it is kind of hard to make out, but there are about 60 riders in the picture. this wasn’t even the maximum as more turned up after i took the photo. so this has become a pretty typical thursday morning earlybird ride. 5:30 in the morning and so many people are already out of bed and doing exercise. there were 3 groups today, but there has already been discussions on the fact that we may need to split that again. however, the thursday ride wasn’t always like this. it actually started as a training ride for those of us that were training to do cyclo-spotifs. back in the early days of spr (or even pre-spr) we didn’t do much racing and cyclo-sportifs were a good way to get into it. the idea was that this ride gave us long uninterrupted sections for us to practice rolling throughs in teams of 9. i have no idea how this changed into what it is today, but over the years, we picked up more riders and now many non-spr riders use it as a hard thursday hit out. it is however, a club training ride and as such we are trying to make sure that it caters for many different levels. it is still meant to be a nice hard ride, but we also need to maintain a high level of safety and group sizes play an important role in this.
ride leader sponsor – there is no ride leader sponsor for this month. if you have a business that you think would benefit from advertising on our blog/facebook/emails then get in contact with the club. all money goes towards providing vouchers for the ride leaders who give their time to ensure that the group is riding to our standard.
tips and tricks – it is still summertime, so i didn’t think that i would have to write about this, but this is how to deal with your gear after riding in a midweek downpour. firstly, most people only have one pair of road shoes, so the priority is to get them dry as soon as possible. pull the inner sole out and hang it up, then grab some newspaper and totally stuff the entire shoes. this means balling it up tightly and shoving it all the way to the end of the toe. the more contact the paper has with the material, the more moisture it will suck out of your shoes. however, this will make your shoes smell like wet newspaper, so some febreeze afterwards is a good idea. if you put it in as soon as you get home, they will probably be dry by the evening. as the mid week ride usually doesn’t give you much time for a complete bike clean, you need to concentrate on the parts that will rust/wear the most. basically the drivetrain. when you get home, grab a rag and run it over the whole chain. it will get very dirty, but you need to get as much of the moisture and grit off as you can. once dry, apply some lube to stop it from rusting. i have seen rust appear on a chain within half a day of riding in the rain. usually i am very fastidious with my chain cleaning, but for a midweek quickie, i may just spray it with some wd-40. after it has been lubed, give it another rub down with a rag. oil on the outside of your chain just attracts sand (which perth is built on) which will increase the wear on your drivetrain. for the rest of the bike, i may just wait till it drys and then brush the sand off. you are now ready for the next earlybird in the rain.
saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning. please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate. this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts. see the previous post for more details.
renae’s race – a regular to the summer criterium calendar, this year we are starting to make some changes to the format of renae’s race. this is the only women’s focused race in the state and we are moving towards it being a fully women’s only event. this year there is only 1 men’s support race kicking the event off. it is hoped that numbers allow us to have no men’s support race at all next year. however, to do this, we need more women to enter this event. there are 4 grades where there will be independent races (no sharing with other races) as well as a free “come and try” event. there are a lot of women that ride in our saturday group that would easily be able to race in “d” grade. check the previous post for more details as links to registration. help support this event to make sure it grows bigger in the future. entries close midnight tonight.
thursday training ride – there has been a bit of a discussion lately about the size of the groups for the thursday earlybird. we think that we have come up with a good way of splitting the groups, but we need you to be honest about your own abilities. we will be posting some detailed instructions soon, but in the meantime have a look at the strava segment for the ride so you know where you sit.
ride routes – a nice weekend of weather expected so we will need all hands on deck for the saturday ride. please have a look at the marshalling map so people know where they are meant to meet for their group. this makes it easier for the ride leaders to give you important instructions.
saturday 18th 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 abernethy 39.96km spr saturday
fast & main groups – maddington 51.87km spr saturday
sunday 19th february
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 20th february
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 21st february
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)
ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am
development group – interval training kings park
wednesday 22nd february
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 23rd february
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm
spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)
ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am
development group – interval training kings park
friday 24th february
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am