i am seriously loving the drugs scandal in the footy at the moment.  for so long i get people at work commenting on how cycling is so full of drugs and how everyone is on something and how about lance, hey, hey, hmmm.  they are all drug cheats.  i’m not actually sure how anyone thought that there wouldn’t be drugs in any of the footy codes.  as soon as there is money involved and rules in place, people will do what they can to find a way to break them.  listening to the project tonight, they talked about a study that years ago asked professional athletes if they knew that they would die in 5 years by taking something but it would allow them to win a gold medal, would they take it.  the majority said yes.  how far would you go???  or should the question be “how far can you stretch your moral compass before you feel like a cheat?”  is winning the saturday fast group sprint worth the health risks???

signed greenedge jersey – we are auctioning off a signed and framed greenedge jersey to help raise funds for cathi dixon.  there is some more info here, which includes a link to the ebay auction site.

rccc/spr criterium series – the race series continues this weekend with race 3 at technology park.  a few changes to the format.  firstly a ‘e’ grade for the junior riders that starts at 07:40.  secondly the ‘b’ grade women will race with the ‘d’ grade men as there are too many riders in ‘c’ grade.  thirdly, due to an increase in capitation from cycling wa, the entry fees have increased by $5 to $20 (or $15 for spr/rccc members).  more info at our series page here.

state criterium championships – we will also be running the state criterium championships on the 24th feb at the tech park circuit.  more info on the facebook page here.  i will set up page on our website soon

ride routes – the saturday main ride will finish on riverside drive with the usual sprint to the hospital sign.  unfortunately the north bound lanes along barracks st are closed so we need to access st georges terrace at a different point.  we will need to turn directly after the sprint point up victoria ave and then left onto st georges terrace at the duxton.  sunday we have a crit on so no 7am hills ride is organised.  come and race or help us out instead.

saturday 9th february

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

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

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 41.73km (canning vale reverse)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 51.36km (sth lake)

sunday 10th february

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

no hills rides on today as we are holding a criterium and need the club to support it by racing or volunteering.

short week this week, but it still feels long.  maybe because it is only my second week back at work and second week back on the bike.  the thursday ride was probably the longest i had done today.  not in distance (i took 5 shortcuts) and not in time (we were back by 6:25.  it was long because i got dropped halfway along mounts bay road (it starts at the narrows, so not that far) and was too stubborn to just wait for the main group.  i kept taking shortcuts and catching back up, then getting dropped again.  it really makes the ride drag out when you do it like that.

kit collection – this saturday is the last opportunity to collect your kit from Dome, the kit committee will be the between 9am and 10am.  They will also have spr water bottles for cash sale, $10 for 650ml bottles and $12 for 800ml bottles.  if you can’t collect your kit (new or fire sale) this saturday, email kit@southperthrouleurs.com.au to arrange collection.

uci training – due to the change in course for the uci race, we will be holding training on every alternate saturday morning.  there will still be a fast and main group, but this week we will also have a uci group for those wanting to train the circuit.  i will post a ride route soon, but basically, we will ride to the perry lakes circuit and start doing laps.  there will be a regroup point in which we will all meet before riding back to the city and meeting the usual saturday groups for a coffee at DOME.

focus group – bring the kids along this saturday at 9:30am for the focus group ride.  nice an easy along the bike path from the boatshed to the causeway and return.

girls ride – the spr girls ride is on this monday. meet under the narrows bridge at 5:30am. the ride waits for everyone and ends at atomic.  speak to emma goodwin for more info.

rccc/spr criterium series – the race series continues next weekend with race 3 at technology park.  a few changes to the format.  firstly a ‘e’ grade for the junior riders that starts at 07:40.  secondly the ‘b’ grade women will race with the ‘d’ grade men as there are too many riders in ‘c’ grade.  thirdly, due to an increase in capitation from cycling wa, the entry fees have increased by $5 to $20 (or $15 for spr/rccc members).  more info at our series page here.

state criterium championships – we will also be running the state criterium championships on teh 24th feb at the tech park circuit.  more info on the facebook page here.  i will set up page on our website soon.

ride routes – the saturday main ride will finish on riverside drive with the usual sprint to the hospital sign.  unfortunately the north bound lanes along barracks st are closed so we need to access st georges terrace at a different point.  we will need to turn directly after the sprint point up victoria ave and then left onto st georges terrace at the duxton.

saturday 2nd february

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

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

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 40.72km (mosman park)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 50.04km (hale & ridge hill)

uci training – spr saturday (uci perry lakes)

ride starts behind boatshed cafe (coode st carpark) at 9:30am

focus kids group – ride along bike path to causeway and return (7kms)

sunday 3rd february

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

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

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

long – spr sunday 94.64km (kahuna & canning mills)

as we get further away from the summer solstice, the days are slowly getting shorter.  coming back from holidays, i was surprised at how dark the mornings have become.  not pitch black, but the street lights are now lit on the way to the earlybird ride.  not only is it dangerous not to have lights on your bike, but it can be expensive as well as toby found out in adelaide.  make sure you have the correct equipment for the riding conditions.  drivers don’t care if you are riding a dogma or a giant if they can’t see you (i.e. a $10 light is more important than a $6k bike)

saturday meeting point – as the foreshore will be getting prepared for the australia day celebrations, access to the coode st carpark will be limited. to accommodate those that drive to the start of the ride, we will be starting the 7:00am ride back at the angelo/coode st intersection.  now there shouldn’t be a lot of traffic around, but please be considerate of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the area.  there is a map below and it shows the location of a couple of carparks in the area.  if you do drive, i recommend that you don’t leave your car there for too long after the ride as angelo st gets busy with people getting their morning coffee.

help the novice group – the novice group had 30 people turn up last week.  carol needs some extra help to make sure the group has adequate support.  it is a long weekend so you can do lots of riding the other days.  do the earlybird then sacrifice your main ride and help out the lower groups.  it would be appreciated.

rolling through – we had a few accidents last year during messy roll throughs and as such we kind of stopped doing them except on certain stretches of roads.  i am thinking that this is the wrong method and what we need is to roll through more often to get people used to it.  i am not saying that the rides should be “pressure on” from the gun, but it is possible to roll through without going hard.  just maintain a nice pace and share the load across the whole group.  this allows people to practice their skills without being under fitness pressure.  whenever a nice stretch of road presents itself.  initiate a roll through.

uci training – due to a change in the uci course for this year, we need to change where we train.  unfortunately, the new course is at rebold hill and not as accessible from our usual meeting point at the narrows.  there is also a timing issue as people need to get back at a certain time to get to work.  what i am suggesting is that we continue using the kings park circuit for the wednesday morning training ride as it is a good testing course that will make you strong.  for the actual uci course, every second saturday there will be a uci group that will head to the circuit, do a number of laps, then ride back to coffee together.  saturday usual has more time so we will be able to get more laps in before regrouping.  this will start next saturday.

kit collection – kit will be available to collect at DOME after the saturday ride.  more info here.

australia day crits – our race partner club, rccc, will be running the australia day criteriums at the tech park circuit.  races start at 7:40 with juniors and work their way through the grades till 10:00am for the “a” grade race.  we have a number of spr riders entered across all the grades, so head down to support them.  more info here.

ride routes – apologies in advance as the ride route will not be coming home with a taliwind on saturday.  with all the road closures for aussie day, we need to head away from the river and then come back in from the mounts bay road end.  the transitional group has an easy start to their route as it is straight out along coode st.  the main/fast group will need to make their way to canning hwy.  the easiest way i can see is to start up coode, then turn left into hensmen, then left onto canning hwy.  if anyone is running late make sure you meet the group along that route.

saturday 26th january

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

all rides start at coode st/angelo st intersection at 7:00am

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 41.18km (reverse river ride)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 49.38km (tv stations)

sunday 27th january

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

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

short – spr sunday 70.93km (kahuna)

long – spr sunday 92.56km (carradine & peet)

monday 28th january

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

early lap – spr monday 33.72km (south & freo)

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

trans & main group – spr public holiday 59.35km (shelley & freo)

so apparently there is this guy named lance that won by cheating.  his crime is so important that instead of confessing to the governing body, or the anti-drug associations, he confessed to the most important person on the planet…oprah.  i am hoping that there is some couch jumping (tom cruise style) and that he ends up blaming everyone else instead of himself.  it will be interesting to see if he actually apologises for all the other careers that he has destroyed by being a bully.  i would blame strava if i every got caught…not that i have done anything…much.

kit collection – we are expecting the new kit this week and it should be sorted and ready for distribution on saturday.  thanks to the kit committee for all their hard work over the last few months.  more info here.

tandem pilots – this is a good opportunity for our club to branch out a bit more.  it is quite rewarding and could end up with some racing opportunities that you may not have known off before.  more info here.

ladies training – tom is kicking off his ladies training information sessions.  if you are of the correct gender and are interested, leave a comment on the previous post.  more info here.

ride routes – nice strong easterly predicted for saturday so we will get a tailwind along benara road.

saturday 19th january

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

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

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 39.04km (benara rd)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 50.98km (benara rd)

sunday 20th january

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

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

short – spr sunday 56.93km (kalamunda)

long – spr sunday 96.05km (kalamunda & observatory & gooseberry)

bit short on words this week and having trouble thinking about anything to have a whinge about.  life is always better on holidays.

national road race – come on down to the wembley hotel this sunday at 2pm to cheer on jonny as he sticks it to the pros in the national road race in ballarat.  more info here.

good causes – midland club is raising money for a couple of good causes, including supporting one of our members.  get behind them,  more info here.

tom’s training – tom has offered to help out any of the ladies in the club that want to get a bit more out of their riding.  more info here.

ride routes – not much to say about the ride routes this weekend. prevalent easterly, or south easterly winds will be dictating the ride routes this summer.

saturday 12th january

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

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

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 40.72km (mosman park)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 51.36km (sth lake)

sunday 13th january

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

early lap – spr earlybird ride

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

short – spr sunday 70.93km (kahuna)

long – spr sunday 97.99km (carradine & peet & observatory)