The Gila Monster 300km Brevet

I arrived in Arizona on Wednesday hoping the last few weeks of indoor training were going to cut it for the “Monster”.  Paul Anderson, Mike Healy and Trev all arrived on Friday and we convened at the Best Western in Casa Grande.  My friend Jim Smith who would be spending the following week in the desert with me also joined us.  Jim had no plans on doing the event but would start with the group and return when he hit the 50km mark for a 100km day.  I have had the pleasure of riding with Mike on a few brevets last year and although I find him a man of few words one can’t say he isn’t spontaneous.  The Monday before the event Trev announced in one of the training sessions held at his studio that he would be joining me for the 300; flying out Friday and coming back Sunday then put the course profile up for the class.  Mike took one look and said “I’m in.  See you Friday night”.

After a breakfast at Denny’s, (the only place we can get enough food into Trev in a reasonable short period of time), where we received the hotel and the seniors’ discount, oh ya, big money savings when you’re my age, we headed to the start in Coolidge. 

A great turnout of 46 riders on a beautiful day, at least from our perspective. Paul Layton would be the trail boss and we would see him often throughout the ride.  Carlton Van Leuven’s family was providing support at the controls throughout the ride and did an amazing job for the riders. 

Paul and Stephen Cresting Gonzales Pass

The ride starts on a long 50km gentle grind so things strung out fairly quickly. The night before the ride we talked about actually riding with the hard men and women of Arizona on this ride, ok most of the discussion was directed at Trev, we needed him to behave for the first 150km of the ride.  Surprisingly he actually settled in and we had a good pace-line of 15 riders rolling down the road.   Actually, Paul and I needed to dial it back bit, after one pull Steve Atkins muttered something about trying to kill them, in a friendly kind of way.  This didn’t last long as Trev flatted after a pull and asked that it be passed up the line. Paul and I were wheel two and three after Trev and never got the message so after our pulls we realized Trev wasn’t with us and were then told he had a flat.  We turned around and headed back down the road looking for him.  We finally connected with him and then realized we lost track of Mike.  We were fairly confident he was up in the group so the hard work of the chase commenced.  It took us an hour and it might have been longer if there hadn’t been a control at the junction.  Amazing how much distance a group working together can cover.

Paul Cresting the Monster

We were quick at the control as riders were drifting out as the road got a lot steeper heading into Oracle.  It was at the control that we realized that Mike was not with the lead group and must be back down the road.  We elected to press on were not worried about Mike.  Now we were into our kind of climbing and the three of us worked well together moving up the road. 

Tire Change

Great road and scenery with the temperature getting a tad chilly on the decent down from Oracle.  Trev said he could see the goose bumps on my legs two-bike lengths back.   It was then my turn to have a flat and with my poor tire change we were stopped a short time later dealing with another one.   A few riders came by with Steve and Tom slowing up to make sure we were ok.  There were a half dozen of us at the Winkleman control where we were treated to a gourmet feast by the Van Leuven family.  I should have passed on the pickle as we were to hit the Gila monster climb shortly after the control.  We made good time over a few good size rollers then hit the climb.  Trev pulled away as he ended up standing pretty much the whole 12km’s, that’s what happens when
your running an 11-21, I suffered and actually whined a little on the final 14% pitch.  Trev was waiting for us at the top with Paul pulling around me for the final 5-meter push to the summit.  Paul would ride steady and hard all day, some of the best riding I’ve seen him do in some time.  Our jackets came on and we started the descent into superior where we met Paul L at an unofficial stop.  We were able to water and fuel up then pounded towards the out and back turnaround with one course correction along the way.  Roger and Toby arrived at Basha’s store as we were heading out for the final push home.  Trev had a small “all contact point” meltdown in Florence but he re-grouped and we pushed home to finish three minutes before sunset completing the 303km’s in 10 hours and 57 minutes.  We were off the bike for 1 hour including flats and traveled slightly over 30km/hr. while moving.  We were met by Paul L at the finish who had cold drinks and warm pizza for us, a real class act.

Heading to the Finish

Now we worried about Mike.  I neglected to bring a change of clothes, which was rectified at the Walmart.  Paul and Trev were highly influential in choosing my attire.   We tracked Mike down an hour back on the course; he was in great spirits and riding well.  After a beer at the local bar in Florence where my new attire was warmly received we headed to the finish to welcome Mike.

Oh and Jim, he ended up riding 160km, there were no services at the 50km mark, I kind of knew that J

Ready for the night life

January 25, 2014 - Ride Report in Pictures

Ah yes, nice mild Saturday afternoon in January

10 of us made it out today for about 3 hours riding

We stayed together for the most part

Lots of riders out today

2014 Club Registration is LIVE !

Team, the link for the 2014 Club Registration is now live!

We will be announcing when the AGM / Party will be soon, as well as our first round of clothing orders.

For now, register for the team so you are up to date when with AGM and clothing orders come.

Trev

Melbourne Road Bike Tour

It’s 5:58 am and I’m pedalling towards a twinkling cluster of red lights stopped in the distance, like an almond-shaped Christmas tree on its side. I arrive at the back of the group, and in the brightening twilight I see about 60 riders, some in green/yellow Australian national team kit – possibly here for a cool-down ride from road nationals the day before in nearby Ballarat. The forecast high for today is 41 C, so any long rides would need to start now.

A few of the riders look curiously at me in my team skinsuit and my rented road bike festooned with more wheel and frame reflectors than a kid’s bike from Canadian Tire. I ask the guy beside me how long the ride is today. He’s distracted and vaguely irritated, like someone trying to concentrate before the start of a big race. Then I realize nobody else is talking - no idle chit-chat. These guys are here to ride.

I look at my watch: 5:59 am. A few moments later, somebody’s watch alarm goes off - and like a race start whistle - everybody clips in. No waiting for stragglers in this group. The pace ramps smoothly until I feel like I am hitting the red zone. I look down: 49 km/h on level ground with no wind. It was my worst nightmare come true – I was riding with 60 other Trev Williams’s.

The initial section of the route takes us South from Melbourne on the Nepean Highway, a major artery complete with traffic lights and intersections, similar to Macleod Trail in Calgary. At this time of day there is little traffic in our direction, as the bulk of the traffic is heading North towards Melbourne. We approach a traffic light and it turns yellow. Several riders yell “rolling!” and we continue through, at nearly the posted speed limit.

At the next intersection, one of the front riders barks “Light!” as it turns yellow within 20 metres of our approach. I tense up and grab my brakes to avoid colliding with the rider stopping in front of me, instinctively squeezing harder with my left hand for maximum stopping power. My rear wheel locks up and squirms, because of course the front and rear hand brakes are reversed in Australia. After that event, riders leave a bit more space around me.

After only 10 minutes (and already 8 km) in the red zone, I start fading to the back of the group, and then I was alone. But that’s ok, because I soon find out that there are literally *thousands* of riders out every morning, so you will always find a group riding at your speed.

I reach the turnaround point at Mordialloc, and continue back North to Melbourne on Beach Road. Beach road, as the name suggests, follows the beachline with breathtaking ocean views. It has fewer traffic lights and has good pavement, but it does have a number of parked cars, pedestrians crossing over to the beach, and curb bulbs. As I travel north, I see countless groups of riders heading south in the other direction. Some are tightly-formed teams of 20-50 riders in full matching team kit, while others are a mix of teams like the group I’m riding back with. Got tri bars? No problem. I saw groups of 10-15 riders with tri bars riding together like they were pros. Actually... they probably *were* pros.

The entire scene is hard to comprehend. Imagine all of Canada’s road bike riders, on one road from 6 to 8 am, every day of the week. The entire left lane (curb lane) of the road in both directions is completely occupied with groups of riders like it was a tightly-bunched road race, except it’s not a road race – just a normal weekday morning with rush hour traffic.

It's ok to ride 2-up in Australia, but you can't turn on a red light. Riders actually follow the rules of the road here.

Having so many riders clog the roads has certain side effects. You don’t wave at passing riders like you do in Canada. That would be like being in a car and waving at other motorists. Also, don’t expect people to ask you if you need help. After I double-flatted on some broken glass, replaced my front tube and rode nearly 10 km to the nearest bike shop on my flatted rear aluminum rim (it’s a rental bike) in the rising 36 C heat, nobody – not one person – asked if I needed help. If you need help, you gotta ask for it.

After spending a week in Melbourne, it’s no surprise why Australia cranks out so many good road riders. If you get a chance, you should really check it out.

Good to be out on the road

Dan, Rob, Glenn and I got out for a nice ride this morning in the Springbank area. A little chilly at the start and it warmed up nicely, not much wind. Let's hope it's the start of the riding season!

I think Harley had a ride going in the NW as well.

Ride Saturday Jan 18, 2014 - Details posted in training ride forum

Maybe we can get out for a couple of hours on Saturday for a ride. I'll update this post later in the week.

Saguaro Lake 200km Brevet

You should have seen them on Maderia the next day!

It’s that time of year when a few Speed Theory members, friends and family head to Arizona and put their very early fitness to a test with the hard men and women of the Arizona Randonneurs.  I arrived in Tucson Boxing-Day 2013 with Paul and Trev showing up on December 31^st just in time to party for New Years.  It just so happened that my three daughters and wife Elaine were in town which lead to a much more aggressive New Year’s Eve celebration than originally planned.  Let’s just say that we could confidently out ride the three twenty-year-old girls but we were no match on the party front.  This made for a very tough 120km ride to Maderia Canyon the next day.  We felt better on the 100km Kitts peak ride the following day and had fully recovered for out Gates/Star pass ride on the Friday before we headed up to Scottsdale. 

Packed for the trip to Scottsdale

After a big breakfast we headed over to the start and were welcomed by Carlton and Mike at sign-in. I had the great pleasure of riding with Mike on my Ontario 1200km brevet last year and have ridden with Carlton, one tough bastard, on a number of the AZ events in the past.  Unfortunately they had pre-road the course and were the key organizers on the event and therefore would not be riding with us.   It was warmer than expected; no long gloves required and we headed off with the other sixty riders at 7:30AM sharp.

There were a number of familiar faces from previous AZ Rando rides; Steve Atkins, Roger Peskett, Dick Wiss and Tom Baker but to name a few.  Another Canadian rider from Vancouver, Steve Barbauk introduced himself at the start-line and looked like another welcome addition to the Canadian train although a mix-up at the first control had him chasing all day.  There was another Canadian connection at the start; we noticed a rider on a bike made by local Calgary company Cycles Toussaint the rider was from the Sedona Arizona area.  

Stephen and Trev cruising down Dynamite Rd.

The pace was fairly reasonable off the start with fifteen or so riders separating from the main group.  With the first hills on Dynamite road the intensity went up or I should say Trev brought the intensity up and things came apart.  As we came to the first control we were waved into the Shell station to have our card signed while unbeknownst to us others had their card signed by the volunteer on the road.  We were in and out of the control in a heartbeat with young Daniele joining us but no Steve B.  Apparently Steve got mixed up in a group of riders that weren’t in the event and we were long gone by the time he realized his mistake.   To our surprise we could see three riders down the road. We thought that we had gotten sloppy at the control and missed rolling out with these guys.   We worked hard and it took quite some time to bridge.  Not surprising, as Steve A. and Roger were in the group with Kurt (the bulldog) Smith a new rider to us who would garner our respect through out the ride.   Trev rolled right by the riders with a few pleasantries then we were off with Kurt leaving his group and jumping in with us.  

As we hit the longer hills in the Saguaro Lake area young Daniel dropped off and even though we would drop Kurt on the hills he always turned up a short time later.  Kurt had local knowledge as he trained in this area and was able to give us local colour commentary.  We thoroughly enjoyed the scenery in and around this part of the ride.  Although we had coupons for lunch at the Subway Control we elected to skip the wait and keep rolling.  Trev had one of his hardest pulls after this control and I looked forward to my turn up front so I could rest.  I believe I also muttered a few unkind words.    We then hit my kind of hills, long and steady, so up front I went where I stayed for the duration of the major remaining climbs.  Trev then did another massive pull on the downhill and through a number of rollers, which saw Paul flagging a little from poor nutrition.   We weren’t far from the last control and once Paul was fueled up (V8 juice, who would have thought) he was back and bad.  We would see Kurt the last time at this control as he rolled in just as we were leaving.  We pounded back to the finish having to keep a keen eye on the navigation and unfortunately stop at a lot of stoplights.  We couldn’t buy a green light. 

We rolled into the finish in 6:57 having travel 206 km’s, climbed 1,863 meters at an average moving speed of 31.6km/h with 26 minutes off the bike or stopped.  All of this under beautiful Arizona blue skies on a well-organized brevet.

Just because we could we put in another 90km day out to Bartlett Lake and back the following day.  Very beautiful ride with lots of climbing, legs are officially baked.

This was the first event organized by Carlton van Leuven as the RUSA Regional Brevet Administrator and it came off flawlessly.  It appears that the mantle has been passed from Susan Plonsky into very capable hands. 

2014 Registered Members

2014 STC Members!

Susan	Emerson
Darlene	Forestell
Sarah Andrea	Foster Hansen
Emily	Jobson
Jennifer	Joss
Marie	Michalski
Lisa Tiffany	Oldridge Painton
Wendy	Powell
Erin	Ruttan
Tanya	Salomon
Marilyn	Taylor
Jenn Ashley Janet	Turcott Vrielink Watson
Dan	Alboiu
Paul	Anderson
Jay	Bachman
David	Baker
Brian	Banderk
Dave	Banderk
Blake	Bartlett
Daryl Suchaet	Beatty Bhardwaj
Dennis	Bland
Harley	Borlee
Charles	Bougie
Scott	Bratt
Patrick	Brick
Chris Paul	Brignall Connolly
Ernie	Cosman
Ken	Crockett
Rob	Crooks
Chris	Devries
Ken Andrew	Erdman Field
Justin	Fortner
Jean Steve	Garez Glavac
Jared Darcy	Green Gullacher
Mike	Healy
Keith	Ingstrup
Derek Chuck	Jobson Johnstone
Matthew Stephen Tom	Joss Kenny Kenny
Jeremy	Kitson
Mike Randy Hal	Kohl Koroluk Kuntze
Carl	Lapointe
Erik	Loewen
Jeremy	Luntley
Kevin	Mcclelland
Peter	Mccrory
Mark	Michalski
Carl	Miiller
Kevin	Noble
Alan	Oickle
John Rob	Olsen Ordman
Darryl	Parry
Andres Clarence Spencer	Perdomo Poon Pootz
Adam Michael Dan Greg	Pugh Rannelli Sigouin Soltys
Simon	Spanswick
Kevin Francis	Stenner Sutherland
James Brent	Szarko Thumlert
Klaus Charl Steve	Vencovsky Volsteedt Waters
Nelson	Whitmore
Trev	Williams
Todd	Wilson
Bob Frank	Woodward Woolstencroft
Adam CX Erik Tim	Zinatelli Members Cramer Ryan