my lack of “love for the bike” was cured somewhat over the weekend.  we had a few teams down at pinjarra for the state team time trial, so i rode down the freeway bike path to say hello, grab a bacon & egg toastie with coke, and then ride back home.  it was either going to make me or break me (as 167kms of solo riding will do) but i have been on the bike a further 3 times since then, so i guess that i haven’t been broken yet.

ride safety – there has been a lot of feedback on the blog and people have been sending me emails on this issue.  however, most of the suggestions all seem to hinge around an increase of supervision.  i agree, however, people need to sacrifice their own ride to look after the groups.  you want the group to be safer, so you need to help out.  there are up to 8 groups every saturday and i can’t look after all of them.  there are regular ride leaders that sacrifice their own time to look after the groups, so i am sure that a number of you can take a week off from smashing it on the front, to look after a group.

so one little tip to help keep the groups safe.  if you are on the front of the group, with clear road in front of you, there is NO REASON to brake or stop pedalling.  if you don’t want to be at the front any more, accelerate and move over to the right and wave the group through.  the same goes for roll throughs.  if you are struggling in the faster line, don’t just stop pedalling when you get to the slower line.  you must maintain a pace.  if you feel like you can’t then don’t and pull out of the roll through BEFORE you get to the front.

dirty sunday – sunday 28th of october will be our “come and try” mountain biking day.  scott will put up a post soon but the idea is to take a group out to the hills and swap the skinny tyres for the fat ones.  also keep your eyes on the blog for a “come and try” track day out at the velodrome.

kings of wanneroo – our main race event this year will be held out at wanneroo on the totally closed race track as part of the motorbike “kings of wanneroo” weekend.  there is more info here but we will have masters races on saturday and graded open races on sunday.  we will be running the event with the rccc but we really need to promote these races to take advantage of the opportunity that we have been given.

ride routes – alex drive for the main group on saturday.  there are nice long stretches where you can practice your roll throughs.  just remember, stay out of the gutter.  we can ride 2 abreast in the lane we are in.  most crashes happen down the line when people have nowhere to go, so make sure everyone has room to move.

saturday 13th 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 41.18km (reverse river ride)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 50.18km (alexander drive)

sunday 14th 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 66.71km (greenmount & gooseberry)

long – spr sunday 95.04km (greenmount & parkerville & mundaring weir)

school holidays, a week off work, weather not too bad, what’s missing???  actually any other time i would be smashing out hundreds of kms this week, but i am still in a bit of a funk when it comes to cycling.  i am actually spending more time in the garage restoring an old clunker to ride around than i am in the saddle of my proper road bike.  not sure where the love has gone, but it is hard to love something that hurts so much at the moment.  so my alternative is to try to live through my 6 year old and his biking exploits.  i have put an old garmin on his bike now so he has his own strava account to keep track of things.  just need to purchase a hr strap that fits him to complete the picture.  oh, and strava keeps telling me to “enter a valid weight” when i try to put in his body weight at 19kgs.  we took a ride down to the southside bmx track the other day and he did about 12 laps, including 3 stacks where he didn’t go fast enough to get up the jumps and rolled backwards.  he hit the deck, was in tears, but still managed to worry about his “beautiful bike”.  when it was suggested that we head home, he just wanted to do more laps.

state team time trial – good luck to the spr teams competing down in pinjarra this weekend.  there are 3 teams that i know of, so good luck and see if you can bring home some medals.

focus group – the kids ride is on this weekend as it is the first saturday of the month.  feel free to bring your own kids (about under 10 yrs old) along for a ride to the causeway and back.

ride routes – there is still lots of issues with some of the groups and their attempts at roll throughs.  it is important for people to get more exposure to it so that they can get better at it, but lately the experience they are getting is not particularly good.  my suggestion this week is to not roll through until the ride gets to west coast highway.  since it is after ewan st, the size of the groups should be whittled down somewhat which makes rolling through easier.  up until that point just ride two abreast with both riders pulling off to the right when changing.

saturday 6th 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 40.86km (rebold hill)

fast & main groups – spr saturday 50.23km (ewen st)

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

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

sunday 7th 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 –  follow long course out to the kalamunda climb

long – spr sunday 90.10km (kalamunda & chookenberg & observatory)

so i thought that after the water tower challenge was over, things would settle down a bit, but no.  not a chance.  this week has been just as hectic as the last.  work has been over the top, bike riding has been crap and there is the looming sickness on the horizon.  kate has lost her voice for most of this week, and while this has it’s benefits, it also means a potential for the next round of colds to flow through the house.  probably next week, when i have the week off work.

stu, i have this posted before home and away this week.

state team time trial – this is on next weekend and there are people on the hunt for teams.  see the previous blog post here and add to the comments if you want to play.

water tower challenge – thanks to all those that took part and especially to those that volunteered.  besides gnangara rd, everything else seemed to go well.  thank you also for the feedback as it gives us an idea of how we can improve it to make it bigger next year.

ride to conquer cancer – there are a few people in the club doing this event mid october for various reasons.  get on board and help them out with a donation.  more info here and here.

cycling wa agm – this is coming up at the end of october.  if you want to see behind the scenes of cycling wa, come along.  there is a members forum afterwards if you want to ask any questions.  more info here.

ride routes – public holiday ride this weekend but we will split into a fast/main1 and a main2/3/trans group to minimise out impact on the road.

saturday 29th september

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 50.47km (south st)

sunday 30th september

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 97.99km (carradine & peet & observatory)

monday 1st october

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

fast/main – spr public holiday 59.35km (shelley & freo)

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

what a horrible week.  work has just been totally flat out.  riding has involved getting totally soaked.  water tower challenge is looming and i want to make sure it is a good day for those participating.  everything in the same week.  so far we have about 40 riders registered for the event and surprisingly, most are in the imperial challenge.  there are some finishing touches that i need to organise (buy some drink, print out final start lists, email participants with instructions), but it is getting there.  thanks to all those that have volunteered and to those that have entered.

ride etiquette – there has been a lot of talk lately about the way some people are riding in the group and the effects that it is having on the safety and organisation of our rides.  firstly there have been a number of minor crashes or near misses where people have not been rolling through correctly.  the key is consistent speed, no surging.  also, if you are on the front, unless there is an emergency, there is no reason for you to stop pedaling or hit the brakes.  we have a ride etiquette guide and i suggest that a lot of people (old and new riders to the group) need to review it.  at the other end of the spectrum, there are experienced and strong riders that are blowing apart other organised rides for their own benefit.  certain rides have a following because people know what to expect.  thursday ride is fast, but this doesn’t mean that every other ride you do as part of the group needs to be at the same speed.  i will look at putting together a “rules of engagement” for the rides that we have.  this will cover things like expected speed, when the fast points are, when the regroups are, etc.  if you go back to the etiquette guide you will see that riding on one of our training rides means that you ride as a group and look out for one another.  certain roads we ride on are safer if we stick together rather than being strung out.  have a think about what you are doing to the group as a whole.

water tower challenge – registrations close tonight for the water tower challenge.  the event page is up and running and more info can be found there.  this event is aimed at challenging any riders in our club.  get a team together and register now.

body genius presentation – this week after the saturday ride there will be a special presentation at the cafe by steve from body genius. he has been helping jen for a while now so they have organised a presentation so our members can see what is on offer.  please hang around after the ride to listen to the presentation and ask any questions of steve.  to allow time for people to get in from their rides and have a coffee, the presentation will start at 9:30.  please hang around if you can to hear what steve has to say as you may just find some value in it to improve your cycling.

ride routes – there is a sunday hills ride on this week, but you really should be doing the water tower challenge.  the short and long course will both head out to gooseberry together and then split from there.

saturday 22nd september

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 51.07km (morley drive)

sunday 23rd september

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 –  follow the long course to do gooseberry

long – spr sunday 85.76km (gooseberry & kalamunda & bickley)

so last saturday a mate of mine from work (he sits in the next office) was out riding with the canning vale cycling group (formally cyclebuzz).  he hasn’t been riding long and i have been trying to get him out with us, but he lives closer to that group.  anyway, they are coming through shelley and taking that last sweeping turn before the end when a totally freak accident happens.  if you remember last saturday ride, it was quite windy (we did abernathy), and as they passed under some trees, a branch blew out and went straight through his front wheel.  now you can see the damage and even though this wasn’t the “fast” group, they would have been setting a decent pace.  his wheel instantly disappeared from under him and he went straight into the road.  i won’t post the pics on here, but it looked like his face took the brunt of the impact.  a broken nose, 11 stitches in his face and lots and lots of road rash.  basically i can’t see him shaving for a while and he is still not back at work. anyway, this is a freak accident and there is not much you can do about it.  this morning, however, on the thursday main group ride, there was an accident where kizzi came down pretty hard.  we were rolling through on burke drive and suddenly the left line slowed dramatically.  by the time this motion reached 15 bikes back, there was no room to move and she hit the deck.  now i was in the middle so didn’t see exactly what happened, but it was either of two things.  we were coming up to a slow rider on the road and instead of overtaking, the left lane just slowed, or after rolling through, someone died and just stopped pedaling.  either way, the actions of someone at the front of the group caused an accident at the back.  when you are riding in a group, you must be aware of what the entire group is doing.  going too fast or too slow or too erratic is going to cause accidents.  don’t be the reason why we have to call an ambulance.  there is no shame in having to pull out of a roll through.  it is better to drop to the back and sit on then try to be a hero and disrupt the flow.

water tower volunteers – we need a few more volunteers for our water tower challenge to enable it to run properly.  please sign up on the volunteer page if you can help out.  it is not very strenuous, mostly sitting around waiting for teams to arrive, then handing out food and checking them off the list.

water tower challenge – the event page is up and running and registration is open.  more info on the event page but this event is aimed at challenging any riders in our club.  get a team together and register now.

body genius presentation – next week after the saturday ride (22nd) there will be a special presentation at the cafe by steve from body genius. he has been helping jen for a while now so they have organised a presentation so our members can see what is on offer.  please hang around after the ride to listen to the presentation and ask any questions of steve.

ride routes – last chance training before the water tower challenge, especially for those doing the imperial challenge.  make hay while the sun shines.

saturday 15th september

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 41.18km (reverse river ride)

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

sunday 16th september

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 the long course to welshpool

long – spr sunday 101.86km (welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda)