Well it is about time I did a write up on a ride. So here we go. Shaw mentioned on Tuesday before he jet setted off to Melbourne that Saturday morning he would be doing the Early Bird ride and then the Saturday Main 1 ride. My reply was good luck with that. Famous last words. Since I had no plans Friday night and had not been on a Saturday ride since the christmas ride in December nor made up for my skipping last Saturday ride. I was joining Shaw at stupid O’clock on a Saturday morning under the narrows.
At 4am this morning I woke up and knew I wasn’t going to get back to sleep so Early Bird it was. Lucky because I was feeling confident. By 4:50 I was on the bike and heading on my normal route to meet the others under the narrows. Actually more people showed up for this ride than show up for the Thursday morning Main group ride. What is the deal with that? Anyways we headed off and got the finger by some driver on the corner of Mounts Bay Rd & Hackett Drv. Good morning to you too dickhead.
First incline of the day was Steves Hill. No Problems there. Got stuck on the front with Johnathan through Dalkeith but was still feeling good by the time we got to Queenslea Drv. Descent down to Mosman Park hill was fun as normal. Flat water out on the river. The Geese made us all hit the brakes hard at the bottom because they wanted to cross the road same time we were roaring through the round about.
Peter took off to try claim KOM on Mosman Park Hill. No idea if he did was too far back but Strava says I did a PB up there today so watch out Peter I am coming for you LOL.
Uneventful through to Stirling Hwy. Crossed Stirling Bridge and no real cross wind today. Put no effort in on the Hill on Preston Point Rd. I cruised down the other side along with most of the others. We seemed to have picked up a couple more people now. A good roll through on Burke Drive this morning saw us up around the 45 – 47kph mark. Peter again showed off his bunny hopping skills on Dunkley Ave. Nothing special until we reached the Raffles.
Had trouble getting clipped in when we jumped onto Canning Hwy too make our way to Coode St for the second ride. Smashed my ankle against my pedal and cut myself. Meh, bit of blood never hurt anyone. Took the commute to down a power bar before the Main one ride.
Main 1 ride kicked off and we had around 20 – 30 people with us. Not a bad size. Headed out as if it was a normal Sunday Hills ride heading towards Welshpool. Pace was sedate and we even caught the fast group by the time we got to Orrong Rd. Think this lit their fuse as they stepped up the pace and made a good gap quickly. We turned off Welshpool Road East and onto Lewis Road. This road gets rough from here and starts to rise a little so was more than happy no to be on the front and just suck a wheel for a while. A quick left and then a right on Holmes Rd. Nice descent but was short lived until a rise about equal to that of Ridge Hill Rd. Knowing this area I used the descent to get the speed up for the next rise just around the corner. Plan worked as the first hill was easily rolled up and then only a little bit of effort on the second incline. Then you get a nice descent to the end of the road.
A short regroup and Kalamunda Rd and then we were off down the hill. Shaw was suffering a little by now so handed him a gel to get him home. Seemed to have worked because five minutes later he was his perky self in the next roll through. Quickly made our way to Guildford road and then I was done. The pace was back up and I found myself falling to the back. Was very tempting as we passed my place to pull off but I wanted to finish the ride.
We were still all together as we turned onto East Pde. Last hill in East Perth and it was the roll down to River Side Drive. Don’t know who won the sprint on River Side Drive. I was just happy to finish. Good Saturday ride today much enjoyed. Hills ride tomorrow. More torture before the critt next Sunday.