto the footpath to get ahead of the load.  main 2 had caught up by this stage but we jumped ahead after the wide load.  at the lights at kalamunda road, we saw that the fast group were waiting to turn.  it looked like there was still a decent size group so i though that they must have had a regroup. 

we made our way to ridge hill road and the pace started early.  a few people attacked and the group started to string out.  i stayed seated but increased the pace to get near the front and amongst the action.  unfortunately the last few weeks of sickness have menat that i really don’t have any endurance and so started struggling near the top.  i looked down at my heart rate to see that it was 190bpm and i almost fell off when i unintentionally swerved.  probably more from fatigue rather than shock, but i almost took ben out as he was on my wheel.  sorry again for that.

i had to use the decent to recover as much as possible and managed to get onto a small group once we hit the flat.  there was a bigger group up the road and i was interested to see if they were going to slow down and wait.  since this is not the fast group, they did wait and pretty soon the group was all back together. 

we made our way though guilford and once we hit bassendean we started a roll through.  the intent was to not go too fast but rather just share the load across the group.  it worked ok, but it was pretty messy as halfthe group sporatically rolled through.  a couple of light changes allowed the group to be together once we hit the rolling hills in mt lawley an this would always break the group up.  i drifted to the back to make sure that any stragglers weren’t too far away and drafted a few back to the group.

we approached the lights at east parade and toby managed to slip through just before the red glare hit him.  the rest of us stopped and watched him continue up the road.  he had the video camera on his head so it will be interesting to see the footage.

another split in east perth, but the lights kept us all together for the sprint. with his white tyres flashing, toby managed to hold off the group for the “win”.

the family met us at the coffeeshop with the boys sporting the new cycel caps, and we did a kit distribution.  the gloves etc came out quite well and i was pretty happy with the results.  there was a lot of back and forth during the design process, but it seemed come out ok in the end.

so no ride for me this week and toby will be posting the ride routes on thursday.  i am currently 11 hrs into my 55 hrs of flying this week and am already looking forward to coming home.  stay safe, stay upright.

Ride report by Kimbo.

Having not seen a main group report for a while and Pete putting the captains armband on me for the day (in the absence of Russ) I thought I should make a little effort with the pen. Please read this with a hint of sympathy as I am not all there in the head. 🙂
Lack of numbers due to this weekends races merged the two main groups back to one with about 26 riders. Todays ride would take in the sights of Burke Drive, onward to South Street, Stock Road then Nicholson Rd finishing with Albany Highway through Vic Park. Rain overnight left the roads wet but the morning was shaping up to be a nice day for a 50.47km ride.
Meg and Janelle (the new 15 year old superstar on a Pinarello wearing a manga jersey) took the first turn on the front until Meg realized that she had no idea where she was going, so rolled back to third wheel before the lights at Mill Point Road. Gus and Scottie warmed us up along Canning Hwy until I flashed my big boss captain armband and raised the pace a little. Burke Drive was holier than the Popes undies, so there was much pointing at the roads surface to warn the following riders. Those that have ridden with me before will know that I’ll point at a wayward lackey band on the bitumen so this was a big moment for me.

I won’t mention much about the climb up Stock Rd because basically I started first and didn’t end there so well done to those flying past me with ease. Along Stock Rd, well not much going on there, didn’t see any stock, Gus seemed to hit the red button when his chain got caught in between his crank and rear stay which brought me much amusement. Not the mechanical but his reaction was classic.
A left turn onto South Street brought on an extra gear and the group got excited. A couple were caught napping so Mark (Look 595) and myself worked with these guys to help get the group back together. The group self managed itself through Bull Creek and Canning Vale, correctly selecting Nicholson over Bannister Rd. It’s good when the group seems to know where they’re going.
Mark and myself then sat at the back with the FCC’s (Fleet Cycling Chicks) and watched in awe as the finely tuned machine (commonly known as the SPR Main Group) danced like ballerinas. Well they rolled through and kept the pace between 39 and 42 km/h anyway. Later after the ride, a whistle blower came to me with information that it was a little messy in there, so remember to keep your line with no erratic movements.
Albany Highway and the group was still together and we made it though Cannington without even one “Get the F*#k of the F#*king road you bunch of F#&king F*%kwits”. A first for me I think. We had only just past the Hill View Terrace lights when some pelican thought he was better than he was and charged to the front like a dog on heat. I heard a couple of shouts and we were away. I spoke to the pelican later and he filled me in on what happen on the front. Apparently after a few attempts to get away from the group, his lack of ability and few red lights saw them all back together at the causeway. The pelican was on the front again with others and thought he had the legs to smash the field from the start of Riverside Drive. Clearly he didn’t.
I personally don’t like change, so the line of red witches hats in the left lane was enough of an excuse for me not go for the sprint today. If anyone wants to put their name up in lights go ahead.
Highlight of the day….. was Janelle’s Mum. Getting out of a warm bed at god knows what time in the morning to drop your daughter at the car park for a ride is gold. Happy Mother’s Day next weekend!!
Thats it, good ride and I’ll see you next time 🙂