so, easter is here already. it kind of crept up on me this year as i thought it was at the end of april. turns out that anzac day is at the end of the monthso we get another short week a bit later. we had a successful ride last week with phil anderson. well some of us did. a bit of bad bike maintenance on my behalf had me stranded out at the base of the hills. i had to call up the family to come and pick me up and now need $300 in parts to repair the damage. it sometimes pays to get a professional like yas to service your bike for you.
after the ride this saturday there will be another kit distribution at the coffeeshop for those that missed out last week. there is also an option for you to collect from my place or alternatively in the city during the week as i work in the central park building. if you need to organisea pickup time, then send me an email.
we still have quite a few of the smaller 650ml drink bottles left as well. they are $10 each and i will bring a few of them to the coffeeshop as well if anybody wants to buy some.
much like the helmet deal, i have been trying to finda standard set of sunglasses for the group. i have not managed to secure a deal with any distributor andactually had a not very nice email exchange with one bloke where he accused me of threatening him. he saw my request for a price match withthe internet as a threat that if he doesn’t supply glasses, then we would buy off the net. that was not the intent, but the opportunity for his brand to be spread across our group was lost on him as he was more worried about losing dollars. most distributors were similar to this so i have sourced a good pair of glasses at a good price. just so i don’t piss off any more shops or distributors, if you are after a new pair of glasses, then drop me an email and i will give you the details. you don’t need to be a member to get these, but we will treat them as the spr standard.
there are a few races/events coming up in april. cyclo-sportif, mountain bike and road racing. keep an eye out on the blog for more info on these events. they should be well supported by spr people, so if you want to get into any of these, then you won’t be on your own.
there has been some talk about adding an intermediate group ride to the thursday morning session as the advanced may be too fast and the transitional too slow. there has also been some issues with the tuesday morning ride being too fast some weeks as the advanced riders set the pace. what i am proposing is that on both tuesday and thursday morning we have all three groups start under the narrows and you can decide which group you want to ride with. the advanced starts first then a minute or two later the intermediate and then the transitional. the route would be the same for each group on tuesday (mosman park hill) and thursday (cott & freo) so if you dropped off the back, you could be swept up by the next group. these would be self managed groups but all abiding by a set of guidelines that determined how fast etc that each group should go. any feedback would be appreciated.
there has been quite a bit of chatter on the comments section after the ride write ups. there have been issues with the intermediate group being too big and now the transitional group is getting both too big and too fast for some. the aim of the transitional group is to teach people how to ride properly in a group situation. once people can do this and have increased fitness, then they should move up to the next group rather than try to drag the whole group along with them. the gap between the transitional group and the intermediate group as been quite large and as such i think that some people have been reluctant in taking that step. starting this week, we will have a 5th group ride leaving the carpark. this group will follow the same course as the intermediates, but start a few minutes later to keep them separated. this group will be made up of those that are struggling to keep up with the intermediate group and those that are now too fast for the transitional group. the aim will be to start the first intermediate group (usually the faster regulars and some advanced guys looking for and easier ride) to head off first. we then set off all the other groups and then send the second intermediate group off last. if by chance they do catch the first group at a set of lights etc, then they should stay separate and allow the first group to get away. we will see how we go, but i will need some people to step up and take control of that group for me. let me know if you want to help out.
with so many groups now, i am wondering if we need some name changes. i am tempted to go back to group 1, group 2 etc, unless i get some better ideas. feedback to the comments section please. at the very least i need a new name for the new transitional/intermediate group….transmediate???
the ride routes for this week also include the two public holidays rides on friday and monday. as previously indicated, jonny will be looking after the friday ride, but hopefully, i should be there for monday. as for the weekend, i have heard people asking if there were rides on over easter weekend. generally the weekend rides will always be on except for if christmas day falls on a saturday or sunday. even then i would expect that there may be a few people that still turn up.
as for this weekend, have a look at the routes below so you know where you are headed. the transitional group on sunday will alternate each week with a hill one week and a flat ride the next. this week there will be a slight deviation as they follow the other groups until the split at brookton hwy.
see you out on the road.
friday 2nd apr- all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
intermediate – spr public holiday 59.35km (shelley & freo)
saturday 3rd apr- all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
novice – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)
transitional – spr saturday 40.77km (risley & leach & cott)
intermediate 1 & 2 – spr saturday 50.97km (river ride)
advanced – spr saturday 55.76km (shelley & mosman park)
sunday 4th apr- all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
transitional – spr sunday 76.57km (armadale & canningvale) (follow the adv group to brookton hwy)
intermediate – spr sunday 82.79km (brookton & weir rd)
advanced – spr sunday 96.36km (patterson & canns & urch)
monday 5th apr- all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
intermediate – spr public holiday 59.35km (shelley & freo)
Peter, I am away this weekend earning family brownie points and hence cannot ‘lead’ one of the intermediate rides, but i hope to be back next weekend (unfit)
With regard to ride groups names, I definitely agree that new names are needed. I kinda like the idea of using animal names – say, the rabbits, kangaroos and the cheetahs, but think it wouldn’t be hard to improve on these suggestions. All sorts of parallel concepts could be considered – eg the Geminis, the Kingswoods and the Monaros, or the Pidgeons, Swallows and Hawks -and so on. I’m guessing this could generate quite a bit of discussion…
wolverines
Thanks Pete. For those coming on the transition ride, there won’t be any hard sections till we get to Nedlands and onto Jutland Parade and then onto Birdwood Parade (I never knew it was called that). The finish will be a little bus stop on the left at the end of a small rise. I’ve added an excellent photo showing this on the last week’s ride report so check it out. We’ll regroup along the Avenue and then ride tempo to coffee. I’m going hang at the back this week so I’ll let you guys set the tempo the whole way round and we’ll see how we go.
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well I am confused with the intermedite/ transitional/ novice/ advance- personally Group 1-5 sounds easy, one being the quickest and 5 the slower novice group…???
Just a suggestion, instead of naming the usual boring Group 1 , Group 2, Group 3 etc. How about implementing a language thats fun yet includes numbers?
eg; Spanish ; 1- uno ,2- dos, 3- tres …
German ; 1- eins,2- zwei,3- drei …
Italian ; 1- ena, 2- duo, 3- tria …
Just a though to spice things up
Well maybe they could be rated as to their intensity, duration and creativeness……… The Karma-sutra has some suggestions. Foreplay (novice) …..Missionary (transitional)….you get the idea…
As you were.
Awesome concept Kimbo! can’t wait for the transition beyond missionary.. just one problem though… we’re still stuck with super advanced solo at the top…
Good suggestion Kimbo but what if we want more than three groups??
I have a feeling there are a fair few super advanced soloists out there…
Ok some name suggestions. I think the names should be self explainatory to anybody, new or experinced with the group. They should describe what you are about to get if you go on that ride. Therefore my suggestions are:
Fast Group – because that is what you can expect, a fast ride but not necessarily lots of riders.
Main Group (Main Group 1, Main Group 2 etc if needed) as you will be riding not as fast a the “Fast Group” but it is likely you will be in a big bunch and you need to respect the main groups objectives for the ride. Most of the Saturday riders lately seem to fall into this group – hence “Main” group.
Transistion Group – is exactly what it says. A transistion into faster, bigger rides. It (should) aim to prepare you mentally, physically and with the skills to ride with the bulk of the SPR riders.
Development Group rather than ‘novice’. The idea is to develop skills on the bike to make it more enjoyable and safer for them and for others. It allows new inexperinced people to join and acquire skills.
This allows a natural progression for those that want to challenge themselves, but similarly there is no reason why anybody has to move up a group if that person is getting what they want out of their current group and they are ridding within the expectations of that group.
Russell
um…”transistion”? perhaps “Transition” 🙂
@Kimbo: nice in theory. how though do you explain to your work mates you were riding with the “Tigress” today because you found the “Suspended Congress” too much hard work?
ha this is funny guys; loving the creative suggestions. As for the practical ones; I like main group, less confusing between the transitional and intermediate. The main group is not so intermediate, it’s more like advanced riders going slower. The term fast group is good for this same reason, coz not everyone going faster is necessarily more advanced 😉
Nicole, we are all advanced. we just go different speeds 😉
I like Russell’s ideas – it’s more descriptive and helps newbies decide where they want to be. will there be a Seriously Fast Group?
What about a ‘seriously good looking’ group, no set speed just a group where people come to compare who’s socks are whiter, who’s tan lines are crisper, who’s calf muscles are most pronounced…
I’m with Russell (and Nicole – apart from the “sgl” or euro-pro group). The names should be descriptive, as Raphael suggests, for newer riders making the decision as to where they fit into the SPR ride spectrum on any given day.
The “main group” (followed by numbers) works well in a traditional sense as this bunch seems to reflect the mix of our original ride i.e. back in the days when there was just one and we all stayed together apart from the end and a couple of fast sections when we regrouped.
“Development group” also works well if we start to get some young riders/children who want to spend time with their cycling parents coming along. Kate Bonner seemed to enjoy herself this morning.