ride routes 2nd & 3rd august

routes posted by peter.

well, i will not be joining you on either day this weekend. i have family commitments on saturday and sunday will see a few of the team heading down to pinjarra to race in the pinjarra classic support race. most of us are under-done and will probably get dropped on the first hill, but we want to make a showing in the new colours as the race team was the catalyst for getting the kit in the first place.

so, saturday should be pretty straight forward. nice and easy down to attadale. hard along the riverside then regroup after the pt walter hill. hard along the left bank, but then easy past cott and enjoy the view. normal hard back home through dalkeith. remember to keep an eye out for weaker riders and try not to leave too much destruction behind you. we pride ourselves on being a good social group, so look after each other.

i will try to meet you all at the coffee shop, but it will depend on quite a few things. as for a replacement coffee shop, we are looking at a few places in south perth, but they have to be suitable for us and they have to be happy to have us there. we are working on it.

sunday, should be a nice short and sharp ride for anyone interested. gooseberry and kalamunda rd are pricks to climb, so think of us racing when you are on them.

thanks to everyone that provided equipment to get our german friend on the road. he should be out with us next week. he said he read the blog and is a bit worried that we are a bit hardcore. i told him we talk it up a bit.

the maps seem to be having problems so you will have to follow the links to see where we are going.

saturday 2nd august
freo & cott

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/957241350

sunday 3rd august
gooseberry & kalamunda & bickley

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/australia/perth/526673061

police vs bicycle rider

you gotta see this.

http://gothamist.com/2008/07/28/cop_caught_on_video_assaulting_cycl.php

unbelievable. gotta love the good old us of a. they don't do things by halves.

another request again...

so thanks to dave our german vac student now has a bike to ride. it is a nice alu trek with 10spd 105. great condition and should be more than ample for him. thanks again.

michael has provided him a helmet, as being a fashion victim he has one in each colour, so many a spare.

thanks to our favourite online shop (with their low, low prices and prompt delivery) he will soon have knicks, vest and armwarmers. rio tinto provided the jersey.

so, what is the request for???
shoes. euro size 45. anyone out there upgraded recently and has an old pair lying around that (after a good wash) would be perfectly serviceable.

if so send me an e-mail at southperthrouleurs@hotmail.com

thanks for everything so far.

another request

by peter.

i currently have my two brothers working on the new website. it is on a paid hosted server so that it will be harder for me to be shut down by "the man". i will be able to post links to anywhere without fear of "i'm sorry, the blog you are looking for is no longer available".

so what i need is some good quality photo's of perth cycling. races, groups, river rides, some perthy perth type stuff. these will be used for the pretty background stuff that the graphic designer brother will tart the site up with, while computer programmer brother makes all the bits work.

hopefully it will be up and running soon and we will migrate this blog, and the "whereareweridingtoday" blog over to it so we can keep our history.

send any photo's to southperthrouleurs@hotmail.com

thanks.

sunday 27th july - carridine & peet & observatory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

saturday 26th july - hale rd

ride report by peter.

as i stumbled around the house this morning, trying not to wake anyone up, it did not occur to me to take a look outside. i had listened to the cars drive past and had not heard that tell-tale swish they make when the roads are dramatically wet. i had checked the internet and saw that the radar was clear. to me, that meant it would be nice weather for a ride. what a shock i received when i stepped out side. hmmm. thick, pea-soup like fog had engulfed the city and visibility was down to less than 100 metres.

i made sure my flashing lights were on and set off into the gloom, praying that drivers would be able to see a lone rider. with the city not visible from our side of the river, we huddled together and waited for the start time. about 30 or so were brave enough to face the day with us, so we headed out to tackle the day.

today’s route was a very simple one that contained very few turns at intersections. basically it was a big square that went out shep and welshpool rd, up hale rd along kalamunda rd and then home via guilford rd. for safety reasons, due to the fog we would only have one hard section and that would be the run into town from bassendean.

the run out along shep rd was a bit disjointed as the group was big enough to get caught and split at the lights. even when we turned from welshpool onto orong rd, we lost a few more. it was a fairly sedate pace and the guys on the back made there way back to the fold.

hale rd was also going to be an easy run as i wanted the group to stay together on the tighter roads. the fog had lifted in forrestfield and the temperature had dropped accordingly. ryan started coming up on the outside and looked like he was going to try to smash the group up a bit. i told him that we were not going hard along here but he was welcome to do some work on the front. he moved to the front and started setting the pace. he was going particularly hard, but he went through four or so other riders before i ended up at the front.

i found the trick with ryan is not to try to race him. if he goes faster, let him half wheel you until he realises and slows down a bit. if you try to match his pace, he will step up again and the will continue until you are suddenly doing 40km/h. it is better to keep the same pace. this happened a few times on this stretch of road until he got bored of it and started stepping the pace up. i kept the same pace and slowly slipped to the back of the pack, while ryan’s antics meant that the group was now lined out in a single file.

it wasn’t long till we turned onto kalamunda rd and we rode a sedate pace all the way to guilford. looking up ahead, it was clear that the fog had only cleared close to the foothills and we were heading back into it again. the group was all together as we crossed the bridge in guilford and the road widened out to double lane. at the lights in bassendean, i rolled back to the front and let everyone know that we would now be giving it some shtick all the way home. i let a bunch of them pass me as i was definitely not taking off from here as it was just under 15 kms to the coffee shop. the pace picked up and a few of the boys started off hard. the group started splitting and surging to try to stay together. we didn’t get very far though as about eight or so riders got through the lights at bassendean station while the rest of us had a bit of a break.

i announced that we would be rolling through so that we could try to catch up. we had the majority of the group so should have the upper hand. it started off fairly well and most people fell into line quickly. pretty soon we were scooting along at over 40km/h and were reeling the other group back in. i dropped back and helped a couple of struggling riders keep in contact with the pack. one of them was lorraine who was out on her first ride with us since breaking her wrist many weeks earlier. the pace and lack of training were taking their toll.

the group ahead got caught at the lights and allowed us to catch up. what i didn’t initially know was that a few riders got though and were further up the road. the fog had gotten very thick again, so it was hard to gauge how far ahead they were. i rolled to the front of the group to set the pace once the lights changed. we started rolling through again and picked up jerry and mark who had escaped the traffic lights. up ahead there were two riders disappearing into the fog.

we hit the first of the rolling hills and i upped the pace. i had a gap to the others so decided to take advantage of it. i slapped it into the big ring while still going up hill and put the hammer down. i built a nice gap to the pack and assumed that i was gaining on the break guys. assuming, because i still couldn’t see them. it was hurting but i thought i could hold this pace for a while. unfortunately the traffic lights soon caught me out and i came to a stop. the rest of the pack then caught me.

the rest did not do me well and my legs went lactic very quickly. the boys took off hard from the next set of lights and i just couldn’t follow. i jumped on the back of the next small pack to pass me by and held on for dear life. we got the lights again. now there was a substantial group up the road and no real chance that we could catch them. we worked together for a while but had pretty much resigned ourselves that we wouldn’t catch anyone. we didn’t.

we set up our own sprint for the end and i pushed hard on riverside drive to come around jerry and mark. mark jumped on my wheel and started to sprint to the line. i didn’t bother standing up and let him take it after trying to hold him off from the seated position.

as for the actual final sprint, ryan or one of the other guys can add to this post later.

coffee shop. now there had been some issues with the coffee shop and there are a few things we need to look into. service has been slow, it is cold in winter, we get diesel fumes form the boats and apparently the coffee is not that good (i don’t drink it so i don’t know). also, mickey’s group are usually there before us which can make it a bit squeezy.

however, in it’s favour is the central position and fact that we can sprint from both directions. but since we have moved on with our group, maybe we should look at a new finishing spot. somewhere in south perth has been suggested as we are a south perth group. i can adjust routes and give us new sprint lines, but what we need is somewhere that can cater for us and our bikes. have a think about it and add some comments to this post to let me know your thoughts.

special request

posted by peter.

we have a new guys who started at work this week. he is a vacation student from germany and does quite a bit of cycling when he is at uni. he is over here till november and would like to join us for our rides.

one little hitch, he didn't bring his bike with him. he needs to borrow a bike to use during his stay and i said that i would see what our group has available. he is a tall bugger though, so needs a 58cm frame. if there are no available bikes, i was thinking that we could find enough spare parts within the group to build him a bike. if we can get a frame, then i have cranks and pedals, michael has already said that he has a spare helmet and bars. there is bound to be stacks out there.

anyway, if we can get a full bike even better. if anyone has anything available, let me know.

ride routes 26th & 27th july

ride routes posted by peter.

i am expecting a big turn out on saturday. people generally get inspired when the tour de france is on and with an aussie doing well, even more so. they are predicting a break in the weather so i think people will also want to head out to prevent going stir crazy.

it will also be our first outing with the majority of riders wearing their new spr kit. it should make a good sight. look forward to seeing you there.

there are still a few kits not yet collected. get in contact with me and we can arrange for a pick up time, or if you prefer, i work in the city and you can collect from there.

saturday 26th july
hale rd

sunday 27th july
carradine & canning dam

sunday 20th july - kahuna & peet & canning mills

ride report by peter
video to follow.

with the mercury under 2 degrees at 7 this morning, i was expecting a poor showing. with the course i had mapped out for this ride, i was also expecting a poor showing. i was pleasantly surprised to see close to 20 toe the line ready for a big day. the course today was a bit of a monster and took in a number of the hard climbs around roleystone. first we would tackle the kahuna before taking on peet rd up to the high school. a descent down brookton hwy would bring us out at the bottom of canning mills rd which would take us back to the top of the kahuna. a trek along the top before dropping through bickley valley and back up mundaring weir rd to kalamunda. four major climbs would make this a decent effort for the morning.

we were about to head off sans ryan again, when young jordan from a couple of weeks ago turns up in a ute. he gets out all kitted up and his “driver” takes the bike out of the tray and he is ready to roll. we all wish we had a support crew like that. as we turned onto mill point rd, ryan turns up just in time…again. as we make our way through the suburbs, i notice that rachael was no longer with us. i’m guessing she heard today’s route and opted for an easier day. i could be wrong and maybe she thought it was too easy and went to find some harder hills.

we eventually hit albany hwy and worked our way down towards gosnells. we had briefly lost john to a call of nature and i was thinking much the same thing. just after the road bridged over roe hwy, i ducked off behind a bus shelter and into the bushes. what seemed like a good kilo lighter, i chased for a bit to get back on the group just as they were coming through maddington. a good stop for me as i lessened the weight i was going to carry up the hill and the chase put some warmth back into my fingers and a bit in my toes.

we turned up mills rd west and picked up doug along the way. the kahuna loomed above us and i let the fast boys know where we were going to regroup. jordan left it in the big ring and started grinding his way up. i managed to hold his wheel for a while before a gap appeared and the guys behind moved around to fill it. i couldn’t maintain and had to let them go. i watched jordan tow matt, robbie, ryan and rob towards the top. i was stuck in no-mans land with no riders to be seen i managed to keep ahead of the one behind, but could not make ground on the guys up the road. stu started at the back of the pack and was working his way through. he easily dispatched me and worked his way to the front group. from what i could see, he didn’t quite make it but caught rob who had dropped off the pace. apparently jordan could not hold the big ring for the whole climb and had to drop it back a notch. ryan claims that he took him at the top, but i am not sure of the context. i am assuming he was talking about the race to the top… on the bike… who knows.

we regrouped at the turn and bid farewell to jordan who was only using our ride as a gap filler before his shop one started at nine. we traveled down urch and started our next climb after a short sharp descent. i left it in the big ring and tried to power up the other side. unfortunately, the other side is quite long and i started to run out of puff. ryan came past and i jumped on his wheel. as the climb progressed, we shook off mel and bella who relished the descent, but mat and robbie were not far behind.

we turned up peet rd and ryan set a decent tempo. to hard for me, he gapped me and i had to let him go. robbie, with his bouncy style, hopped up the road and onto ryans wheel. i was again caught in the middle but managed to stay away from any of the chasers. on the descent, i eased off enough for mel and rob to catch up. as peet rd became raeburn and the road starts to climb again, rob came to the front and stepped up the pace. it was enough to shake mel but i just sat neatly on his wheel. as we approached the state champs finish line at roleystone highschool, we were caught by another couple of riders and my memory is vague, but i think it was stu and mat. taking off from the same spot as the state champs masters race, i came around rob, who was spent from too much time on the front, and took line honors in our group. as the group came in, melvyn started to make excuses about spending the last couple of weeks in spain not riding. he was going to take a short-cut, but through the power of peer pressure, we convinced him to keep going.

up this high, the fog had rolled in and we could not see very far at all. we were going to take a right turn across brookton hwy not very far from where the accident happened last week. mat and phil were riding with that group last week, but as most of them were off the bike, they were out with us instead. we stopped at the intersection and allowed people to put their flashing lights on, just to be safe. you could hear the cars coming, but not see them properly at all. we listened for a break in traffic and headed off for our descent. we kept a single file all the way down and the road was not really conducive to high speeds as it continually flattens out. we past a couple of groups heading up the hill and it surprised me how many were out in the cold weather.

speaking of cold, it was so cold that i got an ice-cream headache on the way down. the fog turned out to be more like low cloud as it wasn’t to be seen after we were halfway down the hill. doug and i swapped off turns to keep the pace high and we led the train to the bottom. we turned right just before we hit albany hwy and regrouped before heading to the base of canning mills rd. this climb has been used as the perth hill climb championships as it is a fairly consistent gradient to the top. it basically heads up for around 2 ½ kms at just under 9 % before flattening to 2.5 % for a further 2 kms.

i was on the front as we started the climb as people did not know where to go and managed to gap the field a bit. after the previous efforts i was not sure how i would go, but i preferred to be chased rather than chasing. i held off the boys for quite a while but was caught by ryan, robbie and mat. i still managed to hold wheel for a bit as ryan was still grinding big gears today so was not out to sprint off on everyone. stu caught up with us and came around. robbie chased him down and took off up the road. stu held a gap to us, but mat, ryan and i all kind of stayed together for the majority of the climb.

once the road flattened out, ryan and i stepped on the pace to catch up with stu. matt was spat out the back and had to fend for himself, while robbie was long gone. the climb really sorted the field out as it took quite a while for all the riders to filter back in for the regroup.

we headed across to canning rd through the windy track that is the extension of canning mills rd. mr dickhead was driving a old crappy sedan today as he sped up to pass us only to turn right into a driveway just after. he couldn’t have waited that extra 5 sec. as we waited to regroup on canning rd, the “mid-life crisis harley Davidson club” came past with about 50 or so riders. apart from that, it was a fairly uneventful trip with just the usual attacks on the rolling hills heading towards pickering brook.

on our final regroup, a number of riders opted for the straight to the coffee shop route or straight down welshpool rd and home. the rest of us were going to head back up mundaring weir rd. as we went to turn onto glenisla rd, we were held up by the “mid-life crisis huge 4wd club” as about 50 of the damn things were coming the other way. this gave stu and doug a headstart as they managed to get through the turn beforehand.

we didn’t really chase and they held their advantage as we came down the glenisla hill at 70 kmph. mel the daredevil flew past me as i must have been holding her up.

when the climb started up mundaring weir rd, ryan took off like a scalded cat in a bid to try to catch stu. a paced myself up with robbie and rob and we caught ryan who had eased off once he caught stu. no lead change for the majority of the climb as we all sat in a line behind stu. as we came towards the top of the steeper section, ryan started dicking around with his gears. he was trying to get it into the big ring, but it wouldn’t go in. in the meantime, stu was continuing to grind away up the hill and had started to gap us again. i yelled some abuse at ryan, and told robbie, who was on his wheel, to go around him as he was slowing us down. rob, who was behind me, thought that i was talking to him so he came around all of us to chase down stu.

once we hit the flattish section i came to the front to lead out the group into the final climb. when we were just about there, ryan shot past like a bout of gastro (very fluid, but not much substance). the rest of the guys came around me to try to chase him down, while i was left to complete the climb on my own.

a nice pleasant coffee stop today as it was not that cold sitting outside. there were lots of groups of riders also replenishing their carbo and caffeine supplies at kalamunda and a few familiar faces were seen. we set off for the run home and i had a good descent on welshpool rd. i had to come around ryan towards the bottom and topped out at 79km/h. bella beat everyone hitting about 81 km/h.

as we turned onto welshpool proper, ryan informed us we had a few passengers. the glenn parker group that jordan had left us to meet up with had caught us after the coffee and was now attached to our group. we started rolling through to share the load and made our way back to albany hwy. the glenn parker boys turned off there and we made our way along berwick.

ryan led the pack from kent rd lights along berwick where we were heading towards our final sprint. i said to him that he should lead out and then sprint to make sure he had to work hard. we got caught at george st lights and he started dicking around with his gears again. his usual tactic to force someone else to lead out. screw this i thought and took off from the lights hard. i managed a gap quickly and pushed hard over the small hill. maxing out the heart rate at 188 bpm i eased off a bit as i crested and coasted down the hill a bit for recovery. i put the power down again and kept looking back to see if i would be caught. the only riders i could see were a fair way back so i guessed that i was safe. sitting up and cruising in i was past just at the end by a 4wd. sucking along behind at 60 km/h was ryan who claimed line honours. unfortunately he received too much outside assistance and has been relegated to last place. shame, ryan, shame. it’s almost as bad as doping.

so a good ride but definitely a tough morning in the saddle. just over 100 kms by the time i got home and over 1300m of climbing. my form seems to be coming back slowly but surely, however, the late night tour de france coverage is still playing havoc.

saturday 19th july - special launch breakfast

what seemed like the shortest sleep i have ever had came to an end this morning at a smidgen before the alarm went off. the late nights of tour watching are starting to take their toll and last night also involved getting the house ready for the launch breakfast. this event was to mark the official beginning of our new group. we have been riding together for sometime, but the new kit now seals the deal as far as who we are. half of the kit had been distributed last week, but there were still quite a few that had not collected. it will look awesome when the majority of our riders are all matching.

a handful of riders were meeting at my place this morning as they were going to drive to and from the start. with the group ride finishing at my place for a change, i had a few friends to roll to the start with. the predicted overnight temp was dismissed as a bad prediction as it dropped to 3 ½ deg by the time we were underway.

quite a good turn out this morning, but as i had asked for rsvp’s, i kind of knew how many we would see. there were a few old faces making a return as well as some that had not pushed a pedal in anger for a while. on top of that, some new-ish faces were to be seen. the route would be an adjusted variation of a typical bannister rd sprint, but changed so that we finish at my place instead of the city. a easy roll down canning, along stock rd, up south st, sprint bannister, regroup on nicholson, swing onto albany, before detouring along manning and kent. with the only fast point being bannister rd, i was hoping that it would all stay together.

huddling together like penguins in the cold, the groups numbers swelled as the clock struck 7 and we were off. typically, ryan was still nowhere to be seen so we were hoping for a nice easy sprint along bannister. like some sort of permanently slow clock, ryan turned up like clockwork, just as we were leaving. as he lives around the corner, he can afford that extra bit of sleep-in. however, he is moving soon, so he better get his crap together when that happens.

we rolled down coode st and onto canning hwy. the pace was nice and easy and remained that way until we hit the first main hill coming towards melville. the riders found their own pace and soon the pack thinned out dramatically. i had already dropped back and was working my way through the debris of riders going backwards. i gave shazza a bit of a push, but she said to leave her as she would turn around and take a short-cut up risely. once we hit the top, the group had pulled over into a bus bay and was waiting for regroup. its good to see the group looking after itself.

stock rd was full of rolling hills and the group did it’s best to stay together. i was playing sheep-dog today and was trying to round up any strays from the back of the herd. dr greg was struggling big time and a rode with him a bit before he told me to go on ahead.

we turned onto south st and the rolling hills continued. lisa, bec and dave fell off the back and i was a bit unsure on my course of action. drafting wouldn’t have helped that much as the hills was the killer, rather than the wind. i ended up pushing lisa back to the group and letting the other two fall further behind. once we had been reattached to the back of the field and slowed again and waited for dave and bec. by now the road flattened out a bit and they could neatly fall in behind to get a draft back. we chased for a while and managed to get back on before we turned off onto bannister.

this was the designated fast section of the ride, and i could tell some of the boys were itching to go. chris lined up to go just as the lights changed to red so he sat back down again, his intentions known to all. he didn’t care though and as soon as the lights changed back, he was off up the road. a small group was on his wheel, but in true rouleurs style, no-one came around to help. i got down into time trial position and dragged the rest of the group up to an around the struggling form of chris. eventually i was overrun by riders and fell into step about halfway along the group. ryan had taken off and split the front of the pack up and gaps were starting to form.

it was beginning to look rather ugly, but then the saviour of the backmarker appeared in the form of a very, very big truck. well, the truck wasn’t that big, but the load it was carrying was massive. it was a steel truss for a bridge or building or something very large and it covered the two lanes we were in, the medium strip, the two opposite lanes and was still in the driveway. the driver was trying to negotiate the corner without brining down a light pole when he turned. as get smart would say, “he missed it by that much”. it was close. we debated turning around and heading back up another road, but then some bright spark remembered that we were on bicycles and we bypassed it via the footpath.

after that, i assumed wrongly that the group would just stay together as there was not much of bannister rd left. like a shot they were off and people were scrambling to get on board. i looked back and saw dr wally trying to help lisa and bec, back to the group. chris and i jumped on in front of them and started trying to pull the gap down.

with a favourable wind, we were not doing it too hard, but at the same time, we were not making up any ground. the group stayed that couple of hundred metres in front of us before we hit albany hwy. here we started to get the lights and this widened the gap and i thought we would have no hope of catching them.

a stroke of luck for us had out hope raised when it was obvious that half the group had missed the turn to manning rd. they went past but realized their mistake so came back through hamilton st. i thought we would cut them off, but they got a good set of lights and stayed in front of us. we were now split into three groups, but as the middle one contained all fast (but navigationally inept) boys, they quickly made up ground to the people who can read a basic map.

our group, unfortunately caught the set of lights at leach hwy. when they changed, we took off after the group kind of knowing that we probably would stand a chance of catching them. bec told chris and i to go on ahead, but i didn’t want to leave them on manning rd in too smaller a group. the undulations took their toll on our chase and soon we had broken down from a tight drafting pack. i got bec onto chris’ wheel then fell back to grab lisa. dr wally jumped across to chris as well and i dragged lisa across the final few rollers.

surprise, surprise, when we approached lawson st lights, the pack was waiting to turn right and was caught in the turning lane. we blasted past them asing what were they turning there for. they were quite a bit early and the super map reading skills said that any old road would do.

the main pack split apart and chased us down to be all together by the time we were at the correct turn up kent st. this would be the final run for the day, as we were turning up back streets to get to my place after this. i was not sure if people would know were to sprint too as we had not past by here before. it didn’t matter really, as they just needed an excuse to stretch the legs. ryan and co stepped it up and i managed to move forward a bit but stayed mid-pack till the turn. not sure of the final result as i was more concerned about getting the group to the breakfast on time and in one piece.

we rolled into the garage and there were already a couple of bikes parked inside. it turned out that sharon had found her way along south st and was waiting for us to catch up with her. dr greg eventually did catch her and told her that the pack was long gone. they took a shortcut and made it to breakfast before us.

with all the bikes packed into the garage for safe keeping, we ambled in to find a remarkable spread of food already set out and waiting for us. lorraine had catered well and people were eating the drinking in no time. the outside table was left bare as the heater was cranking inside and everyone was huddled around it. luckily it had not rained this morning so we weren’t too filthy by the time we turned up.

once we were fed and watered, i handed out the remaining cycle kits to those that needed it. we then raffled off a few of the prizes that lorraine had managed to aquire for the group. dannika, one of the girls that davina has been training, won a subscription as did anthony and paul. the “major” prize of a pair of euro optics sunglasses with four lenses, went to michael. the raffle was drawn by my ben so that it was obvious that no favorites were to be had. thanks to euro optics, ride media and bicycling australia for their contributions.

those that then wanted to, could have their bike weighed as we had james’ swish weigh scales. some people were not happy with their results, but i have been assured that these scales are more accurate than the cheaper bike weigh style. i will update the results on the blog soon.

so a very successful day today, with our inaugural social occasion being received well by all. even kate said that we should do it again, but probably when the weather gets a bit nicer.

ride routes 19th & 20th july

the official launch of our new group is this saturday where we will meet after the ride at my place for breakfast. i emailed out invites earlier in the week so that we could organise catering, but if you aren't on my e-mail list, then don't fret as you can still come along and have a coffee. lorraine is providing the coffee and catering so don't forget to bring your $10 on the day. if you just want to join us for coffee, then throw us a $2 coin and we will be happy.

there will also be the kit distribution for those that haven't received theirs yet and raffled prizes, including sunnies courtesy of euro optics, and subscriptions courtesy of ride magazine and bicycling australia magazine.

james has provided us with a set of top quality electronic scales to weigh the bikes in with (sorry mark those electronic fish weigh scales were just not going to cut it) and i will provide allen keys and a torque wrench so you can take the non-essentials off. this provides a more accurate weigh-in as the bike must be able to make it all the way around on our saturday ride first.

so come and enjoy the saturday social occasion as the sunday ride will be a killer.

saturday 19th
special launch breakfast ride

sunday 20th
kahuna & peet & canning mills

sunday 13th - crash report

UPDATE from simon thu 17th
Winton will be in hospital until monday. He had plastic surgery around his eye last Sunday, but after the operation had blood in urine so had to stay in.
That fixed itself but then on Tuesday they discovered he has broken tibia and fibia at the ankle and has an operation tomorrow to put some pins in to fix that.

Paul Prottie is out but has a lot of skin off his inner thighs, arse and back.

Joe has a massively swollen calf where the bumper got him, they suspect broken leg but cannot do much until swelling goes down.

UPDATE from hannah via triwa forum mon 14th

Thank you to all of our cycling and triathlon friends who have sent messages of support.
We are so relieved that no one was more seriously injured from the impact.

To date, there are still three cyclists in hospital, but all are expected to be released today.

All cyclists were experienced riders, and were riding safely, within the shoulder/ bike lane of Brookton Hwy. We rode single file when neccesary, and stayed together as a group to be more visable to traffic.

My assumption is the young 17 year old driver who had been out all night and was on his way home, fell asleep at the wheel, judging from the way he moved across the road and ploughed through the group of 11 cyclists.

I was fortunate enough to be at the front of the group, and had time to turn away from the car. All I can say is make sure you wear a decent helmet when you ride. This is what helped save everyones lives.

UPDATE from watoday website
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/pplater-to-face-questions-over-crash-with-cyclists-20080714-3evq.html

UPDATE from simon sun 13th

Its incredible no one was killed.

Fortunate enough for me i was hiking this morning and didnt ride with the group.

Jeff, the owner of cyclebuzz and cyclerama, has started a sunday hills ride. http://www.cyclebuzz.com.au/

This morning Sunday 13/7/08 whilst up in the hills a 19 year old youth in his ute hit the peleton from behind destroying 6 carbon bikes, and wounding six riders.

The ambulances came and took three of the riders to Armadale hospital and the other 3 taken to Royal Perth.

I have just finished talking with Phil and Hannah who advise the following:

Armadale Hospital -

1. Gary - scans and xrays ok released cuts and bruising

2. Maricio - Hannah was riding next to him and watched him go onto the bonnet then off - scans and xrays ok released

3. Winton Lawton ( Hannahs husband )- ct brain scans ok xrays ok, he has face eye issues, plastic surgeon called in, is being transferred to Royal Perth for further assessment and maybe surgery.

Perth Hospital -

1. Joe scans etc ok released - his new carbon C1 Giant he bought from us last week destroyed

2. Jeff Appleton ( owner of Cyclebuzz and Cyclerama ) scans etc ok big black eye cuts etc. Was in Trauma section, was released this afternoon but started to feel bad so went back in for further observation.

3. Paul Prottie ( Shannon Arnotts husband ) - seems to have come off worst - is in Trauma section expected to be in overnight, hopefully no spinal damage, lets cross fingers for him.

The rest of the peleton not harmed. The Police are investigating the cause.

ORIGINAL POST

while we were up at kalamunda today, bobbie barnes from another group, mentioned about a crash that happened on brookton hwy this morning. it seems that a group from cyclebuzz/cyclerama were out climbing brookton when a P plater in a ute drifted onto the shoulder where they were riding and cleaned most of them up. no-one was killed but a couple of the riders were taken to royal perth with all types of injuries and are not in the best condition.

our group didn't head out that way today, but we did go on some pretty tight roads. it pays to be aware of the traffic conditions and we often went to single file as cars got stuck behind us. however, it just seems that no matter how much you do to stay out of trouble, it only takes one driver to lose concentration and you are gone.

our thoughts go out to those that got injured today and hope that they make a speedy recovery.

stay safe

sunday 13th july - darlington and mundaring

ride report by peter

a smaller than expected group turned up this morning. the overnight temperature was quite a bit above the expected low of 4 deg as it was closer to 8 or so. this made the decision to wear a jacket or vest a hard one to make as you know that there will be cold spots in the hills, but at the same time, we are climbing a lot which makes it hot. i went with the jacket, and covered up my new kit, as the coffee shop is notoriously cold.

i received a text from ryan before we left, stating that his broken cranks, the cold weather and his lack of sleep all conspired to keep him in bed this morning. bit of a pussy really. without ryan or mike, the main contender on the climbs would be stu. but we would see what transpired.

the route today was a new addition to the suite of sunday climbs in our current arsenal. there would be a few new roads as well as a number of more familiar ones cobbled together to form the new route. it was planned to be a little over 100kms and climb over 1000m vertical. it would be a bit deceptive though, as there would only be three main climbs, but lots of little bonus climbs.

we would head out great eastern hwy but turn to head through belmont and across to maida vale to access ridge hill road. this cuts the corner somewhat and goes to the south of the airport rather than around the northern side. from ridge hill rd we would snake our way through a new route to darlington and back up to great eastern hwy. jump the hwy and into john forrest national park before jumping back to travel to mundaring township. down past mundaring weir and onto coffee in kalamunda. a wild convoluted route, but we need to go exploring some times.

as i said, not a big group and we probably only had 12 roll out with us. we cruised out to belmont and found our way across to kalamunda rd. they were good quiet roads and made it easy to get out to the hills. it gives us another option for both our saturday and sunday rides. along the way we picked up doug and russell to boost our numbers.

our first “bonus” climb was ridge hill road. we normally come up the other side, which is definitely harder, but today we were really just using it as a way to get to darlington. the pace started to increase and it was obvious who would be leading the climbs today. stu, brendan, rob and sam all rode to the front and left the rest of us behind. my tour de france coverage induced lack of riding is starting to catch up with me and i am just not able to hold the pace that i used to. i let the four of them scamper up the hill and over the top. we lost dr paul and wally at this point as they set their own route up the zig-zag instead.

we regrouped and headed through to darlington via clayton rd. this contained mainly rolling hills which were not tough enough to hurt the group until the last one near the end. the road did a sharp left hand turn and started a quite nice climb. the boys headed up the road again, but came to a intersection and milled around awaiting further instructions. i was confused as i had only ever come along this road from the other direction. russell lives close to the area and he provided direction. we turned down glen rd and continued to climb up to darlington proper. another regroup point, as this route has a lot of intersections to negotiate, and we lined up for the final climb up darlington rd. there was a bit of a shout and it turned out to be our marketing director, lorraine, going for a jog as she also lives close by. she is still not on the bike after taking a tumble and breaking her wrist. she likes to pretend that it happened during a final sprint along mounts bay rd where she was giving ryan a run for his money. we will just pretend that it is true.

we have never taken a group up this part of darlington rd before, as it terminates on great eastern hwy and doesn’t leave us with many choices. today however, we would use it as an alternative to riding greenmount as it will also get us to the enterence to john forrest national park. i had only ridien this hill twice before and really didn’t remember how long or how steep it was. the other guys also didn’t know this climb, so everyone was playing it conservatively. about five or six of us climbed it together as we dropped the rest of the field earlier on. anna stayed with us for a while but the constant tempo on the steeper sections eventually unhitched her. the same four from the previous hill finally dropped darren and i on the last pinch up towards the hwy where we regrouped again.

our detour through the national park did not contain any real climbs and was really just an excuse not to ride on great eastern hwy. the rough and windy roads made for an interesting ride as it forces you to ride quite hard in order to maintain a decent pace. michael and brendan di most of the pace making and soon we were back at great eastern hwy again. a nice easy cruise back up to mundaring taking thomas rd which parallels the hwy. we regrouped and set off for the final stretch to kalamunda.

the plan was to do the whole road without stopping as everyone pretty much knew the way to the coffee shop from here. the group held together well down to the weir which contained a great fast decent. once we hit the other side it was a different story.

the previous four and michael started the climb out of the weir and i scrambled to get on the back of that group. michael pulled off at the carpark to wait for emma while the rest of us continued at a decent pace. i was suffering again and the temp had dropped dramatically as we came down into the valley. my left quad started having the same tight feeling as last week so i am deducing that it is the cold that is affecting it. i need to get some knee warmers, i think.

halfway up the climb, brendan, stu and sam stepped up the pace a bit and rob began to fall away. i accelerated to come around him and tried to latch back onto the wheel in front. the effort took it’s toll and i also began to fall back. rob came past me again and set himself a tempo to try o catch back up. i recovered slightly and tried to just ride myself back into a tempo that would allow me to catch back up once the road flattened. it didn’t happen.
i just didn’t have the power in my legs and it depressed me greatly. i used to be the guy that would push the pace all the way back to kalamunda and would shed off the weaker riders with a tempo on the hills. now i was the weaker rider. my heart rate was not high so i didn’t feel i was working hard, but my legs felt leaden and did not want to push hard.

on the final climb before the decent into piesse brook, i thought i saw a rider a bit behind me. from that distance all i could see was they were wearing black. michael was wearing black, but i thought that i couldn’t be himas he was riding back with emma. i soldiered on hoping the decent would allow my legs a bit of respite.

once i hit the final climb up to kalamunda, i had decided to well and truly punish my legs for not being available today. i left it in the big ring and selected a cog from the middle of the cluster. strength endurance work it would be.

it turned out that it was michael behind me as he caught me on the lower slope of the climb and kept on going past me. i just sat down and pushed out the big gear, only standing if i needed to get on top of it during a change in gradient. the coffee shop finally appeared before me.

at the coffee shop we got the news about the accident in roleystone. see the previous post for more info.

we headed off on our descent and had a good run down lesmurdie rd. at the intersection with welshpool, there was a jag waiting to turn right. we rolled up behind it as there was some traffic approaching. as it cleared, we clipped in and started moving. however, the jag didn’t move. we had to skirt around it and by then there was another car coming. it cleared and we looked at the jag and it still didn’t look like it was going to move, so we went. there is an added lane once you cross the traffic coming up the hill, so you don’t really have to wait for the opposite traffic to get across the road. we have no idea what the jag driver was doing, and didn’t care as we were now heading down the hill.

the wind, or lack of meant that the descent was not breaking any records. michael took off just before us and managed a good gap by the time we reached the bottom. we were all pedaling on the descent to try to make up ground, and then time trialed it along the flat, but still didn’t catch him. a long wait at the lights meant that the group was all together and didn’t need to wait at the usual spot.

with no ryan or melvyn present, there were no riders willing to sprint it out at the two mcdonalds sprint points. it actually made for a very pleasant return to perth.

so a nice ride with little to no rain besides a few drops on the return to perth. the new route is nice but quite convoluted coming through darlington so may not feature as regularly as others. but we will see. again, our thoughts go to the riders that got cleaned up today in roleystone and i hope that they recover well.

saturday 12th july - freo & cott

ride report by peter

a couple of overnight showers may have scared some of the riders off today as there was only a handful waiting once i turned up. the clock struck 7 and people were still only dribbling in. our new cycle kit had turned up during the week and i had spent a few nights labeling and bagging peoples orders to help with the distribution. i had my new kit on and kate was bringing the rest of the orders to the coffee shop after the ride.

so, with a smaller than usual group, we headed out for a basic lap of the river. down canning hwy and into attadale before coming round pt walter and into freo. back up through cottesloe and home through the usual run along dalkeith. nice and easy.

as you may have read, a few of our regular doctors are overseas after completing the l’etape du tour which followed the route along stage 10 of this years tour. looks like it was a bloody hard day regardless of whether you stayed upright or not. worth a read if you have a spare ½ hour. with a few others off crook or away, it was hard to know who would be setting the pace when we hit a fast section. well ryan had eventually turned up, so we were all sure it would be him.

a nice easy cruise down canning hwy and we were hoping that we would avoid any rain showers that were looming on the horizon. it didn’t matter anyway as if we were fair-weather riders, we wouldn’t be out over the majority of the winter. we turned into attadale and onto the first fast section of our ride. the nice flat roads around the river here have no intersections that we needed to stop at so we could get a good run in. i fell to the back and had a chat with ryan. he said that he was waiting to see who would go first before he made his move. as we came along the road to where it widened out a bit, he started to move up so i jumped on his wheel.

the boys on the front had been setting a nice pace, but no-one was really going hard. ryan looked like he was just going to slide in to the front position to do some work, but i had different ideas. i came around him and tried to go hard up the road. tried, cause i didn’t really get much of a gap on the field. they soon swallowed my up, but it did make them pick up the pace somewhat, which was the main aim.

the speed forced the group to line out a bit and as we approached the base of the pt walter hill, the call of “pothole” did not make it the whole way down the line. a mate of brendan’s smashed straight into it and punctured his front tyre and potentially buckled his wheel. it was lucky that he didn’t come down and even worse bring others down with him. it really reinforced the fact that you need to call out the obstacles the whole way down the line.

brendan and his mate told us to keep going, so after a regroup at the top of the hill, we continued on our way. down onto the left bank in freo and the pace was up again. another nice long flat road with no intersections gave us the opportunity to stretch the legs. it turned out to be a bit of a time trial training session for ryan as he did the majority of the work on the front. a few other came around him towards the end, but he still sprinted out of the pack once we crossed the speed humps.

we cruised up to freo and kept the pace even as we came through cottesloe. with wet roads, multiple pedestrian crossings, lots of parked cars and a surf carnival, it is not the safest place to be going hard. unfortunately, a rain shower had past through before we got to cott which meant that we were wet and would only get wetter from road spray.

the group was basically together by the time we hit claremont and as usual the pace started to increase. mr dickhead was driving a 4wd today and was getting frustrated with being behind us. he finally got the opportunity to get past, but as soon as he did, he slowed down to turn left. if he had waited 5 more sec he would have been fine. some people just don’t think.

i dropped back again to see ryan who was lurking at the back of the pack. i asked him whether he was going to have a crack and he said that he was biding his time. we let the boys set the pace at the front, while we had an armchair ride at the back. at some point we needed to come around some riders that had been shelled with the quicker pace, but still had lots in reserve. once we hit the main “hill” in dalkeith, i wound it up to come around the main pack, with ryan tucked in behind me. he slingshot off me to continue hard up the hill whilst i was swallowed up by the pack.

an unofficial regroup when we were held up by the road works on hackett drive, and it allowed some riders a chance to catch up. after that, we were held up again by tree lopping. don’t these people know it is a weekend???

turning onto mounts bay road, ryan copped a light hearted serve from a number of us for deliberately slow timing it to get other riders to lead him out. unfortunately it was at that time that kim decided to push hard from the front as part of his threshold training. a group of around 6 or so were tucked onto his wheel, but the rest of us were held up by ryan’s shenanigans ad had to chase hard.

kim led out for almost the entire mounts bay rd, but started to fade, as expected on such a long run. a few other came around him but some riders were also fading so it was beginning to fall apart. one of the squadra barista boys took off early, so i decided to start my sprint from there and set off after him. i knew i had someone on my wheel, so was sure that i was given someone a nice lead out. i had gone from too far (like usual) and died by the time we were coming past the brewery. i gave the ride behind a flick of the elbow, but they didn’t/couldn’t come around. just then, the ryan train came flying past with a couple of other riders desperately trying to hold on. to no avail, as he took line honors convincingly.

the coffee shop today was my chance to play santa, as we distributed as many of the new kits as we could. some people just got jerseys, whilst others got the whole kit. it should make a brilliant sight when everyone rolls around in our new strip.

so a good ride, even though is was a bit wet. next week we are having a special breakfast team launch for our group. we will have food, coffee, prizes, bike weigh-in, and kit collection for those that haven’t received it yet. i will change the course so that it finishes at my place where we will have the breakfast. keep an eye on the blog for more details we will require a rsvp by mid week, for catering purposes.

Etape Du Tour - Part 1

L’etape de Tour Report - by Melvyn

Apologies to readers who are short on time as this part of the blog is lengthy. It documents not only what we did, but our impressions and feelings of the situations.

On our way – how we got there

Our year of preparations culminated all too quickly on Wednesday at the airport check -in. With about 20kg of overweight luggage between the three of us, Jerard was pleased to again have the lightest bike/case combo, speccing carbon/ceramic casters and extra lightweight buckles for his “box from the net“ Sadly, Mark was overweight by nearly 9kgs – most of which chocolate for his insane metabolism. We had all been cautioned by our wives to dress warmly and to some extent had packed some optional extra clothing. My non-bike clothing was curtailed to a spare shirt and undergarments due to the potential of $Singapore 80/kg charges for overweight luggage. Perhaps we’d be able to justify a set of Lightweight carbon wheels to get under the SIA limit of 20kgs?

After a short check-in thanks to the on-line check-in facilities, followed by the now familiar passage past the security goons, we were on board en-route to Singapore. One of the advantages of travelling with two other bike riders is that you can take up a whole row of seats and not sit next to someone who is using up more than their share of seating! A pleasant flight to Singapore and a two hour transit saw us on our way to Barcelona via Milan. Once overseas, it doesn’t take long to realise that sometimes we do live in Hicksville. The scale and clockwork efficiency of Singapore airport, even in the middle of the night, has no compare.



Once into the airport terminal in Barcelona, nothing could have prepared us for the chaos and activity of a Latin country. The passport queue was hideous, then we unhappily collected our mildly damaged luggage (somehow some casters had been bent). The customs officers gave us a nod to go past (none of the officials had spoken a single word to us through immigration) and it was welcome to Spain! Outside, the airport was a hive of activity, with eight lanes of cars, taxis, busses and motor scooters noisily competing for road space and our attention. It had begun to rain a bit which was not good for our morale, with tensions already at a nervous high in view of what lay ahead. Where was the famed Mediterranean hot weather? We must have imported some winter from Perth.

After a short transfer where we amazed the bus driver with the unlikely act of cramming 3 bike cases into the boot of a minibus, we were at our hotel – surprisingly up-market, in a commercial area near the airport. The bikes came out and the process of spannering them back to completeness began. They had survived unscathed. As I was tightening up my seat post collar the Crapagnolo threads stripped, and the bolt was not going to be long enough to engage the rest of the threads. Bugger – where are we going to get a 32.4mm collar in Barcelona (they are hard enough to come by on various online sites)? We had planned to go into town for lunch anyway in order to resist the temptation to sleep, and now had a real purpose.

After a few enquiries at Decathlon (a Rebel Sport like chain store), we were directed to perhaps the BEST bike shop I have been to in the WORLD! Pro Bike (www.ProBike.es - not the same as a well known on-line retailer) has over three levels of mainly off road bikes. Base to high-end are catered for with drool worthy parts, wheels, clothing and bikes actually in stock and on display. Prices also were surprisingly reasonable. How about a built Cannondale System 6 in Liquigas colours for 1900 Euros? Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the shop is that the servicing is on the top floor, with the mechanics testing out their rides by pedalling them down the series of ramps to the ground floor, then back up again. MTB customers can even test their bikes out back on a short trial course. Everyone actually seemed happy to work there. I explained my problem to one of the mechanics, who emerged later unable to find a suitable replacement collar, but came up instead with a longer bolt. He surprised me by saying there was no charge. We were more than happy to buy our gels, and bars here, along with a spare tube and some socks that I would find useful later.

We returned to the hotel in the late afternoon. With few dining options, as dinner in Spain starts at 2000hrs, we went back to the airport on the free shuttle to get some baguettes. If anything it was more chaotic than ever. We were also beginning to notice that Spanish ladies were more noticeably up-front than in other countries. The number of tattoos on show was also striking, though it was not for us to argue against other cultural standards. We settled in for an uneasy night, yet looking forward to the challenges that were to come. As we were still a little time zone challenged, some of us were able to wake up to see if late night German TV had changed much from when we were in Europe last year. It’s good to see their society is as progressive as always…

Getting to Lourdes


We woke up bright and early to go to the airport to pick up our hire car - a Fiat Ducato van more suited to moving house than bikes. The bikes and cases were swallowed up in the cargo area, and we soon commenced our road trip along the highway Northwest from Barcelona to the French border, crossing the Pyrenees. The country turned from flat and dry, to hilly, and soon we arrived at the foot of the mountains. Again we were filled with trepidation as we caught glimpses of the peaks up near the clouds. It’s pretty rare to have clouds at the top of Welshpool road, and most people who want to go that high take aeroplanes. As we drove around the hairpin roads, we were again thinking of how the Tour riders would show superhuman skills climbing and especially descending at speed. We had our own fears of descending the roads especially with the forecasted rain, not having forgotten our experience on Ventoux the year before. You cannot imagine how easily you can pick up speed down a hill, until you stop for lunch and find that the peppery smell is from your car’s brakes cooking from the descent.

We got to Lourdes two hours later than we had hoped, just as the weather seemed to be coming in. Lourdes is an amazing place for pilgrims of many types – both religious and for the cycling in the area. The more common are those who seek healing from the Virgin Mary at the famed Grotto (it was the 150th anniversary of the appearance of the apparition meaning it was particularly busy). The masses of nuns, wheelchairs, and devout from all over the world is impressive. Somewhat depressive however is the tackyfication of what must have been a pretty French riverside village with endless trinket shops full of plastic icons. This extent of commercialism is a little affronting. There is blatant profiteering, as a can of drink that is 50cents in other parts of France, and for that matter in other parts of Lourdes, commands a 2Euro price down-town. The pilgrims of the bike alas have to share the town and conditions in order to access the many famous climbs of the area.


We battled through the endless swarm of devout, who truly must have faith in the healing waters, as they were unafraid of a simple thing such as being run over by three Aussies in a van. We later learned that this happens with any driver, even if you are driving a full tourist coach. Taxi drivers in this town must have a similar faith in the healing waters as they drive full tilt through the crowds. We finally found our hotel to meet up with the tour organisers outside who told us we had just 30 minutes to join in a ride. We looked at each other, and shrugged our shoulders as we rushed the cases to our rooms changed into our knicks.

The First Ride

The first ride with our Aussie cohort started a discussion between the three of us: can you tell a rider’s ability from their bike? I looked down at my own to conclude that cycling prowess does not correlate with you ability to press “add to cart”. What if you look athletic/strong – does it mean you ARE strong? Some people (particularly the guys leading the tour group) certainly looked strong. What if you look old or have a gut? We concluded ( incorrectly as it turns out) that if you look crap, you are likely a weak rider. This was to be disproved many times over the next two days by various 60 year old men and women effortlessly riding up their hills.

The ride took in a climb that would be a small prelude to the real climbs on the etape ride – a mere blip in the profile. This short test however filled me with confidence, as the roads were good and I had kept up (unlike my usual form in Perth). It felt good to stretch the legs, and the bike was performing well. The bike itself was never going to let me down, as it was a marvel of technology, the result of years of design and technology. No, it was not going to be the weakest link.

We got back to a rushed shower and dinner. Todd had arrived, but looked despondent. His bike had not made it on the same flight out of London. Things were looking grim for his etape. Lindy had her bike, but had not had a ride for some time since her tour of Italy. They had conned a friend Dave, also from Perth to join in this escapade.

The Day Before


We woke up to a grey sky with massing clouds . If this had been a scene in “Lord of the Rings” it would have been a sign of impending Armageddon or suchlike. It evoked a similar ill feeling before the ride. Todd’s bike had arrived the night before from its side trip to Poland, and he was itching to ride. Mark, Jerard and I decided to take the soft option and sit out the day’s riding on the bus in the developing rain. The plan was for us to register in the town of Pau where a bike fair was set up at the starting village, and anyone who wanted to ride home could. We decided to use the day to procure clothing that would make our day more comfortable (less uncomfortable?) and safer in what we assumed would be horrendous conditions at the top of the peaks. Talking to various people from the area, we resigned ourselves to freezing conditions at the top.

Our lack of winter gloves essential to prevent our hands from numbing in the cold and allowing us to brake effectively when descending, was a weak link. There were none to be had at the fair since the organisers of the stalls mainly brought end of season stock and that season was summer. We caught the coach back which was piloted by a brave fellow called Marc (he fearlessly barrelled his coach through the ancient streets). Marc was a former cyclist and was sympathetic. He told us that he could drive us to a good bike shop he knew – just after he had finished ploughing through another group of wheelchair bound Italian pilgrims. In fact he drove us to a bus depot, and phoned ahead to make sure that his wife would be there to pick us up to ferry us to this shop. She was running some deliveries with their toddler in the back and we were assured it was no trouble! We soon got to the shop and bought what we thought we needed. Satisfied in our preparations we were delivered back to the hotel. What generosity!

The Night Before

The dinnertime conversation was nervous to say the least. We were agonising over the final details (as if they would determine if we would fail or succeed). Surely it reflected our personalities as we went through the endless permutations. Winter or summer arm warmers? Tights , knee warmers or nothing? Wear a gillet or not – am I going to get too hot? What base layer? Two pairs of gloves or one? Bring two or three drink bottles? Ten gels enough? Do we eat a power bar or banana? Did we even want to wake up the next day if the preparation were this painful? We were further cheered up when we heard there were no guard rails on some descents, and going too far on the other side of the road may cause you to collide with a sheer rock face.

After gobbling down a final meal of carbs in a token carbo load, we settled to mostly a fitful sleep to hear soft gentle steady rain outside.

Getting to the Ride

A 4am awakening and a forced breakfast showed that there were extremes in preparation. Some had barely more than summer weight jerseys, whereas I had thrown on everything I had (and was still cold). It wasn’t a good feeling loading the bikes up in the rain, and the Powerbar which ordinarily tastes terrible went down particularly badly on the bus. We were treated to a traffic jam of cars trying to get onto the Autoroute at 5am, packed with bikes of all types and description. There was a massing of cyclist like some sort of dawn break pagan ritual, drawn to a common place by a mysterious primordial force.

Our arrival in Pau with the soft rain would ordinarily have been quite rustic, some would say romantic. All I could think about were the descriptions of battles and the feelings described from the trenches of World War 1. We arrived to a throng of activity with cars and bikes everywhere. Last minute pumping of tyres, adjusting of brakes, a short toilet break in the bushes, and we were off. Down dark streets to the turf club carpark which was the site of the mass start of the etape. Mark and I had drawn start numbers in the 6000’s, and we had a particularly unpleasant wait as we chilled in the corral. Jerard was perhaps luckier to start 3000 riders ahead of us. He was already out of sight amongst a sea of helmets and carbon.

As more riders piled in, the atmosphere was intensifying. Cycle groups would break into French song about ride domination. Old crusty campaigners were mixing it up with newcomers. Rusty steel and aluminium clunkers were amongst ubiquitous carbon, often ridden by gnarled mountain-men with stern faces. We sized up the competition, trying to catch sideways glances of bikes and legs, trying to look cool and nonchalant. There was a hubbub of speech in French, Italian, Pommy, and Irish, all nervous and sometimes boastful. It was impossible to know who would go fast, and who would fail. We all knew one thing though- it was going to be tough. I tried to talk up my confidence. After all, 100km of the race was on the flat, and 30km would be descending – how hard would it be? We shivered mainly from cold, but partly from nerves. All through this it kept on raining.

The Ride

All of a sudden a cheer, and a roar at 0700 – a thousand cyclists were let out of the pen. When those had cleared, another thousand, then another and another were released. Each time the gates opened, a cry rang out, like an ancient army charging into war, as riders streamed past the gates to trigger the electronic timing. It was all too soon our turn, and we edged our way to the front. The mood was electric with a sea of Lycra and pumping legs. The roads were wet and narrow, but all thought of pacing this one was lost as we strove to get to the open road. Through the roads of Pau, and the roundabouts and traffic islands there were bikes everywhere. There was a nervous energy abound, a frenetic pace that was surely too fast. I guess there is that feeling if you are 6000 places behind the leaders, and you know there is an elimination time. Some foolhardy souls were time trialling at this stage, and I managed to catch a lift with some. I had made up many places, a combination of flat fast roads and able helpers (and a natural antipodean tendency to ride on the left).

Disaster struck when 10km out my bidon slipped out of my wet gloves onto the road. There was no way I could complete the ride on just one, so I stopped to retrieve it. It had landed in the worst possible place in the middle of the road with wave after wave of bikes swarming around. Riders, like lemmings, were throwing themselves one after another to their fates. They were scared to break formation and pace, lest they lose advantage. Only cries of “attencion” caused the disorganised streams to split like a mountain steam cascading around a rock. Like that ancient game of “Frogger”, I waited for a break in traffic, anxious as with each moment I was losing time and places. Eventually I secured the bottle and resumed the chase. Flying along, never leading, always following, I clawed back time and places until I was seeing riders numbered in the 6000’s again.

We turned sharply to the left and hit the brakes as there was a significant bottleneck through a village. The road was rough and had sections of cobbles forming traffic chicanes forcing us to walk. Already there had been a major crash with an ambulance stationed on a hill – lights flashing. We streamed past in a low gear, rubbernecking and trying not to be involved in our own pile-up, many jockeying for position. It was a low time slowly riding up the main road of this town in gentle drizzle, reminded of what lay ahead.

Soon, the road began to widen, and trains began to form. The flat profile on the ride description was misleading as the route actually took us over undulating forest. Gradient saw weaker riders (or those who were saving themselves) being passed. The roadside was littered with signs held up by cheering family who showed the same commitment as the riders in the rain. Small children cheered “Allez! Allez!” as their father and his friends clattered past. This was the real thing, both daunting and inspiring all at once. It felt like a real race and we like real racers.

Disaster struck a second time as we progressed to the first of the small descents perhaps an hour or so into the ride. It came after a short hill which caused riders to bunch up across the road. I recognised that as we descended, there would be trouble as the corners had to be tackled. A short sprint across the crest and initial descent saw me lead the small group down the greasy road. The rain continued to be in my eyes as we took a series of gentle curves. Those who ride with me will recognise that my descending style tends to be a little more committed, which perhaps reduces your options as you go down. I had set up a corner at speed, but accounted too late for a rider who had hit the brakes as he too saw the curve tightening. It was too late to do anything but to squeeze the levers tighter and hang on. There was a gentle thud as we bumped each other and my bars which had caught him twisted around. I over corrected and could feel the front wheel losing grip as the slippery tarmac afforded little traction. In slow motion I was down and on my left side, my hands still on the bars and my chin hitting the ground. The bike slid a few more metres, and came to rest in the centre of the road.

My instincts were to get off the road fast, and I was soon scrambling on my grip-less cleats. I watched as perhaps a hundred riders descended toward where I had just been. Cries of “Velo! Velo!” punctuated the racheting of freewheels as miraculously riders were able to swarm either side of the obstruction. A break in the flow allowed me to retrieve my bike. I feared that my ride was over as I inspected it quickly for damage. Apart from a twisted left brake lever, there was not much to see. It was then that I remembered that I had landed on my chin which was feeling ominously numb. Blood steadily dripped onto my bar tape as I walked to a safer spot. There was another rider here– Tim with an American accent - who I asked to have a look. He told me the gash was very deep and that I would need stitches. No more riders were coming down now, and with a shrug of my shoulders I hopped back on the bike, not wanting to be stuck in the middle of nowhere.

I actually felt energized as only a major adrenaline release can make you feel. Soon the road was flat and I was again passing with the assistance of swifter riders. The only annoyance was the continual red drip onto my handlebars and top tube. There was road spray everywhere and I worried about contamination of my wounds. I passed a familiar Ridley on the side of the road: it was Mark who had flatted his rear tyre. A few minutes of fiddling under the watchful eye of a French farmer looking over his front wall had Mark’s back tyre on. I got him to check me out - it didn’t look too bad he said. (He later admitted that in reality he thought the wound was quite deep, but since I looked like I wanted to continue the ride he’d take on an encouraging tone).

Re-invigorated by sugar and the rest we continued the pursuit. I chased with a pace that I had not put on for a while and made pleasing progress. I actually felt optimistic of avoiding the cut-off. With all the delays that had gone on that was a real concern. There was a short climb of 5kms at 5 percent. The stream of riders slowed as we wheezed up the hill. Uncharacteristically I actually kept pace and overtook on the hill (those who ride with me know that hills are not my forte). Again the roads were lined by families and friends who had turned out to cheer us on. I managed to give some a wave of recognition which elicited response of encouragement. I could not help feeling perturbed by the looks children gave me as I pedalled past with blood running down my jersey. Mark soon cruised past, but I was not far behind, and soon we were on the flat and descent again.

The next set of descents were not as technical, and although I had lost a bit of nerve, I knew that I could still progress adequately. Soon the road was flat and excellent progress could be made to the feed station in Lourdes. The pace had pretty much settled to a steady procession and the frenetic pace had the sharp edges knocked off. A short series of corners led us into central Lourdes where the water stop had been set up. My glasses had fogged after coming to a stand still as I made my way past masses to get water and jellied fruit. It was amazingly well organised as volunteers dispensed cans of drink, spooned out energy powder and ham sandwiches with croissants. I refuelled and thought about making a quick getaway when I spied the medical tent.

I thought that I should get a bandage, and get back on the road. I was still feeling quite good at this point and was looking forward to testing myself on some climbs. It was the look that the nurse gave me in the medical tent that told me my race was now over. She motioned me over to a trolley to lie down and fetched the doctor. He said that I could leave the bike here as I needed to be transferred to the hospital to get stitched up - they had no facilities to debride the wound in the tent. For a moment I actually thought that I might get away with asking for a bandage and soldiering on, but that would turn me into one of those patients who don’t follow instructions that I myself dislike. With a reluctant and disappointed sigh, I was bundled into a waiting ambulance for transfer with a temporary bandage in place . I tried to cheer myself up by taking a picture of the nurse in the ambulance, who also took one of me.



The hospital was quiet for a Sunday morning, but staffing had to cope with guys who had fallen earlier. I saw the tell tale slings of men who had done their collar bones, and a guy who was in a hard collar. It made me feel lucky that I could have actually ridden on after my spill. The ED Doctor was no nonsense but professional, as only someone who was mildly annoyed at having to do a Sunday shift would be. She was not a little intimidated at having to repair an urologist’s face: surely if he was stupid enough to go riding in the rain like a madman, he wouldn’t be too fussy. The drape was placed over my face, and a familiar process of cleaning and local anaesthetic injection had begun. All too often I had been on the other side of the drapes, thinking to myself “what sort of self destructive activity has this guy undertaken?”



Without fanfare, it was all over. An x-ray of my jaw to make sure it wasn’t broken and to inspect my expensive dental work, and I was turfed back on the street. My priority now was to get back to my bike which was a real danger in the rain on cobbled roads in my cleats. It was a distinct possibility that I would end up back in the hospital and in a wheelchair like the pilgrims that turned a disapproving look at my incongruous attire and still bloodstained jersey. Lost in the throng of nuns, priests and tourists, I eventually made my way with the assistance of a map back to the feed station. By this time the packing up was in full swing. All the tables were gone, and so was the mechanical assistance and medical tents. I scarcely recognised the place that had been an hour later packed with bikes, discarded mineral water bottles, and riders using walls as urinals. Panicked that I could not find my bike, and I was overcome by a real sinking feeling that it was not likely now that I’d be charged for overweight luggage on the way home.

The volunteers eating lunch in a large marquis saw me and motioned me over. “Manjare?” they motioned pointing to their mouths. I made cycling motions to indicate my bike was missing. A lady who spoke English came over and got me to sit down for lunch. Although they were in the process of packing away, some potato salad, cheese, ham and bread materialised. They sat me down and gradually I made them aware of my situation. They assured me that everything would be OK, and gave me a glass of red wine. On the bottle was the local cycle hero Hubert Arbes to whom I was introduced. He was responsible for the local organisation of the course and general rides through the Pyrenees. He shook my hand and I did not need a translator to understand their smiles. Hubert is a bit of a legend and had ridden the tour as a pro five times. His participation rides through the Pyrenees attract thousands of riders. Apart from doing all this and running a bike shop, he also manages the local cyclo-sportive chapter and seems to have the immense respect of his proud volunteers.
http://www.pyreneespursuits.com/scheduled_weekend_breaks_2.htm
http://www.la-hubert-arbes.fr.fm/

One lady got on the phone to track down my bike: it had been put on the sag wagon and was headed to the finish village. They could provide me with a lift to re-unite me with my bike! I was grateful for their hospitality and took a picture to commemorate their efforts. For me it is these people who live and breathe cycling, and have limitless hospitality who personify the spirit of Lourdes. Their genuine generosity is in contrast to the kitsch commercialism of the hotels and wall to wall cheap souvenir shops. My heart was warmed to these people who had rescued my day. I was soon in a car driven by a lady and her mother, to be reunited with my bike 15 km away at the base of the Hautacam.

Epilogue

Finally reunited with my bike, I checked it and found that someone had washed the handlebars and bar bag of the blood. It had been carefully packed and was fully serviceable. I had two options – to get a lift with my tour organisers, or to take a short ride back to Lourdes. I could have thrown it in, but the air was clear and the roads were drying. I felt cheated of my chance to climb the peaks and was angry at myself for my mistakes. I had to ride to clear my mind. On the way home I reflected on the day. Why is it we ride? Often in torrid conditions and suffering as a result of exertions, we persist. Some will do it simply for fitness. Others will do so for the moral superiority over the plodding obese masses. Many do so to compete against others for glory or bragging rights. We obsess over the high tech and lightness, fashion, and clamour for kudos at the coffee shop. Are we guilty of being coffee shop poseurs? There is a fine line between being competitive, and being consumed by the need to best others. I think sometimes we are guilty of these things to some extent where riding becomes more of a chore or a task then a pleasure. Today should have been about having a good time on the bike, testing oneself against the course, but it had turned into one where “failure” was an omnipresent threat.

I turned back home, liberated by the feeling that there was nothing more to lose, to enjoy the ride for what it was. The empty road, cool but not cold wind, the splendid scenery, the rolling hills, the sensation of speed and control over oneself and machine, were all there for me to take. I had to learn to be content with riding where there was both success in competition (as surely you would judge the achievement of the other boys), and a different success of the actual process of riding itself. The wind blew through the vents of my helmet, but did not chill (mainly because my x-rays were stuffed down my jersey making a very effective wind breaker like newspapers used by the cyclists of old) making the country feel alive and clean as my legs which had regained their strength and resolve powered to a sprint with no one to see. I had finally started to enjoy my day.