Ride Routes 27th January – 2nd February

If you have any interest in cycling it will have been hard to miss the news this week that the Road Nationals are coming to Perth for 2025, 2026 and 2027.

This is big news.

Not just because local pro cyclists the likes of Cassia Boglio, Luke Durbridge, Sam Welsford and Jai Hindley get to race in front of a home crowd.

Not just because it is wonderful to see our political leaders get behind the sport of cycling — thank you to the WA Government, City of Perth and the many local members who have helped to make it happen.

Not just because it is wonderful to have the support here in WA from the national cycling body — thank you Marne and team from the AusCycling national office, and huge kudos to local AusCycling manager Matt Poyner (who I note kicked off proceedings at the launch but managed to avoid most of the photos!).

All that and more. From an SPR perspective, we love it and can’t wait!

But we also think that it is bigger than all that. Our club has four core values: Safe, Inclusive, Organised, and Social. We have hundreds of individuals and families that participate in our group rides every day of the week. We have dozens of riders that take part in local community racing throughout the season. We are continually introducing new riders to the sport, continually looking for ways to make cycling safer and better supported, continually look for better ways to develop junior riders in the a safe and enabling environment.

And an important part of all of that is having government and community support for the sport of cycling, and an understanding of the sport when we have those conversations.

We think that having up close racing, whether it is in the Perth CBD, through Kings Park or out in the Perth hills (route to be announced!) will be wonderful for WA, hugely enjoyable and bring a new level of understanding of the sport of cycling for everyone involved.

Bring it on.

For everyone heading out on SPR’s Public Holiday Ride, or racing in RCCC’s Australia Day Criterium, enjoy.

Finally, take some time to read Mark’s ride route write-up below – there are some important discussions around safety and group selection that it will be good for everyone to take note of.

Daniel

 

Canteen 2024 — Canteen is on again 9-11 March 2024 to raise funds supporting young people impacted by cancer. The 300-400km ride from Bassendean to Busselton over 2.5 days caters to all levels of cyclist with five groups, from slower no hills to faster with hills. The organisation is superb and riders are kept safe with support vehicles front and back of each group. You start and finish in Perth…it does not get easier that that! 

More details here.

 

Racing this weekend – If you want to race, or get in on the action watching others race, read on.

1. RCCC Australia Day Criterium 2024

 

Juniors Ride — Thank you for everyone who has joined us across 2023 for our Juniors Rides. No ride this week but see you in 2024! Rides resume 3 Feb 2024.

From the Ride Coordinator — There has been a fair bit of discussion recently on the speed of the main groups on Saturday rides – particularly at the front end, with Fast, Fast2, M1 and M2. Concerns have been raised over the pace, and the variety of capability in any one group, with requests to “Fix the Problem”. If only it were that simple!

We understand the concerns, and are in regular discussion on this, as it impacts our cornerstone policies of being Safe, Inclusive and Organised. Whatever improvements are made, they will still rely on cooperation from all the riders.

Some areas where everyone can have a positive effect are:

  1. Pick an appropriate group. If you feel like a strong workout, ride with a stronger group – don’t expect that everyone in your regular group also wants to push harder on the day. Conversely if you’re not up to it – drop back a group.
  2. Move up when called at the start. If the organiser calls for more riders to join the group about to leave – go! It may mean riding with different people, but hey, that’s often a good thing. The alternative ends up with some groups too small, and others too big – Neither are good. 15 is ideal.
  3. Tune in to the riders in the group. Keep the speed at a pace that all/most of the group can roll with, and slow down after moving across when you get to the front of a roll-through. Simple – but ignored way too often.

Holmes Rd on Saturday – the wind is due to change from Easterly to Westerly during the day – lets hope it waits till we’re in the coffee shop – Enjoy!

IMPORTANT: We have changed the start time of our Sunday Hills rides back to our summer time of 6am. Take note‼️

Saturday 27th January

Sunday 28th January

Monday 29th January

Tuesday 30th January

Wednesday 31st January

Thursday 1st February

Friday 2nd February