CycloSportif BWA - Lancelin

I better do a write up on this before I get lazy and forget.

Just before I start, I would like to say something about my self.

I am the oldest of 4 boys in the family and was brought up to respect your elders and in return you will be respected, be kind to others and it will return in time. KARMA. So I was under the microscope since I was born, my father is the oldest boy in his family so he had to be the gentle giant one who kept order in their house of 9 but laid down the law when deemed. Because of that I feel that role has been passed down to me and be a role model to the brothers. My dad is a proud man, he can walk down the street and hold his head high and boast about his sons and the rest of the family. They say karma has rewarded the family good fortunes for the good deeds that was done before my time so in return we shall continue it for our future generations to come.

Anyways back to cycling.

Leading up to Lancelin

A few weeks ahead of the ride some of the veterans of the event mention about the HILLS!! and you will need buckets load of water because the air is dry and you will dehydrate pretty quick so carry twice as much as you would on the normal distance. As the wise men talked I listen and planned for it, as we sat in the cafe sipping our flat whites we ponder who was going to do the event but it was hard to keep track. We were told email/sms/talk to Mal from Pulse Fitness and he is organizing the teams.

Throughout the week we got the SMS updates on the event, time to be at the meeting point, maps but there was one question that kept coming up,

"what are the teams?"
"will tell you guys on the day" ( I think because some people have said they will do the even but hasn't confirmed or paid)

I got told on Saturday morning I was in group B, 50km due to there was lots of hills and it was my first ride. Teams names were

Group A: Pulsation & Pulsing Along
Group B: Still Pulsing & Barely Pulsing & Joondalup Ladies Team
5 teams.

On the day



We rocked up to the pub, meeting point. Mal started handing out the racer tags, Letter "Y" and told us our teams.

Young John = PCS strong rider, steady pacer, pack leader
Chris = PCS strong rider, pack leader
Me = PCS strong rider, do what he is told
Gym John = He did the HBF bike hike and was the older guy at the finishing line catching his breath.
Charlie = strong sprinter, loves being at the front of the pack
Peter... on the way to Lancelin he forgot his shoes so he had to go back, he made it in time for our start.
Bob... he was a last minute member to the team, he was the weaker of his mates and Mal put him in our team.

We discussed our strategy and it was pretty easy straight forward.

Single file move, leader moves to right if he wants to take a break and normal rotation, weaker will be at the back and draft. Sounds easy when we planned it at the car park. As we waited at the start, I was talking to Bob (his name is bob something boblet or i couldn't hear it right while i was riding)

This conversation is from memory so it went along these lines
Me: So you ride much?
Bob: I use to ride a lot
Me: Oh ok
Bob: around 7km round trip
Me: Right, well this is 50km pretty big jump, so you know this has heaps of hills right?
Bob: I try to stay clear of hills.
I am thinking to my self.. HUH? ?_?
Bob: I have done a few of these rides, you?
Me: Started 4 months ago, see how it goes.

The ride

On to the bumpy road, around the bend and there was a hill climb, wow it was a sight to see a lot of teams were struggling up this hill, must be the famous hill that the guys were talking about, but we rode up it like a breeze, hill what hill? Bob who we have never ridden before was struggling, he reminded me my first time climbing up a hill but Bob was strong he kept on powering up it, while I was beside him blocking the side wind and encouraging him like a personal trainer.

Me: "Come on BOB your nearly there, keep those legs moving, Come on buddy!!!"

We were overtaking other teams struggling but as we did we took up the lane and stronger riders were screaming up the hills yelling out "KEEP LEFT KEEP LEFT". I wanted to yell out Shut up and floor it up the hill and leave them to dust, that would keep their mouth shut. But nope, its a team event and we have to work as a team. As Bob tortured him self up the hill we had other teams drafting off us. I can hear in the back ground, "... what you doing?.... im going draft off these guys they owning his hill.." They weren't really drafting but enjoying the wind breaker.

As in most climbs the pack normally breaks up but this is meant to be a "team race" so you go as fast as the slowest rider in your pack. This was shouted out many times by young John as 2-3 stronger riders would just step up the speed. I knew how they felt, just seeing a team ride pass us and knowing you can go faster is frustrating. The hardest thing of all is once we bunch up we pick up the speed and "normally" the guys behind gets pulled along but it didn't really work that well in our case, we will pick up speed and Bob will slowly fall back and your hoping he picks up but we end up doing it all over again, blocking the cross wind and him drafting off me or Chris into the pack.

Once we saw a straight we flew, Bob was tucked in the pack and we just over took so many teams. But as the road slowly became incline Bob just struggled.

I could go on about us catching the Ladies team that was fun, or hammering down the hill we rode up at the start 61kph or Bob losing his drink and nearly hitting me. As we rode towards the finish line we gave honors to Bob and young John told him to ride to the front of the pack because today he completed a grueling hill ride.To the rest of us, its just another nice ride in the country side.

Oh yeah, what I heard a few riders did not carry enough water and just bricked at the finish line, I hope they are fine now.

When we finished we didn't noticed many bikes around the pub, I think we were the 1st few to finish the ride, Group A hasn't finished but I think a lot of teams had mechanical issues (flat tires, people not looking where they going) so there will be a lot of stories to tell from the other teams. But lucky for our team nothing bad happened, good KARMA!! Help a foe and you will be rewarded.

This ride is to our new friend Bob.