On the 14th-16th of April, Perth hosted the Australian round of the UCI World Cycling Tour, of which the Road Race held on the 16th, was a qualifier for the UWCT Final.
From the UCT Website, here's their intro blurb:
“A new cycling tour for amateur riders that will ultimately crown age group World Champions is being launched by the UCI in 2011. The UCI World Cycling Tour (UWCT) is a series of UCI-sanctioned races that will be held all over the world. The UWCT will comprise a maximum of 15 qualifier events, leading to the UWCT Final, the former UCI Masters Road World Championships. The top 10% in each age group of the qualifier events will automatically have the right to compete in the UWCT Final and race for the coveted UCI rainbow jersey.”
Run by CIC Events Management and Bicycling Western Australia, the 2011 event is the first year of a 3 year contract for CIC to run the round, so hopefully it will be around in Perth for a while.
So, I decided that I too would join the ranks of the elite and undertake the race, with no thought as to personal triumph, glory, or an invite to the Finals: rather my thoughts were to whether I'd die in the process of completing a lap of the course.
One incentive for competing was that, if one was lucky enough to be 50 or over (yay me!), one got a reduced distance/lap burden: 6 laps of the course, as opposed to 8 for the 18-49s! Well, with concessions like that, who couldn't take up the opportunity? Well, as it turned out, lots of cyclists, but then it takes guts and supreme confidence in one's abilities to submit oneself to such a challenge: neither of which I had, more just a complete lack of perspective of just what I was getting myself in for.
Now, it could be said that the course wasn't that hard in the overall scheme of things – 6 laps totaling 81.5 km and 800 meters of climbing – but given it was the first race I've ever been involved in, I wasn't too sure how I'd pull up, or indeed if I'd pull out part way through!
For interest's sake, here's the links to the road course route and elevation profile maps:
UCWT Perth 2011 Route
UCWT Perth 2011 Profile
The 50-54 and 55-59 age categories were started together, with the overall start times staggered from lower to higher age groupings, hence we went off near the end. There were a total of 51 entries into the 50-54 age group, quite a turnout, and, combined with the 23 riders in the 55-59 group, it made for a biggish bunch start and peloton for the first 3 laps.
After those initial 3 laps, I was basically doing a solo around the course: after getting dropped off the back of the bunch via the twin hit's of Spring and Malcolm St inclinations 3rd time thru, it was farewell to the pack and hello to me, myself and I.
Had fun trying to stave off cramping calves and then quads on those last three laps, with my inflating lap times testimony to my physical predicament and the necessity of hauling my own fat bum around the course sans the 'suck' of the group.
Still, made it home in 2hrs, 39mins and 55 secs, at an average of 32.1 km/h, in 30th place out of 51 (quite a few DNF's), so I was relatively happy, even if my legs weren't. Whilst a vast 20-odd minutes behind the winner of the 50-54's, my finishing position was, apart from a very brief spell in the top 10, the best of the day for me in my age group, so I had soldiered on after losing contact. The last lap was pretty much a dawdle, with my quads refusing to function above 30km/h. My heart rate dropped from an average of 171 to somewhere in the low 140s, so at least my cardio wasn't too bad!
Would I do it again – yeh, why not! Given it was my first ever race, and with bugga all training, I think I could make some definite improvements with a program and some weight loss (87 kgs is too much to haul up any kind of rise!)
Kudos to the organisers for a sweet event, cheers to the fellow intrepids of the Wolfe Pack who competed in the race, and many thanks to the Wolfe Pack Cheer Squad who made it memorable!
So, roll on UWCT Perth 2012.
Ride Safe!
Showing posts with label Perth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Perth. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Friday, 21 March 2008
2008 Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma
This years annual Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma, held on Sunday the 16th, was a different trip from previous ones: this time a 60km distance traversing most of the the entire North/South Perth freeway system was offered. Excellent! Below is a map (ripped from Google maps) showing the freeway route, and starting and end points.
Living just north-east of Perth city, I'd decided that the easiest way for me to get to the start of the Hike, 30 kms south at the Kwinana Train Station parking lot, was to, naturally, catch the train! Organisers had arranged with the Public Transport Authority to provide trains free of charge to all those travelling to and returning from the ride - great stuff. The southern rail link to Kwinana and beyond (which is built along the middle of the freeway system) had only just been fully opened, and so it was a great opportunity to try it out.
The 7am start for the A Group 60km leg necessitated me hauling my lazy arse from bed at 5am in order to 'fuel up', ride into Perth and the Esplanade train station (a short, lazy 15 minute jaunt) and hop aboard for the 25 minute high-speed train journey to the start point. Bleh! - a morning person I'm not. Still, having eaten, drank and attempted to kick start my idling metabolic system, I headed out into the night... Yes, I said night, because it was pitch black thanks to friggin' Daylight Saving!
(Rant mode on) For deity's sake, when are the perpetrators of this farcical system foisted on us without our consent going to dump it? Perth has more sunlight than you can poke a stick at already, and all the putative benefits touted about DLS are just so much horseshit - it's all about commercial interests crony-ing up with parliamentary hacks to equalise time differentials between West and East Australia. DLS in March? When the sun doesn't come up until friggin' 7:15 am? Piss off!(Rant mode off)
Arriving at the Esplanade train station, I mingled in with the mass of other riders clogging the platform and waited for the 6:05 am train, entertained by the endless announcements from the platform announce system reminding us not to leap out in front of the train and kill ourselves when it pulled in: well, at least, not to stand in front of the yellow line. I swear to deity, it was repeated so many times that the next time I see a yellow line anywhere I will halt and, pavlovian-like, await further instructions!
The 6:05 train rolled in - and rolled out. The thing was full of smartarse cyclists who had caught the train at various points North of the city and now enjoyed seated comfort! No space for other than a select few on our platform. The next train was our collective last hope! (At least if you were an A group rider).
Next one rolls in some 10 minutes later, and there is enough room for most of the assembled throng to cram on: unfortunately some people were left behind; hopefully starters for one of the later groups? Hint to organisers - more trains next year please!
The journey sped by - I contented myself with trying different ways of fitting myself and bike into the contorted space available to me: an interesting exercise in spatial co-ordinates.
Arriving at Kwinana station, we un-origamed from the carriage and moaned, squeeked and clattered our way up the stairs to the parking lot level (seeing cyclists trying to cram into a lift(?-huh) was weird!) and out into the (still) pre-dawn dark. The start was organised well, with distinct channels for the various groups of riders clearly indicating where to assemble.
As we waited, light slowly started to filter into the equation, and the day looked great: clear skies and zero wind - fantastic! It was a little 'brisk' temp wise, or so I thought: clearly the herd didn't agree with me as, apart from a few individuals with arm warmers, I appeared to be the only one wearing long sleeves! Oh well, I was warm :).
It soon became apparent that things would be delayed a little as cyclists were still disembarking from trains and trying to get into their alloted groups areas. Still, no bad thing - this meant a start in decent light.
At around 7:10am the race group started off (7 minutes behind schedule) and the A group got shifty and nervous - us next! Not sure why anyone would be nervous - it's just a slow paced little jaunt up to Joondalup 60km away! If that was the intent of some cyclists then it was quickly blown away by the start some 5 minutes later as the group headed off and adrenaline immediately got most of us racing to catch and hold various groups as they formed, split etc.
The first 5 kms were a bit of a frenzy - I fanged along attaching to various small groups, which then died with the effort of maintaining the initial 50km/h, and so went in search of the next grouplet. I eventually zoned onto a small group comprised of lean, rangy, fit looking people and hooked up - excellent!: these fit young people could haul my aged arse to Joondalup!
Which they promptly proceeded to do. Our little group kept steaming forward, picking up people as it went, and turned into a decent size pile rolling its way to Mt Henry Bridge, the first of the crossings over the river. Which incidentally I totally missed noticing - how I don't know as it's rather large, but there you go!
As the kms zipped by, I decided to stay toward the pointy third, at the edges of the pack and give a little room to the person ahead: previous years had suggested this as a survival strategy. The middles of the pack tend to get a little nervous, with people moving line without warning, overlapping wheels, touching etc. This is fine as long as you know the people you ride with, but in an anonymous bunch I'm a bit less trusting. Whilst being at the edges and not tightly drafting means a little more work air resistance wise, it was all good and pretty relaxing. Especially when a couple of tumbles occurred in the middle of the pack at around 20 mins into the ride, vindicating my tactic!
Steaming on, we hit the 45 minute mark and Perth itself: across the Narrows (which I did notice!) past the city and onto the Northern freeway. Really excellent to be able to see the city this way - I'm so glad the organisers were able to add this leg!
Onto familiar territory now, as the remainder of the course is that which the 30km ride from previous years (and retained this year) traverses. A little more undulating than the southern freeway, but still nice and smooth, and the kms rolled under our wooshing tyres: what a great noise the tyres of a sizeable pack moving at speed makes!
With (I think) 15 kms to go, a drinks station rolled up and some people attempted to avail themselves of its services, creating more than a little shifting and disruption in the group, with a consequence that the pack split a bit and it required a bit of 'hammer down' time to make up the first bunch of riders who had cleared out a little. This set the pattern for the final 15 kms - as the kms ticked off, the pace quickened and the pack started fragmenting. Being at the back after the initial split at the drinks station, I was having to weave around riders dropping off as the speed increased, so a higher level of concentration was required. As I hitched back onto the group, I saw the reason behind the speed increase - although most of this group had started towards the rear third of the A Group, it had trundled along at a good clip, and had come within chase distance of the first A group pack ahead! So the old competitive instinct had ramped up!
I was sort of hoping that we wouldn't attempt to catch the lead group, as I knew from previous years that there is a huge bottleneck at around the 3km to go mark when the route leaves the freeway, inclines upward to around 5% and goes up a narrowing off ramp toward the centre of Joondalup and the finish line, and everything grinds to a slow crawl. But, the collective blood-lust of the group was roused, and so there was no choice but to get on board :)
With around 7-8 kms to go, our pack caught the large lead group, and chaos ensued as riders tried to squeeze thru. For around 5kms I was on my limit as first one, then another rider hit the deck, splitting me and others off from our group, and forcing me to hit it hard to regain touch. Just as I caught my group for the second time, the off ramp arrived and it all ground to a slow trundle up the rise. From there to the finish line it was a nice little jaunt - lots of riders so no point in trying to flog it to the line.
Over the line to a welcome free refreshment and a stretch of the legs. A check of the Flightdeck - journey completed in 1h:25m:10s at an average of 42.3km/h. My thanks go out to the leaders of our pack who collectively hauled my unhelping arse to the end! :)
Decision time - should I train back home (30-odd kms south) or ride. No contest - I felt very good and so trundled off after a 15 minute break back home, following the very meandering cycle tracks back down the freeway towards Perth. Hooked up with a small group of riders for a leisurely roll back accompanied by some nice chats, and lovely weather. Cruised back into my driveway a very casual hour and 20 minutes later and that was it for another year!
Congrats to the organisers for a job well done, and many thanks for the opportunity to traverse the full freeway. And thanks to the 7100 odd riders who came out and enjoyed the day. Roll on next year!
Keep riding!
Living just north-east of Perth city, I'd decided that the easiest way for me to get to the start of the Hike, 30 kms south at the Kwinana Train Station parking lot, was to, naturally, catch the train! Organisers had arranged with the Public Transport Authority to provide trains free of charge to all those travelling to and returning from the ride - great stuff. The southern rail link to Kwinana and beyond (which is built along the middle of the freeway system) had only just been fully opened, and so it was a great opportunity to try it out.
The 7am start for the A Group 60km leg necessitated me hauling my lazy arse from bed at 5am in order to 'fuel up', ride into Perth and the Esplanade train station (a short, lazy 15 minute jaunt) and hop aboard for the 25 minute high-speed train journey to the start point. Bleh! - a morning person I'm not. Still, having eaten, drank and attempted to kick start my idling metabolic system, I headed out into the night... Yes, I said night, because it was pitch black thanks to friggin' Daylight Saving!
(Rant mode on) For deity's sake, when are the perpetrators of this farcical system foisted on us without our consent going to dump it? Perth has more sunlight than you can poke a stick at already, and all the putative benefits touted about DLS are just so much horseshit - it's all about commercial interests crony-ing up with parliamentary hacks to equalise time differentials between West and East Australia. DLS in March? When the sun doesn't come up until friggin' 7:15 am? Piss off!(Rant mode off)
Arriving at the Esplanade train station, I mingled in with the mass of other riders clogging the platform and waited for the 6:05 am train, entertained by the endless announcements from the platform announce system reminding us not to leap out in front of the train and kill ourselves when it pulled in: well, at least, not to stand in front of the yellow line. I swear to deity, it was repeated so many times that the next time I see a yellow line anywhere I will halt and, pavlovian-like, await further instructions!
The 6:05 train rolled in - and rolled out. The thing was full of smartarse cyclists who had caught the train at various points North of the city and now enjoyed seated comfort! No space for other than a select few on our platform. The next train was our collective last hope! (At least if you were an A group rider).
Next one rolls in some 10 minutes later, and there is enough room for most of the assembled throng to cram on: unfortunately some people were left behind; hopefully starters for one of the later groups? Hint to organisers - more trains next year please!
The journey sped by - I contented myself with trying different ways of fitting myself and bike into the contorted space available to me: an interesting exercise in spatial co-ordinates.
Arriving at Kwinana station, we un-origamed from the carriage and moaned, squeeked and clattered our way up the stairs to the parking lot level (seeing cyclists trying to cram into a lift(?-huh) was weird!) and out into the (still) pre-dawn dark. The start was organised well, with distinct channels for the various groups of riders clearly indicating where to assemble.
As we waited, light slowly started to filter into the equation, and the day looked great: clear skies and zero wind - fantastic! It was a little 'brisk' temp wise, or so I thought: clearly the herd didn't agree with me as, apart from a few individuals with arm warmers, I appeared to be the only one wearing long sleeves! Oh well, I was warm :).
It soon became apparent that things would be delayed a little as cyclists were still disembarking from trains and trying to get into their alloted groups areas. Still, no bad thing - this meant a start in decent light.
At around 7:10am the race group started off (7 minutes behind schedule) and the A group got shifty and nervous - us next! Not sure why anyone would be nervous - it's just a slow paced little jaunt up to Joondalup 60km away! If that was the intent of some cyclists then it was quickly blown away by the start some 5 minutes later as the group headed off and adrenaline immediately got most of us racing to catch and hold various groups as they formed, split etc.
The first 5 kms were a bit of a frenzy - I fanged along attaching to various small groups, which then died with the effort of maintaining the initial 50km/h, and so went in search of the next grouplet. I eventually zoned onto a small group comprised of lean, rangy, fit looking people and hooked up - excellent!: these fit young people could haul my aged arse to Joondalup!
Which they promptly proceeded to do. Our little group kept steaming forward, picking up people as it went, and turned into a decent size pile rolling its way to Mt Henry Bridge, the first of the crossings over the river. Which incidentally I totally missed noticing - how I don't know as it's rather large, but there you go!
As the kms zipped by, I decided to stay toward the pointy third, at the edges of the pack and give a little room to the person ahead: previous years had suggested this as a survival strategy. The middles of the pack tend to get a little nervous, with people moving line without warning, overlapping wheels, touching etc. This is fine as long as you know the people you ride with, but in an anonymous bunch I'm a bit less trusting. Whilst being at the edges and not tightly drafting means a little more work air resistance wise, it was all good and pretty relaxing. Especially when a couple of tumbles occurred in the middle of the pack at around 20 mins into the ride, vindicating my tactic!
Steaming on, we hit the 45 minute mark and Perth itself: across the Narrows (which I did notice!) past the city and onto the Northern freeway. Really excellent to be able to see the city this way - I'm so glad the organisers were able to add this leg!
Onto familiar territory now, as the remainder of the course is that which the 30km ride from previous years (and retained this year) traverses. A little more undulating than the southern freeway, but still nice and smooth, and the kms rolled under our wooshing tyres: what a great noise the tyres of a sizeable pack moving at speed makes!
With (I think) 15 kms to go, a drinks station rolled up and some people attempted to avail themselves of its services, creating more than a little shifting and disruption in the group, with a consequence that the pack split a bit and it required a bit of 'hammer down' time to make up the first bunch of riders who had cleared out a little. This set the pattern for the final 15 kms - as the kms ticked off, the pace quickened and the pack started fragmenting. Being at the back after the initial split at the drinks station, I was having to weave around riders dropping off as the speed increased, so a higher level of concentration was required. As I hitched back onto the group, I saw the reason behind the speed increase - although most of this group had started towards the rear third of the A Group, it had trundled along at a good clip, and had come within chase distance of the first A group pack ahead! So the old competitive instinct had ramped up!
I was sort of hoping that we wouldn't attempt to catch the lead group, as I knew from previous years that there is a huge bottleneck at around the 3km to go mark when the route leaves the freeway, inclines upward to around 5% and goes up a narrowing off ramp toward the centre of Joondalup and the finish line, and everything grinds to a slow crawl. But, the collective blood-lust of the group was roused, and so there was no choice but to get on board :)
With around 7-8 kms to go, our pack caught the large lead group, and chaos ensued as riders tried to squeeze thru. For around 5kms I was on my limit as first one, then another rider hit the deck, splitting me and others off from our group, and forcing me to hit it hard to regain touch. Just as I caught my group for the second time, the off ramp arrived and it all ground to a slow trundle up the rise. From there to the finish line it was a nice little jaunt - lots of riders so no point in trying to flog it to the line.
Over the line to a welcome free refreshment and a stretch of the legs. A check of the Flightdeck - journey completed in 1h:25m:10s at an average of 42.3km/h. My thanks go out to the leaders of our pack who collectively hauled my unhelping arse to the end! :)
Decision time - should I train back home (30-odd kms south) or ride. No contest - I felt very good and so trundled off after a 15 minute break back home, following the very meandering cycle tracks back down the freeway towards Perth. Hooked up with a small group of riders for a leisurely roll back accompanied by some nice chats, and lovely weather. Cruised back into my driveway a very casual hour and 20 minutes later and that was it for another year!
Congrats to the organisers for a job well done, and many thanks for the opportunity to traverse the full freeway. And thanks to the 7100 odd riders who came out and enjoyed the day. Roll on next year!
Keep riding!
Sunday, 3 February 2008
January blows by - time for more rides!
Wow - January just disappeared in a puff of smoke! Nice magic trick.
Been riding a lot since the start of the New year - to and from work most days, and long rides on weekends. Weather in Perth hasn't been super hot, so apart from the ever present winds of summer it's been great riding conditions. The bike has been faultless - really a joy to own and ride.
So, motivating the update is a couple of cycle events on the horizon: both in March and both events I've done before.
First up is the BP Ultimate/BRW Corporate Triathlon Series SuperSprint race in Perth on March 9th (site link below).
BP Ultimate/BRW Corporate Triathlon Site
It's a Corporate Triathlon event held in most major Australian capital cities during March and April. Great fun, lots of competitors, and a very enjoyable format. The race consists of teams of three people completing the following elements of a triathlon: a 400m Swim, a 10km Cycle, and a 4km Run.
Luckily for myself, Perth also offers a 'Sprint' format; a shortened version of the race where one team member completes the swim, another completes the cycle, and a third does the running. Luckily, because I swim like a stone! This makes the event a viable one for more people and gives it an extra element.
The event is held at Langley Park, on the doorstep of Perth, and utilises swimming, riding and running courses along the Swan River. Link to the course map below:
Perth Course Map
Should be fun!
Next up, following closely on the heels of the above, is the The Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma 2008 event, taking place on March 16th 2008. Link below:
The Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma 2008
This is an open ride along parts of Perth's North/South Freeway system, which is specifically closed off for cycle-only traffic for the event. A great and a wonderful ride.
This year, the ride has been extended to include not only the 10km 'Family' and 30km 'Tunnel' ride, but also a 60km 'South to North' ride along the entire system! Excellent! This leg is split into estimated completion time groups of 'Under 2 hours', '2-2.5 hours', and '2.5 to 3.5 hours'. Knowing how the higher classes of the 30km ride turned into virtual sprints in previous years, I'm betting that the 'Under 2 hours' class will be popular. Sounds like the class for me - I'll just get in the middle of a group and laze my way along for 60km!
Been riding a lot since the start of the New year - to and from work most days, and long rides on weekends. Weather in Perth hasn't been super hot, so apart from the ever present winds of summer it's been great riding conditions. The bike has been faultless - really a joy to own and ride.
So, motivating the update is a couple of cycle events on the horizon: both in March and both events I've done before.
First up is the BP Ultimate/BRW Corporate Triathlon Series SuperSprint race in Perth on March 9th (site link below).
BP Ultimate/BRW Corporate Triathlon Site
It's a Corporate Triathlon event held in most major Australian capital cities during March and April. Great fun, lots of competitors, and a very enjoyable format. The race consists of teams of three people completing the following elements of a triathlon: a 400m Swim, a 10km Cycle, and a 4km Run.
Luckily for myself, Perth also offers a 'Sprint' format; a shortened version of the race where one team member completes the swim, another completes the cycle, and a third does the running. Luckily, because I swim like a stone! This makes the event a viable one for more people and gives it an extra element.
The event is held at Langley Park, on the doorstep of Perth, and utilises swimming, riding and running courses along the Swan River. Link to the course map below:
Perth Course Map
Should be fun!
Next up, following closely on the heels of the above, is the The Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma 2008 event, taking place on March 16th 2008. Link below:
The Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma 2008
This is an open ride along parts of Perth's North/South Freeway system, which is specifically closed off for cycle-only traffic for the event. A great and a wonderful ride.
This year, the ride has been extended to include not only the 10km 'Family' and 30km 'Tunnel' ride, but also a 60km 'South to North' ride along the entire system! Excellent! This leg is split into estimated completion time groups of 'Under 2 hours', '2-2.5 hours', and '2.5 to 3.5 hours'. Knowing how the higher classes of the 30km ride turned into virtual sprints in previous years, I'm betting that the 'Under 2 hours' class will be popular. Sounds like the class for me - I'll just get in the middle of a group and laze my way along for 60km!
Monday, 22 October 2007
City of Perth Great Bike Ride 2007
Sunday the 25th of November is the date for the 2007 City of Perth Great Bike Ride, a jaunt (or flog depending upon ones desires) around the Swan River from Perth to Fremantle and back.
The website for the ride is a good one, with explanations of the event, route, info, merchandise, entry procedure etc - url is below:
City of Perth Great Bike Ride Website
This is the fourth year it's been held but will be the first time I've (hopefully) done it. The first year I wasn't aware of it, the second I was away, and the third I entered but got a monster summer-style flu' the week before the event and chickened out! So, fingers crossed for this time!
There's options of a 53km one or 106 km two lap ride - I'm partaking in the shorter one, as I am NOT a morning person and couldn't imagine starting a 106 km ride at 6am! The 53km ride has a much more sociable 7:40 am starting time :P
Below is the link to the Google map of the Swan River (unfettered by street names) - refer to the Great Bike Ride site to suss out the route: it basically follows the river anticlockwise from the green arrow start and end point.
The website for the ride is a good one, with explanations of the event, route, info, merchandise, entry procedure etc - url is below:
City of Perth Great Bike Ride Website
This is the fourth year it's been held but will be the first time I've (hopefully) done it. The first year I wasn't aware of it, the second I was away, and the third I entered but got a monster summer-style flu' the week before the event and chickened out! So, fingers crossed for this time!
There's options of a 53km one or 106 km two lap ride - I'm partaking in the shorter one, as I am NOT a morning person and couldn't imagine starting a 106 km ride at 6am! The 53km ride has a much more sociable 7:40 am starting time :P
Below is the link to the Google map of the Swan River (unfettered by street names) - refer to the Great Bike Ride site to suss out the route: it basically follows the river anticlockwise from the green arrow start and end point.
Link to Larger Map view
Really looking forward to this - will try and blatt it out as hard as I can just for the fun of it.
Any Perth-ites interested can register on the site - go for it! It's for a great cause ("hosted by Rotary Club of Perth and raises much needed funds for three worthy charities: the Heart Foundation, St John of God Foundation and Hope for Children") and a great opportunity to ride around suburban streets in organised safety. Let's take over the streets for a couple of hours!
Friday, 21 September 2007
Pictorial Homage - The Trusty Steed
Subsequent to my return to Perth, Western Australia, the weather has been crappy (showery, overcast, mind-numbingly dull) so riding hasn't been foremost in my activities! Still, the last few days have relented, and there's been a couple of chances to cycle to work and, today, to Fremantle, a lovely port city at the mouth of the Swan River. (Google maps satellite image url below - have a play!):
View Larger Map
(For those who browsers don't work with the above, here's the static map link):
Static Map of Freo
Pretty huh?. Fremantle is 35km from my home, so it's a nice little 70km out-and-back, with the bonus that there are lots of lovely cafes to choose from when you arrive (so it's not a true out-and-back - more like an out-slack-and-back!). Speaking of cafes, here's a plug for the one I usually go to - Gino's in South Terrace (bit of an institution in Freo). Just coz I like mucking around with Google Maps, here's the most zoomed in map of central Freo: Gino's is the far left white building in the triangle-shaped block at the centre of the pic.
View Larger Map
Static Map of Gino's
So, I set off at a rather slack 9:00am for the 65 minute ride to Freo. Perfect blue skies and a light wind made for very nice riding - I ride mostly on the roads, but there is a good cycleway which follows the freeway south which I travel on for part of the way.
Trundling along (many weeks of few rides after the tour has fattened me up a little!), I really enjoyed being back on the Masi. She is a great bike, so I thought I'd detail a little about her.
Firstly, some pics:
I think she's lovely :). (Wasn't sure about the blue Michelin Pro Race 2's, but they were new off my other bike, so I kept 'em - the colour 'wonkiness' looks good to me now!).
She's a 3VC Volumetrica - Dura Ace: the 2007 top Masi model.
Interestingly, she's the fully equipped Dura Ace model, but with the Ultegra coloured frame (both exactly the same frame, just the equipment differs). Also, she differs from the usual specs in that she has an FSA K-Force MegaExo crankset.
Mine is a 56 frame - a little on the small side for parts of my 185cm tall body, but nothing a little play around with doesn't fix. The reason I went for the 56 frame is because I have duck's disease - short legs! With a stand over height of 780 millimeters for the 56 frame, I have about 20mm clearance: the 58 frame would be tweaking certain parts of my anatomy that shall remain un-named! The fact that I haven't needed to replace any sizing components (stem etc) but just re-jigged them shows the generally good fit.
Another demonstration of good fit is the fact that the bike carted my 92kgs 1100 kms around Canada with not so much as a squeek from either the bike, or my body. The carbon-lugged frame was superlatively compliant laterally and yet stiff-as when it counted, hill-grinds especially! Across smooth roads she floated, and over roads that jettisoned water bottles and seat-bags, and turned a spoke or two on other bikes to spaghetti, she isolated me from as much shock as possible whilst still sticking to the road like glue: there's really not more you can ask of a bike! And in return she demanded a slight rear derailleur adjustment at the bars, a daily pump of the tires, and a thank you 5 minute clean on some nights.
Special mentions to the seat and the wheels.
The seat, Fizik Arione Ti rails, was one of the specific reasons I bought the bike, and it was superb. Not overly soft, but very compliant and comfortable. It's length is important here, giving you lots of room to move on when needed: right back for hill grinds, and more nose forward when in the pace line.
The wheels, Shimano Dura Ace 7801s. Originally had some doubts about these wheels, with 16 spokes up front and 20 in rear: I'm 92kgs!. But there were not an issue - laterally very stiff, complaint and after 1100kms with some rough road poundings, didn't require any trueing at all. Say no more!
So, there ya go - my homage to my trusty steed! We'll see what adventures she'll undertake with me next year - there are plans for more tours and many more hills!
Oh, below is a link to a blog by the Brand Manager of Masi: it's fun stuff and not at all just an excuse to flog his product (shit, I think I just did that here! - hehe):
Masiguy Blog
Ltr!
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(For those who browsers don't work with the above, here's the static map link):
Static Map of Freo
Pretty huh?. Fremantle is 35km from my home, so it's a nice little 70km out-and-back, with the bonus that there are lots of lovely cafes to choose from when you arrive (so it's not a true out-and-back - more like an out-slack-and-back!). Speaking of cafes, here's a plug for the one I usually go to - Gino's in South Terrace (bit of an institution in Freo). Just coz I like mucking around with Google Maps, here's the most zoomed in map of central Freo: Gino's is the far left white building in the triangle-shaped block at the centre of the pic.
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Static Map of Gino's
So, I set off at a rather slack 9:00am for the 65 minute ride to Freo. Perfect blue skies and a light wind made for very nice riding - I ride mostly on the roads, but there is a good cycleway which follows the freeway south which I travel on for part of the way.
Trundling along (many weeks of few rides after the tour has fattened me up a little!), I really enjoyed being back on the Masi. She is a great bike, so I thought I'd detail a little about her.
Firstly, some pics:
I think she's lovely :). (Wasn't sure about the blue Michelin Pro Race 2's, but they were new off my other bike, so I kept 'em - the colour 'wonkiness' looks good to me now!).
She's a 3VC Volumetrica - Dura Ace: the 2007 top Masi model.
Interestingly, she's the fully equipped Dura Ace model, but with the Ultegra coloured frame (both exactly the same frame, just the equipment differs). Also, she differs from the usual specs in that she has an FSA K-Force MegaExo crankset.
Mine is a 56 frame - a little on the small side for parts of my 185cm tall body, but nothing a little play around with doesn't fix. The reason I went for the 56 frame is because I have duck's disease - short legs! With a stand over height of 780 millimeters for the 56 frame, I have about 20mm clearance: the 58 frame would be tweaking certain parts of my anatomy that shall remain un-named! The fact that I haven't needed to replace any sizing components (stem etc) but just re-jigged them shows the generally good fit.
Another demonstration of good fit is the fact that the bike carted my 92kgs 1100 kms around Canada with not so much as a squeek from either the bike, or my body. The carbon-lugged frame was superlatively compliant laterally and yet stiff-as when it counted, hill-grinds especially! Across smooth roads she floated, and over roads that jettisoned water bottles and seat-bags, and turned a spoke or two on other bikes to spaghetti, she isolated me from as much shock as possible whilst still sticking to the road like glue: there's really not more you can ask of a bike! And in return she demanded a slight rear derailleur adjustment at the bars, a daily pump of the tires, and a thank you 5 minute clean on some nights.
Special mentions to the seat and the wheels.
The seat, Fizik Arione Ti rails, was one of the specific reasons I bought the bike, and it was superb. Not overly soft, but very compliant and comfortable. It's length is important here, giving you lots of room to move on when needed: right back for hill grinds, and more nose forward when in the pace line.
The wheels, Shimano Dura Ace 7801s. Originally had some doubts about these wheels, with 16 spokes up front and 20 in rear: I'm 92kgs!. But there were not an issue - laterally very stiff, complaint and after 1100kms with some rough road poundings, didn't require any trueing at all. Say no more!
So, there ya go - my homage to my trusty steed! We'll see what adventures she'll undertake with me next year - there are plans for more tours and many more hills!
Oh, below is a link to a blog by the Brand Manager of Masi: it's fun stuff and not at all just an excuse to flog his product (shit, I think I just did that here! - hehe):
Masiguy Blog
Ltr!
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