so there has been a bit in the news this week about the idaho stop laws that someone has tabled for consideration. it is an interesting concept and one that has generated a lot of angst from drivers. what i can’t understand is why the angst. if cyclist are allowed to safely roll through an intersection and cars are not, what difference does it make to the drivers??? it seems to be that it is just not fair and drivers will have to wait longer (even though they cover more ground quicker with that engine thingy). there is no downside that i can see for drivers by introducing a law like this. however, i cannot see it happening in perth as we are generally as progressive as a not very progressive thing. if it did come in to effect, it would not change the way we run our group rides, as there is no way it would be safer for us to filter down between stopped traffic to cross an intersection. we would take the lane and wait behind vehicles as we always have. next time someone argues against things like the idaho stop, ask them what they see as the downside for them as drivers. i would be interested to see any responses besides “it’s not fair”, or “there should just be one rule for all road users” argument.
ride leader sponsor – our ride leaders for july are proudly sponsored by JDRF. JDRF is the leading global organisation funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research.
collie donnybrook – this classic of the wa cycling calendar is on again for the 92nd edition on saturday the 19th august. this is generally considered an expected race for any of the tomr nominees as it will give you a good hard hit out and an understanding of where you need to improve. it is one of the few races that starts and finishes at a pub. head over to the previous post for more details and a link to registration.
tour sweepstakes – this years tour has been run and won and as expected, froome picked up the yellow jersey again. there were a few surprises in there with matthews in green and barguil in polka dots, but even more surprising were those that didn’t make it to paris. some teams entered the tour with such high hopes only to have them dashed before the end of the first week. the results from our sweepstakes have also been posted our blog with the overall winnings as well as the washup from the final classification. the club will be in contact with you soon so you can claim your winnings.
spr tomr 2017 – the long team for the spr tomr squad was announced last week and it is from this group that the final teams will be decided. as always there will be withdrawals due to injury/sickness etc, so we need to maintain a few more riders. the other news this week is that one of our women’s teams will have annemiek van vlueten as our guest pro rider. there has always been pro riders in amongst the race teams, but this year annemiek will be helping us. you can read a bit more about her in our previous post. as usual, any further info about the tour of margs teams will be published under the team tab on this blog.
club van guidelines – to ensure that club property is used effectively, we have developed a guideline for van usage so that everything is above board. it is a resource for the club to use and this means not just the committee members. have a look at the previous post for more information.
entertainment books – this year the club has decided to sell the every popular entertainment books as a way to raise funds. even better there is now an app available so you don’t need to carry vouchers with you. the app can also be shared between you and other family members, there is also a cool function where you can see a map of your location and all the available offers in the area. remember, you only need to redeem a few item to make up for the cost of the book and at the same time you will be helping the club. check out the previous post for more details and links to registration.
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hursday training ride – we implemented a new system of splitting the thursday group ride to keep the size manageable. 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. have a look at the strava segment for the ride so you know where you sit. there is nothing to stop you stepping up to challenge yourself, but this will at least provide a guide as to how much more challenging it will be.
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.
ride routes – there seems to be a very small window of opportunity on saturday morning where the rain may stop. take advantage of it and get on the bike. in the uk, many groups won’t let you ride with them without mudguards. if you do turn up without them, they make you ride at the back for the whole ride. even though they may not look cool, mudguards do make the ride a lot more pleasant for everyone else.
saturday 29th july
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 reverse river 40.58km spr saturday
fast & main groups – shelley & mosman 50.14km spr saturday
sunday 30th july
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 – brktn weir 82.89km spr sunday
long – carr peet obs 97.72km spr sunday
monday 31st july
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 1st august
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 2nd august
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 3rd august
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
see previous post for ride groups
spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)
ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am
development group – interval training kings park
friday 4th august
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am