Tag Archives: main 2

saturday 11 sept – main 1 no main 2 ride

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so after a week off the bike travelling (following 2 weeks off sick) i decided to head off with main 1 today.  carol is away on holidays so shaw was taking the development group.  however, they had 12 turn up today so mark left the transitional group with ruth to give shaw a hand.  i said that i was taking main 1, but as it kicked off julian was guiding the group along, so i left it with him.

i drifted to the back to talk to yas about getting some wheels built as he had done such a good job on my current pair, and this is when the trouble started.  as we took off at the lights to get onto canning, yas, sato and i were left behind.  worse than that, our bikes didn’t trip the sensor so we had to wait for two cycles of the lights before we could head off again.  by then main 2 had ambled up behind us.  sato and i took off and looked back to see yas give us a wave showing that he was staying with main 2.  we time trial along and managed to get main 1 back in sight, before the lights stopped us in our tracks.  as we sat there waiting and panting from the effort, main 2 just cruised up behind us.  the lights changed and we chased again.  got caught at the next set and main 2 cruised up again.  lights changed and we were off again.  at the next set of lights, i gave up and went to sulk at the back of main 2.

i told russell that i would look after the guys at the back and left the group under his guidance.  we made our way to north lake road and i stayed back to help scott on some of the rollers as we headed south.  about half way along we picked up a couple of stragglers from main 1.  it turns out that is was julian and another guy who had slowed down to try to help sato and myself back onto the group.  they then got split out of the main group and were left to fend for themselves.  probably another good reason for the three groups doing the same course.  you don’t have to worry quite so much when people get split out.

so anyway, the cruise towards sth lake and around the back of jandakot was quite pleasant as i remembered the last time i did this route with the fast group.  cross winds, split groups, fighting to stay in contact and being blinded by sweat on a cold morning.  yeah, good times.

so we kept the group together and made it to warton which is the only tricky bit where we needed to go single file.  they are in the process of widening it though, so it should be all good soon.  once we got onto nicholson proper russell started a  roll through to get the average up.  at the lights i asked jenelle how she was going as she has been out with glandular fever for a while.  main 2 seemed the best place as even i didn’t manage to keep up with main 1.

we continued to roll through pretty much all the way back into town.  there was a couple of small splits at the back of the pack, but we managed to bring it all back together before we crossed the causeway.  the sprint started  on riverside drive and i wound it up from the back of the pack.  the first thing that goes on me when i get sick is my endurance.  i can still punch out some good numbers, but just can’t hold it.  today i hit 190bpm on the sprint and still didn’t manage to catch doug who was off the front all the way to the end.

so an interesting ride for me.  i think it has been a while since i have ridden with main 2 (if ever???) so it was good to see how it all goes.  i was very impressed by the way that russell controlled the group and looked after it as well as tested it out by pushing the speed up for the second half.  it is good to know that each group is getting looked after.

Main 2 Saturday SPR Ride 12/6/2010

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Another chilly morning but compared to Thursday morning it was warm. Arrived at Coode St and only a couple of others were already there getting their wheels on the bike because they drove in. Peter soon rocked up in his car but with the excuse he was doing the time trial this afternoon and was saving his legs.

not a huge turn out today well didn’t seem to be but was a healthy number of riders in each group. I think leaving Coode Street we had around 15 in our group. After getting the group together on Canning Hwy we sat on a cruisy 33kph. Each were taking their turn on the front which was great to see. Even Ivan had the legs on the front today great to see mate.

North Lake Rd gave us a couple rest stops at the lights before taking on the small hills along here. Next was the left turn onto South St and a group of us seemed to open it up a little until we were told to cool it. I’m not sure I think a few may have been stretched on North Lake Road. All seemed to be back on rather quickly. After passing Wheatly Drv the pace was picked up again and for the next 10km the avg speed was 35pkh and this saw us catch up and join onto the back of main 1.

Nicholson Rd seemed to have a bit of a tail wind and there was a semi kinda roll though along here. Approaching the lights at Albany Hwy and 90% of the group were in the left turning lane and not the right. seeing everyone jumping across lanes I’m sure this pissed off every driver around us. You need to look at the map people. William street was a bit of chaos also. Lots of over taking and cars not wanting to be patient. Maybe this would have been safer if we hadn’t merged with main 1.

Once onto Welshpool Rd we paired up again and a few got a break away because of some red lights the pace was within 33 ~ 34 for this section. Once we turned right on Shepperton Rd the pace was lifted and it was time to fly home. Because of some red lights I fell to the back and missed the finish but apparently we caught the Transitional group and it was a big sprint on down Riverside drive.

Was a good ride this morning and my legs don’t hurt. Looking forward to Brookton Hwy in the morning and while the rain stays away I hope just as many show up tomorrow as they did today.

UPDATE: Forgot. Set my own new milestone today got home with an average overall speed of 31.1kph over 70kms. Pretty happy with that. Took so long to get 30kph this was unexpected. Yay me 🙂

By Nathan Rzepecki

saturday 17th april – main 2 (benara rd)

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ride report by peter.

with a race on sunday, i decided that i needed an easier day so as to not wear out the legs too much.  with the recently formed main 2 group, i decided that i would take a ride with them to see how the group was going.  the fast group was down on numbers this morning as there were a few that where racing on sunday so had moved down to the main 1 group.  some of the main 1 group were also racing so had moved down to the main 2 group.  the split was not really even between these three groups this week as we had probably over 30 riders in main 1 and only 13 in main 2.  we had this problem, way back when we used to leave from the bike shop as no-one wanted to be told that they were not good enough to go in the faster group.  yes, you should push yourself, but sometimes if you get dropped too often you get discouraged and will just not ride anymore.  if you feel that you are constantly struggling in the main group, then join the main 2 group.  it does the same distance, just not as fast.  realistically this group was set up to be that stepping stone between the transitional group and the main group as the gap was pretty wide.

anyway, we had about 13 riders heading out and we set a nice and easy pace along great eastern.  we started a bit of a roll through and the wind played havoc a bit as gaps formed quite frequently.  as we turned off to head past rosehill golf course, we stopped rolling through as the slight rises makes it hard to keep a constant pace.  once on bushmead road, we rolled through again as we were heading straight into the wind.  this wasn’t a hard pace roll through, but rather an easy way of sharing the load.  some guys were struggling a bit, but we managed to keep it together to get to midland.  it would be pretty much a tailwind from now on, so i thought we should be right.

we started to roll through again as we headed to guilford and the tailwind made this a bit easier.  along the way, we picked up some of the main 1.  chrissy had been convinced by meg to join main 1 and she had been dropped along the way.  it was a big step as she had only ever ridden the transitional group before this plus had ridden down from lesmurdie that morning.  darryl and brother dan were helping her along the road so she wasn’t left on her own.

we made the turn onto benara road and i moved to the front to give some instructions.  i said that they can go harder for the length of benara as long as they waited at the end.  nigel and i formed a draft for chrissy while dan hung back to keep jess moving.  we set a good pace along benara and almost caught the back of the group once or twice as they were stuck at the lights.  at one stage chrissy even wanted to sprint to catch them at the lights, but i was a bit wary of how much energy she had to get home.  we just kept plugging away to the end of the road.

the group had waited around the corner and soon we were all together again and heading through to the back of galleria.

there are a bunch of rolling hills between here and the city so it was a constant battle to keep the group together.  a few of us acted as sweepers and we all managed to get onto whatley crescent together.  as we crossed guilford road we past the fast group waiting at the lights.  they did about 5 or 6 k’s more and started just before us so i think we managed to set a good pace.  the last run into town was a bit disjointed but there was a nice clear road along riverside drive for the guys to stretch their legs at the end.

once inside the café, i managed to have a quick chat with the owner.  i mentioned that some places don’t want us turning up every saturday but he said that he was happy for us to come along each week.  it must be a disruption for him to have so many descend upon him, but i think he appreciates that we are quick business and consistent.