twas the night before christmas, when all through the place,
the bikes were all ready for the boxing day race.
the bike bags were placed by the chimney with care,
in hopes that the wiggle order soon would be there.
the bikes were nestled all snug on their racks,
with visions of hill climbing and endless attacks.
and searching online without a real reason,
we’d just settled our brains for the racing off season.
when out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
i sprang from the bed to see whats the matter.
when, what to my wondering eyes should i like,
but a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny bikes.
“now schleck! now sastre! now, contador and froome!
on, evans! on, wiggins! on nibali, go zoom!
so up to the mountain top the climbers they flew,
with the sleigh full of toys, and a jolly man too.
he was dressed all in lycra, from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
a bundle of bike parts he had on his back,
he looked like a commuter, with a massive back-pack.
he was chubby and plump, the lycra stretched tight, and i laughed when i saw him, it didn’t look right.
he spoke not a word, but made a quick start,
and filled all the boxes with shiny bike parts.
he sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whip,
and away they all rode, as the pedals went “clip”.
but i heard him exclaim, as he flew out of sight,
“merry christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”
ride leader sponsor – there are no ride leader sponsors for december.
rules of engagement – please read the previous post if you come out on any of our rides. it is up to all members to enforce these rules.
spr christmas breakfast and awards – this saturday (19th) we will have our annual christmas breakfast and awards. there will be awards, as voted by you, for people the club membership felt had contributed this year. the road rider series awards will be presented for those that raced certain events this year. as well as a special new presidential award for those who the president has felt went above and beyond this year in service to the club. as it is also the final saturday before christmas, this will be the christmas dress-up ride where you are encouraged to decorate yourself and /or you bike. for those of you that are relatively new to the club, yes people actually do dress up for this ride. if you are a bit more conservative, just add some tinsel to your bike. the weather will be a nice mid-20’s so i am expecting the odd full santa suit, some elves and even a reindeer or two. for the breakfast, the cost will be $15 and for that you will get a coffee and access to the buffet table of never-ending treats. see the previous post for further details.
memberships – as the year comes to a close, there are lots of memberships that will also expire. all race licences will come to an end on the 31st dec and some recreational licences will as well. for the race licences, if you renew now, you are covered till the end of dec 2016. you will also need to get this sorted before the crits start on the 9th jan. see the memberships page for links to renew or join.
spr crit champs – as part of the summer crit series, we will also run a spr crit championship. this will again be a points based system given to placings 1 through 10. “a” and “b” grade will be given a difficulty multiplier and a leaderboard will track progress. there are 7 races that we are putting on this year, but your points for the best 5 races will be used. this allows you to have holidays, miss races and still be in the running. more details on the previous post.
ride routes – in the lead up to christmas, there are no real changes to the ride routes. on christmas day there is no official ride, but if any of you without commitments want to ride, then meeting at coode st at 7am is an option, but you can discuss this yourselves. the following week will be filled with multiple public holiday and extra rides to keep your fitness up.
saturday 19th december
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 (christmas dress-up ride)
development group – novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday
transitional – trans canning vale 42.34km spr saturday
fast & main groups – south st 51.23km spr saturday
sunday 20th december
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special
ride starts at coode st carpark at 6:00am
development group – coffee ride
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
short – khna weir 72.23km spr sunday
long – can mills peet obs 90.30km spr sunday
monday 21st december
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
main group – south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 22nd december
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)
ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am
development group – interval training kings park
wednesday 23rd december
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
spr wednesday 14.22km (uci masters)
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
development group – stock road repeats
thursday 24th december
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm
spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)
ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am
development group – interval training kings park
friday 25th december (christmas day)
no official ride, but if you are not doing anything and would like to ride with some others then meet at coode st at 7:00am