Hi All,
Greetings from the East. We have certainly been enjoying much better weather than you guys I have to say. I am riding Sat/and Sun every weekend and this weekend it was 24 degrees and I finally got to christen my SPR kit. Had lots comments from the jealous Canberrans about what kind of club produced such an awesome kit.

Raced in Mogo down the coast today ( mountain biking ) absolutely horrendhous! 50kms, 31 degrees, head wind all the way.. so glad to finish 🙂 Am enjoying the cycling back home and have met some new people to cycle with and now running spin classes and after my year in Perth, finally getting back to some hill riding! Ride Mt Stromlo each week and participating in Fitzs challenge in a few weeks ( 5 peaks) not sure I will make all five though!
Hope you are keeping well. This time last year I had just started my adventure in Perth can’t believe it ended all too soon. I really miss the place adn the people and especially you lot !! Always a room in my house if any of you are over my way 🙂
Keep in touch
Love libby

Hi Everyone. Just wanted to say a huge thank you to you all. I have really enjoyed being part of this group and so wanted to finally move up to the main group!! But alas family calls me home.. but I will be back. I really love Perth and hope to move back in the future. You are all such a welcoming group and I am going to try and develop something on the Nth side of Canberra like the Rouleurs… there are masses of cyclists that don’t belong to official clubs and it would be great to have such a friendly group like yours. I have also contact the Canberra Vets club which is over 30s and am going to join their very novice road racing group… then I will REALLY know what it is like to be dropped. Cycling with you has increased my confidence and being in Perth has taught me that I am a lot stronger than I thought I was as a person.. so look out Canberra!! Thanks again everyone for your encouragement support yummy brownies and welcome. If any of you are every in Canberra drop me a line libbyoa@bigpond.com would love to catch up and here the news of my second home. Take care all of you Hugs libx

Just wanted to say a HUGE HUGE thank you to Lorraine and Pete and families for putting on such a good spread today. Better than Brekky at the Canberra Hyatt:-) Well don and thanks heaps. I will be back in Canberra to see my family, for the next couple of Saturdays, hoping to get in some hill cycling while I have time off. Keep safe everyone and keep warm. Lib

Not sure if this okay to use the blog like this, but hoping there might be someone out there interested in a regular Sunday ride that is not sooo hilly.  Back home I could do the distance no worries but since arriving here have not done much hill work and looking to start off a bit smaller!! I have just lost my regular Sunday cycling buddy, his wife has arrived from South Africa and doesn’t cycle and doesnt want him spending half the day with me.. go figure!!  Rode today but not the same on my own so if there is anyone out there in SPR who would like to do a ride of say 60 – 70kms with a few less hills, let me know…  Libs

Today we were left leaderless!!! Though apparently after last weeks ride all over Perth with many wrong turns maybe being leaderless wasn’t such a bad idea 🙂

It is now our 6th week ( I think) of riding in the Novice Group and we felt quite confident trundling off on our own, after all there was only three of us so it couldn’t be too hard could it? Off we went with Scott leading the way and setting a cracking pace along the side of the river with myself and Carol dragging along behind. Really were just wanted Scott to do all the work while we tagged along! What a beautiful morning with the sky still pink and not a breath of wind, it was so pretty and such a change from other weeks where the wind threatened to blow us over.

We chatted happily as we pushed out hard and said how much better it would be if there were more people to help us learn the bunch riding skills… hint hint… we are a lot of fun to ride with guys!

Anyway as we came up the Canning Bridge we scooted off into Applecross barrelling along with what appeared to be a small TAIL wind… unheard of I thought… haven’t experienced many tails winds since moving here.. What a treat. As we headed towards Majestic Hill I said to Carol not sure I have the legs today, after doing two heavy PT sessions the last couple of days just on legs, I thought I might just go the short way and avoid the hill. So we made the decision to do that and let Scott turn and head to the hill. Our justification was that while he was doing one tough hill, by the time we met him we had cycled three hills so it evened out… however Scott was not convinced.

Back down we zoomed to the Canning Bridge and we could see that a Rowing Regatta was on so we took it slow under the bridge and as we came around the corner there was about a 100 screaming teenagers forming a guard of honour on either side of the path cheering us on as we slowly went through. We got into the spirit and waved and said thank you and how nice it was to be appreciated.. only to find out the guard of honour was actually for a team that had just won a race .. not for us…oooooohhhh. Scott was most disappointed!

Scott zoomed along telling Carol and I to shake a leg and we stretched out to 35kms and did have a half hearted attempt at changing the lead every now and again. But it was such a lovely morning and there was gossip to catch up, and pelicans to look at in the lakes and butts to admire as many male groups zoomed past us.

By the time we got to the end Scott had had enough and said ‘girls we are going to average 30kms all the way back” so of course being obedient Carol and I did just that and we had a great ride back to the Bell Tower. Carol suggested we do some sprints on the way back which I was definitely up for, but oh those pesky pedestrians kept getting in the way and in the end we gave up.

We arrived 60kms later ( well in our dreams) only to find everyone there and a queue for coffee, but some welcoming faces and a clap when we told them we had ridden 60kms! Think in reality it was 42 kms and a brisk speed but Scott may disagree with that!

All in all another great morning. For those of you that would like to lead a ride for us… here are a few tips…
Push us hard and we will work
Teach us and we will learn
Laugh with us to stop it hurting
Pass on your superior knowledge and we will think you are gods
All in all a great morning, see you all next week

My first time as a blogger, Brett you may regret making me do this!!

The day started out perfectly with a gorgeous red sunrise and little wind, as I happily rode down to the meeting point.  It has become easier each week as a ‘newbie’ as I have come to realise that the guys and gals at SPR are really not all that scary ! 

I chatted to and waited and hoped I wouldn’t be the only ‘novice’ to turn up today, knowing I am so NOT ready yet for the main group.  Thankfully Carols smiling face appeared across the carpark and as I turned around I saw the gorgeous pink kit that Tanya was wearing.   After being told Brett was taking us today, the day started out with introductions and the welcome of a new addition Scott who has some VERY impressive tatoos 🙂 

Brett asked where we going and we told him and he promptly led us the wrong way as us girls had a giggle and made comments about selective deafness.  We bravely rode up the hill behind our fearless leader only to get to the lights and have to back track to the narrows or we would have ended up the highway… not where any of us wanted to go! 

Fearless B’s true colours started to show as he quickly put us into formation and told us to keep tight and keep up the pace.  Flying along the side of the river we saw an ambulance ahead and slowly rode around it, sending positive thoughts to the two guys who were down.  Once past that obstacle we flew along the Cannning Bridge and into Applecross and with fear and trepidation once again tackled the ‘hill’.  Which actually isn’t that bad only in our minds! As we turned a group of about 3o cyclists were zooming down, and all I could think was please don’t get in my way, if I lose my momentum I am a goner… I stuck with Carol who has only ever ridden the hill once before and she was like a pro barrelling up to the top.. fantastic. 

We travelled down the hill , ( thank god) and down some road ( sorry still new to Perth don’t know where I am half the time)  and under the Canning Bridge and headed to Shelley.  This is where Brett really came into his own.. telling me to lead off at 30 kms so I took off, but my computer wasn’t working and I was worried I wasnt’ going fast enough.. suddenly Rob appeared beside me telling me to slow down I was going to fast!  Thank goodness for that as I wasn’t sure I could go much longer 🙂 

It was hard work but we practiced our roll throughs or roll unders or whatever the heck you call them and merrily rode along at a rate of knots rolling around a roundabout and heading back to Canning Bridge.  Brett had a great idea of interval training so off we went, boy we were awesome.. well at least in our own minds… Tanya took off and looked like a real pro with Scott and Carol not far behind.  After 3 PT sessions this week and workouts every day in my PT course I was not sure I was going to last the distance but Brett encourages and pushes us to the bridge and down the side of the river we flew.  Scott going out strong so us girls could sit behind his wheel. A glistening river, no wind, with coffee in sight we fair flew to the Bell Tower.  42 kms, average speed of 28kms, not bad for a bunch of novices.. thanks heaps Brett you were awesome .. all hail the leader…