ride report by peter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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