Tag Archives: saturday

saturday 7th aug – fast group sth lake

ride report

the ride began as normal.  ryan ringing up kimbo to say that he was going to be late and asking which way we were headed.  he then proceeded to ask all types of other stupid questions in order to stall us as long as possible so that he could get there before we departed.  it didn’t work.

the fast group was light on again today with the majority of people opting for main 1 instead.  could have something to do with the 200km challenge tomorrow, or maybe just the weather.  the novice group has not fielded a rider for the past three weeks.  i am putting it down to the cold mornings, but at least it is not wet.

so we headed off towards north lake road and jonno and i set the pace all the way to the turn off.  well actually, jonno was setting the pace and i was about half a wheel behind him trying to keep up.  by the time we rolled off and took the very short trip to the back of the pack, we found that ryan had already joined us.  not sure how or when but his claim of starting 10min later than us and catching up by the time we hit north lake road was interesting.  mainly because it took us approx 15min to cover the 8km to get to the turn off.  in that, because of the traffic lights etc, we averaged only 31kph.  for ryan to cover the same distance in 5min, he would have to average 86kph over the 8km.  the only time i can see him doing that is when mel calls him up mid-ride to tell him that the baby is coming NOW!!!

so the others in the group were jerry, nick, scott, ben and vaughan who was on a full suspension mountain bike with knobbly tyres.  that was going to interesting to watch.  we generally cruised down north lake road until we passed south st and then began to roll through.  this picked the pace up considerably and started to show the haves and the have nots.  the pace got too high for some and pretty soon it was down to single file only.  ben diesel, ryan, jerry, scott and jonno were setting a cracking pace with vaughan, nick and myself hanging on to the coat tails.

sensing most of the group didn’t know the route well, i refused to call out directions until the turns were almost on top of us so that the pace would slacken off in a moment of hesitation.  we swung across berrigan drive and pretty much stayed together but once onto jandakot rd, the small undulations split nick, scott and myself from the others.  a bit of scrambling on our end and we managed to stay in touch to the intersection with warton rd.  from here to nicholson and the pace continued to hover around the mid to high 40’s until we just came past livingston shopping centre and jerry got a flat.  there was lots of glass on the roads we took so it was really only a matter of time. 

it wasn’t a formula one wheel change and at one stage we were wondering if he was rebuilding the wheel from scratch but soon were under way again.  well we pretty much continued where we had left off and the pace was up again.  there were some legs deadened by the rest and nick and i were well off the back, but saved by traffic at the roundabout.  from the kink in nicholson all the way back to vic park, it was high pace punctuated by traffic lights.  pretty much the perfect interval training (although not the best the day before a 200km ride).  i think we lost nick somewhere along here and it was only the skin of my teeth that was holding me to the group.

the last stretch along shep road and scott got on the front for a bit.  when we got caught in traffic i told him that there seems to be an unwritten rule in the last few k’s.  similar to the tour de france where if you crash in the last three km’s, our rule seems to be, if you are on the front in the last few km’s, don’t expect anyone to help you.  everyone starts to worry about saving their legs for the sprint, so no-one wants to set the pace.

just before the causeway, vaughan (who was still with us and coping better than me) showed us why a mountain bike was versatile by jumping a kerb to get in the other lane while we had to stop at a red light.  however, by the time he hit the intersection he was running a red anyway.  naughty.  the group chased him down and then jonno went off the front early.  there seemed to be a bit of hesitation so i got on the front and started to chase him down.  i managed to catch him just as riverside drive straightened out, but he was strong and he still stayed on the front and even surged again.  i was spent so flicked the elbow and everyone came around.  i didn’t see the final sprint, as i ambled down the road in full recovery mode.

no coffee stop for me as we had to go shopping for the masses that were to need feeding at the halfway point of the 200km challenge.  probably not the best lead up to a long ride, but i am sure that it will do me good…hopefully…in the long run…once i can walk again.

saturday 3rd july – fast (kind of) group

ride report by peter.

0.1 deg.  see that isn’t zero.  not even close.  well that is the official temp at 7:00am and that is on top of one of the building in the city.  i drove over to the bell tower and while riding over to the start, i am sure it dropped a couple of degrees  going from the city to south perth.  numbers were a good reflection of this and usually follow the temperature down.  as such we combined the two main groups and sent everyone on their way.

well, i started heading out on the fast group ride and looked back to see if anyone was going to follow me.  at first i thought that i was going to be on my own.  by the time i reached the lights at mill point rd, we had a massive group of six.  probably not just the temperature, but also the course kept some people away from the fast group.  we were going to tackle gooseberry hill.

joining me today were captain poseur, ben diesel, danny boy, daisy ainsworth and tim (with no real nickname yet).  no pace on at all today and we could hardly be called the fast group.  we basically took turns  riding two abreast all the way out to gooseberry.  it was cold and muscles were not really in the mood for any hard riding.  plus everyone was saving themselves for the goose.

it was obvious that  we were going to stick together today and agreed to regroup at the top of the climb.  my legs were so stiff and hammy’s so tight that i really had trouble from the start.  danny boy was off like a shot but got reeled in early and the four headed up the hill with tim and myself off the back.  that is pretty much the way it stayed to the end as i made no ground on anyone.

just some facts for those of you that haven’t done the goose before.  it has two main sections of climbing with a short flat section as it skirts around the hill.  the first section is the “easiest” but still manages to hit 12% before it reaches the flat.  once you round the corner, it starts heading up again.  the first section hits that 12% pretty quickly and you roll back through the gears that you changed up to on the flat.  pretty soon you run out and next thing you know you are just standing to keep some semblance of cadence.  it takes a couple of bends as it wraps around the hill so you can’t even see the top as you continue on.  each time it takes a bend it seems to get steeper.  finally you can see the traffic sign for the roundabout at the top, but that is where it is the steepest.  it peaks out at around 18% just before you crest the top.

tim hadn’t done that climb before and slowed a bit towards the end, but i was still a convincing last.  we headed down the zig-zag and onto Helena valley rd.  we continued to stay together and all started to do work at the front.  it stayed this way from midland all the way to maylands.  once the rolling hills started we lost tim for a while after he did a long turn on the front.  as per our agreement, we slowed down and he finally managed to catch up once we turned onto east parade.

no real sprint to speak of, just a quickening of pace as we approached the end.  so even with the cold weather and low numbers, it was still a good ride.

Main 2 Saturday SPR Ride 12/6/2010

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Another chilly morning but compared to Thursday morning it was warm. Arrived at Coode St and only a couple of others were already there getting their wheels on the bike because they drove in. Peter soon rocked up in his car but with the excuse he was doing the time trial this afternoon and was saving his legs.

not a huge turn out today well didn’t seem to be but was a healthy number of riders in each group. I think leaving Coode Street we had around 15 in our group. After getting the group together on Canning Hwy we sat on a cruisy 33kph. Each were taking their turn on the front which was great to see. Even Ivan had the legs on the front today great to see mate.

North Lake Rd gave us a couple rest stops at the lights before taking on the small hills along here. Next was the left turn onto South St and a group of us seemed to open it up a little until we were told to cool it. I’m not sure I think a few may have been stretched on North Lake Road. All seemed to be back on rather quickly. After passing Wheatly Drv the pace was picked up again and for the next 10km the avg speed was 35pkh and this saw us catch up and join onto the back of main 1.

Nicholson Rd seemed to have a bit of a tail wind and there was a semi kinda roll though along here. Approaching the lights at Albany Hwy and 90% of the group were in the left turning lane and not the right. seeing everyone jumping across lanes I’m sure this pissed off every driver around us. You need to look at the map people. William street was a bit of chaos also. Lots of over taking and cars not wanting to be patient. Maybe this would have been safer if we hadn’t merged with main 1.

Once onto Welshpool Rd we paired up again and a few got a break away because of some red lights the pace was within 33 ~ 34 for this section. Once we turned right on Shepperton Rd the pace was lifted and it was time to fly home. Because of some red lights I fell to the back and missed the finish but apparently we caught the Transitional group and it was a big sprint on down Riverside drive.

Was a good ride this morning and my legs don’t hurt. Looking forward to Brookton Hwy in the morning and while the rain stays away I hope just as many show up tomorrow as they did today.

UPDATE: Forgot. Set my own new milestone today got home with an average overall speed of 31.1kph over 70kms. Pretty happy with that. Took so long to get 30kph this was unexpected. Yay me 🙂

By Nathan Rzepecki

Saturday 1st May – Main group

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Ride report by Kimbo.

Having not seen a main group report for a while and Pete putting the captains armband on me for the day (in the absence of Russ) I thought I should make a little effort with the pen. Please read this with a hint of sympathy as I am not all there in the head. 🙂
Lack of numbers due to this weekends races merged the two main groups back to one with about 26 riders. Todays ride would take in the sights of Burke Drive, onward to South Street, Stock Road then Nicholson Rd finishing with Albany Highway through Vic Park. Rain overnight left the roads wet but the morning was shaping up to be a nice day for a 50.47km ride.
Meg and Janelle (the new 15 year old superstar on a Pinarello wearing a manga jersey) took the first turn on the front until Meg realized that she had no idea where she was going, so rolled back to third wheel before the lights at Mill Point Road. Gus and Scottie warmed us up along Canning Hwy until I flashed my big boss captain armband and raised the pace a little. Burke Drive was holier than the Popes undies, so there was much pointing at the roads surface to warn the following riders. Those that have ridden with me before will know that I’ll point at a wayward lackey band on the bitumen so this was a big moment for me.

I won’t mention much about the climb up Stock Rd because basically I started first and didn’t end there so well done to those flying past me with ease. Along Stock Rd, well not much going on there, didn’t see any stock, Gus seemed to hit the red button when his chain got caught in between his crank and rear stay which brought me much amusement. Not the mechanical but his reaction was classic.
A left turn onto South Street brought on an extra gear and the group got excited. A couple were caught napping so Mark (Look 595) and myself worked with these guys to help get the group back together. The group self managed itself through Bull Creek and Canning Vale, correctly selecting Nicholson over Bannister Rd. It’s good when the group seems to know where they’re going.
Mark and myself then sat at the back with the FCC’s (Fleet Cycling Chicks) and watched in awe as the finely tuned machine (commonly known as the SPR Main Group) danced like ballerinas. Well they rolled through and kept the pace between 39 and 42 km/h anyway. Later after the ride, a whistle blower came to me with information that it was a little messy in there, so remember to keep your line with no erratic movements.
Albany Highway and the group was still together and we made it though Cannington without even one “Get the F*#k of the F#*king road you bunch of F#&king F*%kwits”. A first for me I think. We had only just past the Hill View Terrace lights when some pelican thought he was better than he was and charged to the front like a dog on heat. I heard a couple of shouts and we were away. I spoke to the pelican later and he filled me in on what happen on the front. Apparently after a few attempts to get away from the group, his lack of ability and few red lights saw them all back together at the causeway. The pelican was on the front again with others and thought he had the legs to smash the field from the start of Riverside Drive. Clearly he didn’t.
I personally don’t like change, so the line of red witches hats in the left lane was enough of an excuse for me not go for the sprint today. If anyone wants to put their name up in lights go ahead.
Highlight of the day….. was Janelle’s Mum. Getting out of a warm bed at god knows what time in the morning to drop your daughter at the car park for a ride is gold. Happy Mother’s Day next weekend!!
Thats it, good ride and I’ll see you next time 🙂

saturday 17 april – fast (ridge hill road)

ride report by daniel

The blog has been busy today and so have I – two reasons to keep this brief. Well, two excuses anyway. Let’s see how it goes.

I’d been hoping to do the Peter Clark Classic, but was not able to get the time I needed Sunday morning. As it turns out, this put me in the minority – when Peter called forth the fast group there were just nine of us. Sounds like a small but reasonable group to be riding with, but I did a quick check just to be sure: Ryan, Jerry, Ben, James … Mmm… it was looking like I was going to be working hard. Good. Sort of.

We headed off, our route taking us out along Shepperton Road and onto Albany Highway. We each did a turn on the front, and for my part, I was working relatively hard into the stiff headwind that was the order of the day. The reasonable pace continued as we turned onto William Street with no relief from the headwind just yet. We started rolling though somewhere along Hale Road, still keeping the pace reasonable.

At this point we were still riding into the headwind, and with one or two riders struggling, we decided to ease back the pace a little. Jerry suggested that due to the small group size we re-group at the top of Ridge Hill Road. Sounds like a plan, which we executed. Needless to say, I climbed Ridge Hill without too many problems but was not able to keep pace with the lead riders. We re-grouped, and with everyone back on, we started the descent down and headed towards Guildford.

After the initial descent, we started taking 30s turns on the front. This worked for a little while before some gaps opened up. When I took my next turn on the front, I tried but was not able to make any impression on the gap to Ryan and several others in the lead. When Jerry took the lead, he lifted the pace and was starting to make an impression on the gap. At this point, I was working hard just holding Jerry’s wheel, and thought to take a quick look back to see how the rest of the group was faring. Not so well; a gap had opened up and they were a fair way back. We continued, with Jerry showing no sign of tiring and providing an excellent wheel for me to hold. I however, even though sitting in and drafting, was feeling the heart rate rise a little too high and the legs starting to go away from me. As I started to fade off Jerry’s wheel, he noticed my predicament. He dropped the pace slightly, and after a quick signal to me, I was back on. Thanks. Given this, we did not manage to catch Ryan, Ben and Jerry until we reach Great Eastern Highway, where we all stopped briefly to get everyone back together.

We then kept a reasonable pace heading back into town along Guildford Road. I think it was along here that Melvyn dropped off the back. I was feeling it too. I managed to stay on, but probably only due to the small respite granted me by several of the traffic lights along Guildford road. I’ll take that.

We came to the lights at the corner of Guildford Road and East Parade, and as I was sitting at the front with Ryan we watched the Main 2 group sail past. No problems, we would be happy to go for the chase. The traffic lights cycle completed and we were ready to go. No joy – it seems some dear person had hit the pedestrian crossing button and then disappeared. Waiting, waiting. With the group ahead now given quite a head start we were off. I tried hard to hold Ryan’s wheel, but he was determined to catch the group in front and I couldn’t hold on. No major drama as I was still catching the group ahead, and I think they were held up a little at the freeway lights. Anyway, by the time we’d climbed the East Perth hill, we had managed to get to the front.

Now, Peter had indicated that we would not be able to sprint due to the Red Bull Air Race and the associated road closures. I considered this as we approached, but it looked to me like Riverside Drive had been closed just for us: one empty, inviting road. So, I lifted the pace as we turned onto Riverside Drive. Before too long, the pace was lifted past me as Ryan and others came past.

Until next time.

PS I’m not sure I really achieved the brief bit. Oh well.

saturday 17th april – main 2 (benara rd)

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ride report by peter.

with a race on sunday, i decided that i needed an easier day so as to not wear out the legs too much.  with the recently formed main 2 group, i decided that i would take a ride with them to see how the group was going.  the fast group was down on numbers this morning as there were a few that where racing on sunday so had moved down to the main 1 group.  some of the main 1 group were also racing so had moved down to the main 2 group.  the split was not really even between these three groups this week as we had probably over 30 riders in main 1 and only 13 in main 2.  we had this problem, way back when we used to leave from the bike shop as no-one wanted to be told that they were not good enough to go in the faster group.  yes, you should push yourself, but sometimes if you get dropped too often you get discouraged and will just not ride anymore.  if you feel that you are constantly struggling in the main group, then join the main 2 group.  it does the same distance, just not as fast.  realistically this group was set up to be that stepping stone between the transitional group and the main group as the gap was pretty wide.

anyway, we had about 13 riders heading out and we set a nice and easy pace along great eastern.  we started a bit of a roll through and the wind played havoc a bit as gaps formed quite frequently.  as we turned off to head past rosehill golf course, we stopped rolling through as the slight rises makes it hard to keep a constant pace.  once on bushmead road, we rolled through again as we were heading straight into the wind.  this wasn’t a hard pace roll through, but rather an easy way of sharing the load.  some guys were struggling a bit, but we managed to keep it together to get to midland.  it would be pretty much a tailwind from now on, so i thought we should be right.

we started to roll through again as we headed to guilford and the tailwind made this a bit easier.  along the way, we picked up some of the main 1.  chrissy had been convinced by meg to join main 1 and she had been dropped along the way.  it was a big step as she had only ever ridden the transitional group before this plus had ridden down from lesmurdie that morning.  darryl and brother dan were helping her along the road so she wasn’t left on her own.

we made the turn onto benara road and i moved to the front to give some instructions.  i said that they can go harder for the length of benara as long as they waited at the end.  nigel and i formed a draft for chrissy while dan hung back to keep jess moving.  we set a good pace along benara and almost caught the back of the group once or twice as they were stuck at the lights.  at one stage chrissy even wanted to sprint to catch them at the lights, but i was a bit wary of how much energy she had to get home.  we just kept plugging away to the end of the road.

the group had waited around the corner and soon we were all together again and heading through to the back of galleria.

there are a bunch of rolling hills between here and the city so it was a constant battle to keep the group together.  a few of us acted as sweepers and we all managed to get onto whatley crescent together.  as we crossed guilford road we past the fast group waiting at the lights.  they did about 5 or 6 k’s more and started just before us so i think we managed to set a good pace.  the last run into town was a bit disjointed but there was a nice clear road along riverside drive for the guys to stretch their legs at the end.

once inside the café, i managed to have a quick chat with the owner.  i mentioned that some places don’t want us turning up every saturday but he said that he was happy for us to come along each week.  it must be a disruption for him to have so many descend upon him, but i think he appreciates that we are quick business and consistent.

Sat 13th Mar – Advanced ride – Scarborough Beach Rd

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(Training) ride report by Jarrad.

I believe that it was JFK, who was rather foresighted (all the way back in the 60″s) enough to state in his inaugural address: “Ask not what SPR will do for you, but what together we can do for SPR”, and on this warm, overcast and humid morning this was rather poignant….

Peter went on to explain what SPR can do for you, which is a helmet discount, and i wouldn”t mind stressing the importance of having an Aussie std compliant helmet, which pretty much all (o/s) internet sites don”t deliver/guarantee, especially in the event of an accident and the inevitable insurance issues. I only wish that i knew about this before going out and spending 400 bucks on a new helmet 2 months ago.

I was then asked what i can do for SPR, which was to take some responsibility for the Advanced group (and provide a write up). Regular Julian (i.e. not brother Julian) put his hand up to also help out, and we discussed the plan to basically get over the rises and onto S.B. Rd and then roll through.

And so (yes it”s poor form starting a sentence with a preposition), the group of around 30 or so took off on our way to Scarborough Beach Rd and West Coast Highway for 55k”s of fun. The group rolled along at a fairly brisk 36-40 ish in a very orderly and smooth formation for the first ten kilometers thanks to Daniel, Mike, Ben, Josh and others, which while comfortable enough to hold a conversation, was quick enough to get some blood pumping on the rises behind Kings Park. A young rider tacked on the back along riverside drive who was looking for the transition group, i whom i hope found his way. The intention was to get through the lights and small hills, and then start a smooth roll through, which was a little broken up by what seemed like never-ending red lights.

Onwards along S.B. Rd we briefly lost a rider (sorry I”m hopeless with names), who had a bit of a mechanical issue, but he managed to jump back on as we started heading uphill again although his knicks had a lovely new patina (black grease marks is the new black), over the rise and down to Scarborough Beach, the group was pretty much still together, thanks in part to lights, trucks and traffic. Round onto W.C Hwy the call was again to roll through (smoothly) and now it was time to open up a little with a nice uninterrupted section of road ahead. Ben, Josh, Brother Jules, Jonny and plenty of others were rolling
through which was online slots keeping pace up and the rest of the group strung out in a single file. Up through the rises into and out of Floreat, Mike Bonner, Jonny, Ben and regular Julian led the group, which seemed to put some into the red, but this far into the ride, i figured its ok to put some pain on.

Back along W.C. Hwy the group was reduced to around 10 or thereabouts and a fairly “limited” roll through ensued back to Claremont (cheers Benny and Mike), with the pace reasonably high. We picked up a few who found a shortcut from Floreat along the way.

After crossing Stirling Hwy and through onto the familiar territory in Nedlands, some guy who clearly like white a little too much (Pfft. shoe covers on a training ride? Poser 🙂 pushed a roll through pace a little too hard reducing the group of 12 or so to around 4, with Brother Jules, Ben, Captain poser and (sorry i should know your name) one other rolling through. Back along Stirling Hwy, after a wait at the lights, a bunch of 10 (and picking up a few short-cutters) all looked hesitant to put noses into the wind, with Ben and Brother Jules (i think) leading along for the first few k”s. Things got fairly twitchy with around 1 km to go, and the Pozzato-lookalike (although minus the curls) jumped first. Head-down and out of the saddle, the
chase was on, but Cpt Poser held pace high and fended off a spirited chase from Brother Jules and Regular Jules (to be confirmed).

All up a fairly reasonable pace ride, with no incidents (one heart-in mouth moment concerning a truck mirror and a head, but thankfully all was ok), and we beat the main group back for coffee.

Until next week,

Cpt Poser.

Saturday Transitional Ride report 26/2/2009

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First Saturday ride back after missing the last two. Maintaining the trend we had around 25 riders today.  No Shaw though. I know you were planning to ride 200kms last Sunday. Did you get lost we haven’t seen you all week. Maybe tomorrow.

Due to the fact we were following the same route as the intermediate group this week we held back for a few minutes and let them get off down the road. This week everyone got out of the car park without a flat.  Good work all 🙂

Doubled up we headed down Mill Point Road towards Canning Hwy. Today the wind was quite gusty however the group was maintaining a pace of around 28km/hr. Over the causeway and past Burswood. For some reason virtually every set of lights we came across this morning went red or amber on our approach. So was a lot of stopping and getting clipped back in once rolling. Left off Great Eastern Hwy and onto Stoneham St past Ascot and over Garret Rd bridge. Another red light before the right turn onto Guildford road. Finally a green light as we rolled through the crossing of King William St and Guildford road. Home again already but no such luck. From this point on the traffic seemed to be in a bad mood this morning.  I think too many drivers had missed their Muzz Buzz coffee. Peter signalled for the roll-through to start. In all honesty for this section up until the left turn onto Lord St the roll-through was a bit of a joke. The gaps were large. People missing the call for last wheel (myself included, as Michael made me well aware. Enjoy the sprint 🙂 ) Maybe this had something to do with the wind as it just wasn’t anywhere close to how well it had been the last few weeks.

Once onto Lord St back to single file as the traffic was really poor. Double white lines means no over taking. However some Perth drivers seem to think this rule only applies when there are no cyclists. WRONG. Pace here was still up in the high 20’s and touching low 30’s.

Left at the round about and onto Benara Rd. This is where we picked up a tail wind and the roll through. The pace quickly picked up to low 40’s. The roll through was still a bit messy and after a reminder from Peter about working together on the roll through then things finally started to work well once the lights went green.  Everyone kept the gaps tight and we quickly made our way to the end where we went left onto Camboon Rd. Single file down this stretch. Another red light before crossing Morley Dr onto Wellignton Rd. I hate this road in the car because its so rough and its no nicer on the bike. Just as bumpy and full of man hole covers and the like. At the lights we doubled up in preparation for our short journey down Walter Road West and past my office. Bummer its still there. Left onto Coode St for the run down to Whatley Cres. There are a couple of hills on this stretch, Well they aren’t all that bad but some egos got awoken here and seems to been a sprint up and over the crest.  This group was quickly caught on the roll back down the other side. At the lights right onto Whatley Cres we got split so was a slow roll down until the others caught up. This was basically the home stretch. because of the lights the group was split into three groups. For those that got ahead earlier they were re caught going up and over the hill past the East Perth police station. Thanks to the lights got a clean roll all the way down to river side drive. As I pulled right onto river side drive I was waiting for the break and the sprint to the cafe. However only Steve broke free and took off 75meters or so ahead. I sat behind one rider before pulling along side. We pulled about a 25 -30 meter gap from the rest of the group but this week there was no sprinters. Maybe the wind had taken its toll. At the cafe had recorded an average speed of 28.2 which I thought was decent considering the wind this morning.

Tomorrow we have a 76km ride planned.  It is all flat. See here.  Hope to see you there. I have made the deal with Peter on my facebook that if we get an average speed of over or equal to 30km/hr tomorrow I will shout the first round at the pub. I think I’m safe however Peter reckons we can do 45km/h. So much for taking it easy and recovering from being sick 🙂 I think he just wants the beer.

Least I ended this rather un-eventful write up with a laugh.

By Nathan Rzepecki

PS Side note still waiting for some people to sign-up and Join me on the HBF Freeway Bike Hike. Currently I’m gonna be a loner in a team of 1. So I look forward to having a few additions to this SPR team before the team entries are cut off on the 12th March. See here for details.

saturday 23rd – transitional group

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ride report by peter.

third time on the bike since before christmas and gee my butt is sore.  to be more specific, my sit bones are sore.  it is amazing how much resistance you can build up to that sort of abuse if you just persist with it.  i was having trouble backing up rides and had to ride the first few kms standing up.  i guess i am just lucky that the rest of the muscle groups seem to be firing ok.  cardio is a different story.

i turned up relatively early (well for me anyway) as my kids are still not quite over running on melbourne time.  the first morning we got back and they were up at 3:30am ready for action.  at least now they are closer to 6:00am but still not quite there yet.  anyway, i turned up to a sea of unfamiliar faces and this both excited and worried me.  excited as it was great to see that the group is steadily growing, but worried me because i like to know everyone’s name.  i am going to have to work on the names thing so don’t get to upset if i apologise for not remembering we have met.

as per the blog, we proceeded to split into 4 groups.  i sent the advanced group on their way as they had the longest to travel.  then i split the novice group out and left them in the hands of mark and carol.  the intermediate group was next with the transitional group to follow the same path.

dr ronny has volunteered to look after the transitional group and i came along today to make sure everything went well.  we took off and i sat on the front with mandy as we set an easy pace along mill point to great eastern.  the idea was to just leave a couple of people on the front and then have them peel off when they got tired.  nice easy pace and no roll through or anything. 

we made it to ascot with me playing sheepdog and constantly moving from front to back to give directions and make sure we hadn’t lost anyone.  there was the occasional person falling off the back and we had to slow the group down a bit to keep everyone together.  we were heading out guilford rd into a decent headwind and it is important to know where to sit to keep out of the wind.  these are skills that you pick up along the way and it is generally trial and error that will see you through.

a bit of confusion at the turn at guilford saw half the group going straight instead of turning to get onto west swan rd.  by the time we got together, we were already on benara rd.  once the group formed up we tried to roll through, but it didn’t go too well and we dropped a couple of riders.  also there were people that hadn’t rolled through before and didn’t know what to do.  my fault really, as i thought that everyone had been through this sort of thing with the previous novice group.  it is something that we will work on but it will not be the focus of the transitional group.

i dropped back a few times for riders that were struggling and once for a dropped chain, but we were back together for the route through the northern suburbs.  the roads were tighter and the traffic heavier so we were down to single file for quite a while, but eventually got formed back up.  the rolling hills heading into bayswater took their toll on a few and the group split a bit with me off the back lending a hand.  on the last small hill, lynda stopped as she dropped her chain.  or so we thought.  turns out she snapped it totally.  too much power i expect.  she was within rolling distance of the train station so she headed for a ticket machine.  with the remaining three riders, we made our way home along whatley crescent and to the belltower.

the rest of the group were waiting there and the other groups had already taken over the majority of the coffee shop.  we stood around and had a quick chat about the ride and how we thought it went.  there are some changes that i think that we will make to it, but basically there are a few things that we need to work on.

  • two leaders are needed.  one to control the group and one to help those that are struggling.
  • know the ride route.  not just the leaders, everyone that is riding.
  • know where to position your bike to get a good draft.
  • know how to safely move off the front.
  • the ride route needs to be shorter.  some people were struggling towards the end.
  • how to roll through.  we will discuss this before the ride starts next week.
  • correct gear selection at traffic lights and climbs.

all up though, i thought it was a good ride today for the new group and definitely something we will continue to do.

saturday 12th dec – christmas breakfast

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ride report by peter

 

it was the morning of the christmas breakfast and we had a substantial turnout at the carpark come 7am.  i relayed the news that young sam that occasionally comes out on the sunday hills ride had been in a bike accident and is laid up with a broken back.  he was on the bike path and had a head on with another bike while going through a tunnel.  it highlights the risks that we face that even on a bike path, you need to be aware of your surroundings and to ride to conditions.  legally you can only ride single file on a bike path so that plus the other unpredictable users mean that we avoid them as much as possible.

our route today would need to finish at jerry’s house in city beach so we made the group head south east first to find some extra kms.  skirting between curtain uni and technology park we headed back to the city via shepperton road.  i made the comment that it seems strange not attacking or chasing on this stretch of road as it is usually our last run into home.  we took the scenic route along riverside drive and mounts bay road before heading up thomas rd past kings park.  the main group continued along to reach scarborough beach rd while the fast group took a detour into the park.

a navigational error by the front guys meant that the first half of the group missed the turn to cardiac hill and had to double back.  some continued on to skip the hill and met up with us at the top.  as the group split quite near me, i managed to start the hill at the front and set the pace to the top.  there were a couple on my wheel but near the top i think that it was just jason keeping up.  the fast boys who missed the turn were coming up fast and brendan came past us just as the gradient softened.  a number of others soon overtook us in pursuit of brendan and jason managed to jump on the wheel.  i had spend a lot of my energy early so just rolled to the top.

we travelled back through the park and came out on saw ave which allowed us to get back onto thomas rd.  the pace was not high, but quite solid as we took off in pursuit of the main group.  i was fully expecting to catch them before we reached scarbs rd but they were nowhere to be seen.

i made the call to skip ewen st as we were already motoring along in pursuit and the hill was going to be there just to slow the fast group if we had managed to join back together.  the rolling hills did their job and there were many attacks on each pinch.  we picked up a couple of the main group, or should say past them by as the pace did not slow till we reached west coast hwy.

once we got there, the main group was waiting for the riders they had dropped so after a short time we were all back together.  there were some reports of some of the fast group making it back onto the main group and then taking ewen st.  i am assuming that they were the ones that skipped cardiac hill in kings park.

the group then cruised down westcoast hwy to city beach where we were to stop for our breakfast.  a few found the pace a little high for the final run so a couple of splinter groups formed up.  i was helping a couple along when we got split at the lights so came in a couple of minutes after the main group.  thankfully there was standing on the corner of jerry’s street so that we knew when to turn. 

once dismounted it was quickly up to the tables of food that lorraine and the girls had prepared for us.  sharon was taking the money and giving out raffle tickets and it was good to see her out again.  it was very obvious why she was not on the bike today with less than 5 weeks to she is having a baby.

we had our raffle prize draw, but unfortunately the prizes had not made it from pbk in time so the winners received a picture of what they will get…eventually.  there were also a few gifts given out to recognise the effort that certain people have made throughout the last year.  carol for running the novice group, russell and nev for taking on the main group, julian for organising the sunday ride when i have not been available, kimbo for helping us get some club equipment and for going out of his way to welcome new riders and lorraine for consistently going above and beyond to promote the club and the community that we want to harbour.  i really appreciate the work that a lot of people have put into the club and to keep it growing.  last year at the christmas breakfast, we were just a group that did a few rides.  now one year on, we are an affiliated club, have a healthy membership and organise five training sessions per week.

i received the biggest, heaviest hamper that i have ever seen.  i am sure that the christmas hamper people don’t do a bike related hamper, but this one certainly ticked all the boxes.  i thank everyone that contributed to that.  i do appreciate the thought.  there were many useful things in the hamper so it should keep me going for a while.  ben also looked pretty cool in the capo cycling cap.  i also appreciate the kind words from lorraine and mark and also kate.

a massive thanks to jerry and tanya for letting us use their house and sorry about the pool.  i think that we can rename the jacobs brothers to the “abdominal brothers” as opposed to the “umbilical brothers”.  once one was in the pool, it seemed to be a contest to see who had the best abs.  unfortunately it also eventuated in a number of us seeing ryan’s bum after jonny grabbed to bibs part of his knicks.

so thank you all for a great year, and i look forward to growing the club with you in the future.