Weekend Rides :: 29th April, 2012

I fronted up to the Saturday morning shop ride not entirely sure which group I should be going with so I allowed myself time to see who else would show up and which groups they would be riding in. Given how well the knees had responded to Thursday morning's ride and the rest day on Friday, I was keen to give the legs a bit more of a work out so Group 1 was not out of the question and when AP arrived we kind of convinced each other to ride Group 1 without going out for a smash fest.

I'm glad I opted to go with Group 1 as the conditions were right and there were about 9 riders in the group this week which would allow for better recovery opportunities than the 4 riders in Group 1 the previous Saturday. So with little wind, nice sunny conditions and a fire in my belly to have a bit more of a go than plodding around the river, we rolled out at a nice steady pace with Al and I taking first turns on the front to get us over the Causeway.

Once onto Riverside Drive, Al called to roll turns and the pace began to pick up to the usual 35-40km/h which was held through to Crawley Ave at UWA. As we wound our way around to The Avenue we continued to roll turns leading up to the foot of The Avenue Hill (Steve's Hill). This was to be a good test of the knees to see if they were going to allow me to climb the small rises around the river loop.

I lead into the climb on the front of the group and attempted to maintain a steady pace as we began to climb. While I was overtaken about half way up the climb I was still managing to hold the pace I started the climb with and was not until closer to the top that my pace slowed slightly (which is no that unusual). There was a hint of discomfort in the left knee still but the right knee responded to the load very well and there was little feeling that would suggest anything was wrong.

We wound our way through to Claremont and Swanbourne and took in the Shenton Rd climb which I was also able to tackle reasonably well although I did not press this one given the discomfort from the previous climb. I found I was taking my fair share of turns at the front and at times would form a gap on the rest of the group - probably through sheer luck than anything.

As we hit Curtin Ave and headed south toward Fremantle, AP and I had lead out of the roundabout and quickly formed a gap on the rest of the group which we held almost to the pendestrian overpass at Leighton. AP offered to lead me out for the Port Beach Rd sprint again but I wasn't quite sure I would be up to taking on the challenge and suggested that I would hold his wheel for as long as I could and if I felt I could, I would come around. As it would have it, he dropped me when the knee suggested that it was a bad idea and I was happy to let him go for it. I held the pace I had gathered until the end and I still came in ahead of most of the others.

As we headed across Stirling Bridge, we got our first hint that the wind had picked up somewhat and that we would be riding straight into it until the end of Riverton Drv in Shelley. Burke Drive was tempting me to have another go at holding onto the front for the sprint at the end and as we neared the start of the sprint point, I was sitting in at 4th wheel with Robbie right behind me after he allowed me in ahead of him after rolling off my turn in the pace line. Clearly he wanted a good lead out so I was happy to oblige and about half way through the sprint I came around Kelvin and the others to take the front and seconds later, Robbie and AP came around me to take the fight to the line. I'm pretty sure AP took the honours.

We regrouped at Canning Hwy and made our way around to Majestic Pt for the climb and I was suprised to find that I lead the climb all the way to the top and then again at Gairloch with AP only to find he had punctured which, although frustrating for AP, was a timely chance to recover somewhat. AP had a clincher on a tubeless rim which took some work to get the puncture repaired and get on our way again.

We formed a pace line again for the ride along The Esplanade in Applecross and continued the shared work load until the end of Riverton Drv before regrouping again. The pace remained steady for the ride until we got to the bottom of Kent Street climb and we put the gas on again. By this time, the knees were both responding pretty well with only a slight discomfort in the left knee as I reached the halfway point of the climb. My position on the front of the group was surrendered to Dave about 2/3 of the way up and the two of us had well and truly dropped the others and we made a green light at each of the sets of traffic lights down to the shop which had us arrive some 4 or 5 minutes ahead of the others.

It was a fantastic hit out and it was an encouraging sign that I was able to perform the way I did with Group 1 and still be in rehabilitation mode. I knew that Sunday morning would tell the true story of how the knees had coped with it and how well they were able to recover from the additional load. I had scheduled in a ride with my brother, Mike, early Sunday morning so it would be the first back-to-back rides since last Monday and Tuesday.

I was on the bike at about 5:40am and the roads were like rivers and there was more than a slight chance of rain to be expected. As I made my way over to Waterford to meet Mike, the heavens opened up and it absolutely bucketed down for the entire stretch of Kent St. The new overshoes worked pretty well and managed to keep the feet dry for the most part. We opted to wait undercover for 5 minutes to allow the rain to ease (for safety reasons - it was still dark and conditions were similar to the morning of the crash). The rain did ease a little so we opted to get rolling and ride through it.

The last bit of rain seemed to clear as we reached Shelley and did not return for the remainder of the ride through to Fremantle and back along the south bank through Melville and Applecross. I split from Mike at Canning Bridge and made my way up Labouchere Rd and along South Perth to home. The bike was a mess so spent the next hour hosing it down and getting rid of the grit that had collected in the drive train - good as new again.

I felt very little discomfort in the knees and was happy to be able to complete a back-to-back effort again without any trouble. I will be riding with Brad on Monday morning for the first time since before he rode the Tour of Thailand so it will be a good chance to catch up and for us to gauge where I am at and where we take my training from here. I definitely have some form to regain but after these two rides, that has already begun and, as Brad suggested, it won't be long before I'm building on the my previous form and having a crack at Masters A Grade.

Fingers crossed for some good weather in the morning (Monday). Thanks for reading and thanks to all those in Group 1 on Saturday moring for a providing a great return ride.