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ride report by peter
as i stumbled out the door just before 7 i reflected on the fact that i was lucky to even be on the bike this morning. we went to the shops yesterday after the saturday ride and from about 11 onwards, ben was totally out of it. constant mournful crying and pretty much inconsolable for the rest of the day. by the time we got him to sleep that night it seemed like a very, very long day. i prepared my bike stuff as usual, the previous night, but i was aware that it would depend on how he woke up in the morning. he woke fine so i was off.
as i turned off my road and onto canning hwy, heading along was dr nick, so i rode alongside and had a chat. she was not heading out with us as there was mountain biking to do that arvo and it was her first love. i rode with her till douglas ave and turn off to meet the others. late as usual.
we had a good size group of about twenty and most were keen to tackle all the climbs today. the course was taking us back up welshpool road and around mundaring weir and darlington, before climbing back up kalamunda rd and on to coffee. all up there was four major climbs and about three or four bonus climbs.
we headed out along great eastern hwy and onto orong rd for a change of pace. it definitely has more traffic, but it is double lane and it was sunday morning, so more traffic really meant more than dead. pretty uneventful start to the day and i chatted with our new guy dr ronnie. he knows lorraine and she told him about the ride so he decided to come out with us. another dr and another cervelo to the group. the more the merrier. riders that is, not cervelos.
as we approached the base of the climb, everyone started to eye off young alistair after his exceptional climb last week. still resplendent in his dunlop sandshoes and toe clips, everyone was keen to see how they would rate against him. it would be interesting.
the hill started and the usual players were straight to the front. the pace didn’t start high and alistair led myself, brendan, stu, mike steve and ben up the hill. we were approaching another large group of mostly triathletes that we had seen up the road previously. they had already started to splinter on the climb and presented a number of targets for us to chase down.
the climb settled into it’s steepness and alistair attacked hard. i was on his wheel and decided not to go with him as expected him to die in the arse and we would pick him up later. brendan had other ideas and took off after him. i jumped on his wheel and took steve up with me. we caught alistair and i think brendan wanted to prove a point so attacked him almost straight away. i managed to hold his wheel, but only just and was beginning to struggle. not sure where everyone really was at this time as lack of blood to the relevant brain functions meant that the only signal out was push pedals and only signal in was pain now.
at some point stu and mike cruised effortlessly up the hill towing either steve or ben. they went past and overtook the group. unfortunately for me, they just kept going at this pace and left alistair, ben and i to fend ourselves, while brendan and steve latched onto the train.
as we slipped further and further behind, i tried to go again and managed to gap alistair but he always seemed to claw his way back on. we ended up riding together after the servo and tried to pull back any ground. my phone started to ring and i tried to answer it via and hands free, but the button didn’t work. after the family issues yesterday i was expecting it to be bad news, but it would have to wait till i reached the top.
as the hill started again ben just kept accelerating and started to gap alistair and i. another expletive erupted for the young lads mouth and i understood where he was coming from. after his efforts last week, we were all keen to attack him just to see how good he was. i sprinted around to get on bens wheel and we gapped alistair again. he clawed his way back again as the road evened out a bit. on the penultimate hill, we picked up steve who’d had enough of the pace men in front. as we crested the top and ran into the last little rollercoaster to start the final pinch, alistair attacked on the downhill.
tactically not the best spot as we all jumped on and were freewheeling behind him as it pushed hard to try to get away. as the road went up again, i attacked and ben also went off my wheel. we sprinted to the top and were soon joined by steve as alistair must have been a bit spent by that final effort. as we cruised down the final hill to the regroup point, i noticed that we were only about 100 metres from the front boys.
a quick check of the phone revealed all. a message from ryan earlier on saying he wasn’t coming and then the later call was from home. i rang to confirm the i was needed back asap. i waited till the rest of the group had arrived before reminding everyone of the route and seeing who knew their way through darlington. brett said he knew so that was good enough for me and i was off.
a quick run down welshpool and back the usual way which did seem a lot longer and harder when you are doing it yourself. family issues meant that i was needed on ben minding duties, so i packed his bag and headed up to kalamunda. we took the long way and came up kalamunda road to see if the group had made it that far yet. they had just began the climb as i came past, so would be up to coffee very soon. i sat with ben for a while before all the bikes came streaming in. i managed to catch up with everyone that made it to coffee as a few had turned of early, but spent most of the time chasing ben around as he wanted to climb the stairs. the he found the eiffel tower and started to climb that too. fun, fun, fun. as everyone headed off, we stopped the car on welshpool rd and managed to capture the group descending at speed on the camcorder. will post it once i drag it off the video.
so i was there for the start and the end-ish, but someone else will need to blog the middle section for me as i don’t know what went on.
ride report by peter
i knew i was going to be struggling today. after the collie-donnybrook yesterday and the late return home, it was always going to be hard to back it up. i was running a bit late again today and it was a family effort which delayed me. my sleeping in combined with ben’s early wake up combined with kate going back to sleep all meant that i didn’t turn up till a smidgen past seven. i had dressed appropriately for the cold start, but was concerned that i would be caught out later in the morning as we were headed for another beautiful day. i had double jerseyed again and also had leg warmers on. it was a brisk morning and i was happy with the extra layers.
i knew that ryan and stu would not be coming this morning as stu was probably staying done south after the race yesterday and ryan had a bucks night to go to as soon as he got home. i was hoping for not too much competition as i was not sure how i would cope with the climbs. brendan had turned up after yesterday race but he is training up for a pretty big race over east in a months time so is doing 1000 kms a week when he is on break. our sand-shoed friend from the saturday ride had turned up again, but i had not met him yesterday, so had no idea what to expect. there were a bunch of other regulars for a total of about 15 riders. brett was out for a change and i asked him how he got a leave pass. he said that jerry had left a message to his wife saying that he’d had a hard week so should be allowed out to play on sunday. she did not want to seem like and ogre so let him come and play. i think everyone is going to get jerry to leave some messages now.
the route today would be a looping affair with a trip up welshpool before climbing the harder side of the observatory, up mundaring weir rd to kalamunda, before heading down the zig-zag and back up kalamunda rd for coffee. that was the plan, anyway.
as we headed out, brendan remarked to me that he was so buggered after the race yesterday that he didn’t even bother to change his race wheels. he was on his tubular shod zipps and did not have any spares. if he got a flat today, he would have to ring the missus to come and pick him up. as we came along mill pt rd there was quite a bit of glass and brendan managed to collect a bit of it. he ran his gloves over the tyres and tried to shed as much as he could. we were hopeful he got it all. we picked up mike b as we headed out, so at least i knew who would be pushing on the climbs.
as we came through east vic park and were about to cross shep rd via hill view, brendan felt his front tyre going down. he took off down shep rd to try to get home before the tyre completely flattened. we continued onto welshpool rd and towards the hills. before we got to the welshpool/orrong rd intersection, we picked up holly who lives very close by. she watched us warily as we rode past before joining us as she had already joined the wrong group once this morning.
as we approached the base of the welshpool climb i was still unsure on who would be setting the pace today. the young lad with sand-shoes, alistair, headed to the front and had mike on his wheel. the young lad kept looking back to see who was going to go with him and a group of us were sucking onto mike’s wheel. mike was definitely feeling better than last week and soon came around alistair to up the pace. i was trying to hold wheel but my legs just didn’t want to play. i indicated for the guys behind me to come around as i was losing the wheel, but no-one did. i looked back and there was no-one behind me. i maintained my rhythm and tried to see if the guys would tire and allow me back on. we were passing lots of triathlon chicks on the hill as there were a few groups taking advantage of the nice weather.
i pushed on, marveling at the fact that this young guy was smashing us with just sneakers and toe clips on. i would hate to see him if he got some proper shoes and pedals. or i probably wouldn’t see him as he would be too far up the road in front of me.
anyway, closer to the servo, jerry and mark caught up to me so we pushed on together. we did a few turns but it was clear that we would not catch the two up the road. funnily enough the old man, mike, had put quite a bit of distance into the young lad, alistair. quite a bit by the top of the hill. we regrouped and headed towards the base of the observatory via glenisla rd. bit of an issue with quite a few gum-nuts scatted on the road during the fast descent near the sanitarium school, but no crashes luckily.
mike turned off to head home via lawnbrook as he had a previous engagement to attend, so i was left to deal with al on my own. mark went out hard for the first part of the climb but mainly to get to the top of the steep section as quickly as possible and we had all caught up by the top. as the gradient eased off i was not willing to attack but wanted to see just what al would do. i was on the front pacing up the hill and was happily to do that for a while as i was not pushing hard. al finally made his move and came around me to up the pace. i jumped on his wheel and sat in for the ride. we gapped the others quickly and pulled away from the pack. i thought i would test his legs out and as he backed off the pace i came around to stretch him. he sat on my wheel for a while but i eventually pushed him so that he dropped off. he clamboured back on so i attacked again and this time when i looked back he was looking behind himself to see if he could find another wheel. the rest of the pack was down around the corner so he made the decision to try to get back on. i was hurting by now and so had backed off the pace. he thanked me for letting him back on, but i said that i didn’t really have a choice. we continued up the rest of the climb together and waited for the rest of the group.
we took the descent down the observatory at a nice pace, always wary of that corner at the bottom which also had some broken glass on it this time. it was like there had been the national bottle breaking contest on during the week as there was glass everywhere. once we hit the bottom, there was a call to stop as dr mark had broken something on his bike. it turned out that he had thought that he had dropped his phone so had to stop to check. during that time, brendan called up to find out where we were. he had changed wheels and climbed up welshpool rd and was on glenisla waiting. i told him the direction we would be heading so he would reverse that and meet us along the road.
we headed down glenisla again avoiding the gum-nuts and headed towards mundaring weir rd. i had asked that everyone stay together as i wasn’t sure everyone knew the way but we would regroup at kalamunda. mark took off once we turned towards kalamunda and brendan, al and i started to chase hime down. my legs said no and i eased off and watched them head up the road. by the time we hit the second corner there was a clear split with brendan and al ahead of jerry and mark with dr mark and myself trailing behind.
a couple of corners later and i decided that i needed to make an effort. i said bye to dr mark and started chasing down jerry and mark as i could still see them up the road. it took a while and i picked up jerry before the false flat and he jumped on my wheel as i headed towards mark. i picked him up just on the corner before the flat and came around him. i put it in the big ring and ground out a plus 40 pace to the next pinch in the climb. i signaled for them to come around and i was done for this climb.
a regroup in the carpark and we had lost stuart a friend of brendans. he went searching and gave him a call but came up empty. we were concerned that he had turned right instead of left and was now heading towards the weir. we tried, so not much more we could do. he was a big boy after all.
a brief discussion and all in favour of missing the final climb and heading to the coffee shop say i. “i” was the call, with my legs being the loudest voice as they were screaming. the race yesterday had not been kind to me.
during coffee, stuart rang brendan to say that he had turned up lawnbrook and had to head home anyway, so he was fine. we broke bread as is the tradition on a sunday and enjoyed a coffee in the nicer weather. i should have taken this time to take off my leg warmers, but as we were sitting in the shade, i wasn’t reminded too.
we headed off and down the hill through lesmurdie with little incident. a smidgen under 75 km/hr for me on the descent, but the time trial along the flat took a lot out of me and i had to ease off. clare had joined us at the coffee shop after missing the start and was on the descent with us now. as she and holly lived just off welshpool rd they turned off early and would miss any of the sprints.
there was a big acceleration along welshpool, but i was not able to go with it, so not sure what really happened. i was happy to be still riding. the final sprint along berwick saw brendan unintentionally leading out as he needed to turn off just after the last rise, but couldn’t get out due to traffic. he just shrugged it off and kept pushing the leadout. i was biding my time and waiting to see who would go and when. it was getting later and later but then jerry started his move so i came out to jump on his wheel. i cut brett off by doing so, but apologised afterwards for doing so. jerry wound up but i managed to come past him as we approached macdonalds. shame i had no reason to sprint yesterday.
so a good ride if not a tad abbreviated due to lack of legs on my behalf. sorry to anyone who wanted to do that last climb, but the option was still open to do it if you wanted. coffee seemed like a much better option at the time.
ride report by peter
so my first hills ride in a long time and before i even started, i knew it was going to hurt. if i hadn’t been racing, i had been unable to ride due to other commitments. the racing was generally on flatter courses too, so it has been a different style of riding.
many of the usual suspects toed the line this morning, but we had an influx of estrogen as we also had four girls come out with us. davina was out on her final hills ride before she heads to the usa for eight weeks of racing. you can keep tabs on her progress via her blog which can be found here. a friend of hers, bec, also joined us along with sandy, who i used to do triathlons with, and anna an old regular. as far as the blokes went, we had ryan to keep us honest on the hills and carlo, a friend of stu’s who was a bit of a dark horse.
i had mapped out a new route this morning to take in the mundaring weir road. we often ride mundaring weir, but are usually heading towards kalamunda for coffee rather than away from it. i thought the change would be good, but to get to it, we would have to get across the scarp via welshpool rd. after mundaring, we would head back through darlington and back up to kalamunda for coffee. it was planned to be just over 100km by the time we got home.
the morning was fresh, but not as cold as yesterday. everyone was rugged up but wary of the fact that it was going to warm up as the day progressed. we headed out great eastern hwy to get onto orrong rd and picked up mike on the way out. great, both mike and ryan to hurt us on the hills. nice and uneventful on the way out and pretty soon we were beginning to climb the “lower slopes” of the welshpool hill.
everyone had been doing turns on the front and just as the road began to point upward, the guys peeled off to leave sandy and anna to lead the way up the climb. michael came to the front with davina on his wheel and i jumped on as he set the pace. a train of ryan, mike, mark and a new guy, carlo came past as the climb got harder. i switched wheels to see how long i could stay with them. i was sitting on carlo’s wheel when ryan swapped turns with mike and set a higher pace. i pulled off to the side and i think jerry may have been there too. all blood was channeled to legs so the short term memory was not functioning properly. anyway, eventually it ended up being ryan, mike & carlo up the road and they had about 100 metres on mark and myself by the time we past the servo.
after that, i don’t really know what happened to the front guy’s navigational skills. all three turned up lesmurdie road. when have we ever turned up that way??? mark asked me if we were going straight and we just kept powering by as they eventually looked back down the road and realised their mistake. the aim now was to try to stay ahead of the hapless trio.
as we crested the next section, we saw a few cyclists a bit further up the road. these turned out to be, doug, dr paul & dr greg. doug had lives up that way so always joins after the start, whilst the docs had left early and were going to do their own thing.
after the second “step” in the climb, we were still ahead of them but they were closing fast. ryan and mike had dropped carlo and very soon they had overtaken us. it was now a matter of jumping on board and holding on till the end. on the final pinch i tried a bid for glory, but came up a little short as they caught me as we crested the rise. we then rolled down to the intersection together. there may have been a dispute as to who should really claim the first on this climb, but the commasaires have reviewed the tape and have declared that they were stupid to turn up lesmurdie road.
a regroup at the top and we were off into bickley valley. a few of us tried for the landspeed record down the glenisla rd as it was ideal weather with little wind at that time. as i said yesterday, it was the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year. as we past through bickely valley it still had not seen the sun and was absolutely freezing. their winter solstice must mean a day of only three hours direct sunlight. another quick regroup to make sure we had everyone and we were off again, but unlike every other ride, we were heading away from the coffee shop.
the road to mundaring has a couple of main climbs and a lot of undulations in between. we hit the first one as soon as we turned onto the road and as i was “leading the way” i ended up with a decent gap on the rest of the field. carlo bridged across to me and soon ryan, mark and mike were there too. jerry briefly tried to make it across, but was a little short and didn’t manage to get a wheel.
the pace wasn’t high, but consistent, and we swapped off turns all the way to the weir. the decent into the dam wall was a lot of fun, especially the last couple of hundred metres where they have laid hotmix. all that road needs is about 20km more of it and it will be awesome.
as we came up out of the weir, we changed plans and would stop at the roundabout as i was concerned that some of the group may not know the way and would get lost. this meant that the second climb would not be that long, and ryan could go harder sooner. he did. about halfway up the first pinch out of the weir, he started going hard. mark and carlo dropped off but i managed to hang on, but only just. just as the climb approached the roaundabout and the grade steepened, both mike and ryan stepped on the gas and i had to let them go. i think mike pipped ryan for line honors.
regroup and off again. the pack stayed together till about the halfway point, where ryan, mike and carlo took off on one of the rolling hills. i again, managed to stay around for a bit but soon ran out of legs and could not hold wheel. mark and darren picked me up as they came past and we were only about 150 metres behind once we hit the regroup point again.
the rest of the decent into darlington was going to be controlled and the group would stay together. there were too many twists and turns for people to get lost in, and michael and i also wanted to take the group down one of the steepest hills in the area. this particular hill is called mills rd and averages about 17%. when going up (and we will do this one soon) your arms get sore from pulling up on the bars and you are always searching for an easier gear. when going down, you are going over the crest and still can’t see the bottom of the hill. you tend to ride the brakes the whole way down as you pick up speed in no time. there is also a semi-blind corner that you don’t want to cut, just in case. a small bonus climb to get us to darlington, and we started another descent.
this eventually brought us out at the base of ridge hill rd, our last bonus climb for the day. my legs were not cooperating by now and when carlo and ryan went, i couldn’t really respond. i just rode tempo to the top but kept them in sight till the start of the zig zag.
as we regrouped a coup happened. not from within the ranks, but rather from my legs. they said “i swear that if you make us ride up kalamunda rd i will put your foot through the spokes when you are coming done welshpool”. they were pissed, and who could blame them. i hammered them pretty hard today, and they were out of condition to start with. my cardio backed the legs and my brain made my mouth tell everyone that i think we should just go straight up the zig zag. a few of the others turned off to go home and then ryan and mike took off up the zig zag at pace. i was content to just cruise along and enjoy the view for a while. a couple of other “hardcore” riders decided to still tackle kalamunda rd. darren, dr melyvn and anna all deserve the insanity medal for that one.
about halfway up i thought that i better make the most of it and took off catching mark by surprise. michael must have been expecting it and sat neatly on my wheel until i ran out of puff. he then took off up the road to leave me suffering alone. mark and jerry started the long chase and eventually swallowed me up then spat me out the back while they went after michael. i snuck down a back road and beat all three of them to the coffee shop.
as i said before, today was davina’s last ride with us for a while. i can still remember the first sunday when she and josie turned up. we went up carawatha hill in mt nasura near brookton hwy and davina had to push her bike up, claiming that she was a track sprinter, not a road cyclist. how things have changed, as now she is smashing it up those same hills and going racing in the usa. josie has also just returned from a few months racing in europe and will be heading back again soon. for the rest of us that are well past our prime, we can all live vicariously through those in the group that are doing well in the sport.
coffee was good. service was not too bad considering it was closer to 11 than 10 when we arrived. so refreshed, rehydrated and recovered (maybe) we were on our way again. a fast descent down welshpool was not an option as the wind was not in our favour. a group of us stayed pretty much together until the bottom, when i ran out of legs (again) when they began to time trial to the regroup point. all present and correct and we started rolling through to keep out of the wind. we managed to box ryan in almost till the end but he still managed to stretch his legs for a couple of hundred metres to the intersection.
lining up for the final sprint along berwick, both ryan and davina were eyeing each other off as neither wanted to be on the front. knowing i had no sprint, i went to the front and paced the final section from kent st all the way to the end. as we came onto the flat section and the final sprint, ryan, jerry and davina all jumped off my wheel but ryan was too strong and managed to hold off a fast finishing jerry at the unofficial invisible line.
so, a good first ride back for me, as i actually finished without totally dying and managed to keep the big boys in sight at the major climbs. we have a cyclo-sportif event next weekend so not hills for me, but after that the next race is not till august, so i expect that i would have reacquainted myself with most of the climbs in perth by then.
Report by John Updated with Video
All those with nothing better to do, and either no decent coffee machine, or indoor trainer turned up - i think there were 6 or 7. i waited in the rain hoping no one would turn up but alas they trickled in like drowned rats - equally disappointed in seeing a fellow cyclist…so we had to go.
someone murmured about going straight for a coffee - and thus a mutiny was hatched.
pete’s planned route was sabotaged before we even started.
i was little disappointed - i mean if you make the effort to go riding in the rain, may as well get hypothermia and make the most out of it. then again i must confess i was not totally unhappy as it started to ‘persist‘ down.
the ride up welshpool for me was better than anticipated - i kept in touch with the front guys (kept in touch at about 100m behind) for half the climb. todd was on my tail most of the way until he had a spell in front with me taking him on the last little kick before the finish.
the other climb up kalamunda hill felt good as well. trailed dr carl for a bit then took him. there is a flattish section about half way up that i’ve learnt to change into the big ring and scoot along. managed to keep about 35kmh for a while there but never caught sight of the front 4 guys. i reckon they must have been about 400m in front.
Pete and young Ben met us for a much needed hot drink (thanks carl for the $5) , and i think pete was filming us on the way back down the hill. at first glance i thought some cop was trying to make sure we weren't speeding...no chance of that!
every time i climb it’s a learning experience balancing lungs, heart and lactic acid (”the kids in the back seat” ) with my brain telling everyone to “settle down”.
i think lance was right - we ride not for the pleasure, but for the pain. it gives us such a sense of achievement to ‘handle it’ - not matter where one is in group’s pecking order.
all in all, happy i did the ride (so nearly piked out), but very relieved to make it down the hill and back home in one piece.
apologies for not mentioning everyone who rode, but i have trouble enough remembering what i did let alone anyone else...
ride report by rob
a crisp but not cold this morning as it had been raining most of the night and some the heat was being kept in. with it raining throughout the night though, it was a struggle to overcome the pillow demons and get out the door. wasn't helped when i arived down at the meeting point at 7am and there wasn't anyone else there! pete had said that 6 of the usual crew were racing, but i thought there might still be a couple to go up into the hills with. as it is not my usual ride (family commitments and all) i had no idea of the route anyway so started to think about going back to bed (not really - i would have gone for ride...!). eventually a few others turned up and then ryan rolled in at about 10 past 7 (i think was hoping that he might have been able to chase us down again as he did last saturday and prove to us all the true awsome power he possesses... - so such luck gadget!). he then says, "does anyone know the route?" and we all look dumbly at each other. darren pipes up and says "i "think" i do, but i'm not....." "good" we say - "you're it!" 8 of us head out and roll along berwick street picking up one more along the way. darren and me are on the front through to welshpool road and then decide to take a break at the back for while before we get to the first climb of the morning. coming up to the lights at roe highway, some kid on a trail bike comes out of a side street on the right hand side of welshpool rd and crosses the dirt medium strip at a great rate of knots. he lands on our side of the road, wobbles about a bit (he is not a good rider), slips and slides around in front of us as he kicks the crap out of the throttle and heads off towards the lights. by the time he hits the intersection the 2nd set of lights are very red and the cars start to pull out from the left hand off ramp lights, as is their right given they have a green light and all. does trail bike dude care. nope. he gives it everything the bike has and swerves around the first car coming out and misses the bonnet by about a bee's male appendage. not clever - dumb - will die. he heads on, shaking our heads and discussing all the variations that little episode may have looked like if he wasn't so damn lucky! we get to the first climb and start working our way up. ryan drops to the back as is his usual way. i lead off the front with a couple of the other guys holding on for a while. the group stretched out about 1/2 way up when ryan flies past me - do i break rythym and try and hold his wheel?? not likely (even if i wanted too!). we get to the top and start rolling around the intersection waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive. greg apparently decided that the hills for him wasn't actually on for him today so pulled off. after the re-group we headed on up and around towards the observatory. john was commenting to ryan how with the way the weather was this morning it was like riding through belgium. wet roads but a beautiful mist and glistening trees it was really quite superb. had us "pining for the fiords..!". the next climb up to the observatory was good...john lead with me on his wheel. ryan flew past...again. after the re-group at the top we headed off down to the hill again to go and find mundairing road climb. now that was fun!! darren calls out "10 minutes of pain"...."15 for me" we hear from the back". i lead off the front with john on my wheel, starting to hurt a bit but still able to keep a good rhythm going while remaining seated in a reasonably high gear. ryan flew past....again. we get to the top at kalamunda and i'm already thinking about the coffee shop. "right" says darren. "we head across to the zig zag, down there andback up to kalamunda for coffee." "what???" my legs scream. another climb before coffee?? but we're already up here!! why don't we just go there now...??" must be my soft saturday ride mind talking to me - sunday ride much harder! the zig zag is lots of fun - although you do have to pedal. the gravel all over the wet road on the hairpin turns are interesting. at the bottom ryan comments that his biggest fear is hitting a kangaroo at speed...certainly not unheard of! anyway, after the re-group we head across to kalamunda road with my mind wondering just where i was going to get the motivation for this climb - i'd been off the front every other climb so we couldn't lose face now, could we. after the 1st 3rd i was dead set going to stop. this hurt. ryan flew past....again. where's that friggin coffee shop....why did we come down....why did i get up this morning....is there a bus....?? john held my wheel all the way up...i could hear the heavy breathing and clunking of gears as he searched for something lower than granny gear....finally though we get to the top and head round to the coffee shop. quick service and a welcome break. when we get back on the bikes and start out across to canning road, ben pulls up along side of me and comments that he's feeling it now - 1/2 and hour off the bike and the legs do not appreciate being reintroduced to the pedalling motion. the ride along canning road was fast, but those rolling hills really hurt after the coffee break. arrived at welshpool road - woo hooo...! 73kms an hour and john and me actually overtook ryan....then ryan flew past....again. it's a lot of fun down there and you certainly get a few looks from car drivers when you overtake them on the inside lane! regroup at the school (some dodgy looking characters sitting in a car outside the school that ryan said someone should tell them that school kids aren't here on a sunday --- thanks for that mate!!). heading along welshpool road at a reasonable pace with ryan on the front doing the work. i pulled out from his wheel thinking i'd go to the front and do some work but as soon as the wind hit my chest i knew i didn't have the legs for it so pulled back in, much to ryan's displeasure who i think was looking forward to a rest by then. at the lights i suggested that we roll through and each have a turn doing some of the work. it would appear though that we neglected to set the ground rules so it took about 3kms to work it out by which time we had about 1km left of rolling through (which was good when it worked) and then hit shepparton road. the learner driver at the front of the lights stalled three times and made us all wait 2 sets of lights before she (well, we 'think' she, but then we couldn't be sure....) finally got going. we headed back along shepparton road and the usual disintegration of the group took place til it was just me, ryan and john left at canning hwy. john headed off right and ryan and me finished off with the cruise back along mill point road. all in all a good morning out. my legs know i rode today
