a little while back we ran a survey and have since published the results in a previous post. quite a few of the questions had a space for comments.  in the interest of transparency all the comments from the survey will be listed below and i will attempt to answer them as best i can.  since the survey was anonymous, this is the only way that people can be responded to. on occasion, i may group a number of comments together and answer them together.  if you need further clarification on any of the replies, please feel free to send me and email and i can answer you personally.

As there were so many areas to add comments, we have broken it done into 5 main topic groups with posts around each – club & safety, kit, racing & volunteering, social and a final one where the general feedback on any topic was given.

If there are any other general comments that you would like to make in regards to the club and how it operates, please feel free to express yourself below!

Keep up the great work it’s an awesome club

I wonder if the club could sponsor a club coach/training programme subsidized for members. But still potentially fee based if necessary. Something for us newbie women to look at the 3 dams training etc if we aren’t that confident to go up in the hills with the Sunday rides. Like a more specific training for an event but probably with a leader. Just a thought. I’m finding myself looking/ investigating other training programmes for 3 dams training that offer a have a go approach so you don’t feel too threatened.

yep, fair call.  the dams ride is an event that many in our club do and many do for the first time as a challenge.  organising set training rides for dams preparation for newbies should not be that hard for the club to do.  usually, our biggest problem is finding the appropriate person to look after the group.

I think when passing a rider first person should indicate how many more are going to pass eg 15 riders

courtesy to other rides should not have to be a club driven mandate.  i agree that this helps and have done it myself in the past.  some riders start to freak out when a big group comes past.  letting them know how many more to come can certainly assist.

Happy with the way club is run

Very well run club thanks to the efforts of the committee. Keep it up!

I am only new to SPR but am thoroughly enjoying it. I only ride with the club on weekends, and every ride has been enjoyable.

Thanks for your great work club committee. The only concern I have is that this year the club concentrates on club racing, which is highlighted by many blog posts. I wonder what the recreational riders would like to have more from the club. I do not know what the stats is but this is something to be considered. I agree that you can keep everyone happy. Hopefully the survey helps the club to give directions of what the members expect from the club.

it’s not that we deliberately don’t post blogs on recreational rides, but cycle clubs predominately run race events and as such we are trying to assist other clubs in making their events successful.  there is also a bigger step for some people to take in order to start racing, so we try to assist as much as possible.  the other factor is the reduction in recreational events.  in the past there was the great perth bike ride, the freeway bike hike and a host of cyclo-sportif events throughout the year.  some have totally disappeared off the calendar and others have lost their shine over the years.  the club, however, does recognise that more than half of our membership has a recreational licence.  we need to allow for this and will be looking at our own events like the water tower challenge.  we are, however, more than happy for people to write a blog post on any event that they participate in.

No

Great club. Suffers only because of its success. Bigger numbers means more outlier events. I have mates who won’t ride with SPR because it’s “dangerous”. I tend to think that riding in groups is a great foundation for racing as you learn to position yourself and pre-empt the moves of those around you. Awareness is a great bike skill. Anyhow, kudos SPR and the people who make the club possible!

A huge thank you to all the committee members and volunteers. You all do an amazing job.

I might have to give up my SPR membership next year so that I can qualify/participate in some races which require a Victorian cycling club membership. If it wasn’t for that I’d be perfectly happy to keep representing SPR from afar.

Full credit to a well run club. I love the professional website and communications. And especially love the way the club is inclusive and welcomes new riders. Well done.

It’s a little bit hard to feel “in” as a rider in the club as I’m a development rider. I don’t know if there are others out there like me but perhaps a mentoring or buddy program and specific skill building rides might help newer riders develop quicker and keep coming along.

we did have a buddy/mentor program running a little while back, so maybe we look at reinvigorating that.  it paired up newbies with experienced riders and they rode with them at a few saturday rides.  skills building is also an area that we are looking into.

Committee, volunteers & ride leaders do a good job. like many organisations it falls to the few.

It is a great club, run excellently by volunteers. thank you to all those involved.

I am probably not the best of your members to provide good feed back. However, organisations like SPR are essential to the sport and I am willing to support in a limited way to assist. Thank you for your good work and all the best for the future.

Update your kit design and switch supplier.

comments on this are addressed in the kit feedback post. we don’t have a case to change either at the moment.

This club always aims to improve its riders and their knowledge whilst retaining a social friendly club.

Every weekend I am looking forward to cycling with my friends. Thank you for organizing!

The office-bearers and key members of SPR continue to do a great job and should be rightly proud of their efforts. Thank you!

Definitely the best club in WA.

As fairly new to cycling I would like to see the club run some bike maintenance classes, tyre changing oiling etc so that we could become more self sufficient and any other handy hints! there is a wealth of knowledge in the club, but is not passed on to the lower levels.

agreed, and it shouldn’t be that hard.  we can either come down early before the ride or at the coffee shop afterwards.  it doesn’t need to be a big song and dance about how to strip the bike down to the frame, just the basic things that people need to look out for.

It is great club. Vibrant and inspirational. Club seems to shy about making crashes/accidents know as the occur. Why? We could all learn from them – like a few weeks back a guy landed on his face caught out on a sudden stop in a bunch at an circle. Hope we are not hiding the facts!!

nope, nothing is being hidden.  the club vice president has been tracking all the accidents that either known members or anyone on club training rides has been involved in.  we were looking at doing up a post, but might just include it in the annual report that we put together for the agm.  does give us an idea of what we need to work on, i.e. skills sessions.

I’ve always been impressed by the friendly SPR atmosphere and the way the club mixes dedication to racing with cooperation on training rides. I haven’t had much social involvement since I always have to run home to do family stuff, but hope to make up for this in the future.

Thanks so much to you Pete & other committee members for putting your time into the club. I appreciate it a lot.

I am not an active member any more but I may change, happy that my membership supports the club.

Overall, SPR does a very good job.

Great club, thanks for looking at ways to make it even better!

I ride mainly socially but i think SPR is a great group as it encourages everyone to cycle

Reduce the big groups allowing a smoother and better organised ride.

this has been addressed in the club and safety feedback post.  yes we agree that sizes need to be manageable, but it is up to the riders to adhere to this.  this morning (thursday) 3 riders took off after the group had been split and rode with the group in front.

Great club keep it up

The Club has an excellent base, with loads of members and a big presence in WA with loads of experience. As the biggest club I would like to see our best do better in top competitions with greater team management. The Committee are very committed, but there’s very little change over the years. It’s not that the incumbents are doing a bad job, but new people bring new ideas and fresh approach so I think it should be mandatory the leadership positions have maximum terms.

our constitution has been written so that every position is vacated before the agm each year.  when the club was formed, there were many examples of mismanagement within some of the other clubs in wa.  we wanted to make sure that there was no individual or clique that could take control of the club and destroy all the hard work that has been put in.  saying that, we also make en effort to ensure that we get a good group of people that believe in what the club stands for and wants it to continue that way.  being on the committee is not a prerequisite to getting new ideas heard.  the committee are the ones that need to do the work to implement the new ideas.  if you have thoughts on what can change there is nothing stopping anyone from nominating for the committee or even a subcommittee.

keep doing what you are doing. Great club and definitely my cycling family

Great club and something to be proud of. Our kit is our identity and seeing a low % of kit wearers does not help.

Encouraging newbies with bike skills sessions.

yep, comments above and in the club and safety post.

I love this club, words can not express how much joining this club has changed my life for the better. I have made so many wonderful friends. And the support you gave me when I was battling cancer, I am forever grateful. Thankyou

It’s not that easy being green Having to spend each day the color of the leaves When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold

red and yellow.  you secretly want to be ironman, don’t you.

Thank you to the president and the committee and all other volunteer team members for your hard and great work you are doing day in day out. Well done ! Thank you

We NEED a structured program geared towards group skills & bike handling. We need to pay instructors to do this regardless of their sideline coaching businesses. Most of these people who would do this are loyal and active members of the club.

yep, skills sessions are being looked at as mentioned in the club and safety comments post.

Great club with great leaders. Really appreciate the time and effort put in by the committee. The ride leader program is a great initiative and an example of leadership provided by the club for the growth and safety of its members. Well done SPR.

The club is really well run as it is, comments and complaints are 99.9% of the time the result of those not members who don’t understand how the club operates and what is expected….which you can’t really control. As the clubs grows it is increasingly difficult to keep everyone under control and keep everyone safe so thank you for trying. Oh the only thing I would STRONGLY recommend is subsidised and coordinated first aid training for whomever in the club is interested in taking the course. Accidents on club rides happen and the more people who know how to give immediate first aid is really important. Even in racing, you could be the only person for kms who can help a fellow rider, it is wise to know how to offer assistance as who knows when help would be on the way. A few accidents this year, some very serious, where folks were lucky to have first aiders on hand to help them. Cheers!

as mentioned in the previous club and safety comments post, it will be discussed at the committee meeting.

Many thanks to everyone who contributes to making the club so awesome 🙂

I’d like SPR to partner with DonateLife WA to promote and collaborate around a popular community issue that is focused upon the gift of life

personally i am a bit believer in organ donation.  my family know that in the event of an accident, my bits are to go to someone that needs them.  i also encourage others to have that discussion with their loved ones as (unfortunately) you never know what can happen.  however, the club made a decision a while ago to not really partner with any particular entity.  we didn’t want to be seen as a bike shop ride, or coffee shop ride but wanted to be a cycle club.  although donatelife is a great cause, there are also a number of other great causes out there.  cancer for example, has affected a number of our members over the last few years. we could easily align with any number of charities but have looked to create our own identity to focus on our members.

I’m a new rec member (Oct 17)- only been to three rides so far. Keen for much more. SPR Riders have been helpful when I’ve asked for ‘where do I go’ for such and such ride.

You guys rock!

Committee do a great job 🙂 volunteers might feel more comfortable putting their hand up to help if there was a buddy training system

The club is run well.

I think the club has divided to different group for example only main fast. Riders only social within themselves and I felt is too Competitive among

a large inclusive club is always going to break into a number of groups as generally the people you ride with are the ones you socialise with. there is nothing stopping anyone from sitting with another group for coffee.  start up a conversation with someone you don’t know.  you already have a common interest so it is not really like tinder.  i don’t believe that the barriers that some people see between the groups are actually there.  we are talking about social groups here and you can’t force social groups.  the club can’t mandate that people must be more social to others, that is up to each of you.

great work, I really appreciate the network and friendship this club has.

No juniors in the club is something we should look at.

these things are a catch 22 situation.  it is hard to provide for juniors if we don’t have any, but they won’t turn up if we don’t provide for them.  it is an ongoing problem and something that has been looked at a number of times.  i think that it is still on the committee agenda as something that a few of us were meant to work on last year.  in progress.

Club is well run and has a good following in Perth. Happy to be a member.

I don’t think it is the place of the club to support national and international events at this stage. Perhaps once grass roots issues are addressed and a sustainable approach to club management can be reached, then this could be considered further. I think that the club should focus on members basic skills and domestic racing (if a member wishes) development and use excess funds to support this and the races the club puts on. I would be really proud of a club that promotes a skilful and positive community-focused bike rider. I am concerned that in some instances common sense is overlooked in managing situations, to the detriment of the club outcomes. In some instances, I feel that the communication is not as respectful as it could be, in particular for the recent ToMR group emails. I don’t believe that catering to the lowest common denominator is the way to be progressive and attract high caliber club contributors. If particular people are out of line, then appropriate communication should be directed to them personally and in a timely manner. This should not be avoided, and a club member with appropriate skills in this area should be utilised. Some of the language and tone I have witnessed on group rides, not for safety reasons, but for ego reasons, is not representative of a club that I want to be a part of. I know of riders that no longer ride with the club due to this unfortunately. I believe that some/all club positions should attach payment/club fees covered for ‘volunteer’ time to improve accountability and perhaps attract more candidates to the roles. I would like to see higher quality kit options available. Does the club have goals or targets for each year/2 years? Are these communicated to the club members? Thanks to those taking their time to review these responses, and considering our opinion.

wow a lot in there.  any financial contribution from the club is seriously discussed at the committee level before any commitment is made.  in certain instances, the club has supported individuals to help them pursue their goals both here and overseas.  in other instances, the club has not given financial support but has provided in-kind but organising and supporting fundraiser events.  on occasion the club has donated outside the club in areas where we feel we should be actively supporting the sport. none of those decisions are taken lightly and it usually involves a lot of animated discussion.

communication is probably the next important item in here.  how we communicate with each other can certainly have a lasting effect on how those parties react in the future.  in dangerous or frustrating circumstances people’s emotions often boil to the surface and this may not always have the best outcome. yes, i agree that ego’s should not get in the way of delivering a message and sometimes people should just “take a breath”. how we act forms peoples opinions of the club.  whether in kit on the road, as a ride leader within a group or in some designated organisational position within the club.  remember, you are talking to a person, that will have an equal reaction to your action.

goals and targets are not always something that we discuss outside of the 1 year period.  often there are longer term aspirations, but as with most volunteer organisations, it takes people to drive them along.  i feel that we may need to bring more structure to the governance of the club, not in the day to day running, but as to what is the vision, purpose and plan.  what are we trying to achieve in the long run.

Love how the club operates,

The number of members and happy faces, to me says you have a good thing going. Even though I am going back to recreational riding I do think others would like more opportunities / introduction to racing. Could this be offered as an alternative to group riding?

i don’t know if you have been in some of the faster groups, but they are races.  we tend to find that the best way to experience racing is to actually race.  even though some of the training rides we do are pretty solid, they are totally different to an actual race.  the biggest difference is the tactics.  fitness kind of determines which grade you ride in, but tactics determine whether you win or not.  the clubs main focus is the training rides, and this is where we have seen a lot of growth.  peel club, however, puts a lot of their effort into almost weekly club races.  these are low key, enter on the day graded races.  if you are interested in taking a step towards racing, get a few of your riding buddies together and head down to the next peel race.  we have used them in the past as development “races” for newbies and found that they are very well run and very welcoming to new riders.

Club kits and design black kits with just green writing ?? groups are good already just riders need to revisit rules instead of abusing other fellow friends for a mistake here and there.

although we put a lot of work into the ride leader program and what that means to the clubs safety, all riders should be looking out for each others safety.  as mentioned above in regards to communication, how that is delivered will determine the response.  on the flip-side, if you are being constantly told off for “making mistakes” people will get frustrated and their communication style may change a bit. as much as people hate being told off, people also hate having to constantly tell people off.  make sure that you take on board the “feedback” and make sure it is delivered in the appropriate manner.

Thank you to the committee for doing a sensational job with the club.

Mentors for new members so you aren’t turning up to rides alone and can be introduced to people.

so, most of the time people do email the club before turning up for the first time.  that way we can tell them how many riders to expect, what the different groups do and what we expect in regards to ride etiquette.  we always say “just ask anyone” when they arrive to point them in the right direction.  i know that it can be a little daunting at first as there are a lot of riders there, but once we split into the groups and the ride leaders give briefings, things seem to settle a bit.  what we are hoping is that when you find a new person in your group, you make the effort to help them out in both riding etiquette and also socially after the ride.

The administrators of the club are doing a terrific job, thank you.

The club is inclusive and has been an important part of my cycling journey! Thank you all for keeping it as good as it is!

Have been a member less than 1 year but very impressed with club, very well organised, friendly and welcoming crew and I get a lot out of enjoyment and fitness benefits out it, even though I just do the Thursday and Sunday group rides, so great work SPR team.

The club has honestly changed my life and I certainly appreciate all of the great people within it. 2017 has been an awesome year and hopefully 2018 is an even better one.

Peter Mah deserves all the credit he gets Race committee have been excellent 2017

I notice that there is always talk if developing women’s racing and engagement in cycling but when I have attended beginners cycling events there is no race briefing and I am not always sure of what I should be doing, simple things like where do I attach the chip, how do I read the results, maybe the club could hold a presentation/training day to explain the basics of racing

so the race committee is looking at organising a post saturday q&a on racing with some seasoned spr racing types.  hopefully this answers some of peoples questions.  at individual races though, if there are spr riders around and you have a questions, don’t be afraid to ask. i am pretty sure at any race event you could ask just about anyone anything and they will help you.  we all started somewhere.

Very proud to be a part of the SPR community!

I am so happy to be a member of this club. Committee does an exceptional job. The great thing is no politics. In fact the committee carries out its job without even seeming to. Brilliant.

My guess is that 50% of members don’t know who the committee members are or what they do

so there is the agm that everyone is invited to and that is where the committee gets elected.  we have a breakfast and everything.  pretty much anything that happens within the club happens because of the volunteer time put in by the committee and sub-committees.  anyway, there is a page on the blog that lists everyone.

Waiting for the quarterly cycle for club kit is a big long other than that the club is great

Wanted to see some hills rides on Saturday instead of all hills rides on Sunday. Also if could get the buffet breakie once a month either first week of the month or last week would be great.

due to people working or having other commitments like kids sports, the saturday ride is always around the 50km mark.  this allows people to get a good ride in and be finished before 9am.  some commitments start even earlier, so we started the earlybird ride for that reason.  as for the breakfasts, we used to have 4 per year, but that has been dropped to 2 per year.  having them to frequently meant that people didn’t see that value in them and didn’t attend.  even worse were those that didn’t pay, but still took food from the buffet. in the interest of both the club and dome, we now have  the agm breakfast and the xmas breakfast.

Overall a really well run club. Special thanks to president and committee for the hard work they put in.

Operates really well. I think because we all ride in close quarters and many race, some training in close quarter riding would be of great benefit to most.

The club has an excellent ethos on being inclusive and providing safe rides for everyone no matter their level. The committee, ride leaders, and majority of members believe strongly in this. On busy days numbers can be very high, including non members who can be less willing to follow the direction of ride leaders. I’m not suggesting calling numbers, however regular riders who aren’t members should be encouraged to join, and there needs to be a way to express to riders that they may not be welcome due to the way they ride. This can be difficult to do on the ride and if they don’t finish the ride and stay for coffee.

a lot of this is covered in the club and safety comments post.

A terrific club which is very inclusive of all abilities from the serious racer to the social rider

Well let’s see… I think the spr club structure is brilliant. I don’t ride with spr very often any more, hills ride… The odd Saturday ,spr Groups are just too big. I like being the quite organiser for stuff with the club , happy to help out when l can.

Keep up the good work!!!

Too many issues to list here but the ongoing problem of unsafe groups, ineffective ride leaders and no skill tearing system to prevent unskilled riders joining any group they wish need to be addressed.

so when we open ourselves up to the public, i expect that we will get a few comments like this.  not uncommon and there are comments in a similar vain in some of the other topics.  when i look at all the positive comments just in this post, i know that this isn’t the common belief within our groups.  basically, if you feel that the groups are that unsafe, with ineffective leaders and a raft of unaddressed issues, then maybe you should not be riding with us. we, the club, not just the committee work hard to make sure that we have safe, organised and inclusive rides every week.  if you have particular issues that you want addressed, i am more than happy for you to contact the club personally.  i do however, take umbrage to a generalisation that says that we have done nothing to keep riders safe.

 

so as a final overall comment, i would like to thank everyone that contributed to the survey this time around.  there is lots of feedback in there that the committee can use to make sure that the direction we are heading aligns to what the membership wants.  it is not all bad, and i thank you for any of the positive feedback that was given.  it is all important as it lets people know that we aren’t totally stuffing everything up and just spend hours trying to keep certain people happy.  stay safe.

a little while back we ran a survey and have since published the results in a previous post. quite a few of the questions had a space for comments.  in the interest of transparency all the comments from the survey will be listed below and i will attempt to answer them as best i can.  since the survey was anonymous, this is the only way that people can be responded to. on occasion, i may group a number of comments together and answer them together.  if you need further clarification on any of the replies, please feel free to send me and email and i can answer you personally.

As there were so many areas to add comments, we have broken it done into 5 main topic groups with posts around each – club & safety, kit, racing & volunteering, social and a final one where the general feedback on any topic was given.

If SPR were to run cycling events for “participation” and “fun”, what should they be?

I’d leave this to the big event organisers (ie outsource)

Hill climbs. Track cycling.

Pub/Cafe Crawl. Cyclocross at a brewery. Stuff where we can hang out after the event or multiple races so you can race and watch a race as well.

Long haul supported country rides – with escort vehicles. Ie A perth to Beverley ride. Stay at the pub and then ride back to Perth via York. Or what about a climbers carpark challenge? Would be ?? awesome!

How about some fun events eg like the Giro de perth etc. once a year

Dirty Dozen 2 (I have a draft route PM me)

Hill climb challenge, obviously we don’t have anything as long but…http://www.keirachallenge.com.au/cycle-climb.html

ATTA run the best TT’s – don’t try to compete with ATTA

would like to see intermediate level participation team events,a group of us girls recently did tour of Gracetown, it would have been nice to see more SPR there and support or similar type rides.

Not really into it

HILL CLIMBS

100-150km rides also

Multiday event. TTT, ITT, road race. 3 stages, winners for each and overall GC.

The range of rides, races & events across the year is awesome as is

Do an “Every ride of the week” Challenge. Mon-Fri. In one day. (I’ve done it.)

time trials and team time trial events, these are popular at ToMR time and folks seem to have had a lot of fun doing it, builds camaraderie and would be something super different for SPR

Team things like relays also

Other events with others. I have took part in a few Perth integrated health events and very well. Organised and enjoyable. Riding is not not all about racing

night rides

Tour with SWCC – Joint Club ride through Ferguson Valley

Nah just organise races. They’re more fun

Needs to be something ‘different’ or unusual like the Water Tower challenge.

I am unlikely to do participation rides. However, historically the best rides for me were the UCI training rides at 600am on Sunday. It’s close to racing but still a club ride. Something similar to that would be great. It’s a nice start time in hot weather, home at a reasonable hour and still left time to attend a race later in the morning.

ATTA does time trials year round, but maybe there is space in the calendar for some team time trials, especially in the least up to ToMR

Night ride challenge

Tour of the Wheatbelt

a number of good suggestions in there.  i like the idea of a 2 day supported ride.  like most things, it does take a bit of organisation, but certainly something we can look into.  there is already work going on around a weekend training camp as well.

the joint club training ride also looks good.  there are lots of areas that we don’t explore because they are not close to us, but a short trip away in the car and we can find all sorts of new roads.  with some local guides, it makes it even easier.

the old ucwt training ride was a good hit out and very solid indeed.  we have been talking about revamping it as a once a month (replace the long hills) ride on a set course with only a regroup at the end.  still a work in progress.

the water tower challenge has definitely been identified as an event that we must put on again.  the back end of the year is too cramped full of events now, so we need to find a new home for it.  also on my list of things to do.

a night ride challenge is kind of almost running now.  we have been doing lots of nightowl rides which cut a lap of the river before the earlybird.  great time to ride as the weather is still nice and the roads are clear.  if you really want a night time challenge, have a look at delirium.  solo, duo or in a team of 6.  how many laps can you do in 24 hours. a real challenge but there are lots in the club that have taken it up previously.

Are you a member of any other cycling organisations?

No

ATTA

ATTA

Informal Group – Bike Force Myaree

ATTA

Track Cycling WA

Over 55s

Australian Time Trials Association WA

Cycling Australia

ATTA

AATA

Over 55 Cycling club

SPR

Meetup Group Cycling for Fun

BWA

CA, ATTA

Atta

atta is very popular and they run excellent time trial events.  there are no ego’s, you just go out and do your thing and check the website to see how you go.  they keep track of pb’s and all that, so you can track your progress.  you don’t even need a fancy tt bike as many people just go and do them on a roadie (or even penny farthing).  it is a great way to do more competitive riding without actually racing. we obviously missed them from the options to select other organisations which was a major oversight on our part.

Do you currently have bike insurance (damage &/or theft), who is it with?

Cyclecover Gold

velosure

Velosure

Covered with TA

Velosure

Bike sure

Through household insurance

JLT

CycleCover

ANZ home and contents

as in private / personal bike insurance

But probably need it.

Suncorp

Cycl

home insurance

Aami

CGU – home

Velosure

BWA

velosure

Velosure and RAC

Bruce Insurance, part of home contents

Cycling Australia

Rac

velosure

Gio

Youi

Velosure

RAC

HBF

AAMI

Part of our house insurance

Cycle Aus

AAMI

Velo

SGIO

Commonwealth

Cycling Australia

CA/Velosure

Velosure

BikeSure

Velosure

Velosure

Velosure

Velosure

Rac friend who races recommended to me as I can’t afford to replace my cafe racer

Home contents insurance

No Worries Bike Cover

Berkshire Hathaway (home contents insurer)

Velosure

Velosure

Velosure

Allianz via home insurance

Bikesure

Velosure

Velosure

Velosure

Insured as a portable item through home and contents, not specific bike insurance

Velosure

Bikesure

Velo

RAC

for those that aren’t insured, there are quite a few suggestions in there for who to contact.  cycling isn’t meant to be a contact sport, but there are so many variables outside of your control, that insurance is necessary to make sure you aren’t replacing a bike all the time.

What social activities would you like?

An event I have participated in the past was a ride that was followed by a B’fast BBQ, families were encouraged to attend with kids and partners on bikes. So shortened Sat ride, partners with kids all on bikes meeting. Short ride to follow then breakfast. It was mayhem but huge fun

“Garmin’s in the bowl”

thanks tinder-guy

Connect with other riding club like Perth integrated and participate with the riding events

Love it all. 10 yr birthday family event

we did do a family event early on in the clubs history, for those that remember.  discussions are underway as to what we do for the clubs 10 year anniversary.

 

a little while back we ran a survey and have since published the results in a previous post. quite a few of the questions had a space for comments.  in the interest of transparency all the comments from the survey will be listed below and i will attempt to answer them as best i can.  since the survey was anonymous, this is the only way that people can be responded to. on occasion, i may group a number of comments together and answer them together.  if you need further clarification on any of the replies, please feel free to send me and email and i can answer you personally.

As there were so many areas to add comments, we have broken it done into 5 main topic groups with posts around each – club & safety, kit, racing & volunteering, social and a final one where the general feedback on any topic was given.

If you don’t race, are there barriers preventing you from racing?

Probably nervousness having never raced, skills may be not up to it

confidence, training opportunities for the novice racer. most training seems to be tailored around the faster/ more elite group(s)

Too old, too slow.

I’m between ‘not coming back’ and ‘loved it’.

My fat arse and refusal to diet.

Did TOMR might consider it again but not interested in individual racing.

Work weekends. Crit’s scare me witless. I’m fat.

Not race fit

I am not interested in crits they are just too dangerous. I especially don’t like the tech park circuit. Fear of a massive group stack I am not interested in but I think I might aim for TOMR again next year but its a big expense by the looks of it

Age, Family commitments and if I crash and/or injure myself I wouldn’t be able to work as I have a physical job.

experience at the moment. Which is also why i don’t attend more development rides. Would be great to have some rides for really new riders that work on skills as I development rides I’ve done faster than planned average and a bit overwhelming for a newer to group riding cyclist

Don’t train enough; some elitism exists. Not easy to jump from M2 to M1 etc. (M2.1 should be focused on progression to assisting riders, greater separation within group abilities (I appreciated this is not as simple as it sounds)

Getting to events

No barriers but am a much better rower than rider.

Not personally interested in racing road race or criterium events (which I don’t like/ not suited to me), but do compete in Time Trial, Track, MTB and CX events. Support RR and Crit events though and think SPR should too.

Age

time

Not worth it unless you train

Got nervous with rider behaviour on west coast masters C grade race.

Occasional racer when I get motivated.

I don’t feel I am Quick enough and am too old.

not competitive

I’m too old and my bike skills are crap! I would be a danger to myself and others if I raced. I am a competitive distance runner, and ride mainly for variety and also for the social interaction.

just fitness

Not interested in racing road, never have.

SPR members do not race like a team, it’;s all individuals. When racing against others like Midland they are well organised and use their strengths to win. SPR has many capabilities but they are not working together.

Age

Fear of another 50kph crash and broken bones has something to do with it.

time

Just do the occasional race at which there’s a strong SPR presence e.g. TOMR, Beverley. Have loved such events but that’s enough racing for me!

commitment, cant lose!

Too old

No, not within the control of the club

caveat: I have raced but find it too nerve wracking thus have moved onto TTs, don’t currently have the time to commit consistently to the times of day racing is set up but even if it was ….. would I race again … no idea

Me

Time and my partners interest in attending races

Raced karts for 15 years. Don’t feel the need anymore and getting too old. But I can see the motivation that racing would bring a rider.
Cost, self-organisation, uncertainty about safety.

Racing means a lot of training. I have time for training only on Sunday and it is not enough. Time is my limitation.

Only barriers I have hit whilst racing.

training time and a bike born after 1987

Time and still getting to know the club members

Looks a bit unsafe

Speed, lack of experience

Missing the option I really wanted. Tried it and may come back.

Expensive, doesn’t fit in with my schedule.

Haven’t had time to think about it with long working hours.

Money: Cost of licence Cost of entering races Being offered a new rider free race and not being refunded New to cycling racing: Not knowing what I’m doing Not knowing what category to race in. Not knowing anyone at races

Not racing at the moment due to illness.

I don’t yet have a race performance bike

Woudn’t say I love it, but will continue to do it

List of events available Question of am I good/fast enough

Have raced but currently not racing

time and commitment to train. Being able to try it in a safe environment. Apprehension and confidence to give it a go.

Would be good to have skills sessions

I may come back to racing but not currently a focus for me.

Occasionally raced – not convinced to pursue

Tried it & might come back

old, fat and unfit.  you would be surprised at how many people that are racing would describe themselves in the same way.  age, is not a problem as there are masters races that many of our members participate it.  it is not associated with cycling australia and our club membership will not enable you to ride, but it is still racing if you are interested.  fat and unfit are a couple of parameters that can be changed.  however, no time for training also rated quite highly and this will certainly effect the fat and unfit status.

we are not trying to push people into racing but just make sure that they are aware of the pathways that exist within the club that can certainly help take that next step.  if you enjoy riding hard on saturday morning and love to win the final “sprint”, then it is not much of a step to pin on a number.  most races will have other spr members in attendance, so if you are keen, but not sure, get in contact with the race committee and they will be able to help you out. the race committee  will do a post-saturday q&a in the next few weeks where you can chat and ask questions. any raving questions at all. watch for the blog post

Would you be prepared to volunteer for race duties and what would you be willing to do? (e.g.: line judging; marshall; registration; etc)

Registration, traffic mgt

Anything – marshall, follow car, etc

Rego

Whatever

No preference.

Marshall

registration,

Anything requested of me

Anything that doesn’t require prior experience. I have none.

Burn Peter Mah’s leg again, drive the wrong way at a course in Wanneroo, set up a feed station at the wrong place just out of Kalgoorlie, find ice in the middle of Bintan ETC

i have a permanent scar on my leg from your volunteering efforts.

Difficult due to family commitments and shift work

Registration

Marshall

only I’m interstate so really it’s a no

marshall, rego, offer my services as a physio/medico

Anything. I usually help out whenever in needed

Were ever needed, but shift pattern makes regular attendance difficult

Happy to do anything

Anything

Heavily committed to rowing including Australian Masters and coaching.

Anything

registration

Marshalling, Vehicle Support

Registration, set up/pack down

Any

Registration, marshalling, set up and pack up

all of the above

Anything

Marshall

What ever needs doing.

Any

All of above

Any required support activities

Marshall

whatever asked

anything required

Marshall

Anything

As needed

Quality control

marshal, registration

anything

setup/registration

Handing out water etc

no idea what’s needed!

Marshall, line judging

will assist in some way but also understand the time/effort that takes to run races.

Registration

Any

rego, marshall – when available

Depends on work. I work most weekends

Basic stuff

Rego

marshall

Registration, packing up.

Race Director

Driver

Whatever is needed

Anything required

MARSHALL, registration

what ever the club needs, fairly flexible

Registration

whatever

Something that I could do before/ after the race and still race or be able to send a family memever to volunteer on my behalf. If you volunteer you could get a cheaper race??

Registration,

Anything

Any of the above.

registration

But I find it very difficult to get away to help

Registration

Whatever is required and will fit with my training/racing schedule

Anything

Anything

Whatever

Timing system, marshall

Any role required.

Registration

Registration & marshalling

Anything

Marshall

Organising. But I’ll need help and direction as my first time doing this.

Driving, marshalling, registration

Line judge, registration

Marshals

Everything

Registrations

wow, that is a lot of people willing to help out.  unfortunately, being an anonymous survey, we can’t just list out your names onto a register.  we did ask for vollies last year and kept a list.  please respond to the spr green army volunteer call out blog post coming up soon!

Based on your experience as a ToMR racer in 2017, please tell us what could be done better to improve?

Might be good to try and get accommodation closer together to enable greater interaction amongst teams? ToMR volunteers were awesome – despite the Greenbushes wait (no doubt you’ll get plenty of feedback on that from others! 😀 )

Some miscommunication at the Green bushes finish left the mixed team out on their own.

Only 2 of the volunteers were poor. The rest were excellent!

Did not race with SPR for the TOMR, raced with the Unicorn Racing team

Could have resolved the Thursday evening issue quicker and more decisively. Shame there’s limited accommodation closer to Nannup.

Some volunteers excellent. But there were 2 that refused to ferry cars more than 1 direction on the Saturday which is the key day the volunteers were needed. That left others left to do silly kms to make up the shortfall and left them exhausted. This left 2 teams very delayed getting food and lifts. Especially bad for mixed team. The 2 vollies in question chose to assume that they only needed to assist their teams (or in 1 case only certain team members). I also am aware of an incident that lef racer who had even ingredients the crash left to attend an ambulance on her own having asked her teamsters and volunteer to please wait for her as she didn’t know where the SPR tent was and she was hurting and needed some help. They didn’t wait and when she came out the ambo none was there. I don’t think this person would do the event again.

generally people were pretty happy with the tomr race experience.  some firmer policy around a number of issues including volunteer duties have already been identified. communication here will be the key to ensure that everyone know what needs to happen and when.  however, remember, volunteers are volunteering their time and are unpaid, so don’t expect them to be everywhere and everything to you.

the accommodation is also an issue now that the race has moved to nannup.  initially we though that we could stay in busso as it is close, but the number of 5 bedroom houses was limited so we moved further along the coast.  we will take into account all the feedback we received when start to look into tomr 2018.

How would you improve the  “SPR racer experience” of the ToMR for future years?

Perhaps better accommodation for the volunteers.

Better organisation around volunteers transporting racers from one location to another.

I was lucky and my daughter experience was excellent

Perhaps more information about racing organised rides, training for the novices?

Can’t think of one fault! Amazing every year. It keeps getting better.

Sort out vehicle transfers before people decide to bugger off.

Locate more responsibility for planning & logistics at team level, while retaining higher-level decision making & coordination at official club level

I think it was pretty spot on

Keeping them in the lower categories is key to the experience being positive.

Depends on where the racing is held, as the travel time to the events each day prevent the teams getting together to socialise, which is a great reason to attend and get to know fellow SPR members.

Depends a lot on the race course. I know the point to point caused a lot of logistical headaches & a few extra volunteers would have helped share the load with driving. Also accomodation closer to the race would reduce driving time – happy to stay somewhere more basic

Harsher penalties for withdrawals. 😉

It was pretty good!! I was blown away with the experience. The logistics and the last day being back to back wasn’t the best but I don’t know how SPR could have influenced that. I was expecting more atmosphere at the event. People said the year before had more atmosphere. The heat took people by surprise. W1 has the right idea with ice in stockings. It would be good for the more elite teams to mentor those not as experience.

Allow tea,s to ,are their own accommodation arrangements. Give team a guideline for location, facilities etc.

be fitter and more prepared to race in the heat!

Let the team organise their own logistics, it became too much for the club to organise the transport of each team,

More direction around logistics: hiring a bus and trailer was an excellent decision and would have benefited other teams.

Need to find a way to stay closer to the event to reduce commute time. I appreciate this can be difficult.

Pro rider was allocate to a team who rode with her every race. Yet they also did a ride with the pro on Monday morning without inviting anyone else. They also arrived late to the BBQ which was one of the few times others got to talk to the pro. My team were rostered to bring the pro back one day but we were told last min that the w3 team had decided to do it. My team luckily got to spend time with her on the road as we happened to be the same division. I’d a team is allocated pro they should be mindful that the pro is paid for by the entire club

this is the first year that we have had the pro rider. overall, we think it was an excellent “plus” for the club, but we also know that we can improve. couple of points: one, the pro rider themselves made specific requests, and these influenced how we arranged things. two, the overall TOMR management had scheduled some things we did not initially know about, which reduced some opportunities for club members to interact.

Jore cars for those point to point races/ stages. Allow families to come down and stay with/ bear teams.

Subsidise cost if the event. More mini buses for transportation

again a few points raised around travel times and we will certainly look into that.  apparently tomr will remain around nannup for the next few years, so we should get used to having some form of travel as nannup cannot house all our riders.  being close to the ocean was certainly good after the race, but not totally necessary.  offline, i have also heard that the price of accommodation can be restrictive for some people.  the flip side is the quality of the housing often reflects that, so it is a trade off between being comfortable and well rested or paying  a bit less.  something that we can look at.

as always, there is lots of discussion leading up to the event around teams organising their own accommodation and allowing families, etc to come down.  the biggest problem here is that the teams keep changing right up to the final weeks.  people pull out or get injured etc and we need to shuffle rider around.  we can easily get into a situation where a certain house is booked, or spouse staying with and then riders all swap around.  all of a sudden someone is not happy with some aspect of it and it always falls back to the club to mediate.  that is why we now organise all accommodation for the riders and subsidies the volunteers.  i can’t see this changing in the near future, especially with the unprecedented number of withdrawls we had last year.  logistically last year was not easy, but both greg and jon (and eventually bryan) did an excellent job of pulling it all together.

Based on your experience as a ToMR volunteer in 2017, please tell us what could be done better to improve?

The communication was ok but would have found value in an early briefing session. This I think would have enabled me to plan work commitments more effectively to allow for an earlier arrival. Plus could have picked up a bigger loaded from Bryan etc.

Ive sent a separate email with constructive feedback.

Quality of accom was super, availability of accom was SHOCKING. 9 volunteers to 5 available beds Location of accom was fabulous next to beach & close to town centre but SHOCKING for race location. A lot of fuel was expended driving to Camp & then to race end & home. Wasn’t expecting that. There was a ‘racers’ pre tour meeting discussing the courses etc. It would’ve been helpful if some guidelines, team expectations were offered in a similar setting

Ok… I volunteered with TMR not with spr …I stayed at the hotel…I was grateful.

again distance of travel.  also some better communication for the volunteers so they know what they need to do on the day.  as a racer, however, i didn’t think that the volunteers at any stage did not know what they were doing.  we had pretty much everything we needed to get out and race and always had a coke at the finishline.

How would you improve the  “SPR volunteer experience” of the ToMR for future years?

Early briefing session Clear outline of expectations and requirements Perhaps information to the teams about what the volunteers could do, there was the odd expectation cropping up. In respect to the car shuttle – 2 volunteers withdrawing from doing more than one car shuttle on the Saturday was in my view the biggest contributing factor to one person having to do three shuttles. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances.

Less driving by being closer to race central. Ensure that all Volunteers contribute evenly, not just look after their group (when others are in dire need of attention). Equal access to guest pro riders.

All wear matching SPR green polo shirts 🙂

was pretty good as it was

I rated the accommodation based on staying with W3 team, there would not have been enough room staying at the volunteer’s house. I personally think it’s better for the volunteer to stay with the team.

Volunteers need to full understand their commitment to the event. ie 2 drivers only willing to do 1 car retreval trip on stage 2 leaving half of mixed team and me finish. Not really concerned form me but mixed team delayed approx 90min for recovery

Maybe if possible have houses closet together, volunteer to stay with their team, be responsible for all transportation of team

All teams have a volunteer Volunteer stays with assigned team Bus & trailer to accomodate team & bike from accom to base camp

It’s pretty good already , can’t fix it

houses closer, less driving, volunteers staying with the team.  all valid points and something that the logisitics team will look at.  any mention here and previously about bus and trailers really only applies if we have a point to point race.  a few years ago there were lots of point to point stages so we had to hire buses and trailers.  it did significantly add to the cost of the tour price and we avoid it if we can.

on a general comment about volunteers, everyone needs to remember that they are volunteers, not paid workers there to look after you.  please do not put unnecessarily high expectation on something that is being provided for free.