it is starting to get light during the morning ride now. it changes the whole complexion of the earlybird ride when you can actually see what is going on around you. the group seems to relax a bit more and we don’t seem to ride in quite a “white knuckle” way. however, this seems to mean that we go faster which is not always the best thing for everyone. be aware of who is on your ride and make sure you keep an eye out on any stragglers. our training rides are a group ride so we must be aware of the whole group. certain rides (sat fast, thurs fast) are designated fast rides, so if you turn up make sure you can hang on. other rides just be aware. the wednesday ride this week was also a bit down on numbers. it is fairly fast, but it is flat, so people can generally hang on. it also starts 1/2 hour later, so you get a “sleep-in”. see you there.
belgium riders – well the raffle has been drawn (see previous post) and the winners and redraw winners will receive their prizes soon. the raffle was a pretty good success even in a short time frame we managed to sell 228 tickets. combined with the tour tipping money we managed to raise over $2000 for the belgium boys. they are heading off on saturday so we wish them all the best and hope their race goes well. if they can bring home a rainbow jersey or two, even better.
road racing – there are a couple of important road races coming up on the 11th & 18th sept. the first is the dardanup open and the second is the state road championships. we will post more information about each of these races, but i will briefly explain why they are both important. the state road champs is pretty obvious as this is the state title. there is an open, masters and u19 section for both men and women. masters is for the over 35’s so it is a good chance for those of us that don’t want to race against 20 yr olds. the dardanup open has an “a”, “b” and “c” grade event for a mixed field. why this event is important to spr is that it is run by our sister club, south west. we have a very good relationship with south west and we need to support their events as much as we can. to make this a little more exciting the two clubs have agreed on this being the “inter-club championships”. what this means is that in each of the grades, there will be a trophy for the first south perth or south west rider that crosses the line. this will be a perpetual trophy and will be handed over to the winner the following year. after the “c” grade pinjarra race, there has been a little bit of healthy competition between the two clubs and we think that a bit of rivalry will be good for us. so, get on your bike, support south west for organising the event, but also, support spr by kicking the south west riders butts.
spr t-shirt – the design winner was decided on during the week and it will soon be up on the website so we can take orders. just finalising costs and delivery dates, so keep an eye out on the blog for more info.
ride routes – the forecast says that the rain will have passed by saturday morning, so hopefully we get a nice turn out. ewen st for the main ride. i know you love it.
saturday 3rd sept
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 40.72km (mosman park)
fast, main 1, 2 & 3 – spr saturday 50.23km (ewen st)
sunday 4th sept
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – spr earlybird ride
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
short – spr sunday 61.14km (welshpool & weir rd)
long – spr sunday 90.23km (welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd)