As you may have guessed from the title I had the chance to ride with South West Cycle Club over the long weekend.

Despite being a former Bunbury resident I knew I had my work cut out for me when I rolled in to the start wearing my SPR kit and was suddenly swamped by 30-40 Jaffas (SWCC riders). If I was a little smarter I would have worn a different kit, but I thought I’d try to be obvious in my recon work.

To keep things short here are my findings in no particular order:

1. There is someone just like our Prez Pete in SWCC, except a female version and better looking.
2. The Jaffas are extremely welcoming, immediately spotting the newbie and making themselves known.
3. The fast ride is a fair bit harder than our fast ride which certainly surprised me. They power up hills as if it was flat and even with re-group points it was a challenging ride, so much so that I got dropped for the first time, and it was only half way through. I’m sure there was a little bit of ‘we’ll show this Kermit what fast is’ mentality, but still it was a tough ride.  
4. SWCC knows how to roll. From start to finish, wherever there was 50m or more of straight they were rolling. This was the biggest difference compared to SPR, where we usually have one or two ridders smashing the front for long periods of time. The rolling actually made it harder for the average rider, as you work the entire time, not just every 20 mins.
5. There was one sprint toward the end of the ride, starting at the top of a hill. A couple of riders cut off others mid-sprint, but were quickly reminded of what safe sprinting is by the ride leader.  
6. The cafe they stop at is also a Dome, who also seems to like their customers. We moved around 10 tables and they just kept bringing out our coffee with a smile. Perhaps it was because it was their 5^th birthday, or even the country air. Whatever it was I’m hoping out new venue will be the same.

All in all it was a great ride and I’ll definitely be taking my bike down the next time I’m in Bunbury.