with only a few races left on the calendar, there is limited opportunity to get that racing fix before christmas time. the golden spokes event will be a fast flat race held around the champion lakes rowing course down towards armadale.
there are three main events – open men’s, open women’s and support men’s. unlike last year, mike will not have to suffer the indignity of having young melissa drop him on the final run towards the line. a day licence can be purchased if you do not have a full racing licence and want to give it a crack.
registrations close next tuesday but you can register online here.
it is an early start, with the open men hitting the circuit at 7:30. the track grand prix is the night before, so maybe a strong coffee is on the cards first thing in the morning.
this event will be run by the southern districts cycle club and they have asked me if there are any volunteers that can help out on the day. we are looking for about 4 people and the tasks will not be too onerous. it means that you will have to get there a bit early, but the benefit is that you can park on the island near registration, while everyone else will have to park a good 1/2 km away. this is a good opportunity for us as a club to learn how to run an event so that we can look at running some in the future. please let me know via the comments if you are available to help. you don’t have to be racing and you can even be a partner of a rider. they just need some extra hands.
Well after Talking Steve (Big Ring Hedley) into a short 28km 2 Up smash fest we had entered and were heading to Mundijong and skipping our usual Hills jaunt.
Steve opted to ride out as not too far from from his place South and Jody and I drove out. I registered us which I must say was a breeze and the people very friendly and went to set up the bike and get onto the windtrainer for my warm up. Steve rang to say his not far away and I continued on the trainer. Once done we adjusted all the numbers and had a few pics taken (will post a couple later).
We rode up to the start, seemed to be running dead on time so we went down the road to soak up some time to keep the legs going and went back for our 8.45 start time.
We went off smack on time and quickly found the wind stronger once we were up around 40. We swapped turns every minute or so and were settinga good tempo still able to talk and keep the average up over 40. We started to reel in riders pretty much straight away which was a nice feeling. In the tail wind we managed to ride upwards of 45kmphr and completed the first 12km lap with an ave of 41.2 which was my goal of riding 40ave speed for the race and hopefully sneak a top 10 spot.
We turned back into the wind to find it was stronger and us getting tired, not impressed but pushed as hard as we dare so we had fuel for the run home and still no one was catching us but kept picking people up.
We finally turned into the tail wind and pushed hard, Think this is where Steve may have regretted not having the Zipp wheels on and both our heart rates were nearing max.
Finally into the last turn we did hard short turns and I was counting off the kms and around 5 kms to I heard Steve stretching to get some blood flow to some apendages (wont used the actual term) but that gave me laugh and with him encouarging me he sat in for a while and came through but was starting to suffer so I said stay there and pushed hard all the way to the line with Steve in tow.
I didnt realise Steve was in the hurt box bigtime in the last couple of kms but we had a laugh, after after his operation his rehab is progressing along nicely and will be back to full strength sooner rather than later and putting me in the hurt box… paybacks a bitch I hear haha.
After checking the results we came a credible 6th place Team in a time of 41.08 mins and a average of 41.1kmphr and only couple of minutes of the winning team of Chris Thompson (CWA CEO) and Lee Bolden with Eddie hollands and Chris Glasby on a short few seconds behind in second.
On that note I must say a big condolances to Eddie and his family after his Mum passed away last week so alot of courage to come out and race after such a hard week.
So thanks Steve look forward to some more hitouts and some payback 😉
My figures were
41.1km travelled @ 41.08 mins with average cadence of 95 with a max heart rate of 190 and an average of 179Bpm and max speed of 50kmphr of also burnt 1000 calories 🙂
Thanks for reading and I can highly recomend any Atta event and I know I will be doing some more.:)
the last cyclo-sportif of the year and after our good showing at the state team time trials, there were a lot of people wanting to put in a couple of good teams. just like the team time trial, this would start at pinjarra. unlike the team time trial, this one had a very big hill in it.
the course was one that we had done a few times before and has featured every year since the inception of cyclo-sportif events. the only flat section is the first (and last) 10kms but there is always a headwind as it is so open. after that you tackle 10kms of climbing to take you up to dwellingup before it rolls along del park rd where you turn around and head home. there are a number of climbs both out and back along del park road, so even after you turn around, there are a number of climbs before the long decent.
we had two teams organised thanks to some running around by ryan, lisa and myself. both were doing the long distance but there was a clear “a” team and “b” team.
that “a” team had the following riders – ryan, brendan, steve, michael, judd, joseph, julian and david. (hopefully ryan will get a race report out soon…)
the “b” team had – myself, davina, lisa, mark, alistar, shane, brett, dan and julian (the brothers making their spr racing debut).
we made good time down to pinjarra thanks to the shmick new freeway and by the time i got there, the spr tent was already set up. a quick move away from the septic outflow and pretty soon we had it surrounded by almost all the teams cars. it made for a great meeting point made things like sharing pumps and tools a lot easier.
seeing we had some first time racers in our group, the topic of race nutrition & hydration was discussed pre-race. next thing we see is julian heading off in the car to get some powerade while dan minded the parking spot. it was interesting to see who ate what over this sort of distance. there were 56 teams doing the long distance and they were off at 30 sec intervals and we had the unfortunate “honour” of acting as a rabbit for the “a” team as we were starting only 1min ahead of them. a short warmup and soon we were on the start line. the game plan was set out. form a single line and do 30 sec turns at the front. if you were struggling do shorter turns. once we hit the hills we had to stay together. this meant yelling at each other to slow and pushing struggling riders if necessary.
the team that was meant to start 30 sec in front did not show up so we had 1 min to make up on our closest team. we were off. davina made sure that we didn’t smash it too much in the first few kms by getting everyone to do shorter turns at a slower pace until we had warmed up. this was great as i usually rode with the “a” team and had my ring hanging out from the start.
lisa driving the train
there was a definite head wind on the way out and we were hoping it didn’t swing around so that we had it on our backs for the return journey. the road turned left and right a bit so we had to echelon across the road to get the best draft. the long single file made this a bit hard in places, but we managed to slip through the first 9kms unscathed. along the way some teams obviously hadn’t read the cyclo charter and tried to hang onto the back as our group came past to get an arm chair ride. not really cool as this is a timed team event, but we soon dropped them as some of their crew couldn’t hold the pace.
at the 9 ½ km mark the “a” team swept past. not too bad. we were still passing teams and were travelling along at a comfortable pace so i wasn’t worried about them.
they were still in sight when we started the climb and stayed not a large distance ahead for the first half at least. it was interesting to see how the other teams tackled the climb. some just totally disintegrated as a group as people did the climbs at their own pace. we were past by a couple of guys from one team, but looked back to see that the rest of their team were still struggling a long way back. we were determined to stick together to get the advantage once the road flattened out a bit.
we crossed two sets of train tracks on the climb and one is just after a 12% section of the hill. it makes for a tricky decent on the return but no time to worry about that now.
we reached dwellingup with everyone intact and turned left onto del park rd. the road still climbed upward, but soon we were heading down. these were the climbs we were going to tackle on the way home, but they felt good now. mark had been doing some long strong turns on the way out and i asked him how he was feeling. i was worried that he might burn himself out but he said that he had an easy week and had energy to burn.
the road was constantly up and down but we were picking up lots of teams along the way. davina was making sure everyone was eating and drinking and alistar commented that he had never eaten so much on a ride before but it felt great.
we had just came down a very long climb that was the king of the mountain point for the pinjarra classic when we noticed that brett’s rear tyre was going down. we quickly pulled over to the side and actually got off the road as there were lots of teams following behind. this gave a couple of us an opportunity to get some more food down while mark, dan and brett seemed to be all trying to change the tyre themselves. many hands make light work or too many cooks spoil the broth. the tyre was difficult to get off but soon a new tube was in. one gas bottle later another tube was then put in. some initial air from a pump to make sure it was ok before smacking another gas bottle into it. ok. we were off again.
a lot of the teams we had passed were now up the road and we started clawing them back. the constant undulations and twisty roads meant that cars were having difficulty passing riders and seen we were stuck behind a car that couldn’t pass a few struggling riders. we were bunched up behind it and couldn’t get around either. this driver really didn’t want to put the foot down but eventually got enough clear air to get around. it was getting busy as riders were now coming back on the return trip so it was difficult to pass, but we got stuck behind the same driver another two times before they eventually got free. frustrating for them, but even more so for us as we were on the clock.
on the final climb up to the turn around, i noticed that dan had not done his seat bag up properly after the tyre change. he stopped at the turn and fixed it while we slowed right down to wait for him. we were soon off again and enjoying the descent when there was a pop and hiss in front of me and brett’s tyre was down for the count. as per the “three strikes” rule he told us to leave him and he would get a ride back with the sag wagon. i’m sure he can add his story to the comments as it took him a long time to get back.
mark was still doing big turns on the front and not seeming to be suffering for it. the climbs put dan in difficulty and a bit of assistance was needed but the group stayed together well. on the climb up to the king of the mountains, we got mixed up with a couple of groups that actually integrated with us for the climb. strangely not their entire group, but just a few of them. this meant that once we reached the top they all had to sit up and wait for the rest of their group to struggle along.
a few more rolling hills and pretty soon we were on the last climb before dwellingup. unfortunately it is not just one long decent as it kicks up a couple of times which caused a few gaps. people were keen to get home but the group still needed to stay together so had to slow to accommodate.
davina driving the train
the start of the descent saw davina hit a hidden pothole (i.e repaired but sinking again) that dislodged her drink bottle. i also hit the hole and thought of smashing carbon forks entered my head as it jolted my bike enough to ring the bell. however, i then had to make sure i didn’t hit the drink bottle as it skidded across my path. shane probably had a déjà vu moment as his bottle dislodged on the thursday group ride and jammed in between his spokes and frame causing the back wheel to lock up. the subsequent skid ripped right through his tyre, tube and started eating into his rims. not good. luckily everyone made it through the incident today.
so we were screaming down the hill and as we came around the corner, there was a guy waving a flag (but not very well) so we started to slow. as we exited the corner we realised that we had to slow real fast. there was a very large steam train chugging across the road with a number of carriages containing a whole lot of people happily waving at us. nice. apparently we were the only team that got held up by the train today.
back into the fray and we continued down the remaining hill to find that the wind had continued from the south and we would actually get a tailwind home. 10 kms to go and it would soon be over.
we formed into a line again but this time davina jumped on the front and stayed there for about 3 kms punching out around 48km/hr. we all just held on for dear life but enjoyed the draft while we could. as she peeled off, we all did short turns before mark and then davina both pulled out some big efforts. this long/short process continued for a while before dan was really feeling the effects of fatigue and was struggling to hold a wheel. with about 2 kms to go we formed up as two lines with mark and davina smashing along at the front so we could form the biggest draft window that we could to get the rest of us home.
we held together well and passed a number of teams that were just trying to make it home. as we passed the 500m to go sign, lisa decided to go for the sprint but went a little too early. we spat a couple out the back with that final effort, but that didn’t matter as i had the timing band on my leg and as i finished at the front, mine was the only time that mattered.
the “a” team were already at spr central and there was a litter of bike and bodies all around the tent. some of the guys had a hard time on that team too but a great effort was made by all. at the end of the day, only lisa and myself were the only two that stayed for lunch as brett was still making his way back with the marshals. our nine raffle tickets yielded nothing so we then joined the mass exodus back to the freeway.
a great job by the team today and a good introduction to a few riders as to what racing is like. awesome efforts by mark and davina to drag us around and a good finish to the cyclo-sportif season.
the 8th november is the next proper race with the golden spokes event which is a flat circuit around champion lakes. a good opportunity for those that want to get into the racing scene as there are no hills to make it too hard.
Arrived at Pinjarra feeling pretty relaxed – mainly because we don’t have to climb that @#$@% hill
First impressions – Initially thought I was at a wind trainer expo upon approaching the SPR big top. Met Pete and got issued with SPR jersey….(not bad –he did all this while warming up on the bike and maintaining a cadence of 90 rpm – not sure what gear he had on though?)
Noted that race preparation was well underway –talk of lack of miles, distant stares, the occasional nervous laugh, the old bloke who has seen it all before, the new bloke who looks like he just s**t his pants.
Race about to start – intro’s and in depth team meeting (30 second turns – yeah sounds good!)
Off and rolling and nice smooth rotation develops between the team. Next thing – wham- the young guns (durbridge,semple & co) come blasting past at a savage pace and are gone into the distance….
Slowly creep up on our minute markers and finally make the catch at about the 18km mark… We surge by…start to settle down and next thing we are being passed (by the same team) …gets a little messy as we move across and back to avoid drafting, and then finally push forward to go by one more time….all over – they are not coming back this time.
Unfortunately, we lose Julian to the cramp, brought on as he buried a big turn putting the lights out on the team that would not die. We take stock at the turnaround to see if he can ride back on. He waves us on and we start to re-establish a rhythm and slowly make ground on the odd straggler (see a team in the distance with 10km to go) and slowly make ground to the finish. Last ten 10km was smoothly ridden, so much so I stayed pretty much on the bars the entire time, not bad for four blokes who haven’t ridden together before.
Cheers to the boys of masters team B – Julian, Michael & Bruce – a very pleasant ride
Thanks to management of SPR for providing the opportunity to do the TTT. Look forward to teaming up with the crew in the future.
the state team time trial champs are coming up soon. we got a silver medal for the masters in this event last year and would like to see if we can medal again.
i think we have enough people to get a women’s team, an elite team and 2 masters teams. details are below, but add your name to the comments, which division you want to go in and we will put you in a team. it will be pretty much like a cyclo-sportif event as you all have to ride together and you can only drop one team member. this will be a good opportunity to show off our team colours and just race with the people you want to ride with.
also, this is the last event in which points are accumulated towards the team championship series in which spr is currently leading the support team category.
State Team Time Trial Championships
20th September 2009
Pinjarra
Men’s: 4 rider teams with the 3rd rider to count
Women’s: 3 rider team with the 2nd rider to count
Juniors: 2 rider teams with the 2nd rider to count
cyclo-sportif races, for those of you that don’t know, are not races. they are participation events. there is no winning team and the results are not even published in finishing time order. this escapes a few insurance issues about holding races, but as far as a participation event goes, it is pretty damn competitive. for this reason, i was trying to put myself in the second team as i know that i was not totally on form.
however, let me step back a bit.
it was great to see so many spr riders entering the event this weekend. we had four teams, two in the 78km event and two in the 62km event. what was even better was the fact that we had a number of first timers and it was great to see them out having a go at racing. hopefully this will be a sign of things to come and we can build on this. if people are still willing to turn up when gale force winds and driving rain are predicted, then they are hard enough to take on any of the races.
so, i was trying to change the teams around so that i could have an easier ride. not necessarily an easier ride, but just so i wouldn’t be a burden to the team. the format of these events mean that you cannot drop a rider or leave anyone behind. it happens and we have done it before, but with no real definition of a winner in these events, it is hard to say that any team has had an advantage.
so our team consisted of ryan, brendan, judd, michael, mike, jerry, rob and myself. some strong riders in there, but i was not to be counted in that category. the other 78km team had seven riders as did the two other 62km teams. hopefully we will get a race report from all of them.
this event has been notorious for attracting bad weather. two years ago, the wind and rain was so bad that they eventually cut the ride short and sent people home. last year was wet, with some wind, but it is winter after all. this year, the long range report had most people running scared. the wind and rain that lead up to the event were not a good sign, but by the time the morning rolled around, it was looking pretty good. we seemed to have lucked out and the event was sitting right between two cold fronts. kind of the eye of the storm. there were showers about, but the wind was nothing like the previous day. hopefully it would remain that way.
we signed the teams in and managed to get everyone in a spr jersey so that we at least looked the part. the main registration was held at the velodrome and would coincided with the track grand prix. more on that later. lorraine showed us her wheel with the nice nail stuck right through the tyre and embedded into the rim. luckily she had her spare wheels ready to go. there wasn’t a lot of stuffing around before it was time to head to the herne hill school for the official start.
we had obviously stuffed around enough as we missed the initial roll out and the escorted transition to the start line. we kind of knew the way so just took off on our own. well not really on our own as others missed the escort as well. by the time we reached the school, there was only time for a brief toilet stop before we were lining up.
gary suckling announced our team, had a few digs at ryan and before we knew it we were away. single file was the plan with 30 sec turns at the front. this allowed everyone to get a decent rest and also made sure that riders didn’t burn themselves out too early. a proper two line roll through means that you are often chasing the guy in front and don’t get to rest too long. with the wind the way that it was, a single file also meant that we could hopefully echelon across the road if we needed to.
the groups were set off in 30sec intervals and so we could see the guys in front of us right from the start. usually they start the faster groups later much like a handicap event, but this means that you need to know how fast a group will go. as we haven’t competed this year, they just put us anywhere.
we quickly caught and passed the first group and began chasing the next one. the circuit, although square in nature, had a number of left, right corners and even what could only be described as a chicane. this meant that you were often dropping into corners and this made it hard with slower groups around. we often had to slow down to get past a corner before we could overtake.
by the time we reached the long back straight, we had picked off a number of teams and had begun to work out what to do in the wind. i had just got to the front when i heard a call go out. against the buffeting winds it was hard to make it out so i asked behind me what was going on. “ease off” was what we heard, but there was no way i was hurting anyone this early in the race. a few more calls later and we sat up to find that judd had punctured his rear tyre. we spun back around and watched/helped/waited for the tyre change as a number of groups past us back again. with the tube changed and all gassed up we were off again. i was just behind judd and noticed that hie tyre was looking flat almost straight away. i thought that maybe he had not put enough in but he said that it was getting soft. two flats is a criminal offence so we shot him and left his carcass in the bushes. actually, we disobeyed rules and left him behind with a spare tube to fix his wheel. as it was a circuit race, we would pick him up next lap. i now had the timing band on my leg so the team would at least have to get me home.
we got going and quickly picked up the teams that managed to get past up while we were stationary. one team did come flying past and we never saw them again, but no-one else managed to pass us. we were still sorting the team out in respect to where to echelon off to account for the wind. some people felt compelled to ride on the left side of the road when the wind was from the right. i guess that it is just what is hammered into you when you start riding. it took us a couple of laps to really get it sorted out and it made it difficult that we had to continuously pass other group so had to revert back to a straight single file.
we picked up judd on the second lap and continued on our way. we were all still doing turns at this point, but some like rob and myself were beginning to struggle. rob would put too much into his turn and would drop off the back after he peeled off. i was really starting to feel the pace in my hammies and was not able to maintain a strong lead. judd (or the judd-inator) was determined to make up for his lost lap and would often get to the front and smash out a long time trial.
by the end of the third lap, both rob and myself were toast and with two laps to go, we were down to survival mode. we didn’t go to the front and just sat mid pack with ryan riding alongside, in the wind, giving us the occasional touch-up to put us back on a wheel. it was only 2 laps and only 30 kms, but it felt much, much longer than that. only highlight i can think of was rob dropping his bottle and having it jam in between his frame and cranks. he thought that he had dropped in altogether, but managed a great save.
we eventually rolled across the line for the final time and stopped the clock at 2:11:07. no idea how much time we lost with the tyre change, but with the conditions the way they were, we were pretty happy with the time. it was then the slow roll back to the velodrome to get changed and have lunch.
the one benefit of starting early and being relatively fast was the fact that there were no queues for lunch. after getting changed we were straight through to the stands to eat and watch some classy riders on the track. there were a number of riders that have ridden with us before as well as some regulars. josie was back from europe and was wearing her world champs colours as were anne meares and kaarle mcculloch. three world champs at an event wasn’t bad. the fleet girls were there (minus davina who is still racing in america) as were a few others that have graced us on sunday – mel, sam, adrian.
all up a great day (as it didn’t absolutely pour down on us) and it was great to see some of the non-regular-racing people having a go to show off the spr colours. thanks to kim as well who came out to take some photos and helped mike back to the velodrome after he cracked his norco frame on lap one. also thanks to shun who won one of the raffle prizes at the cyclo-sportif but donated it to spr for us to use as prizes and giveaways. he said he didn’t really want the stuff, he just wanted to win.
like most things, time trials are something that you have to practice and compete in to be really good at them. there are lots of opportunities to do this as atta runs events across the whole year and you could basically be doing one every second weekend. my last time trial was the team time trial around sept/oct last year.
one benefit is that i do have a time trial bike harking back from my triathlon days. since those days are not that long ago, the bike is still quite modern and was a lot better than just slapping some tt bars on the road bike. i was originally setup by budgie and taking into account my crap flexibility and the fact that i would have to run off the bike, it was very high at the front. in the week leading up to the event i made some adjustments to the height of the handle bars. (it is always good to change your position come race day, right???). effectively i dropped the front end down about 7cm while leaving the saddle pretty much the same height. there is a fine line here as the lower you are, the more aerodynamic you are but you start to lose power as you are in a more cramped position. not only that, there are parts of your anatomy that don’t really like to get squashed against a bike seat. i have scope to lower the front about another 2 or 3 cms, but may need to either get a smp cut away saddle or a visit to one of our urologist to get it all chopped off.
anyway, i do actually take the time trial bike out about once a week and managed to get a ride in on the new position. it didn’t seem too bad in the efforts that i was doing around the river. unfortunately my nice clean, ready to race bike was now filthy as it rained last wednesday when i took it out. a quick hose and chain lube and i was almost ready to go. i managed to borrow chris’ deeper dish cosmics to try to get some form of aero advantage, but i was sure that i was grasping at straws by this time.
so, race day comes around and i made the loooong trip down to dardanup with judd. i am sure that we can find a nice circuit closer to perth for the state championships. also signed up for the day was stu, rob, lorraine, nicole and the fleet girls. paul o had also signed up, but bloused it as he had a flight to catch… the next day. the event was scheduled for a 2pm start which gave everyone lots of time to make the trip down and not having to get up at 5am was a nice change.
stu, rob and myself were in the masters division and our course was only 25kms. the women did the same course, while judd, being the young buck, had to compete in the open division over 39kms. this was the same course that we did at the dardanup road race not so long ago and had a few sharp climbs in it. the open course had a few sharp climbs as well as a big hill. glad i am an old man now.
with no atta results or previous form to go off, rob and i were to leave quite early, while stu was going off with the big boys. the pointy end of the start list looked like an atta results page with a bunch of the regulars making the most of the state champs in their preferred discipline. the women were next to leave followed by the u19 and open men. judd’s start time was almost an hour after mine and he was doing a longer course.
we arrived early enough to pitch the spr sunshade and set up underneath to start our warmup. with a 25km race, i was going to need about an hour of warmup as, unlike a road race, there would be no cruisey start to proceedings. stu, judd and myself were stationed on our trainers under the shade and spun out some k’s. i am sure that i was still not fully warmed up when all of a sudden i saw rob take off from the line. i grabbed the bike off the trainer and zoomed up the road a couple of times to make sure the biek wouldn’t fall apart on me.
pretty soon i was on the startline with john holding the back of my saddle and a lady giving me a countdown. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and i was off. damn the bars are low now when i am holding onto the bull horns. i quickly settled into the aero position and made my way up the gears to get up to speed.
we were being set off at minute intervals so i had rabbits to chase and wolves to be chased by. once i cleared the town the road straightened up and i could actually see my minute man up the road. time is a really deceptive thing when you are riding a bike in this situation. you assume that as you can see the other rider, you mustn’t be that far behind. if you actually pick a landmark and count the seconds that it takes for you to also pass it, you soon realise how much time you need to make up.
the wind was low but i am still not 100% sure of the direction as it seemed to spin around during the event. i was in the big ring and powering along but soon realised that my hammys were not that warmed up for big efforts and had to ease back a bit. longer efforts needed during warmup. i kept the pace up as best i could but started to worry about the guy chasing me. i didn’t dare look behind just in case i could actually see him. our course was supposedly flat with a couple of small bumps and a power climb. turn around and head home over the same bumps. at the end of the day it is actually uphill on the way out and downhill on the return, but not enough to make it really count.
as we started to tackle the small bumps, i realised that i was actually making up some time on my minute man. he seemed to be struggling a bit on the ups but still doing ok on the flats. at about the 9.5km mark we hit the main climb and i was catching him fast. i left it in the big ring and powered past him before we crested the top. i was now a bit worried that i would get past as the road flattened out so i kept the power on going down the other side to stay ahead.
a couple of riders were now heading the other way as i approached the turnaround and i was still ahead of my rabbit. i tried to work out how far ahead the next guy was and set my goal to catch him before the end. within two kms we were on the power climb again and i hit it hard to catch and pass my two minute man. congratulated me as i past him, but i was maxing out at 189 bpm, so may have just grunted an acknowledgement. it did make me feel better though.
homeward bound and i was now looking at my average speed to try to get it up as high as possible. i knew that it would not be in the 40’s but i was disappointed to see it around the 36 mark. as the return was flatter, i was determined to keep the bike over the 40 mark as much as possible. i couldn’t see any other riders in front of me, so now i was riding scared and making sure i stayed ahead of the chasers.
the faster pace and new position began to catch up with me as my left upper calf started to feel tight. basically from there to my hamstrings were feeling the pinch and i started to feel the onset of a cramp. bugger. just keep pushing.
putting more power through my right leg, i managed to stave off any real cramp that would have stopped me in my tracks. the final run into town was tough but fast and i could just see a rider up the road as we approached the town. he managed to stay 30 sec in front of me as i crossed the line.
a quick cool down and then back onto the trainer to spin the legs out again. rob started in front of me but was a little slower. he out it down to stuffing up the turn around and having to turn back around again. i was worried about his time as he recently did the half-ironman so had some form leading into the day. stu came through next and took about a minute and half out of my time for a great ride. as we waited for the women to finish, judd was still warming up waiting for his start time.
all the girls came it with anna suffering from new bike syndrome and taking second overall with holly third. i had to give holly crap as she beat me by 1 sec. bec came in 5th, nicole 8th and lorraine and jill came in the exact same time in 9th and 10th.
we had a long wait for judd, who did a respectable 1:03:31 to come in 12th. with two fleet girls on the podium the spr hats made another appearance as we packed up and made the long trek home.
here is my tale of woe, and it really started back on the monday before the race.
monday night 8 – 10ish : ben very unsettled and whinging in his sleep.
tuesday morning 12:00am : ben comes in covered in spew.
tuesday morning 01: 00am : ben comes in covered in spew.
tuesday morning 02: 00am : ben comes in covered in spew.
tuesday morning 03: 00am : ben comes in covered in spew.
tuesday morning 05:00am : reset the alarm so i miss my bike ride.
wednesday morning 05:00am : do vicky’s kings park ride.
thursday morning 05:00am : get to do our group ride and manage to hang on till the end for a change.
thursday evening : kate starts complaining of a sore throat.
saturday arvo : i start to get a sore throat.
saturday night : bad night sleep, can’t swallow properly and starting to feel like crap.
sunday morning 06:00am : in denial. will start the race and see how i go.
sunday morning 08:00am : register and see start list for “b” grade has 60 riders. haven’t seen the course, but a draft from 60 riders should mean that i can hang on for a while.
sunday morning 09:00am : a bunch of other spr riders arrive – brendan doing “a” grade, ben, stu and myself doing “b”, james and bruce doing “c” with brett, lisa and lorraine doing women’s “a” with the fleet girls (holly, bec & anna) and nicole doing women’s “b”.
sunday morning 09:35am : race starts. sitting right at the back. cannot see the front. road too skinny so can’t move forward either. complete first lap, thinking it’s not too bad.
sunday morning 09:50am : doing second lap. keep falling off the back on the corners. need to sprint to catch back up. left heart rate strap at home so i can’t see that my heart is probably maxing out. guy actually pushes me so that i can keep holding a wheel.
sunday morning 10:05am : just holding on out of corners 1 & 2. drop off on corner 3 and even with the assist of the tailwind, can’t keep up. throat hell dry and it hurts to swallow water. sit up and call it a day. i’m not the first to drop off either. stu comes past as he had been spat out earlier and asked if i was continuing of pulling pin. enough for me for the day.
sunday morning 10:15am : hand my race number back in, get changed and watch the rest of the day with ronny, jerry, steve, chevaun & jody.
sunday morning 11:00 onwards : brendan hangs on with the main group in “a” grade. “b” grade has a breakaway that stays away but ben manages to stay out of trouble in the crash on the last corner to finish with the group. stu got his money worth by completing the required laps mostly by himself. bruce sprints for 4th in “c” grade after james spent a lot of time working at the front. lorraine finishes in the group for women’s “a” grade after a breakaway stays away. lisa had a mistimed attack and paid the price by getting dropped, but finished all the same. nicole finished on the podium in third in women’s “b” grade.
lorriane did provide brownies which made the pain go away momentarily. we have a few races in the calender coming up and we would like to see a few more people out there giving it a go. for those that are relatively new to racing, there is often a men’s “c” grade or women’s “b” grade that would be a good start. if you can hold a wheel on the saturday rides, then you should be right in these races.
the online membership is STILL not up and running even though cycling wa have been hassling cycling aust on a daily basis. they obviously don’t want our money. if you are thinking of racing or need some more kit or are new to the group and want to feel a part of it, have a look at the kit page on the website and send an email through. once we reach the minimum for a piece of kit we will do an order for that piece. it will probably be jerseys first.
footnote –
monday & tuesday : have time off work because i am still sick.
so friday we left perth at around 2pm and arrived before dark . spent saturday looking around the area with the family and in the afternoon it was the crits.
i watched our spr team warm up and go thru their various preparation routines and checked out the course. bit of a tough course by the looks of it with some steep sections and a very tight corner at the end of a downhill run. anyway i’ll leave the crit details to those that raced it.
next day it was the road race. i lined up with brett l and kimbo in cat C along with 30 or so others. we had one aim- stick with the group. i knew from my last fiasco at joondalup that once you get dropped it’s pretty much good-night. ryan’s advice was to not do any chasing. i thought no danger of me doing that…
the course is a figure 8 with one of the eight’s circles about 3 times as big as the other. the smaller circle had the steepest climb but nothing compared to a sunday ride in length. still, in a race, it hurts.
the bigger circle took us on undulating back country roads for half, then a main highway for the rest. in terms of variety this little 33km figure 8 course had it all. our race was 2 laps.
ok so what happened? well i started out in the 1st 3rd of the bunch and stayed there much of the 1st bigger circle. brett did some generous towing for some part of the fast section. i’m sure he paid for it come the next steep part. i then found myself 2nd just prior to the steep little hill.
turning the corner to start the steep section
quarter way up the climb there was a break. at this point the fit boys took off and left me in about 10 place. this is one of those moments you play back in your mind thinking ‘why did i not htfu and hold the wheel?’
well i think lack of some vicky king park specials and no fast hard rides for the last 10 days left me nicely rested, but a bit under cooked. anyway about 6 or 7 of us were left in a chase group behind the leading group of 6.
we continued on our merry way and worked together on the faster sections to try and make ground. to no avail as the 1st 6 guys seemed way too far ahead and not even in sight.
on the second lap we were hit by some heavy showers with lightning. bit scary but we were on rubber tyres so i guess we were safe enough. at this point we lost some of our group over the undulating sections with visibility (as well as moral) much reduced.
it cleared by the time we hit the fast section for the last time that although we were not racing for a place, the three of us that were left wanted to cross the line first.
the 2 lost me on the steep hill again (dam it) but not by too much (about 400m). i fought my guts out to get back on and i was encouraged to see i was making ground. in the meantime i think they had thought they’d lost me. it was not until they turned to go down the last hill toward the finish that they spotted me and quickly tried to up the pace.
i had about 200 m to catch up before the finish which was now about 1 km away. this is where all those races down welshpool rd against gerry and mark came in handy. i felt right at home smashing it down hill and caught them as we reach the last home straight which is a 3 degree climb.
we all looked at each other to see who was going to ‘draw’ first… then the stronger of the other 2 took off but i pounced quickly taking a wide sweep to avoid any hanger-ons, pumped my legs for all they were worth past him to take out 8th place.
only my 8 yr old son managed to snap my finish...
we all shook hands and the it felt great to actually finish an individual race.
in summary joondalup memories are now laid to rest and i think cat ‘c’ is my natural place to be (for now).
i just need to anticipate/learn some of the likely sections teams will make a break on – and if you can work as a team you have a huge advantage as i witnessed 1st hand.
the great perth bike ride (gpbr) has become one of those events whose reputation preceeds it. i know quite a few of the spr riders did not want to participate this year because they thought it was too dangerous. and the truth is, i agree with them. it is not the format or the route, it is the lack of skill that some of the riders show when riding in a group, and the riders need to keep trying to get to the front when the road is not wide enough for more than 2 or 3 bikes. anyway, i am getting ahead of myself again.
i signed up for the 106km (2 lap) event. work were paying for it so i decided to have a crack as the $100 entry fee was covered by someone else. this is probably one of the other reasons that some of the spr riders declined to play today, as the price had shot up dramatically since last year. anyway, all was good. we collected our race kits and new cannibal rio tinto jerseys. a change of logo and colours to the corporate banner meant that cannibal had a nice order for over 200 new jerseys. everything was set, and then i got sick. i was only at work for 1 ½ days this week and i was sure it was going to affect my ride. i deliberately didn’t ride on saturday to give the body more recovery time, but woke up early sunday not really much better. i forced down some porridge but it didn’t sit too well. feeling queasy on the bike is the worse thing especially when you know that the pace will be on from the start.
i turned up early enough to get to the front of the line and caught up with james, ryan, nick and mike. a few other spr guys were milling around and i saw big john from rio and doug as well. the weather was looking good and even though the roads were wet, the sky looked like it would stay clear for the race. gary suckling gave out some last minute instructions over the pa system and before we knew it we were off.
the pace was not too bad from the start but it did surge a bit especially at the back where i ended up quite quickly. we set a nice even pace along mounts bay rd as the wider stretch allowed people to find their position easier. not sure who was setting the pace, but there was a small line of guys at the front before the rest of the pack swelled behind them. there were a smattering of plan-b boys and girls in the pack, but they seemed to be keeping out of trouble and just milling around not forcing the pace or anything.
as we turned off mounts bay the fun really started. the tighter roads and multiple corners stretched the pack out as the masses hit the brakes leading into the corners. we seemed to get past the uni ok but the first fall happened on the turn off hackett drive. the pack moved to the middle of the road to negotiate the corner and some guy hit a patch of crap around the white line and went down. he immediately jumped straight back up and kept riding so he wouldn’t lose his position. i was trying to avoid being anywhere near him after that.
the hill near steve’s was the next obstacle and i was sure that it would sort out some of the pretenders. i put in an effort to make sure i didn’t get dropped too much as i knew that i didn’t have enough in the tank for a proper chase. some riders dropped off the back and i don’t think we saw them again. the pace didn’t really increase that much, but everyone always like to attack on the hills. we hammered through dalkeith and the corners again strung the group out. i managed to keep touch but only just and was constantly up and sprinting to keep up. after christchurch grammer i heard wayne from cyclemania talking to the plan-b guys saying that they were not to play at the front and were just here as a training ride. they all backed off and formed a second group to stay out of trouble.
we came down through devils elbow and i had lost touch slightly as there were some guys that obviously didn’t have the bike skills to be smashing through there at speed. i made up a bit of ground along the waters edge but started the mosman park hill behind the eight ball. i didn’t want to hit the hill too hard as i was sure that i would pop, but even at half pace i was passing riders on the bottom easier section of the hill. by the time i got to the top i was in amongst the group, but the fast boys were up the road. i past nick at the top and he looked knackered, but i couldn’t stop. after the corner, i caught up with james and with a couple of other guys we worked together to try to catch back up. as we approached the slight hill before stirling hwy, we caught sight of the group and got back on once we turned towards freo. the next hill on preston point road would be the tester but i managed to hold on and keep with the group. the roundabout at point walter became a problem for a couple of riders as someone went down and held up the group. we head to chase to get back on along attadale and this managed to dislodge some more stragglers from the back.
now i am sure that the majority of the riders in this group have ridden around the river a few times. probably more like 100 times. however, with the squeal of wet carbon rims and the constant hard braking and evasive action, you would think that everyone was actually surprised that we had to slow down for the corners and avoid the traffic islands. the amount of guys we saw going to the wrong side of the road to avoid the traffic islands when there was oncoming traffic was amazing. these guys were taking risks for a participation event.
more of the same through applecross fast, slow, squealing brakes, avoiding islands, etc, etc and pretty soon we were on the freeway. now the freeway deserves a special mention for absolutely stupid placement of cones and signs. we had a lane reserved for us plus the emergency lane. now the emergency lane is where all the crap goes that the vehicles flick up. crap like glass, rocks and the like, so not always the best place to ride. the lane we had marked out for us was also full of hazards. along the entire stretch the lane was demarcated with nice big cones so the cars would not stray into our lane. that was fine, but every second cone was a double cone that sat further into our lane. now as you are driving along the the road (setting up cones) these doubles are easy to see. when you are right up the arse of the rider in front of you and the train is about 20 or so people long, you don’t see them coming.
to make matters worse, for our safety, the cars on the remaining lanes of the freeway were restricted to 60kph. we know this because the speed signs were placed in our lane even further in from the double cones. these didn’t give as much as a cone when hit and caused a bit of damage. in the group following us, stan from the sunday rides heard a crash behind him just as his group hit the freeway after canning bridge. the guy just behind and to the right swerved to avoid a speed sign that was placed too far in and came off. big john from rio from the saturday rides was following him and had nowhere to go and cartwheeled over him. three other riders then rode over john and came tumbling down too. two of them had to be taken to hospital and one of the others was dr ronny whose carbon front wheel was no match for john’s body and now looks like a taco. no serious injuries to either of them, but a lot of gravel rash.
about halfway along the freeway, i rode to about midpack and found ryan. i told him that i was not going to make a second lap as i was really struggling by now. a couple of coughing fits as we rode along and all types of nasty flem was gurgling around my system. i also was struggling to take anything more than water down and i would eventually run out of energy. my day was done, but i needed to get my timing band back to the start finish line.
as our group approached the exit of the freeway the cones tightened up and the double cones caused a bit of grief. i saw one guy hit them at speed and i thought that i was going to clean him up but he managed to stay upright somehow. as we past through mends street another guy hip and shoulders a bollard as he came around the corner way too fast. these guys were crazy and taking risks that they didn’t need to. either that or they were way out of their depth as far as fast group riding was concerned and were only hanging on by the skin of their teeth. i would say half and half.
i managed to hold on all the way back through south perth and onto riverside drive. the biggest pain in the arse was the riders using the coned off road to ride to the start on their shiny new mountain bike, while a group of about 40 riders were trying to come through at speed. thanks guys.
we crossed the line and i peeled off and headed to the timing tent to hand in my band. i hate not finishing events but i was happy to stay with the main pack for the first lap which we took in 1:20 for the 53kms. just under the 40kph mark. i knew that i wouldn’t be able to stick out that pace, but even more so the bad gut meant that i would eventually run out of energy and may not even be able to limp home.
of the remaining few, ryan got a flat and had singles on so not sure if he finished. mike finished in the main pack giving jens the best rio tinto time for the event. something he will have to live up to when he returns next year. i managed to get up in the hills and have a coffee with the few chasing mountain points. stu now has a commanding lead with one more sunday to finish off the month.
with only a few races left on the calendar, there is limited opportunity to get that racing fix before christmas time. the golden spokes event will be a fast flat race held around the champion lakes rowing course down towards armadale.
