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.

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.

sunday 6th july - patterson & peet & observatory

ride report by peter.

well a freezing start to the morning and i was fully expecting that i would be the only idiot to toe the line. i was really surprised to find close to 20 riders all rugged up and ready to roll by the time i turned up there. the official temp for perth city was 0.9 deg at 7:30 which would have to be the coldest start we have had for a long time. i was wondering what the temp would be somewhere like antarctica and should we really be complaining. the davis base on the frozen continent reached -15.7 at 9:00am. it sounds cold and we should probably not complain, but i was sure i could have easily snapped my fingers off if i hit them against the handlebars. either that or my bars would break.

anyway, we had a good group with a couple of newbies and special guests so i knew it would be an interesting ride. josie (team flexpoint) was back on break from racing in europe and had brought her boyfriend, cj (slipstream-chipotle) along for the ride. we also had jordan who is a young “a” grade rider from perth and a couple of the top younger female cyclists in perth in mel and bella. to round it out, we had a bunch of our usual cast to balance the entire group’s ability back to average.

the course today would be a brutal one in any weather, but the freezing temps made it even more difficult. we would travel down towards armadale before turning up brookton hwy for a short spell to lead us to the foot of our first climb. patterson rd is a short-ish climb that would make for a good finish in a one-day classic in belgium. i have renamed this hill and i will explain why later. after that heart starter, we then travel up canns rd before taking a quick decent down soldiers rd which takes us back to brookton hwy. across the road to peet but we don’t climb right to the top instead turn up urch and meet up at the top of the kahuna climb. travel the usual way back to pickering brook, before heading up around the observatory and then up mundaring weir rd to kalamunda. so with five main climbs plus some bonus’ it will be a loooong but productive day.

so we were about to roll out and carlo had to duck off for a quick pee but we eventually set off to try to get warm. it was interesting, as we past through suburbia, how the temperature changed as we ran through dips and hollows. i had opted out of leg warmers but had double gloves and booty covers on as well as a wind proof jacket. my legs were not too bad but by the time we got down to kelmscott, i couldn’t feel my fingers or toes properly. it actually made it hard to change gears as i couldn’t feel which lever i was touching.

just before kelmscott we had to slow the pace right down. carlo needed another pee. instead of stopping to watch him, we just dropped the pace right down to allow him time to chase back on.

we did a short stint on brookton hwy before turning off behind the big orange shed to encounter the hell that is patterson rd, mt nasura. usually we head up over carawatha, but this gives a slight variation and a much harder climb. the whole climb is probably just over 500 metres, but kicks up so sharply that if you stall the bike, you will have trouble getting started again. rob and jordan were at the front as the road turned and some people got their first glimpse of the hill. it is instantly into the easiest gear you have and just grind it out till you hit the top. i was struggling from the start and the one hour ride to get to this point had not really warmed me up much. it may have had something to do with the cold morning…

anyway, i was past by a number of riders but was grateful that when cj past by he commented on the steepness of the hill. it was good to know that even a pro can find our climbs hard. well probably not hard, but challenging. it was hard for me and i watched jordan, cj and ryan fight it out for line honors as they crested the hill and rode out of sight. my arms were hurting from pulling up on the bars so much but i managed to grind it out and reach the top. after finding a patch of sunlight to try to thaw, we regrouped and headed to the next bit of fun. as for the name, this hill will now be known as the f_ckinberg.

canns rd was our next climb and we all started it together in a nice pack. from the front, rob and myself began to up the pace until we split the pack in two. jordan eventually came around and began to step up the pace further. i’m not sure what it was but i started to feel a tightness in my left quad when i need to apply more power. whether it was the cold, a cramp or whether i had damaged it on that first climb when my muscles were not entirely warm, was hard to tell. it hurt so i had to back off. a number of riders came past me as we continued up the hill, but i wasn’t too concerned as i was more worried about my leg. by the time i reached to top at a easier pace, the pain had subsided and i put it down to a cold cramp.

regroup. headed off down churchman brook rd which becomes the wonderful decent of soldiers rd. the road was nice and the decent was fast but not without its issues. the main one was what could only be described as an ice-cream headache. the wind-chill across the skull combined with the fact that the sun had not quite reached that part of the valley, meant a very cold decent.

a quick regroup to make sure everyone made it back to brookton hwy and we were off up peet rd. rob and ben made a quick start and headed up the road in front of everyone else. we started to step it up and i came around jordan to chase down the other two. as we came past, jordan stepped it up again and pulled a gap. i had nothing to go with him but rob came around with cj to chase him down. ben and i rode tempo to finish off the peet rd section before turning onto urch. ryan was not feeling 100% today and was hanging a bit behind us on the climb. as the road stepped up again on urch, my left quad problem came back to visit. i had to back off and this allowed ben to come past, followed by carlo and ryan not long after. meanwhile, rob was giving jordan a run for his money and it was good to see rob climbing so well.

i managed to hold it together till the end and was grateful for the rest while regrouping. mel turned up on a soft rear tire so we spent a bit longer watching her change it… with a bit of help from cj.

the rolling hills between here and pickering brook posed no real problems and no-one was really on the attack as we had two main climbs to go. as we hit the base of the other patterson rd and began the climb to the observatory, carlo shot off the front and took a large gap over the rest of us. no-one chased and we held together and took a nice tempo which broke it down into a select group of about eight. eventually cj and jordan held the front and paced us along the hill. as it wore on, you could see carlo start to look behind himself and was obviously slowing down. on the last pinch of the climb, the pace stepped up again and i had to unhitch. i left the boys reel in carlo and fight it out for line honors which went to ryan.

another fast decent and we were on our final climb of the day. michael and emma had turned off after the observatory as emma was on shift and they needed to get home. the pace was on and it was way too much for me and i very quickly fell off the back. a group of about 5 or 6 headed off up the road and i was caught by ben who also set a pace higher than i could manage. setting myself a tempo, i ground out the rest of the climb to make the final regroup for coffee. according to ryan, he managed to take them on the final pinch for line honors.

an extended coffee stop and luckily the day had started to warm up so it wasn’t too bad sitting outside. cj asked if i was drunk when i came up with this route as even he thought it was particularly brutal. i said that i set it when i was a lot fitter than i am now. anyway, we left jordan, cj and josie as they were going to do extra km’s and it was beginning to get late. it was good to catch up with them as they are not in the country as much anymore and it is always good to have some of our boys pushed a bit harder by better riders.

so we had a good decent on welshpool rd as the practically windless day caused no problems. bella pushed hard to chase down some of the guys but no landspeed records were broken. the return to town was relatively uneventful with the required sprint up to macdonalds in vic park being to main event. ryan again, i believe. heading towards the final sprint to macdonalds in south perth i jumped on the front to set the pace along berwick rd. as we crested the final hill, bec and sam pushed around me but had ryan tucked neatly in behind so he had an easy final push for the line.

so, around 105km by the time i got home and over 1300m of climbing. a good day but i am a bit disappointed in my current level of fitness and will have to do a lot more work to get back in form.

UPDATE
a bit of video from going up peet rd. jordan is the rider in shot for most of it and cj is the orange and blue rider a bit further back. i would like to say that i kicked both their arses going up the hill, but the video does not go long enough to see me fall off the back and ride the rest of the hill on my own.

Sunday 8th June 2008 - Part 1, Canning Mills, Peet and Lawnbrook.

ride report by darren.

part 1, - only because i scrambled home after the last climb. I encourage anyone who was
1. close to the front.. or
2. made it to the cafe
to fill in the rest.

sunday morning could be described as cold - but not too bad. the wind was coming from somewhere but didnt really play a factor in the days activities.

todays route had us going up canning mills rd, or did it, most of us were confused, was this cohuna? so i stepped in... "definitely canning mills road", that made me the leader for the first part. this would be the only correct piece of info i would dish our for the day. i guess i was still distracted by the amazing mr dickhead, must have been the same guy from the saturday ride, who swung straight into the car parking spot i had been waiting 5 minutes for at the shops on saturday afternoon, who refused to move or apologise no matter how loud my protests.

a fairly ugly looking bunch today, luckily bella joined us for her second day in a row in the hills despite a physics exam tomorrow. as the minutes ticked past 7am and after a bit of banter in the carpark Mark reached deep into his lycra and produced a measuring device....a portable bike scale, to become the official (enough) bike weight measurer for the group. nice work, but still some calibration required as mine came out heavier than anticipated - back to the drawing board.

about 16 brave souls headed down the new route to albany hwy, via manning road. stuart and mike b led the way for a fair chunk at a decent pace. mark and i found ourselves at the front after cannington and worked up a sweat as we pace the group down albany hwy to gosnells.

at the tonkin hwy lights i told ryan the regoup point thinking that is all the instructions required . we held a moderate pace down connell ave to the end, ryan kept asking, "is this the climb yet", not yet ryan. I found myself at the back of the pack as we swung left into luchich to start the ascent, if only we were heading in the right direction, a quick u-turn and off to canning mills we went.

back on track, we snaked our way up canning mills which can be described as nasty. I initially stayed at the back while ryan, mark, stuart and jerry led the way. mike b was back in the pack taking it easy, well for about 10 seconds, he held a consistent strong pace, picking off riders one by one and caught the lead guys somewhere near the top. as i took the initial climb easy i had a little in reserve (despite holding 180bpm for the climb) and soon found myself holding jerrys wheel with mark a few meters ahead (no chance of passing either). stuart, ryan and mike b were the first to the top, with evidence that stuart held on for the kom points (if only i told ryan the correct regroup point). so telling everyone to regroup at urch was a mistake, as stu and mike headed off to the correct regroup point (wasnt fast enough to reach them) with ryan waiting with us. no one seemed to mind too much and ryan sped off to round up the pace setters (sorry guys and gals). Bella complained that her rear derailleur was playing up and she was locked out of some easier gears (this didnt seem to slow her down on the climbs).

the steep descent down urch is always fun and a little scary especially as you hit a bend just after the last really steep section. the climb out of urch onto peet and then to the school hurts a lot. with ryan, stu, mike, mark and gerry setting the pace i found myself behind dr marc and bella with shao on my tail. shao pushed me on the steep parts so i decided to dish out a bit of pain on the flats and just as he would get back on my wheel again i would accelerate again (now i am starting to understand this theory of inflicting damage). dont know who was first to roleystone but marc beat me to the top in our own little mini comp.

After a short break we all headed off down brookton hwy to the servo. The pace was definitely on as we descended the hill with mark, melvyn and ryan pushing for the karragullen sprint points (where-ever they are measured?). At the servo, no one seemed to want a coke or a gatorade so we headed off but found ourselves amongst another group of CRT riders (chain reaction training). the CRT group seemed to have many more x chromosomes that y (a point not lost on some of the group). so whilst mark, marc and i took it in turns to smash out a decent average at the front of the pack (later joined by stu, jerry and ryan), dr carl, todd and melvyn enjoyed the view from the back. dr jerry's excuse was retinal hypoxia - or something.

as we headed down toward the observatory turn off we were passed in the opposite direction by the ultimate bogan mobile (a black SS clubman ute with spoilers, flares, 20 inch mags, lowered at the front and raised at the back- the mining boom has a lot to answer for), todd and i had a chuckle. The climb to the observatory was uneventful with Stu leading the usual suspects at break neck speed and those not fit enough to hang on falling behind. As ryan stole the KOM points in the last metres from stu, i found myself a few hundred metres back battling with dr marc again with the heart rate well and truly in the red zone.

at this point we debated where to go to next, others wanted to do mundaring weir road but my vote was for lawnbrook since we had not done that for a while and since it was the designiated route, convinced them that we should. the run down walnut was fun and i decided to take it it easy up lawnbrook. at the top I heard that dr gerry hurt mark and I think ryan hurt himself as he said that he was feeling like crap.

I will leave it to someone else to finish the day off as I headed for home with a few other at this point... thanks everyone for a great ride.

Sunday 1st June - Carradine & Peet

ride report by rob

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...no more sundays...no more coffee shop...!!

Ciao!