for some reason (and i am not sure why) i am doing the great perth bike ride on sunday.  well the one reason is that work are paying for it.  another reason is that it will be 100kms of intensity training.  a bad reason is the high potential for hitting the deck.  i was a bit worried today during the thursday earlybird after riding through the roadworks in claremont.  the road has been chopped by about 2-3 inches and there are potholes nicely placed within it.  then there is the elizabeth quay roadworks,  within the first few hundred metres of the start there are sections of single lane with cones and crap road conditions.  so this is what i am weighing up.  if you see me on the sunday hills ride instead, you know which one won.

early saturday ride – last week i estimate that we had at least 150 riders turn up to the saturday 7am ride.  we split into 8 groups with main 1 and main 2 having to split into two.  the novice group also had a larger than average turn out and needed a bit more support.  so firstly, we are going to need more people to step up and look after the lower groups.  if anyone is racing sunday and they want an easier ride on saturday, then make yourself available to help out.  the newer riders certainly appreciate some help from more experienced riders and in the end it is beneficial to club as a whole to have riders that have been taught correctly.  secondly, one way to reduce the size of the groups is to offer an earlier start time.  that is a 6:30am start and a 7:00am start.  so i am looking for feedback as to whether we should look at putting on a 6:30am ride (for main 1 & 2 only).  the 5:30 earlybird ride will still be on and the 7:00am ride allows people to do both.  the 6:30am ride is just to try to split the group up a bit.  however, similar to the first point, for this to run, we will need more ride leaders and someone to split up and kick off the 6:30am group.  let me know if you think this is a good idea.

track day – still some spots left for the come and try track day this weekend.  more info here.  better hurray up if you want to play.

criterium series – we will be holding our criterium race series again with the rccc.  so far the dates are 09/12, 16/12, 26/01 australia day criterium, 10/02, 24/02, 10/03.  these will be held on the tech park circuit and we will need volunteers to run these events.  however we will also need people to race across all grades, so get training.  more info out soon.

christmas breakfast and ride – the 15th dec will be our christmas breakfast held at DOME after the saturday ride.  our christmas dress-up ride will be on the 22nd (i.e. the last saturday before christmas).  more info here.

ride routes – strava challenge is still on for welshpool road so we will continue to hit that on sunday.  last week, young lawson came out with us and totally smashed the record.  if anything, at least there is the opportunity to get a few PR’s.  there are prizes for the top three male and female riders.  so far there are only 3 women on the leaderboard, so the girls better get a move on if they want a prize.

saturday 24th november

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 41.73km (canning vale reverse)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 51.36km (sth lake)

sunday 25th november

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 91.25km (welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd)