Tag Archives: rebold hill

saturday 25th oct – rebold and cott

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ride report by peter.

 

after a week of plus 30 degree days, it was a bit of a shock to have a rainy start to a saturday ride.  the short shower at about 6:30 kept most away and numbers were down to about 25 or so.  i think the majority turned up so that they could collect their new drink bottles.  a complete turn around this morning as i was first on the scene so had to do a couple of laps to keep warm as a light misty rain fell around us.  perfect rowing conditions as there was not a breath of wind and a few boats were out early.  not really the strong south-westerly winds that were predicted. 

 

a tour of the posh suburbs was on the cards today and we would loop around the back of kings park before cutting through subiaco and up rebold hill past city beach.  a loop down through cottesloe before home via dalkeith.  a convoluted route, but one that kept it close to home and allowed a few short-cuts for people if they needed it.

 

we rolled out as the rain eased and looped over the causeway and past the coffee shop.  a pleasant pace up around kings park mean that we all headed through subiaco together.  as expected, we were split occasionally at the lights but nothing a bit of soft pedaling didn’t account for.  there is one nice hill on underwood drive before we turn towards rebold hill and everone was very well behaved and the group pretty much stayed together.  after we turned onto oceanic drive, the pace started to pick up a bit.  jens was on the front but ryan was not far behind biding his time.  this was to be our first pace section and the boys were wanting to stretch the legs.  ryan eventually made a move and hamish jumped on his wheel.  it wasn’t a very long section of road, but the two or three rolling hills made it interesting and soon the group was spread along the road. 

 

i tried to go with the move by found my legs were not playing the game yet and dropped back a bit.  james came up and we did a few turns together, but never pulled back the ground we had lost.  by the time we hit west coast hwy, they had about 50 – 75m on us. 

 

we rounded the corner and slowed the pace right down to allow the group to re-form.  i dropped back to see who we had and there were a few faces not present from this morning.  as the group ambled along the road, i looked back to see the remnants of a couple of chasing groups.  i let the pack go and dropped back to see if i could draft them back on. 

 

about now the still calm day had begun to change and the south-westerly was blowing in our faces.  i jumped in front of bill and lisa and began to try to catch the pack.  there were a few more of the group further back, but this was about as far as i thought i could go and actually get back on again.  we came up the rolling hills but never really made up much distance.  i wasn’t sure whether the front group had upped the pace or not, but by the time we crested the hill and rolled towards the swanbourne shops, the main group was already heading out of sight along side the railway.  it also looked as though the group had split, usually a good indication the pace had been on a bit coming up the hill.

 

we soldiered on but soon came to a halt as there was a pilot vehicle stopping traffic… again.  same as last week we had picked a route the was being used to transport some massive piece of machinery.  today it was a very large and very heavy generator.  there were two semi’s on the front and one behind pushing.  this made for a very slow trip.  emma had joined us by now, and we set off towards the southern end of cottesloe.  i was now worried that our delay meant that we would never catch the group so we detoured down eric st and headed straight for cott.  what we didn’t know was that while we were delayed with the heavy haulage, the main group had also been delayed at eric street. 

 

we turned north when we hit marine parade but took it easy, thinking that the group would engulf us at any time.  the tailwind was now picking up and it was actually hard to go slow as you were pushed along the exposed coast.  we headed the usual way home, occasionally looking back expecting the spr train to be barreling along the road.  no train. no barreling.

 

when we crossed stirling hwy, i let the others go on ahead and decided to wait for the others so i could at least have a crack at the sprint.  i waited.  and waited.  finally a green clad cyclist came across the intersection and stopped.  it was russell but he said that he had taken a short cut and was ahead of the group.  bit of a relief as i thought we may have missed the group altogether and i would be sitting there looking like a goose.  russell kept on going, but soon another small gaggle of spr cyclists came around the corner.  it turns out that jules had gotten a puncture and others had waited to help.  we kicked back for a few more minutes before the rest of the group arrived.  as the tyre had sidewall damage, they got him onto a train to get back to the city.  we were off again.

 

as usual the pace picked up through dalkeith.  we left the usual sacrificial lambs out the front for as long as possible and then turned up the pace just before the rolling hills.  i was content to sit back and found myself on ryan’s big fat back wheel.  my plan of attack on the thursday training ride had been to sit on his wheel and it worked quite well then, so why change.  as the rolling hills started, ryan took off on the first step in the hills and i managed to go with him.  as we crossed the plateau and up the next step, the group fell even further behind.  ryan kept pushing over the crest but my lungs said no thanks and i eased up.  jens had made a break off the front and was closing the gap fast but i managed to stay in front of him to the line.  and there actually is a line on this one down past the war memorial just before you slow to turn right.  this is why ryan keeps the pace up after actual the hill. 

 

the pace slows and the roundabout and intersections make sure the group is pretty much back together onto mounts bay road.  with a cross tailwind pushing us along, the pace quickened and we were strung out single file from the start.  nick pushed the pace for quite a while and i again managed to be sat on ryan’s back wheel.  it was now just a matter of biding my time and getting the kick right to get past. 

 

the bottles are finally here
the bottles are finally here

as we approached the brewery, the front of the group disintegrated into a number of attacks that were instantly swamped by the next.  some other riders had also moved up from the back, but ryan was content to sit in till the last moment.  i watched his gears and hand positions to try to pre-empt when he would jump and made sure i was in the appropriate gear to go with him.  when he finally went we were already into the corners past the brewery car park.  it would only be about 150 metres to the line from here so i had to get a good kick.  i moved up one more gear and all i got was that tick, tick, tick of being in between gears.  no time to dick around and i shifted back sown and would have to just spin more to get past.  the front had moved off my now and judd had a small break over hamish but ryan and i were coming up fast.  i tried to come around ryan, but the pace was too high (speedo said 66kph) so i just couldn’t make it.  we got past hamish, but judd managed to hold us both off on the line, proving that ryan’s tactics of always sitting in does not always work.

 

the coffee shop was already full of some of the short cut crew and kate and ben had brought a couple of boxes of drink bottles along.  we distributed them out to the group, but as the rain had diminished our numbers, i have still got a couple of boxes remaining to be collected.  we will see how many we can off load during the week, but may have to bring them to the coffee shop again.  it will also pay for people to put their names on their bottles, as they all look the same now.  remember (if you read this tonight) daylight saving starts tonight, so it will give me something else to bitch about in my blogs.

saturday 19th april – rebold and cott

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cold, damn cold. i had to go back in the house and get my jacket this morning, much to the disgust of my sleeping wife. i always prepare everything the night before (including pumping my tyres) so that i minimize the noise when i get up. if i creep around quietly, i can usually be out the door before anyone wakes. this morning was not my stealthiest. if i was smart enough to thoroughly check the weather report the night before (it is all about preparation) i would have noticed that it was forecast to be freaking cold overnight and i would have got the jacket out just in case. so no, not a good start.

the course today was added not long after christmas as we kind of went this way for our christmas ride. a few extra hills, some fast paced sections and a few more km’s turned it into a standard saturday ride course. today it would take us around the bottom of kings park, onto hay street through subi and over rebold hill. a quick lap around cottesloe and we would then head back the normal route through dalkeith.

despite the cold we had a decent turn up as we would have had close to 40 riders roll out. a nice and gentle trip along riverside drive and onto mounts bay road allowed the group to ease into the ride. even the climb up thomas rd was not too stressful as the group remained under control. as we rolled down hay st which becomes underwood ave, i was surprised when we hit the few rolling hills that there were no real attacks as everyone found a nice climbing pace to the top.

once we came around rebold hill, i was going to allow the group it’s head of steam up the climb and along west coast highway till we hit swanbourne. as we turned onto oceanic and started the two small climbs around rebold hill, dr nic came charging up the road from almost the back of the pack. she hit the front and kept going with nev not far behind. i was waiting to see who would react but the group looked content to let them go. i switched it up a gear or two and started setting a faster pace which the guys could get a tow behind. we picked up nev and then dr nic before the top of the hill and by the time we crested, had a group of around 7 or 8 riders. with the chase and hill over, the momentum left group and the rest of the pack caught up by the time we hit west coast highway.

the group really seemed to not want to go hard at all today, and it took a few prompts to get it to start chasing. michael and nick finally broke clear along this stretch of road before the group reacted. however, it didn’t even manage to get strung completely out as no-one seemed eager to flat out chase them down. we regrouped around the lights at swanbourne and made our way down to the southern end of cottelsoe to come back up marine parade. a few of the boys wanted to stretch their legs a bit and i was content to let myself slip to the back of the pack and take up position as last wheel. with the race set for tomorrow and my flu like symptoms forcing me to have tuesday off this last week, i was a bit dubious of my form. i had already struggled a bit on some of the climbs for today, and worried that it my be a bad sign for tomorrow.

so, the group stayed together through a relatively fast tour of cottesloe and we meandered our way past the swanbourne shops. a nice big 4wd decided that we were too slow and tried to get past only to find that he was running out of road before the intersection. he had to slow down and push back in, splitting the group in half. smart man. if he had waited ten more seconds he still would have made it to where he wanted to go.

the route took us back home through dalkeith and the group will always go hard along here. always??? not today. with team p0rn0 making other plans to see how we can control the sprint, none of us were planning to do any work on the front. this left nick and a couple of others to force the pace, and they were not keen to hurt themselves either. chris stamped off the front to try to get something going but no-one would chase and he soon grew tired of playing and was absorbed back into the pack. finally as the group approached the last few undulations on birdwood pde, the pace picked up thanks to nick, christophe and nev. the group strung out a bit but not to the extent that we have seen it smash everyone apart.

team tactics were still in play and we were trying to keep mid pack to keep us out of the work load and in position to attack. a car interrupted us on the turn onto hackett dve and the front guys got a bit of a break. i mentioned to chris that is they got a good set of lights onto mounts bay, we were done for. it would have been an unusual set of events to get that to happen, and we caught them as they sat waiting for the green.

now, the team tactics for the day was to sit in till about two km’s out and then we all go hard down the right hand lane to get a break. we would all line out and try to deliver ryan to the line in one piece. now it didn’t quite go to plan. just before we were due to go, stu got a puncture and was off the back for a quick change. when i finally did decide to go there was too much traffic and i couldn’t get into the right hand lane, so i knew that there would be some hangers on.

brendan had made a break earlier and had a bit of a gap on the field. nick was on the front chasing him down with the rest of the train strung out behind him. as i led off the front, with (hopefully) the rest of the team in tow, i knew that we were not going fast enough, or over far enough to stop anyone jumping on board. too late for second chances as we had committed to the move already. i did a turn and manged to pick up brendan from his breakaway. i flicked the arm for michael to come through and looked back to see what the move had created. half the field were attached to us and the rest were still being pulled along by nick. i hadn’t totally smashed myself as i was hoping that i could jump on board as the tail came past. as i waited for the many riders to pass by, i started to doubt that the move would pay off at all. i ended up letting them go up the road and paced myself to the coffee shop. it turned out that chris had done an extra big turn to deliver ryan to the line but with steve firmly attached to his wheel. steve wasn’t too happy with some of our tactics and was unhappy with a blocking move by chris at the end when he released ryan. oh well, not a complete failure, but we will try something different next week.

coffee stop was good, but with a notable exception. big john who works with me at rio, didn’t make it back to the shop. his wife was waiting for him (as is the tradition) but he phoned up saying the he had four flats on the way back from cottesloe. with stu hitting a pothole to puncture and dr melvyn’s brake levers coming loose (after some dyi maintenance) we were lucky that there wasn’t a stack.

i have also started to take orders for the new group jersey, as had been posted on here earlier. if you want anything (jersey, knicks, vest, armwrmers) then see me after the ride or send me an e-mail through the blog. i will finalise the order over the next couple of weeks.

race day tomorrow at wandi, so hopefully we can get a ride report from the hills ride a well.

saturday 26th jan – rebold & cott

smaller turn out today as i expect that some people were taking advantage of the three day weekend and had gone away. probably about 30 or so which is definitely more manageable with getting through the traffic lights.

today’s route was basically a combination of the christmas ride and other routes close to the city. we took out the confusing city bits and would head down mounts bay rd instead. up winthrop past kings park, along hay st till we cut through perry lakes and up over rebold hill. back down west coast hwy then loop around past cottesloe and home via dalkeith and mounts bay rd.

we headed out canning hwy after saying that i would like to keep it together as long as possible and hoped like hell that they would. i had talked to a few of the better guys about not chasing down people that took off early so hopefully it would all be good.

a nice easy pace along riverside dr and mounts bay rd meant the the group kept together well. once we turned up winthrop the steady climb, i suspected, would convince some people to go hard cause they can. michael and i were second wheel heading up the rise and held a steady pace. steve b at the front decided to push a bit and would get a small gap before looking back and realising that no-one was coming to play. he did this a few times before getting bored and dropping back into the pack. a nice easy run down hay street in subi was nice as it is one way and the latte crowd hadn’t woken up yet. even the speed humps are quite low and don’t cause much grief.

a couple of undulations as hay st became underwood and we were still all together. passing through perry lakes drive there would have been at least 20 – 30 women on mountain bikes and other cruisey style bikes. must have been some “get to learn cycling” group which is good to see. we need more people on bikes.

over rebold hill, a couple of guys upped the pace a bit but nothing too drastic as everybody got back on (as far as i know – add comments if i am wrong) once we hit west coast hwy. i thought this may have been an area where we would lose people as it was heading into the wind, but a number of light changes meant that the group held well.

i ended up back on the front again and kept the pace steady with ben, down to the marine pde roundabout. a new smooth surface and slight tailwind was just begging for an increase in pace. ryan came to the front and asked if he could use his big chain ring. as long as we regrouped once we headed back towards west coast hwy there was no problem.

it’s not like i am trying to restrict people riding, but i am also trying to increase peoples social time during the ride. have a chat to the guy next to you. find out what they do for a living. see if they have any daughters over the age of consent. it is amazing the cross-section of humanity that cycling brings together.

anyway, the result of letting ryan go was that people like to test themselves and went with him. which is fine, except the guy that past me on the left side without warning me. i have a new toy for my bike. and all in one video camera that you can mount either on your helmet or bike. this was an experiment and i captured way too much sky, which meant that the riders came out a bit dark. anyway, i stuffed up and missed getting footage of the sprint later on, so below is the best i could do. (sorry about the sound, i thought i had turned it off)


anyway, the group spread significantly along past cott, which is a shame as you spend more time chasing than looking at the scenery, but regrouped at the lights as we turned to go past swanbourne shops. i suspect that we lost a few along the way, but time was starting to get away from us and we had to continue on.

that has been a bit of a problem lately. i lengthened some of the rides to make sure we didn’t finish early, but now the slowing of the pack has meant that we are taking longer. i am happy to let the boys smash it from the start, as long as there is someone to control the second group. not that we are all idiots. people just like to be told what to do, none of those stupid decision things.

well we were on our way home so the boys could do what they wanted. as expected the pace started to increase, but it was strange as the usual drivers were not at the front. it was as though the group new that we were going to increase anyway, so guys that don’t always push hard, were at the front forcing the pace anyway.

as victoria ave swings into jutland pde, and the road rises slightly, a group came to the front headed by ryan. this is his usual attack point as he know that he can hold it all across the slight rises, all the way to steves hotel. i got boxed in and had to fight my way around to chase back on. then got boxed again on the next rise. maybe i’m just no good at choosing wheels.

things calmed down a bit as we made our way past the uni as everyone was getting ready for the final push along mounts bay rd. ryan was about second wheel and i was sitting around fifth, so i thought that i may have been a bit too far back to get him when he jumped. however, as the lights changed and we rolled onto mounts bay rd, he slowed down and let some of the others lead him out.

the pace was on, but people weren’t rolling through as they wanted to hold there position, so the guys on the front started to flag a bit. michael decided to push the issue and took off up the road by himself. still no-one chased and the guys at the front didn’t change position. once the swan brewery was just around the corner, i started to chase michael down. i didn’t “explode” off the front, so i knew that i had everyone else on my tail. in typical cyclist thinking, if i wasn’t going to be first, then neither was michael. i managed to catch him before the brewery but was already into the 190’s and rapidly approaching the spew zone. a quick flick of the elbow and pretty much everyone else came past me as i gulped air.

so in the end i don’t know who got to the line first, but i have a fair guess that it was ryan.

being australia day, we got caught up in some bike path closures and had to back track a bit to get to the coffee shop. some of the others turned off and went back across to mends street, but the majority ended up at bells. with the road closures, though, there were not many people at the cafe, so service was prompt.

brett had decided to make the effort to come down and have a coffee with us as his arm is still in a sling from his fall. no pins or plates so it will be probably 5 weeks will he is back with us. his bike, however, will not heal that easily and a frame replacement may be in order. apart from that, he seems ok but it is not a situation that any of us want to go through again…..especially brett.

on a further note. i went down to watch the criteriums on riverside drive in the arvo. when i say that we upped the pace, it is probably not even half of the standard pace the open men’s division was doing into the strong head wind. those boys are in a different league.

correction – apparently wayne took ryan in the sprint at the end.