All posts by elPrez

ride routes 29th, 30th & 31st march + 1st april

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it's happened to all of us
it’s happened to all of us

as we come to the end of march we get to do so with an extra long weekend.  april is looking like a massive month for cycling as we have people participating in a number of events.  the tour de perth, uci masters race, 3/5 dams, masters track champs, a number of different triathlons and the delirium 24 hr race. at delirium, myself and brooke colton have signed up for the solo event, following in the footsteps of alison, dale and leah from last year.  i have no idea what to expect and am worried that my body won’t stick to the game plan.  i am afraid that after about 8 hrs i will get off the bike for a rest and wake up 8 hrs later.  if so, that still gives me another 8 hrs to ride, so no big loss. at the end of the day, it is a challenge just to see what you are capable of doing.  the club will be still pushing in that same direction and we will look at running our watertower challenge later on in the year.  for those that find the 3/5 dams too much, or the giro d’perth too little, this event should fit nicely in between.  the important thing is to keep challenging yourself.  do different types of events, have a go at racing, step up a group on saturday just to see how you go.  there are lots of things out there that can keep cycling interesting.

ride routes – lots of rides this weekend and lots of opportunities for people to smash out some big k’s.  if you have the chance, try out some of the rides that you normally never do.  monday earlybird is a good example of the under utilised training ride.  new ride for the main group this week.  make sure you have a good hard look at the map and upload it to your garmin if necessary.  also, remember that some of the ride leaders may not be available this weekend, so we will be looking at you to step up and take control. just a note – DOME will be closed on good friday, so no coffee after the ride.

friday 29th march

ride starts under the narrows (south perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

ride starts at coode st carpark at 6:00am

good friday hills ride (see previous post)

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

trans & main – spr public holiday 59.35km (shelley & freo)

saturday 30th march

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – spr earlybird ride

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 6:00am

uci training – spr saturday (uci perry lakes)

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 41.18km (reverse river ride)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 50.51km (whiteman park)

sunday 31st march

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – spr earlybird ride

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 70.93km (kahuna)

long – spr sunday 101.29km (roleystone & observatory)

monday 1st april

ride starts under the narrows (south perth side) at 5:30am

spr monday 33.72km (south & freo)

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

trans & main – spr public holiday 59.35km (shelley & freo)

ride routes 23rd & 24th march

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brendan in icu
brendan in icu

brendan nichol has been riding with the club for quite a while.  his first ride with us predate’s spr and it was after a sunday hills ride that i discovered that he came from the same home town as me in victoria and knew some of the same bike people.  he was at the agm last saturday with his wife jody and his little boy nate.  anyway, apparently he was out riding with the total triathlon guys on tuesday morning.  what i mean by apparently, is that he has no recollection of most of tuesday.  he was in the hills when the group came across and oncoming car on a tight road.  the group moved over and somehow people came off (not the cars fault).  it seems that brendan managed to save his bike from much damage by landing directly on his head and was knocked out out cold.  the group called an ambulance and he was rushed to royal perth with a massive concussion.  he spent most of tuesday and wednesday in ICU as he didn’t properly wake up till sometime on wednesday when he was moved to a trauma ward.  i went to visit him today and he seems in good spirits.  he doesn’t remember much but is also not that sore, just a little fuzzy.  jody looks a little frazzled after having a stressful couple of days while brendan blissfully slept.  one of the biggest problems was that the other guys on the ride didn’t know him well enough to know who to contact in an emergency.  all his emergency details were on his phone which was locked.  even when he got to the hospital, they didn’t have enough details and it was lucky that a nurse recognised him and managed to contact jody.  anyway, the point is that whenever you are out on your bike, make sure that you have your emergency contact details written down somewhere.  i carry an old drivers licence with kate’s details on the back.  it has my photo, name and address on it so i can be identified and kate’s phone numbers so she can be called.  anyway, brendan should be sent home tomorrow but if you want to leave him a message, do so in the comments below.

agm – have had a pretty busy week and didn’t get a chance to post anything about the agm.  all positions were spilled and then refilled with a couple of new committee members.  thanks to those that served last year and not renominated.  we appreciated your efforts in keeping the club running.

ride routes – lots of complaints about the ride route last week as the wind was quite strong on abernathy road.  well i only set the course, not the wind and it is up to you guys to work out which way to roll through to make it easier on yourselves.  it’s called learning.  anyway, you would have got a tailwind home and a muffin at the agm, so stop complaining.

saturday 23rd march

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – spr earlybird ride

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 6:00am

uci training – spr saturday (uci perry lakes)

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 40.72km (mosman park)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 51.36km (sth lake)

sunday 24th march

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – spr earlybird ride

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 82.79km (brookton & weir rd)

long – spr sunday 94.64km (kahuna & canning mills)

ride routes 16th & 17th march

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so a full year has come around and we are having our agm this week.  having an agm, breakfasts, committee meetings and all that stuff seems quite normal now, but it didn’t used to be.  waaaay back in 2008 i wrote a blog to talk about how i got into cycling and how it got me to where we were at the time.  it is funny because we were only just getting the new kit together and it was going to be the identifying feature to distinguish the club. now, 5 years later, there are spr jerseys everywhere and the new kit is even more noticeable than before.  i am going to have to sit down as some stage and write the part II to the old blog.  a lot has happened and the growth has been phenomenal.  we are expanding out into new areas all the time and, as can be seen below, the next generation are coming up fast.

club breakfast and agm – this saturday is the breakfast and agm.  check the previous post here but $15 will get you a beverage and some food.  the agm will follow directly after.  make sure that you sign in if you are a member so we have a record of agm attendence.  it is important to attend as we will elect the committee members that will shape the club for the year.

giro d’perth – this sunday a very different type of event will be held in perth.  some of the club members are helping out and i will be manning a refreshments tent on the day.  entries closed after participant numbers hit 500.  it is good to see that cycling is well and truly alive and people are looking for different events to enter.  entries have closed but more info here.

road works –  as was pointed out in the previous post, there are roadworks on preston point road again.  please be careful when negotiating the area as there still may be loose gravel.  this is especially important to the earlybird riders as it still may be a bit dark.

ride routes – no 7am uci ride this week as there has not been any interest.  it seems that anyone doing it is pitching up at 6:00am and cutting laps with the bonner group.

saturday 16th march

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – spr earlybird ride

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 6:00am

uci training – spr saturday (uci perry lakes)

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 39.81km (shelley & bannister)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 49.09km (abernathy rd)

sunday 17th march

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – spr earlybird ride

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 61.14km (welshpool & weir rd)

long – spr sunday 87.99km (welshpool & observatory & camelberg & gooseberry)

IronHorse Clothing SPR Shirt now available…

spr club t-shirt

the wait is finally over and the new spr t-shirt by iron horse clothing is now for sale.  the design was voted on by the club and even though it was close, this was the clear winner.

orders will be open for 2 weeks, closing the 13th oct for the order to be placed on the 14th.  the price per garment is $35 which is great for a fully aussie made, aussie designed garment.

make sure you look part of the club when not in lycra and get yourself a spr t-shirt.  this will be a single run order, so if you don’t place your order now, don’t expect that there will be another later.

use the link below to order your t-shirt and pay via your creditcard or paypal account.

[wpsc_products product_id=’14188′]

ride routes 28th & 29th aug

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so, i am off for a week for a work trip and will miss 2 weekends worth of riding.  after being sick for 2 weeks, i now am off the bike again so will need to build it back up again.  not really sure what i am building for as there is a serious lack of races coming up.  maybe the state team time trial in october or maybe turn my hand to some mtb races (if i can get the baby seat off the bike).  either way, i feel like i really need some goals to stop from going stale.  sometimes the coffeeshop is just not enough.  maybe we need to plan another 200km challenge…

races – wa mtb xc series round 7 at turner hill, dwellingup.  the state road race championships this weekend have been cancelled.  this is apparently due to a lack of participates and lack of officials to control the race.  pretty bad time for cycle racing in this state.  for anyone that wants to do a bit of racing, have a look at peel districts club races.  they basically have a race every saturday afternoon and a bunch of our guys have been heading down to it. quite often.  if you need more info we can point you in the right direction.

spr accessories – hopefully these should turn up tomorrow and will be distributed at the coffeeshop on saturday.  if you miss out, then you may have to wait another week as i am away for a week.

ride routes – as there hasn’t been a fast group for the past few weeks, the same route still stands waiting to be used.  if numbers dictate that the fast group is not going to form, then it is fine for them to join main 1, however, you must remember that you are not there to control the pace.  join the ride by all means, but the regular main 1 riders should be determining when to go fast and when to wait up.  there is also no reason that the fast group can’t just take it a bit easier and allow a few more people to join in.  if the a difference of a few km/hr means the difference between a group of 10 and a group of 5, then it may be better to ease back a bit and at least get a group forming.  i am sure you can all work it out.

saturday 28th august – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 41.18km (reverse river ride)

main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 50.04km (hale & ridge hill)

fast – spr saturday53.81km (hale rd reverse with guilford)

sunday 29th august – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 61.14km (welshpool & weir rd)

long – spr sunday 101.86km (welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda)

wa state road championships

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the western australian state road championships are on this weekend.  if you came out on sunday, you would have got a good taste for what the last bit of the course is like as we did the finishline twice. 

this event is different as it doesn’t have a support or ‘b’ grade event rather a masters division instead.  this means that the over 35’s can race in their own category and not have to worry about the young whipper-snappers.  however, if you are under 35 then you will have to race with the “a” grade men instead. 

being a state title, the distances are a lot longer too.  open men is 157km while open women, u19 and masters men is 112km.  masters women (over 30) and over 55 men do 50km, although last year the numbers were too low and poor john had to race the 112km with the younger masters.  he did beat me though, so he didn’t do too bad. 🙂

so the flyer is linked below and you can register here before 7:30pm tuesday 24th aug.

for the masters it is usually a good turn out and i managed to get a silver medal here a couple of years ago and stu got bronze last year.

if you are entering, add you name to the comments so we know how much support will be in the races.

WA State Long Distance – SDCC

ride routes 14th & 15th august

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so, i am sick again.  well the whole family is sick and there are stacks of people at work sick as well.  funny how while there were no races on, i am fine, and then when there are a couple i want to do, i get sick.  the pinjarra classic is my favourite race on the calendar as the course is a bit testing and then i wanted to follow this up with the state champs.  i have entered for pinjarra, but i guess i will be playing it by ear come sunday morning. 

so i had mon & tues off this week (sick) went back on wed and home again by thurs.  hence why the ride routes are coming out so early this week.  tomorrow…we will have to see.  saturday is looking doubtful.  racing sunday seems to be a dream.

200km challenge –a very successful day and it gave us a few good insights on how we needed to run a challenge like this.  it was a “test event” but i think that the response was such that we may run something like this a couple of times a year.

races – the pinjarra classic is on sunday and we have a few riders heading down for it.  one of the more challenging races on the calender but a good warm-up for the state champs in a few weeks time.

ride routes – apparently it has been three weeks in a row since the development group has had any riders.  i guess the cold weather has stopped any new people coming out to play.  luckily this gives carol a bit of extra training by heading out with the transitional group.  this week, however, we have no leader for the transitional group as mark is away and i am looking doubtful.  if anyone want to step up, it would be appreciated.

saturday 14th august – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 40.72km (mosman park)

main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 49.01km (canning vale & welshpool)

fast – spr saturday 53.81km (hale rd reverse with guilford)

sunday 15th august – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 70.93km (kahuna)

long – spr sunday 87.72km (kahuna & peet & patterson)

200km challenge – startlist

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as we now have over 50 riders signed up for the 200km challenge, i have decided to split the group in half.  this is mainly for safety reasons as later in the day when the traffic picks up, we don’t want to have a large group on the road.  the bigger group also allows us to spread the abilities a bit better so that the stronger riders are not being held up and the weaker one are not feeling out of their depth. 

both groups will start at 6:00am at the coode st carpark, but the second group will start a few minutes after to allow a bit of separation on the road.  the group must stay together as this is not a race, and the idea is to help people to finish the challenge.  to that end, we will not be rolling through as this just tends to get faster and faster.  just have a couple of people on the front that can drop to the back after a while so share the load.

the groups will be lead by myself, julian and brett l for group 1, simon, christophe and daryl for group 2 and mark s for the 100km challenge.  these people will ensure that the group will stick together and acts safely through out the ride.  they will also be recording the top 5 people in their group to the top of the water tower each lap.

please make sure that everyone knows the ride route so have a look at the original post here.  there is one change that may differ from the usual tuesday morning ride as we head back through applecross after the majestic hill.  we turn off the strand early and take gairloch st to reach duncraig rd sooner.  this is to stop the blind left hander that may involve more traffic later in the day.  also, make sure you are aware of the route from raffles back to coode st, as this is not a normal route for us.

now the club is providing some food and drink at the halfway point, but due to a lack of any volunteer help the rest stop will be back at my place.  on the second lap of the 200km ride, the group will cross canning bridge and continue up canning hwy until it reaches ryrie ave (next turn after thelma st lights).

we have purchased bread rolls (with jam or vegemite), jam doughnuts, fruit cake, bananas, cookies, coke and water.  please bring your own doggy bag if you want to carry your left overs for the last couple of laps.  this is only for the halfway point, so make sure that you have some gels etc for during the ride and ensure you have breakfast before we start.

lights, excess clothes, etc can be left at my place at the rest stop and collected after the ride if necessary.

see you in the morning.  (this is a club event, so wear your spr kit if you can)

the groups are as follows.

  Group 1     Group 2     Group 3
1 Ashley Jacobs   1 Andrew Wong   1 Mark Stupart
2 Brett Looney   2 Anna Massey   2 Blair Maughan
3 Brodie Brown   3 Brett   3 Shaw Goh
4 Carlos DeOliveira   4 Carl Vinciullo   4 Jay Richardson
5 Daniel Harvey   5 Chris Curnow   5 Daryl Tunesi
6 Danny Berry   6 Christophe   6 Tim Lo
7 Dave Shailer   7 Daryl Cartner   7 Ruth Moyses
8 Davina Summers   8 David Hitchcock   8 Yosuke Oi
9 Gus Russo   9 Doug Herron   9 Tess Hegarty
10 Heiko Potzedlt   10 Frank   10 Owen Casey
11 Jamie Byrne   11 Gilman Barnitt   11  Leon Shaffer
12 Jason Cawthorne   12 Ian   12  
13 John Gilbertson   13 Jeff   13  
14 John Phillips   14 John Barrett   14  
15 Jonathan Bolton   15 Jordan Brock   15  
16 Jonny Keyes   16 Lennie McKenzie   16  
17 Julian Johnson   17 Matt Skellern   17  
18 Mark Hindley   18 Meg Thomas   18  
19 Michael Thomas   19 Michael Tan   19  
20 Paul Owen   20 Mino Berry   20  
21 Peter Mah   21 Nev Mills   21  
22 Sato Ueda   22 Nigel Adcock   22  
23 Shao Wu   23 Phil   23  
24 Stuart Gee   24 Simon Longworth   24  
25 Tim Marr   25 Wye-Shun Fong   25  
26 Tom Longo   26     26  

ride routes 7th & 8th august

just when you thought all the fun of the tour de france was over, the vuelta a espana starts in a little over three weeks time.  another grand tour, so another tipping comp on the horizon.  august is a pretty big weekend for racing around perth too.  mtb, road, cyclo-sportif, track and time trial.  if you have ever thought about giving it a go, there are lots of people in our group you can talk to that can help you out.  don’t think that you are not good enough (i didn’t finish my first three races this year) it is all about getting out there and having a go.

200km challenge –the response to this has been great.  it seems that there are a lot of people that want to hurt themselves this weekend.  we have around 50 riders that have put their name down for the 200km challenge so we will need to split the groups accordingly and separate them by 5 min.  this is purely from a safety point of view but both groups will run their own king of the mountains challenge up mosman park hill.  as stated before, you need to complete all four laps to be eligible to claim the kom title.  after the second lap, both groups will be pulling into the carpark for supplies.  the club will be providing food (rolls, fruit, choc bars) and drink (coke, water) but if you want to bring stuff down for yourself, feel free.  there will be cars that you can leave the food in and where you can dump your lights in.  the “rest break” will be around 15 min and then the groups will head off again.  kate will be setting up at the carpark at around 9:00am to provide the refreshments, but will require a hand distributing the goods.  if you (or partner) can lend a hand it would be appreciated (actually, more than that.  it is needed).  please let me know via email.  the 100km challenge has about 10 riders and they will be lead by mark at 9:00am.  nominations for this event need to be in by the end of the friday so we can organise catering.

memberships – there has been a slight change to the terminology in the memberships online.  the recreational licence is now called “cycling for all”.  we will update the page on our website to reflect this.  the licence is still the same price $77 and the cover is the same.

races –mtb xc this sunday, road pinjarra classic next sunday.  check calendar for other events.

ride routes –the big change this week is that the sunday hills ride will not be on.  the 200km group will leave at 6:00am so will need lights.  the 100km group will leave at 9:00am.

saturday 7th august – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 40.86km (rebold hill)

main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 49.38km (tv stations)

fast – spr saturday 51.36km (sth lake)

sunday 8th august – all rides start at coode st carpark

short – 100km challenge – 9:00am more info here.

long – 200km challenge – 6:00am more info here.

200km reminder

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if you are intending to come along to the 200km challenge can you please link back to the original post here and add your name to the comments by friday.  we are trying to get a good indication of numbers so we can provide some food and drink on the day. 

thanks.