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sunday 4th jan – carradine & peet & observatory

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ride report by peter.

 

hark the herald angels sing i got permission to go on a sunday ride.  with number 2 not even 3 weeks old, i was on the bike with mum at home with the boys.  to paraphrase off some old poem – ‘ask not the reason why’.  just get on the bike and go go go.

so off to the start and there was already a group of familiar and non-familiar faces ready to go.  a lot of surprised looks when i turned up, especially after riding yesterday too, but i think mark was glad that he didn’t have to blog this week.  we were off to mt nasura and roleystone today with the return trip via the observatory.  being the first weekend of january, the slate was clean as far as mountain points was concerned and with five climbs scheduled today, there were maximum points available.

between 20 – 25 riders were out with us today and the gentle breeze made it interesting, but not unpleasant as we made our way down albany hwy.  we picked up a couple more along the way with mike and nev joining in enroute.  as we crossed brookton hwy, however, nev peeled off to do his own thing, while the rest of us climbed up towards carawatha. 

ronny was off the front early trying to get a break, but ryan was having none of it and must have been looking to recover the polka dot jersey that he has neglected for a couple of months.  i chased hard to get his wheel as i thought that i may be able to hold on if i get far enough ahead on the shallower part of the climb.  once the road really kicked up, ryan showed a clean pair of heels and i was left to see how much fitness i have lost.  ronny came past me and was pushing hard on the very heavy borrowed bike to stay ahead of the pack.  pretty soon ben, gregor and stu also picked me up and maybe even a couple of others.  by then it didn’t matter as we were all out of the points.

ryan – 10, ronny – 7, ben – 5, gregor – 3, stu – 1.

 

a quick regroup and we headed down the hill and onto the next climb of carradine.  nowhere near as steep but much longer and with a road surface that could only be described as crap, this is one of my favourite climbs.  i think that it is because the gradient allows most people a chance to stay on, so you have to do a bunch of attacks to get away or to break some people off.  a new rider (to me anyway) andrew, who is a friend of gregor, headed out to set the pace early.  the rest of the group lined up behind as we tackled the early slopes of the climb.  john came to the front as well and paced it with andrew, but no real attacks as yet.  once the road turned rough, it was more a matter of finding the right line, and people hunted for that elusive smooth patch.  i looked back and saw that the majority of the group was still together so i thought i should shake things up a bit.  a bit of an attack with ryan in tow and we had a gap on the field.  i stayed on the front for a while but ryan eventually came around as my resolve was beginning to fade. 

ben and stu bridged across and i had to let them go but attempted to keep them in sight for as long as possible.  dan then jumped across and sprinted to catch the other three.  i just marked time, pedaling a tempo that i knew that i could maintain till the end.  andrew and, i think, john caught up with me and i sat on the back for a while as the road flattened then pitched up again.  knowing the roads has an advantage and i could judge my final effort to the end.  on the second last kick, i came around the guys and put myself in no-mans land in fifth place which i managed to hold on to the end.

ryan – 10, ben – 7, dan – 5, stu – 3, peter – 1.

 

a regroup at the top and chance to drip sweat all over the road as the weather was certainly heating up.  as mentioned in previous posts, the waiting time has reduced significantly as the group has improved so much in the hills.  however, while we were stuffing around, lisa, lorraine and ronny decided to take off to get a head start on the rest of the group.  we slowly pulled out and were quite spread along the road as we headed along canns road.  now the trick to getting a headstart is to actually know where you are going.  by the time i reached the turn to soldiers rd, half the group had gone straight.  some of them were sitting up as they realised that they maybe should have turned.  i turned as did the others behind me and we laughed at the rest with poor navigational skills.  as the group got back together, i slowed down to see if we had missed anyone.  lisa, lorraine and ronny were notably absent and i wondered whether they had planned to go a different route and had taken off early because of it.  oh well, not going to head back to chase them down now, so we pressed on.  the descent along soldiers rd was as usual a pleasure and again, knowing the roads meant that i could take some of the corners a bit faster and over take half the field.  at the regroup it seems that judd had lost a bottle from his arse-cage behind the seat on one of the rougher corners.  another spr collectors bottle loose in the wide world.  while we were stopped, the phone rang and it was lorriane.  it seems that they realised that they had gone the wrong way when they almost ended up back at the base of the last climb.  giving a few directions, we said that we would meet them later at the coffee shop if not before.

the climb up peet rd was going to be a new experience for a couple of our latest additions so i tried to explain how easy it was going to be.  i don’t think they believed me.  judd and another dan took the early mark and headed down brookton hwy and off home, while the rest of us jumped across to peet rd.  a bit of traffic split the group and this gave ryan a bit of an advantage as the hill starts almost instantaneously.  in my current condition, i knew that there was no way i would be able to catch him on the climb let alone stay with him, so i set tempo and did the hill at my pace.  i just ground my way up the steeper sections and just tried to make sure i didn’t lose much ground to mike and dan who were up ahead.

as the road finally eased off a bit i kept the effort the same and managed to catch those two just before the downhill.  not wanting to lose my momentum, i went straight around and kept the effort going down towards the corner.  once the road pitched up again slightly, dan attacked and i had nothing to go with him.  mike came around and jumped on his wheel but i just had to watch them go.  up ahead, i could see ryan had a clear gap over ben and stu, but it looked like it would come down to a sprint for second.  i counted back to see that i was outside the points and realised that i had no legs to make up the ground that i had lost so resigned myself to just finishing.  a couple of guys came past on the final pinch up to roleystone highschool, but by then i didn’t care.  it seems that ben and mike got the better of their respective climbing buddies to take out the minor places.

ryan – 10, ben – 7, stu – 5, mike – 3, dan – 1.

 

we cruised along to the karagullen servo for a refill and to see if lorraine et al would be turning up.  after waiting a while and allowing time for refill, refuel and re re re, well taking a leak, we headed off to the observatory.  a nice pace was set and it allowed a reprieve as there were two climbs remaining.  we used to smash it along this stretch of road, but since there are no points set on the small climbs, everyone pretty much takes it easy.  i was suffering big time once we hit the rolling hills and dropped right back so that i was actually last to arrive. 

at the regroup simon turned off and headed straight for coffee.  the rest of us headed into pickering brook and to the base of the observatory climb.  i moved to the mid pack to make sure i didn’t get dropped straight away, but the effort of even doing that clean my legs of any real challenge.  the pace wasn’t even on and i couldn’t keep up.  i started to set tempo but had a look around and saw todd one of the new guys so i dropped back to have a chat with him.  it seems todd is a friend of tim (pronounced “tum”) who is a friend of alistar the ex-sandshoe riding young fella.  it’s good to see the “invite a friend” system works and whatever is being said about our group means that people are wanting to come and ride with us.  anyway, up ahead ryan had his own way again.

ryan – 10, stu – 7, ben – 5, andrew – 3, dan – 1.

 

final regroup and everyone was keen to hit the coffeeshop.  a quick descent allowed me to discover that my new chain and old cluster were not meshing too well at the high end of town.  a problem i will have to rectify before my next ride…whenever that will be.  straight up lawnbrook and straight away my legs didn’t want to play.  the big boys took off and i was left to ponder my own mortality.  not pondering for too long as the cramps in my left quad kind of took my mind to other matters.  i was already in the easiest gear and was seated, and was spinning as fast as i could (up that hill is pretty slow spinning).  next plan was to start using my right leg to pull up (use the hamstring instead) and then compensate by pulling up with my left on the other side of the spin.  this is kind of like the “pat your head and rub your stomach” thing.  it can be done, but you really need to concentrate.  anyway, it got me up the climb and onto the flatish section for the final run.  not last this time but not far off. 

ryan – 10, ben – 7, stu – 5, dan – 3, andrew – 1.

 

off to the coffee shop for a well deserved rest only to discover how late we were meant how busy it was.  by the time i got it all together, the line was out the door so i followed ronny’s example and went next door for an ice-cream.  simon was still there and the group had seen lorraine’s group go past as they were waiting at the end of the last climb.  tum’s group had peeled off after the last climb and mike had headed home.  a previous winner of the prestigious spr mountain jersey, mike was suffering from a bit of a heart condition today and had it “flutter” a few times at up to 236bpm.  he generally has to take it easy for a bit to calm it down.  however, it didn’t stop him from kicking my arse on peet road. 

coffee eventually came along with many a jug of water to account for the hot and getting hotter day.  service was slow as they were so busy so we were late leaving kalamunda.  this combined with a plus 100km ride with 5 climbs meant that i was going to be pretty close to the end of my leave pass by the time i got home.  the descent down lesmurdie rd was punctuated by that little climb about half way down that found me off the back of the group.  my legs had not ridden this far in over a month and i was really, really suffering.  it would be damage control all the way home.

i managed to catch up some of them at the welshpool rd intersection and then got into a nice enough tuck to overtake a few more bombing down the hill at plus 80kph.  however, the usual time trial along the flat was absent from my quiver and i just hung on as best i could.

a nice pace was set towards home and only ryan went for the sprint to the maccas at the end of welshpool, so i guess he is a winner then.  my leave pass expired with a phone call along berwick st and i peeled off to get home asap so missed the final sprint action.  my money was still on ryan though.

so the first hills ride for 2009 and ryan picked up all the major points.  lorraine’s crew managed to find judd’s drink bottle and retrieved it for him so it didn’t end up like john’s, ronny’s and bill’s squashed on the road somewhere.  i was glad to get out, but so disappointed in how much form i had lost.  i guess that is the sacrifice we make, but i hope to get out again soon.

sunday 28th december – mundaring & kalamunda

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ride report by mark

Roses are red, violets are blue

Some ride reports rhyme, but this one doesn’t

(Great report for Saturday Pete!)

john - new bike syndrome
john – new bike syndrome

OK, so it’s the first ride since Christmas, and I’ve just been away with the family for a week. We stayed in a wonderful guest house on a farm near Peaceful Bay; about 15 min from Walpole. We relaxed plenty, ate well, and exercised little. I even caught some fish after taking classes from Jimmy John Shark, but none that rivalled the one I pulled up on the rig off Vietnam. There were no bicycles; capice?

We got back on Saturday, and I was determined to ride on Sunday, so brushed off the cobwebs and prepared the bike Saturday night.

No problem waking up at 6am, as I’d gone fishing with the kids most mornings, so my body was in early start mode. The weather looked good and I cruised alongside the canning and Swan rivers to the start looking forward to the ride. I checked the blog map before leaving, and was a little concerned about the distance, but what the hell, I was well rested. (Never underestimate the power of rest, I say)

I was amazed at the turnout – around 30 people as we left, with a couple more joining on the way. Lots of new faces which was great to see, and a good turnout from the ladies too.

As Pete was on family duty I did the quick summary of the upcoming journey.

Michael W and I led the group out, and stayed there till Tonkin Hwy; I was determined to do some work after winning the wheel sucker award last Saturday at the SPR breakfast.

Once we got to Welshpool the trouble started. I knew I would not be chasing points, even without Ryan, Pete or Jerry in the group, but got a sharp reality reminder as I struggled to make the top ten on most of the hills.

I think the truth is that whilst I may be off form from too much travelling and not enough training, the group has got a lot stronger. I’m always amazed at how much longer the bunch stays together on the climbs, and the regroup rests at the top are becoming disturbingly short sometimes.

I dropped back and rode at my own pace, and caught a couple on the way. Michael W had gone with the front group, but then dropped back, and pulled me along the bumps from the servo to the end of Welshpool Rd.

I believe the order in front was:

Nico, Carlo, Blake, Michael B, Steve

Riding conditions were still perfect at this stage – a gentle breeze to cool you when we stopped, and crisp clear fresh air to flush out the lungs. I think a few went left and straight to the coffee shop.

the fearless leader - fearlessly leading
the fearless leader – fearlessly leading

We regrouped and did the left-right dogleg over the hill to Glenisla Rd, and then coasted through Bickley Valley to the next dog-leg which carries us to the foot of my favourite climb – Mundaring Weir Road.

I had to wrestle the coffee demons and force my bike to turn right and not left. That hill still haunts me from the Tour de Perth support ride that Jerry and I did on our own, after the group started early without us. I took it fairly easy and even the front guys seemed to start at a reasonable pace. Michael B came flying past me and I sensed some anger management in his cadence. That was the last I saw of him for a while

John B and I rode together most of the way up there, till we found the hard cores draped over their handlebars waiting for us. They panted out names with some lack of certainty when I asked for the finishing order.

I wrote down the following:

Blake, Nico, Steve, Carlo, Michael B

the boys take on a truck
the boys take on a truck

The next section of flattish road was done with more haste that necessary I thought, but then I was still in holiday mode. The bunch split up, and a couple of the girls were left in the chase group.

I chased to catch up on the fast descent into Mundaring Weir, and just caught the front guys at the river crossing. Alas it was not enough to keep me in front by the time we got to the roundabout at the top of the first climb out. I signalled for the guys in front to carry on, while I did a few circles to make sure all were still there, and knew where to go. Unfortunately the last few decided to do a U-turn and head back, and that left yours truly to then go and chase the group on his own. Mmm… not quite what I had planned for my reunion with the bike. And what’s worse I’d just taken off the tri-bars that I bought from Pete – so I couldn’t even “assume the position”.  I started picking them up after a few km, and by the time we hit the flat before the next section there were enough of us to take turns and save some energy for the last hill of the day.

The finishing order at the top was:

Michael B, Brendan, Steve, Blake, Stuart G

We regrouped at the next roundabout, and I counted 24 riders. Excellent for that stage of the ride I thought. Some of us filled up bottles at an outside tap of a nearby house, and others were late to wish they’d done the same. The temperature was creeping up by this stage; but still pleasant riding conditions. The next section was the bit I can never remember street names for, but it always looks vaguely familiar. We did the very steep descent with the sharp right hander halfway down.

The ride to Kalamunda road was not the normal one that I’m used to; but we got there and the guys in front seemed to know where they were going. A couple of the new guys asked if it was flat from there to the coffee shop, and I had to break the news that there was a small incline to negotiate before the luxury of a latté could be savoured.

The hill was just what I was expecting – one too many. I started off tired, but with a rhythm that I thought may carry me to the top. I was wrong. I cracked ¾ of the way up, and limped to the top, fuelled only by the prospect of my much-missed long black coffee, and ham & cheese croissant.

Up front the order was

Michael B, Brendan, Steve, Blake, Stuart G

Paris Brest café seemed to struggle with the 18 of us arriving en masse; there were already a couple of other cycling groups there. The queue was long progressed slowly, but they did their best, and the coffee was great. Peter and Ben popped in as we were leaving; Pete’s eyes told a story of a young baby who had not had a good night. Hang in there Peter; they all sleep eventually.

After a healthy rest, we ambled back towards Welshpool road, only to be interrupted by the sound of Dr Mark’s wheel deflating way too quickly.

The change took longer than it should (where is Simon when you need him) but it gave us time to discuss the merits of bombs vs pumps, and the new technology in integrated tyre liners.

We flew down Welshpool Rd, and I only just caught John B in front at the bottom, who sat on my wheel, and then flew past to take the flag at the first set of lights.

We kept a respectable pace back along Orrong Road, with a few of us sharing the workload.

I said my usual farewell as the group turned right onto Berwick, so I can’t relate details of the final sprint to MacDonald’s. I’m sure someone will fill us in on that.

I finished up with about 120km, and the encouraging thing was that I felt fine for the rest of the day.

It was my last SPR group ride for 2008, and a fitting finale. Thanks to everyone who made 2008 a great cycling year for us, especially Peter.

sunday 30th november – soldiers rd and canning mills

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ride report by peter.

 

after a successful outing on the bike yesterday, i decided to have a run at the hills to really test out how bad this cold has affected me.  dr ronny’s big brother kenny was in town from over east and ronny wanted to make sure we took him out to see some hills.  there were a number of our current routes we could have followed to show him the hillier parts of perth, but instead i mapped out a new one that meant that we had to go exploring.  this is always dangerous as sometimes google maps does not exactly match the real world.  i tried to add in a number of climbs that we generally have only done as descents.  solidiers rd being the main one as this is one of the best mid-ride descents that we do when we head out to ride around rolystone. 

about 20 or so riders toed the line this morning and dr paul and mark kicked things off with a couple of jokes.  if you have every shared a table at the coffee shop with dr paul, you know that this can be a very dangerous thing.  but always very funny.  we headed out to albany hwy for a pleasant and uneventful trip to the base of the kahuna.  we were not headed up the kahuna, but this was the back way into kelmscott and kept us off the main roads.

we then headed towards the base of canning mills rd which loomed large above us.  i was saving this for later so we turned off just before the climb started.  a slight detour and u-turn and we were soon on brookton hwy and going up our first categorised climb.  this was a short section of brookton and was only to get us to the start of soldiers rd.  it was only a cat 2 climb as the grade was not steep and the distance short.

stu set the pace from the start and i sat on his wheel.  a couple of looks over the shoulder and the group was still pretty much together.  it was going to come down to a sprint and when we saw the turn off, stu, kenny and i wound it up.  it was a short sprint and then we had to negotiate a right hand turn to get into soldiers rd.  i will be changing parts of this route soon.

stu – 5, peter – 3, kenny – 1.

 

i cannot remember the climb up soldiers rd.  we have done it before, but it was probably well over a year ago, if not longer.  i can remember coming down it so many times, but the grades and distances are deceptive when you are descending.  we took off with mark and john leading the charge.  it starts with a quick descent followed by a sharp uphill before leveling out for a bit.  by the time we hit the main part of the climb, a group of 5 had established themselves at the front.  stu was on the charge again with brendan marking him close by.  kenny was climbing alongside and seemed to be doing it easily while jerry and i sat at the back hanging on as best we could. 

the lower slopes with the nice hotmix surface were not too steep and no-one could really get away easy.  as the road wound its way past churchman’s brook dam, it steepened up somewhat and the corners made it hard to know what was coming next.  the corner where scott came off ages ago was actually quite steep when tackled form this direction and this is where brendan made a move.  he said later that he had a look at stu’s heartrate monitor and thought that he was almost at max, so to hit him now.  kenny easily went with him and i had to chase to try to get on. 

i didn’t quite make it but kept the pace on as best i could to stay ahead of stu and maximize points.  i was losing ground to brendan and kenny who were engrossed in their own tussle with little attacks on each other to see who would crack first.  stu made up a bit of ground a couple of times, but i was constantly looking over my shoulder to see where he was and make sure he didn’t creep up on me.  on the last few pinches of the climb, brendan managed to shake off kenny and had a nice gap at the top.  a flattish section to the line provided a nice run for me to time trial up to kenny and pass him within about 50m of the finishline.  sorry, but i needed the points.  stu dropped jerry but he managed to hold on to fifth place.

brendan – 10, peter – 7, kenny – 5, stu – 3, jerry – 1.

 

we regrouped and headed down canns rd another road we usually do the other direction and this time it made a nice change.  at the bottom we turned into carawatha but the other side from which we usually tackle.  the descent is always fast so i expected that the climb would be hard and it was…a bit.  it wasn’t as hard as the f_ckenberg and it certainly wasn’t easy, but overall it was a bit short to really cause any damage.  everyone is usually panting when we come up the other side, but this side didn’t seem as brutal.  kenny had shot up the hill like a rocket and brendan took off after him.  it was a bit too steep for me and stu and jerry also left me behind.  as it was not that long, there was no time to make up any ground and that is the finishing order.

kenny – 10, brendan – 7, stu – 5, jerry – 3, peter – 1.

 

we changed the route somewhat and headed down the other side of carawatha and onto albany hwy.  as we turned onto brookton and about to head towards the base of canning mills rd, there was the depressing sound of air leaking out of a tyre.  michael had another puncture.  i think starting next year we will have a page of the most punctures during the saturday and sunday rides.  i’m sure michael will “win”.  as we pulled over to watch him change it, someone wondered out load where melvyn was.  he was definitely with us a the top of the last climb, but had managed to disappear.  i rode back up to the base of carawatha but didn’t see him.  as i rode back to brookton, i heard him yell from a side street.  he had got a puncture and had rolled around the corner to change it.  i was lucky to see hear him as i didn’t see him at all.  i rode back to the group to let them know what was going on and so we could wait for him.

we headed towards canning mills rd and to the dreaded climb.  this is not a favourite of mine as it is just too steep for me to get into a proper rhythm.  kenny and brendan took off up the road again and left me to my own world of pain.  as i kept them in sight for a while, i watched kenny put in a number of attacks on brendan to try to break him, but he just set tempo and pulled him back each time.  i eventually was past by stu but tried to keep him in sight to not concede much ground.  i was starting to struggle a bit and found holding the effort for a long time a challenge.  i started slipping back but it wasn’t till hugh caught up to me that i thought i better pull my finger out.  a few hard pedal strokes and he was off my wheel.  i kept the pressure on as best i could and eventually caught up with stu.  it was close to the top of the climb so i continued to push to make sure he didn’t come with me as the hill flattened out.  i saw brendan and kenny in the distance and i thought that i may be able to chase them down.  however, they were playing a chase game of their own so were pushing a big gear as well to stay away.

i eventually made it to chevon rd and the official finish line but brendan and kenny were nowhere to be seen.  they had continued up the road to the end.  stu kept plugging away and stayed ahead of hugh till the end.

kenny – 10, brendan – 7, peter – 5, stu – 3, hugh – 1.

 

we took off along chevon rd and headed towards karagulen servo for a quick stop.  the chevon rd used to be used a lot by us but back in the old days where we would only do one or two hills on a sunday.  those days are long gone.  a quick refill and we headed to pickering brook.  a truck was held up as we climbed one of the bonus climbs but provided a nice draft for a couple of us as he slowly came past.  nice to climb a hill with no effort.  quite a few turned off as we headed through bickley valley as some were headed home while others were looking for a quick way to the coffee-shop.  michael and mark managed to get a nice break on the rolling hills through bickley and started the last climb with a buffer.  this has worked in the past for some riders and they were a dangerous pair to allow to escape. 

as we climber the last little pinch before the mundaring weir climb, kenny changed down from the big ring wth an almighty crunch.  chain off and he was stopped.  bad timing, and this put him out of contention for the climb.  i was also just off the back as the days efforts and lingering sickness were taking their toll on my energy levels.  by the time i started the climb, brendan, stu and jerry were up the road.  i couldn’t push my cardio up for an extended period so thought it best not to chase.  being a sadomasochist (cyclist) i put it in the 53×14 gear and pushed a 40rpm seated cadence all the way to the top.  i picked up and past a few riders but john managed to stay just ahead of me the whole way.  just as we reached the last pinch, we saw another rider up ahead.  it was mark hanging on to fifth spot and he was nervously looking over his shoulder to make sure he held it, which he did…just.  in retrospect if i had pushed a descent gear at a constant tempo, there wasa  chance i may have caught him and grabbed a extra point.  unfortunately not the case.

brendan – 10, michael – 7, stu – 5, jerry – 3, mark – 1.

 

at the end of the day this meant that brendan was now 1 point ahead of me on the total november mountain points.  that one extra point would have been good, but as he has “won” the weekly overall for two weeks, he would have still been ahead on a count back.

i’m getting tired and running out of time so i will summarise the return trip.

  • coffee shop was good if not a bit busy.  there was a table booked where we usually sit.
  • no land speed records today on the descent as the wind was not favourable.
  • mr dickhead was in a small 4wd and decided that two lanes were not enough and passed us very close which made mark comment on the apparent small size of the drivers manhood.  he took offence to that and words were exchanged.
  • no sprint along welshpool but john and melvyn did the work along the entire stretch.
  • a pretty messy sprint along berwick as traffic was everywhere and taking up both lanes.  either melvyn or brendan got there first.

 

so, i made it to the end even though my top end is still a bit clogged up.  a week off the bike didn’t heal me, so a week on the bike is planned for this week.  see if i can blow it out of my system, or just blow up my system.

sunday 16th november – f_kenberg & urch & observatory

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ride report by peter.

 

so, it was jens’ last sunday ride with us so i gave hime the honour of choosing his last route.  his last sunday supper, so to speak.  he chose the f_ckenberg.  why?  who knows.  maybe it was his way of saying thanks, by making us hurt a lot more.  no matter what the reason, we were headed south today.

 

a decent turn out as it should be with a beautiful day forecast, but the wind left a little to be desired.  we rolled out with about 22 people and headed down albany hwy.  the turns at the front switched a lot sooner than usual as the wind was coming as a head/cross and was taking the toll on the workhorses. 

 

we were caught by another group just before maddington and it turned out to be some rowing mates of hugh.  they were heading down to the bedford hill on albany hwy so hugh stayed with us as he thought that they had never heard of half the climbs we were doing today.  we must have been riding along at a far to sedate pace for them as they soon came around and took off down the road.

 

just after gosnells the call of flat went up and we ground to a halt.  stu pulled out a tube that already had three patches on it and guessed that it had seen better days and binned it instead.  brendan initially thought that it was michael again, but he has since changed his tyres out to a more reliable pair. 

 

once we turned onto brookton hwy, the wind was directly in our faces and making both riding and hearing hard.  whoever was on the front went to turn up the wrong road which would mean that we would miss the nasty climb.  we were yelling at them to go straight but with the wind, the first few people still turned up the wrong road.  i headed back to the front to make sure that we got the correct turn (big orange building, can’t miss it).

 

the general call from the group was that jens should lead up the f_ckenberg as he was the one that wanted it.  he was at the front at the foot of the climb, but it seemed that mike was on a mission today, maybe to make up for our poor showing yesterday.  he danced up the hill with brendan and stu not far behind.  jens and i were dropped but i managed to get past him on the lower steeper section.  about halfway up ben came past me which was quite disheartening as i hate to lose position on the climbs.  we continued to slug it out but i don’t think that anyone made up any ground on each other and we crested pretty much in that order.

mike – 10, brendan – 7, stu – 5, ben – 3, peter – 1.

 

we were waiting at the top and someone said that one of the guys came off at the bottom.  mike b was in a too hard a gear and locked the bike up when the grade got too steep and managed to topple over.  a little bark off and the derailleur was a bit bent, but no major damage.  even just stopping on that climb makes it difficult to restart, let alone hitting the deck.

 

the next climb up canns is almost straight away and doesn’t really give you much time to get your breath back.  luckily it is not that steep and so wasn’t going to hurt my arms like the f_ckenberg did.  the pace was easy at the start and dr carl lead the field up the first part of the climb.  we were headed straight into the headwind again and there was surprisingly little protection on this stretch of road.  as the road pitched up, jens and ben moved around and upped the pace.  i jumped on and looked back to see what the others were doing.  the majority of the climbers were playing it cool and just going to grind this one out so we got a bit of a gap.  jens and ben took turns but i was content to sit in nicely protected from the wind.  i looked around and we were soon joined by brendan, steve and stu.  the road rolled along for a bit before it turned the corner and offered a bit more protection from the wind.  just before that point, i jumped ahead of the field and grabbed a decent gap.  i was waiting for the reaction but it never came.  i pushed on but was constantly looking behind myself to see when the counter attack was coming.  there was one last pinch before the finish and my legs were starting to fade.  i looked back to see the group gaining fast so i stomped on the pedals and extended the gap out again.  i had enough of a gap to cruise to the finish ahead of brendan who jumped off the front to take second.

peter – 10, brendan – 7, jens – 5, steve – 3, ben – 1.

 

a nice fast descent down soldiers rd (i am trying to map a course that goes up soldiers rd) and we were at the base of peet rd.  the next lot of points were on offer at the end of urch rd after tackling the base of peet and then onto urch.  i set tempo on brendan’s wheel until mike came past.  john had tried to get an advantage by heading up the road a tad earlier but we soon pulled him back in.  mike tried one attack on the steeper section but brendan and i managed to stay on all the way to the urch turn.  we had a substantial gap over the chasers as we headed down the slight reprieve before urch started in earnest.  mike still set the pace up the slope but steve had managed to bridge across to us.  somewhere along the climb, mike made another attack and it started to split us apart as i couldn’t hang on to brendan’s wheel. steve came around from behind with a great attack that took the other two by surprise and made them push hard to get on.  i just had to watch them head up the road, but now kept an eye behind me to make sure stu didn’t gain too much ground.  as i crested the climb, i saw that the three of them had slowed down as i am guessing that they assumed that the points were at the crest.  unfortunately the points were at the end of the road and i came past and continued along the road.  brendan and steve jumped on behind, but mike kept cruising to the finish.  i was rolled on the line (as i expected), but the aim was to try to grab as many points as i could and was already lucky on this climb.

steve – 10, brendan – 7, peter – 5, mike – 3, stu – 1.

 

the long hard slog to pickering brook was made interesting by the wind but not too bad overall.  we lost judd at the top of the kahuna and darren at pickering brook, but the group was generally intact as we approached the observatory climb.  mike and i led it out and i was content to let the pace maintain a tempo up the first part of the climb.  mike was out for revenge over the last climb and he hit this one hard.  we all kind of looked around to see who would react and by then it was all over.  he was gone.  i thought i would see what i could do and stomped it to try to bridge across.  i managed to get halfway there, but trying to catch mike on a hill was like trying to get ryan to lead out in a sprint.  i was running out of juice when brendan, stu and steve came past.  i jumped on for a while but the effort of chasing mike took it’s toll and i couldn’t maintain for very long.  ben eventually picked my up and we continued up the hill.

 

steve was dropped by the other two in their effort to catch mike by the top and he jumped on behind ben and i.  we began pacing it up for the run at the last pinch and chucked it in the big ring.  ben slipped back a bit but soon past steve as he dropped his chain trying to jump up from the little ring.  i hung on to the end, and stu managed to outsprint brendan at the top, but neither caught the elusive teacher.

mike – 10, stu – 7, brendan – 5, peter – 3, ben – 1.

 

one more climb and next stop was coffee.  jens had announced that as this was his last sunday ride, he was paying for coffee as a thank you for the great company during the rides.  i think he was hoping that we would help/allow him to get to the top first so that he could pay for them, but he was still going to have to fight for the points.

 

after the descent of the observatory and the undulations of bickley valley i finally managed to catch up steve and brendan so that they would not have an advantage heading into the final climb.  john was trying to replicate his final climb from last week and took off to gain some time advantage.  it looked like he over cooked it as he turned onto mundaring weir rd and may have dropped his chain as he was looking down and slowing up.  we started to set the pace up the hill and stu was the workhorse for all his effort.  he paced us up the main part of the first pitch until mike came flying past,  i tired to jump on and made a big effort to, but i didn’t last long and soon was caught in no-mans land all on my own. 

 

the train of steve, brendan and stu picked me up and once we hit the flat section, we rolled through to try to catch mike.  it didn’t seem to work.  he was powering along.  by the time we hit the last pitch, brendan and stu were within striking distance of mike but he saw them coming and put in one last effort to make sure of the points.  i was just barely hanging on but stayed away from ben for the finish.

mike – 10, brendan – 7, stu – 5, steve – 3, peter – 1.

 

as coffee was on jens, i splurged and ordered a “trio de chocolat”  which is a decadant interpretation of the chocolate indulgence.  basically it was a triple layered chocolate mousse/slice thing which was ace.  it went down a treat, and contrary to public opinion, did not come back up on the way home.  mmmmm calories.

 

the owner of the le paris brest café came out to tell us about this dvd that is being filmed on thursday to try to promote cycling in the hills area.  basically if you are not working on thursday, or are looking for a break for a couple of hours, if you head to the café between 11 and 12 you can get a free coffee and pastry for you efforts.  it is trying to promote cycling so if you are free i recommend that you head up there.  contact the café for more info and to acknowledge your participation – 9293 2752.  oh, and you should wear your south perth kit as a bit of shameless self promotion never goes astray. 

coffee points – steve, ben, stu, stan, michael, dan, hugh, jens, mike b, john, anna, brett 2, carl, simon, peter, brendan, todd.

 

a nice fast ride home and the tailwind down welshpool allowed me to break my previous speed record of 82 point something.  i managed to crack 91 this time and was upset that i couldn’t reach my hardest gear due to my lock ring problems. in reality, 90 does not really seem any faster than 70 but i am sure that it would remove a bigger patch of skin if you came a cropper.  best not to think about that when you are coming down at speed.  it may make you reach for the brakes.

 

a nice armchair ride home with jens doing the bulk of the work on the front just like his namesake on stage 10 of this years tour.  he even had energy left to sprint for the welshpool maccas.  the final sprint was interesting as dan jumped clear at the second last lights and managed to stay away until that last little hill when steve caught him after he jumped at the next lights.  i came home hard and picked up dan but brendan sprinted off me and up the road. 

 

so a good day and some hard climbs.  i had made a decision to try to stick with mike at the expense of mountain points as i think that going harder for longer and then blowing up will be better for me than riding tempo to maintain my position.  we will see anyway.  great perth bike ride for me next sunday, so my position on the leaderboard will be well under threat.

sunday 9th nov – kahuna & canning mills

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ride report by peter.

 

yas at rolystone
yas at rolystone

with a absolutely stunning day predicted, i expected a bumper turnout this morning but was left a bit under whelmed.  around 15 or so decided to toe the line but we did manage to pick up a few more on the way.  with the usual suspects like ryan and stu absent, i thought that i would have the mountain points all wrapped up.  unfortunately for me, one of the riders we picked up on the way was mike.  there was even a general murmur of “no points today” coming from the group.  yes, it was true but on the other hand, having mike there meant that i would have to work a whole lot harder which will get me a whole lot fitter. 

steve and i lead the group out and onto albany hwy at a leisurely pace.  “fresh” from his 300km melbourne to warrnambool race a couple of weeks ago, he was also backing it up from a session on the track where he got the honour of being smashed by the likes of cj sutton, graeme brown and cam meyer.  he was unsure on how he would go on the hills, but i thought i better keep an eye on him regardless. 

the first climb of the day was up the kahuna.  as we approached the foot of the climb, clare was doing circles around the roundabout waiting for the group to arrive.  my aim was to stick with mike for as long as possible and see where it left me.  i had my new “dr paul’s custom wheelset” on the bike which saved me a hundred grams overall.  unfortunately as it was a rush job to get them on yesterday, i also managed to forget the speedo magnet and now realised that the derailleur could not access the easiest and hardest gear.  well it could access the easiest, but that pinging noise that the spokes make as the rear derailleur brushes past them was not what i wanted to hear. 

the climb got underway and the pecking order was quickly sorted out.  i made tempo until mike came around me and then i latched onto his wheel, determined to hang on.  steve was on our wheel for a while but detached somewhere along the first main pinch as the field really thinned out.  i was watching my heartrate and listening to my breathing, but was really starting to struggle.  as the road flattened out for the first “plateau” mike kept the effort up and rode away from me.  i have talked about the same thing before and knew that i should also keep the effort up but my body said “no” as it had been abused for too long. 

i rode tempo but looked around me to make sure that the gap was not reducing to the riders behind.  mike’s gap was increasing ever so slowly as he ground his way up but i was more worried about the fact that riders were approaching from behind.  i wasn’t sure at first, but a couple more looks confirmed steve closing fast.  i was paying for my efforts to maintain mike’s pace and steve come past me and started chasing down mike.  he came close to catching him too, but the road pitched up again and he didn’t quite make it. 

the road flattened out again and i managed to recover enough to increase my pace to begin to chase down steve.  no other riders were gaining from behind, so i just had to concentrate on catching him.  another thing i notice about the new wheels is just how quiet they are.  i scared the crap out of steve as i came past him and i tried to stay ahead.  there was not far to go and it came down to a sprint for the line.  the effort of catching him had me spent and my spew-meter was in the red.  i fell a few metres short and came third.  gregor the scottish mountain-biker from texas was back to show his climbing skills ans too fourth while clare was impressing some of the boys by kicking their arse to take out fifth.

mike – 10, steve – 7, peter – 5, gregor – 3, clare – 1.

 

a regroup had us at max numbers as we had also picked up doug on the climb.  we had a nice fast descent down urch but soon the road pitched up and those with fast descending skills soon deferred to those with fast ascending legs.  again the plan was to stick like glue to mike and see what happens.  steve was fastened firmly to my wheel and we let mike set the tempo up the climb.  luckily for me, the steepest part of peet rd is the section below the urch intersection and i managed to hold onto mike’s wheel till the top.  we kept the pace up and did a couple of turns as we headed over the top and towards the school.  the section past the fruit place always gets me as it is just steep enough to be painful especially after you think you have finished with the climbs.  i dropped it back to the small ring while i noticed that steve and mike were still grinding away in the big. 

mike hit the front again as we made the final run towards the school climb.  steve and i were content to not help him as we were pretty sure that it would come down to a sprint.  about halfway up the hill, steve started to come around with me on his wheel.  the finish is deceptive and i made sure that i didn’t go too early (like the state champs race).  i waited till the last moment and then started my sprint.  steve stepped up and soon we were going side by side along the road seeing who could sustain the longest.  after doing less time in the wind (ryan style) i had the fresher legs and he conceded.  the spots for fourth and fifth also came down to a sprint with clare out gunning gregor for the points.

peter – 10, steve – 7, mike – 5, clare – 3, gregor – 1.

 

claire takes the hill
claire takes the hill

we were all present and accounted for and ready to rock and roll when we noticed that melvyn hadn’t arrived yet.  he eventually turned up after suffering a bit of chain trouble when his quick link detached and he was riding sans chain.  luckily the two pieces didn’t fall off so he could reattach quite easily.  we headed down brookton hwy and onto the foot of canning mills rd.

as we turned onto the road leading to the hill, there was a call of “flat” so we passed it down the line.  after the debacle of last week, it was good to see the group looking out for each other.  after gregor fixed his flat we were off with the base of the climb starting only fifty metres away.

i was following my same game plan again but found myself boxed in a bit.  mike was starting to move away from the front and i couldn’t get past.  i quickly sprinted around to catch his wheel, but was not sure at what cost my legs had paid.  this is a particularly steep and brutal climb but it is fairly consistent the whole way up.  it makes it easy to get into a tempo and stay there.  unfortunately it was easy for mike to get into a tempo that was obviously faster than i could handle.  i lost ground after staying with him for a short time.  gregor had been on my wheel just before the road steepened up but had slot ground when mike “took off”.  i found my rhythm but was surprised when he caught back up to me.  mike was surging ahead, and we were all losing ground, but i didn’t think that i was going that slow.  no disrespect to gregors climbing ability, but i just don’t like being caught.  soon steve came up beside us too.  pushing a big gear doing strength endurance efforts, he ground his way past us.  as the pitch of the road changed a bit he slipped back and gregor and myself began chasing mike down. 

the last part of this climb really flattens off and is in stark contrast to the first section where trees and curves in the road give way to long straight open roads.  quickly changing up the gears we tried to increase the pace to make up some ground on mike.  it was a bit of a wasted effort in that respect, but i also wanted to distance myself from any other challengers to the points.  about halfway to chevin road which was the rendezvous point, i put it in the big ring and put in a big effort to shake gregor.  i didn’t want it to get to a sprint situation so managed to distance myself from him and maintain the gap to the end.  mike was nowhere to be seen as he had finished the climb and just kept going to keep the legs moving.  after a short wait, steve came in with clare and paul on his wheel, but managed to keep it in that order and maintaining paul’s 6th place just out of the points for the third climb in a row.

mike – 10, peter – 7, gregor – 5, steve – 3, clare – 1.

 

we rolled towards pickering brook but had lost three riders before we got there with various people having early commitments.  after a regroup at pickering brook a split formed and five more took off for an early mark, opting for a quick descent down welshpool instead of a climb up the weir road.  across the rolling hills before the main climb, john managed to get a bit of a break, but i was mainly concerned with hanging close to mike and steve.  by the time we started the climb, there were a few guys already up the road.  paul and steve said that i should probably go hard now, but i looked back at  how close mike was decided to wait to see what he did.  i didn’t really have a choice as he took off like a rocket and i had to sprint to get on board. 

we passed the others on the climb like they were standing still and i was only just holding on for dear life.  i started to wonder how long i could hold this pace for, but soon got my answer.  we had just passed john who had the early break, and i started to slip off mike’s wheel.  a couple of efforts to stay on really just buggered me up rather than kept me on and i slipped back.  i tried to get into a tempo, but struggled under the weight of the previous effort and was not going as well as i could.  i made my way up the bottom section of the climb, but looked back to see that john was gaining on me and soon grabbed my wheel.  john has never been a climber and i can still remember his first saturday ride with us.  a combination of new bike syndrome and some good training (maybe epo) has seen some god improvements lately. 

judd the man in black.
judd the man in black.

we continued up the climb with mike nowhere in sight.  we came to the last little pinch before it flattens out and i urged john to stay on my wheel.  he dropped back a bit as we hit the flatter section, but a bit of yelling forced an effort out of him to get back on.  as we started that long straight, i could just make out the figure of mike disappearing around the bend up ahead.  we hammered along the “flat” and entered the last pinch of the day.  i knew that john would not hold my wheel here after all the efforts he did on the bottom of the climb, so i yelled some encouragement at him before he dropped back.  actually, i said “keep looking behind you and ride like you stole something.  don’t let him catch you”.  i made my way up the final climb and onto the roundabout.  john managed to keep fresh air between him and the chasers, but it seems that steve caught gregor near the end and relegated him to fifth.  i’m pretty sure paul took sixth again.

mike – 10, peter – 7, john – 5, steve – 3, gregor – 1.

 

by the time we hit coffee the numbers had dwindled dramatically.

steve, peter, paul, lorraine, mike b, anna, john & gregor – 1.

conversation ranged from what to eat while riding, to bec’s crash at the track last night, to davina riding with a broken arm, to lance’s comeback and what contador will do, to what brendan and steve’s partners got up to last night at the track.  coffee’s, cake and coke (the non-tom boonen kind) devoured we were on our way.

quite a uneventful ride home as the smaller group means less egos to stroke.  john broke away for the sprint at the welshpool rd maccas only to discover no-one was chasing.  steve and i made a move on the hill heading into the final sprint but sat up once we rolled down the other side.  this allowed paul to wipe the voodoo of the 6th place away to take the sprint at the lights.

so, not the best turn out but this allowed the points to be spread around a bit more.  i had been told today that the state crit champs are actually on saturday next week, not sunday like most races are.  this means that i will be missing the saturday ride, but will probably be available for sunday mountain points, to defend my lead.

sunday 2nd nov – greenmount and mundaring weir

6 Comments

ride report by peter.

 

an early morning text from chris claiming chain troubles had me heading to the startline a bit earlier that usual.  a pin was had not been put back in properly and was only hanging on by one side of the chain.  not the best thing for a hill climbing day that would place a lot of strain on the chain.  we popped the link out and put on a sram powerlink that i had spare.  it was spare cause i asked for a removable link and they sold me one that once it is on, it doesn’t come off.  not really that removable.  i need the wipperman one next time.

 

with an ideal cycling day predicted, the number of cyclist was sure to exceed expectations and did not disappoint.   we had around thirty turn up ready to go by 7am.  we had a few new faces with ronny trying to get extra points by bringing a friend, jill and the ceo of cycling wa, chris turning up to see how the group runs.  most of the regulars were their but noticeable by his absence was ryan who we think had been scared off after we talked up chris’ climbing ability during the week.  mike was also a no show, so stu and i would have to be carrying the torch for the spr team.  just as we were about to roll out, dr melvyn turned up and told us that darren was just down the bottom of coode st with a flat tyre.  i gave everyone directions and sent them off while steve and myself went to find darren.  dr mark was also down there helping with tyre, but he had it fixed promptly and we were soon on our way. 

 

while the rest of the group headed along angelo st and out onto canning, we passed the roadblock and headed out along mill point rd hoping to connect with them before too long.  as we worked into the wind along great eastern, i was not confident that we would even catch up as we could not see the main group even when the road straightened out.  as we got closer to the airport, we saw them at the top of the rise and managed to catch up just after tonkin hwy.  that was my first effort for the day, and it hurt.

 

we eventually made it out to the base of greenmount and started the hill in earnest.  after a blocking move by our chris, the real pace began to kick in.  it took quite a while and is a testament to the increased climbing skills that the group has developed, but we eventually whittled it down to the final 8 riders.  most had held on for the majority of the hill and it wasn’t until it really steepened up and the pace was on that they began to drop off. 

 

a couple of bends in the road before the finish and i decided to see if i could shake things up a bit and went on the attack.  i got a fair gap before i think steve led the group back to my wheel and i was swamped within sight of the finish.  i explained to everyone where the line was and realising it was that close they all started sprinting for the finish.  i had nothing left and should have timed my attack a bit later.

stu – 10, brendan – 7, chris – 5, jerry – 3, peter – 1.

 

a regroup at the top and we were on our way again.  the winding, rough roads through john forrest always seem to break the group up and i told the guys on the front that we would regroup at oxley road before the next climb.  luckily i did as the call when out that darren had gotten a flat again and was changing it.  i went back to see if he was ok and found him on his own.

 

probably a good time to set the ground rules about what we should do about flat tyres.  if during a climb or descent where it is going to be too hard to pull the group up, then the person closest to the flat tyre should stop to make sure that they have all the right equipment to change it.  anyone else around should continue on and tell the rest of the group that there has been a flat so we can wait at the regroup point.  during a normal transition stage of the ride where we are just cruising along and are easily forming a pack, the call should go out immediately for everyone to stop.  if the person with the flat is on the back of the group then a call forward to stop should be passed down the line and a rider should also come forward to make sure the group knows what is going on. 

 

the reasoning is simple. firstly they may not have all the appropriate tools (which in itself is an offence, but usually punishable by public shame) and secondly they may not know where the hell they are.  we don’t always stick to main roads and some of the newer riders may not have even been on these roads in their cars let alone on a bike.  the worse thing is a triple play of no tools, no mobile coverage and no idea where the hell you are.  it is usually about then that you hear banjo’s playing and billy-joe wanders out of the bush and asks “what y’all doin’ out ‘ere all alone”.

 

so, i checked with darren and since it was his second flat of the day i bludgeoned him to death with his own sub-six kilo bike and left him for the bears.  he was going to find his own way across to mundaring weir road.  i continued down to the regroup point.

 

once there, i explained the hill and where the kom line was for the points.  this was a particularly nasty climb and has some really steep pinches that test the legs.  the move was made early by chris and stu and i tried to go with is for as long as i could, but both put distance into me.  chris danced away from stu and neither of us made up any ground there.  behind me jens was waiting for brendan and steve to make their moves but they never did so he had to attack to make sure that he didn’t have to sprint for the points.  hugh came with him and made up the final points.

chris – 10, stu – 7, peter – 5, heiko – 3, hugh – 1.

 

when we got to the top, julian and nick were already there.  it seems that thay didn’t hear the call to regroup at oxley and thought that they had the points in the bag.  as the group gets bigger, it is important that messages, like regroup points and such, are passed on especially if people move forward to the front of the group.  this message didn’t get through and created a lot of confusion.

 

we soldiered on and took a different route out of parkerville as we headed towards stoneville.  this would allow us to skip the section of great eastern hwy that we usually tackle for about a km.  it was at the turn though parkerville that nick received a puncture and the call went up.  however, he was left to fend for himself which is why the rules of engagement have been set out above.  by the time the message got to the front, there was confusion over who it was, what the problem was and how far back they were.  this unfortunately meant that he was left with no mobile coverage, little tools and a banjo themed soundtrack.

 

the rest of us headed across to mundaring township and onto the weir road.  i needed to stop to explain the next bit as we were not going to regroup until the coffee shop.  there would be two lots of kom points on this next stretch of road and there would not be a regroup after the first.  this meant that any chase group would have to go hard to catch up after the first main climb, and any leaders would have to go hard to stay away.  much like racing really. 

 

a group got together and bombed it down towards the weir.  i was not initially worried as the main climbers were not in attendance, but stu managed to find his way into that group and they had made some ground.  we chased hard and managed to catch him as the climb started.  john had the dubious honour of leading the charge up the hill out of the weir and i was wondering how long that would last for.  before we turned the corner at the carpark brendan had decided to up the pace and soon it was the two of us with stu and chris making up the front runners.  as we hit the corner and the hill hit it’s steepest part, chris attacked and stu didn’t respond.  i sprinted around and got on chris’ wheel but it didn’t last long and i had to watch him disappear up the road. 

 

as the hill flattened out, i sat up and waited for stu as i thought that the two of us had a better chance of catching chris.  we made some ground, but he always pulled away ont eh climbs and by the time we hit the last pinch, there was no way we were going to catch him.  stu put in one last effort and i couldn’t respond so he ended up with the second place on the climb.  i held on for third with a fast finishing brendan taking fourth and heiko rounding out the points.

chris – 10, stu – 7, peter – 5, brendan – 3, heiko – 1.

 

as this was not a regroup spot, i pushed on and headed down the hill.  i was limiting my effort as i was worried about how much i had left in the tank.  brendan scared the utter crap out of me as i flew past on the descent.  no time to react and he was off down the road after stu.  i made sure i kept an eye on the road behind me after that to make sure i didn’t give up any more ground.

 

the final hill was a lonely affair for me but we managed to pass dr paul, dr greg and darren who had found their own way along the course.  there was no way that i was going to catch brendan and stu, so it was just a matter of continually looking back to make sure jens and jerry didn’t catch up.  jens came close on the final pinch, but i made sure i had enough to stay in front.

chris – 10, stu – 7, brendan – 5, peter – 3, heiko – 1.

 

coffee at paris-brest
coffee at paris-brest

the beautiful day meant that the coffee shop was already busy but we managed to make enough people uncomfortable that they moved.   we took over the bottom section of the outdoor area and made a pretty pattern with the tables and chairs.  coffee points went to the following 1 – heiko, jill, dr ronny, lorraine, dr jerry, john, stu, dan, brendan, chris, jules, dr mark, dr carl, dr greg, dr paul, dr melvyn, mike, john, phil, steve, hugh, todd, peter, nick, darren, christophe, paul.

 

during the trip home we kept seeing this couple in a 4wd standing on the side of the road watching us go past.  the first time was weird, the second time was freaky, and on the third time where they were waiting for us at the maccas south perth, jules explained that it was his and dan’s parents.  not really sure why, but i guess it is like going to watch your kids at footy training.  the sprint to the welshpool rd maccas was won by heiko who teamed up with john for a 1-2 punch where john gave a long lead out to make sure the german left everyone behind.  the final sprint to south perth found christophe taking off early but brendan managed to overtake everyone and take the win.

 

so a glorious day weather-wise and a pretty good ride despite the issues with tyres and instructions.  it does however allow us to reiterate the groups guidelines on flat tyres and why we should stop.  remember, we have to look out for each other out there.

sunday 26th oct – patterson & canns & urch

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ride report by peter.

 

daylight savings.  it almost caught me out this morning.  well actually last night.  i was still up blogging and suddenly realised that 10:30 was actually 11:30 and i had to be up in just over 6 hours.  i like my sleep and feel ripped off losing it just so some politician can go for a walk along the beach after work, in 40 degree heat, with 40km/h winds sand blasting your legs.  nice.  especially since the shops shut at 6.

 

anyway, i am assuming that the lack of clock winding vigilance was the reason that our numbers were down a bit today.  a couple of text messages confirmed it a bit later that the clock was to blame.  you will probably hear me bitch a bit more about daylight savings as the summer rolls towards autumn and it gets dark in the morning again.

 

so about 12 or so riders turned up to fresh conditions this morning and we headed out albany hwy.  there were five categorised climbs mapped out this morning and it would have to be one of the most difficult routes that make up the sunday ride suite.  we would start by peeling off brookton hwy to tackle the infamous f_ckenberg, before stomping up canns rd.  a descent down soldiers rd before heading up peet and urch.  a transition to the observatory climb and finish up mundaring weir rd with a coffee at paris-brest. 

 

the fresh start was beginning to give way to a very nice day.  little wind and seemingly not a cloud in the sky. less than half the group had actually ridden the f_ckenberg before and i was talking it up.  “somewhere from steep to very steep”, “you won’t be able to start if you stop”, “hope you have a 27 tooth cog on there”, all those types of things.  alistar was gunning for more mountain points as he was the only one close enough to challenge ryan for the october overall.  the points reset next week so it was a bit of a battle for these two.  alistar had definitely not ridden this climb and came past asking what it was like.  i said that he will see when he rounds the corner.  he headed up the road a bit and ryan tagged along to make sure he didn’t get too far ahead.  i said to judd (i think) to listen to alistar reaction as we come around the corner.  “holy f_ck” was what i am sure he said.  judd had not ridden the climb either and was now dreading what he would see. 

 

pete & stan. waiting on top of the world
pete & stan. waiting on top of the world

alistar attacked the hill with gusto and managed to gap ryan from the start.  i know that this climb will really wear you down and the only way to approach it is to get in your easiest gear, stand and find a rhythm you can maintain.  on the bottom half, jens came around me when he surged a bit with stu.  it didn’t last long and i came back past and put in a few hard pedal strokes to get ahead of both of them.  there was no way that i was going to catch ryan and al, but i now wanted to keep ahead of the others to stay in the points.  up ahead, ryan almost caught alistar near the top but conceded valuable points as alistar was first to the blackwood road intersection and the unofficial and invisible kom line.  i had to put in a bit of an effort once the gradient slackened to stay ahead of stu with heiko/jens taking the fifth spot.

alistar – 10, ryan – 7, peter – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.

 

the regroup was a quick affair as the smaller group was quite well matched and it didn’t take long for everyone to reach the top.  we were soon headed down to canns rd for the next climb.  i had to give instructions to everyone on the fly as we hadn’t really stopped in one spot for the regroup and we had already started the next climb.  this was a categorised climb and i had to tell everyone where the finish line was. 

 

the first small rise in the hill (as it undulates as it climbs) was soon upon us and the group was relatively together.  alistar asked if the top of the rise ahead was the end of the climb.  we were only just really starting the climb and i think he was ready to sprint.  i told them all that there was quite a way to go and everyone was just looking to see who would make a move.  it was me.

 

i took off to see who would chase and only alistar and jens came with me.  i looked back to see stu and ryan happily riding tempo up the hill not worrying about challenging for this one.  i assumed that ryan had done the maths and realised that his initial 22 point buffer over alistar meant that he was fairly safe even if he came in mid points every climb.  as the road rolled and pinched again we took turns at the front until we paced it up a bit too much for jens and he dropped off the back.  the road starts to flatten out before the finish and i had to point it out to alistar to be fair about where we would be sprinting too.  i made him lead out but at the end he pushed me too hard and i had to let him go to stop myself from actually spewing.  it took me a few minutes of riding around to cool down before my spew-meter was not in the red.  these mountain points are making for an interesting ride.  jens held onto third with ryan and stu following close behind.

alistar – 10, peter – 7, heiko – 5, ryan – 3, stu – 1.

 

the always fun descent down soldiers rd was interrupted at the bottom when a couple of guys said that someone had a flat or someone had to stop to fix something.  it turns out that judd’s “behind the back” triathlete drink bottle holders were coming loose and he didn’t want to drop a bottle in the path of another rider.  a couple of minutes to fix and he met us at the bottom. 

 

the next climb was the start of peet but then swung left onto urch for a change.  the road was arguably as steep but had a slight reprieve in the middle before it hit you with the final ascent.  john had jumped across the road before we got stopped by traffic so had a good head start on the climb.  i took it as a tempo and was waiting to see who would try to go early on the lower steeper slopes.  ryan and alistar took off but not at a blistering speed so i could easily hang onto the back of their train.  stu was hanging off the back with me as we al pulled away from the rest of the group.  john was caught and dispatched with little fanfare as the hill was now dictating what we were to use our breath for.  by the time we reach the urch intersection, the rest of the group was a fair way behind. 

 

true to form, both ryan and alistar didn’t actually listen to instructions (it is probably on their school report from about grade three) and were about to turn right to follow peet as we would normally do.  ryan said that he didn’t hear me say that we were not going to stop at the school.  i also didn’t not say a lot of things, but i did say that we were to turn left into urch.  we rolled down the slight hill before hitting the next climb proper.  again i was asked how far to the top and the answer was “a fair way off yet” as the climb kicks up twice and can be quite brutal.  i got to the front and started setting the pace.  once i thought that we were in a good rhythm i would put in five or six really hard pedal strokes before returning to the same pace.  i was just testing the others to see who would come with me, or attack me.  i managed about four small attacks like that before i finally dislodged stu and alistar.  ryan and i kept going as we were very close to cresting the top of the climb and it flattens out for a bit before the intersection finish.  we swapped off turns to keep away from al who had dropped stu in his pursuit of us.  as we approached the finish, ryan sprinted off to make sure he maximised points and i was left with second.  the points for fifth came down to stan and jens fighting it out along the flat with jens coming out on top.

ryan – 10, peter – 7, alistar – 5, stu – 3, heiko – 1.

refuel after the climb up urch
refuel after the climb up urch

 

we headed towards the end of the kahuna climb and across to canning rd.  i got to have a chat with a new guy out with us today.  his name is hugh and he is a rowing cox out to do some cross-training.  he did pretty well in the hills too so it was good to see him come along.  he wasn’t the only hills “virgin” but the others were familiar faces from the saturday ride.  the couple of bonus climbs as we headed towards the pickering brook intersection are not categorised in out competition as they generally do not split the field up enough.  it now seems that without the points, no one is going to try to smash the rest of the field and so no-one took off where they usually do.  i thought that i would make use of the nice smooth road and put it in my third biggest gear and just ground out the climb.  in order to keep a cadence of above 40, i had to get the bike moving at a decent pace and was soon at the front of the field and led them over the next two hills and onto pickering brook. 

 

we did a quick head count and with no-one opting for an early out (i didn’t offer it either) we all headed towards the base of the observatory.  ryan and i talked tactics on the way down past the pickering brook school and decided to not attack and see if we could get to the top as a group sprint.  the climb started and we set a very even pace.  the group stayed together and there were even a few nervous joke thrown around as the rest of the group didn’t know whether we were going to go hard or not.  alistar finally made his move and ryan, stu and myself had to go with him.  jens hang in there for a while but soon was off the back. 

 

as alistar had initiated the move with an attack, we were content to let him set the pace for as long as possible.  he indicated the top of the main climb and asked if that was the top.  not suite as there is a plateau before a final kick to the finish.  we crested the top and he pulled over a bit to let someone else work.  we slowly moved past, bu no-one was in a hurry to do a turn.  i jumped on the indecision and attacked even though it was way too early.  ryan and stu managed to come along and then past but alistar was spent from his initial attack.  we stayed in that order to the top, with jens taking fifth again.

ryan – 10, stu – 7, peter – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.

 

one more climb to tackle before a well deserved coffee stop.  the descent down the steeper side of the observatory is always fun and the rolling hills through bickley are a nice warm up before the main climb.  i had to make sure that i did not lose too much time on the rolling hills as when mundaring weir rd starts there is not much time to catch back up.  we hit the climb together the usual foursome plus judd and jens and started to set the pace.  i slotted my way (pushed in front of judd) into fourth wheel behind ryan with stu setting tempo for the majority of the way.  jens and judd fell my the wayside of the constant stu pace setting and pretty soon we were at the plateau of the climb.  i noticed that ryan had left it in his big ring for the climbs so far so we obviously were not putting him in any distress.  alistar wanted to step it up a bit so went to the front and too over the pace.  i thought that this was not the best idea, as ryan will jump all over him when it comes to the final climb.  in race situation i have adapted a technique where by i will be at the front but not actually put in much effort if nobody is willing to come around me. 

 

alistar was going quite hard and by the time we reached the final pinch stu and ryam started to come around him.  i tried to stay on ryan’s wheel but he was going for the win and i didn’t have the legs to go with him.  the kom line came up fast and i held off stu to take second, although, both ryan and stu claimed that they didn’t even see the kom line which they must have ridden over at least 100 time in the last couple of years.

ryan – 10, peter – 7, stu – 5, alistar – 3, heiko – 1.

 

coffee was ordered and croissants devoured with pretty much everyone staying for coffee.  1 socialisation mountain point for all that attended.

final points for the day.

ryan – 41, alistar/peter – 32, stu – 20, heiko – 10, stan/john/hugh/daryl/paul/kim/judd – 1.

 

the ride home was fast and furious for the first part.  an unofficial sprint point to the tonkin hwy intersection meant that whatever buffer you could gain by descending like a demon was what everyone else had to try to make up once the road flattened out.  even before we had left lesmurdie rd, the pace was on and people were trying to all get ahead before that small rise that breaks up the descent.  the field was spread by the time we hit welshpool rd proper and i was with judd and alistar.  judd jumped to the front and cut a nice hole in the air for me to follow.  alistar was on my wheel until he must have thought that it was too slow and pulled out.  it feels “slow” when you are in the draft and you have to touch the brakes a bit to wash some speed off, but once out in the clean air, that extra wind resistance pushes you back.  he didn’t make any more ground so slotted back in behind me.  we worked together with a couple of others that had joined us as the road flattened out but we didn’t make up the ground on the front runners and ryan, stan and john made it to the end first.

 

the next sprint point to the maccas at the end of welshpool road was uneventful for me.  ryan shot up the road early and a string of other riders took off in hot pursuit.  i was content to watch from afar.  the final run to the berwick st maccas was a bit more eventful.  ryan had a very small gap left after john peeled off his wheel to go home.  he managed to get through the lights at kent st while the rest of us had to wait.  when the lights changed, alistar took off up the road after ryan who had already disappeared.  i was left on the front and stan asked if i was chasing.  i said that i was hoping that the lights at george st would slow him down.  they didn’t but we all got stuck when they turned red.  as we took off on green, we looked up the road to see alistar waiting up ahead.  he started going before we got to him but jens used the momentum off the hill and a bit of a draft from a passing car to get ahead of al to claim second.

 

so the final wash-up of the mountain points will be on the web soon, but it was clear that ryan ran away with the inaugural title.  the points reset each month and next sunday will see the start of the november competition.  all up i would say that it was one of the best hills rides i have done in ages.  the points competition has really invigorated the climbs with attacks and tactics starting to come to the fore.  if anyone has any ideas on how we can involve the rest of the group during the ride, i would love to hear it.

sunday 19th October – gooseberry & kalamunda & bickley (sort of)

ride report by Darren.

all I can say is that I am glad I wasnt doing a team time-trial into that wind.

5 lucky punters turned up by 7ish, so I was guaranteed to get some k.o.m points.

young alistair led us down great eastern toward ridge hill and goosberry. stan, bronywn, and a new guy called gregor, complete with thick scottish accent despite living the last 5 years in texas, who found out about spr’s sunday rides through mutual mountain bike friends, completed the mini-peleton.

A thick headwind became the flavour of the day as we swapped turns, battling single file towards ridge hill. rolling onto ridge hill we already felt as if we had earnt our coffees. Alistair and his new crisp shoes headed off for the zig-zag regroup with stan in tow. Gregor came around me and quickly caught the young lads up front. Bronwyn was saving her energy for goosberry hill and came in just behind me. Pete can overule, but young Al gets 1 point for being first to the top of the bonus climb followed by gregor, stan, myself and bronwyn.

At the top we were greeted with some of the smoothest, freshest and blackest hot mix I have ever seen, seems the local council had totally re-surfaced the ridge-hill descent to the roundabout – NICE.

onto gooseberry, and at this point I would like to thank pete for arranging a course which not only takes us away from the coffee shop, twice, but today would see us take on goosberry hill with (what felt like) a 30 knot gusty headwind. young alistair and gregor too off, and half way up (on the nasty bit) my saddle decided to come loose, at which point I stepped of to adjust and re-tighten. KOM points Alistair (10), Gregor(7), Stan(5), Darren(10),… just joking (3) and Bronwyn (1).

uneventful desecent down zig zag, and soon we found ourselves back on the new hotmix for a fast (wind assisted) descent down ridge-hill toward kalamunda.

onto kalamunda, Alistair and Gragor took off on the initial steep section and Stan, Brownyn and I held a pact to keep it together as the headwind had taken its toll and we were riding into it… again.

on the way up, I found out that stan was back on the bike after 3 or so months off after the birth of his 3rd (a little girl called phoebe) in july, congratulations stan, and despite a blood nose and lack of hills training, still beat me to the top. Seems SPR is having a mini babyboom. at the top I also learnt from bronwyn, that dr nik had a nasty tumble during the week – hope you have a speedy recovery. alistair was severely tested by gregor to take the k.o.m points (again). Alistair (10), Gregor(7), Stan(5), Darren(3), Bronwyn(1).

At the regoup in kalamunda we decided that a loop of bickley would be too much so we headed down mundaring weir road (after repairing a puncture on alistairs rear) and across to lawnbrook. Alistair and Gregor took off again but turned around at the “false” top of the hill. We all regrouped on the final part of the climb and had a slow motion sprint for the final KOM points, Alistair (10), Stan(7), Darren(5), Bronwyn(3) and Gregor(1).

uncharasterictically, we declined to make-good on the coffees that we had earnt and decided to head for home early. welshpool rd was very fast, with the larger (stan and myself) riders using our girth to good effect on the descent, despite some tricky cross winds. Alistair decided to turn off and do crystal brook road just for fun. the rest of us decided to “recover” on the ride home with a nice tailwind to boot.

thanks for the ride and I can deffinitely recommend the new hot mix on ridgehill to all.

sunday 5th oct – welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda

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ride report by peter.

 

after a wet day on the bike yesterday we were all looking forward to a nice dry ride and to forecast said it would be so.  however, the lack of cloud cover meant that the temperature bottomed out at around 4 degrees over night even thought we were aiming for a top of 20.  This always causes a dilemma for me as i know that it will be cold for the first part of the ride but hot at the end and i hate to overheat.  we had a smaller than usual group at the start this morning and some of our regulars are away which kept the numbers down to about 15 or so.  a couple of new riders came out and we found out later that this was to be jules’ longest ride he had ever done.  the winner of this years menzies-kalgoorlie race, paul was also coming along with us today.

 

the course took us out welshpool road before heading around mundaring weir and through darlington before heading to coffee via kalamunda road.  all up we were looking at over 100kms and over 1300m of climbing.

 

we rolled out and headed to welshpool via orong road for a change.  the trip was pretty much uneventful though i did discuss the idea of mountain points for each of the main climbs with a few of the guys.  basically to make the climb more “fun” a set number of points are available for the first 5 riders to crest the climb.  on today’s ride there were four “categorised” climbs that would yield points.  welshpool rd, two on the way round mundaring and finally kalamunda rd.  each climb would give 10, 7, 5, 3, 1 points for those places.  at the end of the ride, the points will be accumulated and at the end of the month, the climber of the month will be “awarded”.  this “competition” will continue regardless of whatever races are on.  for example, next week i intend to race the northam classic but since the hills ride will still be on, whomever turns up will still accumulate points.

 

so we hit the bottom of welshpool as a group and proceeded to find our own position in the group.  we strung out fairly quickly and tackled the first section at a reasonable pace.  after the first kink in the road ronny and alistar attacked and managed to gap the group a bit.  with still quite a bit of the hill to go, i wasn’t chasing and followed my plan of sticking to mike’s wheel as he ground his way up.  we eventually picked them up about halfway to the servo and spat ronny out the back.  alistar jumped back on the train and the five of us continued to follow mike’s wheel.  just after the servo ryan attacked and brendan and alistar went with him.  i was still on mike and he wasn’t chasing anyone.  i didn’t feel i had the legs to go anyway and thought i would stick to the tried and true mike method.

 

he continued to grind his way up the false flat section and onto the next pinch.  it didn’t seem to slow him much and he continued up at the same pace leaving me fighting for air by myself.  pretty soon he had caught the front three and they continued on.  by about the third pitch in this part of the climb, brendan had been unhitched from the group and i was making ground on him.  i managed to catch him on the second last bit of hill and saw that ryan had also been dropped by mikes relentless pace.  i gauged the distance and realised that i couldn’t make up that much ground before the end so resigned myself to fourth place. 

 

alistar – 10, mike – 7, ryan – 5, peter – 3, brendan – 1.

 

a regroup at the top and slowly the riders all filtered through.  we were waiting a while for declan and ronny had to go looking for him as we were unsure if he had turned off or not, but he finally made it to the regroup point.  we headed off through the picturesque bickley valley and onto mundaring weir road.  lisa, declan and ronny turned off and up to kalamunda as the rest of us headed towards mundaring weir and onto mundaring township for the next regroup.  this stretch contained two climbs that would yield points and i explained to everyone what was going on with the competition.  it definitely revved a few guys up as there were attacks coming almost straight away as alistar and then paul went hard up the first part of the hill and i jumped on.  we hit a good tempo but were reeled in by the first corner by a sizable group.  it seemed that people were going to push that bit harder for some points.

 

the top of the climb was to be at the intersection of asher rd which was just after the crest of the hill.  to get there, the road would step up a number of times and could be quite draining on the legs.  our pace was nicely high and we slowly dropped riders until it was only the same five as the welshpool climb.  just before the camel farm, ryan attacked and no-one reacted.  i jumped around the group and told him that we had a gap.  he wanted to know if that means we should go faster, but i said that if he keeps us away, i wouldn’t contest the points.  we stayed away.

 

ryan – 10, peter – 7, mike – 5, brendan – 3, alistar – 1.

 

steve soon bridged across to us as we continued downhill towards the weir.  we were riding like it was a race and people were taking turns and occasionally rolling through to keep the pace high.  we picked up another group out training in the hills and they hung onto us for a short time before our pace was too high.  we smashed it down into the weir and up the other side.  staying together well on the climb, it wasn’t until the final pitch up to the round-about that ryan attack and brendan and alistar went with him.  ryan was first to the top and did a victory lap of the round-about while mike turned left and continued onto mundaring township.  i mentioned to them that it was first to the roundabout in mundaring town, not mundaring weir, but they never really listen to instructions anyway. 

 

mike now had a sizable gap on us and the chase was on to bring him back.  unfortunately, getting him back on a hill usually takes a big effort that none of us were willing to make.  we took turns setting the pace and still had him in sight as we crested the last climb.  i was on the front and had just looked at my hr monitor to see it peak at 188 bpm when alistar attacked and tried to get away.  ryan and brendan jumped across and this seemed to take some impetus out of his attack and he slowed enough for me to catch back up.  as we got closer to the final roundabout we had made up some ground on mike but it still looked like he would nail it.  i attacked and made an attempt to bridge across.  brendan and ryan jumped on but alistar swore loundly as we screamed past him.  a moments hesitation from me as we caught mike entering the traffic islands around the round-about and brendan and ryan slipped past me before i managed to also get around mike.

 

brendan – 10, ryan – 7, peter – 5, mike – 3, alistar – 1.

 

the rest of the group all filtered in and i made a point to make the sprint line a bit further up the road as racing into an round-about was not ideal.  we continued onto darlington and most of this was generously downhill and even the uphill sections were taken at a moderate pace.  we came up over ridgehill rd past the base of the zig-zag which was celebrating some type of zig-zag family day.  it meant that we had a couple of impatient motorists behind us that wanted to show how tough they were by passing us very close.  nice.

 

we had to wait for jules once we got back to kalamunda road and this should have been a warning sign to us.  new rider, struggling, says he is alright.  we should have asked about food and drink, but we will get to that afterwards as it was discussed in depth at the coffee shop.  we took off and paul and clare turned for home as did doug.  the rest of us were headed into the final climb. 

 

mike was on the front early and pushed his relentless pace to the point were i fell clear of his wheel.  i dropped back a bit and alistar set the pace for a while to try to minimize the losses to mike.  on the first “plateau” ryan sprinted across to mike and i tried to join him.  alistar was left swearing to himself again but soon caught me as i only made it halfway across.  at the next pinch, he dropped me as i had nothing left to chase with.  i went into damage control mode for the rest of the hill, but kept an eye behind me to make sure brendan or steve didn’t zoom past for the points.  no need to worry as brendan said he bonked on the hill and went into hunger flat.  it was soon rectified at the coffee shop.

 

mike – 10, ryan – 7, alistar – 5, peter – 3, brendan – 1.

 

as we refueled the starving bodies, dr melvyn came in quite late with the new guy, jules.  jules looked like death warmed up and we quickly realised that he had totally hit the wall.  we threw food and drink at him and he then went to order dome stuff inside.  it turns out that it was his first hills ride and also the longest one he has ever done.  he went out with the bike force guys on saturday and they mentioned this ride but said it was pretty hard.  he thought he would have a crack anyway.  with no breakfast, no food and just one bottle of water, he hit the wall on ridgehill road and totally died on kalamunda rd.  we had a big discussion on pre-ride nutrition and what to bring on the ride.  i will have to make an effort to ask any new riders about this before we head out again.  after devouring a coke, hot choc, bread roll, a couple of croissants he was right to go.

 

lisa was still at the coffee shop once we got there but after turning off early she did two repeats of kalamunda road before meeting us for coffee.  so at the end of the day she also managed four pretty big climbs.

 

the return trip was pretty uneventful.  i was talking to jules with brendan and steve in front of us.  we got separated at the lights and never made it back onto the group until vic park.  i lead the group home along berwick and brendan and i kept and eye on ryan to watch him do the “i can’t clip in” thing at the second last set of lights.  we were held up at the final set but when they changed, he shot up the right lane and over the hill.  jens and i chased him but i ran out of puff by the time we came down the hill and watched brendan and steve fly past.  ryan managed to hold everyone off till the end.

 

so, 108kms on my speedo by the time i got home and over 1400m of climbing.  no wonder i am tired.  hopefully this puts me in good stead for the northam classic next week which covers 125kms with five times up the hill leading out of northam. 

 

the final wash up of mountain points were as follows –

 

ryan – 29

mike – 25

peter – 18

alistar – 17

brendan – 15

sunday 21st sept – aborted hills ride

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I could already hear it when I was still in bed.  The probably most horrible weather for cycling, well apart from -5 °C and snow outside, but that is unlikely to happen here in Perth.

 

So rain and gusty wind it was.  I was already drenched when passing the Narrow’s Bridge.  I was already out here in the horizontal rain so I thought there might be still two or more brave ones who decided themselves against crawling back under the blanket. 

 

Arriving at the car park around seven I saw that I was the only one out here.  It stopped raining as well now, but still no one else was here.  Would I be able to find the way out to the hills?  Are there still some people to come and I should wait?  Am I too late?  All these questions could be answered with a no, unfortunately.  

 

So I jumped on the cycle path down the river and did a short round between the bridges.  The sprint at the bell tower against myself wasn’t as fun as usual and also not as competitive.  As I rolled back home the next clouds came crawling in… 

 

I guess it wasn’t that much of a cycling morning!  Should I bother getting up early the next rainy Sunday?

 

Jens