With the final Tour of Margaret River being held this coming weekend, we now look ahead to the next major goal of the season…the Road Nationals. Although the majority of us can only dream of competing in the elite level, the opportunity exists for us to road race, crit or team time trial over the same courses as the pros.

As the EOI’s come in for the various events, we will start to form up teams, where required, and organise some specific training for those event. An email will go out soon to acknowledge people’s preferences and how we intend to move forward.

However, for the road race, the Grand Fondo format allows for a more individual race and hence the training can be a little different. The club will be running a series of training sessions over the next 10 weeks leading up to the nationals and hopefully there is something for everyone.

Firstly, on Tuesday morning at 6am there will be a Women’s only session in Kings Park. This session will do repeats of the main climbs and focus on VO2max efforts to build up the endurance required for the event.

We will meet at the Wadjuk carpark behind Fraser’s Restaurant and will vary the session depending on attendees and what else is happening in the park (eg ATTA).

This session is open to any women interested in training, not just specifically for the Grand Fondo, and is open to non-club members as well.

On Friday mornings at 5:30am there will be an open session (men and women) that will focus on both the climbs and chase in between. Meeting under the narrows city-side, but under the northern side of the road (opposite where we usually do), this will head into the city in a controlled manner along the course from Birdya Drive. This is to give people a view of the actual course which is important so that they can understand the gradient and conditions of the road. Unfortunately there and seven sets of traffic lights that makes this very difficult from a training perspective, so we will ride it in a neutral manner.

Once the groups crosses Milligan Street it is game on following the course up Malcolm and into the park, however, the group will regroup just after turning into Kings Park Ave. This is to ensure that we can have a safe and protected group riding along Mounts Bay Road as the early morning traffic starts to pick up around 6am. (see map for lap 1)

Again it is game on to follow the course with another regroup before leaving the park. Repeat for lap 3. If you are having trouble keeping up and don’t want to feel like you are having people wait for you, there is a shortcut before Lovekin Drive. Depending on who we have in attendance, there may be an opportunity to split into 2 different groups, but we will play it by ear.

The ride is neutralised as we head back into the city but instead of following the actual course back through the actual CBD, we stay on Mounts Bay Road, past the hospital and up Spring St to join back onto St Georges/Malcolm St. This gives the course a better flow for training and tackles a slightly harder climb with less recovery before Malcolm St. (see map for lap 2 & 3)

Similar to the Tuesday session, this is open to all riders including non-club members.

A third session on Sunday mornings will take in the entire course and is planned to minimise regroups as hopefully traffic will be manageable early on in the day. This session will start on Fraser Avenue where the actual start/finish line is positioned and will run along the entire course, including the traffic lit section of the CBD.

Times and dates for this session have not been finalised yet, as this session will be run alternately with attendance to selected criteriums which usually fall on a Sunday morning. As we have riders training for both the Grand Fondo and Criterium, we need to cater for both.

Final word. All these sessions are run for free through the club and, again, non-SPR members are more than welcome. They are all on open roads and, although we are trying to simulate race conditions as much as we can, you must obey road rules at all times (including traffic lights). The first of these sessions begins next week the 4^th November after the Tour or Margaret River.

I hope to see you there.