Tag Archives: welshpool

sunday 17th august – welshpool & observatory

ride report by peter

i knew i was going to be struggling today. after the collie-donnybrook yesterday and the late return home, it was always going to be hard to back it up. i was running a bit late again today and it was a family effort which delayed me. my sleeping in combined with ben’s early wake up combined with kate going back to sleep all meant that i didn’t turn up till a smidgen past seven. i had dressed appropriately for the cold start, but was concerned that i would be caught out later in the morning as we were headed for another beautiful day. i had double jerseyed again and also had leg warmers on. it was a brisk morning and i was happy with the extra layers.

i knew that ryan and stu would not be coming this morning as stu was probably staying done south after the race yesterday and ryan had a bucks night to go to as soon as he got home. i was hoping for not too much competition as i was not sure how i would cope with the climbs. brendan had turned up after yesterday race but he is training up for a pretty big race over east in a months time so is doing 1000 kms a week when he is on break. our sand-shoed friend from the saturday ride had turned up again, but i had not met him yesterday, so had no idea what to expect. there were a bunch of other regulars for a total of about 15 riders. brett was out for a change and i asked him how he got a leave pass. he said that jerry had left a message to his wife saying that he’d had a hard week so should be allowed out to play on sunday. she did not want to seem like and ogre so let him come and play. i think everyone is going to get jerry to leave some messages now.

the route today would be a looping affair with a trip up welshpool before climbing the harder side of the observatory, up mundaring weir rd to kalamunda, before heading down the zig-zag and back up kalamunda rd for coffee. that was the plan, anyway.

as we headed out, brendan remarked to me that he was so buggered after the race yesterday that he didn’t even bother to change his race wheels. he was on his tubular shod zipps and did not have any spares. if he got a flat today, he would have to ring the missus to come and pick him up. as we came along mill pt rd there was quite a bit of glass and brendan managed to collect a bit of it. he ran his gloves over the tyres and tried to shed as much as he could. we were hopeful he got it all. we picked up mike b as we headed out, so at least i knew who would be pushing on the climbs.

as we came through east vic park and were about to cross shep rd via hill view, brendan felt his front tyre going down. he took off down shep rd to try to get home before the tyre completely flattened. we continued onto welshpool rd and towards the hills. before we got to the welshpool/orrong rd intersection, we picked up holly who lives very close by. she watched us warily as we rode past before joining us as she had already joined the wrong group once this morning.

as we approached the base of the welshpool climb i was still unsure on who would be setting the pace today. the young lad with sand-shoes, alistair, headed to the front and had mike on his wheel. the young lad kept looking back to see who was going to go with him and a group of us were sucking onto mike’s wheel. mike was definitely feeling better than last week and soon came around alistair to up the pace. i was trying to hold wheel but my legs just didn’t want to play. i indicated for the guys behind me to come around as i was losing the wheel, but no-one did. i looked back and there was no-one behind me. i maintained my rhythm and tried to see if the guys would tire and allow me back on. we were passing lots of triathlon chicks on the hill as there were a few groups taking advantage of the nice weather.

i pushed on, marveling at the fact that this young guy was smashing us with just sneakers and toe clips on. i would hate to see him if he got some proper shoes and pedals. or i probably wouldn’t see him as he would be too far up the road in front of me.

anyway, closer to the servo, jerry and mark caught up to me so we pushed on together. we did a few turns but it was clear that we would not catch the two up the road. funnily enough the old man, mike, had put quite a bit of distance into the young lad, alistair. quite a bit by the top of the hill. we regrouped and headed towards the base of the observatory via glenisla rd. bit of an issue with quite a few gum-nuts scatted on the road during the fast descent near the sanitarium school, but no crashes luckily.

mike turned off to head home via lawnbrook as he had a previous engagement to attend, so i was left to deal with al on my own. mark went out hard for the first part of the climb but mainly to get to the top of the steep section as quickly as possible and we had all caught up by the top. as the gradient eased off i was not willing to attack but wanted to see just what al would do. i was on the front pacing up the hill and was happily to do that for a while as i was not pushing hard. al finally made his move and came around me to up the pace. i jumped on his wheel and sat in for the ride. we gapped the others quickly and pulled away from the pack. i thought i would test his legs out and as he backed off the pace i came around to stretch him. he sat on my wheel for a while but i eventually pushed him so that he dropped off. he clamboured back on so i attacked again and this time when i looked back he was looking behind himself to see if he could find another wheel. the rest of the pack was down around the corner so he made the decision to try to get back on. i was hurting by now and so had backed off the pace. he thanked me for letting him back on, but i said that i didn’t really have a choice. we continued up the rest of the climb together and waited for the rest of the group.

we took the descent down the observatory at a nice pace, always wary of that corner at the bottom which also had some broken glass on it this time. it was like there had been the national bottle breaking contest on during the week as there was glass everywhere. once we hit the bottom, there was a call to stop as dr mark had broken something on his bike. it turned out that he had thought that he had dropped his phone so had to stop to check. during that time, brendan called up to find out where we were. he had changed wheels and climbed up welshpool rd and was on glenisla waiting. i told him the direction we would be heading so he would reverse that and meet us along the road.

we headed down glenisla again avoiding the gum-nuts and headed towards mundaring weir rd. i had asked that everyone stay together as i wasn’t sure everyone knew the way but we would regroup at kalamunda. mark took off once we turned towards kalamunda and brendan, al and i started to chase hime down. my legs said no and i eased off and watched them head up the road. by the time we hit the second corner there was a clear split with brendan and al ahead of jerry and mark with dr mark and myself trailing behind.

a couple of corners later and i decided that i needed to make an effort. i said bye to dr mark and started chasing down jerry and mark as i could still see them up the road. it took a while and i picked up jerry before the false flat and he jumped on my wheel as i headed towards mark. i picked him up just on the corner before the flat and came around him. i put it in the big ring and ground out a plus 40 pace to the next pinch in the climb. i signaled for them to come around and i was done for this climb.

a regroup in the carpark and we had lost stuart a friend of brendans. he went searching and gave him a call but came up empty. we were concerned that he had turned right instead of left and was now heading towards the weir. we tried, so not much more we could do. he was a big boy after all.

a brief discussion and all in favour of m
issing the final climb and heading to the coffee shop say i. “i” was the call, with my legs being the loudest voice as they were screaming. the race yesterday had not been kind to me.

during coffee, stuart rang brendan to say that he had turned up lawnbrook and had to head home anyway, so he was fine. we broke bread as is the tradition on a sunday and enjoyed a coffee in the nicer weather. i should have taken this time to take off my leg warmers, but as we were sitting in the shade, i wasn’t reminded too.

we headed off and down the hill through lesmurdie with little incident. a smidgen under 75 km/hr for me on the descent, but the time trial along the flat took a lot out of me and i had to ease off. clare had joined us at the coffee shop after missing the start and was on the descent with us now. as she and holly lived just off welshpool rd they turned off early and would miss any of the sprints.

there was a big acceleration along welshpool, but i was not able to go with it, so not sure what really happened. i was happy to be still riding. the final sprint along berwick saw brendan unintentionally leading out as he needed to turn off just after the last rise, but couldn’t get out due to traffic. he just shrugged it off and kept pushing the leadout. i was biding my time and waiting to see who would go and when. it was getting later and later but then jerry started his move so i came out to jump on his wheel. i cut brett off by doing so, but apologised afterwards for doing so. jerry wound up but i managed to come past him as we approached macdonalds. shame i had no reason to sprint yesterday.

so a good ride if not a tad abbreviated due to lack of legs on my behalf. sorry to anyone who wanted to do that last climb, but the option was still open to do it if you wanted. coffee seemed like a much better option at the time.

sunday 22nd june – welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda

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ride report by peter

so my first hills ride in a long time and before i even started, i knew it was going to hurt. if i hadn’t been racing, i had been unable to ride due to other commitments. the racing was generally on flatter courses too, so it has been a different style of riding.

many of the usual suspects toed the line this morning, but we had an influx of estrogen as we also had four girls come out with us. davina was out on her final hills ride before she heads to the usa for eight weeks of racing. you can keep tabs on her progress via her blog which can be found here. a friend of hers, bec, also joined us along with sandy, who i used to do triathlons with, and anna an old regular. as far as the blokes went, we had ryan to keep us honest on the hills and carlo, a friend of stu’s who was a bit of a dark horse.

i had mapped out a new route this morning to take in the mundaring weir road. we often ride mundaring weir, but are usually heading towards kalamunda for coffee rather than away from it. i thought the change would be good, but to get to it, we would have to get across the scarp via welshpool rd. after mundaring, we would head back through darlington and back up to kalamunda for coffee. it was planned to be just over 100km by the time we got home.

the morning was fresh, but not as cold as yesterday. everyone was rugged up but wary of the fact that it was going to warm up as the day progressed. we headed out great eastern hwy to get onto orrong rd and picked up mike on the way out. great, both mike and ryan to hurt us on the hills. nice and uneventful on the way out and pretty soon we were beginning to climb the “lower slopes” of the welshpool hill.

everyone had been doing turns on the front and just as the road began to point upward, the guys peeled off to leave sandy and anna to lead the way up the climb. michael came to the front with davina on his wheel and i jumped on as he set the pace. a train of ryan, mike, mark and a new guy, carlo came past as the climb got harder. i switched wheels to see how long i could stay with them. i was sitting on carlo’s wheel when ryan swapped turns with mike and set a higher pace. i pulled off to the side and i think jerry may have been there too. all blood was channeled to legs so the short term memory was not functioning properly. anyway, eventually it ended up being ryan, mike & carlo up the road and they had about 100 metres on mark and myself by the time we past the servo.

after that, i don’t really know what happened to the front guy’s navigational skills. all three turned up lesmurdie road. when have we ever turned up that way??? mark asked me if we were going straight and we just kept powering by as they eventually looked back down the road and realised their mistake. the aim now was to try to stay ahead of the hapless trio.

as we crested the next section, we saw a few cyclists a bit further up the road. these turned out to be, doug, dr paul & dr greg. doug had lives up that way so always joins after the start, whilst the docs had left early and were going to do their own thing.

after the second “step” in the climb, we were still ahead of them but they were closing fast. ryan and mike had dropped carlo and very soon they had overtaken us. it was now a matter of jumping on board and holding on till the end. on the final pinch i tried a bid for glory, but came up a little short as they caught me as we crested the rise. we then rolled down to the intersection together. there may have been a dispute as to who should really claim the first on this climb, but the commasaires have reviewed the tape and have declared that they were stupid to turn up lesmurdie road.

a regroup at the top and we were off into bickley valley. a few of us tried for the landspeed record down the glenisla rd as it was ideal weather with little wind at that time. as i said yesterday, it was the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. as we past through bickely valley it still had not seen the sun and was absolutely freezing. their winter solstice must mean a day of only three hours direct sunlight. another quick regroup to make sure we had everyone and we were off again, but unlike every other ride, we were heading away from the coffee shop.

the road to mundaring has a couple of main climbs and a lot of undulations in between. we hit the first one as soon as we turned onto the road and as i was “leading the way” i ended up with a decent gap on the rest of the field. carlo bridged across to me and soon ryan, mark and mike were there too. jerry briefly tried to make it across, but was a little short and didn’t manage to get a wheel.

the pace wasn’t high, but consistent, and we swapped off turns all the way to the weir. the decent into the dam wall was a lot of fun, especially the last couple of hundred metres where they have laid hotmix. all that road needs is about 20km more of it and it will be awesome.

as we came up out of the weir, we changed plans and would stop at the roundabout as i was concerned that some of the group may not know the way and would get lost. this meant that the second climb would not be that long, and ryan could go harder sooner. he did. about halfway up the first pinch out of the weir, he started going hard. mark and carlo dropped off but i managed to hang on, but only just. just as the climb approached the roaundabout and the grade steepened, both mike and ryan stepped on the gas and i had to let them go. i think mike pipped ryan for line honors.

regroup and off again. the pack stayed together till about the halfway point, where ryan, mike and carlo took off on one of the rolling hills. i again, managed to stay around for a bit but soon ran out of legs and could not hold wheel. mark and darren picked me up as they came past and we were only about 150 metres behind once we hit the regroup point again.

the rest of the decent into darlington was going to be controlled and the group would stay together. there were too many twists and turns for people to get lost in, and michael and i also wanted to take the group down one of the steepest hills in the area. this particular hill is called mills rd and averages about 17%. when going up (and we will do this one soon) your arms get sore from pulling up on the bars and you are always searching for an easier gear. when going down, you are going over the crest and still can’t see the bottom of the hill. you tend to ride the brakes the whole way down as you pick up speed in no time. there is also a semi-blind corner that you don’t want to cut, just in case. a small bonus climb to get us to darlington, and we started another descent.

this eventually brought us out at the base of ridge hill rd, our last bonus climb for the day. my legs were not cooperating by now and when carlo and ryan went, i couldn’t really respond. i just rode tempo to the top but kept them in sight till the start of the zig zag.

as we regrouped a coup happened. not from within the ranks, but rather from my legs. they said “i swear that if you make us ride up kalamunda rd i will put your foot through the spokes when you are coming done welshpool”. they were pissed, and who could blame them. i hammered them pretty hard today, and they were out of condition to start with. my cardio backed the legs and my brain made my mouth tell everyone that i think we should just go strai
ght up the zig zag. a few of the others turned off to go home and then ryan and mike took off up the zig zag at pace. i was content to just cruise along and enjoy the view for a while. a couple of other “hardcore” riders decided to still tackle kalamunda rd. darren, dr melyvn and anna all deserve the insanity medal for that one.

about halfway up i thought that i better make the most of it and took off catching mark by surprise. michael must have been expecting it and sat neatly on my wheel until i ran out of puff. he then took off up the road to leave me suffering alone. mark and jerry started the long chase and eventually swallowed me up then spat me out the back while they went after michael. i snuck down a back road and beat all three of them to the coffee shop.

as i said before, today was davina’s last ride with us for a while. i can still remember the first sunday when she and josie turned up. we went up carawatha hill in mt nasura near brookton hwy and davina had to push her bike up, claiming that she was a track sprinter, not a road cyclist. how things have changed, as now she is smashing it up those same hills and going racing in the usa. josie has also just returned from a few months racing in europe and will be heading back again soon. for the rest of us that are well past our prime, we can all live vicariously through those in the group that are doing well in the sport.

coffee was good. service was not too bad considering it was closer to 11 than 10 when we arrived. so refreshed, rehydrated and recovered (maybe) we were on our way again. a fast descent down welshpool was not an option as the wind was not in our favour. a group of us stayed pretty much together until the bottom, when i ran out of legs (again) when they began to time trial to the regroup point. all present and correct and we started rolling through to keep out of the wind. we managed to box ryan in almost till the end but he still managed to stretch his legs for a couple of hundred metres to the intersection.

lining up for the final sprint along berwick, both ryan and davina were eyeing each other off as neither wanted to be on the front. knowing i had no sprint, i went to the front and paced the final section from kent st all the way to the end. as we came onto the flat section and the final sprint, ryan, jerry and davina all jumped off my wheel but ryan was too strong and managed to hold off a fast finishing jerry at the unofficial invisible line.

so, a good first ride back for me, as i actually finished without totally dying and managed to keep the big boys in sight at the major climbs. we have a cyclo-sportif event next weekend so not hills for me, but after that the next race is not till august, so i expect that i would have reacquainted myself with most of the climbs in perth by then.

Sunday – Welshpool Rapids & Kalamunda River

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Report by John
Updated with Video

All those with nothing better to do, and either no decent coffee machine, or indoor trainer turned up – i think there were 6 or 7. i waited in the rain hoping no one would turn up but alas they trickled in like drowned rats – equally disappointed in seeing a fellow cyclist…so we had to go.

someone murmured about going straight for a coffee – and thus a mutiny was hatched.
pete’s planned route was sabotaged before we even started.

i was little disappointed – i mean if you make the effort to go riding in the rain, may as well get hypothermia and make the most out of it. then again i must confess i was not totally unhappy as it started to ‘persist‘ down.

the ride up welshpool for me was better than anticipated – i kept in touch with the front guys (kept in touch at about 100m behind) for half the climb. todd was on my tail most of the way until he had a spell in front with me taking him on the last little kick before the finish.

the other climb up kalamunda hill felt good as well. trailed dr carl for a bit then took him. there is a flattish section about half way up that i’ve learnt to change into the big ring and scoot along. managed to keep about 35kmh for a while there but never caught sight of the front 4 guys. i reckon they must have been about 400m in front.

Pete and young Ben met us for a much needed hot drink (thanks carl for the $5) , and i think pete was filming us on the way back down the hill. at first glance i thought some cop was trying to make sure we weren’t speeding…no chance of that!

every time i climb it’s a learning experience balancing lungs, heart and lactic acid (”the kids in the back seat” ) with my brain telling everyone to “settle down”.

i think lance was right – we ride not for the pleasure, but for the pain. it gives us such a sense of achievement to ‘handle it’ – not matter where one is in group’s pecking order.

all in all, happy i did the ride (so nearly piked out), but very relieved to make it down the hill and back home in one piece.

apologies for not mentioning everyone who rode, but i have trouble enough remembering what i did let alone anyone else…

sunday 25th may – welshpool & observatory & kalamunda

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ride report by roba crisp but not cold this morning as it had been raining most of the night and some the heat was being kept in. with it raining throughout the night though, it was a struggle to overcome the pillow demons and get out the door. wasn’t helped when i arived down at the meeting point at 7am and there wasn’t anyone else there! pete had said that 6 of the usual crew were racing, but i thought there might still be a couple to go up into the hills with. as it is not my usual ride (family commitments and all) i had no idea of the route anyway so started to think about going back to bed (not really – i would have gone for ride…!). eventually a few others turned up and then ryan rolled in at about 10 past 7 (i think was hoping that he might have been able to chase us down again as he did last saturday and prove to us all the true awsome power he possesses… – so such luck gadget!). he then says, “does anyone know the route?” and we all look dumbly at each other. darren pipes up and says “i “think” i do, but i’m not…..” “good” we say – “you’re it!”

8 of us head out and roll along berwick street picking up one more along the way. darren and me are on the front through to welshpool road and then decide to take a break at the back for while before we get to the first climb of the morning. coming up to the lights at roe highway, some kid on a trail bike comes out of a side street on the right hand side of welshpool rd and crosses the dirt medium strip at a great rate of knots. he lands on our side of the road, wobbles about a bit (he is not a good rider), slips and slides around in front of us as he kicks the crap out of the throttle and heads off towards the lights. by the time he hits the intersection the 2nd set of lights are very red and the cars start to pull out from the left hand off ramp lights, as is their right given they have a green light and all. does trail bike dude care. nope. he gives it everything the bike has and swerves around the first car coming out and misses the bonnet by about a bee’s male appendage. not clever – dumb – will die.

he heads on, shaking our heads and discussing all the variations that little episode may have looked like if he wasn’t so damn lucky! we get to the first climb and start working our way up. ryan drops to the back as is his usual way. i lead off the front with a couple of the other guys holding on for a while. the group stretched out about 1/2 way up when ryan flies past me – do i break rythym and try and hold his wheel?? not likely (even if i wanted too!). we get to the top and start rolling around the intersection waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive. greg apparently decided that the hills for him wasn’t actually on for him today so pulled off. after the re-group we headed on up and around towards the observatory. john was commenting to ryan how with the way the weather was this morning it was like riding through belgium. wet roads but a beautiful mist and glistening trees it was really quite superb. had us “pining for the fiords..!”. the next climb up to the observatory was good…john lead with me on his wheel. ryan flew past…again.

after the re-group at the top we headed off down to the hill again to go and find mundairing road climb. now that was fun!! darren calls out “10 minutes of pain”….”15 for me” we hear from the back”. i lead off the front with john on my wheel, starting to hurt a bit but still able to keep a good rhythm going while remaining seated in a reasonably high gear. ryan flew past….again. we get to the top at kalamunda and i’m already thinking about the coffee shop. “right” says darren. “we head across to the zig zag, down there andback up to kalamunda for coffee.” “what???” my legs scream. another climb before coffee?? but we’re already up here!! why don’t we just go there now…??” must be my soft saturday ride mind talking to me – sunday ride much harder!

the zig zag is lots of fun – although you do have to pedal. the gravel all over the wet road on the hairpin turns are interesting. at the bottom ryan comments that his biggest fear is hitting a kangaroo at speed…certainly not unheard of! anyway, after the re-group we head across to kalamunda road with my mind wondering just where i was going to get the motivation for this climb – i’d been off the front every other climb so we couldn’t lose face now, could we. after the 1st 3rd i was dead set going to stop. this hurt. ryan flew past….again. where’s that friggin coffee shop….why did we come down….why did i get up this morning….is there a bus….?? john held my wheel all the way up…i could hear the heavy breathing and clunking of gears as he searched for something lower than granny gear….finally though we get to the top and head round to the coffee shop. quick service and a welcome break.

when we get back on the bikes and start out across to canning road, ben pulls up along side of me and comments that he’s feeling it now – 1/2 and hour off the bike and the legs do not appreciate being reintroduced to the pedalling motion. the ride along canning road was fast, but those rolling hills really hurt after the coffee break. arrived at welshpool road – woo hooo…! 73kms an hour and john and me actually overtook ryan….then ryan flew past….again. it’s a lot of fun down there and you certainly get a few looks from car drivers when you overtake them on the inside lane!

regroup at the school (some dodgy looking characters sitting in a car outside the school that ryan said someone should tell them that school kids aren’t here on a sunday — thanks for that mate!!). heading along welshpool road at a reasonable pace with ryan on the front doing the work. i pulled out from his wheel thinking i’d go to the front and do some work but as soon as the wind hit my chest i knew i didn’t have the legs for it so pulled back in, much to ryan’s displeasure who i think was looking forward to a rest by then. at the lights i suggested that we roll through and each have a turn doing some of the work. it would appear though that we neglected to set the ground rules so it took about 3kms to work it out by which time we had about 1km left of rolling through (which was good when it worked) and then hit shepparton road. the learner driver at the front of the lights stalled three times and made us all wait 2 sets of lights before she (well, we ‘think’ she, but then we couldn’t be sure….) finally got going. we headed back along shepparton road and the usual disintegration of the group took place til it was just me, ryan and john left at canning hwy. john headed off right and ryan and me finished off with the cruise back along mill point road.

all in all a good morning out. my legs know i rode today

sunday 20th april – welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd

ride report by darrenrolling into the carpark i was a little earlier than usual but a few has arrived already. i was hopeful that we going to get a few more than last week? unfortunately, racing, the cold weather, and/or lack of commitment ( i can only assume) meant that there would only be about 9 of us today. huddled and shivering rob sat on the step, head in hands, looking like he did last week, was this déjà vu, another big night? turns out he was under the weather, well under. when john arrived we had a brief conversation about how cold it was, he said it was only 8c or 9c. felt about 2c, turns out you were closer to the mark and we are all woosies for being so rugged up.

with no one to lead the way we stood around in the cold until 7:05am or so. this weeks route was reasonably familiar so ‘someone will know the way’ i thought – so up welshpool rd we went. melvyn and i took the group out, camille turned off before we hit welshpool road, probably because most of the usual suspects were not there, luckily young matt and his micro front chain rings were there to keep us honest.

it was an uneventful ride to the foothills. we picked up a few passengers whose cyclosportif team piked on them. it still felt baltic as the sun was well hidden behind the scarp. the pace slowed as we started to climb, so it was up to me to get things rolling. young matt was not far behind. as we hit the straight exposed section i could feel the heart rate increasing, and hit the front derailleur changer to get an easier gear. oh no, stuck in the big ring. fiddling with gears i eventually locked everything up and had to step off, reset and started all over. matt sped off to the summit.

as we rode past the petrol station we ran into doug who had tried and meet us on welshpool rd but turned around at the grain terminal as he thought he missed us, not realising that we were late. at the top, there was daylight between matt and the rest of us. a quick chat at the top and off to the observatory we went.

the group held it together until the start of the observatory climb, i went with matt off the front and we were joined by todd. matt decided he would play cat and mouse with us, clearly overestimating our climbing and acceleration abilities. so todd and i played wile-e-coyote to matts road-runner. matt would slow up, wait for us to pass and sprint past as quickly as possible (beep beep) until he has put 100m or so into the gap and then waited up again. so todd and i endured this humiliation until the top of the climb. we were shortly followed by rob and john, with the others not too far behind.

a bit of procrastination we headed off down walnut descent, with doug, melvyn and rob trying to keep pace with matt. i stayed at the back, a bit nervous that the new bike may get the speed wobbles. as we headed over the top of aldersyde rd i had made up a bit of ground on the lead group as we turned into mundaring weir rd.

feeling good i set a good pace and headed past rob and john, surprisingly matt stayed with them. head down, i found good rhythm and after a little while looked back to see quite a gap had opened. maybe i was half a chance to get to the roundabout first? ……..not likely! matt made the gap in about a minute and despite staying with him for a while and trying to dig deep on the flat section near the top, matt dug deeper and sped off to the top to finish several hundred metres in front. rob also recalled that he was surprised that matt stayed with them for so long, only to take off like a rocket (beep beep) and bridge the gap. soon we were joined by john, closely followed by rob (coughing all the way).

once we were together again we all headed off to the zig zag, only to cop a sprinkle of rain and some wet roads. where did this rain come from?. most of the group descended at a fast but sensible rate, but the freshly washed roads did raise the stress levels a tad. at the bottom, matt took off home. the scenic views down zig zag showed us that there was more rain on the way so we sat around discussing whether we should make a run for home to avoid the weather or go to the coffee shop and face certain drenching on the way home. i wanted to go straight home, robs vote was via bushmead road (surely there is a coffee shop in midland) but the deciding vote went to todd, lindy and mike who were resolute that they needed another climb. doug headed home via forrestfield.

melvyn led the way back to kalamunda rd. rob suggested that goosberry hill rd could be a good option (joking), but was the first to hit the climb back to the coffee shop, and waved todd and i through. todd took the lead most of the way up while i tried to decide if i had any energy left, sort of, maybe, not sure. i stayed with him on the steep sections and when it levelled out on a nice flattish section, the big ring and plenty of beats per minute saw me pass and open a gap. so… first time to be first to coffee shop but i have no illusions about where my form is. john, rob and todd were not that far behind.

just enough time to re-arrange some tables and my double shot mini-bowl arrived, that was fast! some water, some more cyclists, a hot chocolate here and a flat white there, all served in rapid time. melvyn and mike ordered what would only be described as lunch (which they inhaled). we sat around discussing the finer points of interval training, sally robbins’ rowing efforts, shimano shoes and all facets of personal lubrication (for triathlon, get your minds out of the gutter).

instead of asking the group who would write the blog for today i asked melvyn (as he has previous credits and regularly comments on articles) if he or i should contribute this week. his well considered response “you should write the blog, because (long pause)…… you should write the blog” nuff said, so here it is.

heading back john led the way and when the group hit the downhill on lesmurdie rd they all seem to step up the pace. rob made the mistake of taking my wheel and we dropped to the back, so rob went around to catch the leaders. melvyn and i were last to welshpool rd at which point he took off to get to the bottom fast. i was the slowest descended on the day, but didn’t get speed wobbles even at 70kmph, so the new bike is looking ok so far.

a time trial effort brought lindy and i back to the field but it was clear that john had won the honours of being first to the bottom. at the tonkin hwy lights we encountered our first boy-racer/bogan/redneck who zipped past at a rapid rate with inches to spare.

melvyn and john dragged the group back up welshpool rd into the cold westerly wind. i went for the bonus points at the grain terminal. mike reacted but i managed to hang on despite dying on the hill before the leach hwy lights. being too exhausted to contest the macdonalds sprint, i watched john take off with absolutely no one chasing, john was also surprised when he looked back, so slowed down. melvyn peddled slightly faster than everyone else and managed to pass john on the line.

on the way back to the shop i got dropped at a set lights so i dont know how many made it back. props to rob for winning last weeks final sprint effort against stan and myself despite both of us turning off along berwick a few hundred metres before, but well done this week for some strong efforts with a chest cold and paving our way in mucus. good lu
ck to lindy in the 1/2 ironman in a few weeks, hope those 19hr training weeks pay off.

in summary: cold start, nice middle, bit of rain, windy end. seems that the climb up kalamunda rd and coffee rest, meant that we missed the rain and did not get wet! nice!

sunday 30th mar – tour de perth recon

hey, how about that. the sun was out when we arrived for the ride this morning. it makes a change and you can all breath a sigh of relief that you won’t have to listen to my bitching about it for at least another eight months. well it looks like only one person didn’t wind their clocks back as young mat who works with simon was there very early. i turned up at 6:30 as even though i had reset my clock, my body clock still got me up early. the pic is of mat’s bike. notice the front chain ring. this is what you have to do if you are racing in under 17’s and are gear restricted. it would sure make descending down welshpool a wonderful experience.

we had close to thirty riders making an appearance this morning, which is a good turn out for a sunday. probably because everyone woke up with plenty of time to spare they decided to make the effort. or more than likely, the course today allowed for a very easy day if you wanted. with the tour de perth race next weekend, the route was a recon of the sunday stage which would take in multiple laps of the observatory circuit. we would ride up welshpool rd before doing three laps of the circuit followed by a final climb up mundaring weir rd to the coffee shop.

well the sun was out, but so was the wind which reduced the temperature a bit. we rolled out along great eastern hwy before turning onto orrong rd. we don’t usually head out this way, so it makes a change and doesn’t really change the ride much. the wind really picked up as we got closer to the hills as it was screaming own from the escarpment. luckily i was neatly tucked away at the back of the group and not really concerned. it did, however, play havoc with the group as the gusts caused a concertina effect of riders slowing down the line.
as we approached the base of the climb, i had already decided that i would take it easy and let others dictate the pace. unfortunately the pace slowed too much and riders were spreading across the road in front of me. as the wind was still making things tough on the climb, no-one really wanted to do the work and set the pace. i jumped around the group and went to the front to try to get it moving. setting a pace that wasn’t too high, but was actually hurting a bit into the wind, i started the climb. i knew that mike b would soon come around me but i wasn’t too sure who else would be there today. mike did come around, but playing team tactics, didn’t attack the group but rather jumped on the front to set the tempo. we swaped off turns between the two of us all the way to the top of the first section where it flattens out after the servo. i finally managed a quick look over my shoulder to see who was still with us and was really surprised to see that we had a group of about ten riders hanging on to our wheels.

the next step in the climb and the group was still together and did not look like it was about to break up. i thought that we should do something about it and came around mike on the last climb telling him that i was going to see who we could drop. all i managed to do was put myself into a world of hurt. mike and josie came past and i found that i could not stick on their wheels. i had managed to gap the others but now i was being left behind. the final climb comes after a short descent and the chasing group put in a big effort and had the momentum to blow past me just before we crested the hill.

a regroup at the top of welshpool rd and we were on our way to pickering brook. the wind was right in our faces again and i was sure i didn’t want to be totally buggered by the time i hit the climb. mike and i peeled off from the front just after mr dickhead gave us some abuse from his big 4wd. davina joined us at this time as she had missed the start so drove up to pickering brook to continue the climbs.

about this time, mark came around for what i thought was going to be a turn at the front, but he kept going and gapped the field a bit. josie jumped out of the pack and took off after him, catching him before too long. everyone decided to let them go as there was the wind and the impending climb to contend with. they managed to get quite a large gap by the time we headed into pickering brook, and i started to get worried that josie would take advantage of such a large gap and we would not catch her before the top. sorry, mark, i was less worried about you.

anyway, i started to chase them down as the road headed down before it turned up patterson rd. i looked back and saw that no-one had began to chase. head down, bum kind of up, i continued to chase and got about half way across by the time the climb started. mike had also started leading the chase from the main pack and they were strung out and had also made up ground. once the climb started, josie took off from mark leaving him to fend for himself on the hill. i got myself into a tempo and began gaining ground on the two of them. by about halfway up the first section, i looked back to see mike leading a group of about four or so riders. they were gaining ground quickly so i eased up to take advantage of the express train. mike even said “hop on board” as he came past. i jumped on the back as we just caught mark, but still had josie up the road.

the pace increased somewhat and we managed to drop the others until it was just mike and myself. i came around for a turn at the front and mike slipped back a bit, but only for a better run up as he attacked hard and bridged across to josie in no time. she jumped straight on his wheel and managed to stay with him till the top. i was in damaged control and tried to set an even tempo and stay away from the chasing pack. i barely managed that but made it to the top anyway.

a regroup at the top and we were not alone as there were many riders out doing the circuit this morning. i made a bit mistake giving people the option to call it a day after one circuit. more than half of the group decided that they were great big blouse wearing pussies and wimped out. strangely enough the four girls in our group decided to do more laps. hardcore.

anyway, eleven of us continued around for another lap and it was much more controlled this time around. this lap we just set an even tempo to the top without trying to smash each other. after the regroup point almost everyone else decided to call it a day. after the quick descent there was only four of us left, mike, stu , davina and myself to head around for a final lap. again there were no attacks and we set a nice tempo to get to the top. no need to regroup as we were all together and headed down the fast descent. at the turn off towards kalamunda, davina continued around for another lap or so as she had missed the first climb up welshpool rd. mike stu and myself headed towards mundaring weir rd.

as the climb started and with the wind on our backs, the pace was quite brisk. my poor little legs didn’t want to play anymore and i had to let mike and stu go. i maintained a nice pace to the top, but was a long, long way from the others once i arrived.

the second group were still at the coffee shop when i arrived, but mike and stu headed straight off home. a prolonged stop, as they had forgotten to serve a couple of drinks, but a few bonus coffee’s on the house made up for it.

the descent was fast with the wind behind us, but not without it’s moments as a ute and trailer carrying three quad bikes decided to do a u-turn at the crystal brook intersection. we were already doing over 60km/hr and i guess he totally underestimated our speed. josie, john and myself had to slow down and change lanes to get around him. once we were all at the bottom we had an absolute arm chair ride home at over 40km/hr with dr marc and todd doing all the work back along welshpool rd. with people peeling off all the way home, there was no sprint and only three of us actually made it back to the shop.

all in all a good ride and a good recon of part of the tour de perth course which i am hoping to race next weekend.

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.