last weekend was the final race of the smashfest criterium series and it was good to see that all three grades of the women’s races were well represented.  during the week hall cycle training put on an open training sessions for women to come along and try.  there has been a bit of a resurgence in women’s cycling over the last couple of years and it is good to see that it continues to grow.  there are many women that ride, you see them all the time commuting or just riding around the river.  they have all the gear and ride lots during the week, so what is stopping them joining an organised club.  often large groups and training rides seem intimidating to the uninitiated.  however, you all know better after being in the club a while.  if you know of any women that ride but don’t feel confident to try it out in a group, invite them along to the saturday ride.  sometimes it just takes a bit of encouragement.  it took our own amanda nabi over a month and a number of back and forth emails before she had the confidence to come out with us.

ride leaders – it is in the clubs best interest to develop new riders so that they ride in a safe manner.  put your name down here to ensure the club grows to its potential.  being the holidays, some of the regulars may be away, here is a chance for you to have a go at leading a group.  the club needs you even more to represent it in ensuring the ride etiquette is followed.

memberships – on the 31st dec 2013 we hit a maximum of 430 club members.  the next day i checked and we had lost 184 down to 244.  as of today we are back to 300.   there are basically 2 types of memberships, recreational and racing.  the rec licences are on a rolling 3 monthly year and expire depending on which quarter you bought it in.  race licences, however, expire at the end of the calendar year.  don’t forget to renew your licence so you can belong to the club.  and you kind of need it if you want to race.  check your licence card for your expiry date.  more info on memberships can be found here.

bike skills course – check out the previous post about the bike skills course being held in feb.  also checkout the testimonials in the comments of that post for some great feedback.

ride routes – although it is going to be hot this weekend, the sunday rides have been scheduled in as usual for a 7am start.  as some people don’t always read the blog and the rides have always been at 7am it is easier to keep them starting at that time.  if you are after a longer sunday, then the earlybird ride gives you a good 50kms before the hills.  you then have the option to just do the short hills instead.  to account for the hot day, the ride route for sunday stays fairly close to kalamunda (which is usually 5 deg cooler than perth) so you can opt out at any time.  regardless of the time the ride starts, make sure that you are prepared with water and food.

saturday 18th january

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 shelley 40.59km spr saturday

 fast & main groups – maddington 51.87km spr saturday

sunday 19th january

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 – kal goose 67.63km spr sunday

long – kal obs goose 97.40km spr sunday