This morning provided that last change to stretch out the legs and test the bike before Sunday's race. Brad had planned for me to complete only two or three hard efforts (not longer than 1 minute) during an RE-E1 ride so I decided to go with Dennis in the Garland Group 2 ride. I had picked up the new Hall Cycle Training kit on Thursday and was keen to see how it fit and loved the compression that it offered over the usual strips I had been wearing. I will still be wearing the usual Garland Cycleworks strip on Sunday but might have a chat with Nick about the next kit he orders given how comfortable Brad's strip is.
I confirmed with AP that I would be doing 2x1min sprint efforts for the morning. One at Port Beach Rd and the other along Burke Drive. He also wanted to give Majestic a belting and most likely Preston Point Rd climb in Fremantle. At least we knew in advance where the efforts would be put in and there would be no surprises.
Group 1 rolled out ahead of us and in no time had disappeared up the road so it was obvious that they were definitely set for a quick ride. Our pace in Group 2 was comfortable and we began sharing efforts at the front as we rolled up Riverside Drive and along Mounts Bay Rd. Turns out that Group 1 had smashed Mounts Bay Rd with a 50 km/h average - very impressive.
Group 1 rolled out ahead of us and in no time had disappeared up the road so it was obvious that they were definitely set for a quick ride. Our pace in Group 2 was comfortable and we began sharing efforts at the front as we rolled up Riverside Drive and along Mounts Bay Rd. Turns out that Group 1 had smashed Mounts Bay Rd with a 50 km/h average - very impressive.
We reached the climb at The Avenue and no-one appeared to be prepared to pick up the pace. AP came out to the inside line of the group in front of me and I was expecting him to jump and go but there was nothing forthcoming. I jumped around him and put the Venge to the test and it responded beautifully. AP later mentioned he was waiting for me to come around but I had taken him by surprise after he figured there would be no jump. Neither of us had agreed to go hard up this climb so the effort was not a strong one.
The ride between the top of The Avenue and Claremont was a reasonable pace but nothing too strenuous and we were rolling again until Christchurch Grammar. We passed through Swanbourne and down to the Curtin Avenue roundabout and the pace picked up a bit. We were still rolling turns and I waited in anticipation where we would be placed for the sprint. AP was one wheel ahead of me and as we reached the right turn off Curtin Ave into Port Beach Rd, AP wound up and I stuck to his wheel. He proved to be the perfect lead out and as we rounded the longer bend to head south I came around him and dropped down a gear or two and really put the bike to the biggest test so far.
The Venge performed beautifully and even with 2 gears to spare, I managed to collect the Strava KOM on the segment - completely unexpected. I figured it would be a PR but not a KOM. The segment is 600m on Strava and I managed to hold a 64.4km/h average over the stretch with a top speed of 67.5km/h. It almost felt like the bike wanted me to give a bit more.
As we rolled on through to Stirling Bridge I was able to recover well enough in time for the run up Preston Point Rd at the back of the Leftbank Hotel. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention and suddenly found myself boxed in against the kerb as AP and a number of others fired off up the hill. No way I was going to catch any of them so completed it with the rest of the group.
As we rolled past the barracks on Preston Point Rd we were overtaken by Group 1 and I received my fair share of smart comments as they passed me by. AP seemed to have gotten confused with all the fuss and ended up going with them. He seemed to give a wave as he went so I assumed he was eager to make up time to get to West Perth. I eased up and let the rest of Group 2 catch up and took it relatively easily through to Burke Drive.
The usual anticipation of the pending sprint at the end of Burke Drive had the group building up the pace and after pulling fair turn on the front I allowed the group to come around and I sat in awaiting the opportunity to begin the sprint. No-one seemed to be overly interested so I moved around to the front of the group and completed a 30 second sprint as the final part of my plan for the morning.
Unfortunately a puncture split the group in two at the end of Burke Drive and Dennis and a few other remained to assist while half of us continued to ride. As we made our way along Melville Beach Rd, I spotted AP heading back towards us. I figured he must have found he had gone with Group 1 and decided to come back around to catch us for the last part of the ride. While that was true, I think he was also keen to hit Majestic with me as we rounded the corner to the climb and I was urged to join him in the uphill sprint. Who am I to let him do it alone?
AP got the jump on me and I thought he would have enough to stay away from me but the Venge performed nicely up the hill and managed to hold him wheel-for-wheel as we hit the top. AP managed a 2nd best time while I collected another PR which moved me to equal pegging with AP's best time. We cruised for the remainder of the ride and parted ways at the Raffles as he headed to West Perth and I continued with the group around Shelley.
As we had split the group earlier, we simply rolled around to Shelley in the hope that Dennis and the others might catch us up. I'm not sure if they did or not as I peeled off at Lawson St to get through to where Jordan was about to start his last game of cricket for the summer. It was a great ride and the preparation for sunday was now complete. The stronger efforts I completed were a fantastic insight to what might be achieved tomorrow and I cannot wait to get to the finish line.
Stay tuned for the result of my effort in the UCI World Cycling Tour Qualifier.
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