april fools day tomorrow. my favourite quote for this occasion comes from the simpsons where homer says to bart “you couldn’t fool me on the fooliest day of your life if you had an electric fooling machine”. bart then goes and puts a can of beer in a paint shaker before putting it back in the fridge. actually, i am more likely to remember april fools day because it is my mum’s birthday. regardless, come out on the april fool’s earlybird ride and everyone will think you are a fool riding around at 5:30am. see you there.
club kit – a few left to pick up. email me to organise a time.
spr/rccc club crit – this is the final crit that we will be running this season. as such it is the final chance for you to give racing a go in a relatively easy environment. if you get dropped here, there is not 50kms for you to ride home by yourself. as in the previous post, we need volunteers for this to finish off the year. if you haven’t helped out before, come along and do your bit for the club. more info here.
easter camp – this is coming up soon. click on the link on the right sidebar for more info and register your interest in the comments. first pass itinerary can be found here.
ride routes – nothing too outstanding this week except that there is no hills ride scheduled as the club crits are on.
saturday 2nd april
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – spr earlybird ride
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)
transitional 1 – spr saturday 39.81km (shelley & bannister)
fast, main 1, 2 & 3 – spr saturday 54.03km (maddington & welshpool)
sunday 3rd april
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – spr earlybird ride
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
no hills ride on as we have a club criterium on
Sunday (short) hills ride ?? – if anyones interested, a few of us have arranged to meet usual Sunday time / place for a short hills ride tomorrow – Welshpool & up into Kalamunda via the Wier Road
Not sure where htis comment is going to appear.
I want it to refer to the Saturday ride.
A whole bunch of Fast and MaIn 1 riders invaded the Main 2 ride and proceeded to smash the ride, everybody in it (just about) and take no prisoners. Rolling through at 52kph is not a MaIn 2 activity. The Main 2 ride is established for the benefit of those capable of riding at MaIn 2 speeds.
Those from higher quarters that wish to visit for an easy ride are welcome if they then stay at the pace at which the group is capable of riding. Failing that, how about you stay in your group? There are nice heroes!
@PricklyMoses
a bit of that happened in Main 1, which was spiced up with some Fast group riders. not sure if anyone minded though. you do have a valid point – riders need to respect the group pace and ride safely.
I rode with Main 2 on Sat and had a ball – a really good ride with good roll throughs and several sharing the effort on the front.
Wasn’t aware that there were any ‘invaders’ from other groups apart from a couple who rode the whole ride & were taking it easy in prep for the Sunday Crits . . . thought that that pace was perfect for M2. My average up to the top of the hill on Sheparton was 31.5 and after an ‘enthusiastic’ effort along Riverside Dv finished at 32. Didn’t believe that the pace was really much above M2 normal – in fact we were tailed for 3/4 of the way round by Main 3 who were at times only 50 meters behind (perfect as it allowed 4 riders new to M2 and who were suffering a little at the end, to sit back with M3). Apparently we had a split in M2 somewhere on Shepparton when the front half finally found a green traffic light and the back half didn’t – but then we mostly re-grouped at the next red light by the Causeway . . . at which point a certain well known sprinter gapped the pack with the assistance of a red Vespa . . . . . And of course the final upping of the pace along Riverside Drive stretched the group out again. Nice ride guys.
Josh and I dropped in on the M2 bunch after missing our normal bunch due to having to swap out a wheel at the last minute. But we sat at the back and chatted most of the way. I personally spent a large portion of the ride drafting dropped riders back onto the bunch and physically pushing people up hills. I just managed to bring a dropped group of 3 back to the bunch as we hit the causeway and then yes, as a treat to myself for being a good sweeper, I jumped on the Vespa!
If the ride was faster than normal it was not our doing, well not that I’m aware of anyway. In general there seemed to be some discontent about the frequency of the red lights, but aside from that nobody seemed to be grumbling too much.
Perhaps there are a few people hitting form in the M2 group that might be lifting the group pace overall. Perhaps a few promotions are due?
Unofficial Sunday hills ride – very pleasant and relaxed with the Flying F streaking ahead up Welshpool and again into Kallamunda. 13 starters and 10 made it to coffee – group split to go home with half zig-zagging to the north and the other Welshpooling back south. One puncture near the end and more than 10 bits of glass were found in the tyre – guessing that most were inserted over many previous rides and slowly working their way through . . . . its always worth checking tyres in the luxury of one’s shed rather than fixing a flat out on the road.
The Main 2 ride on Saturday was great, no faster than usual ( I thought), and no bigger split than usual when the pace picked up in the last km’s. Many thanks to the “sweeping invaders” for joining us and helping riders out. I love the fact the club has so many groups, meaning everyone can choose the group and pace that suits their needs on the day.
I usually ride with Main 1 and hopped onto Main 2’s saturday ride just before Warton road after assiting my brother who’s chain broke/lost its joining link. To be honest I thought the speed could of been quicker however I was happy to sit in. The speed was always going to be 35km/h+ once we came off the false flat and onto welshpool road.