from a results perspective, last weekend was one of the most successful appearances for spr at the tour of margaret river ever. with 3 very competitive teams and 1 not so serious team fielded, there was some very good results posted. there is a more detailed report coming soon, but as a taster a very solid showing by the men’s team that ended up in division a. finishing 4th behind the dome team and with some gutsy results from john carnicelli who came 10th on stage 2 stuck in his big chain ring. there were, however, up against a very stacked unicorn team with current national champions, ex-pros and beautiful hair. the women’s team was engaged in a very emotional up and down battle with chaotic energy (who are also mostly spr members). taking stage wins in both road races (a 1st & 3rd both times), darcy also won the fastest u21 rider. in the end the chaotic girls put on two solid team time trials to take the overall honours over spr and dome. from a personal perspective, i had an awesome tour. yes i suffered through pretty much every stage, but i got to spend 25min straight talking to marrianne vos (pictured with our girls) as we rode along at the start of stage 3. she dropped me on a later hill, but that good start made the rest tolerable.
tour of margs – from race@spr: Last weekend was a big showing from the SPR teams at Tour of Margaret River. We were also joined by photographer Zac Williams. Race reports and photos to come soon.
AusCycle – as most you have seen via social media, there is a change coming to the way that cycling will be run in the country. the current cycling australia will cease to exist and AusCycle will take it’s place. this will combine the road/track disciplines with mountain biking and bmx. what they fail to mention is that going to this type of unity model also means that all funding gets centralised at head office…in melbourne. this is the major concern amongst non-victorian associations as how that money gets doled out will be up to how the governing bodies sees fit. what it also means, is that the state gov here has refused to fund a national body that may use that money for other states. some states, like wa, have provided an alternative solution to how the new model will run. CA/AusCycle have said that they didn’t ask for that and have only asked if associations want to be a part of the new structure. overall it’s complicated. kind of brexit-style complicated and the losers will likely be all of us. club treasurer, daniel harvey, had been attending some of the road show presentations, so we will get a better run down soon. the social media campaign by cycling aust has been very one sided, and rolling out past stars to “endorse” the new product is just a way of patching over the potential gaps. what does it mean for us as a club??? well from a daily riding perspective, nothing should change. from an insurance, racing, events & funding perspective, there could be some changes on the horizon.
hotel funivia – many of the spr members that have taken the trip over to ride in italy have tackled the famous stelvio. odds are that they stayed at hotel funivia whils they were there. next weekend the team from hotel funivia are in perth and will be on our saturday and sunday rides. if you are thinking of riding the mountains in italy make sure you have a conversation with these guys whilst you have the chance. check out the previous post for some more information.
cycling trip to france – next year long time spr member, christophe is looking at organising a trip to france to ride in the mountains. it is 12 nights with 2 french speaking guides cruising around such little hills as mount ventoux. if you are interested, see christophe at the coffee shop after the ride or email him at crosstraining@optusnet.com.au
sunday start locations – as numbers increase over summer, we are looking at how we can manage the groups on a sunday morning. as such we are implementing a start location system to give us an idea of how big the groups are. we can then split them before they leave the carpark to ensure that the groups are a safe size on the road. see the previous blog post about where to meet and the new start time.
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 – juniors, juniors, juniors. the weather is looking good so get the kids out and onto the bikes. we had 5 with us last week including a first-timer who climbed 3 hills in kings park.
from the ride coordinator – This weekend marks another milestone for the club as we welcome the Class of 19 ! No, we are not talking about any graduates from high school or university or business school. But what I am referring to is something that other cycle clubs are envious of. Yes, we welcome a new bunch of ride leaders into our “ride leading school” this weekend. This is an awesome programme that really sets our cycling club apart from the others and has the others asking us questions on how we do it. So if you see Rob out with his “students” this weekend, give him (& them) a big cheer as these people, who give their own time to make your ride enjoyable and safe, will more than likely lead you on a future ride.
saturday 16th november
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 – kings park juniors 23.72km spr saturday
development group – novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday
transitional 1/2 – trans cresswell 40.21km spr saturday
fast/main – morley drive 50.77km spr saturday
sunday 17th november
rides start at coode st carpark at 6:00am
note: sunday rides now start at 6:00am from nov to feb
development group – coffee ride
short – grnmt goose 65.22km spr sunday
long – grnmt prk mnd wr 93.71km spr sunday
monday 18th november
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 19th november
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)
wednesday 20th november
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 21st november
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 22nd november
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am