why are these people important??? well the little one at the left of the picture is a former world champion and olympian, so that seems pretty important. however, as she pointed out, she may not have got to that point if she was not given any direction early in her cycling career. the ride leader pilot program was developed to make sure that we have consistency across the groups in relation to what standard we are setting on our group rides. the pilot program was to iron out any kinks in how we are presenting the program. now it is finalised, we are looking forward to taking our next group through the process next year. not only do you get to help out the club by providing support to the groups, you get a limited edition ride leader jersey so people can identify you.
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.
group ride summer start times – there have been a few request lately in regards to starting some of the rides earlier over summer. this comes up every year and so we will give the same answer. no. the rides are at a set time so that there is consistency throughout the entire year. we have people that come and go over the year and we would like to make sure that everyone know what time the rides leave. also over the weekend, there are lots of people that do the earlybird as well as the main ride. if we bring the main ride forward to 6am, then we need to bring the earlybird forward to 4:30am. the other complication is we would need to determine when the rides are summer time starts and when they change back. anyway, the formula has worked well so far and no-one has needed to be hospitalised for heat exhaustion. just be aware of the predicted weather conditions and plan accordingly.
fast too??? – as the group grows in size and skill levels increase, it is important for us to change how we are structured to adapt to this. there has been a very clear need to a group that sits between fast and main as some people cannot keep up with fast, but are too strong for main. we now have one for thursday and last weekend we debuted a saturday group. these have been rather aptly called “fast 2”. minutes of thought went into the name of this group but it serves its purpose. the training and development committee have put a bit of thought into which group you should ride in. check out the previous post for an “easy to follow” chart of how to make that decision.
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.
coffee shop – just a reminder that over the christmas break, that our favourite coffee hang out, Dome, is only closed on xmas day. therefore the public holiday ride on boxing day (and any other rides) will be able to finish in the city.
licences/memberships – as of today we have 435 financial members. in 2 weeks time we will lose 168 as people come to the end of their membership. the majority of those will be race licences that expire on the 31st dec. however, regardless of whether you are racing or not, having an expired licence means that you have no insurance. this means that if you have a crash on a group ride, or even by yourself, there is nothing covering you for out of pocket expenses. also, it disappoints me when our membership dips below 300. see the previous post for more details.
ride routes – it’s xmas and although the majority of people are thinking about presents and family and maybe even church, i know that you are all thinking about how many k’s you can do over the next week. there is no “official” ride on sunday this week. there is, however, a bit of a tradition forming where mr bonner will take out a group for a leisurely ride to make room for the turkey and chocolates. leaving from coode st at 7am there is a set ride route that you need to have a quick look at. as we will miss out sunday hills ride, this will move to tuesday public holiday. monday will be the normal public holiday ride, but tuesday will be the short and long hills ride. there are many people that have the rest of the week off as well. keep your eye on the SPR facebook page for any unofficial extra rides that people may be doing. however, no matter the ride, make sure that you are looking after your own safety and that of others.
saturday 24th 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 rebold 38.69km spr saturday
fast & main groups – south lake 51.99km spr saturday
sunday 25th december – xmas day
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
mr bonners xmas ride spectacular
monday 26th december – boxing day
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
fast and main – public hol 58.97km spr special
tuesday 27th 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
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
development group – coffee ride
short – khna weir 72.23km spr sunday
long – khna trnr obs 101.76km spr sunday
wednesday 28th december
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 29th 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 30th december
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am