so, it looks like winter is finally here.  at least for a week or so.  it’s been a little bit wet and a little bit cold to test the resolve and commitment, but the rides continue regardless.  the inclusion (if only anecedotally) of belgium points will be a good way of using peer pressure to get people to ride in adverse conditions.  however, there are a couple of things to remember.  it is dark till almost 7am so you need lights even to get to the sat/sun rides and don’t forget your helmet.  there have been a couple of instances where people have worn a beanie to keep warm, but then forgotten to put on their helmet.

ride etiquette – with the size of the club getting bigger and the size of some of the groups also getting pretty big on a saturday, it is time for a reminder that we have a ride etiquette guide.  this is what underpins the training rides that we do at spr and as such you need to be aware of what we expect from you.  here is a link to the etiquette guide and here is a reminder of an important point – SAFETY is always the number one priority of any SPR group ride.

preston point road –i have been contacted by a journalist from the fremantle community newspaper to give some comments about the “upgrades” that have been constructed.  i have given some feedback about what it means for cyclists safety and how it affects our club.  they want to do a photo shoot on saturday morning so i am looking for some volunteers for a lap of the river after the main ride.  if we leave the coffee shop at 9:00 we can be down at preston point road by just after 10:00.  as this is a publicity opportunity, you must be wearing the current spr kit.  if you are really keen, you can do the earlybird, main ride and late loop to clock in 150km for the day.  let me know if you are intending to join me.

festival of cycling –cyclo-sportif, track cycling, spr club tent.  see the links to the right if you want to get involved on the 26th june.  looks like there will be a couple of spr cyclo-sportif teams on the day.  still looking for a couple of volunteers to spend the day with me under the spr tent trying to attract more members.

ride routes – a  couple of rides on as per normal this weekend.  sunday long ride may look short, but there are 5 climbs in quick succession to make you work for your coffee.  if it isn’t long enough, try the earlybird first. 

saturday 18th june

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 1 – spr saturday 40.72km (mosman park)

fast, main 1, 2 & 3 – spr saturday 49.38km (tv stations)

sunday 19th june

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 61.14km (welshpool & weir rd)

long – spr sunday 87.99km (welshpool & observatory & camelberg & gooseberry)

winter time.  rain, snow, cold days and dark nights.  well not if you are in perth.  yes, there have been a few cool nights but generally we get it pretty good here.  with a weekend of “mostly sunny and 20 deg” predicted it is a great time for riding.  earlybird on the weekend???  see you there for the double

festival of cycling – track cycling wa in conjunction with bwa put on this event every year.  a cyclo-sportif event around a dead-flat swan valley course followed by an afternoon of watching so full-on track racing.  there are a few ways you can get there.  firstly enter the cyclo-sportif. there is a link to the right and you can send your info through that page.  after the race you get free entry into the track event.  the second way is to buy a ticket just to see the track racing.  there is a post that toby just did with some more info on it.  third way is to help me man a tent to help promote the club.  this is free, but means you are there for the whole day.

ride routes – there is some excellent work that a small number of people do every week to keep this club running.  i am talking about the people that sacrifice their training to be a ride leader.  people like carol, ronny, mark, shaw and russell are the ones that give up their time to make sure that the groups are run in a safe manner.  these guys also need a break and occasionally would like to ride in a harder group.  i need some people to step-up and volunteer to look after a group occasionally.  if we don’t impart a bit of knowledge to the riders as they work their way through the group, then we will end up with some pretty erratic people riding really fast.  if you are looking for an easy day, or are coming back from injury then put your hand up to help out.  main 2 is well run by russell and he already has some back up for when he is not there.  main 3 the trannies and the novice group need you to help.  it doesn’t take much.  do it.

saturday 11th june

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 1 – spr saturday 39.81km (shelley & bannister)

fast, main 1, 2 & 3 – spr saturday 50.04km (hale & ridge hill)

sunday 12th june

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 90.54km (canning mills & peet & patterson)

well the long weekend snuck up on me this week.  after last week being full of continuous BAM, i was looking forward to a simplier week.  it seemed to be going along ok when the boys both developed the sniffles.  wednesday morning started with a sore throat, then BAM.  full on head cold by the end of the day.  thanks boys.  the funny thing is that even though i have had a bad run of late, i actually have had a pretty good year to date when it comes to getting sick.  i put it down to taking a generic immuno defence pill which is supposed to bolster your resilience to child-borne sickness.  well i was taking it leading up to the uci race as i didn’t want to get sick before the event and it seemed to work ok.  i actually ran out about 4 weeks ago and have been suffering since.  coincidence??? maybe.  tainted steak???  possibly.  but as alberto clembutador says “i can’t prove that it is, but you can’t prove that it isn’t”.

rug up this week.  the rain has gone, but the mornings are going to be cold.  5 deg saturday and 4 deg sunday.

ride routes – some important changes to the ride routes this week so be aware.  saturday is a new route for the main group.  i recently drove up abernathy road for the first time in a long time and it is nice smooth double lane for all except the last litte bit.  the last time i rode this stretch was pre spr and i remember having to stop and dry retch on the grass in front of the toll-ipec building after trying to stay on the front with bruce.  we will see how it goes for traffic.

the monday earlybird ride starts at the city side this week and does the usual loop of the river.  the standard monday ride is a bit too long so you won’t make it to the start of the public holiday ride.  the public holiday ride usually finishes cottesloe and then meanders past swanbourne before heading into dalkeith.  this week there are bridge works at the underpass near claremont so we need to avoid that road.  so here is what we are going to do.  after cottesloe, we continue down west coast hwy past the servo where we usually turn, and turn left at the traffic lights at eric st.  this will take us out to stirling hwy were we will turn left again.  roll down the hill and turn right at the lights to continue through dalkeith.

saturday 4th june

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 1 – spr saturday 41.73km (canning vale reverse)

fast, main 1, 2 & 3 – spr saturday 49.09km (abernathy rd)

sunday 5th june

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 61.14km (welshpool & weir rd) (follow long course to first climb)

long – spr sunday 94.36km (chookenberg & observatory & gooseberry)

monday 6th june

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 public holiday 59.35km (shelley & freo) (read notes above for route change)

crazy week just passed.  all set for the state time trial in dardanup.  been doing lots more kms on the tt rig in preparation.  one final spin on thursday morning to fire the legs up and then BAM.  hit the deck on preston point road.  few holes in my gloves, vest and knee and a bit stiff and sore but walked away relatively unscathed.  ok, still right for the time trial and BAM.  half the family down with gastro first thing saturday morning.  ok, no time trial saturday, no hills ride sunday make preparations for the coming week and BAM.  once gastro enters your house, you cannot avoid it.  monday write off.  tuesday tentatively back on the bike but feeling as weak as someone who had recently been drained of all bodily fluids.  wednesday birthday, so had the day off work and rode my bike doing repeats of the zig-zag.  hopefully i can get some structure to this week and less BAM.

preston point road – so i got an email today saying the the roadworks are pretty much finished.  no bumps or potholes just smooth road waiting for lines to be marked.  i would say for now, we will continue to keep off this section of road.  the diversion along canning hwy isn’t too bad and it still has a climb albeit longer and shallower.  the traffic is light first thing in the morning so we may just wait to see how things go.  i have heard a few rumblings that the cycling communities protests about that road have been getting through, so fingers crossed they widen it back out again.  this future development is the main reason we will avoid it for now.  i am pretty sure after the first few bike car interactions, they will get the message.  i just don’t want that to involve our group.

tour de kalamunda – this is a test event for a potential tour to be held in the future.  this year there is only a prologue and it travels up the zig-zag all the way to kalamunda.  only 7.2 km in distance, but it is climbing the whole way.  not that bad so i am going to take the time trial bike.  start list shows that i am starting 2 min behind neil manning (ex state road champ) and 2 min in front of bradley linfield (south west wunderkind).  please let me get past the zig-zag section before bradley catches me…

ride routes – on sunday both the long and short groups will need to look out for a couple of other races that are going on.  at kalamunda, the time trial up the zig-zag will mean that the zig-zag will be closed to traffic. till about 10:30am.  also there is a club race on at pickering brook, so we need to avoid the observatory hill.  go forth and ride.

saturday 28th may

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 1 – spr saturday 40.72km (mosman park)

fast, main 1, 2 & 3 – spr saturday 50.72km (rebold hill & cott)

sunday 29th may

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 92.56km (carradine & peet)

holy crap.  just looked at the forecast for this weekend and they are predicting 6 & 8 degrees in the morning.  time to grab out those long gloves and knee warmers.  might even have a chance to try out the new winter longsleeve jersey.

preston point rd – so you would have seen some of the chatter on previous posts about the “downgrades” to preston point road.  pretty much every cycling group in perth uses that stretch of road to cut a lap of the river, so why they have made it harder for cars to pass is beyond me.  i understand that pedestrians need safe access to the oval and facilities, but with some sections bordered on one side by an army barracks (with no footpath) why does the whole road need to be “developed”.  basically i see it as the city has money in its budget and it needs to be spent before the end of the financial year or they lose it.  pretty soon all roads will be single lane, square kerbs, solid dividing strip, no parking, no bike lane, 40km/hr.  it is much safer that way.

anyway, i am getting a bit off track.  once the roadworks are finished, i see no problem for groups of cyclists to use the new road from a “safe road” point of view.  from a “piss the car drivers off” point of view, there will be around 2kms  where cars will not be able to pass cyclists even if they are single file.  there is not enough room to fit a single bike and a car through the traffic “calming” devices.  however, we will get to that once the road is complete.

in the meantime, i am suggesting that we map an alternative route when doing the river ride.  this is for the earlybird sat/sun as well as the tues/thurs rides for the next couple of weeks.  once we cross the bridge and turn left onto canning hwy, we generally take the first left to climb the hill of preston point road.  from now on we will continue to go straight along canning hwy and eventually turn left at point walter road.  this will mean that we join up with the old route at the roundabout where we turn left and climb up to point walter.  canning hwy will mean negotiating three sets of traffic lights, but a couple of them are T-intersections, so hopefully the group should sail through.  the road is double lane, traffic should be light at that time, it is well lit and the road surface isn’t littered with traffic calming devices.  hopefully this all goes well.  during normal daylight hours, the roadworks are easier to see, so using preston point road shouldn’t be a problem.

basically the safety of the group is the most important.  i have been riding in perth with this group for 6 years and this morning was the first time i have actually come off.  the fact that it was poorly demarcated roadworks on a very popular stretch of cycle route, is probably the most frustrating.  we will see how the canning hwy route goes for a while and reassess in the near future.

state time trial champs – are on this saturday arvo down at dardanup.  claire, lisa, dianne and davina will be flying the flag for spr in the women’s division. stu, jason, shane, jono and myself will be tackling the men’s section.  jono is the only one having to do the longer course as the rest of us are either old, or female.  anyway, good luck to everyone…and i hope i don’t get chicked again this year.

ride routes – after coping some flak for putting a “hill” in the saturday ride route for the last couple of weeks, we will be doing sth lake instead.  this also augers well with the prevailing winds which mean that you should get a tailwind home.  the transitional group will be making up for the softness of the main/fast by doing rebold hill.  don’t forget to avoid the roadworks at preston point during the earlybirds.

saturday 21st may

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 1 – spr saturday 40.86km (rebold hill)

fast, main 1, 2 & 3 – spr saturday 51.36km (sth lake)

sunday 22nd may

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 94.64km (kahuna & canning mills)

spr has been all around the world this year.  paul_o went to watch the tour of flanders, declan watched roubaix, julian almost got to see liege, and now paul_o is back watching the giro.  on top of this, davina was racing in a bunch of top women’s events across europe.  closer to home we have had pretty good representation in the perth based events, especially at the uci masters race.  it’s good to see the members out and about in the cycling world.

black armband saturday – northern districts club has started this initiative in memory of all cyclist that have been taken from us in recent times.  this has been spurred on by the loss of wouter weylandt and young aussie, shamus liptrot.  however, even closer to home it wasn’t that long ago that south west club lost darren strudwick to an accident on his way home.  we have been pretty lucky and i would like to keep it this way for a long time.  show your support for this by wearing a black armband on your left arm on saturday at the ride.  i know this is hard as our sleeves are black, but a strip of insulation tape around the arm will show your respects.  bring some extra tape if you have any so that others can join in.  see here for extra details.

members benefit – as you may have seen we have now included strava into the members benefits.  this allows those with a garmin to upload their rides to a leaderboard to see who is actually the quickest up the hills.  i am just dreading the day that bonner decides to logon to strava as then all the records will tumble.

ride routes – last week the transitional group had to finish their ride into a headwind along mounts bay road.  this week they will get the benefit of a tailwind along benara road while the rest of us will tackle the headwind home.  oh, and we also get to do ewen st.  on sunday, the long course will take on campersic rd up to brigadoon.  if you remember last time we did this one, that there is no water, or shops or toilets up this way so you need to be self sufficient.  i will see if we can find a tap once we get back down to the bottom.  just be aware.  the route is also a bit convoluted, so if you have a garmin, it is worth loading the course into it.

saturday 14th may

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 1 – spr saturday 39.04km (benara rd)

fast, main 1, 2 & 3 – spr saturday 50.23km (ewen st)

sunday 15th may

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 104.03km (campersic & kalamunda)