the good friday ride this year became the easter monday ride as the weather on friday was not what you would consider to be good. a brisk start turned into a marvellous day and we started with about 60 riders. there was a short option this year and a few opted for that. as with most of our rides, we try to let them develop organically. now in it’s 7th year, we have seen that the popularity of the vp ride means that next year we will need to make some changes. originally organised by julian as a warm up to doing the 5 dams ride, the numbers have swelled to the point were we are thinking of splitting the ride next year. what we are looking at is a typical long hills smashfest group and a more sedate group for those that are after the achievement of completing 150kms. this is pleasing to me for a couple of reasons. firstly it is always good to see any of the rides getting so popular that we need to add extra layers of control as it shows that we must be doing something right. secondly, this is not something that i have had to contribute to. julian has run with this from the beginning and has now roped vanessa in to providing catering at the last dam. here is to more hot crossed bun fuelled rides in the future. (note: nabi has special censorship aussie stripes on her jersey)
ride leader sponsor –The ride leader sponsor for april is West Australian Cyclocross WACX. cyclocross is a cross between road and mountain biking usually held on a grass or dirt circuit. there are divisions for all abilities and a kids race before on a shortened circuit. check out any of the events coming up soon and get on down to ring a cowbell.
the numbat cup round 1 – the first round of the numbat cup cyclocross race is on this sunday. there are lots of different categories that you can enter including if you are riding a mountain bike. as always the every popular u13 kids ride is on before the main races. entry and further details can be found here.
the dirty dozen 2019 – Back for a third year this coming Saturday, The Dirty Dozen Perth 2019 returns southside and hunts out thirteen more of Perth’s toughest climbs. The Dirty Dozen packs over 2000m of climbing into less than 100km. There is also a shorter Dirty Half Dozen route (1000m climbing in about 50km). With each of the climbs hand-selected for their brutality by climbing masochist and Chief Route Planner Sarah Fitton, this ride will test your legs, lungs and mettle. Both routes start at 8am from Kelmscott Dome (Open from 6am for breakfast and/or caffeine). Both routes also finish at Kelmscott Dome and we encourage you to stay for lunch and share stories with your fellow Dirty Dozen survivors. for more info see the facebook event page.
junior jersey policy – In order to further encourage junior participation the Committee has resolved to offer all junior members a free club jersey! And in recognition that juniors will keep growing, the policy allows for one jersey per year (as long as they are a member) until 18 years of age. Please see the previous post for more details.
memberships new changes – if you are a member of another club and want to change to spr then it is simply a matter of calling up cycling australia memberships and giving them your membership number. i have requested that an additional fee is not required and most people don’t care what club is written on their card as long as they are in the right club in the system. it should be a zero fee transaction and if they ask for anything, tell them to contact the club.
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.
spr juniors – last week the juniors tried something different and we went to optus stadium to do laps around the outside. this provided a good safe environment which allowed us to teach them how to form a paceline. 15 sec on the front then peel off and head to the back. after the first few loops they had it running smoothly. in the future, we will rotate between kings park and the stadium with this week us heading back to the park for hill climbs. under 10’s or over 10’s welcome with parents.
from the ride coordinator –With a spate of public holidays now behind us, hopefully you’ve had the chance to put a few more Kms on the bike in what has been ideal cycling conditions and it looks like this is set to continue over the weekend. With weather like this I’m reminded of a legendary quote from the great Desmond Tutu “Give a person a fish and feed her/him for a day. Teach a person to fish and feed her/him for a lifetime. Teach a person to cycle and she/he will realise fishing is stupid and boring”
saturday 27th april
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
juniors (with parent) – kings park juniors 23.72km spr saturday
development group – novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday
transitional 1/2 – trans abernethy 39.96km spr saturday
fast/main – abernethy rd 48.21km spr saturday
sunday 28th april
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 29th april
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 30th april
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)
wednesday 1st may
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 2nd may
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 3rd may
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am