so i had an unpleasant experience on the bike last sunday.  i was coming up mundaring weir road that last pinch up to kalamunda when a white mini cooper (number plate KM-2550) pulls up beside me.  i was on my own (dropped by the group) and there was no other traffic around.  the car drove besides me for a few seconds before pulling forward.  i gave a “what the” gesture as i was practically in the gutter and so wasn’t holding them up at all.  the car slowed again and the passenger window rolled down.  ok, this is not looking good so i jumped up on the footpath to keep out of their way.  a middle-aged woman was driving and she yelled out “are you from around here? no, then get the f_ck off my road.”  i was so shocked that i didn’t really have time to think and so just yelled back at her.  she started crapping on about cyclists that come and restrict her driving on her roads so we should just f_ck off.  then her husband beside her started on about registration and how i didn’t pay any for my bike so i don’t have any rights on the road.  sorry, but the WA road laws do beg to differ on this point, but how do you explain that during a shouting match.  so this went on for a bit while i was still riding up the hill and i look back and there is about 4 cars banked up behind her and they can’t get passed.  so, me being a cyclist and holding her up has now made her hold up about 4 other cars.  i guess that is my fault too.  anyway, after a stream of obscenities from both sides she eventually drives off.  now i have been riding in perth for 8 years and have been abused pretty much on a daily basis.  it is usually the 20-30 year old male that hurls abuse (or projectiles) and drives off.  this is the first time that i have really been targeted and effectively bullied for riding my bike.  i wasn’t holding her up but she just wanted to vent on any cyclist that she could because it was her right to be on the road.  although we can’t change the redneck views of road usage, we can make sure that we do our part to minimise our impact on other road users.  i try to map ride routes that take in double lane roads as that makes it easy for cars to get passed.  on single lane roads, we must look at whether we need to go single file and make that call.  this is also the reason why we try to reduce the group sizes and split the groups.  what we do does effect how we are treated so be aware of other road users no matter how ignorant they are.

track day – don’t forget to register if you are coming to our come and try track day.  more info here.  it is on the 25th so not far away now.

christmas breakfast and ride – the 15th dec will be our christmas breakfast held at DOME after the saturday ride.  our christmas dress-up ride will be on the 22nd (i.e. the last saturday before christmas).  more info here.

criterium series – we will be holding our criterium race series again with the rccc.  so far the dates are 09/12, 16/12, 26/01 australia day criterium, 10/02, 24/02, 10/03.  these will be held on the tech park circuit and we will need volunteers to run these events.  however we will also need people to race across all grades, so get training.

strava challenge – for those on strava, there is a challenge started that is set just in perth.  it is for the tour down under and they have selected a number of climbs in each capital city.  ours is welshpool rd and as such our sunday ride for the next few weeks will be heading up welshpool rd.  it will be the first climb of the sunday hills ride, so your legs should be fresh which should give you a good time.  have a look at the challenge here so you know where the segment starts and finishes.

ride routes – looks like a strong hot easterly for saturday so we will tackle benara rd.  there has been a request for nice roads for roll throughs for the transitional group, so shelley and benara it is.

saturday 17th november

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 39.81km (shelley & bannister)

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

sunday 18th november

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 101.86km (welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda)

melbourne cup, usa elections, $100M lotto draw.  not really that much happening this week….well anything that has a impact on the bike world (however, $100M lotto win would certainly affect my bike world).  i am just tired.  after missing both rides last weekend while out at the kings of wanneroo, i decided that i will ride everyday this week.  4 down and 3 to go, but it is killing me at work.  i just want to sleep all day, but yet i have to try to stay awake in meetings that are putting me to sleep.  as for the elections, the king of perth has been crowned.

track day – don’t forget to register if you are coming to our come and try track day.  more info here.

ride routes – there has been a request for a main 3 saturday hills ride…so there is one this week.

saturday 10th november

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 40.86km (rebold hill)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 50.72km (rebold hill & cott)

main 3 hills ride – spr sunday 52.25 (welshpool)

sunday 11th november

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 63.49km (gooseberry & kalamuda)

long – spr sunday 100.45km (darlington & mundaring)

a day trip to the pilbara for me today.  nice civilized 8:30am flight with a nice 4:00pm return. unfortunately, with the 1 hour drive each way after we get there, there was only 2 1/4 hours left to have a meeting.  as such i have come home with a splitting headache and no ability to verbalise a rant about anything.  so here is a picture of arnie on a bike.

kings of wanneroo – racing this weekend and we have close to 140 riders over the 2 days.  thanks to all those that have volunteered and all those that are racing.  spr will have a pretty big presence across all grades.  the first race starts at 8am, so make sure you get out there early enough to help setup or warm-up if you are racing.

focus group – kids ride this weekend so meet behind the boatshed cafe if you want to join in.

ride routes – there will be quite a few people away this weekend as they will be organising or racing at barbagallo.  make sure you know the ride routes as you may be asked to help out.

saturday 3rd november

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 49.09km (abernathy rd)

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

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

sunday 4th november

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)

so the 2013 tour route was unveiled this week and all the big names are commenting on this 100th edition.  the interesting talk is to whether wiggo will defend as he is saying that there may not be enough tt in it for his liking. froome says he is ready to lead sky, so maybe we see the superteam implode before a pedal is turned in anger.  i can only hope so as this years tour was dead boring…maybe it needs more drugs.  and speaking of that, what is it with all the spanish guys supporting lance.  indurain, valverde and contador have all come out and crapped on about the lack of evidence.  sounds like there could have been some spanish steak to go along with the texas steak at the last bbq.  regardless of the drug scandal, i do remember enjoying watching the tours that armstrong won.  they were more exciting, even if they were all juiced up.  at least the drug testing put some limitations on how juiced up they could be so it kind of levelled the playing field amongst the cheats.  i hope for a clean tour this year, but at the end of the day, i just want to be entertained.  a clean schleck, contador, evans and wiggo all in peak form may be fun to watch.  i hope so, anyway.

gloves & booties – the gloves have arrived and so we will be doing a distribution at the coffee shop after the saturday ride.  any of the gloves, booties, t-shirts or bottles ordered can be collected on the day.

dirty sunday – our mountain bike come and try day will be held this sunday.  if you have a mountain bike and want to give the dirt a try check out the previous post here and add your name to the comments.

kings of wanneroo – we are holding a race with the RCCC at barbagello raceway on the 3rd and 4th of november.  held as part of the motobike “kings of wanneroo” we will have age grouped masters races on the saturday and graded open races on sunday.  more info can be found here. we would like everyone to promote this event as much as possible.  actually we would like as many of you as possible to come and race as well.  hands up all those that have ridden a push bike on the waneroo track???  this is an opportunity not to be missed and you need to make sure it gets widely known.  go to the link above and download the pdf and email it to all the cyclists you know.

track riding – we also have a come and try day for the track coming up in late november.  check out the previous post here and register if you want to give it a go.  the cost covers hiring a bike as well as hiring the venue and a couple of coaches to make sure you are doing it right.  track riding can be lots of fun once you get over the initial fright of how steep the banking is.  lots of our top level aussie cyclists started out on the velodrome and all say that it helped their technique.

atta time trials – you may have also seen a rather obscure post about time trialling.  not all time trialers end up like nick, so don’t let that put you off.  there are, however, lots of club members that give the atta’s a go and the events are very easy going and friendly.  all abilities have a go at these events as they are as much about a personal achievement than beating others.  if you think that road racing is not really for you, but would like to test yourself, then time trialling could be your thing.  you don’t even need a special tt bike as there are many that are riding normal bikes (or even a penny farthing).

ride routes – nothing too strenuous on the ride routes this week.  just get out and ride and look after one another.

saturday 27th october

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 42.94km (freo & cott)

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

sunday 28th october

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)

so the news world has found out about cycling this week and for all the wrong reasons.  lots of my non-cycling work colleagues have been asking me about drugs in cycling and how can it have happened and why don’t they just let everyone on it and do they take it at my level in the sport etc, etc.  i am kind of in a “whatever” mode over the whole lance thing.  he will continue to deny everything and as such there will always be a shadow of doubt.  what will it do for cycling???  well for those that are already cycling, i doubt that they will hang up the bike.  lance has not been and inspiration for many people lately (especially after doing triathlons in just speedos) and there is a new crop of cycling drug takers superstars to inspire new riders.  the biggest shock was the admission that an aussie cyclist had taken drugs.  really???  was this such a big shock???  matt white was on the us postal team that was chocked full of …. ahem, talent, and it was really competitive to get on the tour team.  you are riding in a pro team, on the same team as the previous winner, and you can get a chance to ride in the tour on a winning team.  not really that much of a stretch.  so will either lance or matt white stop people from taking up cycling???  i don’t think so as most people feel quite distanced from the upper echelon of any sport especially when they are starting out.  i think that it is pointless to hope that this is the end of it and there are definitely others out there.  if you have a good team budget, you can probably stay ahead of the game and not get caught (for a while).  i also love the term “glo-time”.

gloves & booties – the gloves have arrived and so we will be doing a distribution at the coffee shop after the saturday ride.  any of the gloves, booties, t-shirts or bottles ordered can be collected on the day.

kings of wanneroo – we are holding a race with the RCCC at barbagello raceway on the 3rd and 4th of november.  held as part of the motobike “kings of wanneroo” we will have age grouped masters races on the saturday and graded open races on sunday.  more info can be found here.

dirty sunday – our mountain bike come and try day will be held on the 28th october.  if you have a mountain bike and want to give the dirt a try check out the previous post here and add your name to the comments.

track day – in november we are also looking at putting on a come and try the track afternoon out at the velodrome.  keep an eye out for more info.

ride routes – some interesting comments after my little main 1 apartheid experiment last week.  am wondering how many spr kits we will see this week on the saturday ride.  comments from both groups is that it went well.  don’t be afraid to speak up.  a quite word now sure beats a word to the ambulance operator later.

saturday 20th october

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 49.69km (holmes rd)

NOTE: change to the fast/main course.  due to the ride to conquer cancer leaving from south perth near the causeway, we will reroute our ride.  it will be similar to the sunday rides when we head out to welshpool rd.  from mill pt rd, right onto douglas, follow this past the uni, left onto marquis, follow this till you cross shep rd, right onto swansea, left onto welshpool.

sunday 21st october

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 96.36km (patterson & canns & urch)