i think it will be cold this weekend.  so the last few days of the tour and i am sensing only a marginal improvement on last year.  there has not been the dominance of the sky team, but there has been the dominance of the sky rider.  i have been quite vocal in my suspicions of just how clean froome is and i think that after lance, every exceptional performance will be under the spot light.  however, should we be giving everyone the benefit of the doubt?  is there room for honest hard work and gains, or do we see every winner as a potential cheat? as darth vader once said “i find your lack of faith disturbing”.  i think the main problem is that as cyclists we like to see our hero’s suffer.  we know how much it hurts to ride fast and i don’t think people would mind froome winning if he at least looks like it hurt a bit.  it was refreshing to see riche porte not be able to back up the first mountain day after such a strong ride.  however, i will let you all make up your own mind…

spr riders on other rides – i received a very irate email this week from a pedestrian who was almost knocked over by some of our riders on a dual use path.  it happened at the end of shelley on saturday in that little section of path that we take to get onto fern road.  last saturday, however, all our rides were out on abernathy road and didn’t go along shelley.  it seems that some spr riders were out on another ride and they were identified within the group not taking care on the path.  i have no idea which group it was and how many other riders were involved, but spr riders were identified and hence i cope an email.  we have some pretty strict rules in place on our rides around how the group acts and where we ride.  a lot of other groups do not have any organisation at all except people just know where to meet and the ride route.  this usually means that no-one takes responsibility for the group’s actions.  unfortunately, when our riders are in these groups, we all get tarred with the same brush.  from a clubs perspective regardless of which ride you are on, if you are wearing the kit, you are representing the club.  please bear this in mind and think about how you are representing, not only the club, but cycling in general.

raffle tickets – toby will be selling raffle tickets to raise money for the DOME team to go race in east java.  they will be available at the coffeeshop this weekend and will be drawn at the tony lendrum cycling photo exhibition.  for just $10 you can win a pair of carbon clincher wheels from nero bike. check out the flyer for more info.

ride leaders – thanks to those that have volunteered to be ride leaders this week.  we have lots of spots left that are just begging for you to put your name down in.  see the previous post for more details or sign up here.  please help out the club and volunteer your time.  if we can get a few weeks filled in advance it is going to lessen the need for me to be constantly nagging you.

ride routes – the maddington route has parts that are fairly new and we have only done it this way once before.  make sure you have a look at the route so you know the way.  once we hit canningvale, it is the same, but the approach is a bit more convoluted.  i still need to remap the sunday short course routes onto garmin.  it is on my to do list, so sorry if it is causing anyone a problem.

saturday 20th july

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans mosman 40.39km spr saturday

fast & main groups – maddington 51.87km spr saturday

sunday 21st july

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 70.93km (kahuna)

long – khna can mills 94.55km spr sunday