Tag Archives: sunday

sunday 16th mar – kahuna & urch

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ride report by dr melvyn.

this sunday ride, as you would have expected, would have less participants due to the fact that the freeway ride was on that day. when i arrived, there was no group of super fit youngsters from wais to smash us on a “recovery” ride, and many of the experienced campaigners had elected to do the flat ride, or as it turns out sleep in, with (or in) their spouse. instead, nine hardcore riders turned up to see what the “kahuna” would offer.

initially there was confusion as the sheep needed a leader. simon stepped up and set out the plan. we went out berwick, past the glass, and eventually onto albany hwy. a surprising amount of traffic for that time of the morning kept us at the intersection for a while, before we settle into a relaxed pace down the highway. all was sweet as the headwind was not blowing, and the bogan count was still low. we were enjoying it so much that when stuart and i were taking our turn at the front, we almost missed the turn off at the caltex.

going up the kohunu, all was looking good, with no wind, not too hot, not too cold. it was peaceful with the golden glow of early morning light over the bushland. i waved to most of the riders who went off into the distance, as simon (who had charitably stayed behind) and i settled into the climb. at the turnoff we found them waiting, and it dawned on me one of the secrets of guiding the sunday ride. don’t tell them where we are going next, and people will settle for a natural regroup point. we took off again down the right, left then right before gravity took over and we were able to go down urch. this is where mark d demonstrated that his bike computer must be mis-calibrated by hitting 80 down the short downhill (either that or he gets very aero after pedalling like mad). either way it also shows his disregard for safety.

after the all too short descent, we turned left to go up peet. again the natural order re established itself as i saw stuart, mark d and stan (and everyone else) go off and play in front. simon again took the term “social ride” to it word, and we were joined by todd. we soon caught up (probably because the others stopped) and made quick plans to meet again at the karagullen petrol station. Now this next bit was real riding (as it was quite flat). the pace was high as obviously no-one was tired enough, and mark d wanted to get fit on the flat bit. we got to the petrol station to find it closed (palm sunday church before easter?). there were some other guys there on motorbikes. i heard one say that he would pull over if he ran out of gas – the freedom of being self powered!

we soon set off again at pace, as we were keen on coffee and pretty much stayed together until mundaring weir road. cue the usual grunting and sweating that we have done a hundred times until the coffee shop. some observations about the shop: the service is really tangibly improving, as the owner counted us out and brought us all water to the table. they also did not mix up orders (but usually that means we get a free coffee), and it was fast. as an aside the people at the belltower must have been reading the blog as the coffee came out fast yesterday. i was however looking for a suspicious can of international roast – it was that surprising.

anyway after an all too short break and tall stories we had to take off again for the hardest climb of the day. up the street from the coffee shop to the back road, before joining on to canning. pretty soon it was the sweet, sweet feeling of bombing down welshpool (no distracting crosswinds). the main group got to the regroup at the primary school to find mark d and stan guiltily coming out of the bushes. they claimed that they were waiting in the shade as we took too long, but i didn’t have the heart to tell them that schools out on a sunday, and they would have to come back the next day to give their lollies out to the kids.

the remainder of the ride ended like it usually does. all the elements were there: a nervous paceline down welshpool rd east, a half arsed sprint 300m too early, the real sprint starting and blowing past me, turning left on the footpath at the red lights on albany hwy, tentative sunday drivers on berwick shadowing us over our right shoulders, bogans screaming uninteligible gibberish from cars, fit looking sunday shoppers at bunnings. all in all it was a good ride.

sunday 16th mar – freeway bikehike

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not much to report on this one.
a few of us rode down to kwinana in the dark.
a few thousand rode up to joondalup at great speed.
and a few of us rode back to the city afterwards.
my legs are a bit shot from the 130km round trip, but overall ok.

it was pretty dangerous out there today, but probably a bit less than last year. i thought we had it good when it strung out going up the hill through the city. we had it down to double file and rolling through. unfortunately the rest of the pack eventually caught up and we were back to eight or nine wide and people all over the place.

the footage below kind of shows a crash with less than 2km to go. probably doing 45 km/hr at this point as people were starting to line up for the final dig up the off ramp. you don’t see the point of impact, but look for the bike flying in the air and later the guy bouncing off the guard rail. best i could get without actually causing one just for the camera.

i missed getting footage of the other crash which happened just 5 min from the start. i was chasing to get on the group at that stage so didn’t see the initial impact but saw the secondary one where a couple of guys tried to avoid it and ended up tangling up with each other on the opposite side of the road. all i can remember is the smell of burning rubber. not nice.

will probably say the same as last year, and vow not to do this event again….but i always seem to end up organising it for work so also get roped into it.

sunday 9th mar – gooseberry & kalamunda

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ride report by ryan

well, i was running strategically late today (i figured if i was late enough, i would miss the ride which would allow me to go jump back into bed. i felt i could do this without feeling bad as i had done an extra 90kms on top of the sat morning ride the day before. but to my dismay, everyone was rolling out of the carpark as i came onto canning highway so i just had to catch them up.
todays group consisted of nearly 50% females and 50% males. almost 6 and 6 i would hazard a guess at. josie and davina had come down to play with the big boys (ok, maybe not so big) but i was sad to see mike b in the line as this meant i would be hurt up the hills.
as i rolled past the pack near burswood, i noted there was a collective sigh (i am assuming this was because i was looking good in my white knicks and white sleeveless top??).
anyway, all pretty cruisy, some natter and taking of turns at the front out to gooseberry hill. simon was giving us instructions today as pete was giving 110% in the brw triathlon (seems he was having trouble walking for a good few days after, bike fitness does not translate into running fitness it seems).
approaching gooseberry hill, i thought maybe i would go a little harder at the front to put in a little distance between myself and mike b and stuart so i could ease up later and then jump onto their wheels as they came bay later on. well it did not take mike b long to come past and i attempted to sit on his wheel. this attempt was pretty feeble and as the road went up, so did the distance between my front wheel and his back wheel. i have only done this hill once before and i remember entertaining the idea of walking up the hill. well once again i was entertaining this notion, i am not sure why i hate this hill so much? i think maybe just a smidge too steep for me to stay seated the whole way?
well i arrived at the top a distant second and i went off left (the downhill direction) whilst mike b head right (still a bit of an incline). i am not sure who was next up but there were a group all close together (no stuart though, turns out he had dropped his chain at the bottom (very convenient i say)).
The trip to the bottom of the zig zag was fun, josie and her playmate (another young lady with tanned skin) took off, so i thought i may as well play with them and chased. i went past (being a man and all) and we kept the pace on the whole way down. slow for the corners and then charge out of them. on the last ‘zag’ i called out as there was gravel and one of the young guys had fallen off at this spot the last time i did this route. josie was behind me and was going very slow but still slid a fair bit and was nearly sitting on the road nursing some grazes, but she managed to keep the bike upright.
we regrouped at the bottom of the zig zag (well mike b took off ahead alone, which i was grateful for as i thought it meant i did not have to try so hard up kalamunda hill). i was mistaken, after choosing to head to the front and pull everyone along to the bottom of the hill, i see mike b had turned around and come back to find us. he then slotted back in with us.. damn..
up kalamunda hill, i tried to sit on mike’s wheel again but was unsuccessful once again (i was getting used to it) and resigned myself to second spot (looked back and there was noone in sight). looking forward, i did see lorraine and a few of her male friends (secret training??) and passed them a little further along the ascent. once again i am not sure who was after me (could have been josie??), i should pay more attention but mike b had taken off never to be seen again for the day.
coffee shop was as usual, too early for the opening of the fairy shop and the new waitress was not there, lucky we had the ratio we did, although josie had continued on for a little more riding (as did stuart when he caught up with us).
on the way home, we took the longer route home, i am not sure the details but down towards mundaring and then right up past carmel school? when we hit welshpool road, stuart kept the pace high on the ascent, i held his wheel for most of the ascent and then came past and let him have mine. the road then flattens and there are a few undulations till we hit the main descent. i wanted to push a little more on the way home as i felt the first half of the ride had been short (two nasty climbs though which hurt) and stuart held on to my wheel for most of the way.
down welshpool, i hit about 80km/hr i think as the road flattens out at the bottom and the cross wind disappears. we all regrouped and took off again, i wanted to do some more work so went to the front and kept the pace up. it was a lonely ride home, only davina came up beside me at one stage, i thought she was coming past to take a turn but she was just coming to say hello before she dropped back into line. we were held up at the railway line at the spot where dr melvin usually takes off, which broke the rhythm a little but then we took off again towards the mcdonalds lights.

josie had said she had my wheel but i think she thought she had miscalculated as i dropped back a little so she went ahead to find a better wheel. i then started my run a little way off the pack of the pack so when i came past them i was already a few kms faster than them and there was no chance they could hang on as i went past. worked out well and i was through the lights safe by a fair few metres.

then pulled everyone along berwick till the lights where the sprint sort of starts from. stuart came past at a pretty decent pace so i sat on him for a little while then i kicked. probably a little too soon again as jerard was sitting on my wheel again and pipped me at the post. some people can sleep at night by hiding all day till the last moment and i feel good at giving people the satisfaction of beating me every now and then.

well there is my round up of sunday’s events unfortunately it is all from my perspective and i did not pay too much attention to what was happening behind me. if anyone from a little further back has some insights on sunday’s ride, please come forward.

i have to mention stuart’s remark when i asked if everyone enjoyed the fast pace i set on the way home, he replied with ‘was that fast?’. next week he is on the front the whole way home.

sunday 2nd mar – greenmount & parkerville & mundaring weir

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i will try to be more positive today. nothing to rant about, and no soap box to yell from. we had our usual quota of dickheads yelling at us as they drove past, but nothing significant. one guy was actually quite funny and told us to “put your back into it”.

around twenty starters this morning, with mostly the usual suspects but some new faces as well. one guy, neill, who stumbled upon our group a few weeks back, had invited a friend, dave, along as well. a little more daylight this morning as there was no low cloud cover to disperse the day break. for a change, there was a very light southerly wind blowing, which meant that we didn’t have to push into the wind the whole way out.

the course today would take in some nice climbs as well as some nice descents. a bit of a suburban tour to get out to the first climb at greenmount would be followed by a very scenic tour through john forrest national park to our next climb on oxley rd. jumping back over to the south-side of great eastern highway, we would continue on mundaring weir road which would give us another two climbs to get to the coffee shop. along the way there would be a couple of “bonus” climbs thrown in for good measure.

the southerly wind allowed us to get an arm chair ride all the way out to guilford. even on the front was not too much trouble as we clipped along at a fine pace. once we hit bushmead rd we picked up russell and lorraine who live out that way. that got the final numbers up to around 24 riders.

previously when we have ridden this route we have used the bike path to get onto great eastern highway. last time i blogged about this, i said that i would find a better way since the size of the group now makes negotiating a bike path difficult. well i did have a look, but i forgot to have a look just before we went out and so forgot the names of the roads that we needed to take. i kind of knew where we had to go so took a punt on a few of the roads. after a brief excursion past some nice rusting car bodies on the nature strip, we ended up in a court and had to ride back out. a couple more turns and we found great eastern highway again. looking at google maps now, the road that i remembered didn’t actually exist in the real world. we it did, but it didn’t go all the way through and link up with the court that we took. anyway, we found our way out with no harm done.

the climb up greenmount starts steady before ramping up to give a fairly consistent grade climb. the bottom section isn’t really enough to shake the group up much unless a big attack is launched. the hill is way too long for that, and most people realize that. the pace therefore was strong, and i thought we would have lost a few by the time we reached the steeper section, but the majority of the pack was still together. we were still riding two abreast at this point too. it is probably an indication of the groups current form and the consistent hills rides that have meant that the everyone is improving.

as the grade increased, neill, who was next to me at the front went forward saying that he was going to get out of everyone’s way. what it really did was force everyone to chase and therefore started to split the pack up. ryan and stu came past and neill and i jumped on the back. a few others weren’t far behind and were managing to hold it together fairly well.

ryan set a fair pace at the front and we would occasionally swap off until about halfway up. not sure if the pace increased of neill’s legs had had enough, but he dropped off the pace leaving the three of us to surge ahead. a few more turns and we managed to put in quite a gap to the chase guys. almost at the top and ryan surged again forcing me to come around stu to stay on his wheel. it didn’t last long and i had to let him go, but luckily by then we were in the turning lane for the regroup point.

instead of the usual spread of riders that we used to get, they were now sticking together in groups of three of four. the waiting time has also come down significantly as people may be working together to tackle the hills. i did notice as we waited, that we had picked up a couple more riders along the way. as always, welcome. as long as you wait at the designated points we are happy to have you along. we lost dave at this point as he had to return to town early, but made sure he got the first climb under his belt first.

we jumped the gate leading into the national park as it is to keep the car hoons out after dark, and continued on our way. this section is quite rough, with just the right amount of undulation to break the group up. however, i had warned everyone of the gate at the other end that may surprise the first few if they are going too fast. i think that no-one was really sure where the gate was, so the pace was rather sedate and everyone stuck together.

jumped the next gate and we then had a nice descent to oxley road where the next climb would begin. we needed to regroup before this point as it involves a left turn that was not at the end of a road, and therefore created a risk that people would miss it. sometimes people ask me where the ride routes come from. a lot came from simon as he used to run these groups, but a bit of thought does go into them. i found that it is easier to tell people to ride till the road stops rather than try to find a particular landmark or side road. unfortunately this route contains a couple of “tricky” turns.

well oxley is the type of climb where you pretty much need to be in the easiest gear from the start. it kicks sharply, turns the corner, kicks again, flattens, turns and kicks again. it is a really hard climb to sustain an attack as it keeps fighting back. just as we started the climb, a new guy introduced himself as he has happened upon our group whilst out riding by himself. damian his name was and he could climb quite well. ryan was unsure of how long the hill was and so didn’t really attack till the second grade increase. by then i was pretty much at my limit, so had to let him go. he was unsure where we were stopping, so slowed up at the flat section allowing damian and myself to catch up. i showed him the top of the next climb would be the regroup so he sped off again. not sure where stu was on that climb as we were expecting him to come past at any moment.

a quick regroup and we were off again. this section involved quite a few short sections with regroups in between as it is a bit of a maze of roads that make navigation difficult. we cruised down to parkerville and stopped at sam druckers general store in case anyone needed any provisions. at this point, neill said that he needed to get home as he had to be back early. john also said that he needed to get home, but for a different reason. he had suddenly remembered that it was his wedding anniversary. dangerous, dangerous territory to be in. personally, i think he was already screwed, so he should have just enjoyed the rest of the ride. not sure what excuse he was going to use, but someone suggested that he claim that he snuck out on the bike to by flowers.

we then had a bonus climb out of parkerville to get back to the great eastern highway. this climb is fairly steep in sections, but now has been resurfaced with a nice hot-mix. ryan took it at a fair pace with damian and myself holding his wheel. as it steps up again, damian decided to see what ryan had in his tank an
d gave a surge. ryan accelerated and immediately gapped him by quite a few bike lengths. when i caught up to damian i told him not to make ryan angry, or he would just hurt us more. michael had a good climb too and managed to overtake me before we reached great eastern.

a final regroup to make sure all parties were accounted for and we were on mundaring weir road. the first section leaving mundaring township is basically down hill and the group stayed together well. there is a final pinch before the road winds down into the base of the weir which someone will always have a dig to try to get a break. last time we did this route, i’m sure it was me. not this time.

someone did have a crack, and the group responded immediately. as we had just been cruising gently down the hill, the pack was not in any pecking order of who would go well on the climb. therefore, when people attacked, there are often stray riders left out in the middle of the road while other fight to get around. unfortunately, as riders were coming around and others were trying to get back to the left hand side, there was a bit of contact and both dr marc and simon were on the deck. well dr marc was definitely on the deck while simon ended up going bush for a bit. the end result was a very bit hole in dr marcs knee and a very dirty jersey where he ended up in the gravel edge of the road. simon was ok. a lot of discussion about which way he should go as there was still two big climbs ahead, whilst a return to mundaring would get him home quicker. two things became obvious; 1. he was going to continue as it “was only a graze” 2. there was no way he was going to call his wife to tell her that he fell off. the “graze” didn’t look too good as it was down into that white fatty layer. unfortunately he wouldn’t let me take a photo then, but had to wait till we were back at the coffee shop where it had congealed a bit. nice.

anyway, we had all stopped to make sure he was ok, but dr melvyn said that he would ride with him to make sure he didn’t die on the way. we saddled up and continued over the slight rise and onto the nice descent into the weir.

michael and i tried to get a bit of a break leading into the climb, but everyone was happily speeding down the hill after us. by the time we hit the slopes, we had a group of around about ten with us. again, the increase in the groups climbing ability meant that majority of those riders were still together as we past the dams observation point. the road kicks up as it turn the corner and i would say that most of the initial group were still holding wheel. ryan and michael were setting the pace at the front, but i wanted to shake a few of the boys up so sped around to take the lead. ryan instantly was on my wheel along with stu, while a quick look back showed that we had gapped the others. working together, we kept the gap increasing before we approached the top of the main climb. at about this point ryan put in a burst of speed that left stu and i behind. i just kept pace making and ryan eventually got bored and sat up.

i wanted to stay ahead of the rest as that is the beauty of this particular road. it is long, with two major climbs plus many undulations and bonus climbs. it creates a really good race and chase situation as you need to be able to maintain a good pace because if you crack, everyone will pass you.

the three of us worked together up and over the undulating hills past all the national park picnic spots that are usually filled with mountain bikers. on the last climb before the descent, we spotted another rider up the road. this bonus climb can be quite brutal if you need to do it at speed. i looked back when we were on a straight section of road and saw that the chase group was not that far behind. they had obviously been working together to try to get back on. the rider up ahead turned out to be damian who hadn’t stopped when dr marc crashed. normally an offence on this ride, but as he was new and as his wife is due to have a baby on friday, he really needed to get home.

damian jumped on the back as we went past and we tried to keep the pace on over the final climb. once we were at the top i looked back to find that the chase group was only 200 metres behind. ryan suggested that we start to roll through to keep them at bay. all through the descent we managed to roll through and may have actually increased the gap some what.

we hit the final climb up to kalamunda and ryan set the pace early. i was starting to wonder how long my legs would hold out as they were starting to feel very, very heavy. memories of last week also didn’t help as i had tanked it on the final two climbs. ryans pace was only just manageable for all of us as no-one came around for the entire bottom section. i was already close to redline so had nothing left to give. sorry.

once we hit the flatter section, i threw it into the big ring and came to the front to lend a hand. in my opinion, you should do a climb at the same level of exertion regardless of the grade. in that regard, keeping the heart rate up and the legs pumping for as long as possible meant that we were averaging over 40 km/hr in the middle section. ryan, jumped around just before the hill started in earnest again, and managed to gap us all. stu came around and went to catch him, while i just tried to get up the final climb. stu had ryan just before the end, but ryan kicked again and was clearly in front by the time they hit the roundabout. damian managed to come around me at the end as i was pretty much spent by then.

coffees, lots of cokes, bread rolls, tarts, croissants and lots and lots of water were all on the table today. the latest seemed to be a few people buying a baguette and sharing it around so that we all break bread together in true sunday style. discussions turned to the crash as dr marc managed to get a couple of sticky plasters to stem the flow. we suddenly realized that simon was missing. the back markers had arrived, but no-one had seen simon. bad feelings started rising as thoughts turned to the number of descents that we had before the climbs. if the back markers hadn’t seen him, then potentially he may have gone off the edge. a lot of what if’s were tabled, before someone remembered that big chris had got a flat and simon, the good samaritan, had stopped to help him. they rolled in a few minute later.

fuelled up and on our way again. a fairly uneventful descent down welshpool rd and overall my legs were really starting to feel the previous efforts. once on the flat of welshpool rd, dr melvyn hit out again, as is his usual style. the pace increased and everyone took off. horror, upon horror, my legs did not want to respond and i was dropped. simon took it even worse as his leg cramped up and had to unclip to stretch it. luckily we both caught up at the lights. the pace increased again as we headed into vic park and again i had nothing to go with the pack. damn this lack of form.

the final sprint along berwick and we were down to about ten riders in total. we got caught at the last set of lights but as they changed, dr melvyn took off hard and managed to get a gap leading into the final little pinch before the downhill. i used up my last reserves sprinting to catch him but kept on going and even began cramping as i crested the top. i had a gap but knew i couldn’t maintain it as ryan, jerry and michael came flying by. jerry held ryans wheel to the end and managed to just get him at the imaginary line.

a final check of dr marcs injuries and simon’s offer to drive him home was rejected. so a bit of a dampener to an otherwise good ride. i usually like all the riders to bring home all their skin, but sometimes these things happen. i thin
k it is the increase in overall numbers contributing to the accidents (at home or outdoors)  we have been having lately. as with most statistics, you increase the overall population, the incident rate will also increase. hopefully we can keep them fairly minor as i don’t like it when we break bones.

so, stay safe, stay upright.

sunday 24th feb – canning mills & peet & observatory

well sunday arrived and as i said yesterday, if my form is as crap as saturday then it will be a really short blog. luckily it was semi-ok for the first two climbs then crap for the second two, so don’t expect a good read once we get to the observatory.

the course would take us down to roleystone and up canning mills rd, down urch and back up peet to roleystone high school. past karragullen and head over the observatory and back up lawnbrook to the coffee shop.

21 starters this morning and one extra picked up along berwick st. the morning was cool but not too bad as the predicted 33 degrees meant that as soon as the sun was up the temperature would follow. a fairly strong, cool easterly made things interesting as we headed out along albany hwy.

a very uneventful ride out to the hills as no-one no dropped glasses or chains like yesterday. dr paul and dr greg turned off early and decided to tackle the kahuna instead. we continued on to canning mills rd which would take us to the same point anyway. this climb has been used a number of times as the state hill climb championships. it is a very constant grade of close to 9% for just over 2.5 kms before it flattens off to a 2% for about a km.

as the road pointed up michael rocketed off the front to try to get as much advantage as possible. mike upped the pace to follow him and young robbie went too. michael put a bit much into his early attack and mike overtook him with robbie in tow. i put in as much effort as i thought i could without blowing up, which goes against everything i have written previously. after yesterday, though, i was a bit wary of my form in the hills.

i managed to pick up michael but was not having much luck keeping mike and robbie in sight. stu set his tempo and came past me too but i managed to keep within 30 or so metres of him. looking back down the road there was a nice pack forming with michael, jerry and brendon from yesterday, who was discovering hills after a few years at kalgoorlie. my recovery was certainly better than yesterday and i managed to keep my heart within the 180 bpm’s without getting into oxygen debt. as the road flattened stu put the power down a bit and managed to extend over me, but didn’t really get any closer to mike and robbie. i was happy just to keep going to the top where we regrouped at the turn to chevin rd.

i asked robbie whether he let the old man win as mike must be closer to 50 than 40 and robbie has just turned 16. he said that he didn’t know where we were stopping so just stayed with him to the end. not good for us as it meant that he must have had quite a bit more in reserve. anyway, it wasn’t going to be a concern to me today as i was happy just to be close to the front on the climbs. the remainder of the pack scrambled their way up the climb before we headed onto part of the state road championship course.

a quick, very quick descent on urch rd before climbing up onto peet rd lay ahead. michael and i decided to push the descent to try to get a big break on mike and robbie before the climb started. it is steep, fast descent and i hit 82 km/hr at the bottom. mark was even faster and came past both michael and myself to start the climb first. mark used to be the one that would hurt us on the climbs but a number of overseas work trips have played havoc with his training and is also struggle to find form. michael and i started pushing to get a gap, but by the time we turned onto peet rd, the others were only 20 metres behind.

i pushed as hard as i dared and managed to drop michael but robbie came up to me quite easily. he wanted to know where the next regroup point was so he could see if he could give it to mike on the climb. he left me behind and mike came past as well to join him. i set a tempo and managed to get stuck in no-mans land between them and a group with michael, jerry and stu.

as we approached the final pinch up to roleystone high school, i was caught by the chase group and jumped on stu’s wheel. he put in a nice effort up to the “finish-line” of the state road championships and i was not anywhere near holding his wheel. robbie had out gunned mike on the line too. we regrouped as everyone made their way up and headed to karragullen for a refuel or pit-stop. simon managed to use the right toilet this time.

from karragullen to pickering brook is undulating with one short “bonus” climb towards the end. we tend to set a nice pace as most of it is downhill but someone always goes on the climb to see what will happen. it is usually me and i usually get past quickly. this time i thought i would wait to see and mike decided to take off. i jumped on his wheel and managed to keep up as it is not that steep. however, the previous efforts were taking their toll and i couldn’t hold his wheel. i signaled for the others to come around and let about five of them head off into the distance while i picked up the pieces.

at the pickering brook intersection, we regrouped and lorraine decided to take a short-cut straight to the coffee shop. it was her first time out to the hills with us and she did well as we tackled some very steep climbs. stu and i led the pack as we headed to the start of the climb on the easy side of the observatory. the wind was strong enough to make it difficult and i noticed that my thighs were starting to cramp. bugger. another side-effect of being on holidays. as i was not in a routine i was a bit hit and miss with my supplements and so missed quite a bit of magnesium. i had this problem earlier and the supplements certainly helped the situation, but now it was starting again.

as the hill started i pulled over to the edge to let everyone else past and managed to stick with a small group to get to the top. i thought that maybe i could conserve enough energy to get a good run at the last climb which was coming up soon. i’m pretty sure i saw robbie and mike take off from the others towards the end of the climb though. another regroup and we headed into the nice fast descent down the steep side of the observatory. i noticed robbie really struggling to keep up on the descent and was still in his small chanring. being 16 he is still gear restricted so is not allowed to push big gears yet. it makes it hard when you need that extra bit of speed.

as soon as we hit the other side, mike took off hard and michael and i tried to match him. not today. i quickly went into damage control mode and just tried to set a rhythm that i could handle. robbie took off after mike and stu came past me too. well actually almost everyone came past me. about half way up i was caught by a small group and i managed to sit on for a while. camille put a big effort in and i tried to stay on her wheel. when i got up out of the saddle my thighs began to cramp so i just had to sit back down and let her go. simon chased her down but it was the last i saw of them. as the gradient leveled out a bit todd flashed past me happy to inflict some payback pain in me. i managed to jump on dr marc’s wheel and received a nice draft to the regroup point.

coffee awaited us although we lost stu, mike and camille as they headed home early. we hit the coffee shop to find the table all ready for us with water and all. lorraine had managed to set it all up while she waited for us to arrive. it certainly made for a pleasant surprise and i thank her for that. i think that the coffee
shop might finally understand that if they get us served quickly we will leave quickly. service was quite good overall.

the trip home was fairly uneventful although the boys tried to light it up a few times on welshpool rd. my legs were too shattered to chase so i hung on to the back markers with muscle memory the only thing keeping my legs turning. we managed to drop riders off along the way as people found their own way home. the final sprint was approaching and the pack was down to about ten riders. the boys were a bit hesitant as no-one wanted to lead out. my legs were gone so i decided to lead out as there was no way i could sprint. coming into the final stretch, michael and jerry both came around and it looked like a dead heat but michael conceded that jerry just got him on the imaginary line. we don’t actually know where the line is, but we just sprint till people give in.
well i have to send a search party out to find my form, but hopefully i can get it together sooner rather than later.

sunday 17th feb – darlington & mundaring wier

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ride report by michael

a rather pleasant day greeted us for this sunday ride, a nice change from the previous few very hot sundays. a smallish group of 14 riders had gathered for the journey, without too many of the usual big hitters out today, it augered well for a pleasantly well mannered ride.

starting out along great eastern highway we crusied along at a moderate pace before turning onto queens rd and past rosehill golf course through to bushmead rd and onto helena valley rd. a left turn into scott st followed by a right into marriott rd, wherewe were greeted by short, steepish climb, which really gets the heart pumping and gives the legs a rapid warmup.
as we turned onto coulston rd, stuart and i set a steady pace at the front going up the climb, stringing the group out, with a regroup at darlington rd. doug joined the ride at this point. heading down the short steep descent past darlington school, we quickly reached the short very steep ascent of leithdale rd, with rachael punching her way up the climb in first position before turning onto ryecroft rd.

you could hear the crunching of gears with people searching for the lowest gear they had for the climb, it really hits you suddenly without any time to prepare. ryecroft road starts with a deceptively steep first section before easing to a fairly easy gradient. darren impressed by pushing to the front and maintaining a good tempo to the top of the climb, with a regroup at the intersection of glen forrest drv. an easy downhill followed which gave us all a chance to rest our legs for a spell before starting the next climb up thomas rd.

thomas rd is a long, gentle, undulating climb through some pituresque countryside that takes us all the way to mundaring. the climb started reasonably sedately with melvin and i setting an easy tempo for the group, but that state of afairs wasn’t going to last long, my legs were feeling good at time and i decided to gradually crank up the pace, stuart joined me at front and we maintained that pace all the way to mundaring. i didn’t look back at all during the climb so I don’t know where people dropped back but i know that todd was in there as he pulled up and rode along side me for a while, (he’s been putting in some strong performances lately in the hills), and when we arrived at mundaring jerrard, camille and darren were also there. i think dr marc wasn’t that far behind either.

a nice long descent follows, which takes us all the way down to the mundaring weir, it’s another good opportunity to rest the legs and practice those descending skills. starting the climb easily out of mundaring weir i was quickly joined and then passed by stuart but keeping him at a manageable distance. jerrard caught up with me an we worked together to gradually catch up with stuart towards the very crest of the climb. it’s a tough climb out of the weir, because it starts off gently but then steepens and when you think it’s nearly over you round a corner and it keeps on going, it then levels off but keeps on persisting for a couple of km’s. once over the top of the climb, stuart, jerrard and i worked together to put some time into the rest of the group, until we hit the climb just before the camel farm, where stuart pulled away towards the top. on the descent we managed to reel him in and started the climb up to kalamunda together.

as we got into our rythym on the climb maintaing a steady 24km/h, some guy on a time trial bike came by us, Stuart and i looked at each other with bemused expressions and then hooked in behind him and followed him up the climb, we lost jerrard somewhere along the climb as the pace was on, and then just before the false flat section we lost touch with time trial guy. after the flat section stuart rode to the front and by that time my legs had nothing left and i had to let him go it alone up the final pinch and the kom points in first place.

camille later told us about some hillbilly harassing her as she rode up one of the climbs, this guy in a ute closely followed her for 3-4 mins yelling at her something but she doesn’t know what because she had her ipod on. doug and melvin were a short distance behind but couldn’t catch up enough to stop that idiot red neck.

our usual stop at paris brest cafe followed, and a well deserved rest i must say. stuart kept on going forsome extra km’s. paris brest were 4 staff short today and it seemed like every one was out for brunch, so our stop turned out to be quite long, but the almond and custard escargot was worth the wait.

starting off on the road home with heavy legs, it’s the worst part of the day this uphill section out of kalamunda. the legs gradually return from their stupor, then we hit the descent of lesmudie and welshpool rd’s, it’s always a blast descending down here at break neck speed, all the while watching out for mad drivers. a slight south westerly kept the top speeds down, I could only manage 78km/h on the downhill.

the ride back along welspool rd was fairly uneventful until melvin, on que decided to light the touch paper and put in a blistering sprint, followed closely behind by todd. jerrard then went to chase them down and i couldn’t let them go either, and so followed suite and managed to catch them just as we hit the slight rise before the leach hwy intersection. the pace was on along berwick st, clicking along at around 40km/h. i started the final sprint earlier than normal but couldn’t quite get the jump on jerrard who came by to claim the points at the finish.

apart from one unpleasant encounter with a red neck git and some slow service at paris brest, a very pleasant ride was had by all, with some nice weather for a change as well.

sunday 10th feb – carradine & peet & observatory

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around twenty three or so riders rolled up to the start today ready for another hot morning in the hills. mostly the usual suspects, but a couple of new faces as well. it was forecast to be 32 degrees today with strong easterly winds, so no matter where we went it was going to be hard. as i am going over east for a couple of weeks and will miss next weeks rides, i decided that we would do a long one no matter what the weather. this usually means heading down towards armadale.

cade, mike and stu were part of the group this morning, so if it was not one it would be the other, or even all of them that would be setting the pace. the course gave a lot of opportunities to deal some pain on the hills as we had four main climbs plus a couple of bonus climbs as well. the course went down albany hwy and then up carrawatha, carradine, down soldiers rd, up peet, across brookton hwy, over to pickering brook, up the observatory, then up lawnbrook to kalamunda. quite a long ride all up, but with a couple of very nice descents in between some of the climbs.

we picked up another couple as we rolled out through vic park but disaster stuck for dr nic before we even turned off berwick rd. as we approached the lights at hill view crescent, they changed so someone grabbed a handful of brakes. darren braked and swerved to avoid, but this meant that dr nic clipped his wheel. trying to keep upright she swerved left and then fell but not before pinning shao and his bike to the curb. a little blood on the knee and some damaged pride more than anything. she was ok but was probably angry more than anything and the adrenaline helped her do a big turn at the front.

cross winds played havoc on the way down to the first climb, but even before then we had lost a couple. dr greg had to be home by 9 so didn’t make it very far before turning back. dr paul turned up brookton hwy to have an easier climb and we never saw him again.

the first climb is carawatha which is a very short bonus climb. it starts off moderate for about 300m, then flattens slightly for 300m, then there is a kink so you can’t see the last 300m until you start it. the last section is about 15% and is quite brutal. being a bonus climb, and being way too steep for me, i tend to try to get into a rhythm and just get to the top without blowing up. cade, stu, ben, darren and a new guy bill all broke away on the bottom section and had gapped the rest by 20 or so metres. when the top section of the climbs started, darren dropped off and mike came flying past me and easily bridged to the remaining four. i was in my easiest gear which is a 23 tooth and was still reaching for something else. mike managed to come past the remaining boys and gap them before the top by about 10 or so metres. not sure exactly as i was still on the climb.

a regroup at the top (well some of us did) and we had a quick descent to the foot of the first main climb. carradine isn’t that steep but is about 3 kms long and has some really rough roads. combined with the head wind, this made for a testing climb. my legs were feeling quite tired today as i ended up riding on friday which is usually my rest day. the 24 hr torrential rain we had on thursday forced me to change my usual routine. this meant that i would be riding three hard days straight as friday was a hard time trial around the river before work. so, that was my excuse.

the climbs started well and i was content to sit in and see who would make a move. it wasn’t long before cade came around the pack and straight to the front to up the pace. i managed to jump on his wheel and let him break the wind for me. the increase in pace dropped the rest of the pack except mike who jumped across to my wheel. the three of us swapped turns with me doing the least work as i was having trouble even holding the wheel. my quads seemed like they were full of lead and my left calf was tight. these issues seemed to over-ride my cardio as i found that i wasn’t pushing maximum bpm as the legs started to fail first. probably just over training.

we continued to the top and with no-one forcing a break, we all finished together. the rest of the pack came through in ones and twos, but we had managed to create quite a gap. after a regroup we moved onto the first fun descent of the day. soldiers rd starts off rough, but has a nice smooth, wide, twisty, protected section at the bottom. there used to be a few sections where they had done road works and not fixed it too well, but these were now re-fixed. after negotiating the rougher section with its tight corner that claimed a fair bit of scott’s skin a year ago, i managed to accelerate around a few guys and get on michael’s wheel with a bit of clear road around me. hitting 78 km/h in the middle of the ride is great after going up the hills so much slower, but i was pushing my limits a bit on some of the corners.

the road has a small rise where i told michael i would wait for the others to make sure that they all got down ok. some of the others were already waiting there so they all headed to brookton hwy where we usually regroup before the climb up into roleystone. lindy and todd brought up the rear and i rode the rest of the way with them. when we hit brookton hwy, there was only michael waiting. everyone else had gone on ahead. i wasn’t particularly happy as this ride is based on the fact that we wait and regroup to make sure everyone makes it in one piece.

so michael and i started the climb with todd and lindy in tow. we didn’t set a blistering pace as i really couldn’t be bothered as i was still pissed off that there wasn’t a regroup. we managed to pass quite a number of the other riders who were well and truly strung out by the hills 10% average grade. once we got to roleystone high school i stopped and waited as the guys that had gone ahead were circling around not sure where to go next. everyone who passed by i just told to regroup at the karragullen, while michael and i waited for the back of the pack.

at the gull servo everyone had a refuel or toilet stop due to the excessive fluid consumption. lindy was surprised when she went to the toilets to find simon coming out of the women’s. it doesn’t surprise us much. on top of using the facilities, he committed the worst crime seemingly possible and left the toilet seat up. come on simon, if you are going to live like a women, at least know the rules. i hope the trans-gender surgery goes well…..just joking.

we headed along canning rd to the next regroup at pickering brook. this stretch is undulating but starts off quite nicely before the last couple of bonus climbs. we stayed together well until we hit the base of the climb and it started to bunch up. i wasn’t really meaning to start anything, but kept it in the big gear and powered up the climb until i had to change down. i was happy to cruise then but cade came past so i jumped on his wheel. mike bridged across and we worked together up towards the intersection. i dropped off just before the end and was quickly picked up by the chasing pack.

at this regroup point, there is always the option for an early exit as you can easily go straight to the coffee shop from here. it may be a reflection of the increase in the groups ability, but everyone was still keen to continue as planned, even though there was two more climbs to go.

we cruised to the bottom of the observatory and hit it as a group. as usual the pack spread as people found their pace and began to climb. cade and mike were at the front and had began to pull away from the main pack. i
was boxed in and had to wait till the group thinned out a bit before accelerating around and catching up. once i hit the front, the four of us, as stu had also jumped ahead, began to put some distance on the others. cade and mike set the pace well with mike still in the big ring for the majority of the climb. my legs were starting to feel a bit better as the preceding climbs must have “warmed” them up a bit. i knew that the climb levels out a bit after the main stretch and thought that if i can get ahead, i may have a chance of keeping away till the top.

i put it in a higher gear and accelerated hard around the others. i kept it up for as long as my legs would allow before finding a more manageable pace. i sneaked a glance back hoping like hell that there wasn’t anyone on my wheel and saw that no-one had chased me down. i tried to keep the pace on to stay away, but further checks saw that someone was gaining on me fast. i wasn’t sure who it was but right at the end, about 100 m from the end of the climb i was past by bill the mate of shao’s that had come along for the first time. bugger, i thought i had it.

the remaining bunch made their way up for another regroup before the second nice downhill of the day. climbing up the easy side of the observatory meant that we would get to descent the steep side. a few slight cross winds made it a bit more exciting, but we all made it down safely before heading straight into the final climb up lawnbrook rd.

mike had a 25 m gap as soon as the climb started and then he took off like a rocket. i tried to bridge across to him, but didn’t come close and had to find my own rhythm. as the climb progressed, he managed to put even more distance into me and a quick look back saw stu quickly catching me. he managed to catch and pass me but i stayed on his wheel. on the next pitch i managed to drop him but he caught back up near the top. neither of us got any closer to mike. once it leveled out we swapped off turns to try to reel mike back in but he still had about 150m once we hit the intersection of canning rd.

at this point it was a easy cruise to the coffee shop rather than it being the final climb. mike, stu, cade, shao and bill continued on and left us to some french style decadence. we were a bit late to coffee today, as a trip to armadale usually adds quite a bit of time to the ride, but service was quite good. they have even cottoned on to the fact that we now want to take the food with us to the table rather than wait for it to be brought out later.

it was a fairly uneventful descent, but a pleasurable one with favorable winds not causing too much disturbance. once we hit the bottom we had a visit from mr dickhead in a hotted up blue ford wank-mobile, who decided that even though he could easily change lanes as there were no other cars around, he wanted to come within a ruler length of the riders at speed. it’s time like these that i wish my bike mounted camera was working. i gave him the finger and he did likewise, but not much else i could do. i hope he wraps it around a tree some time.

jerry and i set the pace all the way back along welshpool rd, but were waiting for someone to make a move as the winds were very favorable. it wasn’t till the last bit that carl came around so i immediately jumped on his wheel and sat on to see how long he would last. as he started to fade, mark jumped and sprinted away in the distance. i didn’t really have the legs for it by this stage.

the final sprint and i ended up on second wheel behind russell. he is a big lanky guy, so i had a good position out of the wind. however, he ended up doing too much work and faded after the slight hill but is still didn’t want to go yet. jerry kicked out and took michael with him. i tried to go but couldn’t find enough to get past both of them, so michael easily came off jerry’s wheel for the finish.

a quick weight check once i got home found me under 70 kg for the first time in a while. not in the good way, however, as it meant that i had sweated out two litres of fluids that had to be replaced.

as i am away next week, i have requested that someone else write up the rides afterwards. i will still post the routes on thursday, but someone else will be running the group.

so stay safe, and watch out for mr dickhead.

sunday 3rd feb – welshpool & observatory & kalamunda

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well another hot day was forecast, so i thought that we would stay close to the coffee shop as possible. the temp only dipped to 25 deg overnight so this generally meant that a crap night was probably had as well.

the course would take us up welshpool rd, over the observatory, up mundaring weir rd to kalamunda, back down the zig-zag and up kalamunda rd. it was a bit of a criss-cross on the map as we rode the same patch of road twice and also came within 100m of the coffee shop before riding back down the hill.
just over 20 riders showed up this morning, with the heat probably scaring most away. a couple of regulars were racing crits and ryan was sunning himself in thailand so i was interested to see who would bring the pain on today. it was therefore good when young mitch turned up (pictured). he is only about 18 or 19 and is in some wais program or something, so can pretty much ride a bike well. he has been out with us before and i have seen him crack ryan on a climb. so, it should be a good day.
as we rolled out we picked up alistar on berwick rd. al is a fly-in fly-out engineer, so doesn’t come out with us very often. however, when he does, he usually does a good job of hurting us. stuart was also back after a week watching the tour down under and doing a few serious rides while over in adelaide. all in all it should make for an interesting ride.
the trip out was fairly uneventful. we picked up russell and doug along welshpool rd just to swell the ranks a bit. the main thing was the hot wind that was blowing directly into our faces all the way out. i sat at the back the whole way out as the pack got split early on and so i dropped back to ensure everyone was still on. this meant that i would be starting the climb behind the eight-ball. however, mitch, al and stu were all back with me too.
as the climb started, the pace at the front began to slow, so i started to come around. michael and ben s were on the front, but i wanted to try to thin the head of the pack out a bit. michael did stay at the front for long as he had decided to do the entire climb in the 53 x 19. just cause he can. i pushed the pace up the first section with al, ben, stu and greg in tow while mitch was still finding his way to the front. i was trying to set a hard pace while at the same time waiting to see who would be coming around. by the time we hit the main part of the climb, mitch had taken up the pace making and was making it difficult for all. a little way up the steeper section he accelerated again and i just did what i could to hold his wheel. we managed to gap the others, but not for long as stu bridged across quickly.

i didn’t fair too well out of mitch’s acceleration and began to drop off his wheel. by the time we past the servo, mitch had 50m on me and 20 on stu. once they hit the flat section, they both sat up and i managed to catch them. i told them we need to keep going to stay away from the others as this was all part of the game. the next step up in the hill i managed to hold on for a while, but mitch stepped up the pace again, and i fell off the back. i knew i couldn’t catch them, so did what i could to try to stay away from the rest of the pack. repeatedly trying to stay on mitch’s wheel meant that i didn’t have much left, but managed to keep away from al to the top of the last pinch.
we regrouped at the top and headed onto the next climb. as we came past carmel and the sanitarium “factory” the group started to split a bit on the decent. I managed to come around the outside but on the uphill section I hit a rock or gum-nut with my front wheel while I was standing. it scared the crap out of me as it really twisted the handle bars in my hands. well it would have been interesting to get on tape as the video was running at the time.
we hit that little decent before the climb and I made sure I was already in the little ring as I know how steep this climbs starts out. russell turned off at this point so added to the others (dr paul, dr greg and dr ian) that we had lost on the first climb. I managed to get to the front and set the pace for a while. after the first pinch it is not a particularly hard climb, but long with dead roads that sap your strength. mitch eventually came around me and I managed to hold his wheel for a while. this also meant that we had gapped the field in the process. unfortunately my legs were not up to his standard and I fell off and ended up in no-mans land. by the time we got to the intersection, mitch had about 100m on me but also rode past the turn by about 20m. this meant that I “caught” him for the last pinch. stu had found his second wind and managed to bridge across as well.
a regroup at the top and we were on our way for a leisurely decent. not so leisurely for some as darren got cut off at the bottom of the hill and ended up leaving the road. I waited behind to make sure that he and the others were ok. the main group had kept on riding and we ended up getting scattered along pickering brook rd. as the main group was well and truly gone by the time I hit the climb, I decided to have a bit of a rest and just take it easy to the top. about halfway up the first part of the climb, todd caught up and past me. he wanted to know whether I got that on tape as he said it didn’t happen very often. at the very end, we picked up al who had tried to match it with mitch and was now feeling the aftermath.
we regrouped at the top and i asked who wanted to go straight to the coffee shop as it was only 100m away. we had a couple of takers, but as the majority were going to continue, peer pressure forced most of them to continue. i think if i had said that we would just go to coffee, there would not have been any complaints. i knew that we had to do more and we had lots of time up our sleeve. so down the zig-zag to the base of kalamunda rd.
when we turned onto kalamunda rd, the wind was coming quite strongly off the hillside and channeling straight into our face. this forced the group to split into little groups and i got caught in the middle one. i looked up the road and stu and al were in the front one, so i had to catch up as i didn’t want to give them 50m head start before the hill. i think that mitch was with me so we both came across.
as the hill picked up, i managed to come to the front and up the pace to thin out the pack again. my legs were starting to feel it but i kept pushing until only mitch and al were left. mitch then came around me and started pushing a bit harder. it was good to hear that his breathing was labored and i wasn’t making it too easy for him. al also came around and i managed to sit on for a bit. towards the top mitch then hit the turbo and spat me out the back. al lasted a further 10m before getting dropped as well. we just had to make do and maintained till we got to the top. it is a windy climb, so it was hard to judge how far ahead of the others we were, but we could still see mitch when we hit the top. neither al nor mitch were staying for coffee, so i was first in. well not exactly. christophe had ejected before the last climb and was happily relaxing with a coffee when we showed up.
water was the order of the day as i had sweated profusely throughout the ride. coke was also on the cards to get a sugar and caffeine kick to get me home.
the decent was good with the tailwind helping michael to get to 87 km/h and me to about 80ish. when we were all back together, we happily cruised along welshpool rd at about 40 without really needing to push to hard. as christophe and i led the pack along i was waiting for the attack to come and wasn’t disappointed. “mr excitement” aka dr melvyn took off around the pack to try to shake it up a bit. after weeks of trying the same move, he deceided to leave it a bit longer so he would have more of a chance. in the end we only had to sprint for about 100m before having to slow down for the lights.
the final sprint along berwick and christophe hit out early at the lights and got a bit of a break. i chased him down bringing jerry and greg with me. jerry came around me to take second wheel as we hit the downhill. i waited till we were back on the flat before launching. i came around both, but also saw a shadow on my right as greg was trying to come off my wheel. i had to sustain the sprint a bit longer than usual to keep him at bay, but also had another secret weapon. as it was hot, really hot, i was still sweating a lot. this managed to come flying off in the sprint and splatter all over greg as he tried to stay on my wheel. quite disgusting really, so next time he might want to be in front of me. rolled home and found the air-con had thankfully been left on. a quick weight check and i had lost 2 kg through sweating so it was an afternoon of drinking, drinking and more drinking.

sunday 27th jan – gooseberry & kalamunda

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well it was forecast to be a hot one today and was already over 20 degrees by the time we started. about 25 rolled up to the start today which is a good turn out considering yesterday was australia’s national drinking day.

the course today was going to be as quick and painful as we could make it. two quick climbs before coffee then a bunch of undulations before heading home. the two climbs were gooseberry hill, and kalamunda rd. i really hate both these climbs as one is just too steep for me and the other i find hard to get into a rhythm. but cycling is all about testing yourself…and hurting other people as previously discussed.

we rolled out and headed along great eastern hwy avoiding the little patches of broken glass. aussies are tops at drinking and seem to be even better at smashing bottles on the road after they have finished. luckily there was only a smattering mostly near bus stops. the weather was nice, the pace was easy, nothing really to say about the ride out. it was just a good opportunity to have a chat.

once we approached the hills we picked up another couple of riders. russell, who often latches on if we are heading this way, and a new guy neill. he was just out an about and jumped on board for the ride. i had done a turn and had headed to the back so was right at the tail end talking to neill when we turned onto ridge hill rd. this wasn’t one of our main climbs, but is just steep enough and long enough to really hurt people.

as soon as the group hit the climb, it spread out across the entire lane. people were reordering themselves based on climbing ability and were trying to make their way around the slower riders. i looked up the road and greg and mike were close to the front, and i didn’t want to get left behind. up out of the saddle and a quick sprint around the pack found me at the front but also near out of breath. i sat on gregs wheel for a bit before hitting it a bit harder and seeing how many we could drop off from behind us. by the time we got to the zig-zag rd, only greg and mike were close behind. i was guessing that mike was saving himself for the next climb. greg also said that he expected there to be a further climb, so he may also have had quite a bit in reserve.

a quick regroup and we headed off to gooseberry hill. now this hill is not really that long, probably 2 kms max. but it does have some really nasty sections that make you want to find an easier gear. the climb is really broken up into 4 sections. the initial climb which is fairly steep, a reprieve in the middle, a really steep section followed by a f~ckin steep section. the wonderful thing is that each section is preceded by a corner, so you don’t really see it coming.

well i started mid pack again and had to come around the slower riders (i really must work on my positioning). once i got towards the front the pecking order had already started sorting itself out. i sat on gregs wheel with mike, jerry & michael in tow. we pushed on forming a gap to the others. i decided to see who wanted to hurt and came around greg to up the pace again. mike came with but the others kept up their steady pace. i am pretty sure once we hit the flatish section, it was only mike and myself, but greg may not have been too far behind. the reprieve section can often catch you out as you think that the hill is not too bad. you then turn the corner and start clicking back down the gears.

i tried to keep up with mike for as long as possible, but my legs were not working well today. i wasn’t smashing the heart rate, but my legs were just heavy especially the quads. i kept pushing on and tried not give mike too much distance. after the next little bend in the road and the road kicks up even further, i heard greg had caught back onto my wheel. as i said, i really hate this climb. if you are afraid of heights they say not to look down. with this climb, it’s best not to look up.

anyway, i kept the pace as high as i could so greg could not easily come around me. once i could see the road sign for the roundabout at the top, i accelerated a bit to see if i could close the gap a bit to mike and try to shake greg. dropped greg, but could not catch mike who was at least 50m in front once we hit the top. the only thing it did to me was put me very, very close to the spew zone. that awful feeling where, you know that you may have gone a little hard. i hate it as it takes a while to recover and i knew that the next climb wasn’t too far away.

the rest of the guys made their way up to the top of the climb, but no-one really looked happy. it is that type of hill.

a regroup, before a nice decent down the zig-zag. the zig-zag is often used by groups to come up to kalamunda as every other way involves a steeper climb. it is however, a one way road that goes downhill. we have used it in the past, but find it a bit too shallow to use for a sunday hills ride. it is scary when you find a car coming the other way towards you. that didn’t happen today as we were going the correct way.

the decent takes in 4 switch backs and was resurfaced a couple of years ago with nice smooth hotmix. only the last corner caused any problems as it was totally covered with gravel, so i waited to warn the rest of the pack. back down ridge hill rd again and onto kalamunda rd.

i don’t know why i don’t like this climb. we don’t do it very often as it can get quite busy. i have also avoided it lately as it takes us directly to the coffee shop and the temptation to stop early is too great. anyway, the gradient constantly changes which makes it hard to get into a rhythm could be the main reason we don’t get along.

i don’t remember a lot of what happened on this climb. i know greg was there at the start and i jumped on his wheel. then i think mike came around and i tried to stay with him as long as possible. he was going hard and again my legs didn’t want to play so i couldn’t hold his pace for long. looking back i could see jerry and michael together and i was stuck in no-mans land between. a saw another couple of riders up ahead and soon past dr paul. he obviously hadn’t stopped at the regroup to try to get a head start on the climb. i exhaled a greeting as i was starting to struggle by then. even the thought of keeping mike in sight by the top of the hill was going to be a hard ask. more than hard. he was long gone by the time i hit the funky gumnut roundabout at the top, but i did manage to keep jerry and michael at bay.

mike wasn’t stopping for coffee but when i rolled in i found that i wasn’t first either. darren and russell also hadn’t wai
ted at the base of the zig-zag and had beaten everyone else up the hill. well first to the coffee is the winner, so i couldn’t begrudge them that.

being a short ride, and doing a bit extra after coffee meant that we rolled up early for a change and promptly took over most of the outdoor section. service was excellent and one of the waiters continually bought out jugs of ice water which was well received. paris-brest cafe kalumunda (free plug).

the conversation at the coffee shop is varied and will often cover most topics. mostly bike orientated, but with eight doctors on the ride today, it can sometime take a bizarre twist. i recommend staying for coffee just to listen in on what is said as i can’t remember every detail. however, i would say that at least once every ride the whole table is pissing themselves laughing over some comment or story.

instead of the usual decent straight down welshpool rd, we were going to head down mundaring weir rd and though bickley valley, before heading back to the city. we usually head up this as the final climb of the day, so it was a pleasant change to be going down. we lost quite a few with a group of them deciding to take the quick way home. i was bring up the rear of the decent when i saw simon on the side of the road taking off his helmet. dr nick and myself pulled over to see what the problem was. apparently he had hit a bee at speed which had gone straight into his helmet and stung him on the scone. no allergy that he knew about so we continued, but i rode the rest of the way with him, dr nick and lindy.

the pack had waited near carmel school and we headed towards welshpool rd for the final decent. no cross winds today and i managed to keep up with the front guys. i even changed lanes at the bottom to take advantage of a passing 4wd’s draft and manged to crack 85 km/h but was pedalling at 140 rpm to do it. i need more gears for both higher and lower.

after a regroup, we headed along welshpool rd proper when adi dropped onto the tri bars and attacked off the front. unusual move as he is a very passive rider, probably cause he is young compared to the rest of us. with the wind behind us, most people took the opportunity to stretch their legs and took off after him. it was earlier than we usually go, but a fun diversion nevertheless. as we approached the final stretch along berwick rd the set of traffic lights at kent rd kept us fairly well together. i jumped at the lights and actually got on behind a couple of cars which were helping me to extend the gap. however, the road works conspired against me as one of the cars was turning so the other now couldn’t get around.

in the interest of making the world a safer place for pedestrians that don’t know how to look both ways, they are converting the rest of two lane berwick into single lane with huge traffic islands in the middle. these “traffic calming” devices are fine if you are a single cyclist, but now the cars cannot get around groups of riders as they don’t have enough room to pass before another traffic island appears. it just makes them hate us more.

anyway, we got the next set of lights which let everyone group up again. michael hit out hard and i jumped on his wheel, letting him draft me to the final sprint. as we approached the end greg and i think jerry started coming around so i got up out of the saddle and went for it too. the sore legs came back to haunt me as i got a bit of a gap but couldn’t maintain it and greg slid past at the end.

no last second car park crashes like last week, so i good ride all around. the morning was heating up so it was off home to a shower and an air-con, before watching the crits in vic park. legs are also looking forward to the recovery ride tomorrow. the picture is supposed to be of where the bee stung simons head, but he didn’t do the decent thing and swell up for the camera.