ride report by peter.

i checked the weather this morning and it said that it was 14 degrees.  i checked the radar and there were generally clear skies with maybe the odd shower.  it was all looking good and i was set for an excellent morning ride.  the roads were a little wet but not saturated and you know that it had only been a light shower as there were dry spots under the trees.  must be those little bits that i saw on the radar.  not a problem.

not really sure how many we had at the start but i would say close to 40.  the threat of weather had scared away the novice group so we were down to just the two that would split up later.  we had quite a few new riders out with us this morning so it was good to have them along.  especially young alex who was only 12 and managed to keep up with the main group ok.  it was also good to see steve back on the bike after a bit of back surgery had him laid up for a while.

the course was a fairly new one as we had only done it once before.  a common route past booragoon and onto canning vale before splitting at nicholson rd.  the main group would take nicholson back to albany before crossing it and coming home via welshpool rd.  the fast group would continue on and take warton up to welshpool.

we wouldn’t have made it 500 metres up the road before the rain started coming down.  not just the light showers that were predicted, but a decent soaking.  at least being at the front meant that i also did have to endure the road spray as well, so i only got rained on once.  we also managed to get every set of lights once we hit canning hwy so by the time we were heading up risely, the group was a tad splintered.  the easy pace meant that the stragglers could regroup but it all came to a halt when dan’s tire spectacularly went bang while as we took off from the lights.

we pulled into murdoch drive and got off the road while melvyn and i helped him change it.  there was a fair gash in his back tyre and we tried to cover it with some spare rim tape that i had with me.  new tube in, a quick lesson on how to use a gas bottle and the tyre was up…and bulging all around the flesh wound.  not good.  we sent him on his way as there was no way it would survive a fast paced effort in the rain.

up and running again, the group meandered along to south st and headed towards canning vale.  the group splintered a bit along the way and i had to get the boys to ease back a bit.  i think that they were just trying to stay warm.  pretty soon we were at nicholson rd and the group split quite evenly. 

a bit of crappy driving from a local, who couldn’t use the accelerator, found the group split in two with a car in the middle.  she had ample room and time to come around but didn’t before the road narrowed and made it impossible.  it soon widened out and we got a roll through happening.  all this time the rain seemed to be intermittently coming down, but combined with the road spray, it was pretty much a constant thing.  we turned up warton rd and the roll through involved almost all of the group.  stu is training for a mtb tour of timor and as such had the fat wheel beast out with us today.  unfortunately he was a bit short on gears and couldn’t keep the pace up when we were really hammering.  he did manage to sit in quite well for a lot of the ride though. 

a couple of intersection and roundabouts played havoc with the group and we needed to ease back a bit to allow the group back together.  it was a pretty hard slog but we finally reached the end and turned onto crystal brook rd.

a slight downhill and tailwind made this section a lot more pleasant and the group hummed along quite nicely.  we passed another group and one of the guys that we know from it came up for a chat.  resplendent in my yellow jersey today, i was content to act as protected rider and hang back to catch the draft.  i managed to sit in this spot for the majority of welshpool rd and onto shep rd and had a few good conversations in the meantime.

the rain got a bit stupid along shep rd but at least it was double lane, so cars were giving us a wide berth.  the lights made sure no attacks went on this section and we all rolled down to the causeway together.  it was great to see the group stay in the lane at the lights and no-one tried to slip around the cars for and early break. 

the pace started to pick up as everyone was anticipating the sprint along riverside drive.  jerry went early and had a decent break by the time we veered off the causeway.  the group started to string out as they chased him down and at one point i though he may have gotten away for good.  i was jumping from wheel to wheel coming from the very back of the pack and was soon sitting about midpack.  about then the group caught jerry showing lots of compassion for his efforts, sat on his wheel instead of coming around.  this caused the group to bunch up and spread across the lane.  i looked back twice to check for traffic (a sure sign of a move coming) and then hit the accelerator.  this was not a stand up sprint but just a power down seated time trial.  someone called out that i was going, but no-one responded and i got a decent gap.  running scared i looked back a couple of times, but i had managed to put enough space between myself and the chasers to allow me to be first to the stop lights.  if is was really thinking straight i should have done a pistol in the air salute like contador (since one of john’s kids thought i was riding in the tour this year).

no stop for me as i had an appointment and i was too damn wet to want to sit still for too long.  the rain cleared later in the day to reveal much better riding conditions and to mock us for being so stupid.  however, i had a good time even if my bike now needs a damn good clean.