All posts by Laurensia

SPR Quarterly Breakfast and Christmas Ride

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The year is not over yet, there is still fun to be had.

Save this date on your calendar, Saturday 20 December 2014 is:

1 – Our annual christmas ride – dress up in spirit of Christmas for this ride. We will be giving up a prize for the best dressed of the day!

2 – After the ride, the SPR famous quarterly breakfast is on. The cost is $15 per person. Kindly bring exact change. Please also write a comment in this blog entry whether you are going. We will need to know how many people are attending.

3 – At the breakfast we will also be giving out the outcome of Rewards Nomination.

Everybody is welcome, and in true Christmas spirit, the more the merrier!

Any questions about any of the above, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below or email social@southperthrouleurs.com.au

We hope to see you all next week!

Laurensia, Carol, Amanda, Heiko & Graham

SPR Social Committee

 

SPRoolers (South Perth Rouleurs Out Of Lycra Event)

It’s Christmas… let’s Party! This year “SPROOLERS” (South Perth Rouleurs Out Of Lycra Event) is being held at The Empire Bar in Rivervale on Thursday 18th December 2014 from 630 PM onwards. Only $20 per person. Hope you can make it. RSVP via the SPR blog this weekend. Cash is collected upon entry and the exact change is greatly appreciated!

Help us spreading the words and we hope to see you then!

SPR Social Committee (Laurensia, Heiko, Graham, Amanda and Carol)

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Tour of Margaret River – TOMR Women 2

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I proudly present you with TOMR SPR Women 2. From right to left:

Myself- Laurensia Rosana, Leigh Outschoorn, Lesley Burch, Helen Jones, Katheryn Dines and Janice Graham.

 

We have come a long way from being newbies at group riding to road racing around 6 months ago and then being competitive riders at the Tour. Thank you for Leigh Outschoorn for bringing us together. She is the star at the background. She gathered the team and supported us to race. I admire your work Leigh for being persistent in women cycling. I am grateful and thank you for the work you have done for us. SPR chicks rule!

 

Day 1 – It was nervous wrecking for me. I had not done a team time trial in my life. I also had minimal comfort from having practising together with the girls prior to the event. Looking back, I thought that I was more worried of letting the team down!

 

Anyway, we had a warm up at the SPR tent an hour before the TTT. All trainers were lined up. It looked as if we overkilled it. Well, I am glad we did. Having solid warm up was the key to a successful time trial.

 

We set off at 2:41 PM and picked up the pace. We unfortunately lost one member on the first lap. Not long after the first lap, we lost another one. There we were, the four of us working together to complete the last lap as fast as we could. Lots of talking to each other, calling out “last wheel” or “keep it steady girls!” Gosh I was pushed to my limit over 40 minutes. I was so relieved when I saw the finish line (although it is not reflected in the picture below!).

 

Our overall position was 6th out of 10 women teams.  I thought we did well on the first stage.

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Day 2 – 75 kms undulation with a final climb at 8%.

It was a big women group (around 60 people). If you never compete at open women race, it will make you nervous and intimidated. We were off with decent speed. The women sticked together until about 30th km. Some women got dropped. I also struggled in getting a great position in the bunch. I was at the back of the peloton since beginning. By the time we reached the last climb, I had nothing left in my legs. I had lots and lots of surging, which was a waste of my energy.

 

Overall, I was happy with my effort that day, finishing as the 34th of 55 riders. The girls’ position were Lesley 16th , Helen 17th, Leigh 30th, Janice 35th and Katheryn 42nd.

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Day 3 was the highlight of the whole tour for me. The course was challenging with more undulation as the menu of the day!  When we hit the undulating road, the group split up. I was again at the back of the peloton from the beginning. Not a very smart move Laurensia! I was getting tired from surging.

Yup, the inevitable happened.  There I was, I got dropped…. What a disaster! The peloton was about 20 metres ahead but I could not pedal any faster. I noticed that Katheryn Dines got dropped as well. Not really great for us, I thought. We got ourselves sorted and we started doing short roll through. We took 20 second turns and we caught up with some ladies, who got spat out from the peloton too. With 30 kms in, ideally we should work together. I had doubt though, I did not know who these ladies were or whether they would want to be part of the roll through. It was a race after all!

But hey, they took part of the roll through. I was thrilled with the whole experience. The team work was just fantastic. I am proud to be part of that small group. We helped each other until about 5 kms to the finish line. The ladies picked up the pace and got into position for a sprint. We would not sprint for winning the podium but what the heck right? Haha it was exciting… Katheryn and I looked after each other and then the unexpected happened! Katheryn attacked!! It was about 1 km to go!

Everyone responded including me! Haha…  Exciting and fun. We had our “sprinting” moments and it was priceless!! Thanks for the leadout Katheryn. I will never forget this! You are really an awesome team mate!

We finished the day with myself at 34th place, Katheryn 35th, Helen at 21st, Janice 30th, Lesley 27th and Leigh 26th.

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Day 4- our last day ended with so much wind but I had great experience thanks to the SPR women teams. We had a team meeting before the race. The objective was clear: to help out Megan Thomas getting a podium position.

Gosh I never dreamed of having a role in a racing team. We took off at 1 PM. I could see the “greens” were moving continuously in the peloton protecting and positioning Megan. I wanted to play my part. I then took a big step, riding in the wind and forcing myself to be in the front of the peloton.

I was not sure whether I got the girls’ attention away from Megan for awhile but I gave it a shot. Hard work summed it up. I somewhat felt better and safer in the front because I could see what’s happening to the race! I learned right there that positioning is very important for you to safe energy and being part of the race itself!

Time flew really quickly, and we were on the last lap. About 4 kms to go, I was hung in the wind, I got dropped from the peloton and I again had nothing left in my legs.

I finished at 29th place. The ladies did well Janice (35th), Leigh (32nd), Katheryn (34th), Lesley (17th) and Helen (23rd).

It has been great experience and my fellow cyclists you should give racing a crack! I intend to go back where possible next year.

My special thank you to the volunteers. We would not make it through the four days race without you all: Peter Mah, Suzie and Belinda Evans.

Thank you for my fantastic coach, Toby Brown. It has been crazy 4 months and I thank you for your support.

To my team mates: you guys are amazing.  I am proud to share this journey with each of you!

SPR Yearly Awards – Nomination is open!

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For those who have been around for a while you will know that each year we honor club members with some specific awards in that particular year. The SPR Social Committee would like your help in deciding upon the nominees for these awards.

This year we will be recognising;

  1. Ride Leaders of the Year
  2. Most Improved Rider
  3. Most Improved Racer
  4. Club participation of the Year
  5. MTB Dirt Bike Award
  6. Good Samaritans
  7. Volunteers of the year
  8. The most inspirational rider
  9. The King of the Mountain Award
  10. The Club Champion Award

Please provide us with their full name and comments on why you nominate them by sending email to
social@southperthrouleurs.com.au.

The nomination will stay open until Sunday 7 December 2014 midnight so get cracking if you can think of someone who deserves some recognition. It does not matter how small or big their achievements and contributions is. We want to hear it!

SPR Social Committee
Laurensia, Amanda, Heiko, Graham & Carol

SPR Quarterly Breakfast

Calling out all South Perth Rouleurs to a famous Dome breakfast!

The next Dome breakfast will be on Saturday 20 September 2014 at Dome Westralia Plaza after the main ride from 8:40am. This costs $15 (please bring exact cash!) and will get you a hot drink and access to the famous Dome SPR breakfast buffet.

Many thanks to Toby for hosting this event!

Please RSVP to the breakfast in the comments section below so that no one goes hungry!

SPR Social Committee (Laurensia, Heiko, Amanda, Carol & Graham)

Recap – Tour de France Night

Another SPROOLERS “South Perth Rouleurs Out Of Lycra Event” concluded!

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On 27 July 2014, SPR held a Tour de France night at the Precinct, Victoria Park.

What a great turnout! We had 49 of SPR members enjoying French style dinner to celebrate the last day of Tour de France. With the highlights and recording of Tour de France stages in the background, it made the night even better!

The top highlight of the night was quizzes on the table. It tested the participants’ cycling knowledge and definitely created a sense of curiosity and intense discussions on the dinner tables.

The El Prez’s table took on the victory in winning the quizzes. Should we be surprised with this? You bet not!

The best dressed for female and male went to Cathi Dixon and Bill! Good effort guys! Cathi certainly looked fabulous in red!

Cathi Dixon and Belinda Evans

We also had other prizes through raffles and “under-the-chair” door prizes. Some people went home with macaroons, camembert cheese, sausages, a can of snails and French champagnes!

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A special thank you to The Precinct for their enthusiastic cooperation in preparing a special menu for us as well buying in a lovely range of French wines & Belgium beers… not to mention playing the Tour live for us on the projector.

On behalf of SPR Social committee, we thank you all for coming.

Remember to look out for more upcoming SPR social events!

Laurensia, Graham, Carol, Heiko and Amanda

 

Tour de France night

Calling all SPROOLERSJoin us to experience the excitement and exhilaration this time is… the Tour de France!

Yes, it is another “South Perth Rouleurs Out Of Lycra Event”. In spirit of Tour de France, join us at dinner with a beautiful selection of gourmet French food (not to mention French wine & beers!) but numbers are limited to just 50 people so don’t delay!  Partners welcome.

Where: The Precinct Restaurant
834 Albany Highway, East Victoria Park.
When:  Sunday 27 July 2014 at 6:30pm
Cost:  $40 per person (plus drinks)-cash only
and collected upon entry

RSVP:  On the SPR Blog by Monday 20 July 2014.

Prize for best dressed and come prepared for a Tour de France Quiz on the night!

Help us spreading out the words with this flyer: Tour Dinner Invite
Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Laurensia, Graham, Amanda, Carol and Heiko
SPR Social Committee

 

Recap – Giro d’Italia night by G Hoskins

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Our “SPR Out Of Lycra” (SPROOLER) events are growing in popularity (and dare I say notoriety?!) and the Giro d’Italia Dinner a few weeks ago was no exception. Sixty One 61 of our SPR members and partners attended a fun filled night of delicious wood fired pizzas and pasta taking over the entire top floor at Sopranos Ristorante in South Perth for our Giro d’Italia Dinner.

As you can imagine when cyclists get together, there were all kinds of tall tales & true to be exchanged and the dinner was interspersed with several quizzes designed to keep the competitive juices flowing even while off the bike. This also served to sort out those who are seriously committed to their chosen 2 wheel craft from the pretenders who were just there for the food… oh yes, and the beer.

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With such astonishingly expensive and luxuriant prizes on offer (such as boxes of Bacci chocolates) it should come as no surprise that competition in the quizzes was hotter than a sprint up Ewen Street. So hot that a playoff was required to separate the two competing teams vying for top spot. Each quickly elected a Captain and it was Bill “The Grip” (a.k.a Angry Duck) and Gary “Iron Hands” Boylan who were each handed a pair of surgical rubber gloves and in readiness for their face off… to get a tubeless and tireless racing rim ready for action and up to race pressure in shortest possible time with no tools or assistance other a hand pump.

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The winner by a pinch flat was Bill in the extraordinary time of 2 minutes and 20 seconds…impressive! How long can he hold onto the record? For quite some time we suspect…well at least until the next social event.

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A good time was had by all and the prize of a pizza voucher for the best dressed went to Cathi Dixon who was resplendent in her full Maglia Rosa regalia with Andrew and Jimmi close runners up. For a full photographic record of the evenings undertakings please see below.

Thank you to all who supported the evening. As we countdown to what is arguably the biggest Grand Departe of the year, watch the SPR blog for details of our next big SPORROLERS event which will be a Tour de France dinner planned to coincide with the end of the Tour. Details will be posted very soon.

And until next years Giro, arrivederci, ciao and buona ciclismo!

Graham Hoskins

 

SPR Notice of Dome Breakfast!

Calling out all South Perth Rouleurs to a famous Dome breakfast!

Exciting time folks, note this down in your calendar!

The next Dome breakfast will be on Saturday 7 June 2014 at Dome Westralia Plaza after the main ride from 8:40am. This costs $15 (please bring cash!) and will get you a hot drink and access to the famous Dome SPR breakfast buffet.

Many thanks to Toby for hosting this event!

Please RSVP to the breakfast in the comments section below so that no one goes hungry!

SPR Social Committee