Saturday morning was the first weekend
of the month, so this meant hills! I was so keen to get out there and
see how I would go as this would be the real indicator as to how much
form I had regained and how much I still needed to get back. I was happy
to know that the significant climbs would be Welshpool Rd and Mundaring
Weir Rd and I was more than ready to take these two on. After the
previous week's group 1 effort, it would be interesting to see how I
would go against the same group in the hills.
As
I passed the BP service station, I had a significant gap on Dave and
all of the other riders and continued to work hard right through to the
end of Welshpool Rd. I felt I could have given a bit more during the
second half of the climb and I was certainly surprised to find that I
had done yet another PB for the whole stretch.
After
we regrouped at the start of Carmel Rd, Dave announced that it would be
a good idea if we extended the ride a little and included Gooseberry
Hill Rd. I'd never done this climb before but knew that AP had done some
repeats of this climb and looking at his data it looked tough. I'm
glad it was announced before the climb up Mundaring Weir Rd as I was
prepared to hit that climb reasonably hard but decided to hold back a
little to reserve some for Gooseberry Hill. As I came to the end of
Aldersyde Rd, I was on my own ahead of the rest of the group and had
spotted 4 unknown riders ahead of me. They had about 200m head start and
I set myself the challenge to at least try to overtake them before the
roundabout at the top of Mundaring Weir Rd.
I
took two of the riders relatively early on but the other two had gotten
away to a good start. Without overdoing it, I managed to slowly drag in
the third rider leaving just one to get. He was putting in a pretty
strong climb so I needed to time my chase perfectly and use the short
flatter sections to gain ground on him. Just before rounding the last
corner of the climb, I had caught the rider and sat in waiting for the
roundabout to come into view to complete the jump. While not registering
as one of my best climbs for the segment, it was an enjoyable effort
and I knew I still had enough juice left to give Gooseberry Hill Rd
(GBH) a good go.
As
I had not done GBH before, I knew that it would be unwise to try
hitting it too hard as I had been told of the sharp kick upwards that it
has with just 300m to go. I also knew that it would be tough to
register anywhere near the top 10 of the Strava segment so a PR would
not be registered (first attempt). Three of us took the front of the
group with Simon at the front. We alternated turns on the front for the
first half before Simon put on some power in what seemed to be an
attempt to break away from us. I didn't feel I needed to try and match the
power burst to claw him back as I expected he would tire and he would come
back to us anyway. We hit the last 300m sharp climb together and I
simply stuck to Simon's wheel for the remainder of the climb and was
more than happy to let him take the climb honours.
We
regrouped once again at the top of GBH with everyone completing the
climb without the need to stop or dismount. Great effort from all as it
really is a kicker of a climb. We headed back down the Zig-Zag and
regrouped at the bottom once again before heading home. I kicked up a
good pace along Ridge Hill Rd through to Watsonia Rd roundabout before
easing up and riding at an easier pace through to Maida Vale Rd and
then to Dundas Rd.
The
pace of the group picked up along Dundas Rd as we rounded the corner
off Maida Vale Rd and seemed to stay well above 40 km/h for the entire
stretch. I knew that this pace would be enough to obtain a KOM for the
segment on Strava so if I wanted to regain the segment after Shannon
stole it a couple of days earlier, I would need to time the finish
perfectly and put down a surprise sprint from the last slight bend
through to the Tokin Hwy bridge. It all came together perfectly and I
caught the others off-guard allowing me to catch a significant enough
gap on the group to ensure that if the KOM was taken, I would at least
have bettered it. It worked well as Dave had taken it when he uploaded his
data first, then Simon and then myself. I get the feeling that stretch
of road will now become known for a strong sprint finish.
While Saturday seemed to afford us some reasonably dry conditions, Sunday morning was a complete opposite and provided some wet and gusty conditions. I awoke with fresh legs and a set of knees that seemed to have all but completed their rehabilitation. As I headed out the door, the heavens opened up more than they had on Friday morning and I was immediately drenched before even getting into the saddle. By the time I reached the Narrows, I was soaked to the core and to make matters worse, the wind had picked up which suddenly turned a recovery ride into an bit of an effort.
I decided to detour into Kings Park to see what would happen with the weather. If it didn't ease off after a lap of the Figure 8 in the park, I would consider turning around and heading for home. By the time I climbed Mount St and reached the back of Fraser's the rain had stopped but the wind had picked up even more. The ride up did afford me a chance to pick up a PR moving me into 3rd place overall on the Freeway Underpass to Fraser's segment and just shy of AP and Simon. Something to try again on a day with more favourable conditions.
I continued to complete the figure 8 lap around the park and managed to pick up another PR on a few segments on May Drive. The HR was up nicely for the efforts through Kings Park and with the wind blowing up strongly from the south west, it stayed up all the way through Karrakatta, Swanbourne and Cottesloe down to Fremantle. The ride along Curtin Ave and Port Beach Rd was a bit of a struggle and had me working to keep a decent pace.
The weather worsened again as I headed through Fremantle (I had watched it come in over Rottnest as I came down Curtin Ave) and I braced against the wind and rain as I worked my way through to Point Walter. The rain stopped again as I made my way along Burke Drive and Melville Beach Rd but as I rode up Fraser Rd to Pt Majestic, I could see the rain coming down hard over Claremont and heading my way. As I reached the Raffles, I was ceremoniously dumped on and was once again drenched to the core and didn't stop until I reached Mt Henry bridge.
The only benefit I received for the entire ride was along Riverton Drive through to Shelley as the wind came from behind me and allowed me to keep a reasonable pace up. Of course, it also meant I was back into the wind again as I rode along Manning Rd and along Kent St where it began to rain yet again. I was now in no mood to try for another effort up Kent St Hill and I had confirmed with Shannon that I was happy to settle with a shared KOM unless he prompted a challenge himself.
Post ride, I spent a good hour or so getting the grit and grime off the bike and getting it back to a respectable state again. I could feel a little discomfort in the left knee after the weekend's efforts but this was remedied with a little bit of massage and some deep heat.
So it seems that my rehabilitation is almost 100% complete. I'm probably still not at race fitness just yet but with no racing next week due to Mother's day, I will have another two weeks of training before taking on my first race for the season up in Chidlow with the West Coast Masters - a race I am certainly looking forward to.
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