Tag Archives: risely

saturday 10th oct – risely and cott

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ride report by peter.

 

4:25am.  alarm goes off.  not the one if have set on the alarm clock but the one attached to the vocal chords of the 10 month old who is coming down with a cold.  even though he is at the other end of the house, it still manages to wake me just as well as the real alarm clock.  a bottle and a cuddle and he is back to the land of nod, while i am now wide awake and listening to the rain on the roof. 

hang on, it wasn’t supposed to rain till later on in the day.  i am sure that is what the weather girl had said.  late showers, it said.  that should mean a nice dry morning ride.  so me worrying about riding in the rain meant that i didn’t actually get back to sleep this morning, but the early rise did not equate to getting to the start on time.

so i turn up at the allotted time and see that the group is not as big as previous weeks due to the slight shower.  however, we have 4 for the novice ride, which is usually the first to drop in numbers when it rains.  maybe they are stepping up and becoming more hardcore.  so to those that sat this one out today, the novice ladies are more euro hardcore than you.

the route would take us down canning hwy to risely the split with the main group heading along leach while the fast group took south st.  very few issues for the first section with only a slight split caused by the lights, but the relatively smaller group meant that we stuck together fairly well.  i dropped back to make sure some of our new riders were going ok and to let them know what was about to happen with the split.

at the end of risely i would say that it was a 2/3 vs 1/3 split with the majority going to the fast group.  the main group turned right and headed towards freo while the rest of us took a left and then onto murdoch.  the group generally does this section at quite an easy pace.  i am guessing the even though we have split and have the green light to go hard, the impending rolling hills of south street put everyone on edge and all seem to be waiting to see what happens when we hit them.  also, as there is a light change we have to wait for at the end of murdoch drive, any attack now could be for nought. 

so we turn onto south street and the pace immediately steps up.  probably under coaches orders, lisa attacks off the front and hold a gap for a while.  even from the back i could see all the head turning as riders looked at each other to see who was going to chase.  it is always a dilemma.  do you expend the energy now and risk getting dropped before the hills really start or do you chase down that attack.  then there is also the added drama of being shown up by a girl.  that usually spurs the guys into action and they start to do harder turns at the front to drag her back to the group.

after that the road headed downwards into the first of the undulations.  i was sitting at the back not intending to do any work but thought i better move up a bit just in case some gaps appeared when the climb did.  by the end of the first hill, there was a couple of splits appearing and groups started to huddle together for comfort.  i was pretty happy to be at the pointy end of proceedings but was generally just hanging onto the coattails of the faster riders. 

i was dropped slightly on the end of a couple of the climbs but managed to get back on with the help of a couple of other riders.  luckily i was still with the pack when we got to freo and headed past the jail.  the pace dropped significantly and julian and chris sat on the front all the way to port beach road.  a couple of the groups managed to get back on through freo so we had a decent size once we headed towards cottesloe. 

i knew that i should have kept my big mouth shut, but i told the guys to start rolling through once we hit port beach rd.  a couple of turns through and i was off the back.  way off the back and watching the train disappear off into the distance.  looking up i could see joe on the front pushing hard and with the slight cross wind, i knew that i would not get back on.  i debated heading straight and skipping cott altogether but i thought that i could maybe pick up a few stragglers and we could work together. 

onto marine parade and big john caught up to me so we worked together a bit.  we caught daniel and a couple of others and kept it going pas the beachfront.  just before the round-about we got onto the back of julian, brother julian and lorraine.  the road was a little damp here but nothing that i thought was too bad that would cause us to slow too dramatically.  there may have been a bit of oil on the inside of the roundabout because next thing we know julian is on the deck and we are all taking evasive action to avoid the bitumen.  after a string of bad luck this year, lorraine did well to hop over the edge of the sprawling bike to make sure she was not on the deck too.

julian picked himself off the road and we made sure that he was ok.  a bit of claret coming from his knee, a rip in his knicks and a graze on his elbow was all the visible damage.  the bike didn’t do too bad.  the levers were moved and the chain was off.  the rear derailleur had some scratches but looked straight and seemed to change gear ok.  everything (bike and rider) seemed to be in working order so the five of us slowly made our way home. 

it was pretty uneventful after that and i needed to head straight home due to some early morning appointments so missed the coffee shop banter.  anyone who wants to fill us in on the rest of their ride (including the main group) can add their side of the story to the comments.  hope everything is ok with julian (but i may finally get some points tomorrow).

saturday 29th aug – risely and cott

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ride report by peter

 

back from the dead but riding like a corpse.

 

a brisk 3 degrees this morning, but being a dry day, we had a decent turn out.  i was back on the bike after fighting off another chest infection and probably my 7th cold of the year.  i knew that i would suffer today, but was determined to stick it out with the fast group as long as possible.  the route would head into booragoon before splitting with the fast taking south and the main group taking leach.  both groups would head past cott before heading home via dalkeith. 

it started out well and we headed down canning and up risely.  the small hill played havoc with a couple of riders and i dropped back to help out.  as i was not at 100% this became a big struggle for me to catch back up.  ryan dropped back and drafted me back to the group, but even that hurt like hell.  we reached the end of risely just as the groups split and turned left to follow the fast group.  we reached the group at the lights and had a moment to catch our breath.  when the lights changed, ryan dropped his chain and i waited for him to fix it.  we only just made it through before they turned red.  we were chasing again.

i couldn’t hold ryan’s wheel but managed to jump on with mike b to make the group.  unfortunately, when we hit the slight rise, i was off the back again.  luckily the lights let me catch back up.

now i knew that south street was going to hurt.

as soon as the small rolling hills appeared i was off the back.  couldn’t even hold a wheel and didn’t have the power to catch back up.  pretty soon the group was off into the distance.  after a couple of hills mark, melvyn and myself formed up and worked together.  we were a long way off by the time we hit freo so decided to skip cott and headed straight up stirling.  the hills along there were a struggle and we were sure that the group was too far ahead.  we decided to continue along stirling, but got caught at the lights a christ church grammar.  as we sat there, the fast group came through the lights and into dalkeith.  we changed lanes and headed after them.

still too far behind, we took waratah and only just got ahead of the group.  so we finally made it back to the group before it revved up on mounts bay road.  i was just happy to be there and had nothing when the group all went for the sprint.

so a really hard day for me and i had to head straight home, so no time to relax with a coffee and company.  hopefully i can hold on a bit longer next week.

saturday 28th mar – risely & cott

9 Comments

ride report by peter.

 

the last day of daylight savings for ever… maybe, depending on how the vote goes in may… or whether the government changes it’s mind and does another trial… again.  so anyway, it was dark, but we get to wind the clocks back tonight, so have a good think about it before you go to bed.  especially if you are coming on the hills ride tomorrow.  don’t be early.

i did a quick head count (as best i could in the dark) and we were definitely down on numbers this morning.  i guesstimated that we had about 40 riders so we would still split the group as i didn’t fancy leaving a trail of destruction through the southern suburbs.  we rolled out and stayed together as a group for the first 10 kms.  during this time, lorraine got a puncture and lisa and kim stopped to help her.  there was no call out to the group so at the front we didn’t even know it had happened and merrily continued on our way.  apparently after two attempts the girls did a different lap of the river and beat us to coffee.

a nice even pace all the way to the top of risely before the group split pretty evenly with the main group heading right at leach and the fast group going left.  our brief journey along leach was extended as we tried to turn onto murdoch drive and were left sitting at the lights for about 5 min.  when we did actually start moving again the pace up murdoch was quite pedestrian as even when jerry had to stop to fix his wheel alignment, it didn’t take much to draft him back to the pack.  by the time we reached south st i estimated that the 6km difference between the groups was more like 8 or 9 by now.  no chance of catching the prey now.

south st was definitely a different kettle of fish as the pace picked up from the start.  we were rolling through as best we could but this was made difficult with the undulating terrain as some people were already struggling with the pace.  a number of light changes allowed the group to stay relatively together so by the time we reached hampton rd, we had lost very few. 

a quick dash through the back of freo before we were off again along port beach rd.  with a bit of a tailwind along this stretch and marine terrace, the pace picked up substantially.  by the time we were halfway along cottesloe, the group had splintered significantly.  it was good to see jonny back with us in proper bike shoes as injuries have kept him out of the game for a while now.  i remember when he used to smash us on the rides, so the last year or so must have been very frustrating for him.  anyway, he was keeping up quite well today.

the group managed to squeeze back together in a couple of places, but the lights when crossing stirling hwy allowed the majority back on before the final push through dalkeith.  the pace picked up as normal and a few guys kept moving forward to keep the pace high.  on the tight left hander into jutland parade, kimbo and i managed to get a bit of a break.  not really meaning too, but when he told me we had a gap, we did our best to maintain it.  swapping out a few turns we kept ahead, but it was always going to be a matter of time before the train ran us down. 

we jumped on board as it went by, but i was now a little down in reserves and when the surge went on that last hill, i didn’t have the legs to keep up with the front.  fortunately for me, quite a few didn’t have the legs and the group was spread all along the road back to mounts bay.  the lights as usual allowed the regroup so that we had a decent size heading into the final sprint. 

i knew that we were going to be heading into a bit of a cross/head wind for the final push, so i was hoping that we could get a nice roll through happening.  it went to single file almost instantly but a couple of us started to roll through.  i followed michael’s wheel and dropped into the front position.  i took a glance to the right and confirmed my suspicions.  no-one else was rolling.  bastards.  fine.  i set a pace and was going to see if i could hold it to the end.  i managed to keep the pace high enough that no-one was coming around due to me holding them up, but by the time the brewery parking sign came up, i was starting to fade.  i was waiting for the jump to happen and i didn’t have to wait long.  once the brewery carpark was in sight, ryan took off with a couple of others on his wheel.  i sat up then as there was nothing more i could do.  one by one the rest of the group peeled off my wheel and took off after the sprint kings.  i managed to drag my super-domestique arse back to the coffee shop.

on other matters we have an advert in the southern gazette (community newspaper) this tuesday so that in a months time we can apply for incorporation of the club.  then we can apply for some grants so we can start to develop the club more. 

we may be doing another run of kit very soon as there is starting to be a bit of a need to have more jerseys available.  for those that are racing, it may pay to make sure you have a spare kit as ryan, stu, james, lisa and lorraine have found, racing can actually be dangerous and not always through any fault of your own.  if you are new to the group and want to “blend in” a bit better or want to feel like you are part of it, jump on board now as i am not sure when we will be ordering again.  go to the spr team kit page on the website and have a look at what we have.  send an email through and i will compile a list and order when we have enough.  this may mean that we get jerseys now and knicks a bit later.  if you want armwarmers or anything else, also put them on the list.  i will just keep it on the list until we can secure an order.

on other kit business, we are soon to be looking at spr team socks which should not be too hard to get.  as part of the winter kit we will get matching knee warmers through cannibal and i may also look into printed wind jackets.  from other suppliers i am chasing up printed gloves, shoe covers (lycra and cold weather) and those short peak cycling caps.  pretty soon we will have everything covered in little green hexagons. 

oddly enough i also found a place that sells no-name carbon road frames with a minimum order of 10 pieces.  quality would be similar to those mcmurdo bikes you see at glenn parker as they would come from a similar place and then just get painted.  a team bike would not really be that hard to organise.  anyway, i may be getting ahead of myself a bit now.