so last saturday a mate of mine from work (he sits in the next office) was out riding with the canning vale cycling group (formally cyclebuzz).  he hasn’t been riding long and i have been trying to get him out with us, but he lives closer to that group.  anyway, they are coming through shelley and taking that last sweeping turn before the end when a totally freak accident happens.  if you remember last saturday ride, it was quite windy (we did abernathy), and as they passed under some trees, a branch blew out and went straight through his front wheel.  now you can see the damage and even though this wasn’t the “fast” group, they would have been setting a decent pace.  his wheel instantly disappeared from under him and he went straight into the road.  i won’t post the pics on here, but it looked like his face took the brunt of the impact.  a broken nose, 11 stitches in his face and lots and lots of road rash.  basically i can’t see him shaving for a while and he is still not back at work. anyway, this is a freak accident and there is not much you can do about it.  this morning, however, on the thursday main group ride, there was an accident where kizzi came down pretty hard.  we were rolling through on burke drive and suddenly the left line slowed dramatically.  by the time this motion reached 15 bikes back, there was no room to move and she hit the deck.  now i was in the middle so didn’t see exactly what happened, but it was either of two things.  we were coming up to a slow rider on the road and instead of overtaking, the left lane just slowed, or after rolling through, someone died and just stopped pedaling.  either way, the actions of someone at the front of the group caused an accident at the back.  when you are riding in a group, you must be aware of what the entire group is doing.  going too fast or too slow or too erratic is going to cause accidents.  don’t be the reason why we have to call an ambulance.  there is no shame in having to pull out of a roll through.  it is better to drop to the back and sit on then try to be a hero and disrupt the flow.

water tower volunteers – we need a few more volunteers for our water tower challenge to enable it to run properly.  please sign up on the volunteer page if you can help out.  it is not very strenuous, mostly sitting around waiting for teams to arrive, then handing out food and checking them off the list.

water tower challenge – the event page is up and running and registration is open.  more info on the event page but this event is aimed at challenging any riders in our club.  get a team together and register now.

body genius presentation – next week after the saturday ride (22nd) there will be a special presentation at the cafe by steve from body genius. he has been helping jen for a while now so they have organised a presentation so our members can see what is on offer.  please hang around after the ride to listen to the presentation and ask any questions of steve.

ride routes – last chance training before the water tower challenge, especially for those doing the imperial challenge.  make hay while the sun shines.

saturday 15th september

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 – spr saturday 41.18km (reverse river ride)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 50.98km (benara rd)

sunday 16th september

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) follow the long course to welshpool

long – spr sunday 101.86km (welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda)