Ride routes 19th – 25th September

Photo: ZW Photography

It’s not easy being green, but it certainly makes it better if you win your race. SPR had a number of podiums last weekend at the State Championships with 6 medals out of the 24 club members that entered. 4 of them were 1st place with Teneal Attard, Andrew Lilley, Sam Smith and Fiona Whelan taking out their divisions. This weekend the focus is on the more recreational side of events with the WaterTower Challenge taking place on Sunday. Whether its the Metric or Imperial Century, it is a challenge and an opportunity for some to complete the distance. Throw in some nice climbs and some navigational skills, and I am sure that everyone that finishes will feel a sense of achievement.

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 – We have 92 riders entered into the WaterTower Challenge with 18 teams doing the Metric Century and 13 teams tackling the Imperial Century. Rider instructions and start times will be emailed out tonight. Good luck to all, and for those in the Imperial Challenge, please don’t hate me too much.

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 – Thank you to those that have volunteered for the WaterTower Challenge this weekend. If you have entered the Challenge, make sure you thank the volunteers for their time and effort in keeping you hydrated and fed.
The next event is the Beverley Race on the 17th October. If you can assist the club, send an email through to club to let us know what you can do.
Volunteer numbers and positions are still being organised and we will let you know what the roles are.
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 order distribution – The latest run of kit has mostly landed and is being readied for distribution. When you purchased kit, there were 2 options: pickup at R&D cycles, or delivery via post. The posted deliveries you should have received already. The rest will be at R&D. Certain items have not arrived yet but we will let you know when they arrive.

2020 SPR Ride Leaders program calls for expressions of interest – Since its inception in 2009, a key feature of the feedback the Club receives is the need to improve the way our group rides are led. With more consistent, trained and visible ride leaders, the result will be safer, more enjoyable ride experiences for all. We are now seeking Expressions of Interest from SPR members who would like to be part of our second public Ride Leader Development Program.
If you are interested, check out the previous post for more details.

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.

Where do i need to stand again?

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 – OK, so the local weather isn’t playing ball with my desire to go out and ride this weekend. After “Roaring for Ritchie” for the last 2.5 weeks and being mesmerized with the power of Caleb Ewan, I was keen to get out there moving from the couch peloton to an actual one. Hopefully we just manage to squeeze a ride in before the rain but as I’m writing that’s not the forecast.
So the “spotlight on safety” item for this week has to be bike maintenance. If it is a wet weekend it’s even more important to check tyres for wear and pressure and brakes for the same. How’s your chain going? Has it been checked for the right tension? Has it been oiled. There’s a massive amount of moving parts that we all take for granted that helps drive the bike and they all need to be checked regularly. So, a bit like checking the ride route on a Friday, it’s always good to do the same the night before a ride. If you do get out this weekend, hope you are safe and most importantly that you enjoy it.

Saturday 19th September

Sunday 20th September

Monday 21st September

Tuesday 22nd September

  • Ride starts under the Narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
  • Ride starts Frasers ave at 5:45am
    • Development group – interval training kings park

Wednesday 23rd September

Thursday 24th September

Friday 25th September