sorry, this one slipped past the email the other day and i forgot to post it.  dan’s race report from last sunday’s southern districts race at pickering brook – peter.

Joe, Matt and myself met at Coode St and rolled out with the SPR hills ride regulars to get a tow out to the hills as they were also climbing Welshpool Rd first up. We picked up Brendan around Roe Hwy and we arrived at the start in Pickerbrook nice and early, a welcome change, not so nice were the yokels who enjoyed driving past us way too close, made me wish I was wearing some brown Ag2r knicks.

When we got there we realised that It was really cold in the shade and for better or worse it was decided that standing in the sun would be as good as a warm up. Brendan, Shane and me signed up for B grade.

There were 16 starters in B grade. We rolled out fairly sedately and headed around the course for our first of six laps rather conservatively. The course starts with a downhill into a corner, continues on and then rises gently for ~1km, there is a sharp downhill and a steep rise that you can get 80% up on momentum, then another gentle rise, a bit of a drop, before the incline out of Repatriation Rd onto Pickering Brook Rd, finishing again with a downhill. For the next few laps there were a few surges by the same three or so guys, but not too much distance was ever created.

Come the last lap most of the starters were still present, maybe three had left, including one guy who had his Mavic R-Sys (“Exploding Wagon Wheels”) pick up on a rear wheel bearing I think. Blake Howard and a guy from Riders Choice got a gap on the downhill at the start of the last lap and that gap was being maintained on the first climb. I checked with Brendan if he thought they would stay away, he seemed to think not, which put me at ease. Slowly, after the short downhill, we started to make time on the two. When we got close enough Theo Yates and Tony Anderson from Arbitrage got across and we picked up the Rider’s Choice guy. As we were approaching Pickering Brook Rd there were three off the front (Theo, Tony and Blake) and Shane was doing a big effort to reel them in, I was on Shane’s wheel. I called out some encouragement to Shane and he checked to see that I was on his wheel and then he gave it some schtick. This created a small gap behind me and he was able to bridge up over ~0.5-1km to the front three just as Theo gave it a kick. I just missed getting on his wheel and had to try and drag him for the line, but I finished about a bike length back in second. A huge thanks goes to Shane who smashed it to get me up to the front group, it was really appreciated:) 

A big thanks to all the competitors who were there as it was a very sociable race and Southern Districts for putting some races on. I would encourage more SPR crew to come down for the next race, the course is certainly not as hard as any of the hills on a Sunday ride.

-Hughesy

Racing returns to

 Pickering Brook

May 30th, June 13th, July 18th 2010 

Start 9.00am

Noms from 8am – close 8.50

Pickering Brook Primary School

Pickering Brook Road

All Grades including Juniors – except June 13 which will be seniors and U19 only

Depending on numbers

All Riders MUST hold an ACF 2010 licence

No Licence No Ride

NOMINATIONS  on the day Sen.$10.00  Jun. $5.00

For further info. Ring Karen on 0417804855

Race report by Dan (Formerly known as DeRosa Dan)

My first race in SPR colours (…..its not easy being Green) since recently moving to Perth from Canberra, and it was looking rather uninviting as dark skies and showers greeted me on the early morning drive South. I had visions of the race ending like Stage 7 of the Gio d’Italia (btw brilliant victory, Cadel), but the clouds parted as I neared Bunbary and the sun was up….perfect bike racing conditions!!

A quick stop at a local cafe for the mandatory pre-race large flat white and blueberry muffin, then it was off to the  start line where the SPR boys and girls were already setting up shop. Introduced myself to the SPR crew, conversations about the race and route, changed into kit and did my warm up.

A big SPR contingent for C-Grade (10 out of 32), with mountain goat Ashley favourite to take the win after his performance on the hills ride. Everyone kept mentioning this “big hill” that was after the round about, being absolutely unfamiliar with the area my race plan was to stick myself near the front so that if the pace got too hot up the hills I could still drift back during the climb and stay with the bunch.

C Grade was combined with the U-17’s, and the race got off to a cruisy start with the eager u-17’s charging to the front and the rest of the bunch happy to follow in their draft. Except there was no draft since a crosswind was blowing and crafty riders were riding on the centre white line not wanting to provide an inch of draft to the person behind. A fairly civilised race till the first climb, and as expected the U-17’s shot up the hills. The C Graders were happy to let them go, maintaining a steady rhythm up the climb. The 5 U-17’s didn’t manage to work together after the first climb, and we caught them easily. At the next climb, the U-17’s took off again but this time Ashley, Michael and another SPR rider were hot on their heels and they managed to break away from the bunch maintaining a 150m gap from the bunch. I sat comfortably in the bunch thinking “That’s it! The winning break and SPR riders are in it!! I’ll just sit in the bunch now and cruise home with them.” I sat on 2nd wheel and when guys around me realised that I wasn’t going to help chase my own teammates, they stepped on the gas and worked their arses off to catch the break. Kudos to them, they brought me to within 50m of the spares vehicle which was driving behind the lead bunch. We took a “quick suck” off the spares vehicle then joined up with the break just as we were coming to the turn around.

The race was split apart by this point. 2 U-17 riders had a huge gap on the other 3, and there were about 8 C-Graders left in the lead bunch. At this point Ashley felt it necessary to stretch his hill climbing legs and he set a good pace climbing out of the valley shedding riders till there were only 3 U-17’s, 5 SPR riders and a lone Collie rider left. “Sweet! We’ve got this one in the bag!” I thought. Unfortunately nobody was interested in working to keep the break going. The Collie rider decided to put on his General’s hat and tried to get a paceline going but to no avail. Everyone was just looking around, blaming others for not pulling turns, no doubt thinking about saving their legs for the sprint finish.

Well we should have been thinking about keeping away from the chasing bunch, because with 5 km to the finish a handful of riders managed to work very hard to catch up to us. It was game on at this point, the pace heating up and everyone fighting for a good position. I caught a glimpse of the 1km to go sign on the left before hearing the familiar click click of gears changing and before I knew it we were out of the saddle and sprinting for the finish. I could see Chis and Toby up ahead sprinting for 1st and 2nd, I put in everything I had and jumped past a few riders to claim 3rd. Michael and Ashley followed closely behind in 5th and 8th.  

An awesome race!! All the boys in C-grade put in an excellent effort to get the 3 of us to the podium. Hit me up at the coffee shop next time guys, I’ll happily buy the team coffees. Well done to the A and B -graders, and to the ladies as well! Moissive ups to Pete and gang for setting up SPR HQ and providing cold drinks!

Carlos and myself were last seen at the Darnanup Pub enjoying a couple of cold ones……

photos by meg.

last chance to enter this event.

online registration closes at 5:00pm wednesday (today)

this is run by south west and is one of the clubs that we have a good working relationship with so need to support their event. 

looks like there will be a big spr turnout already, but we can always do with more.

see here for more details.

there is a crit on this weekend run by the ndcc up at osborne park.  what makes this one different is that it is also a fundraiser to help a couple of the girls to get to the junior world champs in italy this year.  one of them is bella who used to ride with us way back when we were at the bikeshop.  even as a 15 year old she would put some of the guys to shame in the final sprint along mounts bay road.  she still comes out occasionally and especially to tackle the hill rides.

for those looking to race, they have three grades plus a women’s race so there is something for everyone.  details are attached, but sorry for the size of the flyer.  however, i will try to summarize below.

8:00am. c grade – 30min + 1 lap

8:30am. b grade – 40min + 1 lap

9:00am. women’s – 30min + 1 lap

9:15am – a grade – 50min + 1 lap

$20 entry.  any queries to neil welsford – 0418 942 638

I’m just wondering if there is a list of SPR riders in the various grades that are going to Pemberton? I’m going to go myself and I would like a bit of collaboration with others on some tactics prior to meeting on the start line.

mat.

EDITORS NOTE:

please add your name to the comments below if you are going to pemberton and what races (crits/road) and what grades you are doing.  there seemed to be quite a few hands go up on saturday for those heading down so it would be good for everyone to catch up while down there.  if anyone wants to take the tent down with them, let me know, but you must have it manned at all times so it doesn’t blow away (e.g. have a partner going down with you).

peter

along with steve hedley, there were a few other stars of cycling at the national road championships.  here are a few pics that i managed to get. 

for those that are heading over to the tour down under, get in contact with me to get blog access so you can upload your pics.

peter

congratulations to travis meyer as the perth boy is now the new champion of australia.