Numbers are certainly growing now that the weather is getting warmer and the mornings lighter for the earlybird rides. The Thursday ride, in particular, boasts at least four groups and probably should be more. The ride leaders try to split the groups up for safety as larger groups struggle with smooth roll-throughs and risk being split at traffic lights. This in turn promotes unsafe behaviours where people may overlap wheels or try to make it through red lights. If you think you are fast, stand near the front. Please don’t jump ahead into another group after we have split the numbers. We are trying to make sure you all finish safely, we are not trying to say that you are a slow rider. The last thing anyone wants to do is be responsible for causing an accident that brings others down.
The Rules – just a reminder that it isn’t business as usual.
As we progress through WA’s phased approach to reopening, how the club interacts within itself and the wider community will also change.
Rightly or wrongly, the lack of community transmission in the state has meant that a lot of the social distancing rules have disappeared. As such we want to streamline what the requirements are from a club perspective. Basically there are 3 main things we want people to keep in mind.
- The virus can spread via human contact, so minimise the amount of touching between people and each others bikes/helmets etc.
- No spitting, snotting or sneezing within the group. If you need to, move to the back of the group, but please look behind you to make sure that it is clear of traffic. That is all traffic, not just bikes. We don’t want some dash-cam footage of someone blowing their nose on a car.
- Personal hygiene becomes very important in the spread of the virus so make sure that you either wash your hands whenever you can or carry a small container of hand sanitiser. Limit your exposure to common surfaces (chairs, tables) and don’t be sharing items.
SPR Watertower Challenge – It’s back. The WaterTower Challenge is set to run in September this year after a couple of years hiatus. Choose from the Metric (103km) or Imperial (170km) challenge. Ride against the clock in group of 3 around the suburbs of Perth. Find WaterTowers that you never knew existed and visit suburbs you don’t usually ride through. Check out the event page on Facebook, organise some mates and pencil in the 20th September. Entries are now open via EntryBoss (click here).
The Beverley Race – The club is again holding this event as part of the Heroic weekend, but this year we have changed the format of the road race. As the perfect preparation for the Tour of Margaret River and it’s 3 team time trials, this years Beverley will be a Team Time Trial of between 4-6 riders. No special TT bikes or fancy helmets allowed, just ride your bike hard. Register your teams today via EntryBoss.
The Beverley Heroic – The Heroic involves many aspects of cycling spanning the weekend of the 17th and 18th of October. On top of the aforementioned team time trial, there is a cyclo-cross race, gravel race and heroic ride.
Volunteers – We have two events coming up where the club will need assistance from the members to ensure they run successfully. Firstly is the WaterTower Challenge on the 20th Sept and secondly is the Beverley on the 17th October.
If you can assist the club, send an email through to club to let us know what you can do.
The WaterTower Challenge requires the following volunteers –
2 x Registration Desk – Jason Gordon, Mandy McEvoy
3 x Feedzone 1 – Fiona Williams, ?, Debbie Bertolatti
2 x Feedzone 2 – Greg Murray, ?
1 x SAG wagon – Adrian Emilsen
The Beverely Race requires the following volunteers –
Positions announced soon – Fiona Williams, Andrew Williams.
Thursday morning street sweeper – As some of you may be aware the Thursday earlybird group has had a few altercations with the street sweeper along Marine Parade in Cottesloe. We sent a letter to the Town of Cottesloe expressing our concern that these incidents could result in some very serious injuries. We received a letter from the Executive Manager Engineering Services and have been told that the contractor that runs the street sweeper has had the matter discussed with them. They raised our concerns and have been told that the drivers have been briefed. Please continue to observe caution when interacting with the street sweepers as they don’t always have good field of vision, but at the same time, if there are any more altercations, please report them through to the club.
Thursday detour – Claremont Cres westbound in Swanbourne will be closed for quite a few months. Our Thursday ride will start to follow the detour by going up Shenton Rd, but will continue on until the end of the road and then head left to the traffic lights. You now get the added bonus of a longer harder hill.
Kit orders reopen – The club kit shop is now open again, primarily to allow those doing the Tour of Margaret River to purchase any additional kit that they might need. If you missed out in the first run get in and order now! https://www.mayeur.cc/collections/south-perth-rouleurs
Update – 2 new garments have been added to the shop. A women’s 3/4 length bibs and a Premium jersey. The fit of the Premium jersey is between the slim and aero and made from a premium fabric.
Update 2 – This order will close now close on the 7th September 2020 to allow enough time for kit to arrive pre-ToMR.
Saturday Hills Ride Option Survey Results – As you may remember the club received some feedback recently from a few members enquiring about an option to hold a Hills ride on a Saturday morning. We then put out a simple survey on this blog to gain an understanding of where members sat on the issue. Some key stats from this survey:-
There were 78 responses
On the question of are you interested, nearly 90% said yes
On the question of how frequent; 34% said once a month, 22% said twice monthly, which was the same response as “occasionally” and every week.
On the question of what distance, 47% said short hills, 18% said long Hills and 35% suggested either
From the results above, the SPR Committee has endorsed a 2-month trial of a Saturday Short Hills Ride on the first Saturday’s in September and October. We will be allocating a Ride Leader to the ride in the same way we do with all Saturday rides; this is an important part of SPR’s goal of providing safe group rides, but also means that we will need to review carefully after the trial as our volunteer Ride Leader’s time is precious! So, the first of these will kick off on Saturday 5th September, leaving from Coode Street at 7am. We will be reminding people next week that it will be on and again in early October via posts and Facebook so if you were one of the 70 that said yes, please support the trial. A decision to extend the trial beyond October will be made pending the popularity of the ride and any issues that may arise from riding in the hills on a Saturday not a Sunday.Given it is estimated that most respondents would have had some experience with Hills riding, it is suggested that the speed and fitness required for these first 2 rides will be that riders can keep up at a minimum Main 2 riding pace / fitness level. If we get feedback that there is a call for a slower Hills ride on Saturday, we can review that when we review the success of the trial.
Smart active transportation survey – A PhD candidate at the School of Design and the Built Environment at Curtin University is researching active transportation (walking/cycling) and its relationship with technology, and how technology can improve and assist walking/cycling. As part of the study, there is a survey to understand peoples idea about the active mode of transportation. Please help out and spend a few minutes to fill in the survey here.
Club Van – We are currently looking for a new location for the club van to reside. After a few years at Laurensia’s (which we are very appreciative about), it is looking for a new home. If anyone has any spare garage space and would be willing to have our club van sit quietly, then please contact the club and let us know. Either residential or commercial properties are okay, as long as we can access it for events.
Our commitment to Core Values – We are a diverse club that made a point early on of committing to a number of core values to which we have built everything upon. These are – Safe, Inclusive, Organised & Social. It is under these values that we want all club interaction to occur, whether on the road or in cyberspace. Please read the previous post so you understand what we as a club, expect from you as members.
Saturday Start Locations – In order to adhere to the new gathering regulations, we need to slightly change the meeting points of the groups. There is a 100 person gathering limit and when all groups are combined, we often exceed that when everyone is waiting for the start. There was a discussion about different start times for different groups, but what we settled on was moving half the groups to different sides of the carpark. This is not ideal as there are usually more cars using the eastern most parks, but we will just have to work around that for now. We understand that the COVID risk isn’t high, but it is more about how the club is viewed from outside. So, please congregate in the assigned locations, so we can continue to hold group rides in the future.
From the Ride Coordinator – So, here we are looking at all the cyclists ahead in the peloton about to climb some hills. Where am I?!
If you answered “in the couch peloton watching Le Tour” then if it’s 8pm you would be right but I’ll give you another clue. It’s after 7am this coming Saturday.
You get the gold star if you answered “I’ll be on the Saturday Short Hills trial ride with SPR”. Yes it’s on this Saturday. Just a few things to note in preparation for the ride:
- It will be lead by Dean and Laurensia so keep an eye out for them in the carpark. Assembly is expected to be in the current vacant middle lane.
- Expected pace/fitness level will be ability to ride M2 or above. Idea behind this is to trial with more experienced riders to understand things like traffic and specific hazards etc that might be unique to Saturday not Sunday morning.
- If you haven’t done many hills rides before but are OK with the pace, please make sure you have adequate water and nutrition to get you through.
- Ride will leave from the carpark after the last M1 group but before M2. Reason for this is the main ride also initially heads off on the same roads before it turns into Hale Rd whilst you will go straight ahead along Welshpool Rd. So you need to be at Coode Street carpark like normal by 7am.
It looks like it’s going to be a nice morning for you. Chapeaux to all those giving it a go.
Saturday 5th September
- 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 – cancelled over winter
- Development group – novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday
- Transitional 1/2 – trans benara 39.90km spr saturday
- Fast/main – hale & ridgehill 50.58km spr saturday
- Short Hills – wlsh weir 62.23km spr sunday
Sunday 6th September
- Rides start at Coode st carpark at 7:00am
- Development group – coffee ride
- Short – khna weir 72.23km spr sunday
- Long – khna trnr obs 101.76km spr sunday
Monday 7th September
- Ride starts under the Narrows (Sth Perth side) at 5:30am
Tuesday 8th September
- Ride starts under the Narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
- Ride starts Frasers ave at 5:45am
- Development group – interval training kings park
Wednesday 9th September
- Ride starts Raffles bike path at 5:30am
- Interval training – stock road repeats
Thursday 10th September
- Ride starts under the Narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
- Ride starts Frasers ave at 5:45am
- Development group – interval training kings park
Friday 11th September
- Ride starts under the Narrows (Sth Perth side) at 5:30am