Richmond Bakery Wednesday Ride

[BenevolantDictatorD]

Another Richmond beautiful day and lots (forgot to count) of riders left the car park at the allotted time disregarding any issues associated with bus strikes and other "sorry I'm late" excuses. Welcome along to Daisy the doyen original organiser of the Dome rides on an Easter riding trip from the flat road state of Vic- something.

The course was set as a navigation test for those not listening attentively. First up was a loop up Middle Tea Tree and back Back Tea Tree, and then through Richmond to take on the second loop of Brinktop and Fingerpost.

The pace for the first loop kept almost everyone together with the usual regroupings - and then Brinktop created a huge split in the pack with no prisoners taken from the top to the finish of the ra.....ride back into Richmond. Another of those strange weather days with a headwind going north up the highway and a headwind going south along Richmond Road. That hurt!

Coffee was good as always and with no cruise ships or bus tours creating mayhem the drinks came at a rapid rate. Although there was a threat of discussion of mens' medical issues I didn't hear it occur and perhaps our lady riders may have influenced that. Lets hope they are there again next week.

[master6]

For those who get their kicks from sadistic entertainment, there are a few options available at no cost to the viewer.

1. Go to a caravan park and watch some of the van parking efforts. (This is a suggestion, tempered by a warning that you should remain at least 50 metres distant from the participants. There are real risks of being run down, and emotional damage can be caused by witnessing the domestic arguements between the "him' and "her" participants.

2. Go to a boat ramp. This will give more severe action than can be found with the caravanners. Damaged boats, submerged cars, and a wide variety of personal injury will be on display.

3. For kinder folk, preferring outright laughter without damage or injury, gather around a cyclist who has punctured.
Barry pulled this stunt for us today, and was immediately put on notice that he would receive little assistance, and his performance would be put under the magnifying glass. Despite ridicule and spectator interference, he disappointed those present by replacing the tube in a businesslike manner, and was back on the bike in short time. What's more, the tyre remained fully inflated for the duration of the ride.

Reluctantly Barry, top marks today.

Ride of the day...........Rob Taylor.......convincingly

[bazsand]

For those who get their kicks from sadistic entertainment, there are a few options available at no cost to the viewer.

1. Go to a caravan park and watch some of the van parking efforts. (This is a suggestion, tempered by a warning that you should remain at least 50 metres distant from the participants. There are real risks of being run down, and emotional damage can be caused by witnessing the domestic arguements between the "him' and "her" participants.

2. Go to a boat ramp. This will give more severe action than can be found with the caravanners. Damaged boats, submerged cars, and a wide variety of personal injury will be on display.

3. For kinder folk, preferring outright laughter without damage or injury, gather around a cyclist who has punctured.
Barry pulled this stunt for us today, and was immediately put on notice that he would receive little assistance, and his performance would be put under the magnifying glass. Despite ridicule and spectator interference, he disappointed those present by replacing the tube in a businesslike manner, and was back on the bike in short time. What's more, the tyre remained fully inflated for the duration of the ride.

Reluctantly Barry, top marks today.

Ride of the day...........Rob Taylor.......convincingly

I did stop while no-one was looking though just to make sure I had put the front wheel back on properly...the pressure of being watched while changeing my tyre sowed the seeds of doubt in my mind.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

An interesting weather day in the usually Richmond-perfect experience. The wind chopped and changed. The rain continued to threaten. But no-one worried too much

An out and about course today with a big loop using Ricmond Road, Malcolm's Hut Road, Back Tea Tree Road, Tea Tree Road, Fingerpost Road, East Coast Highway and Brinktop to finish off around 57kms of riding. Apart from PMM Man huffing and puffing off the back of the bunch the group stayed together for most of the trip. The temptation of being close to home at the Fingerpost turnoff saw a high level of desertion and the main pack shattered but remained focussed. A tailwind on the Highway saw the speed go up and stay up with a lot of wheel chasing going on. everyone stayed together - except for PMM Man again - and the trip over Brinktop brought its usual delights.

The winners - about 24 of them today - going in a couple of different directions.

Coffee chatter went longer than normal with a fair pack surrounding, pointing at, frowning about and generally showing great concern about my new carbon (no padding) saddle. And why is it actually comfortable without any padding? Cos it is!

[BenevolantDictatorD]

Another Richmond glorious day with moderate temperatures and a puff of a breeze. It is looking a bit like Autumn though and we had a savage drop in numbers with 14 riders facing a new course. After the navigation trial sof past weeks this one was simple - up to Colebrook and then a right on the road to Tunnack. I had only driven this side-road before so couldn't remember it at all. Nice climb! By the time we got to the turn around there was only about 8 left in the bunch. By the time we got back to Richmond there was about 4 in the bunch as the pace picked up and stayed up.

In true Classics fashion the trip home was not slowed by the roadworks in Cambridge with a quick jump onto the bikepath/footpath and back again. Hopefully we didn't disturb the road crew who were obviously somewhere else at smoko. A shortened version of coffee chat this week with a fair bit of discussion around the implications of RobW coming off his time trial bike and cracking his very new frame. He was one of those that didn't make the turn and was riding back on his own but forgot the basic rule of road riding - ride on the road. Apart from the usual scratches and bruises he seems to have survived pretty well.

[master6]

14 riders facing a new course.

Can my ride out of Penguin, through Rianna, and down through a gorge deeper than Hell, count as "1", and boost the numbers to 15.?

I am surprised at RobWs' mishap. He has been regularly sighted on the TT bike recently, the most recent being at Campania on Monday as we caravanned past him. Cracked frame, indeed, cracked anything is bad news.

Sorry to have missed the imaginitive new course; the mind boggles at the possibilities for next week.

[master6]

A return to the traditional RBWR course today saw Colebrook rd, Tea tree rd, and Back Tea Tree rd traversed in both directions. Some would say that we went "out and back". Twenty two riders included the returning Sam J, and the master of Mt Wellington, Brian P.
Sam treated us to a wonderful lesson on "Why it is not necessary to go to work". His main thrust was a demonstration of "Remote Management via the new invention". Yep, the mobile phone permits management to appoint staff, dispense with staff, quote, order stock, and lodge a dodgy BAS return, while all the time inflicting pain apon those poor pedlars present. One could sum it all up by saying, "Our Sam can pedal and peddle simultaneously".

For those who need a second opinion, I'll give you one.

"Sam pedals too fast, and Christian Oates suffers from the same affliction" Good luck to them. Richmond Bakery serve magnificent coffee, and today, jaffa balls, to even the last one home. I can vouch for that.

As sure as the sun comes up each morning, RBWR will leave the park behind the Bakery at 9.00.00am each Wednesday.

You will be most welcome.

[master6]

RBWR almost always has some respect of tradition in the days arrangements.
Not so today.
It was a champagne day in Richmond as the clock ground toward 9.00.00.
The temperature that is/was. The early morning imbibers had no need to chill the champers this morning. Light rain arrived from Hobart with a number of the usual enthusiasts, so tradition was thrown on its head, and coffee was promoted to the first event of the day. Coffee chat was, as usual, mainly Bull Sh.t, and thoughts wandered to coffee refills, however, as is usual in sunny Richmond, sunshine appeared.
Twenty one riders left the coffee tables, however only nineteen cycled out of town. One of the non starters, well known to magistrates around town, could not come to grips with the terrible possibility that he might get a drenching on the ride, and having no spare clothing with him, faced the ugly, very ugly, possibility that he might have to motor home with the car heater on full bore, "sans clothing". What would his old workmates think if he had to explain such an occurrence to His Worship
The ride went.........here and there.......some went this way......others that way...........six of the new model VW Golfs passed by.......all sporting signs advising that "This is the new VW Golf................one had a puncture.......(cyclist that was)..................and it was back to more coffee in brilliant sunshine.


Yep, as our mate Baldy recently proclaimed, everyone is a winner on a RBWR
And so they were
Again

[master6]

You pick up a book, and the author waffles on about the scenery, the breeze, her perfume, and a stack of other boring crap. You find yourself saying, "get on with the story &%$#&%^$!!!!!".

Let me make it brief; clear blue sky, almost cloudless, light breeze, slowly working up to 20C.

Perfect.

Sixteen riders, with possibly a couple more not accounted for.

Twelve km down the road, and one poorly planned character felt the need to stop, and not as briefly as he would have liked. A generous effort by our fearless leader saw the sorry individual eventually eased back onto the bunch.

The next incident, was an interesting lesson in bike control whilst ones' handlebar, arm, and shoulder are under assault from your co-pacemaker. Rob is being nominated to Cycling Tasmania as a potential "Bicycle Control Coach". Thanks for the lesson Rob ; the best thing about it was that no $fees were required.

Cole Hill was negotiated with relative ease, and the usual gentlemanly regrouping took place just over the crest.

We pedalled on.

"Go up the hill past Colebrook" was mentioned in the pre ride briefing. Some heard this, Some did not. Some thought it meant " go up the rise to the rail crossing

No, No. No.

Over the rail crossing, taking care to avoid any derailing trains, and up ,up, bl...y up we went. Not sure whether this hill has a name, however "Effingorfil Hill" is about to be submitted to the Tasmanian Placenames Board"

Rob Taylor went up Effingorfil like a rat up a drain pipe, and we struggled in his wake.

The return ride was eventfull in that good manners prevailed and a regrouping saw all arrive back at Richmond Bakery together.

Denis Nation claimed overall victory, and it seemed nobody had the energy to disagree.

Todays winners were two in number; Taylor and Nation.

A dead heat for second involved the rest of the field.

Next week..........

[Lanterne Rouge]

Excellent writeup Master6. I was guilty of inattention and had it in my head that we would turn at the railway line - don't we always? Had I known of "Effingorfil Hill" I swear I would have walked my bike up Cole Hill to conserve energy. There may be steeper hills in Tasmania, none of which come readily to mind. I noticed that the climb stops at the cynically named "Lovely Banks Road" - who would ever have the energy to investigate? Not a lot of conversation apparent in the peleton on the way home.

[master6]

Highlights this week:-

Tour of valley west of Campania. Dirty big hill, beautiful valley.
Return of Steve the Wonder from Cuba. Gratis coaching by said Steve.
Ray, celebrating birthday, won the bunch sprint into Richmond.
Seventeen riders.
Rob gave his Presidential address. Fairly brief. "No".

Lantern Rouge and Baz might be able to flesh out the finer details.

Another enjoyable RBWR

[Lanterne Rouge]

Wasn't sure if you would have time to do a writeup Master6 as you prepare for warmer latitudes ...

I reckon numbers were around the 16 mark.

Course was north on Middle Tea Tree Road and then East on Secondary Tea Tree through to the Richmond Road. North to Campagnia and then NW on Native Corners Road which was new to many of us. Steep climb, pretty road, returning when seal ran out back to Campagnia, then North to Cole Hill and return to Richmond. This totalled 69.5km on my trip computer. Some niggly potholes on Middle Tea Tree Rd demand vigilance - it will be a pity if that road deteriorates much further - especially northbound.

Cool initially nipped a few on the fingers and toes. Winter approaches but it was pleasant later.

Nobody appeared to join Rob Taylor in cruise mode - not sure if Rob was suffering from illness, excess Giro consumption, or just a bout of common sense.

Elsewhere, pace was high and from my distant perspective it seemed that Steve B and Stuey were doing much of the damage. As I was shelled on return about 5k out and finished with Baz and the PMM man, I saw little of what happened at the pointy end although I know the group comprised at least SB, Stuey, Ray, Bianchi Dave, Master6 and the ever-present Hartridge, seemingly unaffected by 8 days off the bike. Some weeks previously, I had listened while Ray had observed Stuey's form and calling upon years of wisdom felt it prudent not to offer any pointers that may result in improvement. Not so Steve who apparently in the closing kms into Richmond had noted a drop in pace when Stuey took over from 45kph down to as low as perhaps 35. Instruction in aero positioning followed. This is ominous for the future survival of the group who hitherto have been quite happy with Stuey's preferred upright riding position...

BenevolantDictatorD rode conservatively in accordance with the retro equipment on display.

Coffee was enjoyed by all and those departing for Italy were appropriately farewelled.

[BarryTas]

i paln to join you on the second week of June

[master6]

i paln to join you on the second week of June

The highly organised BarryTas works on the basis of:-

Plan to ride....................ride to plan.

Welcome Barry.

[fixedlegs2012]

My report.

Easy ride. Until we got to some ridiculous hill which I never knew was there. That was kind of cool to go up it actually. Then easy ride the rest of the way.

Not sure about the bike handling talk though?

Some snappy comments by Ray were made amidst the group as one rider tried to tell anyone who would listen about training, racing and skills.

Nice coffee and roll for lunch and a brief talk before Presidential duties took me away.

Thanks for the ride guys.

[bazsand]

Since there hasn't been a RBWR report for this week I will give you my view on what I thought may or may not have happened...
Possibly 12 dedicated riders headed out from Richmond at 9:02:00 after a sombre talk was given by the benevolantdictator...I'm not sure what happened to the slow warm up pace heading out of Richmond towards tea tree road, oh wait yes I do, CO happened to be leading, his definition of easy appears to be a lot different to mine!!!!!!!! Any way PMM took over the lead into tea tree rd. I thought to my self "thank ?????? for that" ( ????? to be replaced with another word that isn't allowed on here), things should get a bit easier from here. How wrong was I..... I counted to 10 expecting PMM man to pop, but to my horror he kept going.....I think I preferred it when his heart wasn't working properly.
Anyway after everyone had had a cup of tea & some scones while waiting for me to make it up water tower hill, we took off along tea tree rd. at a nice pace....that was about the highlight of riding along there nothing of note really seemed to happen, there was the odd surge as expected....but that's about it!!!!
With a nice tailwind GP & CO picked the pace up along Back Tea Tree rd, (blighters), its really hard to type the profanities that were going through my head at the time. The PMM team plan failed at this point, one of the members even tried dropping a grenade in front of the benevolent dictators front wheel, luckily he managed to stay up, (pretty good bike handling skills he seems to have, anyway if he had fallen off, next Wednesday we would have no idea of where to ride to, we would all have to wait in the carpark until he made it back, we could be stuck there for weeks).
The ride back along back tea tree rd was nice & steady, until some idiot said to CO "you don't seem to be having much of a go today", then we paid. (I must learn to keep my mouth shut).
Ill stop rambling now...........to the final sprint, where everyone was in contention....
the PMM mans plan was to lead the PMM team out from 400metres, but he forgot to tell us, so we had another plan, thinking it was a tail wind because I had been bludging in the peloton, I was decided I would lead Ross out from 1000metres to go....well as I passed the 900metre mark I thought to myself, crap I missed the 1000metre mark I had better go know, so I gave all of my available 25 watts, thinking that I could keep up a reasonable pace until 300 metres to go, where Ross would sprint off for a win for team PMM. But my ambitions did not match my capabilities & Ross (fat man) was left to defend himself from CO with conservatively 850metres to go. I hear that CO won the sprint to the finish line, I was too far back,as I was trying to push my lungs back down my throat to their rightful position, actually I came last......Two lessons learnt from that sprint 1. Don't try & sprint from 1000metres out & 2. make sure CO has well untruly smashed himself on the front & has no chance of recovery before you do sprint, which I think is highly unlikely to happen....
During the usual Richmond bakery coffee their started to be some debate of where the finish line actually was, there appeared to be as many as 4 people claiming victory, I think PMM man was 3 of those people....... But in usual RBWR it was decided that everyone was a winner......actually sounds a bit mushy & touchy feely everyone being a winner....... so stuff it CO won........I lost....it was a good day.....

See who ever is there next week...

[BenevolantDictatorD]

Our usual web-master Master6 is heading off to warmer climes following the lead out sprint action in Richmond this week. Looks like Baz has promoted himself to 2IC for the next few months until his return. A most amusing account. Some corrections - I was first - when I set the finish line at the train tracks in Tea Tree - which was the last time I got anywhere near the front. And I was a long way behind you Baz at the various finish points near Richmond. The mere thought of PMM Man organising a lead out train was just too much for me and laughter got the better of me.

Apart from the main peleton of 12 (severely diminished as members are touring the Giro roads or sunning themselves in Northern climes) we counted four others who rode their own race and consequently won convincingly after long breakaways. Denis the elder won by so far that he had finished his coffee and gone by the time we got back.

Good ride team - maybe it might be a bit warmer next week - perhaps with two numbers on the dial would be nice.

[master6]

Looks like Baz has promoted himself to 2IC for the next few months

Riding a bike, and submitting a report, have similar tactical options;

go to the front early, and make'm all look silly (risky as it often fails, and you look silly yourself),

sit back until the death, finish all over'm, and make'm look silly (again, risky as above; it can backfire)

I'm going the second option this week with my report.

Who is this upstart Baz!!! character> I ask you!

I MUST be indispensable!

To prove this point, I submitted my heroic self to the "Indispensability Test"
"take one large bucket, fill almost to the top with water, roll up sleeve, dunk arm in water up to the elbow, quickly withdraw arm".
"time the period taken for water to resume calm"
10 minutes indicates "Utterly and permanently indispensable". At the other end of the scale, 2 seconds or less indicates " Utterly and permanently unimportant".

I'm not disclosing the test result.

Barry has the job

[master6]

and for those who always need a second opinion:-

We know how PMM Man operates.
Is there a plot here by PMM Man to get his man Baz into the fold, and then have him launch a bid for the job of our leader, BDD?

[BenevolantDictatorD]

Another beautiful clear sparkling Autumn day greeted the 18 riders who ventured out for a leisurely ride in the countryside today. By the time we left the car park at 9:00:00.000 the frost had melted and the temperature was up to something like a blistering five degrees. Another reason why we ride in bunches - it must have been four degrees warmer at the back compared to the front.

Denis, the elder, got a march on everyone heading over water tower intending to go the 'traditional route' only to find the fog was too thick and turned around to do Fingerpost and Brinktop. Most of the rest headed straight up the road staying in the sun to the top of Cole Hill for the regroup. On the way down we crossed paths with Mike, the elder, who was enjoying a ride on his own. As appears to be usual when returning from Cole Hill the race left bunches split everywhere and it wasn't until the go kart track on the way back on fingerpost that everyone regrouped - all except fixie who managed to lose some bolts from his saddle and had to ride back to Richmond sans saddle.

The bunch hummed along nicely on the return journey with PMM man constantly harrassing anyone in a PMM top to get in line and organise a lead out train. Rosco won the sprint as the last man on the train - wouldn't have mattered where he was as he was clearly too strong for everyone once again.

Coffee chat was good as always with Denis and Mike (the elders) having reserved the tables. No doubt the chat will have an Italian accent next week with a few of the boys back from their Giro trip. Maybe they can give PMM man a few tips from viewing the Cav train. Ah the serenity of it all.

[fixedlegs2012]

Indeed Fixie did have a mechanical....now for a upgrade of seat post, handlebars and stem! I haven't enjoyed riding Cole Hill for sometime ahh the wonderful memories

[master6]

Indeed Fixie did have a mechanical....now for a upgrade of seat post, handlebars and stem! I haven't enjoyed riding Cole Hill for sometime ahh the wonderful memories

fixie mate, come clean
in the last 10 days we have reports of you destroying pedals, seat post, now handlebars and stem

are you really the a..?

Being such a polite fella (oops, is "fella" still ok?) I cant bring myself to use the "a" word. (I digress here.........Eddie is a fool )

Would a penny farthing be more likely to cope with your abuse fixie?












9

[BenevolantDictatorD]

Ah the serenity! Eighteen or so riders standing in the shivering cold with the sun blaring down awaiting with eagerness the news of today's route (pain threshold). Doesn't matter what the course is the usual groans ensued. Just so we don't think it is some sort of benevolent dictatorship setting the courses at random I can confirm that it is some sort of benevolent dictatorship setting courses at a vague level of randomicity.

Anyway - off we went at 9:00:00.00 with the course set at a loop out over Fingerpost and Brinktop and then a second loop out to Back Tea Tree and finish on Middle Tea Tree. With Christian and Rosco in the bunch this was always going to be a fast ride and so it was! Brinktop half way through the ride put a bit of pressure on the buch but they held up well. Many regroupings occurred at all the right places but the pace picked up as Middle Tea Tree approached. And then - an attack from PMM Man. Those at the front laughed and noted his tactics of trying to get over the last hill still in touch. Well done PMM Man as he caught back up and continued the chirping and coaching and - everything else he does. No one was saying who won the sprint or where the finish was. Who really cares any way?

Coffee chat was good as always. Four tables were required and we were joined by Leo on his first outing after suffering a broken leg from a low speed wash out, and OleManEc put in a welcome appearance with his new talking IPad. The boys were back from their Giro trip and lots of chats about snow, sleet and awful weather flowed. No doubt they will be in familiar territory if next week's predicted snowfall in Richmond comes about Farewell to Brian as he traverses the WA coastline and then heads overseas for some secret training in Asian countries.

Now - next week - what will ride route selection panel come up with?

[bazsand]

*****************************STOP THE PRESS********************
BLACK CAVIAR FAILS TO WIN RICHMOND BAKERY WEDNESDAY RIDE SPRINT.
Black Caviar (alias autumn leaf or Stewie, which ever you prefer) has failed once again in his attempt to win the final Sprint at the RBWR. 2 weeks ago he was run down by Rosco & beaten on the line. Now things have only gotten worse since that shock loss for Black Caviar, this week 6 riders worked in unison to pull a gap on him down water tower hill, which he was never able to recover from. (that will teach him to wait at the top of water tower hill for the slower riders ). The six riders were considering waiting for him as they turned onto Richmond rd. until a rider that will remain nameless, (but was probably me) suggested we ride as hard as we can to prevent a win for him, with a sly grin from CO the group powered off down Colebrook Rd:twisted:.
The final sprint was an action packed affair with me being dropped at the 1000metre mark after pulling my 10 metre turn on the front. This left CO leading with KO, hot on his tail, PMM man, Jon, Ray & Logan. With 200metres to go Jon pulled out to overtake KO, but was out of gas & had to pull back in behind which left PMM man to have a go, but alas his ambitions & his capability did not match, & after pulling up beside CO he hit a brick wall & was unable to continue on with his attack. This left KO , Ray & Logan. From what I saw KO, Ray & Logan gave it all they had but were unable to pass CO across the finish line, he just seemed to be too strong.......
So there we have it another win for CO closely followed by KO, who had an exceptional ride all day after being tucked in behind CO for the entire ride, no matter what CO did, he never appeared to have the pace to be able to shake KO at any stage....I suspect things may becoming a bit competitive in that house hold.....


See you next week

[fixedlegs2012]

I have to tell you the name Black Caviar has already been taken by one of Australia's best sprinters, and friend, Nicole Whitburn (Liv/Giant)

I look forward to another Wednesday morning bakery ride soon!