what the???  august already.  at least i can get back into a normal sleeping habit now that the tour has finished.

with a cold morning predicted for both sat and sun it will pay to rug up.  for those that have ordered kit, it should not be too far away as half of it has already arrived (jersey, knicks & vest).  i am reluctant to distribute it yet until the final bits arrive as it is hard to keep track of.  however, if you really need it for a race or something let me know and we can arrange something.  for the few of you that haven’t paid – no money, no kit.

there will be racing on at pinjarra with a few heading down to give the hill a crack.  good luck to those taking part.  i hope the spr colours show themselves well.

saturday will see us head out to benara rd.  the wind will not be that strong so we won’t get a big push home, but this is always a nice fast course.  fast group make sure you have a good look at the map or at least have it programed into your garmin if you have one.  intermediate group will do the regular benara road course that we all know and love.  novice group will be running as normal.

sunday, will head down to roleystone again and tackle some similar hills as last week.  i need to vindicate myself somewhat after a very poor performance and hence my reason for not racing this weekend.  with five climbs available for points, the start of a new month and a race on may mean that someone new can get a jump on the regulars.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 08 (benara rd)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 10 (carradine & peet & observatory)

some text to come…

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 06 (tv stations)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 18 (chook farm & observatory & gooseberry)

we made it into the paper today.

article here or click on the pic below.

the west australian newspaper is doing an article on the popularity of cycling in perth and will be down taking some photos of the group on either saturday or sunday morning.  can i please ask that if you have a spr kit that you wear it as this is a good opportunity for us. 

the kit order is underway so no more orders can be taken.  what you have ordered is shown on the bottom of the team kit page.  make sure this is right and let me know asap if not.

if you didn’t notice, the tour de france is underway and our tipping comp is in full swing.  check out the tour tipping page to see who is tipping well.  hmm.  not me.

the novice group will be doing their thing as usual, but we will be saying farewell to libby who has decided to move back home to canberra.  hopefully the weather will be fine so you can say goodbye.

saturday route will see a race to freo with the main group taking leach and the fast group taking south st.

sunday will take some of the back roads that we don’t often travel before eventually swinging back through mundaring weir and up to coffee.

south perth rouleurs saturday novice ride

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 09 (risley & cott)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 14 (darlington & mundaring)

well lets take advantage of the dry weather predicted over the weekend as they reckon it will be raining all of next week again.  cold is easier to deal with than wet, so rug up and onto the bike to celebrate good ole american day.  actually with a nuclear powered american aircraft carrier anchored just off freo, i should be careful not to upset our overlords, i mean allies.

now don’t forget that the tour starts on saturday night, so stock up on no-doze as sbs is delaying our telecast so that we will know the result off the net 2 hours before the vision finishes.  i will endeavour to find a free link online and post it on the tour tipping page.  which links nicely to a reminder that if you want to enter the tour tipping comp, you better think up a witty name and get you team in fast.  we have over 25 teams in already, so the competition will be hot.

also, i have extended the cut off date for the new kit to after this weekend.  i still have to sort some things out with teschner and cannibal so if you want something, get you order in asap.  we are up to around $10,000 worth of kit ordered again and this is our 3rd order of this magnitude.  a few things may not reach the min requirements so if you think you may need arm or knee warmers or a vest then let me know as this may just get us the numbers to get them into the order.

saturday will see a split up hale rd with the fast group having to do ridgehill as well.  i want to take advantage of the ene winds to give us a push home along guilford road.

sunday there will be hills.  only 4 categorised climbs but no chance to better your climb time up mundaring rd as we will tackle lawnbrook instead. 

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 03 (hale rd)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 07 (canning mills & peet & patterson)

TOUR DE FRANCE TIPPING

with the tour starting this weekend, we will again be running a tour de france tipping comp.  entry is $10 and there are prizes for gc, points, mountains and stage wins.

you need to nominate a new rider each day and it is great way to follow the tour more closely.

click on the tour tipping page at the top of this website and register your team by filling in the comments at the bottom of the page.

there are links to each stage and you enter your tip by adding to the comments at the bottom.  the comments section will close at 6pm each night and this will be the only way for you to enter your tips.  you can, however, enter a number of tips by just commenting on each stage page.

so nominate your team name (you can have more than 1 team) and start looking at the rider start list and stage profiles.

good luck.

ok, so the weather forecast is not looking too good this weekend.  actually it is looking total crap.  so, lets go for a ride. 

saturday there is only one route mapped as depending on numbers and conditions it may be safer to just hang together and cruise along rather than include any fast sections.  we will play this one by ear.

sunday sees the majority of the regular hill climbers doing the cyclo-sportif at swan valley.  as per usual for this event, the worst weather has been predicted over the weekend.  they have even cancelled the ferry to rotto for the next three days.  so if anyone is left and wants to do a hills ride, i have mapped out a route that allows the most chances at heading to an early coffee as it passes the coffee shop three times.

SPR KIT – i am hoping to have the order finalised by the end of the month.  there are some items that haven’t sold very well and we will not make the minimum garment requirement so they will have to wait till next order.  these are most probably the summer arms and sleeveless jersey.  we still need a few more vests and winter arms to make the minimum, so if you are thinking you need more kit, let me know asap.

TOUR DE FRANCE TIPPING – i have started a new page on the website that will act as the main page of the tour de france tipping comp.  similar rules that we have played the past two years where you have to pick a new rider every day.  this year it will all be done through the website and you will enter by placing your tip in the comments section.  working out the costs now, but there will be prizes for gc, sprint, mountain and stage winners.  all proceeds will go towards the club.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 11 (rebold hill & cott)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 08 (gooseberry & kalamunda & bickley)