Tag Archives: public holiday

easter monday – public holiday ride

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ride report by peter

i haven’t been out on a public holiday ride for a while, but as there were 2 public holidays, this weekend, i managed to sneak out on the monday session.  as previously posted, the closure of our normal carpark meant that we had to meet just around the corner.  everyone seemed to find it ok so we headed out along douglas.  i looked back at the lights and realised that we had a pretty big turn out.  luckily, being a public holiday, most people were still sleeping off their hangover and there was little traffic on the road.

as we passed by the uni, i drifted back and did a head count, while most people tried to interrupt me by shouting out random numbers.  about 55 or so on the road meant that we were bound to get split at the lights sometime.  heading towards shelley and we passed the old pappas group coming the other way.  it made our group seem a bit smaller, but not that much.  and anyway, it is not the size of the group, but how big it can grow that is important…or something.

anyway, we had to ease up a bit once we hit shelley to allow for the group to catch up after negotiating the small section of bike path.  it is a shame that it isn’t a bit wider through there even if it is just for bikes as the majority of the groups must pass through there at some stage.  once we were all together, the hammer went down at the front initiated by lisa and jason on the tt bike.  davina, chris and jarrad headed off in pursuit and i had to jump around the guy in front of me that was not in the chase to close the gap.  i finally caught onto the back only to find that chris offered little in the way of wind break.  i was still struggling to hold on when jarrad moved to the back and cut a fine hole in the air for me.  jason was starting to tire and people were doing turns to keep the pace high.  the next group was a bit of a way back and we were determined to maintain that gap.  i did a turn at the front but pretty much had nothing once i was overtaken.  the cumulative affect of holiday, sickness and injury have left me lacking a bit on the endurance side.  in other words, i can only fake it for so long before it all goes to crap.  i sat up and watched the other groups fight it out.

we regrouped at the top of the hill and set off through mt pleasant.  it was a bit confusing here as there was a guy that went off the front which some people then tried to keep up with, but i wasn’t sure if he was meant to be with us or not.  michael and i just let them all go and set the pace for the rest of the group.

we got back onto canning and made our way down to the burke drive.  with little traffic around, it was easy to make the turn and the group didn’t get split too much.  a short delay in getting the group back together and we were off again.  well not really.  no-one wanted to make the move so i sent chris off the shake things up.  this got the ball moving and the pace quickened.  i was determined to be a passenger this time and sat in the best i could so that i could still be there for the hill.  now i am the one that maps the ride routes that we take, but even i totally forgot that we did the turn up page st to tackle stock rd.  i had my mind set on the shorter straight ahead option when i heard davina call out left turn.  ok.  i guess we are doing the hill.  seems my lack of attendance on the public holiday ride was to blame for not actually knowing the route. 

we set off up the hill and the slowing for the corner had allowed most people a chance to catch up.  there was a general swamping of riders on the short first section as riders all surged to get position.  i used to do this hill as a hills repeat session a while back so i knew what to expect.  i took it easy up the first section, then hit it harder once we turned the corner.  a lot of the guys that had earlier sprinted up the hill were not sucking in oxygen and were easily picked off by the halfway mark.  although, mike b made short work of the hill and flew past me like i was struggling myself.

we reached the top and i turned back after getting my breath back to make sure that we had the last of the riders up the hill.  once they arrived, we carried on only to find that the rest of the group had continued.  there were a few of us, so we stuck together along preston point rd until mike b and i decided to catch up with the group to make sure that they regrouped properly after left bank.  we did a two-up time trial and swapped turns all the way along preston point and left bank but didn’t catch the group till after the speed humps.  once there it seems that davina had words to them about not regrouping properly on the hill so they were all waiting nicely at the bus-stop.

we headed off towards cottesloe and i had made the call to not push hard until dalkieth as it would be busy and the group was a bit big.  the pace stayed down and was a very pleasant trip through cott, although the cooler weather kept the crowds away.  kimbo made a call halfway along marine parade as a couple of girls were just getting out of a car.  on closer inspection, it seems that one would have only been about 13 and the other was her mum.  apparently, the new oakleys can get prescriptions put in the lenses.  it may be an option for him.

we actually made it through the next few sets of lights with the group intact and we were on the home straight heading through dalkieth.  i can see why so many groups use this stretch of road.  low traffic, curvy roads, small rises, all the things that make a strong finish.  somehow i ended up at the front as soon as we started, so i decided to smash myself early on to save the embarrassment later.  i hit the chicanes hard knowing that it is always easier to make the corners when you are at the front and then kept the pressure on down the dip.  up the otherside towards waratah ave and i was trying to do my best cancellara after being inspired by the flanders tour last night.  got pretty much to the top then swung off to let davina take over.  i got back in the group about 6 or so wheels back and tried to recover.  after a few minutes i was still sucking in o2 and then jason time trialled to the front.  this put the pace up a couple a km/hr more and i was pretty much done.  i flicked the elbow to let the person behind me know i was dropping off and sat up to recover.

i watched as rider after rider whizzed by and reminisced on what once was and and what would take a while to get back.  i caught up with a few more riders and we grouped up to make our way back along mounts bay together for safety reasons.  onward to atomic, which was already busy, but seemed to cope ok with the sudden influx of lycra. 

a good ride today and the group seemed to cope fairly well even with the bigger numbers.  if anyone wants to let me know what happened at the end of the ride, add it to the comments.  hopefully i will be out for anzac day later this month…hopefully.

"N" Group Ride – Monday Public Holiday

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Monday morning was going to be hot and the “conspirators” had agreed after the post Christmas Saturday ride that in an effort to beat the heat, the “N” group would leave Coode St carpark at 6.30 for the longer ride around the river and back to Atomic in Mends St.   At 6.35 when Gwyn & I arrived there were only couple of the girls plus Mike & Debbie, but by the time we had discussed the morning “easterly” and which way to go, the numbers were up to 14 including myself and couple of the other guys “ex” the main group joining in with the “N” group regulars. 

Heading off towards the Narrows at around 6.45am, we upped and over the bridge to re-group and pair up ready to head east along Mounts Bay Rd. Sitting on 30 with the tail wind, and Mike keeping the rear end in check, we rode as a solid pack “real cyclists” past the Brewery into Nedlands.  Turning left to follow the river alongside UWA, the pack went
through the “Steve”s” roundabout to tackle the first “lump” ahead as the The Avenue rose up into Dalkeith; this pushed a few of the heart rates up with the group spread out a little and three “old amigos” came past and took us on the hill.   

Re-grouping at the top we picked back up to a steady pace around 25-28, overtook the 3 amigos, and cruised up to
Stirling Hwy were we sat seemingly for ages waiting for the lights to change – too much carbon and not enough steel on the bikes I reckon to trigger the vehicle detectors in the road. 
Under the underpass, then left and up the next rise past Scotch College heart rates getting nicely elevated again, before stopping at the top for a quick strategy chat on tackling Curtin Ave in single file and the red lights on Eric and Jarrad St.  As luck would have it, both lights held green and let us straight through sitting on 27-30 with the
easterly helping us along.   Down through Leighton”s and the group looking very professional and business like – shame about the utes parked and blocking the bike lane heading south (no doubt the same d**kheads who like to hurl abuse at cyclists legitimately using the “their” road).  We even managed to overtake a couple of “targets” before taking a sneaky back street shortcut into Tydeman Rd.   
Little traffic around so we decided at the last minute not duck into east Freo, but head back via the Stirling Bridge, Canning Hwy and our third little casino pa natet lump up into Preston Point Rd.  More elevated heart rates with Tracy, Michelle and a couple of others storming up the hill and gapping the rest with a 50 metre lead out.  Up and over Point Walter and
then for a re-group to organise the roll through; after  pairing up ok, the inner line got a bit too enthusiastic and made it hard for the outer line pushing into the easterly to overtake, ending up with the group stretching out and separating somewhat.  A bit more practise around the longer section of Shelley and we”ll get there.    Waved and shouted
“pleasantries” at the Main group as they headed by in the opposite direction and had another crack at rolling through along Melville Beach Rd – bit better this time, and then again for the third time along the short section from South Perth Y.C to Canning Bridge.    Re-grouped by the Bridge and as we had only covered around 40 klms by
then, checked if anyone was game for quick deviation via Shelley – but the 60/40 split in favour of coffees at the Atomic  won through.  Funny that !   
So far we had run a safe and generally tight group ride – possibly a bit slow for some of the “guns” but a couple of the newcomers really appreciated Mike sweeping up at the back end of the pack and offering encouragement in times of need.  Heading north on the freeway bike path with a bit of a tail wind, Gwyn, Patrick & Tracy romped ahead.   As the main group turned off into the jet ski carpark, the large red & white pole in the middle of the bike path jumped up out of the red bitumen and assaulted one of our number (who wished to remain nameless) . . . . That sickening sound of screech crunch and thud behind can only mean one collective thing – pain embarrassment and expensive bike damage.  Thanks to the hospitality of the jet skiers and the ministrations of Michelle and a couple of the others, the recipient of the assault was laid out in the skiers tent in a bit of shock, whilst Mike checked the bike over.  With doses of TLC the patient recovered enough to re-mount and we all finished off the last klm of the ride back to Atomic (very carefully).  Just goes to show that after riding in the sun for an hour or two, it”s so easy for a bit of lapsed concentration to lead something ugly.  Fortunately damage to bike and body appeared to be minimal although someone will be sporting a few bruises and feel a little sore for the next few days.  Apart from the pole assault, thanks to Mike and the other “escorts” we had a safe ride, the group generally worked well together and gained a bit more confidence on some of the traditionally busy “cycling” roads.

monday 26th jan – public holiday ride

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ride report by brendan

Well after getting to our backup meeting place right on 0700 I expected a few more riders but after waiting another 5 or so mins we had swelled to around 20.

Dr Paul and a couple of others decided to go and do a shorter ride so headed off in another direction while we decided who knew the way (Pete warned me the day prior he might not make it), hah being my first Monday ride with SPR (I seem to be always at onsite when these public holiday rides are on) I was a little sketchy but Julian put his hand up and between us we lead the group off for Shelley Beach to stretch the legs.

While mainly uneventful and general chit chat seemed to be the way of the group we sat on a steady tempo. With numerous detours and roadwork’s we tossed up which way we could go in case of closures etc we thought all would be well as we hit Shelley beach.

I did a little roving of the pack of 15ish riders saying go for it and we would re group at end of the Shelley Beach run. Was sort of like letting dogs of a leash everyone was straight into a higher rhythm and started rolling through quite well as the pace climbed higher and higher, while I was doing the “Pete thing” making sure all were happy at the back through to front I finally managed to get back up onto the front and upped the pace again to see who really wanted to get a little hurt going.

We quickly passed a couple of smaller groups as we were averaging around mid 40’s with a few smaller surges by Ronny and Co I decided to stretch the group right at the last Km to finish off, which reminded my legs  of yesterdays effort in the hills (note to self recovery ride is Monday!).

After the regroup we continued through to Applecross over a short section of roadwork’s under Mount Henry bridge which turned out to be only sand and pretty smooth so no punctures and new bitumen heading through to Canning bridge made quite a enjoyable ride. Several Boats/People were starting to get prime positions around several key spots on  the Swan River but overall the traffic was generally well behaved towards us. Once under Canning Bridge we settled into a relaxing pace and made way to Point Walter which of course due to the Ozzy Day Triathlon had the road closed we detoured around the edge and came back not far down from the Point Walter golf course and continued on our way.

On heading down around (can’t remember the roadJ) heading towards The Left Bank the pace picked up and with a few little attacks ad surges the pace picked up and I’m pretty sure everyone came through for a turn which was pleasing as the speed was mid 40’s and goes to show how everyone is ever improving on these rides, on coming to the end we had a slight wait to make sure we had everyone and heading off up towards Cott.

With the change of direction came a rather nice tail wind blowing us along rather brisk pace right up into Cottesloe with Ronny and Co seeming to holding the pace high for quite a while we suggested that they can go off the front to have a break back in the group which they quickly took up on. The pace continued to stay high straight through Cott and for a change there was hardly any traffic which always  makes riding in a bunch more enjoyable… Going up over the crests (I refuse to call them hills, many might disagreeJ) heading back up to West Coast hwy we for my first time ever scored a green light and the whole group made it through and headed up towards Dalkeith. As we were nearing where one of our Saturdays sprint spots the pace was increasing higher and higher and never one to back away I added a few km’s an hour to that as Ronny made a surge passed me Dan and a few others went for the sprint while I sat back and watched which is a nice change and great seeing other people slogging it out for gloryJ , making sure everyone turned right heading back around to Mounts Bay road we continued through to the back of UWA where Dan on his squeaking Specialised took off, pretty sure everyone in the neighbourhood heard him go as he defiantly gets the noisiest bike award for the dayJ With no one too keen on chasing we let him get a few hundred meters up the road before we upped the speed and held him at that distance and as Murphy’s law 8x out of 10 the lights will get him and sure enough we had a laugh when the lights got him, but on a big SPR no-no he jumped through the RED light to get as much advantage as possible heading for our run into the coffee shop sprint, we yelled DQ to him and generally hung you know what on him, when we took off (from the GREEN light) and chased him down, everyone rolled through until the pace moved up into the high 40’s and a few started to fall off and hang on as the speed kept on climbing, Dan was looking back and starting to think the worst and is speed was fading fast as the Train caught him with around 600 to go to the sprint line, we all hung a few passing words of encouragementJ on him and powered to the Swan Brewery where I was offered a lead out (sorry missed your name) and not one to pass those up we shot off and I powered away for a nice finish with the group relatively intact.

the chosen few
the chosen few

Due to several blocked access ways we made our way unconventionally to the coffee shop (don’t think I will elaborate on that any more) so after ordering food and drinks and sharing a few laughs mainly at Dans expense for his cheeky move and noisy bike, Lorraine took a few piccies of us all and Dan as she wanted to post him up on the blog some name and shame feature haha.

So overall a most enjoyable ride with pace and recovery sections and quite a few good laughs had by all…Till next time watch this space….

friday 25th april – anzac day

anzac day public holiday means a number of things for australians; dawn service, parades, two-up. for us it was an opportunity to slip another ride into the week. we lined up our normal public holiday route which took in shelley, attadale, freo and cottesloe. as always it is meant to be a recovery ride and no sections were designated as “smash the crap out of the group” sections… meant to be.

anyway, had quite a good turn out with probably around twenty riders. as usual, a public holiday is an oppurtuntiy to get away, get on the turps the night before, or get told by the missus that you will be doing something other than riding. my missus had let me come out and play so off we trotted for a nice casual lap.

it was cold again, and i was rugged up. i had been out on thursday morning and didn’t fare too well. the other guys had to stop and wait for me twice, which is quite embarrassing. i’m putting it down to work stress and lack of sleep caused by work stress. i am coming to the end of a major project at work and there is a lot on. i usually don’t care, but for some reason this one has affected me a bit. so it was either that, or i was coming down with something. hence the extra layers of clothing.

it was a nice pace as we came down through kensington and past curtain uni. the roads were fairly empty so we were not expecting any hoon trouble, especially not this early. so as we were coming down lawson st and were just about to turn onto manning rd, we had an interesting altercation with a motorist.

lawson st is a double lane rd and we were taking up one lane as we have the right to do. this car, and i can’t even say it was a hoon car as it was a rav4 or honda crv size, came past and gave us a very aggressive blast from his horn the pulled back into our lane so he could also do a left hand turn. anyway, the left hand turn is not the usual, just give way, but has a set of lights which, unfortunately for the motorist, were red.

right, i thought, i am going to see what this dickhead is on about. i rolled up to the drivers side window and knocked on it. this 60 plus year old guy was sitting there, deliberately looking forward with his hands on the wheel making sure he didn’t make eye contact with me. probably silently praying that the lights would change. so andrew also pulls up next to me and actually opens his door and says ‘what did you do that for’. the driver is visibly shocked and probably close to shitting himself as we have now invaded his nice safe little cocoon of a car. he makes some excuse that we were taking up the whole lane, which we reply that we are allowed to. then andrew asks him why he used his horn as he came past, to which he says that he only wanted to warn us that he was coming around. bullshit, it was a full blast to show what a man he is. anyway, the lights change and i am trying to get him to go, which for some reason, he doesn’t want to and wants to argue. here is a guy that was in too much of a hurry and got pissed off that we were delaying him now didn’t want to drive his car. so we shut his door and we headed off first. he then had to come around us again. stupid guy.

it was funny seeing the look of terror on his face when we opened his door. as i have said before, we may look stupid in our pretty lycra, but i’m sure that the twenty of us could have put his car on it’s roof. i know that cyclist have the reputation that we are all testosterone fuelled menaces to society, that run over pedestrians and deliberately hold up traffic, but drivers need to look at us like their old grandmother. we are slow, take up the whole lane and if you collide with us, you will probably kill us. i am probably preaching to the wrong audience, but some people just don’t seem to care that they take our lives into their hands. see lexus.

anyway, we made our way down to shelley, via fern ave and saw some other public holiday ride coming back the other way. there would have been about 100 riders, so it was probably the old papas ride. shelley was very contained and the group stayed together well. apparently lennie lost her chain at the end of the road before we hit the bike path, but no-one let me know so i didn’t realize she was gone till to late. we cruised up canning hwy and missed the appelcross section of the river ride. if we do it when going clockwise, we then have to go past the old folks home on the bike path and with a group this big it is too dangerous.

once we turned onto burke dve the pace picked up a bit. not too much like there was an attack, but enough to start stretching the group out. stu was the main antagonist, which was strange as earlier in the ride he had said that he was not feeling too well. the pace stayed on till pt walter where the hill sorted the group out a bit. luckily there was a general slowing once we were over the top and most people managed to clamber back on.

we turned to get onto riverside drive and past the left bank, the pace picked up once again. still no real attack, but just stu pushing hard to make everyone hurt. darren commented on the nice cruisey public holiday ride we were having. the pace continued until we caught up to a small car with learner plates on. the car alost came to a stop when it went over the speed hump, so about four riders diverted around it. the car was still moving and john almost got squashed between it and the median strip which had started again. silly boys. even worse since it was an inexperienced driver who could panic and just run you over by mistake.

i gave them a stern talking too as we past through freo and headed up to cott. the wind was starting to pick up, or was it there all the time and we just didn’t notice as in was on our backs. either way, it made things difficult as it was almost a direct crosswind so you couldn’t hide behind the wheel in front. the pace stepped up again as we hit marine parade and headed towards cott. i just let it go and sat in where i could. most of us were expecting a nice quiet ride and like chris previously, was looking forward to seeing some nice scenery in cottesloe. not to be as we came through with enough speed to ensure the mind was focused on the wheel in front. i don’t even know who was driving the bunch by this stage, but a number of guys were keen to stretch their legs.

the return through dalkeith was the usual fare, with the pace coming on as the undulations started. i was keen to stay out of it, but when three guys shot off the front, i did a turn to pull them back just before the main climb on birdwood parade started. can’t even remember who was in the break and it was only yesterday. anyway, they went again as the gradient increased, and the guys i had dragged back up to them, didn’t have anything to go with, so they gapped us again. cresting the hill we could see a road block up ahead. probably the wrong thing to do even though the guy said it was ok, but we went through and past an anzac memorial service being held in an adjacent park. the group kind of stayed together till mounts bay road ready for the final line up.

with the wind in our faces, the slog along mounts bay would be hard. with ryan contesting the crit up in midland, there were very few real long range threats in the group. i was second wheel and when the front guys peeled off i thought that it was too hard to go it alone so started to roll through instead and signaled for the others to join in. it worked fairly well until one new guy got a bit confused, left his run too late and formed a big gap that he could recover from. by the time i rolled back to the front we were less than a k from the end so i thought that i would put in a big effort. all this
did was give a nice lead out to a bunch of the guys who rolled past me and onto the finish line, while i dragged myself to coffee.

only a small group was at coffee and we were joined by my family for a hot chocolate and muffin. with not many public holidays left in the year, and the group generally getting faster, i fear that the cruisey ride may be a thing of the past as people try to take advantage of the extra ride. oh well, at least we were riding.

friday 21st mar – good friday

ride report by chrisit seems fear of the pool boy and tennis coach were not enough to stop some of the guys from turning up for the ride today. a group of 16 was a reasonable turnout for a good friday ride.

after the last public holiday becoming a bit of a smash session this one was a lot more controlled. we only managed to drop two or three and dr paul “ninja” was able to get to the belltower ahead of us. how does he pull that off?
major disappointment for the day was the usual coffee haunt wasn’t open so we had to settle another location. i can’t comment on the quality of the coffee as i didn’t have one.

anyway, the ride was the usual public holiday lap of the river going clockwise via shelley following the river to freo, north along the beach and then back to the city along the river. a little longer than the usual weekend ride but when done at a sensible pace complete in under a couple of hours.

the usual shenanigans ensued along the riverton stretch but thankfully everyone had listened to my request to regroup along the leach hwy. a little detour around the roadworks at the applecross gave us the chance to admire homes i know i’ll never be able to afford. this wasn’t without incident though as stu dropped his chain , needless to say it wasn’t terminal and we continued on.

shockingly things were reasonably well controlled all the way to pt walter where the pressure put on by a couple of the guys meant the group split up a little. however it seemed the group had listened to the pre-ride briefing as another regroup at freo meant we were all back together. except for the ninja, who at this point used his mastery to do whatever ninja’s do.

so a steady roll along the beach allowed a suffering lennie (complete with secret weapon) to catch back on, not for long though as she decided to make a solo run for home.

from here on in things warmed up a little along the northern river foreshore. i set a steady pace on the front and things were strung out single file for a while at least. it has to be said, the speed along here wasn’t quite what it is on the saturday rides.

the group slowly got back together along by steve’s but not without incident. john went down after a moments inattention led him to touch the wheel of a bike in front. a little blood and a bruised ego was the only damage done thankfully.

all that remained was the finish along mounts bay rd. now by this stage my legs were pretty shot so i decided to tactically drop down the back and have a bit of a rest before the inevitable sprint finish. i knew the flying fynn was behind me somewhere as we headed towards the brewery and thought i’d find out where he was so swung out to go find him. sure enough, there he was sitting at last wheel. ready to kick hard as he usually does. well a thought came into my head; i could spoil his sprint if i boxed him in. at least someone else might get a chance at the “win”.

as the speed picked up

i was suffering sitting out in the breeze keeping ryan boxed in, anyhow my cunning plan was foiled and the two chaps who managed to get a break were mown down by ryan and others.

so, a good solid ride and several of us hung about afterwards for the usual bench racing and some tasteful jokes from the ninja. nice.