Week 50

A 20 degree start to Saturday was worth turning the wheels over. Got the circulation going on the 18 toother (but a little wary of lower gears after Thursdays fiasco) down Wyndham St, felt quite good after seeing a bleary young bloke seated on the footpath (from a hard night with Mr Daniels?) trying to stay upright. The usual depoisits of broken glass in the bike lane to avoid, south to Channel Rd where a dozen had assembled for a lap, traditionally started by AvantiTrev and Shorty's arrival. Caught up with the weeks news from Temple, Rocket, FujiTrev, FeltMatt (BigMat now an endangered species) Nick, Tim, Cougs, Daniel and Jase, only a light east-northeasterly to deal with. Past the pub, the piggery, up to the toaster and the church, but the railway line halted Daniel, air-conditioned the tube via a ruptured tyre.  A trusty $5 note filled the void soon after to set all our wheels in motion again, a little easier headed west. Puddytats eastbound near the kennels seemed to be at a calmer pace, Steve half a k behind  (with aspirations of catching?) then Fitzy solo soon after. Daniel & FeltMat exited down the Verney Rd torture track, the rest continued on familiar ground toward coffee. A great social side to the ride, often missed during the week with work getting in the way. Clocks can be set to 51 and the OC's arriving in Fryers St, Muppets exiting east today to break the routine.

Wind was forecast Sunday and plenty of it! A shortish lap of 35ks with Archer Rd chosen as first leg to get the tough stuff done first.  France has it's Mistrale, Greece the Bora, South Africa the Scirocco, but this was the Spanish "Descuernacabras" (the wind to dehorn goats!) High 20's were the limit with a 37km/h headwind (gusts up to 65km/h had the bike needing extra metres of latitude in Mitchell Rd)  Gritted teeth for an oncoming Boral truck, showered with sticks, leaves and stones, but at least there was some courteous space allowed. Great relief pointing up Boundary Rd, the slightest pressure on the cranks resulted in high 30's.  One Tri lad passed, taking full value of the wind behind,  the Channel Rd course home was selected to keep the weekend schedule, A Degani coffee reward for braving the elements.

A long Saturday ride by a few P&W's reduced attendance to Monday's lap, only Princess, DrugRob and Cougs ready to roll at 6.  Out to the alternate route with a southerly at our side, soon with a Goose at our side (joining in from a late start.) The Rabbit oncoming near Dobsons (with Vince & Fishy far behind) suggested some feline flogging was on their agenda.  A shorter lap had the unopposed vote this morning, suited Goose after a week off , DrugRob after a recent virus, Cougs work commitments  and Princess after Saturdays long lap. Memories of the old P&W course heading down Channel (James, Maurie, the Trav's, Dutchy.....even Ayto rode back then!) but thoughts were quickly interupted by a young gun blasting past then immediately turning left at Prentice. Cougs' covertly canvassed companies, craftily captured criminal Commodore, consequently chastised, curtailing carelessness, co-opting compliance. Class Cougs! The Cleanaway truck needed the whole road for the kink west of Doyles but we got home without trauma, time aplenty for toast as breakfast's second course.

Perfect weather Monday arvo, only ads for the Renovator, steam mops and Aah bras to entertain me, so climbed on the bike and headed south (Stace on a boulevard run north) but didn't enjoy the 20k head wind.  Mitchell was better, pleased with the progress so extended the route out Armstrong & Bells Rds.  The narrowing road became a challenge with three headers heading west, kind lads moved aside to give a metre though. The turn at Bridge Rd was heaven sent after 23ks of side wind, up to the camel farm (although the breeze swung east) with a rare stage of great comfort "in the zone". Almost on cue the southerly came back to haunt at the quarry turn into Lemnos-Cosgrove Rd, difficult to keep tension away from hands, arms and shoulders but turned the focus on a tractor ahead. Glad he wasn't up for a drag race (Merrigum tractor drivers do), overtook without emptying the tank, wishing to conserve a little to finish.  Back into town (just three riders making use of the sunshine)  with 65 clocked at 33. 

It had been a while since enjoying a lap with the Couldabeens, turned up Tuesday morning to find most of the regulars forming up. Usual last minute entries of Ryno & Daniel triggered the start (Gav arriving even later after demolishing a valve in preparation for the ride) 14 set sail out Channel Rd with a steady build up to speed (appreciated by mind and muscles). GG had made yet another comeback (a better effort than BigMat i guess) Tim & Trav in a close battle for most improved.  A favourable run down Boundary and Mitchell, Jase a late entry nearing Central Kialla Rd after his alarm clock malfunction. Shorty and Daniel exited via Archer to keep work schedules, Pussycats (leaving early?) caught us cresting Mt Nicolaci, overtook then immediately slowed which seemed counterproductive. Traffic was a bit close at Melbourne Rd so paused in the interest of preserving life, then resumed regrouped for an assult on Raftery and Conrod straight.  A smooth build up into the 40's kept us united, thought Rocket looked like missing the podium being boxed in at the 300 mark when Jase hit the boost, but the afterburners glowed red hot to take Rocketman over the line victorious, again.  All across the railway line before 7, maybe an earlier start soon to avoid tangling with other groups? (a risk management initiative)

Perfect weather again Tuesday arvo, but few were waiting at the boom gates. Dalton, Craig, Andy, Dave, Robbo (back from working out of town) & Kate the only starters.  Gools tacked on in Ford Rd, Bomber, Sticks, Olympic Steve, Travis with 13 y.o. Liam (and others) swelled the numbers on the trek toward the Emu (grateful for Bomber & Robbo shouldering the headwind burden) No hard hits tonight, but very smooth application of speed kept the bunch together, Stevo and company bringing the numbers to 14 at the church (Kate retiring early) The northerly we started with had swung to an easterly (timed nicely at the toaster) to make the 56/11 combo an easy cadence in the low 40's. Carefully negotiated the turn into Boundary, another smooth transition up to speed for the southern leg to River Rd, Trudi and Steve taking Channel Rd home.  Shared the front with Robbo then Craig in River Rd, youthful exhuberance bumping it up in the low 40's again. Lance a much improved rider (several big events of late have him tuned up) but pace was wearing him thin by Melbourne Rd. The young guns had the horsepower by Conrod, I didn't (but wound up with several enjoying a tow)  to finish mid field, satisfied with a 37 average and salivating with aromas of many barbeques on the way home. 

A small posse of time triallers had formed at the P&W start, the regular pack a few metres ahead for Wednesday mornings bout. Al, Meags, Jo, Cougs, Simon and the Pom were joined by the early shift (Stace, HWK, Kylie, THM and Hayles) to head east in a mild 17 degrees but against a light east north easter, with Fitzy joining the pack at Dobsons.  Shared the front with HWK (still true to his name), the THM and Hayles combo upped the ante nearing Channel Rd (was that to make Grasshopper, Wizz, Princess and Minto work harder to overtake at the bridge?)   Nice in Mitchell with the breeze behind, 51 passed a tad before Archer with Eggy showing 'em how to drive a train. Meags and Cougs did the hard yards of Raftery towing the sprinters up to Conrod, THM making the jump for several to launch, I was satisfied to act as witness (as were several others) to finish.

The revised start time had plenty of Couldabeens arrive Thursday morning, a perfect 21 degrees and a light breeze to take us home inspired the usual players (but the rare and endangered BigMat creature rarely leaves it nest these days)  Jase, Cougs, Tim, Ryno, AvantiTrev, Nick, Temple, Daniel, Gav, FujiTrev, Rocket, Steve, Dalton and Trav travelled out Channel Rd at a fair clip (possibly enthused by the favourable conditions for the last half)  Steve exited near the main channel turning into Mitchell, into the low 40's westward with Daniel's exhuberance on the front. A momentary pause for Grasshopper, Shirms and Grant (on a 5.30 bigger loop) to turn from Central Kialla into Mitchell, we gradually reeled them in by Archer as Daniel & Gav bid their farewells. The rate of knots continued over Melbourne Rd (particularly with Shirms and Grasshoppers kilowatts added to the rotation) but a blur of legs in the final 200 of Conrod saw Rocket humble all at the finish line, a whisker below a 37 average was a great effort by all.

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, and a silly old Foss took on a solo Toaster loop at 5.30 Thursday arvo with the mercury at 36 partnered by a hot northerly. The fraction of sanity remaining limited the speed to prevent blowing a head gasket, tried to flat-line the Garmin data staying on the 18 sprocket (legs felt like an egg-beater at 77 rpm) at least the heart-rate didn't valve bounce, so survived the conditions.  4 quite deceased snakes noticed on the circuit, and just two live riders (i wasn't the only silly one). Interesting to keep cadence and speed a constant and notice the hr variation when the wind was behind, to the side and in the face (a 15% difference from least to worst) Quite a colour contrast noticed too, the parched yellow (and now be-headed) wheat fields in River Rd against a stormy blue-grey sky....would rain wreck a ride? Kept the Garmin running right through town back to the Tarcoola start (56.08k's for the number nerds) at a conservative 30.7 (including stops for lights and traffic) Quite the Cheshire cat to arrive home just 10 minutes before a fierce southerly change and shower, nothing like the aroma of rain on hot grass to wind up a big day.

Wound up the week (Friday) with a P&W lap. Long-time-no-see Fee, Stace, Meags (on some big carbon wheels) Al, DrugRob, Cougs, Pom, Hayles, Fox and Choppy rolled the first few k's, Fitzy sliding into the rotation at Dobsons.  81% humidity and 20 degrees felt tropical, felt the southerly pointing into Boundary Rd too. Came across a soloist who'd gone base over apex on the gravel at the turn (suspected a collarbone catastrophy). All upright for our lot though, the course chartered for Mitchell, but Stace punctured  just shy of the Broken bridges as the Wizz, Minto, Sootie, Princess, Grasshopper combo overtook. A 5 person pit crew soon had repairs done (clever Pom had a disposable towel to clear chain lube from fingers) so set forth southward. The lure of coffee and breakfast or work commitments had all agree to an Archer Rd deviation to get us back on schedule, Fee's last 2k dash at the front had us back on agenda quickly. A good luck note to Stace, Fox, Meags, Fee, Kylie, Hayles and all the others tackling the Canberra 70.3 this weekend. (and congrats to Weapon and Tommygun for leaving an impressive mark at Busselton last weekend, Weapon had a scorcher bike time, the gun ranked #57 overall!)

Week 50   497km  16,898 calories (12.1 kg of Christmas turkey) 33.1 average  YTD 19,745km

 "Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase"  Martin Luther King 1929-1968