numbers for racing have been in decline lately as people, for various reasons, drop out of the competitive aspect of local sport. for the women’s field, this means that an already small startlist is compressed further until it is merged into the men’s grades. to try to build up the numbers, you have to start at the grass roots level. people don’t just fall out of bed and become an ‘a’ grade racer, they need to develop over time. as such club member and coach, davina summers, has organised a “she race” program to run in conjunction with the rccc crits. this “come and try” event will be held at tonkin business park in bayswater during the 15/12, 22/12 and 12/01 races. cost for these sessions is only $10 and you can enter online here or on the day. the circuit is wide, smooth, closed to traffic and short so it is a good opportunity to give it a go without the risk of being left behind. experienced riders will take you around the circuit giving tips and help you understand what is going on. if any of our female members (or any women) have ever wondered about what it is like to race, but been too apprehensive to dip a toe in, then this is for you.
crit season – criterium racing continues, with west coast masters running an event down at kwinana motoplex. next week the rccc race includes the before mentioned “come and try” for female racers.
spr xmas drinks – keep the evening of sunday 15th december free for our annual out of lycra xmas drinks night. this is always a great night and allows you relax and tell lots of lies about your prowess on the bike. tickets can be found in the blog shop and more info can be found in the previous post.
spr xmas awards – every year we give the members a chance to nominate people that have made a difference to the club. this may be via direct contact, though inspirational performance or just something that really sticks out (like years ago when ballam threw a water bottle at my head during the uwct final). check out the previous post for more details and a link to the survey.
entertainment book – tis the season for supporting and we have a great gifting opportunity which helps our fundraising efforts. the gift of entertainment is a new digital membership valid for 12 months from the day of activation. you can buy that special someone a single city or multi city membership so they can save year-round on everything they love to do. simply buy it, print it, gift it!
AusCycling – so i asked the question at the WestCycle AGM held this last week about the timing of AusCycling and how it related to our current memberships and licence. some of the social media was suggesting that come 1st jan CA would cease to exist and AusCycling would be the new body. apparently this in not the case and the change over will more likely be around Q2 next year. this gives us some reprieve around renewing licences and doesn’t force people into an early renewal to ensure consistency. a lot of it is still up in the air and they are still pushing a single unity model. however, feedback from a source at the department of sport and rec said that many other sports had pushed that early in the process and moved to a state based model after negotiation. we are still hopeful for a good outcome, but we will just have to wait and see.
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. there were some new juniors out last weekend so the numbers are growing heading into summer. A few more returns from last year and we will have quite a squad in kings park.
from the ride coordinator – Well last weekend’s main ride was a cracker. Boring into gusty winds going out, and almost sailing home with the wind behind. It had almost everything. Including a couple of crashes ! Been saying it for a little while now, the role of our ride leaders is to try to get you back in one piece so please please listen to your ride brief. The brief often contains really important messages about the ride, including terrain, obstacles, speed and most important – communication. As one who delivers ride briefings frequently, sometimes I do get a sense that some riders think “here we go again, I’ve heard this before”, similar to a safety briefing on a plane. Well like the stewards, our ride leaders are interested in the safety of the group, so please do yourself a favour and listen to what is being said to minimise the chances of being a crash stat next week.
saturday 7th december
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 reabold 38.69km spr saturday
fast/main – scarbs beach & hale 51.21km spr saturday
sunday 8th december
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 –wlsh weir 62.23km spr sunday
long – wlsh weir kal 101.71km spr sunday
monday 9th december
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 10th december
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)
wednesday 11th december
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 12th december
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 13th december
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am