sunday 4th may - kahuna & peet & observatory

ride report by mark

ten of us gathered on another perfect riding day. it was fresh, but not cold; still ok for just arm warmers, and short gloves.

still plenty of chatter about pete and the web site, with general support for what pete is doing, and dismay at people trying to stifle a free market economy.

we headed off down berwick & albany hwy at a sensible pace, with everyone taking turns in front, and the traffic light gods smiling on us.

it was my first sunday ride with the group in about 5 weeks, after another bout of travelling, the hills challenge race and fairbridge music festival (a must for any acoustic music fan).
the web site said we’d be doing cohunu, with peet rd, and observatory thrown in for good measure. mmmm …

when we got to the hill, cade put the hammer down from the start. i chased for about a km, during which time mike b came flying past me. i realised soon i was going nowhere, so carried on with the heart rate at a steady 175 – 180. i saw mike pass cade, who seemed to throw in the towel at that stage, but then gave a big burst at the end to stay well ahead of me. we regrouped at the top, and the sensible riders went straight from there to the coffee shop, while the rest of us turned right onto canning mills rd.

the next part through rolystone and down urch rd was fun, till we got to pete rd, and cade decided to make a break again. i stayed with him for longer this time, till mike b came past us both, as if we were looking for parking. cade chased, and the two road together along raeburn rd, staying a consistent 50m ahead of me (very frustrating – if i’d had a mobile number i would have called and asked them to slow down for 10 sec), till the last little hill before brookton highway, where they sprinted it out – i think mike b took it, but i’m not sure.

i led with a bit of a burst of speed after the karragullen servo turnoff, and we took turns, keeping a pretty good pace until we reached the t-junction at pickering brook rd. at that point we were supposed to turn right and do the observatory loop, but we wimped out and went left. mike b being the honourable fellow he is, turned right and went off to start his real training, unhampered by the rest of us.

at the glenisla right turn, dr nic & cade and one more went straight on to the coffee shop claiming they had time constraints. that left only rob, tod and myself to do the climb up mundaring weir rd. i pushed a head a little at the start, and stayed there to the top. it was just what i needed for a come-back ride; had i pushed to hard to chase the likes of ryan, stuart or pete, i would just have regretted it today.

after the mandatory h&c croissant and long black, we cruised back home, with a fast descent down welshpool, during which rob we stuck together at 82km/h. no major sprints along orrong or welshpool; too few & too tired.

i got home with 105km on the clock, and a warm fuzzy feeling in my legs that i’d missed for the last month. thanks for a good ride guys.