Re: Heidelberg and surrounds group training rides
Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2010 2:10 pm
My first Tour de Eltham in three weeks and it was nice to be back! Paul christened his new stead, an Oppy C6 with the new hidden cable Ultegra (oooooohhh!!! But I can change up three gears in a single sweep...can you? Can ya? Can ya? ). Dave was test riding an Oppy C7 Dura-Ace to convince himself the C6 is near as good...good luck! With a good sized group assembled we awaited Sean’s grand entrance...and waited...and waited. With the absence of a blinky visible back up the Burgundy St hill we thought “stuff him†and set off.
Along the way though Rosanna and Viewbank we picked up a couple more stragglers and the pace was on but to the peloton’s credit, we pretty much stayed together the whole journey. The Bonds Rd climb was dispensed with at a rapid rate with David just pipping Paul for KoM honours. Paul is claiming his gears weren’t quite behaving as the bike is still being run in but maybe the fact he’s “graduated†to a 39/53 crank has more to do with it? (Note – comments insinuating that the author is still in preschool given his commuter bike runs a 36/46 will be strictly ignored! )
It was only a very short wait before we were all ready to head off again and this pattern repeated itself up through the back of Monsolvat. Along Mt Pleasant Rd a lone Kangaroo was awaiting its conjugal visit with Sean...sorry to disappoint you Skippy (it was a big bas##rd too Sean so lucky you took the morning off!) KoM honours were again a battle between Paul and David and those misbehaving gears surely had something to do with David taking the chocolates again. The minor placings were a consistent scrap between myself, Elias, Adrian and Phil. It must be said though that Dave, Evan and Leo were amongst it too with nobody too far off the pace at the top of Mt Pleasant. At this point we’d averaged 24.4 kph....that’s summer riding times.
The blast down Research – Warrandyte Rd and Main Rd is probably my favourite but this week I hurt big time! Paul, David, Elias and Dave set off at a really quick pace and by the time I turned left at the roundabout I was at least 200m behind. So it was head down, bum up, big gear and shut up legs to bridge the gap. With a slight tail wind and some assistance from the traffic light gods we absolutely flew back to Lower Plenty. In controversial fashion David did a Nicko and let Paul do almost all the work until just before the bridge, where he pulled out and sprinted ahead. Nice......
The final sprint past the Viewbank horse paddocks was hotly contested with at least half a dozen riders positioning themselves as contenders as we rounded the bend. Taking advantage of his whippet-like stature it was David who attacked on the slight rise to make us all look like pretenders. Paul and I responded as best we could, with Phil also giving it a crack but it wasn’t enough to close down the gap before the roundabout. Next week it’s David’s turn to lead the peloton from Research back to Lower Plenty...OK? My average here was 27.4kph...once again times we normally due in Summer...great riding fellas and great to be back!
Along the way though Rosanna and Viewbank we picked up a couple more stragglers and the pace was on but to the peloton’s credit, we pretty much stayed together the whole journey. The Bonds Rd climb was dispensed with at a rapid rate with David just pipping Paul for KoM honours. Paul is claiming his gears weren’t quite behaving as the bike is still being run in but maybe the fact he’s “graduated†to a 39/53 crank has more to do with it? (Note – comments insinuating that the author is still in preschool given his commuter bike runs a 36/46 will be strictly ignored! )
It was only a very short wait before we were all ready to head off again and this pattern repeated itself up through the back of Monsolvat. Along Mt Pleasant Rd a lone Kangaroo was awaiting its conjugal visit with Sean...sorry to disappoint you Skippy (it was a big bas##rd too Sean so lucky you took the morning off!) KoM honours were again a battle between Paul and David and those misbehaving gears surely had something to do with David taking the chocolates again. The minor placings were a consistent scrap between myself, Elias, Adrian and Phil. It must be said though that Dave, Evan and Leo were amongst it too with nobody too far off the pace at the top of Mt Pleasant. At this point we’d averaged 24.4 kph....that’s summer riding times.
The blast down Research – Warrandyte Rd and Main Rd is probably my favourite but this week I hurt big time! Paul, David, Elias and Dave set off at a really quick pace and by the time I turned left at the roundabout I was at least 200m behind. So it was head down, bum up, big gear and shut up legs to bridge the gap. With a slight tail wind and some assistance from the traffic light gods we absolutely flew back to Lower Plenty. In controversial fashion David did a Nicko and let Paul do almost all the work until just before the bridge, where he pulled out and sprinted ahead. Nice......
The final sprint past the Viewbank horse paddocks was hotly contested with at least half a dozen riders positioning themselves as contenders as we rounded the bend. Taking advantage of his whippet-like stature it was David who attacked on the slight rise to make us all look like pretenders. Paul and I responded as best we could, with Phil also giving it a crack but it wasn’t enough to close down the gap before the roundabout. Next week it’s David’s turn to lead the peloton from Research back to Lower Plenty...OK? My average here was 27.4kph...once again times we normally due in Summer...great riding fellas and great to be back!