some days are pretty much like this picture. finding the right path can be a tricky business and with one miss-step, you can find yourself in the poo. this has kind of been my week with a combination of work, training, family, club all refusing to line up their poo for me. starting a new role, being at the end of a big training block, school camp/sporting commitments and club meetings and discussions all seem to work into a big pile. not really making excuses or looking for sympathy, just finding a reason for the lack of an opinion piece this week. ride strong and avoid the poo.
ride leader sponsor – the ride leader sponsor for march is Nutrition IQ. The main force behind Nutrition IQ is a deep desire to help individuals achieve their long-term diet and nutrition goals. Whether you’re seeking help with weight loss, sports nutrition, or disease prevention, each client is individually evaluated by a professional Dietitian and provided with a well-researched and comprehensive plan they can follow for the rest of their lives.
spr kit delivery – the latest run of kit has been delivered and will be available for collection from dome cafe after the saturday ride. please be patient with our volunteers as they also like to do the saturday ride before quickly collecting the kit from home to distribute to you. you too can look like a cav clone.
spr agm and breakfast – the south perth cycle club annual general meeting (agm) will be held on saturday, 17 march 2018 at 9am. this will be held at dome westralia plaza (5/167 st georges terrace, perth) following the usual saturday ride. see the previous post for further details about voting, nominations and breakfasts.
racing q&a session – the spr members survey indicated there was an interest in racing, so race@spr are hosting a q&a opportunity at dome westralia plaza post-main rides from 09:00 am saturday 10th march, 2018. we invite you and ALL of your curious racing questions to come forth. so what do YOU want to ask?
club survey results –we have previously posted the results of last years club survey. this is used by the committee to set the direction of the club for the next year or so. the previous post was just the numerical driven data, i.e. what percentage selected each option. there were a number of places where people could input comments on various topics plus a general comments section at the end. we have collated all these comments and have provided replies to as much as we could. as you can appreciate, there were a lot of places to add comments so there are a lot of replies. every single comment is included for transparency sake. i believe that everyone in the club deserves to be heard, not matter if it is positive or negative. the comments and replies have been spread over five different posts – club & safety, kit, racing & volunteering, social and general. please take the time to have a look through and the associated replies. some comments have been replied to directly, while others have been wrapped up in a topical discussion.
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 – autumn is upon us, but it seems the same as summer at the moment. more riding all weekend.
saturday 3rd march
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 4:00am
very early lap- nightowl 43.44km spr special
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 shelley 40.59km spr saturday
fast/main – south st 51.23km spr saturday
sunday 4th march
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 – wlsh weir 62.23km spr sunday
long – wlsh obs cam goose 88.67km spr sunday
monday 5th march – long weekend
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
public hol 58.97km spr special
tuesday 6th march
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 7th march
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 8th march
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 9th march
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
I would like to represent some of the Main 4 ride members regarding removing Main 4. We do not have Main 4 for a while and was told there is not enough ride leaders
Main 4 has been up and running for 3 weeks and scrapping it !. because we are on the road for too long ? We left Coode St 715 am and there were couple of times we caught up with Main 3 and was told to slow down as we are too close ? We are confused?
I must stressed that not everyone is a good rider and I have witnessed two of these myself on Main 4 literally no communications throughout the whole ride , no roll through ( and best spot to row through – Abernethy , don’t know if is single lane or double lane, don’t know if riders were left behind !.
Did the club even ask before choosing the ride leader why they want to become one? and what is the primary goal of a ride leader?
First and foremost, anyone who leads a group ride must be a competent, safe, and contentious rider. They need a strong personality to be able to deal with angry, sad, happy, stupid, and rude people while keeping their cool and mediating disputes. Someone who is organized, punctual, and fun definitely helps as well as some common sense
Being competent and safe is so important because you have to ride with one eye on the pack behind you at all times. You need to be able to see hand signals if something goes wrong, to watch for people struggling with the pace, and to keep count on riders so no one disappears and the group is left wondering what happened.
Ride leader is to share your knowledge, inspire, motivate riders and I must stressed that I have a good ride leader – Dean on 3.2 last week – very encouraging and listened to opinion. He let me tag on his wheels on the riverside sprint – and this is what we need a – a competent motivate us ride leader – Dean thanks for that although i did not make the whole length but that is the kind of leader we want. I think the Club should look at the leaders if they meet the criteria.
We might have other rider leaders commenting us being “chatting and laughing on Main 4 and social but we are the safest group among all. as we looked after each other and
the distance definitely made some of the riders improve.
Also some of the Main 4 riders have been with the club for years and now they felt the club does not care about them anymore!
What is the Club trying to promote and objective of the club?
– only train the elite and forget the slow or “social “riders who just want to have some laughter and a nice ride? and still be part of the club.
Ask the ride leaders – why do they want to be become leader?
I have been to other cycling club – like the JCC – they are small but they do lots of charity ride events – raising funds – I don’t see SPR doing that? and they care alot for their members especially the slow riders.
I think the T1 and T2 is good idea , but Main 4 is equally important as this ride gives them motivation even they will not move to Main 3 but most importantly they are improving and they enjoy coming to SPR and feel part of the club not disrespecting them and let them feel left out.