okay. bye-bye 2010 and here’s to the first few rides of 2011. make sure you bring lots of spares on the saturday ride as both new years and aussie day seem to bring out the best in peoples glass smashing abilities.
saturday morning rides – i have posted an “expression of interest” for those that may want to add a few km’s to their weekly total. a saturday morning 5:30am lap of the river before the normal 7:00am ride. add your comments to the previous blog if you are interested. although this saturday is new years day and some people may be still drunk, this applies to any saturday, even in the middle of winter.
earlybird membership – don’t forget that you have till the end of 2010 to renew or join as a spr members in order to go into the draw for the prize. kindly donated by shaw at netplus micro computers, it consists of a HD media player and 500Gb hard drive to allow you to play downloaded movies (all legal of course) on your normal tv.
ride routes – another public holiday this weekend, however, some people haven’t actually been back at work yet. regardless, we will still run a monday ride as per normal, with maybe even a 5:30am lap for those that are interested. however, next week is forecast to be a scorcher with 4 days (currently) of 40 deg. ahh, so many memories of living up in the pilbara where it may not drop below 40 deg during the day for 6 weeks straight. no sea breeze either, so it dropped to an overnight “low” of 35 deg. good times. hot weather and only three sealed roads to ride on.
saturday 1st january – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
after the success of the tuesday morning double, i am toying with the idea of setting up a 5:30am start under the narrows for those that want some extra km’s on saturday morning. taking the same route as the tuesday morning ride, this will aim to finish at coode st before 7:00am where we can then kick off with the normal saturday morning rides. no guarantee that i will be there every week, but just looking to see if it is worth setting up. this way you can get an extra 50km’s without having to get home late. comments please.
hot. hot and windy. hot, windy and hills. the three things that make cycling so much fun. i was lying in bed last night listening to the wind thinking that it was going to be a hard ride today. a few others may have thought the same and bloused it as there were only seven starters this morning. actually i think there was 10, but a couple left to do a river ride instead when they saw that there was no peloton to hide in today.
so we set out towards orong road and into the blustery easterly. it wasn’t the constant wind that you can deal with, but a very gusty, turbulent wind that meant it was hard to keep a straight wheel. once we hit orong road and welshpool, it got worse. as the building started to thin out a bit, the wind picked up. not only that, it turned many of the areas into a free sandblasting service. i wasn’t worried about the paint stripping of my bike, but more worried about the flesh being stripped from my bones.
even breathing was a problem. you keep your mouth shut to stop the dirt, bugs, small marsupials from being blown into your mouth, but it is coming past your head so fast, it is hard to breath through your nose. the compromise is to rinse your mouth out every now and then before a sandpit builds up in there.
the closer we got to the hill, the worse it got. at one stage i looked at the bike computer and we were doing 20km/hr and i was pushing 400 watts to be able to maintain that.
the hill started and mike, stu, jamie and john took off. jason and nick were somewhere off the back of them and nathan and i were bringing up the rear. not my normal position for a sunday morning, but realistically, my normal position has been not on the bike. i can’t actually remember the last hills ride i was on. this was going to hurt.
there were no surges and no attacks from me today, as i was just trying to get to the end. nathan and i caught jason and nick and formed a little quartet to tackle the rest of the climb up lesmurdie road. the other 4 had clearly gone ahead and were out of sight before we turned. however, a couple of twists later, i saw mike just up ahead. i thought that they may have waited for us to make sure we went the right way, but actually they stopped to extract a stick that had become embedded in john’s shin. there was lots of debris on the road this morning and the edges were pretty much full of all kinds of tree products, from little twigs to branches. there also seemed to be lots of different roadkill, rats, possums, foxes and blue tongues.
we kept on riding and had the top 4 in sight until the end. not sure on the finishing order as no-one was really keeping track today. jason decided to leave us there and the rest of us took the descent down lawnbrook. along the way greg jumped on board to join us for the remainder of the ride. again there was lots of debris on the road and mike said he almost had a “snuggles” moment when he hit a gumnut.
up the other side and you quickly go from 60km/hr to 10km/hr as the hill pitches up at 15%. tempos were set and everyone fell into the same routine as the last climb. nathan and i bringing up the rear until about halfway up the climb when we caught nick and greg. the same top four as last time were well and truly up the road and out of sight. well actually, by the time we could see the finishline up ahead, stu and mike had turned around to ride back up again with us. i remember when i used to be able to do that. sniff, sigh.
a decision was made and nick, nathan and i would forgo the camelberg and just go straight to coffee. when we hit mundaring weir road, those that wanted and extra climb went right, while the rest headed left. with a tailwind for a change, it could have been the opportunity for a pb on this climb, but that generally assumes that you have some form leading into it. not in my camp. it was just another climb for me today, but like the others, i was trying to stick to a set power output and adjust my riding to suit. this generally meant that you are on the gears a lot more as you need to make sure you don’t go too hard or too easy. the easiest place to “lose” it was when the road flattened a bit and you suddenly found it too easy. you really need to get the bike moving in order to keep the power up.
so i made it to the top and found that all the coffee shops were closed. nathan headed to his parents place in the hills and nick and i grabbed a drink at the servo and then waited for the others to arrive. with the wind the way it was, it was decided that welshpool may be a bit hairy for a descent today and we opted for the zig-zag instead. from there, greg and jamie headed back towards welshpool via hale rd while the rest of us used the tailwind to get home fast via guilford road.
twas a good ride, though quite painful for me after such a long time away from the hills. public holiday ride tomorrow (i won’t be there so organise yourself) but i am trying to do the 2 laps on tuesday morning. see you there.
don’t forget that you have till the end of 2010 to renew or join as a spr members in order to go into the draw for the prize.
kindly donated by shaw at netplus micro computers, it consists of a HD media player and 500Gb hard drive to allow you to play downloaded movies (all legal of course) on your normal tv. no more huddling around a laptop all trying to watch at the same time.
so far we have about 30 renewals and 30 new members from the 1st of october onwards.
if you haven’t done it yet, what are you waiting for, joining or renewal info is here…probably better do mine as well.
also, don’t forget about the members benefit program which can give you discounts for bike stuff in perth.
only a couple of days till christmas so i hope you have your shopping done. i haven’t finished yet, but i work in the city, so just have to wander half a block into the mall and try to negotiate all the thousands of slow walking, supre dressed, school kids with nothing better to do. keeping it brief this week, as not much on but christmas. stay safe.
ride routes – there will be an unofficial ride this saturday for all those that do not have to watch kids open presents first thing in the morning. just a basic lap of the river, but depending on who turns up, i guess you guys can work out where you want to go. on sunday, we will do a hills ride for those that aren’t boxing up the presents that they don’t want. monday will be the official public holiday ride on the standard route. tuesday, being a public holiday, will also be a public holiday ride, but we will run the normal tuesday 5:30am ride from the narrows. the option then exists to finish that ride at coode st and roll straight onto the public holiday ride.
saturday 25th december – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
a number of you have heard/seen what happened on the bike path near the narrows on thursday morning. i know that john phillips tried to take a photo of the what happened, but the police told him to move on.
anyway, it was lucky that no-one was killed as the car left the freeway, speared through the fence and onto the bike path. mark stupart managed to get a snap of the incident. there are enough dangers on the bike path everyday (dogs, random pedestrians, oncoming 2 abreast riders), now we need to be wary of oncoming car drivers.
a week and a bit till christmas. where has the year gone. i will write up a year in review some time…when i get the time but here is a sample: how another year has changed the club in so many ways. at the end of last year we had about 57 members, now we are just short of 200. i remember in january we first split into multiple groups with novice, transitional, intermediate and advanced. now we have had to split a couple of those groups in half as well. who know what things will look like at the end of 2011. the club has developed for a number of reasons but i see it primarily due to our inclusiveness (novices to a grade racers), our organisation (not turning up asking “where are we riding today”), our focus on safety (or putting ourselves in danger) and our social interaction. we hope to continue these aspects to our club into the new year and beyond, but this year we may also be involved with a lot more organisation of events. our collaboration with the rccc has been very successful and we will look to build on this in the coming year to provide a lot more opportunities for our members that want to race. for those that don’t want to race, but still want to be challenged, we will look at running some more events like the 200km challenge we held this year.
blog posts – been a bit light on as far as ride and race reports are concerned lately. we pride ourselves on having a very up to date website so that we let everyone know what we are up to. there are lots that have done it before and still have access, so no excuses. also, there was a race on last sunday where a whole bunch of spr riders were involved, and there hasn’t been a squeek…yet. if you need access to write a blog, let send me and email and we can organise it.
spr kit – we finally signed our last sponsor for the kit and will get the order underway very soon. the new design ins on the website and can be found here. prices are as marked, but as previously stated, if you already have an item, you may be able to get a replacement one for a reduced price. i.e. if you have 7 spr jerseys, you can get 1 for the reduced price and as many as you like for the full price. we will let you know when orders open and the final list will be sent through to cannibal in the first week of january.
crits – the running of the second race in the crit series with the rccc was a success with were over 100 riders taking part across all grades. no excuse for you not to be having a go at the next event which will be a “twilight” race starting at 3pm on saturday 8th jan. it was a good turn out by the spr crew but not without incident. the bigger field means more people are vying for success and unfortunately jen had a crash in c grade and ndcc nic came off in b grade. jen snapped his collarbone but has since had it pinned while nic slowed himself down with his face and needed a few stitches. we wish these guys a speedy recovery.
ride routes – t’was the last ride before christmas and all through the streets, lots of spr riders were clicking in their cleats. anyway, this is the christmas ride so you are encouraged to dress the part. whether it be a full santa suit or a bit of tinsel on the bike, it is all about looking like christmas. we will split the groups as usual, but make the ride whatever you want it to be. sprinting santa’s or just a nice easy cruise around the river.
saturday 18th december – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
only a couple of weeks till christmas and as it falls on a saturday this year, there will be no scheduled ride. at this stage, we will run a hills ride on boxing day (sunday) for those allowed out (or forced out due to everyone getting sick of them). monday will be the public holiday ride and tuesday will have the normal 5:30am river loop.
so, as there is no ride on christmas, the previous weekend (18th) will be the christmas ride. for those of you that haven’t been on this before, dressing up is encouraged. whether it be a bit of tinsel on the bike, reindeer antlers on the helmet, or a full santa suit, it is up to you. style points awarded for creativity, but no real prizes except the love and adoration of your peers. still haven’t decided on the route as the group size really inhibits things now. we used to go through the city, but roadworks and so many traffic lights make that not so much fun. i will try to map something out for maximum festive exposure.
crit series –race 2 of the crit series that we are running with the rccc is on this sunday. it was a big success last time so we are looking at building on this. there were some from our club racing for the first time, so hopefully they will be back for more. the volunteer roster has been posted, but if you want to help out we can find something for you to do on the day, even if it is just relieving people for an hour or so. come down and have a race. short, safe circuit. day licences available for those without a race licence.
ride routes –for some reason the maps are not loading through from mapmyride. if this is still happening as we head towards the weekend, there is a separate link that you can access them through. damn technology. put on the earth to make things easier so we get reliant on it, then they take it away to make us look foolish.
saturday 11th december – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
i actually haven’t done a write up for a while now, so a big thanks to those that have been “picking up the pen” on behalf of the club. this will be a bit different as i didn’t actually get to throw my leg over a bike at all over the weekend.
saturday started at the usual time, but instead of jumping into the bike gear, i jumped into the shower instead. as i got out kate was up and peering out the window as some ute driving ferals had parked out the front and were making a racket. so inconsiderate at 6:30 in the morning to be getting bikes and stuff out of the tray of the ute. they looked like dodgy characters too, all dressed in lycra.
anyway, i was on bread and ice duty so i zoomed off to coode st to kick things off for the troops. a decent turn out but very few in the fast group again, as there were some racing the next day in the cyclemania classic (we got a couple of podiums, so i am expecting a couple of write ups on the blog). the transitionals were sticking together as one big group today, so mark took a couple of newbies out on the development ride. he grabbed the juniors to make it a bigger group, so they could practice some group riding skills. everyone was away, so i headed on my errands.
six loafs of bread from brumbys and four bags of ice were quickly grabbed (and paid for) and i was home again. by the time i got there, sato and shun had arrived and kate had set them to work. sato was banished to the bbq where he was to stay for the duration, resplendent in the stripy apron. shun was on setup duties with me which generally involved heavy lifting. kate had spent the previous day cutting up fruit for the salad so there wasn’t a lot of prep in the morning before cooking started. the extended menu today was bacon and egg spr-muffins, sausage in bread, fruit salad, and then whatever lorraine had baked the previous day, in this case brownies, muffins, banana bread and carrot cake.
sato was given 3kg of bacon to cook so that lorraine, kate and nicole could start building muffins. pretty soon the place was buzzing. shun and i moved furniture and put up the tent (with a little help) and generally tried to stay out of the cooks way. sato moved onto the sausages and onion so pretty soon the place smelled like a southern deep fried bar and grill.
the hordes arrived and we started packing bikes into the garage – check out services from www.chicagogaragedoor.com/arlington-heights-il-garage-door-services. i think we ended up with about 70 or so people, so not the biggest turn out, but really our place can’t support much more than that. the nicer weather meant that cold drinks took preference over hot ones and so we skipped on the hot choc this time. however, there was enough variety for all to enjoy something. jody had turned up early to help out and this turned into a bonus for her as she got the lucky ticket with no number. ben wasn’t happy as there was no number for him to read out, but jody was happy as she walked away with a pair or oakley sunglasses. this is not the first time that she has picked up the major prize at a spr raffle. no wonder brendan brings her along.
we also tried to acknowledge some of the other people that help in the running of the club and had some small gifts for the committee for their work this year. toby has done an exceptional job at getting the club involved in the racing side of things and has been the catalyst for getting some riders to race for the first time. we got him a special gift to show that we appreciate his efforts.
mike bonner also had his efforts in the hills acknowledged as he had accumulated the most hills points over the last year to take out the inaugural prize. yas for the bike clinic donated a polka dot messenger bag made by timbuktu.
i didn’t escape unscathed and it seems that the committee had snuck around behind my back to do a whip around for a gift. as of tomorrow my car will be sporting “rouleur1” number plates. i will just have to save up for a green paint job to match.
so thanks to all of you that have made it a very successful year for the rouleurs. thanks to bec halliday as well for the kind words at the breakfast and good luck with the move over east. as i have pointed out, our membership numbers now sit at 193. we were aiming for 150 members this year and 200 next year, so i think we have a good chance of aiming even higher. we have assisted in putting on a few race events as well this year which is a great step to say that our club is not a race focused club and have only been around a couple of years. the annual family day was also a success, thanks to a crazy clown that kept the kids and adults entertained. we also ran a 200km challenge which we will do again in 2011. it was a challenge for some, that didn’t involve racing or thousands of other people, so it had a more comfortable feel to it.
basically, we are trying to provide for the club and give it what it wants in the future. not everyone want to race, so we need to look at what we can do for our members, after all that is who we are there for. hope you have a good and safe christmas.
