it is a long time in the making, but we finally have a club support van. about 18 months ago, an ultimatium was put down to get all the club related stuff out of my garage. there are 3 tents, 2 eskys, flags, sandbags, tables, pretty much everything that we need at an event. the committee has had many a discussion over what to get and we went through many iterations of trailers before finally settling on a van instead. this allows easier access to the club gear (no towbar needed) and also puts our brand out there for all to see. the biggest problem was finding a van that was in our colours :). we have a temporary solution for van storage, but if anyone in the club has a business, etc that has a secure area that we can store the van when not in use, please let me know. when needed, we would arrange to pick up (probably friday) to use over the weekend.
ride leader sponsor – the 
ride leader sponsor for december is Dr7 Physiotherapy and Podiatry. Located within Dr7 Medical Centre in Yokine, their experienced physios, podiatrists and massage therapists provide a wide range of services and treatments to help optimise your health and well-being.
where are we riding today – please have a quick look at this post as there is some important safety info about why we publish ride routes before the weekend.
which group to ride with – if you are unsure about which of the more developmental rides (main 3, , & trannies) to ride with, check out the previous post. we split our saturday rides into specific groups for a reason, and that reason is everyone’s safety. please do not try to make the group ride your own personal time trial, or complain that you had to wait for someone. if you find that you are too strong for that group, then do more work on the front, or hang back and draft stragglers back on. don’t force the entire pace of the ride up and think that you have done a great job of controlling the ride. these are group rides so you have to acknowledge the entire group.
do you think you can sprint – in light of developing a stricter set of standards around the ride leadership that we provide, we have recently had a look at sprinting within our group rides. we certainly encourage people to have a go at certain times, but they must be within the confines of a certain set of standards that we set. this is for the safety of not only the individual, but also the group. please have a read of the previous post, and have a think about when you should and shouldn’t sprint.
new branding – you may have seen that the first phase of the new branding rolled out his week. a bunch of new headers with our new logo attached. you should expect to see this in a few more places both in the virtual world and the real world.
the ring criterium series – this weekend sees the 4th race of the ring series head back to rockingham. online entries close every thursday night preceeding the race, so if you want to race, get on it now. entries and more information are available via the ring website.
spr gloves – there are a small number of gloves available in black/green that were done as a sample before we finalised the white ones. limited stock, in the club shop. see the previous post for more details.
spr xmas breakfast and award spectacular – so our end of year wrap up breakfast is on next saturday. as per usual, this will be a dressup/decorate your bike day. there are alos lots of awards to be given out probably more than the logies this year. check out the previous post and put your name down in the comments so Dome can adequately cater for us.
spr xmas drinks – as the christmas season descends upon us, we look to find a slot to have an out of lycra social get together. this year we will be back again at the empire bar and we thank the social committee for organising everything. if you are interested, tickets and more info is available via the previous post.
race licences – there are a couple of different types of licences that you can get when you become a member of spr. a recreational licence and a racing licence. recreational licences are for those that really only do the club training rides and want a bit of insurance coverage. it covers a full year from the time you purchase it. a race licence covers you for both training and racing and is necessary if you want to pin a number on. race licences are only valid for the calendar year which means that they expire at the end of december. however, the 2017 licences can be purchased from the 1st october and will then give you 15 months of coverage. if you are looking at upgrading to do some racing next year, or need one to do the summer crit races, then now is the time to join or renew.
ride routes – looking like a scorcher this saturday with an expected 33 degrees by 9am. make sure that you are prepared. if you have any concerns during the ride, please see your ride leader or any of the more experienced riders in the group. the last thing we want to do is leave someone on their own if they are struggling with the heat. you tend to make bad decisions when you place your body under too much stress. this week we will also be running a “fast 2” group that sits between fast and main 1. it has been working well on thursday mornings, so we will see how it goes on saturday as the groups get bigger.
saturday 10th 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
development group – novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday
transitional – trans abernethy 39.96km spr saturday
fast & main groups – hale & ridgehill 50.58km spr saturday
sunday 11th 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
development group – coffee ride
short – grnmt goose 65.22km spr sunday
long – grnmt prk mnd wr 93.71km spr sunday
monday 12th december
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 13th 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 14th december
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 15th 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 16th december
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am