30/03/15
Picture : Lincoln Baker/WA News.
happy new year. even though we don’t start the new year till next week, i want to get the year off to a good start. not necessarily a positive message of just how great cycling can be, but rather getting people into the correct frame of mind so that we all make it through 2017 unscathed. some of you may not know that our own claire tyrrell is a journalist with the west and recently wrote an article about the introduction of safe passing laws in other states. now wa is not going to introduce the laws, but has instead opted for an education program to make people aware of the current law. road safety minister liza harvey said it was an offence for drivers to drive too close to cyclists, but the definition of a “safe distance” was up to police. so, what we need to do as cyclists, is not take anything for granted. some of the feedback that claire received after the article was published was generally along the lines of what we expected. “the roads are for cars”, “you don’t pay rego” and “if you get hit, then it is your own fault”. charming, i know. there seems to be no recognition that a person on a bike is actually a person. so what can we do??? well ride smart. be spatially aware. don’t put yourself in dangerous situations no matter how “right” you are. being spatially aware is the most important point as it allows you to make decisions before it becomes dangerous. an example of this is coming into a roundabout, don’t wait till the last moment to check the traffic behind you and try to claim some space. keep checking as you approach it and when there is a break, take the lane so cars don’t try to squeeze you into the gutter. i know that this takes a lot of the responsibility away from the drivers but the recent case where it was determined that the death of a cyclist was not the drivers fault, or the cyclists fault shows that drivers are not likely to cop much of a punishment anyway. stay safe by starting off safe.
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.
ride leader program – expressions of interest are now open for our first round of ride leader training. after the success of the pilot program, we are now looking for more people to step up and be trained so that they can lead a group. see the previous post for more details.
licences/memberships – as of last week we have 435 financial members. in 2 days 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 – as we continue our run of public holidays, be aware that there may be a bit of extra glass on the roads on monday morning. some people just can’t be trusted and this is why we can’t have nice things.
saturday 31st 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 canning vale 42.34km spr saturday
fast & main groups – maddington 51.87km spr saturday
sunday 1st january – new years day
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
development group – coffee ride
short – wlsh weir 62.23km spr sunday
long – wlsh obs kal 90.32km spr sunday
monday 2nd january – public holiday
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 3rd january
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 4th january
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 5th january
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 6th january
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am