tour de perth - hills challenge

race report by mark

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.

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.

registration was painless, and complete by 08h15. race to start at 08h50.
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.

we met back at the start line at 08h47, and mingled in with the crowd waiting to start.
jerry remarked that they all looked a bit too relaxed and asked if they were doing the 100km ride.
“oh no” came the answer, “we’re doing the 50km. they 100km group left a little while ago”
what the f???

that was it. no time to stretch, gulp a drink of think about it. clip in and pedal like there’s no tomorrow.
the first 100m is up a hill (nice!), to the roundabout, and then down.
jerry stayed on my tail most of the way, but downhill is one of my favorites, so i waited on the uphill section.

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!

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.

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.

around that time we caught another bike, who stayed with us and shared the load a bit for 5 km or so.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
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?”

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.

from there to mundaring weir rd climb to kalamunda i hid in the bunch, till the descent to the hair pin.

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.

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.

that left four of us at the end of the false flat heading into the final sting of the hill.
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.

so i won my mini sprint up the hill, but i missed a top 10 by one place. oh well; shit happens.

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 ….

tour de perth support race - stage 02

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. results here

davina also managed a good time to come in third in a time that was also better than stu, brendan and mine.

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.

tour de perth support race - stage 01

saturday april 5th

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

along the way the things of note were as follows:
glasses came off when they fogged a bit, but then back on when my eyeballs took a direct hit from the rain.
lots of impatient redneck big f100 style utes.
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).
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.
rain, rain and more rain.
then when it looked like it was easing back to a drizzle, more rain.
me looking down and just seeing water running off my bike like i was washing it.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

time trial next and i will have a crack at writing that up tomorrow night with the sunday stage.

saturday 5th april - hale rd

ride report by chris

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ride routes 5th & 6th april

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.

saturday 5th april
hale rd

sunday 6th april
kahuna & peet
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.