Tag Archives: shelley

saturday 17th december – shelley

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ride report by peter

(i’ll admit i spent way too long on this and it got a bit loose towards the end.  just as long as mr bonner doesn’t try to correct me and give me a mark towards my year 12.)

 

THE RIDER FROM SPR

 

there was movement at the jetty, for the word had passed around

that the colt from cannondale would be away,

gone south to see the season, he was not here for the sprint,

so all the bikes had gathered to the fray.

all the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far

had mustered from their homesteads overnight,

for the rouleurs love hard riding where the wild sprinters play,

and the bikes stripped down to make them extra light.

 

there was brendan back from kalgoorlie, home for the christmas day,

hard as nails who cannot ride it slow,

few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up

and he would ride wherever bike and man could go.

and jerry of the city beach came down to lend a hand,

no better rider ever held the reins,

for never bike could throw him while riding on the road,

he is handy in the hills or on the plains.

 

chris was up from hilton way, he’d made the weary trip,

the old steed out, despite the sunny day.

and james, although his pocket size, is handy in a sprint,

dressed all in black to show that he’s not gay.

christophe, who hails from distant lands, where riding is not flat,

was primed to give the group a red hot go.

hamish, from another pack, was basking in the sun,

when he’s in front it never will be slow.

 

the summer sun had bought the crowds and fillies out to play,

eight fronted up today to taste some pain.

lorriane was training hard and fast to show she’s at the top,

the girls from fleet elite were proved again.

to start the ride there were about, forty riders on their mounts,

we headed south to booragoon with ease.

once we hit the shelley shores the pace went up a notch,

with riders off the front each time to tease.

 

dressed in yellow ‘twas plain to see, i followed an attack,

there was a bang, my faithful steed went lame.

i thought that she had thrown a shoe so dangerous at this speed,

not so, but a mechanical just the same.

the sprint now over, the pack regrouped,

the next one called us on.

once we hit bannister road the pace it was quite high,

the fast boys to the front, their muscles called upon.

 

the cruise towards yon cannington was easy on the legs,

it gave us time to chat.

for after the excess of christmas day,

it stops us all from getting fat.

christophe, he did the bolt once the lights were green,

we let him get ahead.

some did make way to chase him down,

we cruised along instead.

 

it seems we gave the man from france, way to much room to move,

it looked like he had finally got away.

no matter what we threw at him or who was on the front,

the gap was there and he would make us pay.

the ride was done, the bikes all parked,

we rested weary legs.

the coffee’s came, short black, latte,

who ordered breakfast eggs?

saturday 30th august – shelley

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ride report by peter

i really don’t know where the year has gone. it’s the end of winter tomorrow and we spring into spring again. besides the cold starts, we can’t really even complain about the weather. it has been excellent from a cycling point of view with one of the driest august’s on record. but i guess there are repercussions and water restrictions will be one of them. even with nick’s sparkling new desal plant ticking along, we will still be up against it.

so, anyway, it was a cold start but just over 30 managed to brave the conditions and meet for a ride this morning. we were headed for a sprint-fest today so there was a good chance that we wouldn’t stay cold for long. after a short hop down canning hwy to riseley, we would come back along leach hwy to have a crack at one of perth’s special sprint grounds, shelley. after this we would head down to south st and sprint back along banister rd before home via albany hwy and a sprint along shep rd. if you had a crack at all three, then you deserved your coffee today.

we started out fine and caught a couple of sets of lights as per usual, which split the group. it was pretty low key and so the slower pace did not seem to worry many. heading up riseley, brett made a surge to the front as he said it felt like they were about to step off at the back. i was happy for him to do a turn so i slinked back to the midpack. it was all pretty cruisey along leach hwy and just as we came to the road from mt pleasant, we happened across the bikeforce group. we actually split the pack as some of them turned just before we got there, while the others had to wait for us to go by. well it gave us some rabbits to chase anyway.

as we turned onto the shelley course, i was at the front with ben and we were waiting to see who would make the first move. it took a while, but eventually christophe took off. ben waited a bit then decided to chase him. it was pretty much all on by then. there were continuous attacks and chases and the group was clicking along at a fair pace for the entire length of shelley. about halfway along, i took off, but was chased down almost straight away by christophe and the rest of the group. it did have the desired effect and started to stretch the group a bit. can’t have it easy all the time.

i was pretty much spent by now and just sat in the group till the end. i was not impressed with the heavy feeling in my thighs and was wondering where my form had taken off to. i put it down to the cold morning. yeah, that was it. cold, not unfit.

we regrouped at the end of the road and i doubled back a bit to see if lisa was still coming. we waited a while before deciding to keep moving before we cooled down too much. a slightly convoluted trip through the suburb of parkwood (who knew it existed, i’d never heard of it before) found us out on vahland ave and heading towards south st. we didn’t hang around on south street for very long as we turned onto banister almost straight away. this was the beginning of our second fast section, but no-one was keen to start the ball rolling. eventually jens and one of the barista boys turned the pace on, but did not attack so we all just hoped on board and made them do all the work. as we came to the lights at willeri drv, the group came back together for a brief moment as we were slightly held up. once the lights changed, it was all on and pretty much everyone threw an attack in to try to stay away. i made a move then james and christophe came around me. next thing we know, mike has taken off up the road. by then there were quite a few people in front of me so i have to fight hard to come around to the front with rob in tow. we manage to break free of the bunch and rob shows off his new time-trial bike by putting in a big pursuit to catch mike. i was fading fast by the time ryan came bursting out of the pack with a string of riders trailing behind and overtaking me. i managed to hold on to a few wheels to get me to the end.

as we turned onto nicholson, the aim was to slow right down to allow a regroup. i wanted us all together by the time we hit albany hwy as the trip past carousel shopping centre is always a busy one. the group did slow, but it also lane sliced along side some cars waiting at the lights. this is a no, no and the boys deserve a major spanking for that. the group is too big so we need to hold our position in the lane and not piss off the cars more than necessary.

quite an uneventful trip along albany hwy which is the best kind in my books, but soon we were on shepperton rd and the final sprint section. everyone was nervously looking around waiting for the first attack to go. i was content to sit in for a while as you really needed a small rise to launch on or it is too easy for the group to react. we approached the set of lights just before the rolling hills and it is usually my cue to attack. however, i was beaten to the punch this time by ryan with barista boy hamish in tow.

i jumped out of the bunch with jerry in tow and caught and past ryan. we had to keep the momentum going if we were to stay away. ryan eventually came past me an graciously didn’t smash my legs off on the next rise, but looked back to make sure i still had his wheel. you have to be pretty lucky to pull off a move on shep rd as the lights just before the causeway will pretty much always catch you out. no luck this time and the four of us were caught at the lights.

with ryan pulling his standard trick of not clipping in properly so he is not at the front leading into the sprint, it was left to me and james to take the pack across the bridges and onto riverside drive. i said to him, don’t go too hard so that we can react to any moves that go off the front. as usual, someone went way too early and the group all reacted. i managed to grab a wheel or two to stay in the hunt, but when the pace really started, i had no legs to respond. i sat up and rolled into the coffee shop while ryan took the sprint ahead of dr jerry… again.

saturday 29th mar – shelley

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UPDATED BELOW

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

UPDATED RIDE CONCLUSION

the finale by chris

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

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

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

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