Week 9 : The scourge of the surger

Post 437
24/2  Backward and forward.

Why I was aboard the bike at 4:37 I'll save for my therapist, it was the niggling northeaster that occupied the occipital cortex en-route to the Pine Lodge church that took precedence.  Doing the distance has taken a sudden priority with 3 peaks rapidly appraoching, a measly 40k prologue to Saturday's 50k might be a start. 
New Dookie Road's 12k's sharpened the focus on holding a steady speed, a breeze behind laying a tasty bait for the return to town.  Insects set a collision course at the CatEye, best keep the cake hole shut and avoid an unwanted protein supplement.  Steering south at the church eased the effort, settling into that steady spin and avoiding any heart rate hiccups helped.  Along Old Dookie and down Boundary, I'd mentally mapped a course to intercept the 6am starters, timing a perfect peloton position in the carpark behind TrekTrev, MyRideTrev, AvantiAndy, MeridaAndy, TatPaul, TatMat, BeerMat, WhisperingJack, Sean, Jen, Big Len,The Godfather, Cougar, Popgun, Tum, Kate, GTCraig, and PistolPete as KillkennyPaul, SuperMario and Nev snuck in behind.  The serious, the swift, the spent and the Saturday specialists swapped sledges, serious sentences and silly statements till six, most cruised and some crumbled on the crank southbound to Mitchell, longer lappers Trav, Rocket, Wozza, Kel, Bo and Bruce boosting the bunch to 29 as we'd crossed the truck route.  Plenty of punters meant little work at the windswept end though the whiplash effect was wicked at the corners as all those reactions rippled down the long line.

  GTCraig is reaquainting with the road bike (he's developed a dirty MTB habit), MeridaAndy and BigLen squeezing schedules to get a lap in and MyRideTrev says he's struggling.  There was a bit of a battle into the northeaster on River Rd, pairing with SuperMario on the front wanted wattage but it was TrekTrev who shattered Sean with a harrowing half-wheeling as we reached Boundary Rd.  (Rule #86 repeated 100 times after school TrekTrev!) 
Rocket and Wozza wore down the weak, Sean slipping back to the caboose to avoid imminent implosion.   One rear hub pawl was being punished prolifically in a flurry of frequent freewheeling (f'n the followers!) within the bunch but TatMat and I ignored it,  comparing the class of caffiene at Das Kaffeehaus while the team toured to the Toaster, Nev and The Godfather playing pace police (for an undisclosed principal?)

Colour co-ordinated milk shakes!  Picture credit : Kel.

 Rounding the Big Ring it was heaven homeward with help from the breeze, some in suffering silence as the speed stepped up.  I got my second shift done as we ran out of Ford Rd and worked into Wanganui, Rocket taking the thinning train to labored levels to DECA.  Wozza ground out a fearsome follow-up as Pistol and other pace setters powered to Mt Wanganui.  Rocket recovered to pour on another punishing performance, I just hung on in the hope of being somewhere in a bunch for a tow to breakfast.   A few straggled into the Lemontree speed-scarred, the team tattle on hitting the limit, running out of gears and cider-run schemes filling forty minutes while milk shakes, beer and coffee was quaffed. 

26/2   A dozen in the dark
The traffic lights ganged up against me, just because I was two minutes behind schedule, forcing Foss to flog the five k's to the carpark for Mondays 5:45.  With a minute to spare, I berthed behind Pelly, Kel, Rocket, PistolPete, Trav, Bo, Wozza, The Godfather, Bruce and Tina, Nev of course arriving with seconds to spare. The squad sailed into Channel Rd, some lads (and lasses) pumped (or pickled?) from Sunday's cider ride.  Mondayitis had set-in for me, berthed between Bo and Nev not quite the quiet corner!  Bo's on a new Specialised (and setting the disc brake trend) but those socks will surely score a fine from the fashion police!    I faced the front from the S bend, of course half wheeled by Bo.  Making the mistake of matching his wheel instantly pumped up the pace, so I settled back to play second fiddle (at least Nev levelled).    And so the dozen drove into the dark with just a line of leds breaking the blackness of Boundary Rd, so swiftly summer slips by (parting is such sweet sorrow), the long cool months of Autumn and Winter to lap up now!  Tina had no trouble tapping the tempo despite a steamy 120k Hume Challenge at the weekend, I'd finally put away the tissues and hardened up to the pace, though the draft at the back was probably skewing the sensation.  Still black as Bo's bike westbound in Lemnos-Cosgrove Rd (reckon it was daylight at this time only a week or two ago), I had another turn at the pointy end as Ford Rd finished, a short shift beside Bo then called Nev across at DECA to slip in for the tow home.

27/2  Three peeps.
On a preservation of performance for March 11th, I teamed up with Softa and Killkenny Paul for Tuesday, side stepping the sting of the Machines (or the Hares) for an easier effort.  The Verney Rd roundabout rendevous was swapped for KillkennyPaul's puncture pitstop, dealing with a deflation before a wheel had turned!  I assumed the first shift on the front when his Gatorskin was retubed, round and ready,  playing a pace prediction slowly into the 30's (not wishing to crucify those on a comeback)   With lights still behind me at Lemnos North Rd and no howls of protest (or knives in the back), I'd got something right, Softa then taking the tiny train of three toward Boundary Rd.  Killkenny Paul put in a good turn to the kennels where I started turn two, finding that cadence between cruisy and cruel to get a decent turn done. We slipped south to the Toaster and lapped up a semi-tailwind homeward, raising the velocity toward town with the lure of caffeine to finish.

28/2  Windswept Wednesday
Another early crank to clock some k's went east on Old Dookie Rd, for want of a better course, resolute to tap away at the zone 3 ceiling.  A niggling northeaster kept the cardiac on a crescendo but Boundary Rd delivered some respite.  A couple of k's had gone missing as I arrived abruptly at the Midland highway, zoning out had made the meters magically melt.  Dropping 12 bpm made a world of difference heading west on River Rd, other early lappers grinding east with only the voice of Vince vocal.  And again, a length of the lap went walkabout, waking up over the bridge made me wonder where the tarmac went.  Back into the breeze on Archer Rd pushed down the speed and pushed up the effort and I almost reached the carpark as the 6am'ers launched. Shorty, MyRideTrev, SuperMario, TrekTrev, Tum, Kenworth, PvanP, BeerMat, AvantiAndy and Whispering Jack spun south under Tum's captaincy, I scurried to the upline formation (to get a turn done before the headwind hit) but a full field of 5:25'ers fixed that forecast.  Trav, Rocket, BamBam, The Godfather, Bruce, Bo Kel, CatCol, Wozza and NewAvantiJohn blended into the bunch but scrambled the sequence, so I reached the pointy end beside Shorty then SuperMario for Mitchell Rd's headwind.

   Weapon, fresh from Rottnest, arrived in River Rd, Bo and The Godfather on a mission of massacre attacking the northeaster at 38 clicks (obviously, Bo's disc brakes don't work!)  Silence signalled Boundary Rd was no holiday either, BamBam choosing the caboose for comfort.  Only short sentences swapped sides on my rise through the ranks, sitting on Wozza's wheel would make it pacy at the pointy end. I was happy to get the huff and puff done by Central Avenue, time now to soak up TrekTrev's tow and hang on for the chase into the ChaCha.  But TrekTrev's tempo was toast by Hopeful corner, so I was lucky to catch Kel's wheel as she passed, Wozza's placing was perfect to abandon his no-sprint-Wednesday habit, the win looked so easy with his attack from 100 meters bearing the fruits of first.

1/3  Au fait Autumn.
It was Tuesday deja vu on Thursday, 5am and slowly warming up an old engine out to the golf course.  Autumn had arirved and the weather was au fait, enroute & on schedule to team with KillkennyPaul and Softa again at Verney's roundabout.  Softa took the first shift, a southwester in our favour, I had turn two from Lemnos North Rd to Boundary, attempting to hold a smooth speed and a straight line while the wind whipped the wheels.  Killkenny Paul got excited with an effort to the Big Ring but the reality of  the starboard struggle sniggered at our southerly spin.  A rampant rabbit shot out from the shadows, unsettling Softa, the ripple effect back to Killkenny Paul set a sphincter a quiver.  There was work west back to Boundary Rd but I got lucky with shelter from the trees, so drove to the highway as compensation. I reckon it's smoothness that's the key to speed and distance, we've all been wrung out at some stage by the scourge of the surger.  (That accelerate and brake, accelerate and brake breaks the best at some stage.)   Heads down in Channel Rd with the wind funnelled against us, two rows of Hares ahead on their easterly effort as our paths crossed at Darth Vader's.  Softa did the handover at Jameson Rd and with Foss feeling fairy fit, forged on for a flurry at the ChaCha ('cause it's there!)   Our early return lured us to the Lemontree, a midweek yarn over coffee a rare treat.

2/3  Attendance deficit disorder.
An idle ride to arrive at the grid at 5:57 still put me on the first shift, MyRideTrev the only other in the carpark.  As launch time drew closer, TrekTrev, Kenworth, Shorty, SuperMario, Pelly, The Godfather and Softa slowly filtered in, six bells struck and I steered the tiny team south, all content to stay in my draft till Pelly paired beyond Adams Rd.  Rocket, PistolPete, Kel, Bo, Bruce and NewAvantiJohn about-faced and joined as we crossed the truck route, me delighted to be in the draft though the pace picked up pointing east and north.  NewAvantiJohn and Bo turned up the tempo in River Rd, the passing parade of pelotons (Pussycats, pain-trainers and perambulators) standard Friday fare.  Between the comfortable company of MyRideTrev and Pelly lessened the stress, I just finished a turn at the front as we reached Channel Rd as a westbound Weapon joined in.  Enthusiasm was effervescent as the ChaCha drew near, Tommygun attaching to the pack at the cypress trees.  PistolPete provided the power to Kinder corner as several (including me) shied from the sprint, but it was Bruce that committed the cardinal Couldabeens sin allowing Bo to cross the finish line first.

Week 9     300 km                YTD 2,616