Tag Archives: saturday

saturday 12th april – freo & cott

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ride report by chris

well, my legs felt like crap after a tough couple of weeks training and i was hoping for a nice easy roll around the designated route. the weather was fabulous, a little cool to start but it was clear it was going to warm up.

so formalities out of the way we set off for freo at a steady pace down the hwy. i was on the front and joined by young nick, we chatted about the usual stuff bikes, racing etc. once we hit the river side along by attadale things quickly heated up. the usual kick off came with cade winding things up, he was quickly joined by the rest of the guys (and no i’m not being sexist, there was a distinct lack of the female gender on saturday).

as i mentioned i was looking for an easy one and reminded a few of the guys as they passed to regroup at pt walter. i didn’t have a lot of confidence that they would as once things heat up and the testosterone kicks in you never know what’s going to happen unless someone gets up the front and takes things in hand. this wasn’t going to be me today as i intended to save my legs for sundays peter clark memorial race. so things got a little messy from here on to the café.

i’m pretty sure we dropped a few before we got to pt walter and there were a few of us then struggling along past the left bank hotel. we kept the main bunch in sight but i was personally just limiting the damage and controlling my work rate. a brief regroup was forced by the changing lights but this all went pear shaped once we hit the beach. i’ll never understand why some of the guys want to hammer along the beach, particularly past cottesloe. the scenery is great and since we don’t get down this way often personally i’d rather take it in.

well, i worked harder than i wanted too and chased back onto the front guys dragging a few along with me. once again we regrouped, sort of, as we headed for the blast through dalkieth. now this is where i normally would have a bit of a dig and i managed to control myself for a little while. in the meantime a bunch of guys went off the front and from what i heard afterwards it was only the lights at mounts bay rd that brought the leaders back to what remained of the faster portion of the bunch. i did learn later that for once the pool boy was beaten for the sprint but he claimed to have spent a significant amount of time on the front. little did he know this was going to come back to haunt him in sundays race.

i was with the second bunch and hoping that things would be steady-steady to the finish, keep dreaming chris was the prompt response from the group. nick and i were back on the front again for a while until a tall fella on a trek came by. i figured that would do me and jumped on for the free ride and so things went. i didn’t bother trying to chase as others started to roll through until le kuan began his acceleration. again i grabbed the wheel and off we went, jerard came by and i yelled at le kuan to keep it going. a struggle ensued but it came down to jerard and i pushing into the breeze for the points. we are still awaiting the official judges decision, given jerards no-show for sundays race, i’ll be claiming the moral high ground.

tour de perth support race – stage 02

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well with the first road race over and the rain continuing to fall, the time trial was looking to be an ordeal. with four corners and a roundabout to negotiate, you really wanted some grip on the road. i had brought a second riding kit with me and had stuffed newspaper into my shoes to get them to dry out so at least i would feel dry to start with.

the initial info had told us that the time trial would start at 2:00pm but the registration told us that we would start at 1:23pm and go off in 30 sec intervals. people began to warm up and get ready, when the first guys came back up from the start line to say that it wouldn’t start till 2:00 as originally advised. there were a few pissed off people around especially the opens who were already into their warm up routine. it didn’t worry me that much as my warm up consisted of riding down to the start line.

so with a bit more time to kill it was back to the car to stay out of the rain. by this time i was concerned about getting my car off the oval as it was very, very wet and the exits were muddy and slightly uphill. not much i could do about it, so i didn’t let it worry me too much. anyway, by the time my race time approached, the rain had totally stopped and the sun had come out. in such a short amount of time it had warmed up so much that it was hot in the arm warmers.

the order was reverse number with the support men and women leading out the opens. the cantankerous but funny old guy that was calling out the race numbers as riders needed to line up was a source of amusement for all who were watching. he would call a number and then keep yelling it if they didn’t show up. then when they did and tried to get to their position in the line he would yell at them for trying to come past the start line. funny all round.

well brendan was a few spots in front of me and justin was directly behind me. i was pretty sure that in just 5 km i would not be catching brendan, but i was hoping like hell that justin would not catch me. i didn’t bother with the time trial bike as i didn’t think that the course warranted it enough. it was mostly hilly with 90 degree corners that were still a bit wet. there were only two sections that i could see where you could really benefit from being down on the aero bars. the rest of the time you would be climbing or cornering.

i was given the count down and too off. it was only a short distance before the corner and i was worried about putting it on the deck, so eased off a bit to take the corner wide. as i accelerated out i realized how much my quads hurt from the morning’s effort. i kept pushing through to hope that i could squeeze something more from them. damn, it was only the first side of the rectangle course. another left hand turn, with a bit more confidence this time, and i felt like i was in a better rhythm. i guess that this was mainly because the road was kind of heading down hill.

this was the section of road that we had ridden to the finish earlier in the day but it sure felt better when i could draft behind someone else. the road eventually kicked up and i tried to maintain a steady pace without blowing it all so early. the ride was going remarkably quick in my mind, but i was still worried about being overtaken.

another left hand onto peet rd with a bit of a downhill reprieve as the road only went up after that. a last left onto raeburn rd and a sharp pinch past the fruit guy and you can just about see the finish line in the distance. it is deceptive though as it looks fairly flat but is a steady rise to the roundabout before it does flatten. this is the calm before the storm as the last couple of hundred metres are climbing to the finish.

by this time my legs were burning and my lungs were screaming, but i didn’t want to be overtaken so kept going. panting like a dog, i managed to get myself up the last section and cross the line, not knowing whether it was a good time or not but just happy to be finished. i caught up with a few of the other guys before wandering back up to get changed again and pack all my stuff into the car.

all fresh again i came back down to watch the open women and men do their times. eventually all our times were posted and i was around mid pack so i was happy that i wasn’t last. stu and justin managed better times then me but i managed to get ahead of brendan by a few seconds. josie, though, blitzed the open women’s field to get a time that was only beaten by three of the support men. results here

davina also managed a good time to come in third in a time that was also better than stu, brendan and mine.

so, with stage two down and my legs questioning me at every step, i made my way home to have two dinners and hope that tomorrow would be a nice day.

tour de perth support race – stage 01

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saturday april 5th

what a weekend. my first real bike race in around fifteen years and i was absolutely crapping myself. the tour de perth support race is held in conjunction with the open events but has a reduced race distance and one less stage. it consisted of a 104km road stage on saturday morning, followed by a 5km time trial in the afternoon. sunday then finished with a 84km tough hilly road race. luckily we didn’t have the criterium in the afternoon.

well, the race started at 8:30 for us, which is a later start than most of my rides. however, it was starting at rolleystone high school at, well, rolleystone which is a bit of a drive away. nerves kicked in a hell of a lot earlier and i was up well before dawn for breakfast and a quick (but pointless) shower. while eating my porridge with extra extra sugar on top (if it doesn’t crunch, there is not enough) i checked the bureau of met website for an update of these expected overnight showers. a pleasant 20 degrees with no rain reported in the last 24 hours. great, should be a good day for riding. then i checked the rain radar. what the??? there was a huge rain storm moving in across perth and was just about to hit the city. i checked the longer range radar and kind of calculated that the main front should pass about 8:30 so maybe, just maybe we would not be starting in the rain. what i failed to calculate was the fact that the radar doesn’t really pick up the rain so far out and although it “looked” clear, it really wasn’t.

so, driving down to rolleystone, in torrential rain, didn’t really fill me with confidence. there was so much water on the road already, that i thought that even if it did stop (and i still thought it would) the roads would be holding so much water that we would be soaked anyway. i drove up part of the course, which we have often used for our sunday rides, just to get a last look at the finishline and the crap hill we would have to come up. i was not under any illusion that i would still be near the front by the time we reached the end, as my goal was just to finish the three stages.

i signed in and caught up with brendan and stu who are regulars on the saturday and sunday rides, and also with justin who had come out with us over easter. we were all in the support race so would be either against each other or looking out for each other depending on your view of the world. davina, josie, mel and camille from the sunday ride were also there but competing in the elite women’s race. the continuing crap weather meant that most people had grabbed their stuff and had set up camp around the verandas of the school’s multiple buildings. it was still raining, but at least it was not cold and there was next to no wind.

as we approached the roll out time, josie commented on the fact that i looked nervous. i asked her how old she was in 1993 and she said three. well, that was the last time i did a proper bike race and it was a ‘c’ grade race back in ballarat whilst i was at uni. i eventually stopped racing as the early mornings in the rain, sleet and hail kind of wore me down. so here i was again, still crap weather, but at least a lot warmer than ballarat.

the start was delayed by about thirty minutes as i guess the organisers hoped like hell the weather would clear…it didn’t. we rolled up the line regardless and i had arm warmers and a vest still on. i was worried about overheating if the sun came out but it didn’t and i was “comfortable” for the duration. as we waited for the gun, some of the guys were commenting on the prize money for the support race. there were 55 guys all paying $95 to enter and if you won a stage you would get $50. with the total entry fees totally over five thousand dollars they would hand out $575 in total prize money. hmmm, sounds like there is a profit in there somewhere. i wasn’t too worried about recouping my entry fee, but more worried about a long 100km ride by myself if i got dropped early on.

so, off we went into fray. i had opted for low tint sunnies as i thought that they may protect me from direct rain drop to the eyeball attack. it wasn’t dark or humid so i thought that it may be the way to go. as we approached the turn onto brookton hwy, the group started slowing. i grabbed the brakes and nothing happened. there was so much water everywhere, the pads were aquaplaning on the rims. after a small “oh sh_t” experience i realized that early braking and generally being on guard would be the order of the day.

the rain kept the pace low but it was still springy at the back of the pack where i had taken up residence. the little accelerations and brakings made life interesting when combined with lack of visibility and a mouthful of whatever the guy in front was spraying off his back wheel.

as we rolled down the hill towards karragulen, only a kilometer or so from the start, one guy had such bad speed wobbles that he had to pull over and check his bike as something may have come loose. well, it was either going to be a hard day for him, or a quick exit from the tour as no-one was going to be waiting.

unlike the regular sunday rides, i have no idea who was attacking or what was happening at the front of the group. i rode very conservatively right at the very back of the pack, content to be in the slip stream as well as everything else that was streaming off the bikes in front. there was an attack within the first thrity km’s that took about five guys with it. the pace in the rest of the pack quickened and they were eventually caught. this was pretty much the way that it went all the way to the turn around point.

along the way the things of note were as follows:
glasses came off when they fogged a bit, but then back on when my eyeballs took a direct hit from the rain.
lots of impatient redneck big f100 style utes.
me discovering that i need about 35kms before my hamstrings don’t feel tight anymore (maybe this is why the elites were warming up on rollers).
brendan copping a coke can in the ankle from a pissed off motorist heading the other way. didn’t hurt as much as the guy whose knee it ricocheted off in the first place.
rain, rain and more rain.
then when it looked like it was easing back to a drizzle, more rain.
me looking down and just seeing water running off my bike like i was washing it.
i had a chat to stu who was also stuck on the back of the pack. he said that he was bored. i guess it was, but boring probably meant that i would survive.

so, as we headed back into rolleystone, a few more attacks went and were brought back in. no-one really gained much ground as the roads were not steep enough and the pack could easily maintain a draft.

as we past karragulen servo and headed up the hill, one guy got off the front and looked like he may stay away. no-one really reacted but the group maintained a strong pace. i actually entertained the idea of trying to catch him, but seriously filed that away in the crazy department under “don’t be stupid”. i moved up the inside trying to make sure i didn’t get caught behind once we hit the small circuit that we would take to get to the finish line. the water was coming so hard down the road that the bike in front looked like a speedboat cutting a wake in the ocean.

we turned off brookton hwy and onto chevin rd for the last five or so kms. we have ridden this way before so i knew that it would be undulating and gave people a good opportunity to attack. again, i was happy to just make it up the hill with the group. a few hairy corners and we were on the final stretch up peet road. there was a gentle climb up to the roundabout where it flattened for a bit before a steep but short climb to the finish.

some of the boys were starting to flag after hitting the previous pinch too hard and were dropping bac
k. the pace quickened as we approached the last climb and about halfway up everyone started going for it. i didn’t have much left by then so didn’t put in a big effort but tried to stay with them for as long as possible. suddenly the was a touch of wheels and someone was on the deck in front of me. not close enough that i had to stop, and luckily for me the carnage went to the right side of the road. unluckily for justin, he got forced into the curb and basically came to a stop. i continued to the line where stu had enough in him to stay right to the end and come in around the top ten or so.

no idea where i finished or my time or anything, as the organization wasn’t the best at posting anything past the top three. some guy with a name like a coffee won the stage (mattiaccio), but beyond that i have no idea. i was off to get changed out of my totally soaked kit, stuff my shoes with newspaper to help them dry and get some food into me before the afternoon’s time trial.

i did manage to get back to the finish line to see the end of the open women’s race. with a tough uphill sprint to the line i expected josie to whip everyone, but davina managed to sprint past and take the stage win over one of the queensland girls with josie taking third. it was good to see our sunday ride girls going well, as the talent pool is getting a bit old and tired amongst the sunday ride boys.

time trial next and i will have a crack at writing that up tomorrow night with the sunday stage.

saturday 5th april – hale rd

ride report by chris

the morning rain was always going to limit the numbers and both bunches totaled about 11. hey, i ran out of fingers alright and i wasn’t taking my shoes off ‘cause it was raining.
nick thought he was saved due to the small numbers for his bunch but there was 1 or two so he was committed. anyway, they elected to tag along with us guys.

given the shear volume of rain things were always going to be relatively controlled and the amount of water on the roads ensured this was the case. we set a steady pace out to hale rd and explained to nick and his group the planned route, where we would wind the pace up and the various regroup points.

normally on this ride things heat up pretty quickly as soon as we hit hale rd, so i took it upon myself to ensure this remained the case. sadly for me after a tough few rides this week and a day off crook my legs really weren’t up to much. all i succeeded in doing was firing up cade and sending bruce, ben and christophe down the road with him. with bigger numbers i wouldn’t have been too worried but given my crap legs i just got myself into a tempo and figured i’d catch them at the regroup.

unfortunately cade had a mechanical problem with what was apparently a slipping chain as he attempted to change gears and went down at speed. luckily he didn’t bring anybody else down and with the wet roads slid and didn’t lose too much bark. still no fun for anyone and a reminder that it pays to be sensible when it’s raining. once we gathered up the various bits and sorted cades bike out we were back on the road. ben headed off with cade back the way we had come whilst the remainder of us followed the planned route.

this little accident put paid to any further shenanigans and christophe and i set a steady pace down kalamunda rd. the remainder of the trip was relatively uneventful, but christophe did comment that there was no abuse since people had to keep their windows wound up in the rain. we didn’t even get one honking horn today which makes for a change, shame it had to be bucketing with rain for this rare non-event.

bruce did the right thing and headed off home once we got back to bayswater whilst the rest of us headed for the café at a much more casual pace than usual. once over the plain street hill from my perspective it’s always a mad panic to hold onto someone like pete or the pool boys wheel in the vain hope of having something left for the sprint. today however i wasn’t up for any of that and suggested to the guys that i would be the lead out man. so off i went hoping to just be able to hold it together to the finish.

i can’t have been doing too badly as will was the only one who managed to hold my wheel and didn’t have enough or couldn’t be bothered to come around at the end. so that was it, with only half a dozen of us stopping for coffee and a feed, prompt service was assured and delivered. poached eggs on toast for me, very nice.

saturday 29th mar – shelley

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UPDATED BELOW

well the final day of the so called daylight savings and it was still night when everyone started arriving. we had decided to change the course a bit as the roadworks on the esplanade in mt pleasant were not too bad. this would take us on the same course as mickey’s group, so we decided to combine the two. or should i say, his group tagged on behind ours and i don’t know for how long either.

with the streetlights still on, and cars with headlights blazing, we headed out at the allotted time. the trip down canning hwy was rather uneventful and we managed to get through the multiple stop lights unscathed. once we turned onto the esplanade, the group did manage to stay together well, especially since the roadworks kept everyone on their toes. it was not raw gravel that we were rolling over as it seemed that the road was just waiting for the top coat to be laid.

once we got past that and the road smoothed out a bit, nick headed to the front and began to flex his “i don’t get out enough anymore so i need to hurt you” legs. the pace began to stretch the two groups already, and we weren’t even at the designated tempo section. i’m guessing that we started to lose some of mickey’s group at about this point, but i’m not sure as i was to close to the front trying to keep the boys undercontrol.

once we hit riverton dr strangely enough, everyone hesitated as no-one wanted to lead out the group. it is a long sprint section and well utilised by many groups in perth as there are minimal intersections and only one where we would have to give way. i sat at the front with nick as we began to slowly wind up the pace, waiting to see who would make a move.

being a long way out from the end, it would be a suicide mission to attack so early. so i went. and didn’t get too far. it did however, cause the pace to increase dramatically. ryan and nick both chased me down and before too long the rest of the pack was swamping me. with the ice broken, this meant that more and more people would try to get off the front causing most of the group to revert to survival mode.

a surprising sight was mickey flying around the pack and gapping the field before being chased down and totally swamped. i think the boys were pretty sure that he would not be getting away.

the attacks started to slow and people formed back into a double file with a kind of roll through happening. kind of, because it was more of someone doing work till they were buggered and the rest of the group swamping them afterwards. towards the end of the shelley sprint, some of the big boys went to the front to fight out the finale. not knowing where the line actually is, the boys just went hard early and tried to rip each others legs off. i was out of it by now and watched as ryan and another nick fought it out.

a general slowing of the group allowed people to catch back up as we meandered our way through the suburbs to get across to vahland rd. this would allow us to take in the full length of banister rd which would be our next tempo section. vahland and south st were uneventful, and even once we hit banister we had to take it slow. everyone was trying to get to the markets and cars were backed up for ages.

once we maneuvered past the mobile road blocks, the pace started to increase some what. the group strung out to single file quite quickly as riders looked to hide from the wind. it was a head-cross wind, so even right on the wheel of the guy in front didn’t allow an armchair ride. this would have broken the pack but we were saved by the lights which allowed a general regrouping. after that a very subtle rolling through began to happen, but not excessively hard and it hardly felt like we were working at all.

once i got to the point were i could extract myself from the line i jumped out into fresh air. unfortunately this was almost at the very back of the group and it was a long way to the front. i started to sprint around the pack, not exactly knowing how far it was to the end, but generally just to try to get the group to have to work a lot harder. ryan was close to me in the group when i took off and also managed to get himself free. luckily for both of us, the main threats were also caught up in the left hand line and could not get themselves free of the pack.

well ryan blasted past me once i had a nice gap on the field and i could not get on his wheel in time. jerry also came past and again didn’t want me to play with him either. as they both shot up the road, chris also broke free and was chasing us down. he yelled out a warning to me as he approached allowing me to jump on his wheel and get a slight reprieve. he did a good turn on the front and managed to pull us up to ryan and jerry, who were looking a bit bewildered as neither really knew where the road ended. we managed to get up with them, but then ryan hit his second wind and took off again.

once we turned onto nicholsen road the group slowed enough to get back together. the plan was to cruise up to cannington and along albany hwy at a nice easy pace. once we hit the intersection of welshpool rd it would be all on until we hit the coffee shop. unfortunately some of the boys deceided that they need to show how strong they were and made it a lot more difficult along albany hwy. i maintained the pace that i thought we should be going, and by the time we approached the intersection, i was almost off the back. christophe did comment in his french accented english, that maybe english was not their first language. unfortunately it is, but the testosterone seems to wipe out all other thought from their minds when presented with a stretch of open road.

anyway, i had family matters to take care of and had to be home by….earlier than i got home, so i turned off down berwick st and off home. hopefully someone will fill us in with what transpired on the final run into town.

UPDATED RIDE CONCLUSION

the finale by chris

bruce fired off the front only to take the next exit heading home to nat & bub. this seemed to fire the boys up and the pace was on. i was aiming to look after myself for the final run along riverside dve. the number of traffic lights along shepperton rd means that it’s a bit of a lottery along this stretch. invariably any break is stopped by a red light bringing the bunch back together and potentially allowing a smokey to use their momentum to launch an attack.
today however six or seven of us managed to get through a set of lights and stay away to the café.

once onto the causeway nick decided he’d hit out for home but with the likes of the ryan the pool boy, mike, jerry and a couple of the squadra barista boys on his tail it was doomed from the start. as we all know, this has never stopped nick before.

i took first wheel with the vain hope that some of the other guys might swap off turns. surprisingly they left me there to cook myself. i decided that chasing nick down was bound to end in the boys smashing me once we had him, so i maintained the gap for a while. once we got well along the drive i upped the pace a few km/h in order to roll over nick. sure enough once we were within striking distance the pool boy launched with the others on his tail.

the final set of lights ran the usual spoiler to the finishing sprint but it’s safe to say the pool boy was the winner. it seems we need more people in the finale to box the bugger in.

saturday 22nd mar – tv stations

damn it was dark this morning. i was waiting for the sun to come up and looked at my watch to find that we were 5 min over time already. i usually give my spiel after mickey has taken the novice riders out first, but he was running a bit late, so we headed out first. he did quickly give ryan a new pair of cycling socks for winning the intermediate sprint last saturday.

today’s course took us past the tv stations in dianella and back down wanaroo rd past kings park, but then swinging around into claremont and getting the usual run back into the city through dalkeith and mounts bay rd.

even without the sunlight, the weather was warm. the cloud cover last night kept temperatures pleasant but the wind was moderate. we headed out great eastern hwy and i started on the back as i forgot to turn on the video cam. not sure of the footage as it doesn’t go well in low light. i’m guessing that i will check before i post this or it will not make sense how the footage got there in the first place.

anyway, i’m on the back and chatting with ryan but i notice that the pack is not holding together too well. the early pace was a bit high so gaps were forming as people lost the wheel. after this went on for a bit, i decided to sort it out and went to the front to set an even pace.

a few tricky light changes, some left right intersections and we were all together at the start of dianella dr where some of the tv stations are based. this was our first tempo section and the slight rise up dianella dr would make it interesting.

cade shot off like a thing that had been shot out of something, so i quickly jumped on his wheel with steve b latching on as well. his pace was quite high and i was struggling just to hold on. it took me half the hill to get right on his wheel but by then i had nothing to come around to help out. luckily we hit the top and lights, which held us up for a bit. the lights changed just as the others started to arrive so we headed off to try to stay in front. this section down yirrigan dr is always fast as it is slightly downhill, so i knew it was going to be hard to keep away.

cade and i swapped off turns on the front with steve b and ryan tucked in behind. we tried to keep the others away, but the group was almost upon us. the next set of traffic lights made sure of it. as they changed, dr nic came flying past with a stack of momentum, and managed to get quite a bit ahead of us. the boys all shot off after her forcing everyone to chase hard. i was pretty much cooked by then so slowly dropped back in the pack looking for whatever wheel i could hold. some of the early antagonists also fell back and were swallowed up by the group.

i finally settled on steve r’s wheel and we swapped off trying to bridge to the six guys up the road. christophe bridged across and also joined in the chase, but to no avail. by the time we hit waneroo rd, they were still 100 metres ahead.

a quick regroup and we continued our cruise down wanneroo/charles and across to loftus/thomas rd. we seemed to get every single light, which i supposed should be expected crossing the city on a saturday morning.

the pace was a bit high and erratic as we came down the back side of kings park. we used to just head straight to coffee from here, but it made the ride a bit short, so we now turn past the hospital and around the back of the cemetery. it was supposed to be moderate pace from here to claremont, but some of the boys started pushing hard early. i was in no mood to chase to the front to slow them down so i just kept my pace and slipped slowly to the back of the pack. i was secretly hoping that they would miss the turn and go all the way to the usual crossing at the grammar school.

unfortunately for everyone, chris took the initiative and turned a street too early which brought us out onto a t-intersection on stirling. a slight delay and some good hearted abuse on chris and we were back on track.

the usual wind up along victoria ave/jutland pde/birdwood pde was the typical smashfest with ryan, mike b and chris some of the main attackers trying to break the group apart. by the time we hit the last undulation on birdwood, ryan made a strong move and michael had the legs to stay with him. little dribs and drabs of riders were working together to try to keep up where they could.

even with a break, no-one ever tries to keep it going once we turn onto the avenue. generally the right hander onto hackett dr and the lights onto mounts bay rd cause the smaller droplets of riders to coagulate together ready for the final sprint. also, ten kilometres is a long way to try to hold off the pack, even if you get favourable lights.

so by the time we hit the lights at mounts bay rd most of the group was back together again. we even came across a small but smart group that took a shortcut through waratah rd.

so as we approached the intersection, ryan was trying to get people to go in front of him so that he could get a nice lead out. i jokingly warned him not to try the old “i can’t clip-in at the lights” ploy to get people to come around you. so we headed off into a general confusion.

all the main players for the final sprint were all trying to hide from the wind and trying to get others to do the work early on. the problem was that the high pace a bit earlier on seemed to blast the rest of the pack out the back so now there was no-one to block the wind. i tried to get the group to roll through, but after mike b, myself and dr marc, no-one else was willing to play. i looked back and a gap was starting to form as everyone was hiding in the pack.

“fine” i thought. “i’m off”.

it was a long way out, and i didn’t think that i could make it, but nothing was happening otherwise. a few hard pedals out of the saddle and i had easily gapped the group. a quick look back and no-one was chasing, and there seemed to be very little organisation in the group. i kept the pace on and managed to get quite a bit down the road. i think people started to panic a bit when they realised that i may stay away till the end.

eventually chris tried to get the group rolling through to chase me down, but people were still reluctant and only a handful wanted to help.

by this time the effort of doing in excess of 45 km/hr was taking it’s toll and was starting to hurt. luckily my heart rate monitor had decided to stop working, as if i saw how high my heart rate was, i probably would have given up. i saw the brewery approaching and was still ahead. i looked over my shoulder about five or six times to try to gauge how the group was travelling. as i rounded the corner to go past the brewery, i knew that i would be caught. i could hear chris screaming at the group to chase me down. nice. thanks team-mate. but it was all in good fun. i would have done the same.

with about a little over 100 metres to go, the group came past me at such a speed that i didn’t stand a chance. the last thing i saw was ryan flying ahead of the pack and i guess he stayed there til the end. my heart rate took a while to get back down to the stage where i could talk again, and relished the easy pace to the coffee shop.

saturday 15th mar – conclusion

ride conclusion by ryan.

as pete peeled off to go home, i was thinking to myself ‘one less person to drag across the finish line’ but as it turned out, we lost many people along canning highway, including bruce who had been looking spritely on chris’s mavic carbones (i was looking forward to a decent show down in the sprint).coming over the last rise on canning highway before we go past berwick st, cade pulled off the front with his friend in tow, i decided to let him go to assess if anyone would follow. sure enough, peter dawson picked it up a little and started to bridge the gap on cade and his mate (who had now dropped off cade’s wheel i think), so i decided it was time to catch up so went past peter dawson close enough to let him on my wheel (just to seem sporting) but he kept going straight anyway.

i then caught up to cade who was beginning to fade, i told him he was not allowed to fade now as we had to keep on going. unfortunately the lights where canning meets the causeway were red and cade and i had to stop allowing the others to catch up. i took off slowly and let everyone go past. some people picked it up at the front and people started to drop back going over the causeway. i was watching the front and keeping my distance at the back, none of the real threats were left in the pack but i did notice a shadow following me as i rode around people getting dropped.

a look over my shoulder confirmed my suspicions as there was jerard watching my wheel closely (well i hope it was my wheel, lucky i did not have my white knicks on today as jerard was looking special in his white pinarello get up and people may have started to ask questions) and keeping nice and close behind me.

coming down riverside drive, we were doing a decent speed and i noticed cade had gone off the front. i decided to go just after the first set of lights, i changed down into a heavy gear, stood up and engaged my whole body into a few seconds of acceleration which saw we passing the field at a good few kms faster than they were travelling, i was then bearing down on cade at a rapid rate of knots and when i past him, i heard him make some sort of moaning sound but i feel he knew in his heart of hearts he was not going to stay away this time.

after passing cade, i sat down, kept the gears heavy and kept on powering along, focusing on a strong round stroke to keep me moving forward. then about 100m from the lights, they went red (everytime coming down riverside drive this happens), i looked behind and there was noone within at least 30metres, so i sat up put my arms in the air (stretching, not gloating, i promise) and continued rolling towards the lights, just before i came to a complete stop, they went green so i took off after the car in front of me (which took longer than i would have liked to get going) as i did not want someone who had just reached the lights to come past and claim the hollow victory as we past the 60km sign (there was no steve r in the group today so should be pretty safe).

i past the 60km sign, still in front, changed into an easy gear to spin the legs a little before getting to the coffee shop. melvyn came up along side me just before we turned into the coffee shop (did melvyn take second place in the sprint?). Upon arriving at the coffee shop mickey’s group was still there (a decent size group of beginners which was good to see), so i pulled up an extra table and went off to get my coffee but upon returning mickey had taken all his people and vacated the premises. my efforts to pull up an extra table (thus putting me further back in the coffee queue) had been for nothing.. grrrr..

i was looking forward to the freeway bike ride the next day but because i had no bike, i could not do it.. i was very disappointed. short version of the story, i left my bike at a friends house for an hour whilst we went to breakfast. after breakfast we decided i would come back to watch the force play at 1:30pm (a good time to collect my bike as well i decided) but my friend was then invited to watch the game at one of the injured force players houses and decided it was a more exciting opportunity than watching it with me. i was not phased, it gave me time to have a snooze and clean my race wheels anyway. i informed my friend to let me know when there was someone at his house so i could collect my bike. well at 1am, i gave up and went to bed, i guess at least i got a sleep in on sunday, it has been a long time since i have had one of those.

saturday 15th mar – river ride

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it has started to get a bit cold in the morning. i actually had to go back in the house and get my arm warmers out of the drawer before i took off today. on the way to the shop i was shivering so much that i wished that i had put on the vest too. luckily it didn’t last too long, and my poor little body was warm once i arrived at the shop.

there were many a bike with lights on this morning. again a curse on daylight savings. and i’m not alone on this one, with the totally unbiased and politically neutral “the west” newspaper also highlighting the fact that the sun is not up at 7am. overall numbers seemed low, but maybe it was that i couldn’t see very far in the dark, as once we got started, i saw that the group was around the thirty mark.

today was the standard river ride loop. past the uni and through dalkeith, claremont and a bunch of other suburbs i can’t afford to live in. past freo, and pt walter then back via canning hwy and across the causeway. pretty standard loop for anyone that has ridden around perth.

we had predetermined three sections where we would increase the speed and then regroup at the end. the first came up quicker than my legs were ready for and i really felt it. but i am getting ahead of myself a bit. we cruised neatly along riverside drive and mounts bay rd before turning past the uni. these are usually sections where we take advantage of the nice flat wide road on the way home, but not this time.

the small hill after steve’s pub was the start of the tempo section and we had to get all the way to christ church grammar. i had pull off the front earlier on and was about mid pack when the pace went on. being a single lane road with double white lines, i decided to wait till the pack dispersed a bit before trying to head around. once at the top, there was the rare occurrence that we had to wait for traffic so this split the pack up a bit. worst of all it was bike traffic, so we weren’t going to cut them off.

however, it did allow cade and rob quite a bit of a gap once we finally got underway. i was in the third group with bruce and we worked to catch the second or main group that was being led out by mike b. we jumped on the back, but then saw how far ahead cade was getting so had to push the pace again. i said to bruce that i was going to chase them down and was he coming with me. we headed off to the front of the pack and started to split that group apart too. it was bout this time that my legs started to complain about the lack of warm-up. as i am getting older, my legs need longer and longer before they start firing.

anyway, bruce came around and then mike b and a bunch of others, so we began to chase. the undulating hills around dalkeith make it hard to keep a good rhythm, but a group of 10 or more that we had in the chase group meant that we caught cade and rob soon after the old hospital. the pace stayed high and as we approached the end a car decided to reverse out so we all had to slam on the anchors. bruce managed to scoot around in the other lane so the chase was on as we were close to the end. cade had his rhythm broken by the car and had enough by then so ryan and I chased down bruce. the last two corners before the end and ryan flew past bruce who hung on to stay in front of me by the roundabout.

a couple of minutes to get our breath back and allow the stragglers to catch up and we were on our way again. a pleasant cruise through some very expensive suburbs but before we knew it we were at the base of the mosman park hill. this was our next pace section and the plan was to hit the hill and the next rise before regrouping at the water tower opposite rose hancock porteous whoever’s now vacant block.

again it was a matter of getting position as the climb started as the pack spread across the lane. as it thinned out i managed to get ahead, but a couple of the boys were already bolting up the hill. from memory it was mike b and ryan. i thnk that cade and jerry was in there too, but i was busy concentrating on getting up the hill myself. the main climb and subsequent rise thinned the pack considerably and it filtered in to the water tower in dribs and drabs. a couple of minutes wait and we were off again.

the remaining route to freo was nice and gentle and the pack kept together well. even over the climb up preston point road fron canning hwy was very contained. as preston point road continued along the flat through bicton, it was suggested that we roll through as the wind was not really favourable. as a group we do need more practice at this, so we took advantage. the pace stepped up, as you would expect, but not to an unbearable rate.

turning up point walter road, the group was still fairly well together, and i wanted to keep it that way till we hit the bottom after the golf course. however, cade started up early and took off before we reached the roundabout. a few others gave chase and i eventually gave in and went with them. the rest of the pack seemed to keep together but upped the pace as well.

as we hit the flat on burke drive the pace jumped up again. we started rolling through but so had the main pack which closed up down fast. we continued that way the whole length of attadale and it was good to see the group moving through. at some point along the way we picked up peter dawson and a mate. for those in our group that don’t know who he is, he has won olympic gold in the teams pursuit and world records in the same. riding in a full “rock racing” kit (the team that mario cipollini has made his comeback thorough) i had to warn nick not to give him crap about riding in a full kit. he had previously made that mistake when cj sutton came out with us in full cofidis kit. he was only wearing it because he rode for them in the protour.

anyway, the group slowed down as we hit canning hwy allowing the others to get back on for the ride home. now the bug must have bit a few people as we started to roll through again. i wasn’t complaining as i had promised that i would be home early and miscalculated by a long way. as we cruised up canning hwy, i peeled off into my home street and onto taking my young lad to the zoo for the morning.

i will have to catch up with the others to see how the ride ended and add it to this blog later.

i’m off to the freeway bike hike tomorrow, as i ended up organising it for work again. as with the brw triathlon it seems to be the same few people at work that get it organised and if not it just doesn’t happen.

so stay safe, and if you are doing the sunday hills ride tomorrow, take note of what happens, and write it down for me. i will then post your version of events on the blog. trust me, people will read any old piece of crap you publish. just look at my attempts at writing.

saturday 8th mar – canning vale (reverse)

ride report by chris

a nice day for a ride, not too warm, not too cold, it was just right. if a little humid.
pastor pete decreed we would follow the canning vale route today which always results in a little pain along bannister rd and today was no exception but we’ll get to that in a little bit.
pre-ride briefing over with the fast points nominated as a part of nth lake rd, bannister rd and the finishing stretch of shepperton rd and riverside dve to the cafe.

we set off down the canning hwy at a steady pace allowing everyone to have a bit of a chat. incident free down to the nth lake rd turn off when i expected someone to have a dig but it seems people were saving themselves for the blast down bannister rd. so i went to the front to wind cade up along the rise to south st. mission accomplished i sat up and let the bunch blow by. i figured without our pastor i had better make sure that the flock stayed together. nice excuse to have a rest at the back too.

the run along south st was supposed to be a steady cruise but we were up near 40km/h the whole way. probably shouldn’t have fired cade up ’cause we were all about to pay once we hit the fast stretch. i’m told it was he who fired of the front immediately we hit bannister rd. i was down the back after stopping to pick up a dropped light, thanks to mike b for staying back to help me catch back onto the group. sorry if i rolled over you too strong but i just wanted the hurt to be over.

so, no steady building of speed, it was straight to 48km/h and into the hurt box. luckily we got a bit of respite before the pace picked up again. we dropped a few guys along here and i’m pretty sure there was plenty lactic acid in the legs of everyone. my data tells me we spent around 12 minutes at about 40km/h. sounds great but to put that in perspective think of your average tdf stage where they average the same speed for ~200km over proper mountains. ouch!

the final regroup at nicholson rd, thanks to those who showed some restraint and called the front guys to back it off to allow the stragglers to catch back up. a little further along and mike b and the big chris were on the front, two strong fellows pulling well but the guys down the back were still recovering so i struggled up alongside and asked them to back it off a bit. i think big chris was happy that i made the request, mr bonner was hurting him a little. by the way mr b, i gather you did rather well at the pemberton race. i think there are a few team lamo boys who might be joining you for the fun of the tour de perth support race, should be well suited to your abilities.

a steady roll along the albany hwy as we all awaited the fun of the final drag to the coffee shop. the heat came on almost as soon as we hit shepperton rd and if anyone else was feeling like me it was a matter of looking after yourself for the final sprint. the recently married mr fynn was conspicuous by his absence from the front obviously out to avenge his recent run of losses in the sprint. this opportunity was spoilt by the meeting of our bunch with another at the causeway and the part road closure along the river front.

so an anticlimactic finish to a reasonably quick ride.

my stats say we averaged 33.7km/h for the 42.7km. for interest sake my average heart rate was 147bpm with a peak of 181bpm near the end of the run along bannister rd. And for those even vaguely interested my average power was 170W with a peak of 956W. pretty lame in comparison to graeme brown who, if i remember correctly, can top out at 1500W.

figuring i’d earned it i had the big breakfast with a mug of coffee. yumm!

the pastor was there to greet us with the up and coming ben to catch up with the action. nice to see him getting indoctrinated in the ways of the velo.

rumours: michael w missed today’s ride to taper for sunday’s corporate triathlon. He also missed the thursday morining thrash, the rumour are that one is he was at the pool having some remedial swimming lessons after nearly drowning at last years event.

editors note: if you want a good work out i suggest the following.
1. mountain bike
2. bike trailer
3. 14kg child plus all associated child traveling paraphernalia
4. mount st
5. repeated sets without standing.

i did just one taking the young lad up to sticky beaks playground in kings park and it almost killed me. harder than any saturday ride so far.

saturday 1st mar – scarborough beach rd

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daylight savings. i’m sick of it. cars had their lights on as i rode to the start today. street lights were on. i had to change the lens in my glasses before i left or i wouldn’t have been able to see. so glad the politicians know what’s best for us and decided to just give us a three year trial. by the time it finishes at the end of march the sun won’t rise till 7:30. and of course the sun rises on the east coast first so it has to travel over all those mountains and stuff, then it probably takes it’s time crossing adelaide as it would get bored half way through. by the time it gets here, like this morning, it didn’t really seem to be bothered as it wasn’t a stunning day break and hardly managed to get through the low cloud. anyway, on with the ride, but don’t expect this to be my last rant for this blog.
about 40 or so turned up this morning, which was good for quite a few reasons. firstly it was dark so i thought that may have kept some people in bed. secondly it is a long weekend so i thought that a few may have been away. thirdly, well no real third reason, so probably should have typed “a couple of reason” rather than “a few reasons”.

a group of this size could be trouble with the number of traffic lights that we had on today’s route, so we would have to see. it was a very basic route today which would see us cruise along mounts bay road and around the back of king’s park. continue through leederville before hitting scarborough beach rd and back along west coast highway. this ride would also bring some changes as we would have three sections where we would allow the boys to smash-it before regrouping.

a nice organized pace saw us catch every single traffic light to osborne park which became a bit frustrating in the end. we picked up another couple of riders just before leederville but all in all a very uneventful first half. once we got past the majority of the osborne park shops, the road starts to undulate quite a bit and this represented the first section where the boys would be allowed to stretch their legs.

no-one seemed keen to start the ball rolling so i set off on the first hill to force the issue. the boys responded immediately and i was soon swamped by riders. still in search of some form, my high speed endurance certainly needs some work and i was doing all i could, to hold on. this section of road has a bunch of stepped hills before rushing down (and one more up) to scarborough. it is the type of road where if you are going to start something, then you need quite a bit of endurance to keep it going. i watched on as people like ryan, cade, a couple of steves, and many others all sped past me and tackled the next small climb. i managed to hold a couple of wheels and was dragged slowly to within spitting distance by the time we hit the regroup point.

after a short wait, we continued at a nice pace south along west coast highway. i had previously said that we would keep it together until oceanic drive, at which time the road starts undulating again, and the pace was allowed to step up. keen as usual, they started a bit early as the road climbs slightly just before oceanic drive. luckily the traffic lights sorted the group out. scott and i were riding together on the last climb and didn’t step the pace up so ended up at the very back. not the most ideal place to be just before the pace was about to increase so we had to fight our way back to the front. i changed lanes and got a draft from a car to help me along before slotting into a gap about 5th wheel while scott came off my wheel and went straight to the front.

this stretch of road has two slight hills which are usually enough to hurt everyone if the pace is high. again, no-one seemed keen to go so i made a move to up the pace. i have been thinking about this, and maybe everyone is afraid now as people are unsure when they are allowed to go. i try to make it clear, but not everyone know the street names. maybe i have been too much of a ride dictator and my iron fist rule has everyone scared of getting blogged if they attack to early. anyway, the ride is evolving.

my attack didn’t last long and again i was swamped by the fast boys. i managed to hold on as best i could in the single lane section past the army base, while the cars still tried to get round with traffic coming the other way. sorry to hold you up, you might be late for your botox injections.

as the road dropped down into swanbourne, the smaller groups managed to come together at the lights on north street before we turned onto claremont crescent. about now a feel another rant coming on.

it is two f_cking lanes along this stretch. lots of room for wankers to drive their cars. there was nothing in the other lane, but mr black lexus f_ckin dickhead decides to stay in our lane and miss me by less than a ruler length at speed. he must have been an exceptional driver, cause you know how hard it is to judge distances on the other side of your car. f_ck me it was close. i gave him the finger, but then noticed that he was turning the corner with us and was probably going to the swanborne shops. right, i will have him, so i got up out of the saddle with the intention of chasing him down. he had to slow a bit coming around some of our other riders. so i kept chasing. he must have saw me cause he turned right to cross the rail bridge while we were going straight. as i crested the top of the hill near the shops i saw a black lexus in the car-park over the tracks, with the driver still in it. i would say that he was going to the shops and decided to hide instead. now i’m not sure exactly what i was going to do if i did catch up with him, but a couple of dents in his car would cost a bit to fix up. also, not sure if f_ckhead drivers realize it, but even though we may look silly in lycra, i’m sure 30 fit blokes could put a lexus onto it’s roof quite easily. anyway, just another dickhead to look out for. you would think after what happened to those cyclist that the p plater backed over had been all over the news, that people may give us a bit more space. but no. sorry if i have offended anyone with my liberal use of the _ key, but this is my life that mr dickhead was putting at risk so i was a bit pissed off.

so, we slowed the group down a bit and cruised along the crescent. again an inconsiderate driver that just could not wait blindly passes us so that the car coming the other way had to stop to avoid hitting him. we just shake our heads in amazement some times. i would say most of the group was together by the time we crossed stirling highway at the grammer school, and it would be a good reason to thin the pack through dalkeith. this is not really being mean, it just makes the final sprint a bit safer if we take out the not so strong riders early.

as we hit the small climbs on birdwood parade, the pace was increasing. ryan went off the front and but was brought back as we past the old hospital. i decided to put in a big effort on the next climb and managed to get to the front, for a short amount of time at least. ryan kicked again but then we were all over taken by the “pure sprinters” like bruce and steve r as they waited till the last minute to hit the top of the climb hard. we cruised down past steve’s hotel and along hackett drive. you see something different every day and today there was a guy rollerblading along the road/bike path that had to pull over to let us past. each to their own. i used to rollerblade to uni back in the day.

we headed along mounts bay road and you could see people were trying to work out strategy. ryan was neatly boxed in on the left hand side and i requested that they leave him
there, but he was released before the end. paul was looking for “blog time” and took off as soon as we hit mounts bay and had a handy gap on the field. it lined out quite early and gaps were forming as people tried their best to keep up. i jumped around (hitched a draft in the right hand lane) to get behind steve r who was still about 7 wheels from the front. we both knew that the main sprinters were behind us, so steve was constantly checking to get a hint of the break. eventually steve b came flying past and steve r shouted for those in front to chase. not sure what happened next but he said that there was a touch of brakes in front of him that took his momentum away.

steve managed to get out and starts the chase. next thing i know, ryan smashes past with jerry, scott and bruce in tow. i had to wait till the road cleared but managed to get on bruces wheel before they disappeared down the road. steve b was caught and ryan kicked hard and early. he managed to get a considerable gap, but the recently married man had quite a few weeks off the bike in Thailand, so didn’t get the usual long run. he faded a bit as he neared the line and scott managed to pip him by about ½ a metre as his momentum carried him through. i fell off the back of that group but was still happy to finish with the main group this week.

it was a slightly longer ride this week so the coffee shop was a bit full by the time we got their. luckily mickey’s group was departing as we were ordering, so space became available. i was still pretty pissed off at mr dickhead and as you can probably tell, still not happy now. lucky i can vent through the blog.

check out the poll on the right hand side and let me know if you are interested in developing a jersey for this group.

also, this pic of tom boonen is for lorraine, who said the posting of girly pics was a bit sexist. maybe, but a half naked cyclist being “worked” on by another guy seems a bit funny too. till next time.