general report by peter

 

so what happened in 2008.

well, simon left us for another hive.  the blog started mainly to let everyone know where we would be riding.  we looked into getting a new kit.  we had a falling out with the bike shop.  we reformed into the rouleurs.  we have had three social breakfasts.  racing has become a big part of our group.  we generally get at least 40 riders to a saturday ride.  the ride has changed to cater for the spread of abilities and to nurture the developing riders.  the hill climbing ability of the sunday group has increased dramatically.  we started a mountain points system for the sunday ride.  lorraine stepped up in a big way helping to organise the breakfasts, get prizes for raffles, organise people for races, and generally did it without asking whether she should.

 

so where are we headed in 2009.

we are doing another run of cycle kit to account for more people joining our group.  we are seriously looking into becoming a cycle club.  we have people actually interested in traveling down to a bike race, on a long weekend, to represent spr.  not changing too much because it seems to be working.  promote the racing side to the current riders.

 

what are our goals for 2009.

to get more people interested in cycling.  to give people a well supported pathway to allow them to take that step from social weekend rider to bike racer.  to become a club and support our racers. 

 

questions for 2009.

do we need to change coffee shops?  should we split into two groups for our saturday ride?  does ryan have any fashion sense on the bike?  how will becoming a club change what we do now?  should we look at developing junior riders?  will james ever shave his legs?

 

comments welcome as it is your group too.

 

 

ride report by peter.

i’m going to have to bullet point the ride today due to time restrictions.

• good turn out with about 40 riders.  some new faces (maybe just to me).  make sure you have a chat with any new guys so they feel welcome.
• lorraine didn’t make it much past angelo st after some dodgy cluster maintenance.
• nice cruisy pace out canning and up risely/murdoch.
• south st smashfest was proudly presented by james and bec (fleet elite) for their efforts to up the pace to beyond my cardio capacity.
• i realised that i had lost quite a bit of fitness over the last couple of weeks when i couldn’t catch up with the front guys on the rolling hills.
• group back together for stock rd and marmion.
• there was a hill so guys just had to go fast.
• back together for freo.  there was even jokes at the lights about keeping the pace easy up to and thru cott.  i said that it was the plan, but do these guys ever really listen.
• once we hit about 45km/h along port beach rd, chris and myself went to the front to slow it back down again.  ryan thought we were attacking so went off the front.
• nice pace thru cott, only to find that there wasn’t much to look at.
• home thru dalkieth and the pace stepped up as usual.
• everyone made a move on the hill and i was in no position to see what was going on.  lack of oxygen has that affect on you.
• regroup at the lights before mounts bay rd and bec asked if i was going to lead her out.  well since i wasn’t going to be sprinting, i thought why not.
• the pace was on from the start when judd took off in true cancellara style.
• it strung out straight away and i ended up about 5^th from the back with bec on my wheel.  i had to move forward and that meant that i was in the wind the whole way.  i didn’t make to the front as when i got close the pace stepped up and i was pretty buggered.  i apologised to bec and told her she was on her own now.  off she sped as the group started it’s sprint.
• up ahead, ryan couldn’t quite catch judd who held on till the end.