PTBO RIDES.

Friday Morning. Thursday Night Report 05/17/12

The B Group Report. By Kris Lew

The rather large B group left the Douro arena roughly 2 mins behind the A group. We saw the A group as they crested the hill leaving Douro but unfortunately, that was the last that we saw of them. They must have been flying.

Our group rolled out at a comfortable pace which kept the group together until the long climb out of Warsaw, where we picked up our first A grouper. He wasn’t too happy when I asked him to join us as his response was a muttered slurry about a bag of chips or something and well, that was the last I saw of him.

Another comment that I heard at this point was’ “When is this party going to start?” . . . or something like that. It came from Eggers. Should have known. I heard she’s been doing some secret jedi training and has been full of piss and vinegar lately.

The first couple of efforts happened on the way to Caves Rd. Nothing big. Just a little gas. More efforts came from the group on Sawmill Rd with Richard Daley, Dave Kervin and Kathy taking charge. Kathy showed great control as she was forced into the dirt but recovered quickly and calmly.

Once on County Rd 6, Rob Campbell, Kathy, myself and a few others (sorry but I don’t recall who) pushed the pace as often as we could in hopes to thin out the group and also to increase our speed. Average speeds were in the mid 40′s at this point which was great to see from this group. A couple of riders were riding across the yellow line and were scolded without mercy. Good to see the group was self policing.

County Rd 40….well, what can you say. 40km/hr until Webster Rd. Highlights were the pick up of Rhys who put in a great effort into not getting caught by the B group after trailing off the A group. Suffering on his own for 10km! Good on him. The other highlight was Elcombe’s ferocious attack. Not sure where it was going but only 1 rider could stick to his wheel. Watch out CX’ers.

I remember thinking a number of times; “Where the hell is Webster Rd?” “Ah, finally!” At this point, there were a number of riders who were enjoying the ride home at the back of the pack while the rest put in the efforts to get us home before dark. The ride into Douro didn’t show many fireworks other than Richard’s and Mini’s separate attacks. Unfortunately, the pack wasn’t biting and pulled them back.

With ~500m to go Rhys launched me from the back of the pack to the base of the final climb. The lead out provided me with a head start of about 20 bike lengths. As I stood and pounded the pedals my thoughts weren’t of going to the line for the win but of not getting caught. I could feel the group nipping at my wheels and instead of going through my victory salute rolodex my focus was on just finishing. It’s a good thing too because you know who, ahem Eggers, powered her way up the hill to come second only by half a bike length with Mark Robinson (I think) coming third. I would have hated to pull an Erik Zabel.

Great night of riding with the B group. ~38km/hr which is an average speed of some Master 2 Men races. Good on ya!

Random notes:

+ Where was Jonny?
+ Guy on Giant bike. That was a close one.
+ I am shattered.
+ Nails award (as in Tough as Nails): Kathy Eggenberger
+ For more on the victory salute . . . INRNG.com

The A Group Report. By Zac Wheeler

Is it Friday again . . . already? That means two things: 1) the weekend is here, which means that there are two days of glorious riding ahead of us (for this fine weekend there are actually three days) and 2) last night was Thursday night, yup fight night.

Like every Thursday there is a certain amount of preamble leading up to the ride. How’re ya feeling, who’s riding strong, what to expect, what course we’re riding this week, maybe a bit of trash talk thrown in for good measure. But this week was a bit different, this week we were riding the County road 40 loop and everybody seemed to remember last year’s version of this ride, and everybody had a story to remember from it.

In short, last year it was a right smashing. The type of ride that drove most people cross eyed. Driving rain, hard pace from the beginning and it only got harder. Everybody tried to get away and nobody succeeded. The pace was high and only a select few made it to the finish in any semblance of a group, the rest were left to fend for themselves.

This year was different. The pace from the beginning was moderate, everybody was watching, waiting for the move to happen. When we hit the bottom of Old Saw Mill road, expectations were for the split to happen. There were attempts but nothing stuck. The breaks were always reeled in (curse you Chris Ott). By the time we got to County Road 40 it was clear nothing was going to get away, it’s damn hard to break away from a pack that’s motoring along at 40kms an hour. I know, I’ve tried, repeatedly, and failed every time.

So it was, one of the largest packs we’ve had in a long time hauling towards Douro for a mass gallop. Tim strung it out over Broccoli Tree hill and the jostling for position began. After nearly 10 years of riding Thursday nights, I think I’ve just begun to figure out how to sprint, how to time it and who to follow. It’s paying off, came around Blondel and held off Lucas for the win. Nearly a full day later and my lungs still hurt. I have a bumper sticker “Sometimes fun hurts pretty f*cking bad”. It must have been a great night then.

Random Points and Observations

+ Tim is in shape, and it hurts
+ Chris Ott can pull a pack along at 40kms an hour very well
+ Welcome back to the Patch Chloe