this year we have decided to sell the ever popular entertainment books as a means of raising money for the club. we have looked at them in the past and the effort in physically lugging books around to people is a pain as we don’t have a club house or facility to distribute them from.
this has all now changed with the release of the entertainment book app. the app contains all the same offers as the book, but is with you whenever you carry your phone (all the time). you can conveniently scroll to different sections and it even tracks how much you have saved through the coupons. if you still want an actual book, they can be posted directly to you at a cost. you just need to select the postage option.
now there are books for all over australia, so if you have friends or family in another state, they can still purchase through our link and 20% comes to the club. there are even books for new zealand, bro. the perth book has offers from down south and as far north as bali.
a preview of the book is available via their flipbook.
earlybird orders are now being taken and these come with extra offers not found in the normal book. you can also go into the draw to win a $1000 david jones shopping spree.
so, if you would like a book or app, head over to our order page and select the region that you are interested in.
if you are unsure about how the app works, check out the quick video to explain it all.
the committee has been working very hard over the last few weeks to prepare our first ever annual report. this is to precede our agm tomorrow so that members can get an idea of what has been going on within the club. attached is the public edition which is everything except the club financials. the financials, including the audit, will be available tomorrow to club members at the agm, or by request to the treasurer.
in the process of compiling this report, it occurred to us that we have actually accomplished a lot this past 12 months and the club has continued to grow. i would personally like to thank our club treasurer, daniel for initiating this report and for doing the bulk of the work to pull it together. it is a great reflection of the club and what we stand for.
please take the time to have a look at this document, and if you have any questions, these can be raised at the agm tomorrow after the main ride.
winner, winner striped shirt wearer. not quite as catchy as a chicken based meal, but spr had a couple of jerseys on the podium at this years state criterium championships. it was hosted by spr and rccc, so i had the honor of handing out the champion jerseys. amanda took our her master’s category and then had a crack at the open race. sarah was on the podium for her masters race and elar did a truck load of work to keep the break away in his masters race. fresh off his ring championship series win (unassailable lead with 1 round to go), mike madsen had a crack at the over 50’s masters. the problem with aged based racing is that it encompasses a wide variation of abilities. there are some +50 riders in perth that still ride a grade and they made themselves known early on. overall, it was an excellent turnout and a great finish to our crit hosting for the season.
ride leader sponsor – our ride leaders for march are proudly sponsored by ilberys lawyers. providing a range of legal services, ilberys lawyers also handle personal injury cases such as when you have a bike accident involving a third party. if you are in need of any legal advice their contact details are on the previous post.
tips and tricks – hey, eyes up here!!! this is not in reference to the fact that we all wear skin tight lycra, but more about being aware of what is happening around you while riding in the group. when starting out, the fact that you are riding so close to another wheel often freaks people out. they all know that they need to be close to get a draft, but they get scared about accidentally hitting the wheel in front, or worse, crossing wheels and coming down. therefore, new riders tend to concentrate very hard on being the “correct” distance from the wheel in front. to do this, they look directly at the wheel and nothing else. now the wonderful things about our eyes is that our peripheral vision allows us to see things that we are not looking directly at, and warn us to have a closer look. by this i mean that if you are looking at the back of the rider in front, you can still see the wheel, but probably not exactly see how far away it is. judgement, however, allows you to understand that if the riders body moves closer, then their wheel is probably doing the same. conversely, if the rider moves away, then a gap is forming. it is this second part that usually catches people out who are focusing too intently on the wheel in front. the group surges and next thing you know, you are riding by yourself. by keeping your eyes up, looking about 3 riders ahead, you will see any changes to the groups speed and be able to react sooner. you will also be able to better see the hand signals, parked cars and the ocean views as we pass by cottesloe.
club agm – the club agm is to be held this saturday after the main ride at the Dome in westralia plaza. It will be accompanied by a buffet breakfast ($15 cash) for which you will get a coffee and a selection of awesome post ride foods. please ensure that you sign on if you are a member attending the agm as we need to keep a permanent record. this is an official meeting and we will be electing a new committee for 2017. please see the previous post for more information.
ben oakes marathon effort- some of you may know one of our members ben oakes is doing the london marathon on the 23rd april. however, most of you may not know why. he is doing it to raise funds for parkinson research as his dad was diagnosed 4 years ago. he has a fundraiser page set up as well as a blog to chronicle his challenge and give you a bit more background on his motivation. if you would like to make a donation, you can either visit the webpage or throw a bit of loose change his way when you see him at the agm.
changes to kit ordering – current kit orders close at the end of this month. after this point there will be some changes with a slight price increase and less orders per year. please check out the previous post to understand all the details.
saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning. please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate. this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts. see the previous post for more details.
thursday training ride – this week we implemented a new system of splitting the thursday group ride to keep the size manageable. we think that we have come up with a good way of splitting the groups, but we need you to be honest about your own abilities. have a look at the strava segment for the ride so you know where you sit. there is nothing to stop you stepping up to challenge yourself, but this will at least provide a guide as to how much more challenging it will be.
ride routes – the sunday hills ride has been getting bigger and bigger lately and so a few times we have split it at the carpark to keep the groups under control. there still is a risk, however, that the groups will still merge at traffic lights along the way. to counter this, we will trial sending both groups on different routes this week. although they are both based around kalamunda, the short hills will start with the goose and the long will start with welshpool.
saturday 25th march
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
represent. we did talk about representing the club a while ago, but this time i want to talk about the potentially negative effects of your club representation. last weekend, there was a discussion on facebook about a rider in full club/team kit that rode through 2 sets of red lights right in front of another group. now the kit wasn’t named, but this is just a reminder that you are representing the club when you put on the jersey. what you do (or not do) reflects on the club and it usually ends up coming to my inbox. we are not saying that it was someone from the club, but we are not saying that it wasn’t, so you all need to have a good look at what you did last week and could anything you did while representing the club reflect poorly on the rest of us. we enforce strict rules when we are riding in the group for your own safety. don’t let your actions away from the group give the general public a poor view of what we are. you need to represent our values, even if you are running late for the group ride.
ride leader sponsor – our ride leaders for march are proudly sponsored by ilberys lawyers. providing a range of legal services, ilberys lawyers also handle personal injury cases such as when you have a bike accident involving a third party. if you are in need of any legal advice their contact details are on the previous post.
tips and tricks – aerodynamics, why are they important? having the cool deep dish rims or the bike frame that claims to be slipperier than all others is great when you are riding in a wind tunnel, but the biggest gains you can make in regards to aerodynamics is with your body position. your greatest foe in regards to moving forward is your frontal area breaking through the air. this is why holding a wheel and drafting off other riders is so important to maintaining a fast pace. sometimes, however, you may not be getting all the advantage that you need to keep up with the group. there are times when you have oh so slightly dropped the wheel in front and you feel like you are working ten times as hard and getting nowhere. this is where aerodynamics can help. where are your hands? where is your head? as soon as you start to feel like you are catching too much wind you need to lower your frontal area. put your hands in the drops (curvy bit) of your handlebars (not on the hoods). this automatically brings the rest of your body down. then bring your head closer to the handlebars. just this small change may allow you to make up ground to get back in the draft. too many times i see people dropping off the back of the group and wondering why it is so hard. normally they are already sitting tall in the saddle so as soon as there is a little break, they snap off the back. get down low and go, go, go.
do you even brake, bro? – following on from our tips and tricks, rob has some very important advice about using your brakes…or not. please make sure that you have a read of the previous post as you don’t want to be responsible for the crash that happens behind you where you come off unscathed.
state criterium championships – this sunday we will be hosting the state criterium champs at technology park in bentley. there are masters divisions as well as the open category for those that consider themselves fast. registration closes tonight, so if you are interested, get in quick as there will be no late entry.
club agm – please pencil in the 25th march for our club agm and breakfast. we will be voting on our 2017 committee as well as opening it up for any discussion that members want to have. please see the previous post for more information.
saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning. please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate. this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts. see the previous post for more details.
thursday training ride – this week we implemented a new system of splitting the thursday group ride to keep the size manageable. we think that we have come up with a good way of splitting the groups, but we need you to be honest about your own abilities. have a look at the strava segment for the ride so you know where you sit. there is nothing to stop you stepping up to challenge yourself, but this will at least provide a guide as to how much more challenging it will be.
race reports – there have been a few race reports posted recently from the tour of bintan and the pemberton classic. have a read to see what your fellow spr riders have been up to.
ride routes – there is the potential for a slight shower on saturday morning. it will still be +20 degrees though, so if anything, it will be moist. there is a predicted change in the wind direction, though. so we are taking advantage of it and heading to the coast and back.
saturday 18th march
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
the days are starting to get shorter, but they are also getting nicer. the early morning rides over the passed few weeks have been stunning and just the right temperature for riding. i remember when i was in uni in ballarat, that easter marked the turning point in the weather. it was fine until easter break, then when you returned, it was arm warmers and vests. luckily perth is not as hostile as victoria, but the weather is cooling, so make sure you are prepared. it always makes me smile when on that first cold morning, those people that have only taken up cycling in summer get a massive shock to the system. layers. dress in layers.
ride leader sponsor – our ride leaders for march are proudly sponsored by ilberys lawyers. providing a range of legal services, ilberys lawyers also handle personal injury cases such as when you have a bike accident involving a third party. if you are in need of any legal advice their contact details are on the previous post.
tips and tricks – so there you are. sitting under a tree with a flat tyre. the group is waiting and getting impatient as it is taking you too long. what do you need to do, or what could have you done to speed the process up. we firstly, practice at home. make sure you know how to get a tube out. make sure you know how a quick release works and how to get your wheel off without getting grease everywhere. make sure you know how your gas bottle works as they all work differently. buy a spare gas bottle and have a practice at home. better you waste one at home than waste everyone’s time out on the road.
so first things first. if it is the rear wheel, put your bike in the hardest gear on the back. loosen off the brakes and undo the quick release. the wheel should basically fall out, but you may need to give it a smack. by putting it in the hardest gear, it is less likely to get tangled in the chain when you take it off. lie the bike down on the non-drive side. do not and i repeat DO NOT, place you bike upside down on the asphalt. this wrecks three of the contact points that you have with your bike, the saddle and both brake hoods.
unscrew the valve lock and release any air still in the tube. starting directly opposite from the valve, insert 1 tyre lever between the tyre and rim and pry up. the end of the tyre lever should have a hook on it that you hook around the spoke to hold it in place. insert another tyre lever a few cm’s along and pry up. remove the second lever and repeat a bit further along. you only need to take off 1 side of the tyre and it is best if it is the side opposite the gears, its cleaner. pull the tube out and throw away in disgust (in to your back pocket). check the inside of the tyre for any glass, slivers of steel, etc protruding through the tyre which will give you an instant 2nd puncture. unroll the new tube and put a little air in to give it shape (use either a pump or your mouth). insert the valve and then the rest of the tube. starting at the valve, push the tyre back onto the rim. head in both directions so that you finish up opposite the valve. the last bit may be hard, but try not to use your tyre levers as this may give you a pinch flat. check around the rim to make sure the tube is not caught between the rim and tyre. inflate. make sure you readjust your brakes when you put the wheel back in. done, in 4 min flat so your riding buddies don’t get upset with you. if it happens more than once during a ride, make sure you have a mobile to call a taxi.
do you even brake, bro? – following on from our tips and tricks, rob has some very important advice about using your brakes…or not. please make sure that you have a read of the previous post as you don’t want to be responsible for the crash that happens behind you where you come off unscathed.
state politics – so most of us need to vote on saturday in the state election. generally, cycling does not feature very highly on the agenda for either of the major parties and only as a passing fancy for the minor ones. this year, however, there has been an increase in the amount of promises made in regards to cycling budget. as you always expect with politicians promises, a grain (or shipload) of salt should be liberally sprinkled on each. however, westcycle have put together an unbiased view on just what each party is offering. have a look at each picture and at least you can try to make an informed vote. holding the parties to their promises, would be a different matter.
jens voigt ride and dinner – mr shut up legs himself is in town next week and there are a couple of opportunities for people to meet him. there is a dinner featuring jens, jack bobridge and travis meyer, where you get to hear from their experiences in the pro peloton. there are also a couple of rides that you can book to go on, where you can rub shoulders with the great man himself (jens, not heiko). both the dinner and rides are on wednesday 15th march. the dinner is $120pp and the rides are $75pp. click on the following links for more details – dinner, 5:45am ride, 8:15am ride.
club agm – please pencil in the 25th march for our club agm and breakfast. we will be voting on our 2017 committee as well as opening it up for any discussion that members want to have. please see the previous post for more information.
saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning. please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate. this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts. see the previous post for more details.
thursday training ride – this week we implemented a new system of splitting the thursday group ride to keep the size manageable. we think that we have come up with a good way of splitting the groups, but we need you to be honest about your own abilities. have a look at the strava segment for the ride so you know where you sit. there is nothing to stop you stepping up to challenge yourself, but this will at least provide a guide as to how much more challenging it will be.
ride routes – sorry if it looks like we are doing the same rides over and over again. it has go to do with the wind direction, which over summer, is often easterlys. this weekend it is predicted to be 30km/hr ese winds, so you really don’t want to be doing the final 10k’s into that.
saturday 11th march
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
sometimes when you get up early and drag yourself out of bed for that stupid training session, mother nature puts on a spectacular show for those lucky enough to see. repeats of stock road are never pleasant, and chasing rob up the hill doing a 1 legged set are never, ever going to be something you look forward to. however, sometimes by staying in bed, you miss the best time of the day. contrast that with this morning where the overnight storm left the roads wet and gritty and by holding a wheel you got a face full of wet sand. but it is swings and roundabouts, so training is training regardless of the weather. a means to an end, or sadistic enjoyment. however, you need to justify getting up in the morning.
ride leader sponsor – our ride leaders for march are proudly sponsored by ilberys lawyers. providing a range of legal services, ilberys lawyers also handle personal injury cases such as when you have a bike accident and a third party is involved. if you are in need of any legal advice their contact details are on the previous post.
tips and tricks – over summer we usually get an influx of new riders joining our group rides. amongst them will be some people that are very new to cycling in general. they may have received a new bike for xmas and by now have fully gotten into the whole group riding thing with coffee and social interaction afterwards. unfortunately many people may not have experienced what to do if you get a flat tyre during a training ride. firstly, you need to carry spares. this means a spare tube, tyre levers and a way to inflate (pump or gas bottles). do not rely on others to get you out a bind. most people ride to and from the group ride on their own. you need to be self sufficient for those times anyway. so, if you haven’t, go out and buy the things you need to change a tyre and maybe a little saddle bag to hold it all in. getting a flat during a ride can be a dangerous experience. there was a blow out during the ride last saturday in the fast too group and it involved a few injuries. make sure that you regularly inspect your tyres for any wear or cuts to make sure that you are not susceptible to getting flats. if you do not know what to look for, ask one of the more experienced riders for some advice. you may be surprised to find bit of glass and slivers of metal embedded in your tyre already. next week i will talk about actually changing your tyre on the go.
club agm – please pencil in the 25th march for our club agm and breakfast. we will be voting on our 2017 committee as well as opening it up for any discussion that members want to have. an official post with more details will come out soon.
saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning. please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate. this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts. see the previous post for more details.
thursday training ride – this week we implemented a new system of splitting the thursday group ride to keep the size manageable. we think that we have come up with a good way of splitting the groups, but we need you to be honest about your own abilities. have a look at the strava segment for the ride so you know where you sit. there is nothing to stop you stepping up to challenge yourself, but this will at least provide a guide as to how much more challenging it will be.
The new kit…
kit collection – the latest run of spr kit has arrived. sam will be organising the distribution at the coffee shop after the main saturday ride. please contact the kit@southperthrouleurs.com.au email to arrange collection of your order at other times. andrew is racing overseas this weekend, so it will be later next week.
ride routes – looks like sunday will be a scorcher, so we will try to keep the ride as close to civilisation as possible. lots of opportunities to get water or cut the ride short if necessary.
saturday 4th march
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
Established in 1955, Ilberys has been providing high quality, practical and understandable legal advice and representation to individuals, not for profit organisations and small to medium enterprises alike for over 60 years. They are a boutique law firm located in the Perth CBD. With their extensive experience and progressive, modern attitude, they pride themselves on being approachable and providing advice that is practical, realistic and relevant to your circumstances.
Ilberys primary practice areas are Business Law, Personal Injury (including motor vehicle and cycling accidents, workers’ compensation and criminal injuries compensation), Family Law, Employment Law and Wills and Estates. If you’re injured and unable to go to their office, they can come to you. They offer a free initial consultation and, if your matter progresses, in certain circumstances they can offer fixed fee or deferred fee arrangements. For members of SPR they also offer a 15% discount off their standard hourly rates
In the past Ilberys have acted for a member of SPR for his personal injury claim after he got knocked off his bike and helped him get a pretty good settlement.
More information can be found on their website and they can be found at the following address –
winner, winner chicken dinner. mike has been quietly plugging away putting in the k’s for the last year. his consistent cycling over this time meant that he took out the rockingham round of the ring series for e grade a couple of weeks ago and is now sitting 2nd on the overall points table. racing is one of those funny things. some people never want to pin a number on but are the most competitive riders in the group ride. others throw themselves at it and enjoy the challenge. luckily we try to cater for all types of riders, but we do encourage you to have a go at racing. you never know, you may just like it. also, you get some good photos of you from zac, so have a look at his facebook site if you have been in any of the crit races.
ride leader sponsor – there is no ride leader sponsor for this month. if you have a business that you think would benefit from advertising on our blog/facebook/emails then get in contact with the club. all money goes towards providing vouchers for the ride leaders who give their time to ensure that the group is riding to our standard.
tips and tricks – your modern road bike will have either 10 or 11 gears on the back. there would not be many bikes in our group that would be that old that they would have less than that. combined with the 2 on the front, you generally have around 15 gears to choose from (due to similar gears). back in the day, you used to change gears from a lever on your down tube. they didn’t click between gears, so you had to fine tune them as you changed. since the lever was all the way down there, you generally changed infrequently and a few at a time to minimise the action, especially if you were standing and climbing. with the invention of the sti (shimano total integration) and the campag equivalent, you can now change gears without taking your hands off the bars. this means that you can continually change as the road grade changes to make sure that you are in the best gear. however, it is amazing how many people that are new to cycling don’t do this. being in the right gear makes all the difference and it often means reading what is coming up ahead in the ride. if we are approaching a traffic light, make sure you change gears to an easier gear before you stop. if we are going through a corner that you need to brake for, change before you stop pedalling so you can accelerate out. as you approach a hill, change gear before you start, as it may be too hard to change once you are climbing. by being ready for these types of situations, you will be able to smoothly hold your place in the pack and not disrupt things by leaving gaps trying to push a massive, knee shattering gear.
saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning. please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate. this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts. see the previous post for more details.
thursday training ride – this week we implemented a new system of splitting the thursday group ride to keep the size manageable. we think that we have come up with a good way of splitting the groups, but we need you to be honest about your own abilities. have a look at the strava segment for the ride so you know where you sit. there is nothing to stop you stepping up to challenge yourself, but this will at least provide a guide as to how much more challenging it will be.
The new kit…
kit collection – the latest run of spr kit has arrived and will be available for collection at the coffee shop after the saturday ride. please be aware that andrew will not just be sitting around waiting for you to collect as he will also be on the ride too. if you cannot collect from the coffee shop, please contact the kit@southperthrouleurs.com.au email to arrange another way of receiving your goods.
ride routes – a hot saturday is predicted for the final weekend of summer. please make sure that you are prepared. water, food, sunscreen (zinc for the vp) and cover up if necessary. it is looking like being 30 degrees by the time we hit the coffee shop.
saturday 25th february
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
it is kind of hard to make out, but there are about 60 riders in the picture. this wasn’t even the maximum as more turned up after i took the photo. so this has become a pretty typical thursday morning earlybird ride. 5:30 in the morning and so many people are already out of bed and doing exercise. there were 3 groups today, but there has already been discussions on the fact that we may need to split that again. however, the thursday ride wasn’t always like this. it actually started as a training ride for those of us that were training to do cyclo-spotifs. back in the early days of spr (or even pre-spr) we didn’t do much racing and cyclo-sportifs were a good way to get into it. the idea was that this ride gave us long uninterrupted sections for us to practice rolling throughs in teams of 9. i have no idea how this changed into what it is today, but over the years, we picked up more riders and now many non-spr riders use it as a hard thursday hit out. it is however, a club training ride and as such we are trying to make sure that it caters for many different levels. it is still meant to be a nice hard ride, but we also need to maintain a high level of safety and group sizes play an important role in this.
ride leader sponsor – there is no ride leader sponsor for this month. if you have a business that you think would benefit from advertising on our blog/facebook/emails then get in contact with the club. all money goes towards providing vouchers for the ride leaders who give their time to ensure that the group is riding to our standard.
tips and tricks – it is still summertime, so i didn’t think that i would have to write about this, but this is how to deal with your gear after riding in a midweek downpour. firstly, most people only have one pair of road shoes, so the priority is to get them dry as soon as possible. pull the inner sole out and hang it up, then grab some newspaper and totally stuff the entire shoes. this means balling it up tightly and shoving it all the way to the end of the toe. the more contact the paper has with the material, the more moisture it will suck out of your shoes. however, this will make your shoes smell like wet newspaper, so some febreeze afterwards is a good idea. if you put it in as soon as you get home, they will probably be dry by the evening. as the mid week ride usually doesn’t give you much time for a complete bike clean, you need to concentrate on the parts that will rust/wear the most. basically the drivetrain. when you get home, grab a rag and run it over the whole chain. it will get very dirty, but you need to get as much of the moisture and grit off as you can. once dry, apply some lube to stop it from rusting. i have seen rust appear on a chain within half a day of riding in the rain. usually i am very fastidious with my chain cleaning, but for a midweek quickie, i may just spray it with some wd-40. after it has been lubed, give it another rub down with a rag. oil on the outside of your chain just attracts sand (which perth is built on) which will increase the wear on your drivetrain. for the rest of the bike, i may just wait till it drys and then brush the sand off. you are now ready for the next earlybird in the rain.
saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning. please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate. this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts. see the previous post for more details.
renae’s race – a regular to the summer criterium calendar, this year we are starting to make some changes to the format of renae’s race. this is the only women’s focused race in the state and we are moving towards it being a fully women’s only event. this year there is only 1 men’s support race kicking the event off. it is hoped that numbers allow us to have no men’s support race at all next year. however, to do this, we need more women to enter this event. there are 4 grades where there will be independent races (no sharing with other races) as well as a free “come and try” event. there are a lot of women that ride in our saturday group that would easily be able to race in “d” grade. check the previous post for more details as links to registration. help support this event to make sure it grows bigger in the future. entries close midnight tonight.
thursday training ride – there has been a bit of a discussion lately about the size of the groups for the thursday earlybird. we think that we have come up with a good way of splitting the groups, but we need you to be honest about your own abilities. we will be posting some detailed instructions soon, but in the meantime have a look at the strava segment for the ride so you know where you sit.
ride routes – a nice weekend of weather expected so we will need all hands on deck for the saturday ride. please have a look at the marshalling map so people know where they are meant to meet for their group. this makes it easier for the ride leaders to give you important instructions.
saturday 18th february
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
if you are new to spr and are a female rider did you know that we have our own spr chicks facebook site. i don’t get to see what is on it as i don’t have the right qualifications, but you can. this site lets you know what activities are going on in the club as well as helps to organise some friends to attend events with you. renae’s race is on next weekend and i am sure that most of the girls in the picture will be racing. if you want to give it a go, then catch up with one of them at the next ride, or start a conversation on the spr chicks facebook page. we can guarantee that you will be well supported by the club if you do.
ride leader sponsor – there is no ride leader sponsor for this month. if you have a business that you think would benefit from advertising on our blog/facebook/emails then get in contact with the club. all money goes towards providing vouchers for the ride leaders who give their time to ensure that the group is riding to our standard.
tips and tricks – how often have you changed gears on the front and manged to drop the chain. this happens one of two ways. firstly when you change from the big to the small and the chain ends up next to the frame, or when you change from small to big and it ends up next to your pedal. the first thing most people do is stop, get off their bike and use their hand to put it back on the chainring. if you have momentum (i.e. it didn’t happen going up a hill) then there may not be any reason to get off your bike and even worse, get your hands dirty. what you need to do is move the gear lever back towards the way it was before the chain came off but remember to keep rotating the cranks. initially there will be no resistance under your pedals, but soon the chainring will bite and grab the chain. the tricky bit is the speed of shifting and the speed of pedalling. if you shift too quickly, then the chain will jam in your deraileur. if you shift too slow then you will spin until you run out of forward momentum. also if you pedal too quickly the ring will not manage to grab the chain, to slow and…well you need to experiment with this one. at the end of the day there are many times that i have dropped my chain during a group ride and it just meant that i missed 4-5 pedal strokes, but did not lose contact with the group. however, if your chain is regularly coming off, then get your gear limits looked at, or your chain and chainrings may need to be replaced. the basic rule of thumb is 5,000kms for a chain and cluster and 10,000kms for front chain rings. best if things are all changed at the same time as they mesh a lot better.
saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning. please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate. this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts. see the previous post for more details.
renae’s race – a regular to the summer criterium calendar, this year we are starting to make some changes to the format of renae’s race. this is the only women’s focused race in the state and we are moving towards it being a fully women’s only event. this year there is only 1 men’s support race kicking the event off. it is hoped that numbers allow us to have no men’s support race at all next year. however, to do this, we need more women to enter this event. there are 4 grades where there will be independent races (no sharing with other races) as well as a free “come and try” event. there are a lot of women that ride in our saturday group that would easily be able to race in “d” grade. check the previous post for more details as links to registration. help support this event to make sure it grows bigger in the future.
ride routes – there is only a slight chance of rain on saturday morning. after the thur/fri downpours, this should mean that it is relatively dry….hopefully. however, if it is a bit damp, please be careful and ride to conditions. this is especially on round-abouts as they are notoriously slippery in the wet. we had a rider slide out this morning on the main ride as they went in too hot to the final round-about.
saturday 11th february
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
this year we have decided to sell the ever popular entertainment books as a means of raising money for the club. we have looked at them in the past and the effort in physically lugging books around to people is a pain as we don’t have a club house or facility to distribute them from.
this has all now changed with the release of the entertainment book app. the app contains all the same offers as the book, but is with you whenever you carry your phone (all the time). you can conveniently scroll to different sections and it even tracks how much you have saved through the coupons. if you still want an actual book, they can be posted directly to you at a cost. you just need to select the postage option.
now there are books for all over australia, so if you have friends or family in another state, they can still purchase through our link and 20% comes to the club. there are even books for new zealand, bro. the perth book has offers from down south and as far north as bali.
