Tag Archives: saturday

saturday 28th nov – hale rd (fast group)

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ride report by peter.

 

a predicted max of 32 degrees is a good sign that summer is bearing down upon us.  actually it is only a few days away.  it also is a good chance that we will have a good turn out and this didn’t disappoint with around 70 or so turning up.  i had driven over to the bell tower so that i could set up a kit and bottle stall during coffee as there was still over 100 bottles stacked in my house.  on arrival i found lorraine also unpacking her bike from the car so we trundled over to coode st together.  on the way we picked up jason and julian so had begun our early social part of the ride.

once we reached the carpark, there was already a bit of a crowd milling around but most noticeable was the car and trailer parked in the middle of it all.  in the back was a bunch of malvern star oppy bikes so we weren’t sure what was going on.  after a while a couple of people got out of the car and told us that they were there all day promoting the new bikes and giving people test rides.  there was a free draw to win a  bike so a few people took up the offer and entered.  apparently, phil anderson was going to be there tomorrow to help promote the bikes as well.  now there is someone that we should try to get out on the hills ride.

with a quite big group and a big novice group as well, we all set off in search of cycling adventure.  well, set off anyway.  the route was a tried and true one with both groups heading out shep rd and onto welshpool rd before heading north along hale rd.  the main group would then head home via kalamunda and guilford while the fast group would take on ridgehill rd before returning via helena valley rd and guilford.  all nice and simple.

it was a pretty uneventful trip out past welshpool with the group being split at lights as expected.  all together along hale rd and the aim was to get the fast group to the front by the time we hit tonkin hwy.  after that we would put the pedal down and split the two groups apart.  russell volunteered to act as the paceman for the main group and would ensure that the groups split cleanly. 

after tonkin, to enforce the split, ryan and myself went to the front and started to up the pace.  russell kept the main group together so if anyone wanted to do the fast ride they had to come around and make the break.  it seemed to work well from what i could see as there wasn’t as much interaction this time around.
after a while we started a roll through, but due to the wind, had to roll the opposite way.  this always causes problems with the group and there were a few times when there was only the to few doing turns.  is soon sorted itself out and everyone rolled through well.  jarrad, after spending a week up north, had to blow some cobwebs out of his legs so shot off the front.  no-one chased him down so the group stayed together well.

crossing kalamunda rd at the lights, there seemed to be a reluctance to go to the front as everyone seemed to be wanting to save their legs for the hill.  once we got there it was on.  an early attack from alistar and others was soon pulled back as the hill continued on.  i jumped around the group to find ryan’s wheel but caught it just as bonner and he attacked.  i stayed on his wheel as long as i could but had spent most of my effort finding it in the first place.  i soon slipped back and crested the hill about 11th or so.

now i know with this ride that if you are not on the wheel going over the top then you really have to be chasing hard to make sure you are at the bottom.  i had red-lined on the hill and now couldn’t chase at all.  i watched as the group inched further away from me.  looking back there was a group of about 6 hurtling down the hill towards me.  like any good handicap race, you don’t chase to bridge the gap, you wait for the group behind to catch up so you can all work together.

at the bottom we came together but before i had a chance to work out how to chase, alistar sped past.  well there’s a wheel i thought so gregor and i jumped on board.  after a short while he began to fade so we started a roll through.  there was 7 of us and we all managed to take turns well and kept the pace relatively high.  we were not making much ground on the front group, but pretty soon they were shedding riders and we managed to pick up 4 more.  the tailwind was helping as we were averaging 45km/hr, but the pace was taking a toll and people started to miss turns and gaps were starting to appear.  we rolled into guilford and turned the corner to see the front group stuck at the first set of lights.  we got there just on the change so integrated into one big group and cruised across the bridge into bassendean.

once again the pace was on and the group rolled through keeping it high.  riders were starting to fall off the back even along the flats as the average speed was close to 50km/hr.  by the time we hit the rolling hills we had shed a few riders and would probably loose some more very soon.  there were no real attacks, but the pace did not let up through the hills and we managed to only get one real traffic light.  with an average speed of 45km/hr it was hold on for dear life for most of the group.  we picked up a few riders from the main group towards the end and hit the lights at east parade were we came to a halt.  the chase had ended so the trip to riverside drive was at a pedestrian pace as everyone was preparing for the sprint.  nico was on his tt bike preparing for tomorrow so i said that he and i should lead out.  ryan was playing his usual games and had started to drift back to find a wheel to suck so he wouldn’t come to the front too soon.  there was a bit of a gap from brendan and i to the rest of the jockeys jockeying for position and the lights changed quicker than most had expected.  i rolled through the corner and looked back to see that i had a big gap.  oh well, might as well have a crack.  with 1 km to the next set of lights, it was a tall ask on my own.  looking at the download from the garmin i managed to hold an average of 54km/hr for the first half of the block.  i then steadily declined back to 48km/hr over the next 200 metres and the group started to make some ground on me.  i was riding scared but was running out of legs fast.  up out of the saddle and i managed a small burst of speed but couldn’t sustain anything.  the lights ahead were red and the traffic was still at a standstill by this time.  i stopped pedalling as we were running out of road just as the group sprint flashed past me.  as i was slowing for the lights and since ryan had to actually go around the traffic to stop hitting them, i will claim the sprint victory.  a well deserved win by the yellow jersey.

saturday 14th nov – ridgehill rd (fast group)

ride report by peter.

 

what a busy weekend.  after watching the crits on friday night at northbridge, it was a bit of a struggle to get to the start on time for saturday morning.  but then again, me running late would not be a new concept for any of the regular attendees.  the weather was generally fine, but slightly overcast with some menacing looking clouds hovering overhead.  it didn’t look like it would bring rain, but we would have to wait and see.

pretty good turn out for the morning and i would say that there would have been around 50 riders.  the predicted wind would normally see us return via mounts bay road, but with road closures due to the tour de perth, we headed east instead.  this meant that the return journey could be a lot harder that usual.

the group headed out along great eastern hwy and towards guilford.  i got a chance to catch up with gregor who had just got back from the usa.  lots to tell as i had been cyber-stalking him via facebook to see all the interesting places he had been mountain biking over there.  the main group split off at kalamunda road and would loop around avoiding ridgehill rd to return to guilford.  the fast group continued on a bit further before cutting across past rosehill golf course and onto helena valley road.  it was there that we pretty much came to a standstill for a good 5 minutes while we waited for some roadworks.  russell had warned us of the hardpack gravel but it was actually a pretty good surface and no worse than some of the sealed roads that we have been on.

once we got moving, the pace started to pick up a bit with judd on the front pushing along.  i was sitting at the back with ryan discussing what the tactics would be once we hit the hill.  the group was still quite large so we needed to get closer to the front before the hill started.  some of the boys started to wind up well before we turned onto ridgehill road and the group began to splinter a bit.  this made moving up a bit more difficult as you had to deal with not only the change in pace but also the riders that were now coming backwards towards you.

once we hit the roundabout, ryan was a lot closer to the front and managed to get around with some clear air.  by the time i started the climb there were still about 10 – 15 riders in front of me and they started spreading out as people settled into their climbing rhythm.  i had spent the first three days of the week up on site and didn’t manage to get out on the bike on the remaining two days either.  the last time i was on the bike was the golden spokes race the previous sunday.  my legs were either going to be fresh or stale and this climb would be the deciding fator.

i managed to find a gap and seemingly effortlessly came around the group and caught ryan.  i instantly came around him and put a gap into the field.  damn my legs felt good.  i continued to dance up the first of the three steps of the climb and made it to the first plateau with no worries.  ryan caught up with me and pushed on up the second step.  i sat on his wheel and followed his lead.  whoa.  those fresh legs suddenly didn’t feel so good.  suddenly i felt as though i had burnt all my matches and was sucking in air just to hold ryan’s wheel.  i made it up the second step on his wheel, but had to back off as i felt the bile rise and the hotness of reaching well into the red zone.  crap, crap, crap.  i eased off and tried to get my heart rate back down from the 190 bpm i had maxed out at.  the rest of the chase group was slowing pegging me back and soon i briefly had some company.  about six or so riders past me by the time we reached the crest and started the descent.

i had significantly recovered by now to begin chasing so that i didn’t get left behind.  there were a number of riders in the same boat and we had a decent size bunch by the time we reached kalamunda road.  ryan had managed to get across the intersection with a couple of other riders but by the time we hit roe hwy lights we managed to amalgamate into a decent group of around 12.

there were some roll throughs that i didn’t participate in as the group headed through high wycombe.  the pace was high enough to make just sitting in an effort for me now.  the stop start of the multiple intersections that we had to negotiate made keeping the group fluid quite hard.  we finally reached guilford and turned for home.

i was sitting on the back when we hit the main intersection in bassendean when the lights changed.  there was a bit of indecision at the lights, but the group kept it’s pace on and slipped through.  that is everyone except stu, schneider and myself.  while we were waiting we were joined by mike who is quite new to the group.

stu was not in the mood for chasing so fell off the back while the three of us did turns at the front.  the wind was not as bad as predicted so i was hoping like hell that the lights would slow down the front pack.  as we turned past bassendean station, we could just see the group ahead of us while they clicked in after being held up by the lights.  the combined firepower of around 10 riders meant that they stayed ahead of us and pulled away into the distance.

just at the tonkin hwy overpass, we managed to have them in sight again, but the lights didn’t play into our favour and they were off again.  we continued to roll through and got across the rolling hills of maylands but never saw the group again.  stu managed to catch us at the lights so we all continued onto the coffee shop.

apparently there was a disqualification in the final sprint as ryan managed to sneak through a intersection ahead of the group, so jarrad claimed line honours ahead of the rest of the field.

i was off home straight away as i was taking the kids to watch the tour de perth stage around kings park.  a bit of bad luck by brendan and steve meant that they had a harder time than they needed to in quite a relentless stage.  matty continued to fly the spr colours right to the end and gave us a focal point for the spr base camp that we set up halfway up the final climb.

the women’s race saw ruth corset breakaway early but all the spr regular girls hung with the main field right to the end.

saturday 7th nov – scarborough beach road (main group)

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ride report by peter.

 

with the golden spokes race on the sunday, i opted for an easier ride for the saturday morning (that’s easier, not necessarily easy).  my body is getting old and i can’t back things up anymore.  the route today would take in the city as well as osborne park before passing through scarborough beach.  a quick trip down west coast hwy and home through dalkeith as usual.  the fast group would split off just after osborne park and tackle ewen st which climbs up higher but parallel with scarborough beach road.  they would start to come along west coast hwy, but would spear off to the left and take in the boulevard and oceanic drive. 

back in the day, the scarborough beach ride would skirt around kings park before heading up over thomas rd and through leederville.  this was a 50km ride so to make this the main group ride the extra kms on the fast group would push it up to 56km.  this is pushing the distance a bit and means that the time starts to blow out.  to cut the kms down i re-routed the ride through the city and straight up to kings park road.  this is where the fun began.

there were about 50 people that turned up this morning but it did look a bit light on for numbers.  i worry about splitting the group if numbers are low but it always does look low until we get moving and then i’m glad we split.  it wasn’t the numbers that caused the problem today but the lights through the city.  last time we did this route i am sure we received a better run.  this time we pretty much got every single light.  even along scarborough beach road we seemed to get them all.  probably a good case for changing the ride route.

anyway, we finally hit the split point and the fast group headed up the hill.  i sat on the back of the main group and let russell get his troops organised.  this section contains a number of roiling hills so russell wanted to regroup once we hit west coast hwy.  i saw scott and darryl fall off the back but i was waved on so moved back onto the group.  i was content just to sit back and picked up a couple of stragglers to meet up at west coast hwy.

we waited for a bit, but it didn’t look like they were coming in a hurry so we pressed on.  down the hwy the group managed to get a roll through happening and it seemed to work quite well.  we now had the wind on our backs so the pace had picked up but there didn’t seem to be any one suffering.  on the small hills heading up to oceanic, the group seemed to split apart a bit as the stronger riders continued the pace to the top.  the lights allowed a regroup and we were soon off again.

along the way we picked up matty who was waiting on the side of the road.  the position he was in would mean that the fast group would go around him as they shot in the boulevard and out oceanic.  i waved for him to join us and he chased to catch up.   i was content to just sit on the back with the occasional roll through so just chatted to matty for a while.  the group strung out on the last hill before swanbourne but everyone was together by the time we turned past the shops.

the dalkeith stretch was uneventful, with a couple of surges that were brought back in.  the final sprint at the swan brewery was punctuated  by a number of last minute attacks but i was again content to sit back and watch.

straight home for me as i had an appointment to attend, so not sure what happened to the fast group.  i’m sure that someone can fill us in.

saturday 31st oct – leach vs south

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ride report by peter.

 

you know it doesn’t really look like that many people when we are all waiting around the car park, but once we get going, it is amazing how much room we take up on the road.  i estimated about 50 riders were out this morning and we even got split at the first set of lights leaving the car park.  the group was heading down canning hwy and we were to split just after north lake rd with the main group continuing on and the fast group taking burke drive.  the main group would pretty much reach freo before returning via leach hwy while the fast group would take the stock rd hill and then across to south street.  the map did actually say that we continue on to nicholson road but i got confused and told everyone at the start that we would turn at banister.  sorry my bad.

well before we got there, the group was split at pretty much half of every set of lights that we could hit.  there was a bit of catch up but we eventually got there.  as per last time, the split was going to cause havoc with the traffic.  with the group needing to take up both lanes for a very, very short amount of time, there was always going to be someone that was going to have to slow down for that 15 or so seconds.  sure enough, we got some abuse hurled at us as the cars sped past.

i would say it was close to a 30/20 spilt in favour of the fast group today.  i had noticed the wind had picked up a bit as we were riding along canning and i was wondering how that would affect the group.  inevitably, it had a dramatic affect on many a rider. 

the group seemed to meander a bit along burke drive with no-one really wanting to push the pace.  i was hanging off the back with declan discussing why he was with the fast group this morning.  “method to the madness” was his initial comment, but it turns out that he is training for the canberra ½ ironman which has quite a hilly bike leg, so he was wanting to do the stock rd hill too. 

well we hit the bottom of the hill and everyone took off like a rocket.  i used to do repeats of this hill as training, so i knew what to expect and set a steady pace for the first bit.  as we turned the corner and the hill continued, those that had burnt all their matches on the early slope, were slowly drifting back.  some of the fast boys managed to go hard on both the initial pinch and the rest of the climb so i didn’t make up more than half the field. 

i think the hill made the initial selection and some people never found their way back on by the time we crossed canning hwy.  along stock road there were a couple of small hills that made life tough for some riders and the wind made it hard to get back on.  by the time we turned onto south street, i think we may have lost a couple more.

there are many rolling hills along this section of south street and it is an opportunity for a strong rider to make an impact on the group.  steve has been slowly recovering from back surgery earlier on in the year and still feels that he is trying to find form.  well he took off on the first hill and the group reacted and started to splinter apart.  riders were falling off the back and those that had trouble on stock road were never going to catch up now.  i was wheel hopping from rider to rider trying to claw my way back to the front group.  once equilibrium set in, it was clear what the front of the ride now consisted of.  firstly there was steve fifty or more metres off the front.  then there was a group of about five or so riders containing ryan, brendan and others all swapping off turns trying to catch up.  trailing not far, but far enough to be hurting were a few others like judd, john and myself.  we were swapping turns ourselves trying to bridge the gap.  after us, there was a  lot of empty road and i had no idea where the rest of the group was.  later i found out that they got pretty much every traffic light along that stretch and were never going to bridge back even if we slowed down.

anyway, the front groups all smashed themselves for a good 5 kms before a set of lights at murdoch drv finally brought steve to a halt.  the rest of us caught up, but our group now numbered just ten and by the time the lights released us, there were still no others on the horizon. 

john commented that i really dug deep to help keep us in touch and i replied that my “spew-meter” was pretty much in the red.  he said that he was sure that there will be more opportunities to spew later.  the group took off the we started to roll through again and we picked up matty somewhere along this stretch.  with the wind coming across us, we rolled to the right and made it all the way to banister road with no incident.  the group started to change lanes to continue on but i called for them to turn left and we did banister instead.  it wasn’t until i looked at the garmin that it said “off course” that i realised the we were indeed, off course.  however, since i had said that we were doing banister from the start, it wasn’t so much off course, but a different course.

so with a slight tailwind, the pace picked up to well over 50km/hr and i opted to sit on the back rather than getting in the way at the front.  there were a couple of attacks and a sprint towards the end of banister but i wasn’t seeing much past judd’s bum in front of me and the sweat streaming down my glasses.

nicholson was pretty much the same and the group continued hard through cannington.  there were no attacks but the pace didn’t relent and i was glad that i was being a selfish passenger as i would have been out the back after a couple of roll throughs.  just as we came through east vic park ryan made a move just before the lights at the kent st intersection.  this is the usual launching pad as there is a slight ride after it.  unfortunately the lights changed and four of us were left on the wrong side of amber so watched the group sprint up the road.  we had them in sight at the narrows, but the lights conspired against us so we never came close enough to contest the sprint.

i wasn’t stopping for coffee as kate had some dental surgery yesterday so was not feeling 100%.  the rest of the fast group and the main group came in slowly after that, but everyone was pretty buggered.

track grand prix next saturday night, the golden spokes race on sunday with the tour de perth the following weekend so we are in for a couple of busy weekends.  make sure you pencil in sunday the 15th to come and support the club at the festival of cycling during the tour de perth.  we will post more info soon, but there will be lots of cycling related stuff going on at perry lakes reserve while the tour de perth race is going on.

saturday 24th oct – hale rd reverse

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ride report by peter.

 

so in the middle of the week the weather report said that it will be a brilliant saturday.  mid 20’s, moderate winds, all the good stuff.  i predicted that this would mean that we would have a good turn out so set the ride routes to split early to ease the road congestion.  as i stepped out the door this morning, the brilliant saturday was nowhere to be seen.  it was overcast, the wind was howling and someone said that there was rain on the radar.  i didn’t check the radar as it was supposed to be a nice day but it certainly looked like the clouds were bringing rain.

as was predicted, there was a good turn out with about 60 riders at the start.  i would say that there would have been a few more if the wind hadn’t picked up early and scared them away.  we set out to get to great eastern hwy and were instantly split at the first set of lights.  i am sure that we got pretty much every set of lights between the start and ascot but managed to keep the group together. 

the split went as well as it can with the fast group turning left and heading towards ascot and the main group continuing along great eastern.  i would say that there was almost a 50/50 split this morning as i guess that some people opted out of the fast group due to the wind.

the pace wasn’t high along garrett rd and we soon turned onto guilford.  the wind was coming from the right and into our face so the group started to roll through.  unfortunately, people are used to rolling through in one direction only and it was a bit much to get them to roll to the centre of the road.  it caused no end of confusion and this combined with the wind made things a bit hectic.  people were already starting to opt out of the roll through as the wind seemed to be getting stronger as we got closer to the hills. 

just through bassendean, there was a touch of wheels and josh went down.  we pulled up the group to make sure that he was ok.  it seemed superficial physical wounds so he was up an riding quickly.  however, it would take it’s toll later as the adrenaline wore off.

we grouped back up and passed through guilford and onto bushmead road.  the wind was hitting us in the face here and the group was pretty much single file with pretty much only the strong guys rotating at the front.  splits were starting to appear here and the group was getting strung out as there wasn’t many places to hide.

i moved to the front as we approached the roe hwy crossing to let the group know where the turn was as we haven’t been down midland rd before.  we had to wait for an oncoming car so this allowed much of the group to catch up.  the wind was howling off the escarpment and as midland rd runs parallel to it, we were caught in cross winds for this whole stretch.  this meant that there basically was nowhere to hide and i soon lost contact with the front group. 

i pushed on regardless and had jason on my wheel.  we caught brother dan and i think it was snuggles so the four of us stayed together till the end of the road.  the front boys were held up at the lights to turn onto hawtin rd so we managed to regroup with them, but there were lots behind us that didn’t. 

there was no real reprieve along here either, as we started moving parallel with the escarpment again so the crosswinds were just as bad.  i lost contact again but found a few wheels to jump behind briefly.  the front guys had managed a gap and there were a few of us trying to bridge it without success. 

after a turn at the front, i looked back to see that it was only jason and myself once again.  we put in a couple of big efforts and managed to catch back up to the group before we hit tonkin hwy.  just after the crossing, there was a loud expulsion of air and jerry slowed his bike.  there was a tentative slowing by the front guys before deciding to keep going as a few of us had stopped with him.

this was the second week in a row for jerry so it may be time for a new brand of tyre.  we moved over to a driveway as it was mostly dirt here and got off the road.  he went to take the tyre off but michael said to see where the hole was.  it wasn’t a hole.  there was a slash across the width of the tyre that even a $5 note wouldn’t save.  after a couple of attempts, he managed to get hold of his wife to come and pick him up so we left him so we can head home. 

the following groups had caught up by then and everyone had stopped so we had a decent group to get home.  josh had joined up with us after being quite a way off the back as he found out that the little stack earlier on had buckled his back wheel quite severely.  he managed to keep going by loosening off his brakes, but i am guessing the stack had not helped his body much either.

we formed up on welshpool rd and started to roll through.  the pace was not exceptionally high so we pretty much kept together.  dan rolled off the back but it wasn’t till we hit the lights that the others said that he got a flat but told everyone to keep going.  josh turned around to make sure he was ok.  it is probably worth noting that last week brother julian came out in a trisuit in which we found a lot of pleasure in taking the piss out of him.  i am pretty sure that brother dan joined in with it.  however, today dan turned up in his spr undershirt with his red bibs over the top.  from a distance it looked like a trisuit.  up close it looked like he was ready for world wrestling federation or the mardi gras (probably the same thing really).

we kept the pace on all the way to the finish and had a sprint for 15th place on riverside drive.  the rest of the group was already waiting at the coffeeshop and the brews came out quite well today. 

so a hell of a gusty day today and it really showed out who was strong and who was left wanting.  it is hard to hang on when you can’t hide but it is good to stretch you limits as it is only way you get better.

saturday 17th oct – benara rd

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ride report by peter.

 

the sun shines bright on spr
the sun shines bright on spr

just as predicted the sun was shining brightly at 7am this morning.  also as predicted there was a crowd waiting for me as i turned up late…again.  however, it was a pleasure not to have to put on three or four layers of clothing before leaving the house.  i quickly did a ride briefing and we headed out as i had already put us back a couple of minutes.  there would have been close to 70 riders as we stretched out for the length of the block before we turned onto mill point rd.  due to the expected big numbers i planned a course that would take us onto double lane roads until we split quite early.  this would hopefully calm any traffic issues.  unfortunately we had our first two on mill point road.  a guy coming the other way screamed abuse at us to get off the road.  a bit further up the road we saw the bikeforce crew on the edge of the road so maybe he got held up by them and wanted to vent at us.  then just before we turned onto canning a car tried to squeeze past us and got to within about three riders from the front before having second thoughts and slowing down.  the traffic islands were approaching fast so i motioned (in not a friendly manner) for them to get past.  i ended up on the footpath just to make sure they had enough room.

so we were finally away on great eastern hwy and had not trouble all the way to ascot.  there the group split and the main group headed towards guilford road while the fast group continued up the hwy.  at the entrance to tonkin hwy we had our next brain fade of a driver.  overtaking the group and then realising that they weren’t going to get around before they needed to turn left to get to the tonkin onramp.  we had to slow for the lights but they ended up pushing in and cutting the group in half to make their turn.  the rest of the trip up great eastern was pretty low key.

we turned towards guilford before spurring off to the right to cut past the golf course and onto helana valley road.  the group was still all together at this point but with the wind directly in our faces, it had started to string out a bit.  ryan was doing a good job of setting the pace with some other guys rolling through as well and it was starting to splinter a bit.  we then turned to run parallel with roe hwy and back through midland.  back on great eastern hwy meant that we had a nice breeze on our backs and were ticking along at 50km/hr.  a number of traffic lights slowed us a bit but the pace was so nice in between that everyone felt good.

a quick turn onto a guilford back road and we started to cut across to west swan road.  this is were we encountered the rudest old wanker that should never have been given a licence. 

the road was narrow here and the is practically no shoulder as the “traffic calming” islands cut in and out so frequently that you wouldn’t get a free run.  so anyway we are riding along and i am close to the front when i here this constant honking of a horn.  i look back and see this van right up the arse of the group and this old fart shouting abuse and honking his horn.  i slow down to drift to the back of the group and gesticulate a basic “where do you want us to ride”.  he starts shouting abuse saying the we should be riding single file.  i yell back that we are allowed to ride two abreast, he keeps yelling so i keep yelling all the way to west swan road where he is also turning right.  he revs the van hard to try to intimidate us as we are turning but the road here also has no decent shoulder, double lines, oncoming traffic and a bridge to stop him getting past.  the road finally widens out and he speeds past but makes sure he keeps honking abuse as he goes.  the funny think was he threatened that he has called the cops to let them know that we are not riding single file.  good luck with that since the traffic code says we can ride two abreast.  for the sake of the few minutes that we held him up i really hope he develops a very painful ulcer.  i really need to put my camera back on the bike.

so we head up west swan road the the group starts to split a bit as the cross wind makes it hard for some people.  we turn onto benara road before long so i don’t think we lost many. 

the pace was on straight away and the group soon split.  i put in a big effort to close a gap and managed to get on the wheel of the back of the front group, but the previous week of ignoring a cold has meant that i was really struggling.  i maxed out at 188bpm and suddenly couldn’t hold a wheel.  i watched as the group rolled away from me.

i was picked up by the next group back and sat on the back as best i could.  up ahead the group splintered again and at the lights the front boys got through while we caught the back of the split.  a slightly bigger group now meant that we could keep the pace high, but we pretty much got every traffic light and the heat was also taking it’s toll.  at almost the last traffic light the group was split by a red and as the first guys came to a stop brother dan went around them and through the red.  now this got a lot of discussion the other week as a number of riders did it.  i don’t particularly want to be scraping someone off the road or have to tell there partner/family that they were stupid.  so do we as a group enforce a penalty on riders that blatantly break the rules.  maybe a week suspension from riding with us.  i don’t know but add your feedback via the comments.  dan, add your feedback via half a page of the consequences of running a red light.

the trip back was pretty uneventful.  we tried to stick together through the suburbs and along whatley crescent.  at the end we were just happy to be finished.  i couldn’t stick around as we had some family stuff to do so i missed the coffee shop banter.

no idea what happened to the front end of the group or the main group so hopefully someone can fill us in there.

saturday 10th oct – risely and cott

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ride report by peter.

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

saturday 26th sept – hale rd

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ride report by peter.

 

with a sunny but cold morning predicted i was expecting a decent turn out for the ride this morning and was not disappointed.  there would have been between 50 – 60 riders which meant that we took up quite a lot of road length once we got going.

with the help of yas, michael and chris i managed to get my bike back on the road, but dr paul thinks that maybe i cannot be trusted with a baum any more.

we headed off in the direction of shepperton rd and snaked our way along to welshpool rd.  a very uneventful start but you could feel the wind increasing as we got closer to the escarpment.  i was hanging off the back of the group with mike just before we turned onto hale rd and helped a couple of struggling riders.  this was a big diversion from my game plan which was to sit in and do no work so i had something to get over ridgehill.  once we turned onto hale the crosswind made it very difficult to find any shelter and we were a fair way back from the pack.  mike waved me on indicating that he would take over shepherd duties and i tried to make my way back to the group. 

i was not sure what instructions had been shouted, but the group was approaching tonkin hwy which is where it would split.  some others had splintered off the back and i caught them before coming around to try to get them back to the group.  the crosswinds made that difficult and a few were dropped off.  i made it across to the back of the group just as the lights changed with alistar slipping in behind me. 

it looked like the split didn’t happen and the usual suspects were not driving the pace.  i spied a few of them sitting pretty in the main pack and conserving energy for the hill and long run home.  i was sitting in the last ten or so riders when a car split the pack at a round-about.  this made us chase for probably half (if not more) of hale rd further depleting my limited energy supplies.  between russell, shao and myself we managed to keep the pace up and just reached the group as the lights changed to cross kalamunda rd.  the main group turned left and apparently regrouped to allow those caught up in he crosswind catch back up.  the fast group headed towards ridgehill.

i knew that i should move forward before the hill or i would spend the rest of the ride chasing, but just didn’t have the legs for the effort.  the pack surged and swamped slower riders and i did manage to move up a bit, but could see a pack of about 10 strong crest the hill quite a way in front.  by the time i reached helena valley rd there was young ben, snuggles, dr mark and myself.  a group of about 4 were a bit further up the road and the main ten were further again (but in sight).  we worked together and caught the next group as well as some stragglers that fell from the front group.  with a bit of vocal motivation (read: yelling) we managed to get the group working well together doing 15 sec turns before peeling off.  the usual method of riding till you die (or being left at the front till you die) isn’t really sustainable.

by the time we reached guilford, the group was still just in front of us.  i was hoping for the lights to slow them, but unfortunately they caught us and let them get away.  by the time we stopped at bassendean the group behind had caught up giving us more numbers to spread the load.  unfortunately this didn’t happen and the roll through was less than effective.  people were either hurting or unwilling to keep the roll through happening so it would die after only 5 or 6 riders came past. 

some more motivational yelling and we got it working a bit better through the rolling hills of bayswater and into mt lawley.  we managed to get every single light which was the most frustrating bit.  probably a bit too frustrating for a couple of riders that ran the red near mercy hospital.  it was very red and most of us in front had stopped so no excuse.  maybe a 1 week suspension from the tribunal would be on the cards…

the group rolled on towards east perth but there was no way that we would reach the front group.  there was a sprint for the minor placings but i had run out of legs by then.  service was a bit slow with such a big group and i had to scull my hot chocolate to make it home before i got into trouble.  all up though a good ride and i do enjoy the chase home especially with a tailwind.

saturday 19th sept – spring breakfast

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ride and breakfast report by peter.

 

spring breakfast was on today and as is always the case, rain was predicted.  i think that the easiest way to break any drought is to schedule a club breakfast every weekend as there has only been 1 out of 6 that was relatively dry.  a different venue was on the agenda with mark opening up his house in booragoon with the opportunity for us to christen his new patio.  as such a different course was planned to finish up at the new address.

the normal round the river ride was on the agenda and would take in dalkeith and mosman park before hitting attadale and applecross.  from there we would cut across to risely ave and up past garden city to marks house.

there were 40 rsvp’s to the breakfast so i knew that we would get a decent turn out and wasn’t disappointed.  there would have been over 50 riders at the start with some a little wetter than others after being caught in the last minute downpour.  the idea was to be a very sedate pace today with a couple of fast points to test the legs.  the novice group were also set on their course and i gave them a little laminated map to help find their way to the breakfast location.

as we wound our way along mounts bay road, a couple of other groups past us by as we were taking things that easy.  some of the guys really had to curb their enthusiasm as cyclist in general really don’t like to be past.  nice and steady pace though, and there were only a couple of stragglers coming up from crawley but we managed a shortcut.

out onto stirling hwy and there was a little confusion in which road to take to cut back in towards mosman park.  the group started to take the 2nd road when it is the 3rd one we need.  a little evasive action bought those boys back on the right road.

we made it down the normally fast, speed-humped road in damp conditions to eventually be greeted by the mosman park hill.  lisa had in her training program to do some intervals and had already gone off the front earlier along mounts bay but went again on the hill.  with the time trial the next day, i was not going to be stressing the legs any more than i needed to so i slowly meandered my way up to the top.  there was a regroup point at the water tower at the top of the hill and we found the group waiting patiently. 

once we made our way through freo and onto preston point road, the group started to break up a bit.  as it is familiar territory for most of the group, the pace seems to step up slightly so there were a few people struggling at the back.  by the time we hit burke drive there must have been at least three groups spread along the road.  i ended up doing a bit too much work to try to get the back-markers up to the next group but eventually caught them when we found them waiting at canning hwy.

the last stretch through applecross allowed a few people to turn off as they were not going to stay for the breakfast.  the rest of the group headed up risely to marks house.

lorriane, kate and joan (mark’s wife) had done a great job and everything was all good to go once the group arrived.  the novice group had found their way in and by the time i got in there, it was in full swing.  the patio was well sheltered and had the added bonus of not having to worry about dropping brownie crumbs on the floor (they are every sort of evil).  hot food was continually brought out and i am sure that everyone had their fill.

we dug up some prizes and besides the couple of pbk gifts there was also stuff donated by cycling wa, carboshotz, yas’ bikeclinic and some stuff from brendan’s trip to the grafton-inverall race.  with the kids helping draw, read and distribute the prizes we managed to give all the stuff away, so congratulations to you but there was so much stuff i forget who got what.

a big thanks to mark and joan for providing the house and a big thanks to lorriane for providing the wonderful food.

so another breakfast done and dusted and the next one will be the christmas breakfast close to…well, christmas.  for those that came along for their first breakfast, i hope you got something out of it and at the least a welcome to our group.  for everyone else, thank you for making the group what it is.

saturday 12th sept – scarborough beach road

ride report by peter.

 

the weather has turned nasty again with lots of rain and lots of wind during the week.  it was forecast to be similar this morning and there was lots of rain overnight.  fortunately it eased off to give us a relatively dry start to the morning.  the wind, however, didn’t seem to ease off and looked to be a factor today.

it was going to be a new look at an old route as we headed to scarborough beach road.  we headed through the centre of town for a change, as it took off about 6kms from the original route that went around kings park.  we managed to get a number of traffic lights, but as we were only on cruise mode, it was just a minor irritation.  the lights and the small climb up to kings park spread the field a significant amount but we managed to be all back together to turn onto thomas. 

a pretty uneventful trip up loftus and onto scarborough beach road with james and ben setting the pace.  the westerly winds were gusting between 30 and 40 km/hr and we were heading straight into them. at least we would get a good push home.

just before the rolling hills started, we split the pack with the fast group turning onto ewen st while the main group continued along.  i discovered the ewen st hill when i had to go to lisa’s house for a committee meeting.  even though it was a while ago, i have been trying to get it onto the saturday ride and today would be the chance. 

we started the hill and their were no attacks as a don’t think anyone knew what to expect.  i came around and hit the front but didn’t last very long before i was at my max.  the hill pitches up a final time towards the end and everyone started coming around me once we hit that.  people were starting to stretch their legs, but there was a full on race to the top between davina and jarrad where neither looked like they would yield.  i was just on damage control mode and limped over the top.

we came down the other side and onto west coast hwy.  we didn’t stay that long on it before we turned up the boulevard.  the hill was made significantly easier with the strong wind on our backs and soon we had turned back onto oceanic.  this little detour was to add kms to the fast route as well as add a couple more climbs.  it would also give the main group a chance to get ahead of us.

back onto west coast hwy and the pace really started to pick up.  we were soon running single file as a combination of the pace, the traffic and the wind made things more difficult.

we picked off a couple of main group riders that had been dropped earlier and soon we were heading through swanborne.  we had lost a few from our group and they were chasing to get back on.  as we approached the lights at stirling, we found the main group waiting for a lights change.  when they did, they hardly stayed green and their group became split with us further behind a bit of traffic.  this allowed quite a number of our group a chance to catch up while the main group waited over the road for the rest of their riders at the lights. 

at the change, we came past the main group and suddenly the hammer was down.  i had to work hard to bridge across as i was held up coming around the main group, but finally made it before the group got too far away.  i was content to sit in now as the group sped through dalkeith and over the rolling hills. 

the pace didn’t seem to diminish and i found myself  slightly off the back again with paul o.  we finally made it back just as the lights changed to get onto mounts bay road.  no rest for the weary and we quickly jumped on the back of the group.  from then it was just a matter of hanging on to the end and i was too far back to see who picked up the sprint.

coffee was quite quick this morning and i actually got the chance to have one after a number of saturday morning appointments.  jerry was at the coffee shop after skipping the ride to keep his legs fresh for tomorrows atta time trial.  his first attempt and a chance to air the new bike.  however, he is starting just 1min in front of the guy that usually wins the events.  calculations have it that he will be caught by the first lap.  good luck jerry.

the spring breakfast is next saturday and the state team time trial championships are on the sunday.  looks like we will have a good turn out for both.  don’t forget to rsvp to lisa so we know how many to cater for the breakfast.