tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36037251520460834132024-02-19T14:22:51.422+08:00where are we riding todayrunning a south perth cycle group and the joys of trying to keep everyone happydamnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-12707454930060432502010-07-29T14:49:00.001+08:002010-07-29T14:49:28.015+08:00south perth rouleursif you found this blog after doing a web search you really need to head to our new website.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.southperthrouleurs.com.au/">http://www.southperthrouleurs.com.au/</a><br /><br />all current information can be found there.damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-28766041759993314902008-06-20T17:24:00.003+08:002008-06-20T17:26:10.828+08:00new blog site<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">since this site has been shut down for over a month, i had to transfer the blog to a temp site.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">please got to <a href="http://southperthcycling.blogspot.com/">http://southperthcycling.blogspot.com/</a></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">i will soon be setting up a fully hosted site which stop the blog from being removed.</span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-5091710610642306492008-05-05T21:47:00.001+08:002008-05-05T21:49:23.485+08:00sunday 4th may - kahuna & peet & observatory<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ride report by mark</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ten of us gathered on another perfect riding day. it was fresh, but not cold; still ok for just arm warmers, and short gloves.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />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.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />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.<br /><br />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).<br />the web site said we’d be doing cohunu, with peet rd, and observatory thrown in for good measure. mmmm …<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /> </span><br /></span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-49665922216362284402008-05-03T20:46:00.000+08:002008-05-03T20:47:22.864+08:00saturday 3rd may - riseley & south<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">quite chilly again this morning, but i knew it would warm up so i didn’t add to many extra clothes to the mix. an extra pair of over-gloves to keep the wind chill down and the booty covers and i was away. a very small turn out this morning and i wasn’t really sure why. the weather was one thing, but it was forecast to be nice. the busso half ironman was on, but i didn’t think we had that many hardcore triathletes in the mix. so just to be paranoid, i put it down to the current e-mail war that was going on. if you haven’t been involved, don’t worry, it will all go away very soon, but it involved my new probikekit ad banner and supporting local bike shops. apparently a conflict of interest.<br /><br />so we rolled out this morning with about 20 people, and headed down canning hwy. the route would take us past garden city, and murdoch before hitting south st and down to freo. the usual way home via dalkieth was the plan. it was a very subdued group as we headed south. the banter was still about the e-mail war as there were a lot of people getting there opinions out there. we took it easy up riseley st and across leach onto murdoch dr. south st was the aim and i would give the group their head of steam once we hit it. <br /><br />this stretch of south st contained a number of rolling hills to test the legs, but can also be let down by the number of traffic lights that you really have to luck to get a clean run. the group started to stretch out a bit as some of the boys hit the front and began to up the pace. i intended to sit on the back all day today to rest my legs for the race tomorrow, but went to the front with the primary aim of getting a bit of video footage as the group came around me. i ended up doing a bit of a turn and was surprised how tight my quads felt. not a particularly good sign.<br /><br />once some of the others like nick, steve and rod came to the front, i wasn’t playing anymore and just cruised along in the group. a couple of the boys got a bit of a gap and the group began to splinter as people tried to chase. luckily the lights at north lake rd found us all back together before the boys did it all over again.<br /><br />we regrouped on stock rd and the lights meant that the group was all back together. i dropped to the back and had a chat with a new guy that had turned up. apparently, he had damaged some bit of his hip or something playing footy and wanted to keep active so was out playing with us. good to see, and i hope you come back out with us, dan.<br /><br />we turned down marmion for the run down to freo and between here and along stirling hey, the group was remarkably contained and basically stayed together till the turn towards dalkeith. as always, the pace was going to step up.<br /><br />i left it up to the guys to work out who would be doing the work as i was still under the impression o would be saving my legs for tomorrow. as usual the pace was on, but not at an unattainable rate, probably due to ryan not being here. as the field stepped up i allowed myself to drift to the back where i found dan, hanging off the end of the group. i gave him my wheel and attempted to draft him back to the group. the combination of increased pace, me not wanting to overstress my legs and the small undulations meant that we were off the back till we hit the intersection that takes us onto hackett dve. back on the group i noticed that it wasn’t all our riders as another group had got through the intersection and was heading up the road. i guessed that the lights on mounts bay would slow them down as i don’t think we have ever got through them without having to stop. i will be caught out one day and let someone go and they will sneak through.<br /><br />so we lined up on mounts bay ready for the sprint. there weren’t many willing workers, so i found my way to the front. i wasn’t pushing hard and was primarily there because i find it hard to write the blog from the back of the pack. chrostophe took off early and no-one chased. he got a bit of a gap before steve also headed off. i did not intend to lift the pace so if there was going to be a chase, it would be someone else. a couple of guys came around, but then dr melvyn decided that they escapee’s needed to be caught and made his move. he yelled at us to hop on as he came past and i jumped on his wheel. he made a good pace and got us up to overtake both riders before running out of puff. by this tiem we were at the brewery and bruce jumped from the pack with jerry hot on his wheel. from what i could see, bruce almost buggered it up but had a second kick to keep jerry at bay and into his ‘eternal second’ place.<br /><br />so, a small group for coffee, served with true german efficiency (the waitress is german, and she is very efficient. service has been really good since she arrived). lots of discussion about the state of our group and what we will be doing in the future, so expect some changes soon.<br /><br />racing down in collie tomorrow and i will be joined by ryan, jerry, michael and stu. ryan did the half ironman bike leg today as part of a team, so it will be interesting to see how he goes tomorrow. he has come second in the last two races he competed in, but will have to see what he has left for tomorrow. hopefully we can achieve something for the team.</span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-85941294148234897902008-05-01T21:03:00.005+08:002008-05-01T21:14:24.672+08:00ride routes 3rd & 4th may<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">thought about not bothering this weekend. not bothering posting the route. not bothering turning up to lead the group. not bothering to organise the cycle kit. but a few e-mails of support have made me feel better, so here is the routes for the weekend.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">sunday you are on your own again as five of us are heading down south to collie for the tom lowry memorial race. ryan has decided to ride the busso half in a team on the saturday and then back it up with the race on sunday. oh to be young again (he still doesn't qualify for a masters licence like the rest of us in the race team)</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">saturday 3rd may</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">risley and south st</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=41fd05d656fd0f297293b21a85762692&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/137582678">Sth Perth Saturday Ride 09 (Risley & South St)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">sunday 4th may</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">kahuna & peet & patterson</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=fe7c518f5a38bbf537a57e0185ea2a8a&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/577308818">Sth Perth Sunday Ride 03 (Kahuna & Peet & Patterson)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-73916560103954976452008-04-28T21:05:00.005+08:002008-04-29T20:41:34.143+08:00sunday 27th april - carradine & peet<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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. </span><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyBocBvoZEJKeqwJoQqHtg276n6uWCBaMPwv-s47UHturhdzc_YJG1pToNAgt_bDVCSSVvCcPmPrQCgA_9How' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">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.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwMrtXsdYlVp3gYIzIz2Fb99cF6414qMpPKk19pHK3_4hvI5WjpkvYwJgWCk21PbxnIFwBu_teKy30yVch_3Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><p align="left">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.<br /><br /></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">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.<br /><br />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. <br /><br />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.</p><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dypZGyQj-jsNgXFvwDsrJLS-gEK9uMVjdlKjRsvA2K4mDeZVxINlHtVYdoSjYEnDmPm9tdgJ3Y4oRJd5itD' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><p>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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.</span></p>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-15446127133873049102008-04-26T21:07:00.005+08:002008-04-27T20:22:49.267+08:00saturday 26th april - benara rd<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">saturday morning rolled around once again and about thirty or so riders were keen to play. the course was picked to take advantage of the easterly wind, which didn’t seem to be blowing too hard at south perth. a nice easy pace out to guilford before a hard session on benara rd, a further cruise and regroup down to whatley crescent where we would go hard all the way into town. that was the plan anyway.<br /><br />up great eastern hwy and out to ascot was a pleasant pace allowing us to hold a conversation and generally catch-up with the group. once we hit guilford rd the easterly wind was a lot more evident. after we past under the tonkin hwy i tried to get the group to roll through to make it easier for everyone. however, it actually had the opposite effect, as some of the more experienced guys thought that we were doing it to try to up the pace and started pushing harder. the group started to splinter and some guys couldn’t pull through for a turn. luckily we hit the lights at bassendean station and had a chance to regroup. unfortunately for john b, the stop meant that he almost ended up on the ground as he touched wheels with the guy in front and ended up riding his bike like a bucking bull trying to stay upright.<br /><br />so we moved along, and gave up on the roll through and just let a couple of the stronger boys do the work. just before the bridge that separates bassendean from guilford, a couple of big slow moving trucks past us. the road was going from double to single lanes and the trucks were trying to get past before the bridge. unfortunately, chris decided to jump on the back of one and get a draft, but didn’t see the next one coming. he didn’t get run over, but the next thing we know, half the pack is now chasing to try to catch a draft. this basically spread the group along a couple of hundred metres making it difficult for traffic to get around. <br /><br />it continued this way up west swan road and the nice and easy pace soon became a hard slog as riders battled the cross winds. i was stuck towards the back and was cursing the front guys for splitting the group up. i couldn’t get around to get to the front as there was a stream of traffic tryig to get around the little pockets of riders. i managed to jump up a driveway and get onto the bike path that ran alongside. it was pretty wide and in good condition so i managed to clip along at a fair pace. reaching the front pack i jumped off the curb and raced to the head of the field just as they were turning onto benara rd. our designated go hard point. as most of the group had already gone hard, i gave the guys my best gordon ramsey impersonation and a number of expletives about spltting the group up. i then made them all go easy pace to allow the rest of the pack time to catch up before we turned the pace up again.<br /><br />after we past the first roundabout, i let them have their head of steam and the attacks happened soon after. nick, chris and ryan all sped off the front at some stage along benara rd and soon the pack was stretched out again. i was practicing my domestique duties and just chased down everything but didn’t attack my self. we came across dr paul and dr ian who had managed a very good short cut and were easily halfway down benara by the time we caught them. we did manage to catch most of the lights, but still thinned the group out by the time we reached the end. it is a nice long stretch but can be ruined if we don’t get a good run on the lights.<br /><br />a easy pace down through morely and onto bayswater for the final run home along whatley crescent. this road contains a number of rolling hills and only a few traffic lights so you can get a good run in if you are lucky. i had discussed team tactics with chris earlier on in the week and we had decided that we would attack and wait for the others to chase. when the attack was caught, we would send another rider off the front to force them to chase again. hopefully, chris had talked to ryan, so he wouldn’t chase me down.<br /><br />anyway, i went early and hard. bruce wasn’t far off my wheel so managed to jump across with me. he did one turn then turned off on garrett rd to head home early. i was on my own again as the road climbed up the next hill. a quick look over my shoulder and i saw that the group was closing fast. however, as i powered down the other side i managed to widen the gap again giving myself a nice buffer. not long after, i hit a set of red traffic lights and was brought to a standstill. my gap meant that i at least had a little time to grab a drink and get my breath back before the group descended on me. <br /><br />as the lights changed, chris sped off with ryan close behind. i set off with the others but it seemed that no-one was really keen to chase. only a few had set off after them but no-one was really making much ground. i had recovered sufficiently and thought that i could give it another go and try to bridge across to them. if the rest of the pack came with me, then i would ease off, but no-one else jumped. jerry was off the front and i came around him too fast for him to get on so left him in noman’s land. by the time i hit east parade i had caught chris and ryan so tucked in behind to get a rest. a few turns between us and we still had a good gap by the time we cross the graham farmer freeway.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><p align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyAN10aFmiRkuBxhDhC4r-0SxQbEM1mAHVdaxZzQz7hzG7R0OnsnbVlKx-2wwtzb5L17mIRyi227Up2kKPw4A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></p><br />unfortunately the next set of lights put a stop to our shenanigans as the group caught us. dr melvyn sped past as the lights changed and charged through east perth to the hill next to the police station. the group splintered on the hill as normal but we managed to reel dr melvyn in or should i say that the hill forced him to slow down. we caught every single light between there and riverside drive which meant that the group was pretty much together for the final sprint. i had chris on my wheel and i was hoping that ryan and jerry would line up as well. we needed practice at the leadout train and this is a nice long stretch of double lane road. <br /><br />nick jumped first at the light change and started to speed down the road. it was a long stretch, so i wasn’t too worried as even if i didn’t catch him, the next guy may do it. i didn’t accelerate hard as i wanted to make sure the chris stayed on my wheel. we pushed the pace and caught nick easily. james dropped in behind chris’ wheel with jerry just behind. ryan had to fight for position and come around a few bikes but was behind chris by the time i dropped them off. chris didn’t have much left after a few days off the bike due to a cold, but ryan still sped off dragging jerry along. the rest of the field was quite a way behind by then and everyone was pretty buggered after so chasing so many time today.<br /><br />christophe commented on jerry being in his usual position of behind ryan’s wheel. he renamed him poulidor a french rider who always seemed to come second to the greats in the 60’s and 70’s.<br /><br />so a good ride, and I felt strong which was good after a very poor showing on our thursday training ride where the guys had to wait for me a couple of times. hopefully a good sign for tomorrow’s hills ride.</span><br /><br /></span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-65655700504285563402008-04-26T20:22:00.000+08:002008-04-26T20:23:14.313+08:00friday 25th april - anzac day<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">anzac day public holiday means a number of things for australians; dawn service, parades, two-up. for us it was an opportunity to slip another ride into the week. we lined up our normal public holiday route which took in shelley, attadale, freo and cottesloe. as always it is meant to be a recovery ride and no sections were designated as “smash the crap out of the group” sections… meant to be.<br /><br />anyway, had quite a good turn out with probably around twenty riders. as usual, a public holiday is an oppurtuntiy to get away, get on the turps the night before, or get told by the missus that you will be doing something other than riding. my missus had let me come out and play so off we trotted for a nice casual lap. <br /><br />it was cold again, and i was rugged up. i had been out on thursday morning and didn’t fare too well. the other guys had to stop and wait for me twice, which is quite embarrassing. i’m putting it down to work stress and lack of sleep caused by work stress. i am coming to the end of a major project at work and there is a lot on. i usually don’t care, but for some reason this one has affected me a bit. so it was either that, or i was coming down with something. hence the extra layers of clothing.<br /><br />it was a nice pace as we came down through kensington and past curtain uni. the roads were fairly empty so we were not expecting any hoon trouble, especially not this early. so as we were coming down lawson st and were just about to turn onto manning rd, we had an interesting altercation with a motorist. <br /><br />lawson st is a double lane rd and we were taking up one lane as we have the right to do. this car, and i can’t even say it was a hoon car as it was a rav4 or honda crv size, came past and gave us a very aggressive blast from his horn the pulled back into our lane so he could also do a left hand turn. anyway, the left hand turn is not the usual, just give way, but has a set of lights which, unfortunately for the motorist, were red. <br /><br />right, i thought, i am going to see what this dickhead is on about. i rolled up to the drivers side window and knocked on it. this 60 plus year old guy was sitting there, deliberately looking forward with his hands on the wheel making sure he didn’t make eye contact with me. probably silently praying that the lights would change. so andrew also pulls up next to me and actually opens his door and says ‘what did you do that for’. the driver is visibly shocked and probably close to shitting himself as we have now invaded his nice safe little cocoon of a car. he makes some excuse that we were taking up the whole lane, which we reply that we are allowed to. then andrew asks him why he used his horn as he came past, to which he says that he only wanted to warn us that he was coming around. bullshit, it was a full blast to show what a man he is. anyway, the lights change and i am trying to get him to go, which for some reason, he doesn’t want to and wants to argue. here is a guy that was in too much of a hurry and got pissed off that we were delaying him now didn’t want to drive his car. so we shut his door and we headed off first. he then had to come around us again. stupid guy. <br /><br />it was funny seeing the look of terror on his face when we opened his door. as i have said before, we may look stupid in our pretty lycra, but i’m sure that the twenty of us could have put his car on it’s roof. i know that cyclist have the reputation that we are all testosterone fuelled menaces to society, that run over pedestrians and deliberately hold up traffic, but drivers need to look at us like their old grandmother. we are slow, take up the whole lane and if you collide with us, you will probably kill us. i am probably preaching to the wrong audience, but some people just don’t seem to care that they take our lives into their hands. </span><a href="http://whereareweridingtoday.blogspot.com/2008/03/saturday-1st-mar-scarborough-beach-rd.html"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">see lexus.</span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />anyway, we made our way down to shelley, via fern ave and saw some other public holiday ride coming back the other way. there would have been about 100 riders, so it was probably the old papas ride. shelley was very contained and the group stayed together well. apparently lennie lost her chain at the end of the road before we hit the bike path, but no-one let me know so i didn’t realize she was gone till to late. we cruised up canning hwy and missed the appelcross section of the river ride. if we do it when going clockwise, we then have to go past the old folks home on the bike path and with a group this big it is too dangerous.<br /><br />once we turned onto burke dve the pace picked up a bit. not too much like there was an attack, but enough to start stretching the group out. stu was the main antagonist, which was strange as earlier in the ride he had said that he was not feeling too well. the pace stayed on till pt walter where the hill sorted the group out a bit. luckily there was a general slowing once we were over the top and most people managed to clamber back on.<br /><br />we turned to get onto riverside drive and past the left bank, the pace picked up once again. still no real attack, but just stu pushing hard to make everyone hurt. darren commented on the nice cruisey public holiday ride we were having. the pace continued until we caught up to a small car with learner plates on. the car alost came to a stop when it went over the speed hump, so about four riders diverted around it. the car was still moving and john almost got squashed between it and the median strip which had started again. silly boys. even worse since it was an inexperienced driver who could panic and just run you over by mistake.<br /><br />i gave them a stern talking too as we past through freo and headed up to cott. the wind was starting to pick up, or was it there all the time and we just didn’t notice as in was on our backs. either way, it made things difficult as it was almost a direct crosswind so you couldn’t hide behind the wheel in front. the pace stepped up again as we hit marine parade and headed towards cott. i just let it go and sat in where i could. most of us were expecting a nice quiet ride and like chris previously, was looking forward to seeing some nice scenery in cottesloe. not to be as we came through with enough speed to ensure the mind was focused on the wheel in front. i don’t even know who was driving the bunch by this stage, but a number of guys were keen to stretch their legs.<br /><br />the return through dalkeith was the usual fare, with the pace coming on as the undulations started. i was keen to stay out of it, but when three guys shot off the front, i did a turn to pull them back just before the main climb on birdwood parade started. can’t even remember who was in the break and it was only yesterday. anyway, they went again as the gradient increased, and the guys i had dragged back up to them, didn’t have anything to go with, so they gapped us again. cresting the hill we could see a road block up ahead. probably the wrong thing to do even though the guy said it was ok, but we went through and past an anzac memorial service being held in an adjacent park. the group kind of stayed together till mounts bay road ready for the final line up. <br /><br />with the wind in our faces, the slog along mounts bay would be hard. with ryan contesting the crit up in midland, there were very few real long range threats in the group. i was second wheel and when the front guys peeled off i thought that it was too hard to go it alone so started to roll through instead and signaled for the others to join in. it worked fairly well until one new guy got a bit confused, left his run too late and formed a big gap that he could recover from. by the time i rolled back to the front we were less than a k from the end so i thought that i would put in a big effort. all this did was give a nice lead out to a bunch of the guys who rolled past me and onto the finish line, while i dragged myself to coffee. <br /><br />only a small group was at coffee and we were joined by my family for a hot chocolate and muffin. with not many public holidays left in the year, and the group generally getting faster, i fear that the cruisey ride may be a thing of the past as people try to take advantage of the extra ride. oh well, at least we were riding.</span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-25913182429523647642008-04-24T12:29:00.004+08:002008-04-24T12:38:54.741+08:00ride routes 25th, 26th & 27th april<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">not sure if i will be riding on anzac day, but i am sure that there will be a group taking off at seven in the morning. benara rd on saturday to take advantage of the strong easterly's, and a long hilly sunday ride to round out the weekend.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">friday 25th april - anzac day</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">public holiday ride</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=1929d694a8e1adcca6a8d97a8b0841bc&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/410184279">Sth Perth - Public Holiday Ride</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">saturday 26th april</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">benara rd</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=a810b931f2256edfd842fc84f6caf87d&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/682365612">Sth Perth Saturday Ride 08 (Benara Rd)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">sunday 27th april</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">carradine & canning dam</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=f6d000ec1ab2ad14fd610fdd37675513&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/93434412">Sth Perth Sunday Ride 05 (Carradine & Canning Dam)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-29188993332419271142008-04-23T21:05:00.008+08:002008-12-09T08:27:48.534+09:00sunday 20th april - b grade trophy race<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">sunday and another race day. this would be the third weekend in a row for me and i was beginning to get the feel for what racing was all about. it was an early start as i met davina at canning bridge for a warm-up ride down to wandi. it was less than 30km but we wanted to get there with time to spare so allowed an hour which meant a pretty cruisey pace. it was freakin’ cold again and i had rugged up with big gloves, vest, jacket and booties on. anything extra that i didn’t need i figured i could chuck in someone’s car during the race.<br /><br />there were plenty of triathletes on the bike path as the half ironman was only a couple of weeks away. from groups to individuals they were all making their way down to the end of the freeway bike path as it is a pretty popular run with very few stops. justin also past by on his way down to the race, but was doing quite a bit faster than we intended to.<br /><br />the roads were a bit damp and the clouds on the horizon showed that it wouldn’t be a dry morning. a few sprinkles early on weren’t a real concern and actually after the rain event that we raced in during the tour de perth, anything short of a thunderstorm would be manageable. bruce, chris and ryan were already down at the start by the time we arrived and stu turned up not long after. a quick registration and we headed out for a loop of the circuit to get an idea of what we were up against. it was a nice square taking about 8km to get around. the corners weren’t too bad and the undulations were not steep enough to really make a difference. the only real concern was the roundabout on the back straight and the huge traffic island that separated the two lanes as the road swept round towards the finishing straight.<br /><br />so, about 60 riders pitched up at the line. this was the “b” grade trophy race and as such, the “a” grade riders were riding the support race. we also had four girls sprinkled in amongst our field. it would be a nine lap race and we were sure that it would probably stay together till the end. the point was made by the race officials about having your race number under your vest and it not being able to be seen. i was pretty sure that it would not warm up that much and got the other guys to re-pin it on to my vest.<br /><br />it had sprinkled with rain again before the start and the roads were wet enough in places to cause some spray off the back wheels. it made me wonder about the state of some of the corners we had to take and at what speed the pack would want to take them.<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzTK72Bf8oYq3r9_3__8kt0JXW3kZFyAGVUgMaPVTO1milH8u3Ta9YL0j-elPm4FBIXPO_ONILDFpsUDS2oqA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />the first lap was a pretty standard fare with guys testing their legs on the “climbs” but not really getting away. the corners were not too bad but there were a few patches where the road was a bit potholed and you had to be careful each lap. the roundabout, as expected, caused a bit of concern early on as people tried to get through about three wide. this took us a couple of laps to sort out and by the end was a lot more controlled.<br /><br />just after the roundabout was a small rise and almost every lap, someone would put the hammer down to try to stretch the group out. i spend the first few laps towards the back, getting used to the pack and when it would make surges. i watched davina a bit during this time and noted how she anticipated the surges in the pack and got up before the people around her moved so that a gap wouldn’t form. i was learning.<br /><br />i would say that there were about four or so punctures within the first lap and a half. the wet roads make it so much easier for bits of crap to work their way into the rubber. also, i suspect that some of these guys had the good going out rubber on the bike with a bit less protection from punctures. there was a spares ute but none of us had any wheels in the back. if we punctured, too bad. stu has had a run of bad luck with one last race at gnangara and then again on saturday as we were lining up for the sprint on mounts bay rd.<br /><br />ryan had begun to stalk a cyclemania rider and was now up near the front. this guy had won a couple of stages of the tour de perth support race and stu had told ryan that if there was going to be a move, then this guy would be in it. after spending the last race chasing down the break, rayn was keen to use that energy to get in it instead. anyway, the coffee boy from cyclemania (mattiaccio - cause it sounds like a coffee) was near the front so ryan was sticking close.<br /><br />attacks were going at almost every one of the main rises in the road, but none really got very far. it was pretty much the same each lap until lap six. i think it must have been the rise after the roundabout, ryan and two others got away off the front. the coffee boy had dropped back and ryan had went when some others attacked. they had a bit of a gap and when we turned up the next rise, a couple of others tried to bridge across. i was near chris at the time and asked him if that was ryan up the road. he guessed that it was, so it made it easier for the rest of us. i thought about getting to the front and trying to control the speed to let them stay away, but there was a few teams up there already and i didn’t know how long i could actually stay up front. so in typical team p0rn0 tactics, ryan, you are on your own.<br /><br />by the end of the lap, only one of the chases had bridged across to the break and it turned out to be the coffee boy, forming a fairly strong group of four. with three laps to go, we were unsure whether it would all come back together or not. it seemed like a long time to be off the front.<br /><br />on the second corner of lap seven, something didn’t feel right. i bounced my front wheel a couple of times to check the pressure and it felt a little down, but not too bad. oh well, must have just been the road surface tricking me. on turn three the bike heavily understeered and i almost clipped the traffic island. a few more bounces and it confirmed my fears. the front tyre was going down fast. damn.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8xl4mcU5KcRKW01qtmz_2Yd_zvBFgG9yIGIA8vDRZd94BxsLNKSl3S-Ls0gG6eLwFeL7dq4_p-e9EAT972hZGrq6xtGTMp_Wtx5UzGJ6-9_mRZKM72ywrcwGMLUrZvw1Cajgoc5SItA/s1600-h/080420C%2520Wanid%2520B.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192426853947238642" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8xl4mcU5KcRKW01qtmz_2Yd_zvBFgG9yIGIA8vDRZd94BxsLNKSl3S-Ls0gG6eLwFeL7dq4_p-e9EAT972hZGrq6xtGTMp_Wtx5UzGJ6-9_mRZKM72ywrcwGMLUrZvw1Cajgoc5SItA/s320/080420C%2520Wanid%2520B.jpg" border="0" /></a>i pulled over and waved the spares ute along as i had nothing in it anyway. nothing i could do except change the tube and roll back to the start line. even if i had a spare, the pace was picking up a bit and i doubted that i could have got back on.<br /><br />i got to the line before the group finished lap eight and watched ryan go past and get the bell. his little posse of four still had a decent gap, but the pack was not that far behind and it didn’t look hopeful. the “a” grade support race had already finished and they were all lining up to watch the sprint finish, so there were a few spectators around.<br /><br />coming into the final straight, the break was still ahead and had started the sprint. ryan was in too hard a gear and could not go with the coffee boy who took line honors over ryan with the other two from the break following behind. not long after, the main field came barreling down the road. they were spread across both lanes and were throwing bikes everywhere, looking every bit as dangerous as a “b” grade race. our boys managed to finish in the group but kept out of trouble at the end.<br /><br />it turns out that it was similar to last week where everyone was trying to get position early and was taking up the whole road even before the sprint started. position, position, position. it is so important and i am still learning where i should be. i find it hard in such a big group too as there is a lot of ground to make up if you are hanging at the back.<br /><br />so, ryan got a second place and a trophy to collect dust. i wasn’t happy with getting a flat as i was feeling quite good up till that point. after hearing from the other guys what the finish was like, i think that it might be better to put it all on the line and take off before all the carnage happens fro the final sprint. if you can stay away, all good, but the sprint itself seems pretty full on to be caught up in. it was good to get some more race k’s into my legs and the ride back home would be a good warm-down.<br /><br />no races for us over the anzac weekend, although ryan was talking about doing the stan gurney memorial crit at midland on the friday. i will take the opportunity to do a long hills ride to work on my issues i had during the tour de perth.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">thanks to the melville fremantle cycle club for the video and picture</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzfNTiNdCOcSMy6GW0O2DRXCKLR4eYNd5d0O7SVFyWt672tZwldBEM-Oxsk7fJ-l-cAy2Qel1tJLrge7o3hcw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-77894574277468286962008-04-21T19:47:00.002+08:002008-12-09T08:27:49.046+09:00sunday 20th april - welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd<div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ride report by darren<br /><br />rolling into the carpark i was a little earlier than usual but a few has arrived already. i was hopeful that we going to get a few more than last week? unfortunately, racing, the cold weather, and/or lack of commitment ( i can only assume) meant that there would only be about 9 of us today. huddled and shivering rob sat on the step, head in hands, looking like he did last week, was this déjà vu, another big night? turns out he was under the weather, well under. when john arrived we had a brief conversation about how cold it was, he said it was only 8c or 9c. felt about 2c, turns out you were closer to the mark and we are all woosies for being so rugged up.<br /><br />with no one to lead the way we stood around in the cold until 7:05am or so. this weeks route was reasonably familiar so 'someone will know the way' i thought - so up welshpool rd we went. melvyn and i took the group out, camille turned off before we hit welshpool road, probably because most of the usual suspects were not there, luckily young matt and his micro front chain rings were there to keep us honest.<br /><br />it was an uneventful ride to the foothills. we picked up a few passengers whose cyclosportif team piked on them. it still felt baltic as the sun was well hidden behind the scarp. the pace slowed as we started to climb, so it was up to me to get things rolling. young matt was not far behind. as we hit the straight exposed section i could feel the heart rate increasing, and hit the front derailleur changer to get an easier gear. oh no, stuck in the big ring. fiddling with gears i eventually locked everything up and had to step off, reset and started all over. matt sped off to the summit.<br /><br />as we rode past the petrol station we ran into doug who had tried and meet us on welshpool rd but turned around at the grain terminal as he thought he missed us, not realising that we were late. at the top, there was daylight between matt and the rest of us. a quick chat at the top and off to the observatory we went.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDpelfz3Pc1-61W_KzY93-b6HHjIX9ZuHTqyUYfw5w-jyzUkGgGJzvqwec8tanPnHUR4uBIkPTVK_qZuZjMmAScVAjX7kihCwvS0WAMFv-GvBvpn348DK4oDPdF2ujH2ZhcxGzP4rbLxM/s1600-h/roadrunner.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191664361413276562" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDpelfz3Pc1-61W_KzY93-b6HHjIX9ZuHTqyUYfw5w-jyzUkGgGJzvqwec8tanPnHUR4uBIkPTVK_qZuZjMmAScVAjX7kihCwvS0WAMFv-GvBvpn348DK4oDPdF2ujH2ZhcxGzP4rbLxM/s320/roadrunner.jpg" border="0" /></a>the group held it together until the start of the observatory climb, i went with matt off the front and we were joined by todd. matt decided he would play cat and mouse with us, clearly overestimating our climbing and acceleration abilities. so todd and i played wile-e-coyote to matts road-runner. matt would slow up, wait for us to pass and sprint past as quickly as possible (beep beep) until he has put 100m or so into the gap and then waited up again. so todd and i endured this humiliation until the top of the climb. we were shortly followed by rob and john, with the others not too far behind.<br /><br />a bit of procrastination we headed off down walnut descent, with doug, melvyn and rob trying to keep pace with matt. i stayed at the back, a bit nervous that the new bike may get the speed wobbles. as we headed over the top of aldersyde rd i had made up a bit of ground on the lead group as we turned into mundaring weir rd.<br /><br />feeling good i set a good pace and headed past rob and john, surprisingly matt stayed with them. head down, i found good rhythm and after a little while looked back to see quite a gap had opened. maybe i was half a chance to get to the roundabout first? ........not likely! matt made the gap in about a minute and despite staying with him for a while and trying to dig deep on the flat section near the top, matt dug deeper and sped off to the top to finish several hundred metres in front. rob also recalled that he was surprised that matt stayed with them for so long, only to take off like a rocket (beep beep) and bridge the gap. soon we were joined by john, closely followed by rob (coughing all the way).<br /><br />once we were together again we all headed off to the zig zag, only to cop a sprinkle of rain and some wet roads. where did this rain come from?. most of the group descended at a fast but sensible rate, but the freshly washed roads did raise the stress levels a tad. at the bottom, matt took off home. the scenic views down zig zag showed us that there was more rain on the way so we sat around discussing whether we should make a run for home to avoid the weather or go to the coffee shop and face certain drenching on the way home. i wanted to go straight home, robs vote was via bushmead road (surely there is a coffee shop in midland) but the deciding vote went to todd, lindy and mike who were resolute that they needed another climb. doug headed home via forrestfield.<br /><br />melvyn led the way back to kalamunda rd. rob suggested that goosberry hill rd could be a good option (joking), but was the first to hit the climb back to the coffee shop, and waved todd and i through. todd took the lead most of the way up while i tried to decide if i had any energy left, sort of, maybe, not sure. i stayed with him on the steep sections and when it levelled out on a nice flattish section, the big ring and plenty of beats per minute saw me pass and open a gap. so... first time to be first to coffee shop but i have no illusions about where my form is. john, rob and todd were not that far behind.<br /><br />just enough time to re-arrange some tables and my double shot mini-bowl arrived, that was fast! some water, some more cyclists, a hot chocolate here and a flat white there, all served in rapid time. melvyn and mike ordered what would only be described as lunch (which they inhaled). we sat around discussing the finer points of interval training, sally robbins’ rowing efforts, shimano shoes and all facets of personal lubrication (for triathlon, get your minds out of the gutter).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKJ3ZwYGRUtn3QIdSNhLuTjz76Ipc4-eGHlbn09-1TyfSl2ES4vEcZo0p1FKcYImNv0Zv-JC0tVCRAFoXMyjQzMqqRVFArIzdgFrmMBEfLdWkY-HpAR65U3O-c_ZVZYRLB6wFW6ZSfFg/s1600-h/lube.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191664576161641378" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKJ3ZwYGRUtn3QIdSNhLuTjz76Ipc4-eGHlbn09-1TyfSl2ES4vEcZo0p1FKcYImNv0Zv-JC0tVCRAFoXMyjQzMqqRVFArIzdgFrmMBEfLdWkY-HpAR65U3O-c_ZVZYRLB6wFW6ZSfFg/s320/lube.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />instead of asking the group who would write the blog for today i asked melvyn (as he has previous credits and regularly comments on articles) if he or i should contribute this week. his well considered response "you should write the blog, because (long pause)...... you should write the blog" nuff said, so here it is.<br /><br />heading back john led the way and when the group hit the downhill on lesmurdie rd they all seem to step up the pace. rob made the mistake of taking my wheel and we dropped to the back, so rob went around to catch the leaders. melvyn and i were last to welshpool rd at which point he took off to get to the bottom fast. i was the slowest descended on the day, but didn’t get speed wobbles even at 70kmph, so the new bike is looking ok so far.<br /><br />a time trial effort brought lindy and i back to the field but it was clear that john had won the honours of being first to the bottom. at the tonkin hwy lights we encountered our first boy-racer/bogan/redneck who zipped past at a rapid rate with inches to spare.<br /><br />melvyn and john dragged the group back up welshpool rd into the cold westerly wind. i went for the bonus points at the grain terminal. mike reacted but i managed to hang on despite dying on the hill before the leach hwy lights. being too exhausted to contest the macdonalds sprint, i watched john take off with absolutely no one chasing, john was also surprised when he looked back, so slowed down. melvyn peddled slightly faster than everyone else and managed to pass john on the line.<br /><br />on the way back to the shop i got dropped at a set lights so i dont know how many made it back. props to rob for winning last weeks final sprint effort against stan and myself despite both of us turning off along berwick a few hundred metres before, but well done this week for some strong efforts with a chest cold and paving our way in mucus. good luck to lindy in the 1/2 ironman in a few weeks, hope those 19hr training weeks pay off.<br /><br />in summary: cold start, nice middle, bit of rain, windy end. seems that the climb up kalamunda rd and coffee rest, meant that we missed the rain and did not get wet! nice! </span></div></div>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-44238795500962416682008-04-19T21:31:00.004+08:002008-04-20T06:19:47.936+08:00saturday 19th april - rebold and cott<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">cold, damn cold. i had to go back in the house and get my jacket this morning, much to the disgust of my sleeping wife. i always prepare everything the night before (including pumping my tyres) so that i minimize the noise when i get up. if i creep around quietly, i can usually be out the door before anyone wakes. this morning was not my stealthiest. if i was smart enough to thoroughly check the weather report the night before (it is all about preparation) i would have noticed that it was forecast to be freaking cold overnight and i would have got the jacket out just in case. so no, not a good start.<br /><br />the course today was added not long after christmas as we kind of went this way for our christmas ride. a few extra hills, some fast paced sections and a few more km’s turned it into a standard saturday ride course. today it would take us around the bottom of kings park, onto hay street through subi and over rebold hill. a quick lap around cottesloe and we would then head back the normal route through dalkeith.<br /><br />despite the cold we had a decent turn up as we would have had close to 40 riders roll out. a nice and gentle trip along riverside drive and onto mounts bay road allowed the group to ease into the ride. even the climb up thomas rd was not too stressful as the group remained under control. as we rolled down hay st which becomes underwood ave, i was surprised when we hit the few rolling hills that there were no real attacks as everyone found a nice climbing pace to the top.<br /><br />once we came around rebold hill, i was going to allow the group it’s head of steam up the climb and along west coast highway till we hit swanbourne. as we turned onto oceanic and started the two small climbs around rebold hill, dr nic came charging up the road from almost the back of the pack. she hit the front and kept going with nev not far behind. i was waiting to see who would react but the group looked content to let them go. i switched it up a gear or two and started setting a faster pace which the guys could get a tow behind. we picked up nev and then dr nic before the top of the hill and by the time we crested, had a group of around 7 or 8 riders. with the chase and hill over, the momentum left group and the rest of the pack caught up by the time we hit west coast highway.<br /><br />the group really seemed to not want to go hard at all today, and it took a few prompts to get it to start chasing. michael and nick finally broke clear along this stretch of road before the group reacted. however, it didn’t even manage to get strung completely out as no-one seemed eager to flat out chase them down. we regrouped around the lights at swanbourne and made our way down to the southern end of cottelsoe to come back up marine parade. a few of the boys wanted to stretch their legs a bit and i was content to let myself slip to the back of the pack and take up position as last wheel. with the race set for tomorrow and my flu like symptoms forcing me to have tuesday off this last week, i was a bit dubious of my form. i had already struggled a bit on some of the climbs for today, and worried that it my be a bad sign for tomorrow.<br /><br />so, the group stayed together through a relatively fast tour of cottesloe and we meandered our way past the swanbourne shops. a nice big 4wd decided that we were too slow and tried to get past only to find that he was running out of road before the intersection. he had to slow down and push back in, splitting the group in half. smart man. if he had waited ten more seconds he still would have made it to where he wanted to go.<br /><br />the route took us back home through dalkeith and the group will always go hard along here. always??? not today. with team p0rn0 making other plans to see how we can control the sprint, none of us were planning to do any work on the front. this left nick and a couple of others to force the pace, and they were not keen to hurt themselves either. chris stamped off the front to try to get something going but no-one would chase and he soon grew tired of playing and was absorbed back into the pack. finally as the group approached the last few undulations on birdwood pde, the pace picked up thanks to nick, christophe and nev. the group strung out a bit but not to the extent that we have seen it smash everyone apart.<br /><br />team tactics were still in play and we were trying to keep mid pack to keep us out of the work load and in position to attack. a car interrupted us on the turn onto hackett dve and the front guys got a bit of a break. i mentioned to chris that is they got a good set of lights onto mounts bay, we were done for. it would have been an unusual set of events to get that to happen, and we caught them as they sat waiting for the green.<br /><br />now, the team tactics for the day was to sit in till about two km’s out and then we all go hard down the right hand lane to get a break. we would all line out and try to deliver ryan to the line in one piece. now it didn’t quite go to plan. just before we were due to go, stu got a puncture and was off the back for a quick change. when i finally did decide to go there was too much traffic and i couldn’t get into the right hand lane, so i knew that there would be some hangers on.<br /><br />brendan had made a break earlier and had a bit of a gap on the field. nick was on the front chasing him down with the rest of the train strung out behind him. as i led off the front, with (hopefully) the rest of the team in tow, i knew that we were not going fast enough, or over far enough to stop anyone jumping on board. too late for second chances as we had committed to the move already. i did a turn and manged to pick up brendan from his breakaway. i flicked the arm for michael to come through and looked back to see what the move had created. half the field were attached to us and the rest were still being pulled along by nick. i hadn’t totally smashed myself as i was hoping that i could jump on board as the tail came past. as i waited for the many riders to pass by, i started to doubt that the move would pay off at all. i ended up letting them go up the road and paced myself to the coffee shop. it turned out that chris had done an extra big turn to deliver ryan to the line but with steve firmly attached to his wheel. steve wasn’t too happy with some of our tactics and was unhappy with a blocking move by chris at the end when he released ryan. oh well, not a complete failure, but we will try something different next week.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxFZk7O0JbXkvm0hMAitYhX6dzuWxLjAP0bcr7FcAFC2DXJZRDvMz9gPCyaC6yynv1rO30jUB-_9C3tpIRyOA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />coffee stop was good, but with a notable exception. big john who works with me at rio, didn’t make it back to the shop. his wife was waiting for him (as is the tradition) but he phoned up saying the he had four flats on the way back from cottesloe. with stu hitting a pothole to puncture and dr melvyn’s brake levers coming loose (after some dyi maintenance) we were lucky that there wasn’t a stack.<br /><br />i have also started to take orders for the new group jersey, as had been posted on here earlier. if you want anything (jersey, knicks, vest, armwrmers) then see me after the ride or send me an e-mail through the blog. i will finalise the order over the next couple of weeks.<br /><br />race day tomorrow at wandi, so hopefully we can get a ride report from the hills ride a well.</span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-52169930065488341282008-04-17T19:48:00.004+08:002008-04-17T19:58:08.220+08:00ride routes 19th & 20th april<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">i will be back on deck for the saturday ride this week after a couple of weeks of clashes. however, i will be doing the trophy race at wandi on sunday so will miss the hills ride again, but i promise i will be there on the long weekend. thanks to darren for blogging last sunday's ride.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">saturday 19th april</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">rebold hill & cott</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=ca3d6634a75bf033a1d81b3920840f2a&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/568198628">Sth Perth Saturday Ride 11 (Rebold Hill & Cott)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">sunday 20th april</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=b3db67459e6296e371474d488d6b5067&u=m&t=ride" height="700px" width="100%" frameborder="0"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/404541584">Sth Perth Sunday Ride 06 (Welshpool & Observatory & Kalamunda Rd)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-70259646956242362772008-04-15T20:39:00.001+08:002008-04-15T20:40:55.125+08:00sunday 13th april - peter clark memorial part 02<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">peter clark memorial support race<br />race report by peter<br /><br />so after tackling the tour de perth last week i thought that i really needed more practice in the hills and was going to skip this race. after a bit of e-mail banter, chris and bruce said that they were in as chris claimed that it was a flat circuit. i had a think about it and decided that i needed race km’s in my legs rather than just hills, so even though i really enjoy the sunday hills ride, i needed to play boy racer instead. there were a lot of excuses flying around team p0rn0 and i finally had enough and said that this will be an event that we will be doing, so make sure your excuses are good. from that we had five starters out a possible eleven. perhaps i should explain team p0rn0.<br /><br />there are quite a few teams that race in perth and quite a few bike shops that have people riding for them. we have been happy riding with the guys that we ride with and therefore decided to form our own team and race together. an initial discussion on team kit and sponsors, threw up the potential to be sponsored by a company such as adultshop.com and therefore we nick-named ourselves “team p0rn0”. most of the regulars from saturday and sunday have been involved and the new jersey design is what we will be racing under once we get it made.<br /><br />so come race day, bruce, chris, ryan, stu and i were all registered and ready to play. jerry potentially was going to turn up on the day after talking to the race organisers, but an early morning text from him claiming a late night involving wine paid heed to that. other excuses ranged from being in france to no excuse what so ever, just a big blouse.<br /><br />so the race was being held out in gnangara which was well to the north and unknown territory for this southerner. i checked google maps and found the start line and course. i printed out a map and headed up the freeway for an early morning cruise. unfortunately, google maps was not exactly accurate and tried to make me take a road that doesn’t exist yet. luckily i had the backup ubd on hand to guide my path. i have no idea of anywhere that far north so i could have been driving around for hours otherwise.<br /><br />anyway, i collected my race number and noticed that our field had 62 riders. pretty big pack for not so big roads. i thought that it would make positioning interesting if you wanted to make a move. ryan, chris, bruce and myself took a quick lap around the course, for three main reasons. 1. chris said that there was a hill in it so we wanted to see how big. 2. there was an hour till our start time so we needed to kill some time. 3. we all needed to find a secluded part of the course to take a pee as the portable toilet had not turned up yet. so after chris claiming that it was a flat course, and the main reason that he was doing it, it turns out that there were a number of hills that would cause some concern when tackled at pace. as chris said, i did get the bike trainer out to do some warm-up. after watching all the open divisions do it last week at the tour de perth, i guessed that ther must be something in it. also it takes about 35km for my hamstrings to even attempt to feel normal, so if there was a surge before then, there was a good chance i would be left behind.<br /><br />there were nine divisions racing today and we took off after the open men with a lot of juniors already on the circuit. with quite a big pack you received a good draft at the back but at the expense of the yo-yo effect that the constant speed changes cause down the line. the first half of the circuit doesn’t really have any flat ground and there were little accelerations on the small climbs and out of the corners that made you keep alert. we had eight laps to complete to make up our 70kms while the open men did ten.<br /><br />the main hill came after turn two and you started climbing straight out of the corner. it wasn’t long, or steep, but just enough to break people’s rhythm and make them sit after half the climb. this meant that each lap, we were up and sprinting to keep together, then sat down once we caught up halfway up the hill. <br /><br />so, i took up my usual position at the back of the field with the other boys not to far away. i was surprised that ryan spent so long towards the back with us as he usually likes to be in the thick of things. the thin roads and sections of double white lines made positioning hard as you really needed to sprint around a lot of people to make it near the front. i wasn’t too worried as i was only there for experience not to make an impact.<br /><br />we yo-yoed around for a couple of laps with the occasional one or two making a break but not getting very far. not sure when, but a group of around six or seven broke clear and scooted up the road. it was hard to gauge if they were support men or what as there were so many others on the road already. we were constantly overtaking single riders and small groups that had been dropped from other divisions. it seemed that each time we went over the hill we would lose a few off the back and a couple would scamper up the road. the strange thing was, that after the hill the road really flattened out and the pace was turned off and became almost pedestrian. this then allowed those dropped off the back to get back on with relative ease and those that escaped, a free run at catching the break.<br /><br />on the fourth lap i was up out of the saddle as usual on the hill, but this time stayed standing and kept the power on over the top. when the rest of the pack sat to finish the hill, i basically sprinted around them and got myself a nice gap. unfortunately there was no-one else around me as i had gone from the back of the field and the next couple of guys were quite a bit up the road. the nice flat section also had the bonus of a slight head wind as well which made the chase a little bit too hard. by the time i caught them i was pretty much spent and could only manage one turn at the front. i thought about it and decided that i probably didn’t have another four laps at this pace so let the other three guys go. i looked back and saw how far the field was behind, so knew i didn’t have to wait long. i really only went off the front to see what was inside of me. should i have saved it for the end??? maybe, but i also wanted to know if i could escape during a race.<br /><br />i past the open women’s section just before the finish line and continued to rol down the other side of the hill. a guy past by and i thought that he pack was about to swallow me up. next thing i know there is a hand on my back and another guy is trying to push me in front of himself so i can work for him. i sat up and said that i was waiting. giving him the benefit of the doubt that he probably could hear me in the wind, he pushed me again. i gave him the flick of the elbow and looked back at him saying that he can do it himself, i was waiting. so off he went. the pack was so close by then, that by the time i exited the first corner, they were all over me. luckily, as i had rested sufficiently, i could easily pace back up and not just be spat out the back.<br /><br />the last few laps saw ryan and a few others doing a lot of time on the front trying to pull back the break. by about lap six, i was around mid pack with chris and we were discussing ryan’s tactics for expending all his energy before the finish. we thought that he would be the great hope for us especially with an uphill finish, but were concerned that he was going to be out of gas by the end. if we were smarter, we could have used him to pull back the break, and then one of us positioned ourselves for the sprint. it was not to be and we basically did the race as a bunch of individuals.<br /><br />the last couple of laps and the pace and distance were starting to take there toll. a guy two bikes in front of me connected with someone when the shoulder disappeared on the edge of the road. he was so close to coming off that i’m sure it was a brown trousers experience for him. he basically had a foot on the ground and the bike leaning on a 45 degree angle at over 40km/hr. best save i had seen in quite a while. we had caught the break by lap seven, and now everyone was looking towards the finish.<br /><br />anyway, by lap eight, my legs were starting to feel it a bit and the hill was not as friendly as it had once seemed. chris warned me that things would start to get stupid on this lap. and he was not wrong. everyone was trying to get in position and were taking risks to get there. on the climb, i tried to get as many positions that i could by coming around the outside, but i wasn’t the only one to have that idea. i still managed to get to about mid-pack.<br /><br />on the last blind, double white line corner before the finishline, a big group went over into the right hand lane to get to the front. the commasaire on the motorbike was furiously honking his horn, but their group was way too committed to get back in and kept going. they wouldn’t have got too far if one of the numerous horse floats was coming the other way.<br /><br />anyway, this effectively relegated me to the back of the field with chris not that far ahead of me. i hadn’t seen bruce or stu since i took off on lap four and was wondering what happened to them. stu magically appeared back through the pack saying that he had got a flat and was just being lapped by the field. the last kilometer involved a small climb, left hand turn, flat section, then one more small climb to the finish. i tried to get as many places i could coming around on the first climb and managed to come in mid-pack. i knew i had to wait for as long as possible as the last bit of the climb would wipe you out if you sprinted too early. i was not really in any position for a real crack at the finish line but thought that i would see what i could do anyway. <br /><br />when i finally went i tried to go wide into the right hand lane to get around, only to find riders dying and coming back towards me. i ducked left and found another in the middle of the road. seeing someone going around him to the left, i went to follow, only to find that he was going almost as slow and actually had to hit the brakes. i managed to sneak through, but it was way too late and probably finished mid pack.<br /><br />crossing the line i saw bruce waiting on the side of the road. his lack of form due to a new baby, finally took it’s toll and he dropped out after the seventh lap. so after a quick warm down on the trainer, it was time for a sausage and coke and to watch the presentations. it was funny, really as it was basically set up on the side of the road with a little podium and traffic going past making it hard to hear. not having a go, i just found it quaint. so they were paying out to ninth place but none of our boys featured. although he won’t admit it, ryan was beated across the line by chris who managed to slip through the dead wood that slowed me down.<br /><br />so, not a bad second race for me. the goal was to finish and get more race pace into my legs. the little attack was just a further test, and maybe i should have done it with a bit more consultation with the team, to get a better advantage. anyway, it’s all a learning experience so lets see if we can execute a bit better next week at the wandi trophy race.</span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-39294842317342832992008-04-15T14:37:00.001+08:002008-04-15T14:38:42.056+08:00sunday 13th april - peter clark memorial part 01<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">peter clark memorial</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">race report by chris<br /><br />with much cajoling several of us had agreed to enter this race, our loose “team” went in with good intentions. things weren’t looking to great; with bruce’s recent form not really up to much due to the little annabelle, peter complaining of flu symptoms, stuart thinking the course wouldn’t suit him and my heavy legs and a sleepless night, ryan was never really going to get much support from us lot. anyway with a nice field of 65 riders there was going to be plenty of places for the rest of us to hide.<br /><br />so my aim was to complete the race with the bunch and if at all possible give ryan a hand for the finish. i completed the race but was of no real help to ryan unfortunately.<br /><br />peter was far too professional, warming up on his rollers. i like most of the others would rely on the tried and proven method of using the first 10-15km or so to warm up. my experience in perth has shown me that typically the bunch takes the first lap reasonably steadily and then the fun begins.<br /><br />things went according to the script and unfortunately for me this usually means i suffer from about a third of the way into the race until the continued surging abates. today it was impressive to see the bunch strung out as we chased breaks, 65 guys hammering along at 50km/h stretched over 100metres.<br />anyway my legs came good after about the fourth lap when peter made an attack to get onto the back of a couple of guys. he didn’t stay there for long rejoining the bunch a little while later. i maintained my position in the rear of the bunch and figured i’d see how things went on the last couple of laps.<br /><br />the work done on the front, including a fair portion by our own pool boy, brought the break back. i had already told him don’t go near the front and to save himself for the sprint but i guess he wanted to do a bit of work before we got to that point. after several attempts to get around the bunch but getting foiled each time by the pace of the bunch or the double white lines, i gave up.<br /><br />i was expecting the pace to pick up on the last lap, particularly over the last climb at the south of the circuit. i prepared my self for one last push with the aim of getting closer to the front of the bunch. mission accomplished i settled in to hear guys crying out that some guy was going to stay away.<br /><br />at this stage with one corner to go and an uphill sprint finish i didn’t think my position or legs would allow me to accomplish anything flash. as usual though there were the usual bunch of guys who thought they had something but didn’t have anything. so the last 200m were littered with guys rolling for the line. i still had some gas in the tank and like peter had to find a path to the line. i was pretty happy that i had managed to look after myself and have the legs for the sprint. a quick head count of riders in front of me over the line had me in the top 15. no money, but i hadn’t expected to finish.<br /><br />whilst peter got back on the rollers to spin his legs out i shot the shit with michael and bruce whilst we all enjoyed a coke and a sausage in a bun.<br />a great event put on by the ndcc and lets hope the numbers continue to improve.<br /><br />next week, the b grade trophy race. </span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-29784511103048611432008-04-14T19:36:00.004+08:002008-12-09T08:27:49.442+09:00sunday 13th april - darlington & mundaring<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXcHreXX1iponRonS27XvpZRVeJXYwrlw4nexcyVZQ4rnSFGSMPsI5QpJ87TDo-qkrrbqHqrBVGGgAppLHYrTabm3eQFhCvhEXXlUy2dRNkt0qI7HXH16u1X9r6uSrbNhfrYp9u-hmCI0/s1600-h/march+2008+074.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189063968676726834" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXcHreXX1iponRonS27XvpZRVeJXYwrlw4nexcyVZQ4rnSFGSMPsI5QpJ87TDo-qkrrbqHqrBVGGgAppLHYrTabm3eQFhCvhEXXlUy2dRNkt0qI7HXH16u1X9r6uSrbNhfrYp9u-hmCI0/s320/march+2008+074.jpg" border="0" /></a>ride report by darren.<br /><br /><strong>fast forward</strong>: le paris brest cafe 9:45am - "so who is going to write the blog"<br />i guess failing english in yr 12 makes me the most qualified.<br /><br /><strong>rewind carpark</strong>: 6:55am i was running just on time as usual - a benefit of living close to the shop.<br /><br />as i arrived, lindy was pulling her bike out of the car and josie and rob were sitting on the pavement near the stairs. where was everyone else? the day was magnificent with a light easterly wind, but you could sense that the turnout was going to be less than average.<br /><br />today would see us take on darlington and mundaring weir, if only someone knew the way.<br /><br />most of us stood around thinking - "is that it" until about 7:05am, rob lifted his sore hungover head for a moment to ask who was going to lead, to which every one replied - "you are!" but alas his gps was left in the last pint he shouldn’t have had the night before.<br /><br />doug piped up (luckily) "i know the way".<br /><br />famous last words. doug led the group of eleven on a mission down great eastern hwy, etc. for 17kms, putting in a strong turn into the morning easterly, chewing through a few partners, until he realised (at bushmead rd) that he could sit at the back and just yell directions, which left me at the front to ride the next 5km's to marriott rd.<br /><br />marriott is one of those nasty climbs that comes out of nowhere and bites hard. i got a little excited and gunned it as the usual sunday mountain goats were either racing at gnangara or snoozing. apart from the first section, it is a nice climb with some flat sections for getting your heart rate back under control. i was first to the regroup point on darlington rd, followed by ben (who was gaining rapidly) and dr marc. we didn’t have long to wait for the others.<br /><br />the short descent down darlington was uneventful, but having ridden this before i knew that the climb into rycroft is nasty, and whilst tempted to stay in the big ring you need to get into your easy gears before you hit the climb. starting at the back of the climb i could see several quickly realise that they wished they were in a lower gear. the crunch of changing gears at 20rpm seemed to be a common sound and eventually (english) mike couldn’t grind anymore and had to step of and find a more appropriate gear.<br /><br />by this time i passed a few and saw and ben far ahead. another rush of adrenalin to bridge the gap but ben still managed to hit the glen forrest rd regroup first. at this point rob took the opportunity to have a pit-stop and josie, who was on a "recovery ride", turned for home.<br /><br />as we ventured onto glen forrest the group noticed a few elderly runners, jogging on the roads around darlington. as we headed up thomas/phillips rd we noticed more people shuffling slowly up the hill. this continued until we hit a road closed sign at mahogany creek, which strangely had a guy holding a stop sign. all was revealed as a guy in grey with a number on his chest, came belting on foot toward us, clearly on a mission followed by a few more greyhounds. we had ridden into the middle of the wamc darlington half-marathon.<br /><br />we were forced onto the run course and rode carefully in the middle of the double lane road. runners left and right did not stop one turkey in a workmans tray cab trying to pass us at every opportunity. fortunately, this was the only agro we received all day (all the other the rednecks must have been tucked up, warm and cosy in bed).<br /><br />back onto phillips/mundaring weir rd, i took the opportunity on a slight downhill to overtake the group, only to be passed by ben and todd looking to race to the roundabout. like a red rag to a bull i took off and managed to recapture my pride but destroy my legs.<br /><br />the run down toward mundaring weir was uneventful, but a little chilly in the shade, with doug, stan and rob showing that they were the most daring. the climb out of mundaring weir is always hard. dr marc, attacked past the weir carpark with stan, ben and myself in tow. i lasted about a kilometre and realised that i hurt myself enough today and it is a long way to kalamunda. by the time i reached the top of the climb the few in front were about 500m ahead. (english) mike joined me through a downhill section, overtook and managed to make up the gap to the lead group (nice work) just before the descent to the hairpin and the final climb to the coffee shop.<br /><br />sitting down waiting for coffees at the cafe i found out that dr marc took the kom honours in and was first to the cafe. service was very fast, but i couldn’t help noticing that everyone was contemplating caffeine and the hard ride out of mundaring weir. awkward silence for a minute or so led me to exclaim “ahh introverts come out to play”, which broke the silence and got some banter going. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUe57dWw7uvlrTr2uZGdEqQMhDd9frpMz5esWjM04ENrvwdRpmHPQKExhhhP7K12s58WR7KS74h7DsnBY0uGXcR5JNRv_iMK5Hno1IwiMp5IepjYL-87iTKTExtEUz_cnycnsQgeoR_4/s1600-h/tom.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189064557087246402" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUe57dWw7uvlrTr2uZGdEqQMhDd9frpMz5esWjM04ENrvwdRpmHPQKExhhhP7K12s58WR7KS74h7DsnBY0uGXcR5JNRv_iMK5Hno1IwiMp5IepjYL-87iTKTExtEUz_cnycnsQgeoR_4/s320/tom.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />the descent down welshpool rd was always going to be fast with only a slight breeze and very little crosswind. a few cracked 80km/h, with stan taking the honours of being first to the bottom. i managed to find a second wind and paced the group to over 45km/h along welshpool through queens park to the leach hwy lights. <br /><br />following a brief stop at the rail crossing, ben took off in an attempt to get the bonus sprint points. i chased after him and managed to pass him at the 60k sign. i turned off along berwick but don’t imagine to many made it to the shop.<br /><br />in summary - an outstanding day for a ride, moderate pace, no rednecks, interesting scenery, fast coffee, easy descents, no real incidents to speak of – where were you !<br /><br />well done to tom boonen for winning paris-roubaix and keeping me up until well after 1am.<br /></span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-57995029526052591622008-04-14T19:35:00.000+08:002008-04-14T19:36:19.990+08:00saturday 12th april - freo & cott<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ride report by chris<br /><br />well, my legs felt like crap after a tough couple of weeks training and i was hoping for a nice easy roll around the designated route. the weather was fabulous, a little cool to start but it was clear it was going to warm up.<br /><br />so formalities out of the way we set off for freo at a steady pace down the hwy. i was on the front and joined by young nick, we chatted about the usual stuff bikes, racing etc. once we hit the river side along by attadale things quickly heated up. the usual kick off came with cade winding things up, he was quickly joined by the rest of the guys (and no i’m not being sexist, there was a distinct lack of the female gender on saturday).<br /><br />as i mentioned i was looking for an easy one and reminded a few of the guys as they passed to regroup at pt walter. i didn’t have a lot of confidence that they would as once things heat up and the testosterone kicks in you never know what’s going to happen unless someone gets up the front and takes things in hand. this wasn’t going to be me today as i intended to save my legs for sundays peter clark memorial race. so things got a little messy from here on to the café.<br /><br />i’m pretty sure we dropped a few before we got to pt walter and there were a few of us then struggling along past the left bank hotel. we kept the main bunch in sight but i was personally just limiting the damage and controlling my work rate. a brief regroup was forced by the changing lights but this all went pear shaped once we hit the beach. i’ll never understand why some of the guys want to hammer along the beach, particularly past cottesloe. the scenery is great and since we don’t get down this way often personally i’d rather take it in.<br /><br />well, i worked harder than i wanted too and chased back onto the front guys dragging a few along with me. once again we regrouped, sort of, as we headed for the blast through dalkieth. now this is where i normally would have a bit of a dig and i managed to control myself for a little while. in the meantime a bunch of guys went off the front and from what i heard afterwards it was only the lights at mounts bay rd that brought the leaders back to what remained of the faster portion of the bunch. i did learn later that for once the pool boy was beaten for the sprint but he claimed to have spent a significant amount of time on the front. little did he know this was going to come back to haunt him in sundays race.<br /><br />i was with the second bunch and hoping that things would be steady-steady to the finish, keep dreaming chris was the prompt response from the group. nick and i were back on the front again for a while until a tall fella on a trek came by. i figured that would do me and jumped on for the free ride and so things went. i didn’t bother trying to chase as others started to roll through until le kuan began his acceleration. again i grabbed the wheel and off we went, jerard came by and i yelled at le kuan to keep it going. a struggle ensued but it came down to jerard and i pushing into the breeze for the points. we are still awaiting the official judges decision, given jerards no-show for sundays race, i’ll be claiming the moral high ground.</span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-90053256919202836032008-04-11T09:13:00.003+08:002008-04-11T09:17:57.127+08:00ride routes 12th & 13th april<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">unfortunately i will not be joining you again this weekend as i have prior commitments on saturday and will be doing the peter clark memorial race on sunday up at gnangara.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">saturday 12th april</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">freo and cott</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=bc63750af519dbc57cbc37d6a8ab1f46&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/957241350">Sth Perth Saturday Ride 01 (Freo & Cott)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">sunday 13th april</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">darlington and mundaring weir</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=100922601ca9755c4d5ec6eb47715131&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/584135016">Sth Perth Sunday Ride 02 (Darlington & Mundaring Weir)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-9966561881627765202008-04-10T21:15:00.006+08:002008-12-09T08:27:49.693+09:00tour de perth support race - stage 03<div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">an interesting day greeted us for stage three. it was kind of wet but kind of wasn’t. there was a fog hanging around kalamunda with a slight drizzle dampening things, but definitely better than yesterday. an unsettled night’s sleep as i kind of had a feeling of what today would bring and it wasn’t going to be pretty. my legs were feeling heavy after the efforts yesterday as they were not used to backing it up.<br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-m_7MaEHqibyImWnKhR-AZ-qeEulM6649mPePUUApU5GNP6suEjZqEA8zr1ZMXd1CjLJqda_KScaEo7lPAcKR-QNLetreOUYVJie-x-vbI14HNZf1Sle9IPX2Ev8mYAV-5I1KBLS2xQ0/s1600-h/Finishing+order.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187604981797296146" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-m_7MaEHqibyImWnKhR-AZ-qeEulM6649mPePUUApU5GNP6suEjZqEA8zr1ZMXd1CjLJqda_KScaEo7lPAcKR-QNLetreOUYVJie-x-vbI14HNZf1Sle9IPX2Ev8mYAV-5I1KBLS2xQ0/s320/Finishing+order.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />i registered for the stage, put my wheels in the spares ute and went to warm up. my crank felt a bit funny and on closer inspection, the little bolts that hold it all together had worked loose a bit. good job i spotted that before rolling out. anyway, i briefly saw jerry, mark and todd who were doing the hills challenge that morning too. it goes from kalamunda to mundaring to kalamunda to mundaring to kalamunda and covers 100km. i did it last year and cramped so bad for the entire second half that i had to get off and stretch a number of times.<br /><br />all the opens and supports would roll out together today and roll under a neutral flag to the start at carmel. this gave us a bit of a warm-up and a preview of the hill to the finish. however, a combination of pre-game nerves and over hydration saw no less than thirty guys stop somewhere along the way to have a pee before the start. i must admit i was guilty of this too.<br /><br />as we waited for the start, i commented on how hot it was especially compared to the day before. The sun was out and sitting around, you could feel it burn into you. the open men were off first followed by the support men then the open women. i had taken up my usual position at the back of the field and was talking to the open women lined up behind me. josie was wearing the leader’s jersey after making up enough time over davina in the time trial. she was also complaining about the heat, and i said that i was surprised that she hadn’t already cut the arms off her new jersey. she seems to do it to most of her jerseys to stop the tan lines. anyway, the open men were off and we didn’t have long to wait till we rolled out too.<br /><br />the game plan for me today was just hang on as long as i could and hope that i did not get dropped to embarrassingly early. the first stage was a confidence booster for me so i thought that i may be able to hold on. however, the legs were telling me a different story.<br /><br />we had rode the course the previous weekend and did three laps around plus welshpool and mundaring weir rd to complete the package. i knew the course well, but it was the pace that i was worried about and how soon the attacks would come. i thought that i would be more worried about the hill to the finish rather than the climb up patterson rd to the observatory. the observatory is a long climb, but with no real steep sections, so you can set yourself a nice pace to the top. the climb to the finish is short and sharp and just steep enough to really hurt. we would have to see which one would be my undoing.<br /><br />we rolled out at a decent pace and as soon as we were on canning rd a couple of guys decided to break away. as it was a five lap 84km race, i thought that they may be going a little early in the day. they had a bit of a gap but no-one seemed worried as there was no way that they would be able to hang out there all day, not with two climbs per lap.<br /><br />unfortunately the gap was big enough for a small truck to think that it had enough room to pull out onto the road and travel along in between the break and the main pack. it was one of the trucks that service the orchards in the area so was no surprise when it also turned up patterson rd with us. so now it couldn’t get around the break guys as the road had a couple blind corners and the break guys were now also slowing down.<br /><br />so we traveled up the first part of the hill behind the truck, before the road straightened out and it could pass the two riders ahead of it. the main field then swallowed them up and continued at a reasonable pace over the rest of the climb. i was not too surprised that the pace was not on early as i think that everyone was just testing their legs and seeing was damage was done by the previous day.<br /><br />over the top of the climb and then into a fast descent. there were a few guys out sweeping some of the sections were the gravel had washed onto the road, which was a smart idea, as the rain from the previous day had deposited quite a bit of crap. up past hill to the finish line for the first time and again the pace was not too high as i found it manageable and made it to the top in one piece. however, by this time i was wondering if i could even hold on for another four laps.<br /><br />as we rocketed down towards pickering brook, a few guys tried to go off the front. i wasn’t sure how many as being at the back does have it’s disadvantages. i am pretty sure that there was two groups that had gone and by the time we hit patterson rd again, the pace was on. the field immediately became strung out as guys started to chase the break away bunches. the other disadvantage of being at the back was the fact that there were a lot of riders that i had to get around to find my rhythm. stu and brendan were also caught with me and strangely enough we managed to get away from the guys behind but end up in no-mans land on the climb. stu set a nice pace to the top and brendan and myself managed to hang on till the decent. just before we crested, chris was up there taking pictures of our misfortune. i dropped off a bit on the last bit of the climb and now began to have doubts over my ability to complete three more laps. i managed to bridge back to stu and brendan, but so did a group of about 7 or 8 riders. we now had a decent size group that we could benefit from if we decided to chase.<br /><br />the hill to the finish was done at a reasonable pace as i don’t think that anyone wanted to be on their own if they got away. darryl one of the wais coaches was doing running commentary at the finish line and commented that we would need to work together if we wanted to catch the guys up the road. this spurred us on a bit and we started to try to get a roll through happening. not everyone wanted to play and some were just looking for a free ride to the end. this made the chase a bit harder, but we managed to catch a few of the others that had been spat out the back of some of the leading groups. there were also a few of the open men ambling along the road quite content to finish their day with a training ride.<br /><br />we hit patterson rd hill and no one wanted to lead. i went to the front but was soon overtaken by stu who has always been a better climber. the group strung out behind him as he set a rally good pace. he would occasionally pull over to the right and look behind him, but no-one really had enough to come around him so he just continued up over the hill. once at the top, i yelled at chris to “shoot me, shoot me now”. unfortunately he only had a camera with him.<br /><br />the decent gave a bit of a reprieve, but i now seriously doubted my legs ability to get through two more laps. well two and a half, if you count the fact that we still hadn’t finished the third lap. i told stu but he said that he felt good and if he could do it then so could i. yay. two more laps. my heart wasn’t in it though.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4I9tCSBN4R_0FaN7zJ26a2LDphynrlLXkhhZ5yHVMBVWToNtOr7liP1Imh0pzTnU5NbVv2MAAzuPP3sqxItAf22jGD10nTBHHsbTokCE-tQXcBorOJjux4N7yUHXOLh0n498ROg5OEOM/s1600-h/Shoot+me,+shoot+me+now.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187605303919843362" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4I9tCSBN4R_0FaN7zJ26a2LDphynrlLXkhhZ5yHVMBVWToNtOr7liP1Imh0pzTnU5NbVv2MAAzuPP3sqxItAf22jGD10nTBHHsbTokCE-tQXcBorOJjux4N7yUHXOLh0n498ROg5OEOM/s320/Shoot+me,+shoot+me+now.jpg" border="0" /></a>as we tackled the finishline climb for the third time, brendan and i dropped back a bit from the rest of the pack with another guy stuck in between. we managed to push hard once the road flattened out and catch the other guy to get a draft for a sec. we all realized that we had to go hard to catch the others or it would be all over for us. brendan commented on how far the rubber band would stretch before we were totally gone. he stood up and sprinted up the road to manage to get back on, while i resigned myself to the embarrassment of riding be myself for a while.<br /><br />the other guy didn’t make it back on either and was stuck in between me and the back of the pack. once we hit the patterson rd hill i tried to set myself a decent rhythm to grind my way up the hill. whenever i turned the corners on that hill, i could just see the pack ahead disappearing around the next bend with the other guy still hanging off the back. he looked around a few times, trying to judge whether i would be catching up to him to give him either a hand or some company. unfortunately i would be doing no such thing.<br /><br />i set myself a goal earlier that i would be happy if i just finished the event. it was always going to be jumping in the deep end with my first race being a three stage tour, but i thought that in now can’t get any worse. sucking down carboshotz and making sure i kept drinking, i made my way up the climb and onto the decent. i managed to pass one of the open men who was having a worse day than me, and also one of the open women.<br /><br />i now had two goals.<br />1. finish the damn race<br />2. don’t get lapped by either the open women on my fourth lap or the open men on the fifth lap.<br /><br />i plugged away for another lap which was very uneventful. didn’t come across any other riders and saw not a soul either up or down the road. with no human company and no radio the only song that was on permanent repeat in my head was the last one i heard on the radio this morning. mika – big girls. i don’t like that song so much now. i would say that the most embarrassing thing would have to be crossing the line at the end of the fourth lap with quite a crowd there, knowing that i had one more to go.<br /><br />anyway, with my legs shot, my brain fried and my bike now making crap noises after the crap weather on saturday, i finally rolled over the line. a quick look behind me and i saw no-one so i ducked over to the footpath where stu and chris were. as i got my breath back the open men flew past and continued on their final lap. i only just got my lap in before them. as this stage finished a fair distance from the start, i had to scab some money off chris for pepsi as i really needed sugar and caffine to get me back to the car.<br /><br />a quick check of the speedo’s and it seemed that stu had put 12 minutes into me over the last two laps. it sounded like a lot, and it probably was, but i was just glad it was over.<br /><br />in the women’s event, josie had broken away with a girl from queensland and took the stage win and a couple of minute’s advantage, with davina taking the bunch sprint for third. so at least someone had a good stage.<br /><br />i rode back with stu to kalamunda and headed off to get changed. the opens had a criterium in the afternoon and i was so glad we didn’t as i don’t think my legs would have been able to back it up especially out of the corners every lap. so it was off to chicken treat for a carbo injection before settling down to watched the crit.<br /><br />with a clear advantage in the open women’s event, it was going to be hard to beat josie for the overall, but davina managed a big sprint at the end to take the stage with mel second and josie third. this wrapped it up for josie, but it was good to see a couple of our sunday regulars taking two stage wins each.<br /><br />as for my cycling race career, it was a good first attempt and i intend to keep it going with some more events during the year. </span></div></div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwjUYSp9O71YX7c6H4aa5XurEsUd_3Rf3c1yURAH7-K-zs8WlmbwfZzXbPZDOGdvqxouxzOa1zE0MWqS0tBlA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-84550414698160250622008-04-10T08:53:00.001+08:002008-04-10T08:55:48.723+08:00tour de perth - hills challenge<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">race report by mark</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">i won’t go into details of the lead up to the race, but jerry and i cajoled each other into entering, and i’m glad we did. after a school camp-over with my boys on friday night, and a wet and lazy saturday during which i felt very sorry for pete and stu, the real hard core riders, sunday morning found me driving up to the start in kalamunda.<br /><br />i arrived at kalamunda at around ¼ to 8, and met jerry who was still umming and aahing about whether to ride. “no question” i reassured him, it would be good, and the weather was clearing.<br /><br />registration was painless, and complete by 08h15. race to start at 08h50.<br />we ambled around a bit, then jerry went off to find a toilet, and i went back to the car to fetch my race number.<br /><br />we met back at the start line at 08h47, and mingled in with the crowd waiting to start.<br />jerry remarked that they all looked a bit too relaxed and asked if they were doing the 100km ride.<br />“oh no” came the answer, “we’re doing the 50km. they 100km group left a little while ago”<br />what the f???<br /><br />that was it. no time to stretch, gulp a drink of think about it. clip in and pedal like there’s no tomorrow.<br />the first 100m is up a hill (nice!), to the roundabout, and then down.<br />jerry stayed on my tail most of the way, but downhill is one of my favorites, so i waited on the uphill section.<br /><br />i saw the first stragglers going up the other side as we approached the hairpin at the bottom of mundaring weir rd, and we caught them on the way up. i asked how far ahead the bunch were. “far already” was the answer. my heart rate stayed in the high 170’s to 180’s from there on. i psyched myself up for a long hard time trial – not my favorite event by any stretch, but at least i have a reasonable understanding of my body under race conditions, having done around 150 – 200 races between 1995 and 2004. unfortunately i’d only done around 5 social races after that!<br /><br />i knew we had to ride smarter than the others to have a hope of catching them. that meant sharing the load, taking the race line through corners wherever possible, never dropping more than a foot behind the wheel in front, and always being in the drops when you’re in front on the flat or downhill. it’s all the little things that add up and make the difference in time trials. any wasted energy just meant we got less out for all our hard work, and we’d just be chasing for longer. i relied heavily on the fact that the real smart riders were either in the real tour de perth, or with pete and stu in the support race.<br /><br />as we approached the descent to mundaring weir, i saw a few small bunches totaling maybe 20 or so up ahead. i knew i could catch them on the downhill, so backed off the chase a little.<br /><br />around that time we caught another bike, who stayed with us and shared the load a bit for 5 km or so.<br /><br />then the descent into the weir, and i cruised past several on the way down, and caught the first few of that bunch near the start of the climb on the other side.<br /><br />we passed quite a few on the road up from the weir towards mundaring, although jerry being a doctor, is not such a risk taker, so i took it easy on the climb while he bust his guts to catch up.<br /><br />it’s amazing how useful it can be to descend quickly in races. not so much by cornering fast (though that does help), but just by gaining on the fast straight downhills. around that time we caught the young riders choice guy who i stayed with till the end. He was strong and when i asked why he wasn’t with the front bunch, he replied that he was too slow on the downhills to stay with them.<br /><br />that decreased our efforts in front by 30%, and meant that we could up the average speed, which we did. our new comrade hadn’t been chasing that hard till then, so was on fresher legs. we fixed that quickly.<br /><br />it was fairly uneventful back to mundaring weir road; we passed a few more here and there, and the climb out of the weir was as horrible as always.<br />at least the conditions were perfect – about 20 – 25 degrees, little or no wind, and ok roads. somewhere along the way my polar monitor died, and reset itself, so i never established my actual final time.<br /><br />another fast descent into the hairpin at the bottom or mundaring weir rd, then the very familiar climb up to kalamunda. but no incentive of coffee and ham & cheese croissant this time. just the thought of a u-turn, and more chasing. at least we’d soon find out how far back we were. about half way up we saw the leaders on their way down. i counted exactly 21 of them, spread over maybe 1km.<br /><br />jerry took a split and estimated that we were 9 minutes behind the leaders at that point. we stuck together up the hill, at a moderate pace (i measured almost 10 min for the climb, that i’ve done in 8m20 on a good day). but at least then we’d been able to quantify the problem. i always tell my guys at work, a problem well defined is a problem half solved. i knew we wouldn’t catch the very front few, but a top 10 finish was possible. this race was not going to end in a bunch sprint, so the final climb would be crucial in gaining or maintaining positions.<br /><br />another fast descent, and then waited for jerry and our newfound riders choice partner, before settling into a rhythm chasing the group. we saw them often in the next 50 km, but it took us until around 5km from mundaring before we caught them. the last 4 or 5 km were spent watching our riders choice mate doing all the work. He was a real legend and i did thank him profusely after the race.<br /><br />somewhere at this point jerry got left behind, and ended up turning right at mundaring too early by mistake. this meant he inadvertently overtook the group at the u-turn which confused the hell out of me when we caught him up again. at the time i blamed the confusion on my mind playing tricks on me due to extreme overexertion (i’d averaged over 170 heart rate for about 2½ hours which is not good when your theoretical max is 175). once in the bunch of 12 or so i vowed to do as little work as possible from then on; and i’m pleased to say i stuck to my arrangement.<br /><br />the pace was moderate but ok. we were not going to catch the front 8, so best to conserve to be able to defend any attacks, and save the rest for the final hill.<br />on the climb out of mundaring weir, i started to hit the wall, and fell behind the front of the group as it split up. i had to make one of those decisions which i hated doing; “how badly do you want this?”<br /><br />i decided i wanted it badly. i called out to my friend called pain to stay away for a while, sucked on another carbo shot, stood up and pedaled hard to bridge a 100m gap. but i got there.<br /><br />from there to mundaring weir rd climb to kalamunda i hid in the bunch, till the descent to the hair pin.<br /><br />i gave it stick on the downhill, and pulled a gap of about 150m on the bunch. the legs did not feel good as i started the climb, and a chase group of five caught me after a few hundred meters. we stuck together sharing the load up the hill till the false flat where one guy broke away. i was in 5th place and shouted for the others to close the gap, but only one did. that created a gap of 50m very quickly. i made the mistake of hesitating, and then going. i closed to around 20m but then cramped in the calf, and fell back to the bunch immediately.<br /><br />i was already in the big blade, but dropped down 2 gears and ground away, as this is the only thing that helps me with cramp.<br /><br />that left four of us at the end of the false flat heading into the final sting of the hill.<br />i stayed behind till the next upward kink about 300m from the top and then kicked. fortunately the muscles behaved, and i pulled a comfortable gap of around 100m which i kept to the finish.<br /><br />so i won my mini sprint up the hill, but i missed a top 10 by one place. oh well; shit happens.<br /><br />nevertheless, i will remember it as one of the best races i’ve done, even though i’ll always wonder what might have been, if only ….<br /> </span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-6199563297216680732008-04-08T20:10:00.001+08:002008-04-08T20:10:46.096+08:00tour de perth support race - stage 02<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">well with the first road race over and the rain continuing to fall, the time trial was looking to be an ordeal. with four corners and a roundabout to negotiate, you really wanted some grip on the road. i had brought a second riding kit with me and had stuffed newspaper into my shoes to get them to dry out so at least i would feel dry to start with. <br /><br />the initial info had told us that the time trial would start at 2:00pm but the registration told us that we would start at 1:23pm and go off in 30 sec intervals. people began to warm up and get ready, when the first guys came back up from the start line to say that it wouldn’t start till 2:00 as originally advised. there were a few pissed off people around especially the opens who were already into their warm up routine. it didn’t worry me that much as my warm up consisted of riding down to the start line.<br /><br />so with a bit more time to kill it was back to the car to stay out of the rain. by this time i was concerned about getting my car off the oval as it was very, very wet and the exits were muddy and slightly uphill. not much i could do about it, so i didn’t let it worry me too much. anyway, by the time my race time approached, the rain had totally stopped and the sun had come out. in such a short amount of time it had warmed up so much that it was hot in the arm warmers. <br /><br />the order was reverse number with the support men and women leading out the opens. the cantankerous but funny old guy that was calling out the race numbers as riders needed to line up was a source of amusement for all who were watching. he would call a number and then keep yelling it if they didn’t show up. then when they did and tried to get to their position in the line he would yell at them for trying to come past the start line. funny all round.<br /><br />well brendan was a few spots in front of me and justin was directly behind me. i was pretty sure that in just 5 km i would not be catching brendan, but i was hoping like hell that justin would not catch me. i didn’t bother with the time trial bike as i didn’t think that the course warranted it enough. it was mostly hilly with 90 degree corners that were still a bit wet. there were only two sections that i could see where you could really benefit from being down on the aero bars. the rest of the time you would be climbing or cornering.<br /><br />i was given the count down and too off. it was only a short distance before the corner and i was worried about putting it on the deck, so eased off a bit to take the corner wide. as i accelerated out i realized how much my quads hurt from the morning’s effort. i kept pushing through to hope that i could squeeze something more from them. damn, it was only the first side of the rectangle course. another left hand turn, with a bit more confidence this time, and i felt like i was in a better rhythm. i guess that this was mainly because the road was kind of heading down hill. <br /><br />this was the section of road that we had ridden to the finish earlier in the day but it sure felt better when i could draft behind someone else. the road eventually kicked up and i tried to maintain a steady pace without blowing it all so early. the ride was going remarkably quick in my mind, but i was still worried about being overtaken. <br /><br />another left hand onto peet rd with a bit of a downhill reprieve as the road only went up after that. a last left onto raeburn rd and a sharp pinch past the fruit guy and you can just about see the finish line in the distance. it is deceptive though as it looks fairly flat but is a steady rise to the roundabout before it does flatten. this is the calm before the storm as the last couple of hundred metres are climbing to the finish. <br /><br />by this time my legs were burning and my lungs were screaming, but i didn’t want to be overtaken so kept going. panting like a dog, i managed to get myself up the last section and cross the line, not knowing whether it was a good time or not but just happy to be finished. i caught up with a few of the other guys before wandering back up to get changed again and pack all my stuff into the car.<br /><br />all fresh again i came back down to watch the open women and men do their times. eventually all our times were posted and i was around mid pack so i was happy that i wasn’t last. stu and justin managed better times then me but i managed to get ahead of brendan by a few seconds. josie, though, blitzed the open women’s field to get a time that was only beaten by three of the support men. </span><a href="http://www.atta.asn.au/"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">results here</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />davina also managed a good time to come in third in a time that was also better than stu, brendan and mine. <br /><br />so, with stage two down and my legs questioning me at every step, i made my way home to have two dinners and hope that tomorrow would be a nice day.</span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-91763223579606789062008-04-07T21:24:00.003+08:002008-04-08T20:10:05.162+08:00tour de perth support race - stage 01<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">saturday april 5th</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">what a weekend. my first real bike race in around fifteen years and i was absolutely crapping myself. the tour de perth support race is held in conjunction with the open events but has a reduced race distance and one less stage. it consisted of a 104km road stage on saturday morning, followed by a 5km time trial in the afternoon. sunday then finished with a 84km tough hilly road race. luckily we didn’t have the criterium in the afternoon.<br /><br />well, the race started at 8:30 for us, which is a later start than most of my rides. however, it was starting at rolleystone high school at, well, rolleystone which is a bit of a drive away. nerves kicked in a hell of a lot earlier and i was up well before dawn for breakfast and a quick (but pointless) shower. while eating my porridge with extra extra sugar on top (if it doesn’t crunch, there is not enough) i checked the bureau of met website for an update of these expected overnight showers. a pleasant 20 degrees with no rain reported in the last 24 hours. great, should be a good day for riding. then i checked the rain radar. what the??? there was a huge rain storm moving in across perth and was just about to hit the city. i checked the longer range radar and kind of calculated that the main front should pass about 8:30 so maybe, just maybe we would not be starting in the rain. what i failed to calculate was the fact that the radar doesn’t really pick up the rain so far out and although it “looked” clear, it really wasn’t.<br /><br />so, driving down to rolleystone, in torrential rain, didn’t really fill me with confidence. there was so much water on the road already, that i thought that even if it did stop (and i still thought it would) the roads would be holding so much water that we would be soaked anyway. i drove up part of the course, which we have often used for our sunday rides, just to get a last look at the finishline and the crap hill we would have to come up. i was not under any illusion that i would still be near the front by the time we reached the end, as my goal was just to finish the three stages.<br /><br />i signed in and caught up with brendan and stu who are regulars on the saturday and sunday rides, and also with justin who had come out with us over easter. we were all in the support race so would be either against each other or looking out for each other depending on your view of the world. davina, josie, mel and camille from the sunday ride were also there but competing in the elite women’s race. the continuing crap weather meant that most people had grabbed their stuff and had set up camp around the verandas of the school’s multiple buildings. it was still raining, but at least it was not cold and there was next to no wind.<br /><br />as we approached the roll out time, josie commented on the fact that i looked nervous. i asked her how old she was in 1993 and she said three. well, that was the last time i did a proper bike race and it was a ‘c’ grade race back in ballarat whilst i was at uni. i eventually stopped racing as the early mornings in the rain, sleet and hail kind of wore me down. so here i was again, still crap weather, but at least a lot warmer than ballarat.<br /><br />the start was delayed by about thirty minutes as i guess the organisers hoped like hell the weather would clear…it didn’t. we rolled up the line regardless and i had arm warmers and a vest still on. i was worried about overheating if the sun came out but it didn’t and i was “comfortable” for the duration. as we waited for the gun, some of the guys were commenting on the prize money for the support race. there were 55 guys all paying $95 to enter and if you won a stage you would get $50. with the total entry fees totally over five thousand dollars they would hand out $575 in total prize money. hmmm, sounds like there is a profit in there somewhere. i wasn’t too worried about recouping my entry fee, but more worried about a long 100km ride by myself if i got dropped early on.<br /><br />so, off we went into fray. i had opted for low tint sunnies as i thought that they may protect me from direct rain drop to the eyeball attack. it wasn’t dark or humid so i thought that it may be the way to go. as we approached the turn onto brookton hwy, the group started slowing. i grabbed the brakes and nothing happened. there was so much water everywhere, the pads were aquaplaning on the rims. after a small “oh sh_t” experience i realized that early braking and generally being on guard would be the order of the day.<br /><br />the rain kept the pace low but it was still springy at the back of the pack where i had taken up residence. the little accelerations and brakings made life interesting when combined with lack of visibility and a mouthful of whatever the guy in front was spraying off his back wheel.<br /><br />as we rolled down the hill towards karragulen, only a kilometer or so from the start, one guy had such bad speed wobbles that he had to pull over and check his bike as something may have come loose. well, it was either going to be a hard day for him, or a quick exit from the tour as no-one was going to be waiting.<br /><br />unlike the regular sunday rides, i have no idea who was attacking or what was happening at the front of the group. i rode very conservatively right at the very back of the pack, content to be in the slip stream as well as everything else that was streaming off the bikes in front. there was an attack within the first thrity km’s that took about five guys with it. the pace in the rest of the pack quickened and they were eventually caught. this was pretty much the way that it went all the way to the turn around point.<br /><br />along the way the things of note were as follows:<br />glasses came off when they fogged a bit, but then back on when my eyeballs took a direct hit from the rain.<br />lots of impatient redneck big f100 style utes.<br />me discovering that i need about 35kms before my hamstrings don’t feel tight anymore (maybe this is why the elites were warming up on rollers).<br />brendan copping a coke can in the ankle from a pissed off motorist heading the other way. didn’t hurt as much as the guy whose knee it ricocheted off in the first place.<br />rain, rain and more rain.<br />then when it looked like it was easing back to a drizzle, more rain.<br />me looking down and just seeing water running off my bike like i was washing it.<br />i had a chat to stu who was also stuck on the back of the pack. he said that he was bored. i guess it was, but boring probably meant that i would survive.<br /><br />so, as we headed back into rolleystone, a few more attacks went and were brought back in. no-one really gained much ground as the roads were not steep enough and the pack could easily maintain a draft.<br /><br />as we past karragulen servo and headed up the hill, one guy got off the front and looked like he may stay away. no-one really reacted but the group maintained a strong pace. i actually entertained the idea of trying to catch him, but seriously filed that away in the crazy department under “don’t be stupid”. i moved up the inside trying to make sure i didn’t get caught behind once we hit the small circuit that we would take to get to the finish line. the water was coming so hard down the road that the bike in front looked like a speedboat cutting a wake in the ocean.<br /><br />we turned off brookton hwy and onto chevin rd for the last five or so kms. we have ridden this way before so i knew that it would be undulating and gave people a good opportunity to attack. again, i was happy to just make it up the hill with the group. a few hairy corners and we were on the final stretch up peet road. there was a gentle climb up to the roundabout where it flattened for a bit before a steep but short climb to the finish.<br /><br />some of the boys were starting to flag after hitting the previous pinch too hard and were dropping back. the pace quickened as we approached the last climb and about halfway up everyone started going for it. i didn’t have much left by then so didn’t put in a big effort but tried to stay with them for as long as possible. suddenly the was a touch of wheels and someone was on the deck in front of me. not close enough that i had to stop, and luckily for me the carnage went to the right side of the road. unluckily for justin, he got forced into the curb and basically came to a stop. i continued to the line where stu had enough in him to stay right to the end and come in around the top ten or so.<br /><br />no idea where i finished or my time or anything, as the organization wasn’t the best at posting anything past the top three. some guy with a name like a coffee won the stage (mattiaccio), but beyond that i have no idea. i was off to get changed out of my totally soaked kit, stuff my shoes with newspaper to help them dry and get some food into me before the afternoon’s time trial.<br /><br />i did manage to get back to the finish line to see the end of the open women’s race. with a tough uphill sprint to the line i expected josie to whip everyone, but davina managed to sprint past and take the stage win over one of the queensland girls with josie taking third. it was good to see our sunday ride girls going well, as the talent pool is getting a bit old and tired amongst the sunday ride boys.<br /><br />time trial next and i will have a crack at writing that up tomorrow night with the sunday stage.<br /></span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-32497897575442957852008-04-06T20:09:00.002+08:002008-04-06T20:13:53.919+08:00saturday 5th april - hale rd<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ride report by chris</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">the morning rain was always going to limit the numbers and both bunches totaled about 11. hey, i ran out of fingers alright and i wasn’t taking my shoes off ‘cause it was raining.<br />nick thought he was saved due to the small numbers for his bunch but there was 1 or two so he was committed. anyway, they elected to tag along with us guys.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />given the shear volume of rain things were always going to be relatively controlled and the amount of water on the roads ensured this was the case. we set a steady pace out to hale rd and explained to nick and his group the planned route, where we would wind the pace up and the various regroup points.<br /><br />normally on this ride things heat up pretty quickly as soon as we hit hale rd, so i took it upon myself to ensure this remained the case. sadly for me after a tough few rides this week and a day off crook my legs really weren’t up to much. all i succeeded in doing was firing up cade and sending bruce, ben and christophe down the road with him. with bigger numbers i wouldn’t have been too worried but given my crap legs i just got myself into a tempo and figured i’d catch them at the regroup.<br /><br />unfortunately cade had a mechanical problem with what was apparently a slipping chain as he attempted to change gears and went down at speed. luckily he didn’t bring anybody else down and with the wet roads slid and didn’t lose too much bark. still no fun for anyone and a reminder that it pays to be sensible when it’s raining. once we gathered up the various bits and sorted cades bike out we were back on the road. ben headed off with cade back the way we had come whilst the remainder of us followed the planned route.<br /><br />this little accident put paid to any further shenanigans and christophe and i set a steady pace down kalamunda rd. the remainder of the trip was relatively uneventful, but christophe did comment that there was no abuse since people had to keep their windows wound up in the rain. we didn’t even get one honking horn today which makes for a change, shame it had to be bucketing with rain for this rare non-event.<br /><br />bruce did the right thing and headed off home once we got back to bayswater whilst the rest of us headed for the café at a much more casual pace than usual. once over the plain street hill from my perspective it’s always a mad panic to hold onto someone like pete or the pool boys wheel in the vain hope of having something left for the sprint. today however i wasn’t up for any of that and suggested to the guys that i would be the lead out man. so off i went hoping to just be able to hold it together to the finish.<br /><br />i can’t have been doing too badly as will was the only one who managed to hold my wheel and didn’t have enough or couldn’t be bothered to come around at the end. so that was it, with only half a dozen of us stopping for coffee and a feed, prompt service was assured and delivered. poached eggs on toast for me, very nice.</span><br /></span>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-59113542750158002292008-04-03T19:18:00.004+08:002008-04-03T19:27:52.759+08:00ride routes 5th & 6th april<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">i will not be able to make it this week as i have decided to have a crack at the tour de perth support race. after having not raced since about 1992-3 my body should be in for a rude shock. doing the sunday ride means that i know the hills, but am used to stopping and waiting at the top of each climb. don't think i will get a chance to do that this week.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">saturday 5th april</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">hale rd</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=be0b9a594acbe78a65f00a374e684543&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/395923905"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Sth</span> Perth Saturday Ride 03 (Hale Rd)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">sunday 6th april</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">kahuna & peet</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">i would skip the observatory and just got straight to kalamunda along canning rd as the tour de perth will be on the other roads. if you do see me, don't forget to wave.</span><br /><iframe src="http://js.mapmyfitness.com/embed/blogview.html?r=fe7c518f5a38bbf537a57e0185ea2a8a&u=m&t=ride" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="700"><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/577308818"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Sth</span> Perth Sunday Ride 03 (Kahuna & <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Peet</span> & Patterson)</a><br/><a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/find-ride/australia/perth">Find more Bike Rides in Perth, Australia</a></iframe>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3603725152046083413.post-52432491955386026882008-04-01T07:20:00.004+08:002008-12-09T08:27:49.829+09:00jersey design - part 02<div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwVK0MUp2aBLvFoZm36k0SRhLsDIJW63KQH0LXhRRGO7VJ95vsVUeRmzvDN2tcHh07FE9_su7ArZgGs_AEx1ZyuUOlqjxZ9JplCylDDqa7_QnevmxtzUVyKvi5-AToJe6kemWEZPKuiM/s1600-h/South+Perth+Jersey+12.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184051746623020354" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOwVK0MUp2aBLvFoZm36k0SRhLsDIJW63KQH0LXhRRGO7VJ95vsVUeRmzvDN2tcHh07FE9_su7ArZgGs_AEx1ZyuUOlqjxZ9JplCylDDqa7_QnevmxtzUVyKvi5-AToJe6kemWEZPKuiM/s320/South+Perth+Jersey+12.jpg" border="0" /></a>ok, we have a preliminary design done and a bunch of sponsors on board. the name of the group is not final (i needed something for the design) so comments are welcome.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">there is still a few spots left for sponsors, so if you own a business, or think you can get some money out of the company you work for, then let me know and i can tell you how much things cost.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">linked below is the previous post with the comments attached when the name was being discussed.</span></div><div><a href="http://whereareweridingtoday.blogspot.com/2008/03/jersey-design-part-01.html"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">http://whereareweridingtoday.blogspot.com/2008/03/jersey-design-part-01.html</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">feel free to comment</span></div>damnchickenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04721466333353826873noreply@blogger.com11