All posts by elPrez

ride routes 13th & 14th mar

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it’s amazing how many different things can go wrong with your knee.  while the physio has been rectifying one issue, this has lead to me getting pain in another spot.  the human body is so damn complex that it is a wonder that it holds together as long as it does.  i am back on the bike again, but still under orders to take it easy for a while so it is the intermediate group for me this weekend. 

there is a crit on at osborne park on sunday for anyone wanting to stretch their racing legs.  this is a fund raiser to get a couple of juniors to italy this year for the junior world champs.  bella is one of them and she has been out with us quite a few times in the past.  more info here.

this sunday will also see a few of our riders tackle the 5 dam and 3 dam challenge set up by the ex-cyclosportif group.  as such we will be doing the reverse of some of their routes so we can yell some support as they head the other way.

a big weekend next weekend with the breakfast and agmon saturday and the freeway bikehike on sunday. we will be setting up the tent in joondalup to promote the club to the riders finishing the event to try to encourage a few more people to come riding with us.  this will also double up as a base for any spr riders that do the event and we will try to provide some refreshments for your arrival.

there are still a few outstanding kit orders that are yet to be paid.

and finally we have managed to secure a helmet deal with TBE for any of our members.  info here.

ride routes are below.  it is up to every rider to make sure they know the route to minimise the risk of accidents due to navigational misunderstandings.

saturday 13th mar- all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

novice – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 40.21km (mosman park)

intermediate – spr saturday 49.38km (tv stations)

advanced – spr saturday 56.56km (scarborough beach rd)

sunday 14th mar- all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

transitional – spr sunday 68.62km (south st & freo)

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

advanced – spr sunday 92.56km (carradine & peet)

south perth cycle club helmet

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as you are aware there are many great bike things available at a cheap price online through the many overseas shops.  unfortunately, bike helmets are also readily available to be shipped into australia.  this is unfortunate as these helmets do not have an australian standards sticker inside of them.  it is not to say that they are an inferior helmet, but the testing for the australian standards is much higher than that of the usa and the uk.  for one thing, the aussie standards test a sample of every batch of helmets that come into the country.  other countries just test the initial model and give all of them the ok.  there are also different tests performed on the helmets here that give them a higher safety standard.  these involve impact tests that more reflect the types of conditions that a cyclist may encounter on the open road.

anyway, why is this important.  firstly, many race organisers are starting to check helmet standards before the race.  it happened at the team time trial here in perth last year as well as the masters nationals that mike and stu went to in canberra.  if your lid is not to standard you don’t race.  the reason is that there is a good chance that your insurance claim could be void as you are not wearing an aussie standard hat.  this is also the case with club training rides.  that little bit of cover you may have, may not be worth anything if you are not following the road rules that state you must have an approved helmet on.

what we are looking at doing is trying to standardise the helmets so that they become a part of the club kit.  it is great when you get a whole bunch of the spr crew together on a ride all with the club kit on.  the thing that stands out to me is the wide variety of colours and models of helmets out there.  everyone has to wear a helmet, so why not make it part of the kit.

to cover both the aussie standards and the standard kit, we have managed to get a deal with TBE in Belmont to provide a Giro Atmos (white/silver) helmet to the club at a reduced price.  how much, i hear you ask.  well they retail for $470 and we can get them for $239.95.  if you look online this is quite close to the price you can get them from overseas, but these ones have the australian standards sticker inside.

so, what do you need to do.

well firstly, this is for club members only.  to get this deal you must present your cycling australia card to Dave Rice the mananger at TBE in Belmont.  once he has confirmed that you are a member of south perth cycle club, you can get your helmet.  this applies to both full racing and recreational licences so all you need to do to save $200 is to get a recreational licence for $77.  apart from putting a bit of coin back into the club you also get a bit of insurance coverage. 

now this is planned to be an ongoing deal with TBE so that new members can still take advantage of it in the future.  we are aware that accidents do happen and you can need a couple of helmets per year if you are unlucky.  however, please do not try to take advantage of the situation and buy more than you need.  we will be taking note of who is buying the helmets.  we are hoping to also get some sticker sets made for the helmets to make them true spr lids.

hopefully this will just be the start of some “member benefits” that we can get organised for the club.  so, if you need a new helmet, head on down to TBE and Belmont and talk to Dave Rice.

thursday transitional group ride

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after the success of the tuesday transitional group ride, we have decided to start up a thursday transitional group ride.  starting at 5:30am under the narrows, this ride will trail the advanced group but then head off on the same course as the tuesday ride.  this is meant to be an easy ride and is targeted to the normal transitional group riders who just want an extra ride per week.  the tuesday and wednesday novice rides have not really taken off lately since the inception of the tuesday transitional ride so we may look at cancelling those two.  let me know if we should keep them running.

so now there are 2 weekday transitional rides on tuesday and thursday 5:30am under the narrows.  lights are essential as it is getting dark again.

see you then.

northern districts crits – 14th march

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there is a crit on this weekend run by the ndcc up at osborne park.  what makes this one different is that it is also a fundraiser to help a couple of the girls to get to the junior world champs in italy this year.  one of them is bella who used to ride with us way back when we were at the bikeshop.  even as a 15 year old she would put some of the guys to shame in the final sprint along mounts bay road.  she still comes out occasionally and especially to tackle the hill rides.

for those looking to race, they have three grades plus a women’s race so there is something for everyone.  details are attached, but sorry for the size of the flyer.  however, i will try to summarize below.

8:00am. c grade – 30min + 1 lap

8:30am. b grade – 40min + 1 lap

9:00am. women’s – 30min + 1 lap

9:15am – a grade – 50min + 1 lap

$20 entry.  any queries to neil welsford – 0418 942 638

notice of annual general meeting

this is to provide notice that the annual general meeting of the south perth cycle club will be held on 20th march at 9:30am at 43a ryrie ave como.  see attached notification.

the meeting will provide an opportunity for any financial members to raise any item that they wish to be discussed at this meeting.  please provide details of this via email and it will get added to the agenda. 

also, all committee positions will be available for re-election.  if you wish to nominate for a position, please send an email through and you will be placed up for election on the day.  the positions are as follows : president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer and 7 general committee members (whose roles will be determined later).  current committee members will need to nominate themselves if they wish to continue to hold their position, otherwise it is assumed that they do not wish to be on the committee.

peter mah – president south perth cycle club.

ride routes 6th & 7th mar

well the physio gave me the all clear to ride a bit harder but it has co-incided with a week of everything else getting in the way.  i missed tuesday morning as kate’s bootcamp was moved because of the long weekend, i missed spin due to meetings and equipment failures and i will miss the saturday ride as i am manning the tent for the expo.  the only ride i got in this week has been the thursday advanced ride which had me strung out from the word go.  hopefully next week will be back to normal.

as i have said, we are promoting the club at the south perth recreational expo in manning.  it would be good to get a few spr people swinging by after the ride to show that bit of support.  we will be having the power-test running again, but this time all have to do is get a high power/weight ratio and you get yourself a drink bottle.  i have updated the post here.

autumn breakfast and agm coming up soon so mark the 20th in your calendar (info here).  the freeway bike hike is on the day after with some info here.

sorry if we have done some of these routes recently.  with the new distances requested for the different groups, i need to map a few more.

saturday 6th mar- all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

novice – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 41.73km (canning vale reverse)

intermediate – spr saturday 50.47km (south st)

advanced – spr saturday 54.42km (canning vale)

sunday 7th mar- all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

transitional – spr sunday 64.27km (welshpool & north lake) (but following the advanced group on the way out)

intermediate – spr sunday 61.14km (welshpool & weir rd) (but following the advanced group on the way out)

advanced – spr sunday 88.87km (welshpool & observatory & camelberg & gooseberry)

KarriCup 2010

a few of the guys went down to the karricup mountain bike race that was held the same time as the permberton classic.  attached here is scotts report from the day which includes some photos of the spr jerseys getting all dirty.

the dirt boys

cycling shoes

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as i mentioned in the sunday transitional ride we have a couple of new young cyclists joining us lately.  one is a young guy that shows a lot of potential even though he is relatively new to cycling.  however, he is still riding around in a pair of running shoes with standard flat pedals.

if anyone out there has a pair of size 43 cycle shoes that they don’t use anymore please let me know via email.  i am not after an expensive pairof hand made italian designer bling, but rather that old pair that you don’t wear any more since you have bought that expensive hand made italian designer bling.  there are a lot of guys out there that upgrade all the time and fool themselves into thinking that they will keep the old pair for wet day or something.  however, once you go expensive hand made italian designer bling, it is very  hard to go back.

i am also after a pair of clipless pedals to go with the shoes so if anyone has a spare pair lying around, let me know.

south perth community recreation expo

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as i have mentioned before, there is an expo this saturday for sports and recreational clubs in the south perth area.  it is going to be held at george burnett park on manning road from 9am till 1pm and we will be working a stall there to promote the club.  i am looking for any volunteers that can give me a hand for a couple of hours during that time.  if you are available to hand out flyer’s and tell people what a great club we are, then drop me an email.

peter

The theme for the Expo is “To highlight Sport and Recreational opportunities that exist within the City of South Perth and to encourage the community (children, youth, parents/carers and seniors) to be physically and socially active”.

Event: City of South Perth 2010 Community Recreation Expo

Location: George Burnett Leisure Centre, Manning road, cnr of Elderfield Road, Karawara

Time: 9.00am – 1.00pm

Cost: the event is a free community event

Details: There will be local sporting clubs and leisure groups, interactive demonstrations & performances, (i.e kids performances and demonstrations of the sports) workshops, stalls for displays, children’s amusements (i.e bouncy castles, facepainters) skateboard & BMX tournaments, mobile food vendors, BBQ’s,  promotions (Nova 93.7 and Red Bull) and appearances by local sporting players.  

It’s a very family orientated theme and would love for all parents and children to come along to see what South Perth has to offer the community for recreation & leisure in the one location.

sunday 28th feb – transitional group – armadale & canning vale

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ride report by peter.

after being off the bike for two weeks with firstly a cold and then a knee injury i arrived at the sunday hills ride ready to not actually do any hills.  the physio had given me the all clear to start riding again, but only as long as i go with the easier groups.  luckily that meant that i could still do a sunday ride as the transitional group allowed me to not have to stress the knee too much.  i had taken the transitionals out the previous day so was beginning to remember a few names, but forgive me if i get them wrong in this write up.

we had about 37 or 38 riders turn up this morning which made up the three different groups heading out.  the plan is to always get them riding together as a group for the first part and then split apart at the appropriate point.  in this case we were all heading down to gosnells and riding across to the bottom of the kahuna.  from there the advanced and intermediate would take the first climb together while the transitional group made a quick turn to avoid the climb all together. 

the first part of the journey went quite smoothly even when nicole got a puncture along manning road.  for any of the riders on the sunday ride, please make sure the group know that you have a puncture as we will stop to wait for you to fix it.  nicole pulled off to the side and was overtaken by most of the group but there was no call to halt the ride.  a few of us hung back to help her out while a couple of others sprinted up the road to stop the group.  we quickly got going again thanks to the intervention of a gas bottle.

no other incidents and soon we were at the base of the kahuna.  we bade the other groups farewell and watched them head up the hill while we traversed the flats at the base of the escarpment.  the road was undulating slightly and we sat at a nice even pace dictated by whomever was at the front with me.  there was about 10 or so of us which included doug and shun to help us along.  not that these guys really needed much help as we were ticking along quite nicely. 

we made it to kelmscott and headed back out to albany hwy.  one of the riders (insert rider #1 name here) turned off home at this point as she lived at the base of mt nasura very close to the f_ckenberg.  her husband rob was on the advanced ride and he has come out quite a bit in the past so good to see that we can now offer something for everyone.

back onto albany and as we went up the hill past the brookton hwy intersection, the group split up a bit.  doug and shun stayed back to look after those that had been split off while i headed up the road to make sure the group was on the right path.  even in the advanced group, this little ride before the turn to carawatha can often break the group up a bit.  the damage was mostly done by steve who astride his colnago decided to up the pace to see who would hold on.  there were some takers and pretty soon there was a group of about 4 up the road.  as i bridged across i grabbed nathan who was stuck in no-mans land and gave him my wheel.  we made it just before the crest of the hill and told the pack to keep going as we would regroup at armadale rd.  most impressive in this little pack were young jamie who has been out with us for a while now and a new girl alex who was about 16.  alex and her dad jeff usually ride with a freo group on saturday but were looking for a sunday ride and were told about us.  a couple of strong young riders which is good to see since the average age of our group would be well and truly north of 35.

as we waited for the lights at armadale rd, the backmarkers caught up so we were off straight away.  as planned, this stretch contained a very nice tailwind.  jamie and i sat on the front quite easily ticking over the k’s at around 40km/hr.  occasionally looking back, i checked that the group was all together and everyone seemed comfortable and revelling in the tailwind assistance. 

i was riding with one eye on the garmin as i know we needed to to make a turn to get onto ranford road.  i had not actually ridden or even driven out this was before so was just going off the map.  luckily google had done it’s job properly and all the roads were where they said they would be.

along ranford road, i swung off the front and sat at the back with doug and shun.  i told the guys on the front that they were responsible for maintaining the speed as after all it is their group.  this means that you must have an idea of what the rest of the group is doing.  there are two ways to do this and both need to be employed.  firstly, don’t just ride with your head down.  you may think that you are putting in a nice hard effort for the good of the group, but in reality, if you have gapped the rider behind you, then they are working just as hard as you.  secondly, pass the message along the group if a rider falls off the back.  often, a rider will not call out if they are struggling as they don’t want to cause a fuss or feel like they are holding up the group.  we once you are on the ride, you are committed so it is up to the rest of the group to make sure you get home in one piece.  it is sometimes up to others in the group to point out that a rider has fallen off the back and you all need to slow down to wait.  it often just takes one person to say something and everyone will slow.  be that person and look after the other riders in your group.

as we crossed the tonkin hwy and entered the “kennel zone” john (i think rider #2) dropped his chain at the lights.  i stopped to help him get it back on but we then had to chase to catch back up.  the group had slowed, but even that had split the group apart somewhat.  it is important that the group stays together as much as possible as this means that we don’t take up as much room on the road and piss the drivers off as much.

away again and we had a fairly uneventful trip into canning vale.  as ranford road became south street, so did the rolling hills that we needed to negotiate to reach stock road.  close to murdoch, jamie got in a bit of distress. he thought that something had bitten him on the back so we pulled over into a bus stop to investigate.  sure enough when he pulled up his top a bee fell out sans stinger which was still embedded in his back.  i dug it out and asked him if he was allergic.  he didn’t think so as he had been stung before so we kept going and would just have to wait to see if he died or not.

coming out of the north lake road intersection the hill totally blew the group apart.  steve took off again so i  bridged across to have a chat to him.  i told them to keep going as long as we regrouped at the top.  pretty soon a couple of others including the young ones had joined him to keep the pace on.  there was no regoup at the top but rather we were all together by the time we turned onto stock road.

we were pretty much on our homeward stretch but the rolling hills and the distance were starting to take a toll on some of the riders.  we crossed canning hwy together and made it onto burke drive for the final drag to raffles.  most of the group had stuck together, but emma and john were in trouble so steve and myself set the pace and broke the wind for them to try to get back on. we almost made it by the time we hit the applecross section, but a few more riders were struggling by then.  i jumped across to the main group and told doug to take them the normal route while we took the others along kintail instead.  steve, shun and myself each had a rider in tow and paced them towards raffles where we regrouped with the rest of them.

the final push back to the carpark was a bit disjointed, but we eventually made it and a few of us stopped for coffee at the boatshed.  i think that when i map these rides i make an allowance for a coffeebreak about ¾ along the course.  maybe i am too used to the more advanced groups where the distance and terrain would not pose an issue to the group, but the way that some riders were struggling, a rest would have allowed them to enjoy the last bit of the ride a bit more.

overall though, i think that everyone enjoyed the ride and even though nathan still hasn’t cracked the 30km/hr average for his rides, by the time he got home it was over 100kms on the clock.  depending on the physio visit this week, i may be back with the transitional group again this week.  if not, i think that there are some good riders there that will be able to look after that group.