Tag Archives: carradine

sunday 4th jan – carradine & peet & observatory

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ride report by peter.

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

sunday 10th august – carradine & canning dam

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ride report by peter

another fine day was predicted but only if you were looking at the temperature alone. the wind was similar to saturday and was cutting through you to drop the temperature another 5 degrees. the act of riding into the head wind probably dropped it another couple just to make it freezing. so even though the overnight temp was a very pleasant 9 deg we were all waiting for the sun to come out properly to counteract the wind chill.

so, we had around twenty riders on the line this morning and a few were discussing a change to the route as i was turning up a bit late. the course today was a long one but not necessarily hard as there was a lot more riding in between climbs. most of the climbs were not too difficult either. not by the standard of other rides we do. or by the standard that dr melvyn described last week. however, late though i was, i arrived with loads of time to quash any rebellious thoughts of changing the route.

we would be taking the hard slog down albany hwy into a harsh, cold, strong crosswind coming down from the scarp. a quick heart starter up carawatha would thaw out the bones before another ascent up carradine. we would then cross over to albany hwy and tackle the last part of it’s ascent, regrouping at the turn off to canning dam. a nice cruise along past the dam before a final assault out of the valley back to karagulen servo. the normal way back to the coffee shop via mundaring weir rd would follow. that was the plan.

we headed out into the fray and copped the breeze right into our faces. by the time we hit albany hwy the wind had picked up significantly. ryan was again sitting pretty at the back of he pack keeping out of the wind. this is how he always ends up with nice fresh legs for the climbs and the sprints.

anyway, the fresh morning, combined with a hydration regime the night before put extra pressure on me for the first few kms of the ride. i had to duck off in the bushes along the way to relive some unwanted pressure (and about a kilo of weight). as the day progressed, i was not the only one as there were multiple “nature breaks” along the way. a quick sprint into the wind to catch up and i was all warmed up.

as we past by gosnells, we managed to pick up a couple of chicks. i’m sure that they were enticed by the tight lycra and rippling leg muscles, and i am quite sure that ryan probably thought that they were drawn to his charismatic aura. however, holly and claire read the blog and knew where we were headed, so decided to join in to get a bit of hills work. unlike the other type of chicks you may pick up in gosnells, these were actually cyclists.

the first climb of the day was soon upon us and we started climbing the lower section of carawatha. this is where is sits about 7% or so and james pushed hard and put a bit of a gap in us. once we hit the small plateau in between the inclines, heiko came around me and headed up the road. since he had not done this hill before, he wondered why we were taking it so easy. as we came around the corner realisation dawned on him like a dodgy curry at 3am in the morning. ahhh, shit. as we started the final climb at 14 or 15% heiko started dropping back through the riders that had been conserving their energy. ryan, stu, brendan and a couple of others caught and past me on the hill, but we all eventually made it to the top.

after a quick watering of the gardens from some, we where off down to carradine. i didn’t realise that they had been doing road works on the other side of the climb and the surface was not the best when combined with the cross wind. all safely down we grouped together to start the climb.

we stayed in quite a bit group for a while and there was probably about 8 or so riders tucked in behind. the wind was coming down the valley towards us so it was a hard slog for whoever was at the front. after a bit i thought that i would see if i could dislodge a few hangers on, and pushed hard. it wasn’t an attack as i came past ryan close enough for him to grab my wheel, as i thought that i will need some help later on.

the group stretched and split as the pace increased and soon there were only four of us up the road. after i did a decent turn at the front, ryan took off again and i couldn’t keep up. stu and brendan managed to get on, but i looked back to see no-one else on the road. taking a leaf out of thomas voeckler’s book from the 2006 tour, i just kept a consistent pace and managed to get back on the back.

on the next rise, ryan took off again and this time brendan was done. lots of km’s of training were taking their toll and he didn’t have the legs to go with us. i managed to claw my way back on with stu in tow as we approached the final section of road. ryan upped the pace again, and it was all too much for me, but i was happy to let him and stu fight it out for line honours as long as i kept ahead of brendan.

after another nature break, there was an opportunity for a short cut if people wanted but peer pressure kept everyone in line. i basically said that i give the people a choice (democracy) , but let them know that they are a bunch of wusses if they take the shortcut (dictatorship). like anyone really has a choice. exercising their right to a choice, brett and anna turned off to head down albany hwy while the rest of us headed further up the hill.

the climb is not too difficult and the group was managing to stay together well. dr melvyn was setting the pace early on before ryan got impatient and came around for a turn. after a bit he got even more impatient and shot off the front. it was all on and stu, brendan and i managed to latch on behind him. we swapped off turns for a while over the rolling hills and managed to put quite a bit of distance in to the rest of the group. by the time we reached the turn off for canning dam, the road behind us was empty as far as we could see.

the riders rolled up in little packs and claire managed to hold onto the second group. she is climbing well considering the issues that she has had with her back recently.

another toilet stop and we were off towards canning dam. there were a few rolling hills and one bonus climb that split everyone up. ryan and i were just discussing climbing techniques and how i preferred to climb standing while he is trying to sit more. next thing we know we had gapped the rest of the field. we slowed a bit and said that we would wait at the bottom of the descent into the dam. the wind luckily didn’t cause too many problems and we had a nice descent clocking up over 70km/h. the road surface past the dam is usually shocking but it looks like they were halfway through resurfacing it. it wasn
’t perfect, but to me it looked like they were preparing to put a hot-mix top coat on it. that would make this route a lot more pleasurable.

an orange ford focus past us about three times on that road. not sure if they just got their licence or thought that they were a rally driver, but he just kept popping up all the time.

a regroup at the little bridge and we lost a few more riders. the girls and mike decided to call it a day and headed down brookton hwy as the rest of us climbed up via gardiner. it was a nice climb and we took it fairly easy for the first section. ryan hadn’t done this one before so asked me how long it was. quite long I said, just so he wouldn’t take off on me just yet. it started to steepen up but I managed to hang on to ryan and stu while the others fell back. as we turned at the fork in the road, i was spent and had to let them go. i paced myself up the rest of the hill until jerry and james caught up to me and rode the rest of the way with them.
we regrouped at the karragullen servo where a couple of people had to refresh supplies. it was a long ride and energy levels were low. we were soon off and heading for pickering brook. james and i set the pace from the gun and kept it up until that first hill. we didn’t push too hard but some people felt the strain and dropped off early. once we hit the rolling hills ryan took off up the road with stu not far behind. the rest of us just seemed content to ride the hill at pace without straining too much. once we hit the false flat, we noticed that ryan and co was not too far ahead so we upped it a bit to try to catch them. they stayed away, and i was pretty much done by then anyway.

after a regroup, dr mark decided to call it a day due to family commitments, and was heading straight home. the other mark was going to go with him, but peer pressure forced him to stick with us for one last climb up mundaring weir road. heiko didn’t know where we were so i was reluctant to leave him behind so a stuck with him over the rolling hills through bickley valley. by the time we reached mundaring weir road, the other guys were too far ahead to warrant a chase from me. i left it in the big ring and rode a 53 x 14 to the top while staying in the saddle. my cadence was under 40 rpm for the majority of the climb, but my knees actually felt ok.

we rolled into the coffee shop and sat for a well deserved rest. as it was a longer ride, we turned up quite late and were expecting a bad service day. fortunately for us, the cold wind must have kept the punters away and we were served promptly. bruce made an appearance on the sunday ride, but only in civvies as he was meeting his brother for brunch. we said that he should at least been wearing his spr vest to show his support.

coffee’s sculled, as mark still needed to get home and james was on the phone explaining why he was late. we headed down welshpool road with mostly a tailwind, but a few swirls on the descent made for some interesting times. stu apparently had the speed wobbles again and reckons that his heart rate download pinpoints the exact moment he thought he would die.

the tailwind continued to push us home and it gave us a good run. dr melvyn made his early charge as usual and set off the boys a little too early and we were soon spread along the road. the lights at leach hwy soon got us back together and we headed along the last stretch of welshpool rd. the call went out to box ryan in and we had him set on the inside second wheel. dr melvyn went again, and we thought we were safe to let him go, but ryan had been tricky and slowed down to manage to slip out the back. soon everyone was sprinting up the road again.

the final run along berwick rd had ryan doing his usual tricks. slowing down to force others to come to the front so that he can conserve himself for the final sprint. i told him that it will make him stronger if he does all the work and then still contests the sprint, but he wants the easy gold medal. i ended up on the front for the final stretch but managed to get a bit of a jump at the last set of lights to gap the field. by the time i was on the descent, ryan had bridged to my wheel so i just coasted to try to recover. as we paced along the flat, he jumped and i could not hold his wheel. so had to settle for second. or i would have until brendan also past me before the macdonalds drive thru point.

so, over 100 kms by the time i got home and 5 main climbs “conquered”. hopefully this puts me in good stead for collie-donnybrook this coming saturday, but i think it will all come down to who i get in my handicap group. we have three of the team entered with ryan and stu also heading down to play. ryan was in a good position to win last year until a flat with no spares played heed to his grand plans. hopefully this year, team spr can come away with… something. aim for mediocre, and there are less chances of getting disappointed.

sunday 27th july – carridine & peet & observatory

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well the forecast said bad and radar confirmed it’s badness, but i didn’t care as it was not raining as i left the house. the road was a bit wet and it was still dark, but at least it was not cold…yet. the forecast was for strong winds and a 90% chance of 20 – 40 mm of rain. basically all the ingredients for an absolutely crappy bike ride. i was wearing my vest, but was also carrying my rain jacket as it folded up into bum bag and fitted snuggly under the vest.

i was running a bit late and hurried to make it to the start. i was afraid of what i would find. the things that run through your mind in this situation are very insightful. if no-one else was there, would i go home, would i still do the hills, would i just cut a lap of the river instead. i didn’t need to worry myself as there were two lonely riders waiting in the dark as i arrived. ben and declan were looking lonely and very soon, stu also turned up. we waited around for a bit longer to see if any stragglers would brave the weather but soon realised that we would be the only ones.

so were we the hardcore ones??? were we the stupid ones??? or were all the others just a bunch of pussies that made some excuse about having to wash their big girls blouses???

so the four of us rolled out into the spitting rain. it wasn’t coming down hard and was hardly a concern at all. however, it still took quite a bit of will power, not to turn off as we came within a few hundred metres of home. declan was not going all the way with us today as he usually doesn’t do the hills ride, but was just looking for some extra km’s. the plan was for him to ride with us to the base of the hills then he would find his own way back to perth. taking the new standard route out to albany hwy, i pulled over as we hit manning rd to put my rain jacket on. it wasn’t coming down any harder, but i figured that i would try to stay as dry as possible.

a very sedate ride down to mt nasura and as we turned off to tackle carrawatha, declan kept going to return via armidale rd and the freeway. so we were down to three, which meant that we would probably just tackle the climbs at our own pace rather than trying to smash each other. ben led the climb and as it kicked up for the second steeper half of the hill, i started falling back. stu was on his old tommasini rather than his cervelo and was having some issues with gear selection. he still came around me as though as i struggled up the 13% section of the hill.

very little waiting needed today and the guys just had to ease off a bit before starting their descent. we then turned up carradine rd and started plugging our way up the rough roads. we basically stuck together to the top with myself just falling off the back on the last little bit of the climb. at the top, a call of nature struck us all and we all found a cubicle in the bush toilet. i gave my vest to ben who only had his jersey to protect himself from wind chill. my rain jacket wasn’t going anywhere for now as it was keeping me dry and warm. a change of plans from the original route and we decided to forego the canning dam route in favour of the climb up peet rd. the threat of crappy weather, and the fact that the ride past the dam gives us no chance of any options, forced us to skip it all together. instead we would have a wet and potentially slippery ride down soldiers rd then a nice an gentle 10% ascent of peet rd.

the descent wasn’t that bad as we took it easy and there was no traffic. surprisingly enough, no-one else thought it was a good day to go outside either. we started on peet rd and set a fairly nice pace. i dropped off on the second steeper section but managed to claw my way back as it flattened out a bit. down the other side and up past roleystone high school to head out brookton hwy.

we past the site of the accident a few weeks ago and it is lucky that no-one had to place any little white crosses on the side of the road. it made me worry when i heard cars coming up the hill behind us.

nice pace setting along to pickering brook and we decided to throw in the observatory climb as well. a slight detour along repatriation rd made a change but still turned us out at the base of the climb. i stayed with both of them until the second half of the climb when i struggled to keep the pace. we regrouped at the top and came down the other side to only go straight back up lawnbrook. again the climb left me wanting and i fell back. at one point ben had to double back to pick up his glasses or something and this allowed me to catch up with him. we rode together the rest of the way and met back up with stu at the end of the road.

no coffee shop for us today and we headed straight down lesmurdie rd and onto welshpool. the combination of the wind and wet roads made it not the most comfortable descent and stu said his bike got the speed wobbles towards the end. with no antagonists in the “group” the remaining ride was quite sedate.

at the end of the end of the day, there was not a lo of rain to be encountered. the official perth weather station only recorded 1.6 mm during the time that we were out. the main down pour came at lunchtime but we were home well and truly before that. overall the 6.8 mm was nowhere near the predicted rainfall.

so, just under 100 kms and just over 1300m of climbing to round out the morning. a bit disappointing with the turn out, but not surprising really due to the forecast. it is winter after all but you can still ride when it is raining. i guess it just shows who is committed or more likely, who needs to be committed due to a poor mental state. it was a good ride though as we ground out the kms and did the climbs. a little bit of rain builds character.

Sunday 1st June – Carradine & Peet

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ride report by rob

another warm morning – still in for the arms and long fingered gloves though. with the weather being the way it was yesterday (thunder, lightening, flash floods, etc) it was pretty wet on the road – but alt least it wasn’t raining anymore. looked like it’d hold off too, so it was going to be a nice trip up in to the hills.

our number was 10 this morning – a lively looking bunch with some of the stronger riders in the pack. thankfully emma was with us providing some welcome relief from the hairy, gnarled faces of the rest of the crew. it was about 5 past 7 when mark rolls in. he pulls up to a halt, with some ominous bubbles coming out of his tire (or at least the air coming out of it onto the puddles on the road!) – yep, nice piece of glass in that one mate! “will you wait for me?'” he pleads…

once mark gets that sorted out, and gerry finishes his story about some dodgy shipment he’s trying to get flown into the country (from cuba???), we finally make our way out of coode st car park and on to mill point road.right at douglas and half way up the hill the call goes out to michael and me on the front, “mark’s lost his glasses!” mmmm, starting to see a pattern forming here – this is not a designated recovery ride! after a quick re-group we continue on to hayman and then round on to manning. and we nearly made it to albany highway without further event when another call from the back goes out “mark’s dropped his chain!” – the ‘other’ mark that is. stu turned round to go and collect him while the rest of us waited at the side of the road. re-group.

rounding on to albany highway i was thinking surely that has to be it, don’t these things come in 3’s? traveling along the highway was really quite spesh. beautiful sunday morning, not too many cars, nice flat road to warm the legs up before the climbs, everything’s feeling pretty good…”get off the f*%@king road, you wa*$%ers!!” is what i think the bloke said as he flew past in his camper van…at least i’ve got a house mate – back to the trailer park with you fella!

ryan, stu, michael and me did most of the front work along the highway – good to stretch the legs and get the heart going. i hadn’t ridden this route before so wasn’t too sure what to expect. knowing the routes pete plans though, i expected it’d probably start to hurt pretty soon. we rounded on to carawatha ave just before armadale, and my suspicions were confirmed. holy crap son, what is that??! looming large in front of us is what can only be described as something most people take their crampons and ice picks to get up…lovely. stu and mark move to the front and start working their way up. i drop down to what feels like a comfortable gear and try and hold mark’s wheel. ryan scoots past with gerry on his wheel. stu picks up the pace and leaves me and mark grinding our way up. about 2/3rds of the way up i looked at my heart rate – 97% of max and climbing – the breathing is so laboured that i’m sure i’m about to hyperventilate. finally reaching the top and started to spin my legs trying to get some oxygen back into my lungs and get my heart rate back down to something that resembled normalish. the re-group allowed for the needed rest – michael and emma arriving a short while after – respect to emma getting up it at all! and the re-groups are always a bit of a furphy – the stronger guys get to the top and get a nice long rest, and when the last person rolls in, it’s like “right, all on? lets go”. suggest new rules – lead pack turns round and heads back down to the last person (which is what stu started to do anyway) and push back up the hill again! then all re-group at the top and have equal rest….or is it just me??

anywho…on we head, michael flies off down the hill to the next turn and we head on to canns road. more climbing lies ahead, but nothing like that nasty, nasty cliff we’d just worked up. we make our way up through the bush to churchman brook road – quite a stunning piece of the world up there. great views and the scents of the wet bushland are something you only get to experience when you’re riding. pretty uneventful along this stretch with a few of us engaging in a conversation – others just enjoying being out in the open. a fairly fast descent down to the righthander at butcher road which takes u back up to brookton highway. ryan decides to test the pack up the hill and stu holds his wheel. mark, me, michael and gerry follow, but not with enough to keep on the tail of these guys – stu is really testing the fynn today it seems..good to see.

re-group at rolystone – mark mentions that they had breakfast there one ride – “mmm, that sounds good…shall we do that today” i think…ryan then starts to test the water on whether the group wants to pike it on peet road and just follow brookton around canning rd. as i hadn’t ridden this way before, i could only imagine what this next bit must look like. stu says that he’s doing peet road “for fun”, so it looks like the rest of us are too then! wouldn’t be right not too, really…! as we round on to peet road, it’s pretty obvious why there was some resistance…what the hell!!! off goes ryan, which was most unusual for him – normally likes to fly past with a giggle (at least thinking it, if not actually doing it) about 1/2 way up. stu takes off after him with me just off his wheel. i tried as hard as i could to hang on, but to no avail. 1/3rd of the way up the road flattens out and stu kicked. i looked behind me to see gerry about 100 metres back with mark, michael, john and mark just behind him. oh well, may as well give it what i’ve got, so i pushed again. that really began to bite and i could here gerry starting to close in. ryan was already off into the distance and i could see stu still trying the bridge the gap on him. gerry came past me just after the roundabout – is that the BIG ring he’s in!! mate, respect. i grabbed his wheel and held on for a while, and then it looked like he began to crack. grabbing for the smaller cogs at the back and then up out of the saddle….then clunk, off it goes on to the little ring. that’s me i think and go round. with the rest that i’d got in his draft, i was able to find just a little bit more and managed to get to the top in third. heart was certainly working and the head was beginning to ask the question “are you for real??”. stu headed back off down the hill to ride up with the back of the pack. as each one came in to the top there was a definite look of relief on their faces. ryan had the camera out taking pictures as they came in – any good ones mate?

after the re-group, we took off again, down to canning road – stu and me were off the front along brookton highway – i turned around and there wasn’t anyone else there?? i mention this to stu who seems not too concerned – something about ‘coffee shop’ and ‘first orders’ i think he said? quick regroup at the gull servo and we head out to go and find mundaring weir road. quite a nice rolling ride through to get there – the fast stretch along glenisla road had ryan on the front for most of the way doing all the work with the rest of us content to tuck in behind and get ready for what lay ahead. we wind our way down to mundaring weir road and round on to the final climb of the day. michael pulls off to the side to ride up with emma. stu’s on the front, with ryan, mark, gerry and me tagging on. the pace is high and the legs are all spinning. from what i can tell from everyone’s head position, we were very much at the business end of the day. being on the back, it felt like stu was putting in little mini attacks every 200 metres or so. as each of us responded it took just a bit more out of us. i was really struggling to keep in touch with gerry’s wheel…looking ahead there was another rider about 500 metres up the road. it felt like now there was a rabbit to chase down so the pace picked up again…reeling in this loan dude became a matter of principle and the effort stayed high. as we closed in, i could really feel the end of my run coming up…not much m
ore in the legs and the heart racing at 96% of max. we come up to the loan rider, and low and behold it’s darren – one of our usual crew. “slept in” he says as we work our past. darren jumps on to my wheel and i think the words were ‘holy shit!’ as he realized what pace we were going at. i think i only lasted another 100 metres or so before my legs packed it in for good…darren goes past and jumps on gerry’s wheel. so, from a distance, it looked as though stu really did have everyone’s measure today – mighty impressive effort, and as far as i can tell he was numero uno at the top. darren dropped his chain before getting up there and by the time i arrived at the round about, there wasn’t anyone there to greet me – guess i wasn’t getting first orders in after all!

rolling in to the coffee shop, there was lots of chatter from the four at the front about the climb. it was a big effort and the sweat count on gerry was running at what looked to be about 1.5 litres! time for a well earned coffee and food.

the group headed back out 1/2 an hour later and off to find the lesmurdie and welshpool fun parks. nice fast downhills with plenty of space to play. heading down welshpool road, ryan kicks off the front with darren and me in pursuit. as we got up to what felt like about 75 (must get that resh battery back in the computer!!), michael flies past in full aero position – ryan and darren look sideways and start pedaling furiously. a broken down car in the left hand lane made for some interesting times. ryan waves us round, darren moves out and i was forced across to almost the right hand lane. i wasn’t too fussed about a) going into the right hand lane and b) hitting the reflectors in the middle of the road. my indecision about where to steer then resulted in a wobble of the front wheel, an involuntary tightening of the sphincter the result. i managed to hold the thing square and came back in behind darren, deciding that the best lesson to learn is the one that doesn’t, but almost, result in a loss of blood. we get to the bottom and michael has really kicked off the front. darren had got round ryan and i was on ryans wheel. darren then did the lions share of the work to try and reel michael in until he blew up and ryan and me go round. ryan works hard to chase, with us only getting to michael just before the lights. a fine effort on his part. darren rolls into the lights remarking that ryan and i had not been gentlemanly in the way we had let him drop off the back. sorry mate.!

dodgy dude was at the school again today. we’re now thinking it’s boys in lycra, and not the kiddies, that he’s there for. i swear it’s the same guy – grey toyota camry. when a couple of the others roll in to the bus stop, mark has some serious piece of skin missing from his shin. another dropped chain – slipped out of the pedal and ‘whamo’ – ice packs and detol on that one my son. anyway, re-group of sorts – emma and mike b (the “other” mike b) head past and leave the rest of us to chase them down. rounding off orong and back on to welshpool, the pace picks up. michael and me are on the front and my legs are really starting to feel every one of the 80kms so far. i managed about 2 kms before having to come off the front and let someone else take the wind. a nice rest at the back for a while and then i could see a roll through of sorts happening. darren and me ended up back on the front again as we crossed the train tracks, just when gerry flies past for the first sprint. he’s really smoking it and then ryan flies past with michael on his wheel. it’s a long way up to albany highway, and it looked from where i was (read: nowhere near them, not even on a good day..) that ryan managed to get round gerry and hold michael off for the win.

albany highway was a nice cruise back, round on to hillview and then on to berwick. a few of our number got caught up at the lights so we had a relatively easy run along most of berwick. as we waited from them to get back on. after darren pulled off to head home, i was on the front as we came over the final rise. michael kicked for the final sprint with gerry and ryan pushing hard to reel him in. it looked as if he might just have held them off too – not quite sure what the finish line is along there, but he was well and truly in the mix at the end.

anyway, that’s it for now. i’m off to the airport – my wife is flying back over this afternoon…and if all went to plan she’ll have hooked up with the father of those two kids we’ve had at our place for the last few years and he’ll have taken them off our hands…and if not…

…no more sundays…no more coffee shop…!!

Ciao!

sunday 27th april – carradine & peet

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a sunday without a race for us made a change. well there was a race on but i wasn’t keen to drive down to albany for it and neither were the other guys. we had a team meeting yesterday to work out which races we were going to target over the coming weeks so will be traveling to collie next sunday for a few laps.

anyway, there was only a very small turn out when i arrived this morning. i had checked the rain radar before i left and it didn’t look pretty especially down in bunbury. only minimal showers expected where we were riding, but i guess it was enough to keep the fans away. i was surprised, however, to see lennie and a few of mickey’s saturday morning group waiting in the carpark. i was a bit confused and enquired as to whether i had the right day or was it actually saturday. long weekends confuse me. about five of them were heading down to mandurah with the intent of coming home via the train. good to see a few more people backing up with a sunday ride as well.

as i was chatting to them, the rest of the guys turned up. it was definitely “the guys” too as no girls were keen to play. about twenty headed out today into the dull grey morning, luckily it wasn’t that cold…. yet.

the route would take us down to mt nasura near armidale and up our favorite couple of climbs at carawatha and carridine. it was then intended that we jump across to albany hwy and up to canning dam before joining up with brookton hwy near karagulen and the usual way back to coffee in kalamunda.

we picked up todd and doug along the way as they intercepted our group thanks directions from the blog map (got to remember not to make changes on the fly). the trip down albany hwy was fairly uneventful with a bit of rain to freshen things up a bit and a flat for doug after a non-call on a pothole. we sheltered under a shop awning in kelmscott while doug and simon changed the tube.

as we past brooketon hwy, shao turned off, opting for an easy ride. he has just come back from doing the port mac ironman, so he has nothing to prove. sub twelve hour too is a pretty solid effort. anyway, we continued up the incline to the start of our main climb, but the group started to fragment a bit with cade and robbie speeding on ahead. unfortunately for them, without someone to yell at them to turn left, they continued down the road for a bit before realising we had turned off.

ryan went to the front straight away and i jumped on his wheel. he didn’t hit it hard, but enough to give us a fair gap to the rest of the pack. as we turned onto the steeper section, he went again, but this time i just wanted to find my rhythm as this climb is way too steep for me. ryan’s “attack” didn’t last too long either and he settled into the climb. about halfway to the top stu came past me but ryan had already reached the peak. as the road started to settle down, i looked back and saw cade and robbie closing fast, so i added a bit of effort to make sure they also didn’t come past.

a short regroup to make sure the climb hadn’t killed anyone and we were off again. doug hadn’t stopped and was already on the climb by the time we turned up carradine. cade and robbie began to chase so i sprinted around to make sure that i didn’t miss the break. doug was hauled in and overtaken quickly and the three of us started working together to keep away. the easterly winds affect the early part of this climb and cade was initially taking the full brunt of them. i looked back to see if ryan was going to come across, but he seemed content to not contest this one.

i made a bit of a move to see if we could shake cade after his turn and robbie jumped on my wheel. it was a nasty move, but i’m sure it has been done to me before. commendably, he fought back and managed to get back on our wheels. we kept the pace on towards the top and cade made a move when the road steepened up a bit. robbie dropped back a bit and we took advantage to try to get away. swapping off turns we made it to the end where i thought that i would sprint for line honors. i started a bit early and was sure that cade would just come over the top, but he was just as buggered and had dropped back a bit.

once everyone else had arrived and regrouped, we decided that we would change the course after seeing the dark clouds moving in from the south. the trip around canning dam doesn’t really leave many options and if we got caught in a downpour, or the predicted thunderstorms, we would get… well… wet. anyway, we were going to head down soldiers rd and climb peet rd into roleystone. the roads were better and the climbs harder. it would just drop about eight kms off our total for the day.

the decent was not too bad as the roads were not wet, just damp. ryan complained that he could not get past me as i was moving all over the road. damn right. it is a nice fast road in the dry. with a bit of moisture around, i was keen to use as much grip and road as necessary. we regrouped again to make sure it was a safe decent and headed up peet rd.

a little bit of traffic, well a lot for 9:15 sunday morning in roleystone meant that we started the climb in staggered formation. however, i made sure i was close enough to ryan and cade so is didn’t have to chase too much from the start. the climb started with traffic trying to get past as we picked up slower riders meaning we had to do little sprints to get around without getting run over. normally this is fine, but this climb has some nice 10% sections that make it very testing. once we found some clean air, a group containing ryan, cade, myself and the two young lads matt and robbie found a rhythm and began to stretch it out from the rest. stu was caught behind, and was still fighting his way up the hill to try to join up. probably a form of karma from the other week when he had a fifty metre headstart on the same climb.

i’m not sure who it was, but either cade or ryan upped the pace and young matt was off the back with robbie. however, with his high cadence, bouncy style, robbie managed to spring his way back to join us by the time we reached the urch rd intersection.

as we made our way up the next section, stu put in a big effort and bridged across to get right on my wheel. unfortunately, that was the exact time that ryan launched again and cade and i had to fight hard to stay on his wheel. stu must have been spent from the previous effort and dropped back with robbie while we surged on ahead.

the three of us took turns to keep the pace up as we approached the roleystone highschool final climb. this is where the tour de perth stage one and two finished and will be the finish line in a few weeks when we contest the state road championships. i came to the front for the final stretch to make sure that ryan got a good lead out for the line. cade was on my wheel and came around as soon as the climb started but had nothing for ryan who powered past. stu had been working with robbie and managed to gain a bit of ground back and sprinted up the hill to pass me about halfway up. i made sure robbie didn’t do the same.

a regroup at the high school before a quick dash to the karagulen servo for any toilet stops/refreshments. we headed towards pickering brook and doug got on the front to power it along once the road headed down. i was on the front with him but decided to save my legs for later and headed down the back. the small climb up towards the gun club is always an attack point, but i was content to sit at the back and watch the proceedings. when the move went, and it was predictably ryan, i noticed the excellent road conditions. it has been a few weeks since i had ridden this particular stretch of road and it was now a very sweet hot mix surface. there was no way i could let that past without a bit of speed, so set off to chase down as many as i could. by the time we hit the pickering brook intersection, ryan was still well in front, but i had managed to claw my way back to the main chase group.

at the regroup, cade, doug, robbie and darren decided to head home when we turned down towards bickley valley. this still left a good core group of riders “keen” for one last climb up to coffee. as we wound out way along the undulating road, i wasn’t concentrating on where ryan and stu were in relation to me. by the time we hit the start of the mundaring weir rd climb, they had a considerable advantage.

i was so far off the back that there was only one rider behind me when the road headed upwards. i decided that i would try to catch them on the hill. knowing ryan and stu’s abilities, this was a close to impossible task, but i thought that it would be good training for me. i powered up the first part of the climb and quickly past the main pack. about this time reality set in and my legs started to rebel. i eased off a bit but still kept forging ahead. there were a couple of others on the road that weren’t from our group that acted as rabbits for me to chase to maintain my momentum. however, it wasn’t till just before the road flattened and straightened out that i finally saw stu up ahead. he must have been chasing as by the time i hit the false flat section he had streaked ahead, but there was still no sign of ryan. i just kept the power on as long as i could and made it too the top.

as the guys filtered in to the coffee shop we had lost one more. stu is never content with the climbs we do and so headed out for another time up mundaring weir rd. i was happy to have a break. even better was the fact that they now have brought back the chocolate muffins that they stopped making about six months ago. it went down a treat with the hot chocolate. also got a few more guys to sign up for the cycle kit which we will get ordered next week. hopefully in a few weeks time there will be around fifty or so riders getting around in their new south perth cycle kit.

the wind was favorable on the way home and the decent wasn’t as scary as it has been as there were minimal cross winds. i even felt “comfortable” crusing down the main section at close to 80km/hr. i did manage to grab stu’s slipstream which gave me an extra few km/hr to crack 84.

the mandatory sprint along welshpool rd was not instigated by dr melvyn as we had him working at the front instead. i took off after we started to get the group rolling through and ryan chased me down and spat me out the back… again. the final sprint into south perth and we had to stop at the lights. more team tactics as i told ryan that i would practice leading him out and went to the front. when the lights changed, simon and rob both jumped to try to get an advantage, but i chased them down and was past both before the road swept down towards maccas. i still had some energy so i kept the lead out going for another block or so before giving ryan the signal to go. stu had already started to come around, but ryan had the more explosive sprint and took it to the line.

so, even though there was a little rain early on, it turned into an exceptional day. not too hot, not too cold. just right for riding.

sunday 23rd mar – carradine & peet & observatory

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UPDATED with video

well a beautiful moonlit morning greeted us as we rolled to the start. no daylight to speak of so everyone had lights flashing all over the place when they arrived. as the clock struck the hour, we were held up by young robbie who was changing a tube and changing a tube and changing a tube. he finally got it sorted out and we were about 15 min behind schedule, but at least the sun had come up by then. it also gave a few late comers a chance to start with us, rather than rolling back to bed like they had hoped. however, as we rolled out, he said that it had started going down again, so he decided not to tempt fate and call it a day. there are just some days that the bike tells you it’s had enough.

so we rolled out along berwick rd into a brisk headwind. we had about 19 riders once poor robbie had headed home. as i stopped to check that robbie was ok, i ended up at the back of the group for the duration of the ride. it was quite pleasant really as the wind did seem to be quite annoying for the guys at the front.

as we came through kenwick and approaching maddington, mr dickhead came past us in a large 4wd. this time he stayed in his own lane but instead of hurling abuse, decided that it was better to hurl a full can of diet coke at the group. luckily it wasn’t his wanking arm as it didn’t hit anyone directly, but a few copped some of the spray as the can opened up. maybe he thought that we were thirsty, or maybe he was just another inbred dick, that compensates for his own inadequacies by bullying others that seem vulnerable to attack. unfortunately the video camera wasn’t running at the time so i couldn’t get a look at his number plate.

as we past brookton hwy, dr paul, dr ian and lorraine peeled off for an easier day. the rest of us continued past the armadale hospital and ready for the first bonus climb up carawatha. ryan had previously complained that his legs did not feel well today and was hoping that we had already left when he turned up late. this would be the real test to see if he was foxing or not. the road turned upwards and everybody got into their rhythm. ryan still had it in the big ring and i commented that i would like to see him try that for the second half of the hill. the road turned and grade increased a lot.

ryan did drop it down to the small chain ring and set a nice pace up the hill. i had to come around darren and brendon to make sure i stayed on his wheel, but the bugger unhitched me before we got to the top. stu and mike b stayed out of this one as it was only a bonus. a quick regroup and off to the first main climb of the day up carradine.

as carradine is not a particularly steep climb, it means that little things like drafting can make a big difference. however, the road condition is bordering on crap so it really drags the bike back making it hard to keep a good line. the group started the climb well and i was waiting for someone to make a move. everyone seemed content to sit in as the wind was still in our face, but the road had not yet turned to crap. i decided that i was not going to get any better like this so chucked it up a few gears and sprinted off.

a quick look back and i saw that no-one wanted to play with me. fine, i will just have to work on my own. so i did for quite a few painful minutes while the group sorted out what it was going to do. eventually i saw that it had started to break up and a smaller group was stretching out to catch me. i was hoping that they would not just blow by me as my legs were starting to hurt by this time.

it turned out to be mike b, stu, ryan and darren that had gone off the front and i managed to latch on behind and catch my breath a bit. as we continued up the hill we started to up the pace a bit more to try to increase the gap to the rest of the pack. we began swapping off turns, but i didn’t do that much as i was starting to struggle by this point. on the last little kick towards the end the pace got too much for darren and he slipped off the back. he continued on to the end where stu and ryan had a little sprint for bragging rights. mike and i were content to let them use up the excess energy for the last 50 metres.

darren didn’t lose too much ground by the end and he is climbing very well at the moment. brendon and james came though next a couple of minutes later followed by the rest in dribs and drabs. we then continued on to the tasty descent down soldiers rd. we encountered a slight headwind as the descent started, but once we found the protection of the trees and the smooth roads, it allowed us to open it right up to a 70km/hr descent. a car and a couple of motorbikes coming the other way made it a bit tricky, but nothing too difficult. well at least not as difficult as actually having to pedal.

another regroup back at brookton hwy and we were ready to face peet rd. a couple of km’s at close to 10% is always going to be fun. throw in a couple of good climbing whippets and you knew that the pace was going to be high.

as we did our little right left to cross brookton hwy, i noticed that stu had taken a short cut and managed to get straight across to the start of peet via a path. the cheeky sod had grabbed a 50m head start before we even turned a pedal in anger. he said later that he felt a bit guilty so didn’t go too hard, but when he saw mike chasing him, he didn’t want to make it too easy.

i was a little boxed in when ryan came past to try to bridge to mike. once i managed to break free, i sprinted up to ryan who was really feeling it in the legs today. we were stuck in noman’s land as he hadn’t managed to bridge to mike, but we had a big gap over the chasing guys behind. we started to work together, but it was really a survival tactic rather than trying to catch mike and stu. i watched up the road as mike caught stu and spat him out the back as he continued up the hill. ryan and i managed to gain back a bit of ground once we came down the other side of the hill and started towards roleystone high school, which was the next regroup point. the road is not flat along this stretch either, but allowed the advantage from drafting more than the steeper side of the hill so we were still gaining. the final stretch before the last steep pinch to the finish and i told ryan that i would bury myself to lead him the hill where he could try to catch stu. mike by this time was so far ahead that it wouldn’t have surprised me if he had been home, had a shower, some lunch and came back out to finish the ride with us.

i dug deep and got him to the base of the hill before dying a horrible, horrible death. he took off in typical ryan style, but was soon running on empty and couldn’t quite bridge the gap. i slowly, carefully made my way to the top trying not to leave a lung or two behind.

we cruised up to karagullen after regrouping only to find that the servo was still closed. that made the refueling a bit hard so we continued on towards pickering brook. a fairly moderate pace was set as we were on the uphill section, but it soon amped up as we headed down. strung out and doing over fifty I decided to attack on the downhill to see how far I could get, as the uphill attacks were not making much of an impression today. i managed to gap the group by about fifty metres or so and held them off for a short time. just before
the road started to head upwards the group came past me and i slotted into the first gap i could find.

the hill spread the field across the road as riders found their rhythm and pace. mike b shot forward so i jumped around the group to get on board. the usual suspects of stu and ryan also came across. when mike kicked again, i found that i had no legs for it and had to let them go. about this time, michael happened to be coming the other way as he had a late start to the morning. he quickly turned around and joined the fun. not my fun though, he started to wait for me but i told him to chase the others down as my legs were shot. i slowed my pace down and waited for james to catch up so i could get a draft behind him. soon we were joined by brendon and i think dr marc as well. we didn’t make up much ground on the others but didn’t let them get too far ahead.

a regroup at the intersection and i checked to see if anyone wanted a shortcut straight to the coffee shop. no takers, which is always promising as we still had two climbs to go. as i mentioned previously, everyone seemed to be climbing so much better and it is still noticeable with the shorter waits at regroup points.

so we headed off into what was hopefully the final headwind but unfortunately chris and myself ended up at the front. we could have dropped back, i suppose, but it didn’t really seem fair, so we just kept an even pace to the base of the climb up the observatory. i said to chris that we should just keep a nice even pace up the climb and wait to see who puts in the attacks. his reply was that was always his plan anyway.

the hill slowed our progress down dramatically and the group bunched up behind us. eventually james came around and so i told him to attack to see how far he gets. off he went and managed to get a nice gap on the field. no one reacted immediately but the usual suspects started increasing the pace and the group started to splinter. a moderate size group had formed at the front led by stu who set a quite good pace. i was considering an attack, but as we reached the point that i attacked a few weeks back, the feedback from my legs said “no go captain”. i just tried to hang in as best i could. a couple of pace changes and we had past james’ earlier escape and managed to drop it down to the final for from the initial climb up carradine. working together to increase the distance, we almost made it to the top before my legs gave out and i fell off the back.

one last climb to go before coffee and everyone was starting to feel it. a welcome descent down the steeper side of the observatory before the road kicked up and kicked up hard. i wanted to make sure that mike didn’t get a large lead before the climb started like last time we were here, so made a move on the descent to get in front of him. it didn’t really matter though, as he just took off as soon as the climb started.

i tried to chase, but by now the last couple of days of towing my young lad in the bike trailer were catching up with me, and my legs rebelled. stu was also feeling bad, but managed to put an effort in to try to restrict the gap that was forming. i was content to sit on ryans wheel with michael and get a “free” ride to the regroup point on canning rd.

darren and mike took off home at this point while the rest of us headed to the coffee shop for a well deserved break. we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was not busy and we could get a table or four and a quick order. it must have been the easter break or the chilly wind that was keeping the customers away. we arrived late, after ten, and this is usually the busiest time.

hot cross buns were the order of the day and once we were fed and watered we were on our way. the blowy conditions made the descent interesting, but i still cracked 83 km/hr on welshpool. i am learning to be more relaxed on the bike on the descent but it is hard to convince your body to comply when all it wants to do is hang on tight.

a nice tailwind followed us home and the boys wanted to take advantage by going flat out from the word go. the group was down to single file and i didn’t really want to play so dropped back. dr nic was struggling so i got infront of her to try to close the gap to the main group. we were already doing over fifty and not really making a dent in the distance, and probably losing more ground. by the time we hit the lights at the roe hwy i had left dr nic but was still a way behind. i caught up to chris and still worked to bridge the gap, but then saw ryan start his sprint so figured that i might as well give up now.

we waited to regroup while ryan and james took off as it was late after such a long ride. this would make the final sprint along berwick interesting as the field had been thinned considerably. we were briefly held up at the final lights and when they changed, dr nic shot off like she was chasing down a car full of egg throwing hoons. i quickly took off and caught her on the slight rise, but thought that i should continue to see how far i could get before being totally swamped. i kept the pressure on down the other side and when i finally had a look behind, there was quite a bit of fresh air between me and the next rider. everyone else was too spend chasing ryan down on welshpool rd earlier.

so, no crashes, and no flats during the ride so in all a good day. i will trawl through the video footage from today to find something nice to post, but it may be tomorrow before that happens, so check back later.

UPDATE
after having a quick look at all the action from sunday, i have added a video that i think everyone would like to see.
one of the brutal climbs that we did up peet rd had ryan in obvious distress. so much so that he couldn’t stay on my wheel when i came past for a turn.

it’s not something that we see very often, so i thought that i should post it so we can all remember. thanks ryan.

sunday 10th feb – carradine & peet & observatory

1 Comment

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.