i was driving home the other day and came across a cyclist as i was approaching a roundabout. he wasn’t right at it, but i slowed down to let him in as the bike lane just disappears. in my rear view mirror i now have this 60+ yr old male in a rather large 4wd right up close behind me. he proceeds to blow his horn at me, because i have slowed him down. i wave at him (not using all my fingers) and he waves back (in kind). the cyclists gets through the roundabout and the bike lane resumes. the 4wd follows me around the corner and then starts to weave around and come close behind. you know, just to show how tough he is. within a block we are at a set of lights at which we both have to stop. i estimate that to give the cyclist a bit of space cost us about 6-7 sec. the result is we both stopped at the lights anyway. he would not have made it through the lights if we didn’t wait as they had been red for a while. why do people think that their 7 sec “inconvenience” is more important than the health and well being of another person. the photos on today’s post are from tony lendrum’s “beyond the bike” project. this is meant to show that cyclists are not just vermin or arrogant lycra clad road hogs, but real people with real lives. when on the road and secure in their own steel cocoon, people tend to be inconsiderate to everyone else, not just cyclists. we are just an easy target as we are slow and don’t pay rego (blah, blah, blah). laws are a good place to start, but it is really reeducation and culture change that needs to happen before we see any real change on the road. in the meantime, tony is doing a third sitting for his project, so if you are free on sunday, drop into the city with your bike and get your photo taken. at the very least, you get an awesome photo of you with your bike. more info on the facebook event site.
ride leader sponsor – the ride leader for february is Concept Music. owned by spr member graham hoskin’s Concept Music is one of the premier musical instrument shops in Perth. please see the previous post for further details about what he sells and his contact details.
future ride leader sponsors – after going through the finances for 2015, a bit of creative accounting has allowed us to reduce the sponsor fee to $250 per month. we thank last years sponsors for their contribution which has allowed us to setup this program. if anyone out there has a business that they would like to promote, get in touch with the club for more information.
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.
uwct training ride –as mentioned in the previous post, there are a more changes that we are making to the uwct training ride. the biggest change is the 6:20am start time for the fast group. on the previous post there is a strava link that you need to check to see if you are in the 6:20am fast or 6:00am main group. second major change is the regroup. at the servo, it doesn’t matter what time you get there, there will be 2 groups leaving at 9:00am and 9:10am. this will split the group up again, to minimise our size on the road for the way home. there is other important info in the previous post, so make sure you have a look if you are coming out.
giro d’perth – if you are after a low key ride to involve family or friends that don’t ride a lot, then the giro d’perth is for you. there are 3 distances and it is more like a treasure hunt than a bike race. it is run by spr member toby hodgson and supported by the club. last year there were over 500 riders in attendance. see the previous post for more details.
spr agm and breakfast – as mentioned in the previous post, our annual general meeting is coming up in march. as stated in our constitution, all committee positions are vacated every year. this was included after seeing some of the older clubs struggle with people in positions of power slowly tearing their clubs apart. now there is nothing to stop the current committee from renominating, but if you are keen to get involved, please put your name forward to our secretary amanda nabi. remember, there are also sub-committee’s that you can be involved in as a first step to helping the club.
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 and the 6th race is renae’s race which is on next weekend. your points for the best 5 races will be used in the final leaderboard. this allows you to have holidays, miss races and still be in the running. more details on the previous post.
ride routes – after a hot and muggy week, it will be good to ride in some nice weather for a change. the change also brings the return of the bEasterly winds, so you will need to ride hard.
saturday 13th february
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 14th february – valentines day
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
uwct training (main) – spr 2016 uwct training course
ride starts at coode st carpark at 6:20am
uwct training (fast) – spr 2016 uwct training course
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
short – brktn weir 82.89km spr sunday
long – carr peet obs 97.72km spr sunday
monday 15th february
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 16th february
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 17th february
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 18th february
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 19th february
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am