a good attendance at today’s breakfast and we had around 60 come through the doors. a lot more manageable that the 80-90 we had last time and i put that down to the wet weather we had leading up to the event. much unlike the usual breakfasts, it didn’t actually rain during the ride. the roads were a bit damp, but the spirits were not.
main 1 were by far the biggest group today and after that group and the fast group departed, there was less than half the originals starters remaining. still enough for 5 groups though, and i am glad that this trend has continued through into winter. the change in routes today meant that every group would eventually make it to my place instead of the coffee shop. i was hoping that people read the maps properly as i had informed the coffeeshop that we weren’t coming this week.
after kicking everybody off, i headed home to help set up the place ready for the onslaught. kate and lorraine had the kitchen under control and they had the help of daniel, darryl and toby (all very good around the house apparently). bacon and egg muffins, banana bread, quiche, brownies, mini muffins and fruit salad with yoghurt’s were all part of the spread. with toby manning the front door, the hordes began to arrive with the transitional and main 1 arriving together. we started stacking the bikes in the garage and space was soon at a premium. the fast group and main 2 arrived next and the garage was almost chockers. The garage was different from those at my site. a few minutes later the development group rounded things out to get about 60 bike in the shed.
a good breakfast all round, and i apologise again for not organising the raffle prizes early enough. however, the social aspect to the day is what most people come for and that was well catered for. it was a first breakfast for some and i hope that you enjoyed it as we like to show that our group is more than just riding bikes. it was good to see nicole up and about after her accident and others like jarrad and julian who also came down, back in the fold.
again a big thanks to kate and lorraine for providing the food and daniel, darryl and toby for providing support. hope you all had a good morning.
predawn – about to enter the fray.
lisa ready to suffer
main 2 – receiving instructions from russell
development group – lead by carol
transitional group – mark and the rest chomping at the bit
the house starting to fill up with lycra
darryl being put in his place by lorraine. his place being at the sink.
we have a busy couple of weeks coming up. the winter breakfast is on this saturday and for your $10 there will be food, drink, raffle prizes and a bike weigh-in. if you have not collected any kit it can be picked up as well and the zip replacement jerseys are back.
the following week is the cyclo-sportif at swan valley. this is usually a very popular event as it is really close and starts at the velodrome in midvale. we are hoping to have a few teams of different ability, so keep an eye on the website and get ready to put your name down for it. for those that don’t know, this is a team event where you have to stick together as a team. it is a good introduction to racing as you cannot get dropped and the whole team has to stop if you get a flat tyre. we will have a tent there as part of the trade show and we will be trying to get a few more members. after the cyclo there is a track grand prix and we have a number of spr riders involved. should be a pretty big day all round.
the following weekend has an atta time trial and a mtb xc race. something for everybody.
very soon we will open the orders for the spr accessories. our computer boys have been working on an online ordering system which is almost complete. at the moment, you will still transfer the funds via netbank, but the whole ordering system is a lot more streamlined. we will get a sizing kit for people to try on soon.
this week all the rides finish at my place for the breakfast rather than the coffee shop. have a good look at the maps so you know where you are going. sorry to those that seem to be doing the same route as last week. i was not proactive enough to look ahead and we only have a single set of breakfast rides. at least you will know the course well.
saturday 19th june – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
as we have seen recently, there is more than one way to have a crash while riding. the highest risk area for our rides seem to be when everyone is winding up for the final sprint. people are tired and may make mistakes but it is important to hold your line. if you commit to a sprint, go straight and keep on pedalling. if you run out of puff, don’t stop pedalling, keep going and let everyone else pass you.
more importantly, don’t take risks. even the pros get it wrong sometimes.
sorry, but the spr classifieds page has been taken down. we will be moving to a new website soon and there will be a forum where you can post classifieds and discuss other things. sorry to those that have sent stuff in that i never got around to posting. the new method will not have to rely on my incompetence.
sorry, this one also slipped through the email cracks as it has been a rather busy week. peter.
“Ride Report by Jorgy (one of the newest members of the club)
Well it has been a week of accidents this week . (Hope you get better soon Nicole). We all started out after the fast group at a reasonable pace and we managed to pick up Jen who was dropped off the back of the fast group. We sauntered through the back streets until we reached Stirling Highway where we crossed over for the ride down the coast road.
At this stage Rob and I were on the back of the group after taking the lead from the start and Rob was telling me about the accident on Monday. (he was right behind the action).
We made it around and across the river with little incident. As we rounded the Point Walter roundabout, I moved to the front with Rob for the downhill section leading to the foreshore. As we rounded the sharp right hand corner going down the hill, I heard the scrapping of metal against concrete and looked back to see Rob on the side of the road. He had looked behind him and slightly veered off course, putting his wheel onto the gutter and couldn’t recover.
We all stopped, quite concerned with what had happened and wanting to make sure that Rob was OK. By the time I got back, it looked like Rob was about to roll off the side of the hill in pain. He had skinned his knee and had come down pretty hard. After ensuring that there wasn’t any major damage, (I think that Rob will be nursing a very bruised ego for a few weeks) and after bit of a rest, I threw the comment at him that “Bones heal and chicks dig scars”. Well at least that brought the desired laugh from Rob and a few others. One of the girls even asked if he was single! Not that she was trying to pick him up. I think it is working already Rob!
I must say that Rob was very considerate and looked behind him, before veering into the gutter, to check that no one else would crash into him. He also managed to make sure he took his bike off the road while falling off. Very considerate Rob.
We took a steady pace back to Raffles for the regroup, and let Rob work out any pain in his knee on the way. After the regroup, a few of us headed up the Freeway and Rob managed to hang on the back at about 37km/h so I don’t think he is too bad.”
hmm. time trial. the race of truth. just you and the bike versus the road. no wheels to sit on and no last minute sprint to claim glory. i was pretty realistic though as the last time trial i did was…about this time last year at the state time trial championships. so, i knew that i would be rusty and realising that my training would not include any actual time trials, i convinced ryan to make every spin for the last 4 weeks or so, focus on doing tt efforts. then to get used to the road, the tuesday and thursday morning rides i managed to take the tt bike out and just hang off the back of the group.
now i actually have a tt bike. about 5 years (2 yrs bc – before children) ago i was doing triathlons, so managed to get a proper tt bike. these things are awesome and a must if you want to do tt’s or triathlons. the straight line power that you can put out in the right setup craps all over that of a conventional bike. they suck on hills and are twitchy on descends, but cut through the wind like a plate of baked beans.
so the state ITT was always going to be a fun affair. luckily i am in the masters division so only had to do 25kms. the open men did 39kms and the open women did the same as the masters. at least i would be able to know if i got “chicked” or not. last year, holly beat me by 1 sec. and she was the third fastest women, so i got multiple chicked.
we didn’t have a big sign up for this event. in open men there was dannyboy and a couple of new members, jonno and michael. in the open women’s we had the entire field. davina, lisa, anna and bec. unfortunately that was not enough for a championship so the masters women was combined with the open women to allow a champion to be decided. in the masters men, there was myself and paul o. on the day, michael, anna and paul o (understandably) were a no-show so we were pretty light on spr-wise. we grabbed the new smaller tent and still set it up as it gave the few of us a place to park ourselves before and after.
so, tt bike – check, skinsuit – check, tt sperm helmet – check, adequate/appropriate training – ummm fail. let’s do this. regardless, i wanted to support this event anyway and south west tend to put on well run events so i knew it would be good.
a bit of time on the trainer to warm up and soon i was slipping into my skinsuit. first time for me in a one-piece and first time with the sperm helmet too. nothing like trying out your new stuff at your biggest event. snug fit for both, but hopefully that means i will slip through the air a lot quicker.
the women were off first and lisa had requested that she be first so that she could quickly head back to perth as she had tickets to some little rugby match that was going on. the U19 men were next and the masters men after that. open men took the stage last as their course was different and went well past our turnaround point.
so lisa was off first, the masters women in between and bec and davina off last. after that there was a bit of a wait till they set the U19 men off but pretty soon it was my turn. there were 6 guys off in front of me so i had a few rabbits to chase. with 7 guys behind me though, i was going to be running scared the whole time. at one minute intervals you can sit there and just watch this guys disappear down the road and wonder if you will ever make it up. hope the guy behind me is thinking the same. with john holding my saddle, i was clipped in and ready to go. bit late now for anything i had forgotten. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 hello world of hurt.
i had decided not to go out too hard, especially as the wind seem to be on my back for the first bit. i needed to have some in reserve just to keep me from being overtaken. i found a rhythm and tapped out a bit of hurt. it was feeling pretty good and the tailwind was pushing me along at well over 40kph. i could still see the guy in front of me when the road allowed and i thought i was making up some time.
after about 4 kms, the road changed a bit and headed ever so slightly uphill and was slightly rougher as well. i suddenly felt sapped and my legs didn’t want to play anymore. it wasn’t even a hill, more like a slight bump in the landscape. i was flicking down through the gears like a car radio, trying to find something that i liked. i stated to worry that i was about to get overtaken but didn’t dare look back. the sperm helmet works to give you the best aerodynamic advantage if you are in the right position. that is, body down but head facing forward. not the most natural position, but i have been forcing my head up at spin for the last month. my chiro certainly noticed when i went to see her on thursday.
anyway, my aero helmet said “no turning around” so i just pushed on despite my legs arguing otherwise. my minute man was still just up the road, but all the gains i seemed to make on the nice smooth section seem to be disappearing fast. there are a few slight undulations in this section and i thought i could gain some ground on the climbs, before the only real hill on our course. it came at the 10km mark and i remembered this from when i was dropped at the dardanup open race a few weeks back. as we got closer i thought i was going to be within stinking distance but i suffered on the climb a bit and didn’t make up any ground. i did manage to pass holly’s dad who started about 5 min in front of me so i kind of got to avenge the 1 sec drubbing i received from her last year.
a quick descent that took me a bit by surprise when the bike felt like it was about to leave the road due to the bumps and we were almost at the turn around point. at least here i could see the rest of the masters men as i had already waved (not very aero) to lisa and davina heading the other way. i could see that most of the guys i was chasing were pretty bunched up and weren’t that far in front.
i came towards the u-turn and totally stuffed up the deceleration. i had down-geared and started free-wheeling way too soon and probably lost a few seconds spinning out to keep moving. 18min 32 sec at the turn and i was now homeward bound. i was going to make the effort to chase down the guys in front of me. i was heading home so had managed to get past that fear of blowing up before the halfway point. the wind was a bit erratic through here as it seemed to swirl around the small hills we were circumnavigating. i came past another guy before the hill and could see a couple more on the actual climb.
i decided to try to pull back as much time as i could and hit the climb pretty hard. this is harder than it sounds as the tt bike isn’t that good out of the saddle. the upright position means that my arse is still pretty much on the seat, but now my knees are hitting the bar extensions. i made it to the top and started to power down the other side. there was that awfully familiar feeling of a hot flush when i realised that the double push had sent me into the redzone. i tried to settle down, but to no avail and next thing i know i was dry retching and had a couple of small vomit/burps. nice. a flush out with the drink bottle and a few second of easy riding to settle back down before i could make chase again.
ok, no more hills, just a few more rabbits and a finish line. i found my rhythm again and began to tap out a nice pace. the next 2 riders were pretty much on top of each other, and i passed them both as one had just overtaken the other. now i kind of lost track here and am not sure how many guys i passed. i just remember the last one had a car trailing him with hazard lights on. i assumed that it was the commasaire’s car but i wasn’t really thinking about anything but getting home.
i passed this final guy just before the road opened up and we hit the farmland again. the wind picked up a bit and i was now scared that i was going to be overtaken by someone. still wasn’t game to look behind so i just concentrated on the road ahead and thought of the long efforts that ryan made us do. i could see the town up ahead and was willing my legs to just keep going. i needed jens there to tell my legs to “shut up”, but i was coaxing them on with the promise that it will all be over soon.
1km to go and i tried to keep the pace on. 500m to go and i increased my effort and tried to hold it to the line. i could see the finish, it was hurting, i can just remember ryan at spin making us push harder for the last 30 sec of a 5 min effort. i gritted my teeth and kept stomping on the pedals until i was finally there. amazing how much 25kms can really hurt you. glad i am too old for the open division.
my intended warm down of an hour on the trainer was replaced with a lap of the bock and a need to just get off the damn bike. my return time was 18min 32 sec. exactly the same as the way out for a total of 37min 04sec. i wasn’t really aiming for a particular time and just wanted to go as hard as i could. i was pretty happy as my average was 39kph and i was exactly 1min faster than last year. if this trend continues, i will win the masters division in three more years time.
the women were back in and davina took out the title in a faster time than me (chicked again), so now we were just waiting for jonno and dannyboy to come home. they were on a longer hillier course that me and were aiming for around the 1 hour mark. dannyboy was just on his road bike so was doing it tough in comparison to the new swish looking giant trinity that jonno was astride. they both came in at 1:02:34 for jonno and 1:09:54 for dannyboy.
Pos
Lap 1
Lap 2
Lap 3
Total
Speed
Comment
Open Men 39.4km
13
Jonathan Bolton
0:18:40
0:25:20
0:18:34
1:02:34
37.8
17
Daniel Berry
0:20:41
0:28:18
0:20:55
1:09:54
33.8
Open and Masters Women 24.1km
1
Davina Summers
0:18:33
0:18:11
0:36:44
39.4
2
Bec Halliday
0:19:17
0:19:08
0:38:25
37.6
PB
4
Lisa Wood
0:20:24
0:20:25
0:40:49
35.4
Masters Men 24.1km
7
Peter Mah
0:18:32
0:18:32
0:37:04
39.0
PB
the rest of the results can be found on the atta website here.
it was a good day and well run by swcc and atta. i actually enjoyed myself despite the way that i wrote this report and can see myself actually doing a few more of these events in the future. jerry is our club contact if anyone is wanting to have a go at the atta events and he can answer any question you may have about time trialling.
photo’s thanks to luke.
beaten again by davina. smiling because it has finished.
talk about cold mornings. thursday ride officially started with a balmy 3.7 degrees at 5:30am but then managed to drop to 2.7 degrees by the time 7:30am rolled around. i was so cold when i got home that i got back into bed to try to warm up before i got in the shower. at least there was no wind. i remember riding in ballarat and it was so cold that we used to wear full ski gloves. and your fingers still got cold. trying to change a tyre when you can’t feel what you are doing is certainly an experience i can do without.
accident – as you may have read previously (or witnessed), there was a pretty bad accident on the public holiday ride. quite a few people went down and nicole got hurt pretty bad. she is out of hospital now and recovering at home. she says thank-you for the well wishes and for the flowers and really appreciates the support that she has received both on the day and since then. to help her out, we will be doing a whip around at the coffee-shop or you can send a donation through to the club account (details here). this is for her to use however she needs, be it replacing bike bits or helping out with medical expenses. the club is not the committee or the uniform, but rather the people in it. the way that we rally together to help others is what makes the club what it is and i am really proud of the way that people have handled the situation.
breakfast – next weekend is the winter breakfast. details are here. please rsvp as soon as possible so we can work out numbers. it will be $10 a head for all you can eat and drink, with raffle prizes, bike weigh-in and you can pick up any kit that hasn’t been collected yet. (zip replacement jerseys have come back too).
races – state ITT in dardanup this saturday and MTB XC also near dardanup on sunday. cyclo-sportif on the 27th at swan valley with a track grand prix to follow (more details soon).
ride routes – saturday sees most groups heading in one direction or the other through canningvale. sunday takes us down to brookton hwy and back up to kalamunda.
saturday 12th june – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
anna debuting the spr kit at the national championships
UPDATE – entries for this event close tonight. currently there are not enough entries for some of the divisions to be run as a state championship. we need to support this event and this club, so i urge you to give it a go.
on the 12th of june, atta and the south west cycle club will be holding the state individual time trial down at dardanup. for those of you that raced the dardanup open the other week, it is pretty much the same course. the championships are aged based so if you are over 35 you get to ride in the masters division and not have to push your old bones quite a far. for those under 35 it is only 39kms for the men and 25kms for the women.
this is a great opportunity for anyone in the club to see how they are going against their peers. you don’t need to have a fancy $10,000 time trial bike just a recreational licence (as a minimum) and you can get a day licence. as this is a state championship, you need to be a member of a club.
for those that haven’t taken that step to do a race yet, then this is the perfect opportunityto have a go as you don’t have to race shoulder to shoulder with others. just you and the clock.
so challenge some of your peers to a race and claim true bragging rights at the coffee shop next time they just sit in and take the sprint at the end.
add your name to the comments if you are looking at heading down. we will have the tent set up and provide drinks etc as per usual.
as most of you are aware, there was an accident on the public holiday ride today. The lawyers from https://leppardlaw.com/ said that it wasn’t fatal. i wasn’t on the ride but from what i have heard, it seems that there was a tyre blow out during the final sprint past the brewery. quite a few riders went down, but nicole was the worst hit and had to wait for an ambulance to come and pick her up. from what i understand, there was some dental and facial damage and so she was taken to charlie gardiners to be treated.
thankfully, there is no spinal damage to be reported and the wrists, though swollen and sore, don’t appear to be broken. she was seeing a specialist this afternoon and is expected to be in for 24 hours at a minimum. as usual, there was a bit of bike damage and her helmet protected her well by taking quite a blow.
from the numerous phone calls i received throughout the day it is clear that the group rallied together well and swiftly went into action. this involved everything from closing the road and calling an ambulance to getting the broken bikes and riders home afterwards. special thanks must be made to josh who calmly took control of the situation and andrew who was first to treat nicole. not actually being there, i didn’t get to see who else was there to give assistance but you know who you are and i am sure those involved in the accident appreciated your help. The Alexandria personal injury lawyers also help with any accident injuries.
this is the first time in the 5+ years that i have been riding with the group that we have actually had to call an ambulance. i hope it is the last. however, the way that the group reacts to a situation like this shows how much support we have within the club. i would like to thank everyone for doing what they could.
to help out as much as we can, we are going to do a “whip around” to at least get nicole a new helmet. we will be passing the hat around at the coffeeshop this saturday, but if you want to do it a little more anonymously you can netbank some dollars across to our club bank account.
bsb – 036011
acc – 419688
make sure you put “nicole donation” in the reference box so we know what it is for.
thanks again to everyone that rendered assistance today and i wish nicole and the others a speedy recovery.
peter – president south perth cycle club.
UPDATE – add any well wishes for nicole to the comments section. also, if you were involved in the accident and wish to thank someone that helped you, add to the comments.
nicole had surgery last night and is recovering in sir charles gardiner hospital. at this time she is not taking visitors as she is still very bruised and battered. i will post any further updates to the comments below.
i have started the ball rolling for the order of the accessories. these will be produced by champion systems and will include summer gloves, winter gloves, lycra booties, neoprene booties, socks and caps. have a look at the 1st draft artwork that i will be sending to them and add your comments to that page.
