All posts by Jordan Brock

Ride Routes 7th – 13th November

With El Prez riding as part of the SPR contingent in the Tour of Margaret River, we’re just going to get straight into it!

ride leader sponsor –November’s ride leader sponsors are SPR members Lee & Derek Baston, who own Baston & Co. Property, a boutique Property Management and Real Estate Sales Agency located in Victoria Park, servicing its surrounding suburbs.

More info on the previous post.

rules of engagement – please read the previous post if you come out on any of our rides.  it is up to all members to enforce these rules.

Bike Survey Banners_facebook LRwestcycle bike safety survey – as the peak body for cycling in western australia, increasing bike safety is one of westcycle’s key targets. their key challenge is creating an environment where people aren’t afraid to ride.  to do this we need to transform our streets, roads and communities into places where traveling by bike is safe and normal. this survey will assist westcycle and their member organisations to develop a bike safety manifesto to make riding a bike a safer option. this survey is for everyone – the people who already ride bikes, people who drive cars, people who would like to ride more but are concerned about safety. please take the time to fill it out and pass the link on to your friends.  take the survey here.

Tour-of-Margaret-Rivertour of margaret river – the tour of margaret river teams have been set and we have 2 teams of women and 2 teams of men with a couple of reserves.  These teams are riding right now. Check out the results on MetaRace

me in italyitaly trip – would you like to ride your bike over in italy next year.  there is a trip being organised where you can join/leave at your leisure.  if you are interested, more info is available on the previous post.  an info night will be held on the 12th of november so if you need more info before you take the plunge, have a look at the other previous post.

smashfest criterium series – the dates for this years smashfest criteriums at tech park are just being finalised.  at the moment we are looking at 2 before christmas and 2 in the new year.  this year they will all be held on a saturday afternoon on the following dates – 21st nov, 5th dec, 9th & 16th jan.  after this we will also have on the same circuit, the aussie day crit, renae’s race and the state champs.  discussions are also on around an spr/rccc club crit champs for just our riders with a social event on afterwards.  stay tuned for more info.

ride routes – 

saturday 7th november

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

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

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

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans canning vale 42.34km spr saturday

fast & main groups – canning vale & welshpool 49.74km spr saturday

sunday 8th november

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

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

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

short – brktn weir 82.89km spr sunday

long – f’berg urch obs 96.16km spr sunday

monday 9th november

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

main group – south stock 33.76km spr monday

tuesday 10th november

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

spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

wednesday 11th november

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

spr wednesday 14.22km (uci masters)

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

development group – stock road repeats

thursday 12th november

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

spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

friday 13th november

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

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday development ride

SPR Weekday Rides Overview

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One of the best features of SPR is the wide variety of safe group rides that are on offer every day throughout the working week. It’s been a major factor in the popularity of the club, and also why so many non-members choose to come along on our rides.

Over time, the rides and routes have increased, and evolved, so I thought it would be useful to provide a quick summary of each ride, the approximate speeds involved, and roughly how long they are.

With all rides, the goal is to have a safe, enjoyable ride where everyone gets home without incident. Please read the Ride Etiquette page (go on, read it again) and remember that everyone needs to make sure club etiquette is being followed, not just the ride leaders.

Monday – Recovery Ride – 33.2 Km
5:30AM Narrows (South Side)
Approximate Speed: 30 km/h
Approximate Time: 1:10

The Monday ride has a (very) small, but loyal following. “Officially” a recovery ride, there are a few hills along the way. The group sticks together, with regroups as needed after some of the bigger hills, and we finish up at Canning Bridge as a group.

Tuesday – “Little Ring” Spin ride – 36.0 Km
5:30AM Narrows (North Side)
Approximate Speed: 30-32 km/h
Approximate Time: 1:05 – 1:10

This is a small ring ride, however, if you’ve got compact cranks, or you just can’t keep up, then feel free to move up to the big ring. If you do this, the one thing we ask is that you do not impact the speed of the group.

The ride is meant to be a good solid group ride, with a challenging hill climb up to Mosman Water Tower with a regroup at the top.

Wednesday – Casual Cruise
5:30am Narrows (South Side)
Approximate Speed: 28-30km/h average

Steady pace social ride through Shelley, Murdoch drive, North Rd, up to Melville Parade, with a detour down Kintail, finishing with coffee at Little Horn.

Thursday – Fast and Main groups – 36.7 Km
5:30AM Narrows (North Side)
Approximate Speed:

  • Group 1 – 38-42 km/h
  • Group 2 – 37-39 km/h (May split into multiple groups)
  • Group 3 – 33-36 km/h
  • Group 4 – 30-32 km/h

Irrespective of the group, this is a challenging ride for experienced bunch riders only. There are other rides available to build your skills in preparation of joining this ride.

The first group launching on the dot of 5:30, followed by each subsequent group.

There are a couple of sprint “zones” along the way, at Port Beach, and at the approach to the Raffles.

Friday – Solid group ride – 38.5 Km
5:30AM Narrows (South Side)
Approximate Speed: Fast Group – 33-35 km/h
Main Group: 30-32km/h
Approximate Time: 1:15

Another “solid” ride, at a leisurely Main 1 pace, the Friday ride heads south towards a fast roll-through along Shelley and a regroup after the bridge. We then head along Riley, a left on to High Rd, followed by a left onto Nicholson. Making our way along Albany Hwy to Manning Rd, we take a left turn into Drogheda Way/Waterford Ave, coming to traffic lights with Manning Rd for a safe continuation onto Kent St, before heading back into South Perth via Curtin and Kensington. There’s a final sprint up to the Zoo along Mill Point Road, with coffee close to the finish at Atomic!

Please note: 2+ groups numbers permitting. Where numbers are insufficient, the group will ride at the main group pace.

Saturday

Sunday

All rides depart Coode St Car Park. See the blog for the hills ride course/s each week.

  • 6:00AM (October – March)
    • Long Hills
    • Short Hills
    • Social Hills
  • 7:00AM (April – September)
    • Long Hills
    • Short Hills
    • Social Hills
  • 7:00AM Coffee Ride

SPR Monday Ride – Stock Road

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Last Monday (21st November) there were 6 of us out on the Monday AM ride, and as we were going along Stock Road one of the state’s beloved white ute driving tradespeople decided they wanted to see exactly how close they could get to a bunch of cyclists without actually killing anyone. No one was hit, words and hand gestures were exchanged and we all put it down to just another of the incidents we seem to have to put up with.

Well, today the full Monday Morning Crew were out (just Rob and I) and as we’re riding along Stock Road a motorcyclist flags us down and says: “Were you riding along here last week when a ute tried to kill you all?” After initially thinking he was going to blame us for something, it turns out he’s a licence examiner, and he had got all the details of the incident (including the number plate of the ute) and reported it to the police!

Apparently, in order for the police to act upon the report they need at least one of us to ring in to corroborate the report. So, we thought it would be best if we had all the names of the people who were out last Monday. If you were out with Rob and I, can you please comment below so we can file a report?

Thanks heaps.

SPR in the Cape Epic

Nigel Adcock from SPR and Mark Oliver are currently racing as “South Perth Rouleurs / Wembley Cycles” in the Cape Epic, an eight day mountain bike race in South Africa. The course is 707km long, and includes 14,550 metres of vertical! There’s 600 two person teams competing. The race started on Sunday with a 27km Prologue, and then kicked into high gear with a difficult (like there’s going to be an easy one) 89km stage with some hard climbs.

Nigel and Mark are currently in 149th out of 294 teams in their division.

You can see daily results and race reports on Cycling News and you can actually follow the race live at http://live.cape-epic.com/

3 month free trial on strava.com

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A bunch of SPR riders have been using a website called strava.com recently to map our rides (see the club summary page). Strava has the functionality of something like Garmin Connect, but it also allows you to compare your rides against other cyclists you know (and everyone else). You can also create “segments” where you can find out the virtual KOM for a particular stretch, even if you’ve ridden it on a different day.

Not only does strava allow you to compete against friends and club members but it also means you can compete against yourself. It tracks every time you’ve done a segment, say Mosman Hill to the Water Tower, and ranks each ride you do. So, no more “I’m just taking this one easy today” because you’re competing against your own best times.

If you haven’t signed up already, get a code and enter it when you create the account. If you have already signed up for the free account, you can just enter the code, and you’ll have full access for three months. If you’ve already paid up, then these codes won’t work for you. Sorry.

How do I get the code?

Email me! Simple. jordan@brock.id.au

Disclaimer: Strava contacted me because I’ve been a member for almost a year and logging a bunch of rides. In addition to all the gift codes I’m getting to hand out, they’re sending me a jersey and knicks. SCORE!