All posts by peter

water tower challenge – 23rd sept

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water tower number 6 on the challenge

save the date.  sunday 23rd september 2012.

this will be our inaugural water tower challenge event open to any wa club member with at least a recreational licence. there will be two challenges offered a “metric century” and an “imperial century”.  both courses will traverse perth and visit a number of water towers in the area.  “why the water towers” you ask?  well, they are usually on top of hills, so it makes it a bit more of a challenge.  however, we are not going out to the hills, so the climbs aren’t much more that what we do on a saturday morning ride.

the format will be similar to the dams ride with teams of three sticking together for the entire ride.  teams will be set off at intervals, but with traffic rules being followed, we are aware that some groups may catch others.  it is in your best interest not to drag another group around and we want to avoid a big peloton as some of the roads will be safer as a small group going single file.

the course is not direct and must be followed exactly.  to ensure that the route is followed, at least one member must have a gps device and a strava account.  the team will download to strava after the event and the final “leaderboard” can be established.  having a gps that shows the route will be a bonus as the route will not be marked, but we will issue some maps for those that do not.

bearing in mind that this is a challenge and not a race so there may be some social incentives as well.  for example, a team photo at each tower may give you bonus time.

the routes are being finalised, but the imperial century (160kms) will take in suburbs from coolbellup to joondalup and across to the vines.  the metric century (100kms) will also go as far south as coolbellup but only go as far north as alexander heights.

there will be a fee charged for the event and this will cover a couple of feed zones along the way.  currently there is one at 60kms and one at about 110kms.

we will also need a number of volunteers for the day to cover things like setup, drink stops and sag wagon.  add to the comments if you would like to volunteer or if you have any questions about the event.

ride routes 18th & 19th august

so, sorry to stuart for not getting the ride routes posted early enough so that he can skip home and away.  i expect a full report on the comings and goings of summer bay this weekend.  instead of doing the ride routes, i did a very silly thing and took my 2 boys to toys r us so that i can buy a lightsaber.  they were “fairly” well behaved, but still wanted to get everything they saw, no matter what the price.  “no, you can’t get that.  no, that is $250.  no, you don’t need that.  etc, etc”  got a fancy dress birthday party this weekend, so i needed a light saber…needed.  it is for a 30th birthday, so people tend to over compensate by having “kids style” parties.  i think my 30th was a “flannelette pajama party”.

cathi dixon update – smaller update this week.  as i type this, cathi should be on a plane back to perth.  she will be transferred directly to shenton park when she arrives, and will be staying there for a while.  i will post more info when she arrives and we know more about what is going on.

collie-donnybrook – this monument of the wa cycling calendar is on this weekend.  good luck to all those participating.  it is a good experience, but one that i am glad to miss this year.  i hope that the spr guys heading down get a good handicap.

men’s night out – see the previous post here.  this event will be on next weekend, so make sure that you get your leave pass in order and your tickets to go-karting.  more info about the dinner to follow will be posted soon.

ride routes – i made a chane to the morley drive ride route for this weekend.  now it goes around herdsman and then jumps across to the back of kings park.  this cuts out the return via stirling hwy which people seemed to not like.  make sure you have a look at the route to understand where to go.  since there was no tranny or sat hills last week, i have posted the same route.  efficient or lazy, you decide.

saturday 18th august

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 51.07km (morley drive)

saturday hills – spr sunday 85.81km (darlington & mundaring weir)

sunday 19th august

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 104.03km (campersic & kalamunda)

ride routes 11th & 12th august

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as many of you will be aware cathi dixon had a crash while on the spr pyrenees trip and has been under french medical care since.  some of you may not be privy to much of the information going on as it is mostly through facebook.  bill darby is just returning from france where he went to help out with her arrangements to get home.  here are a few of his posts in chronological order.  if you want to send any messages of support you can add to the comments or find her through the facebook links below.

  • 18th july – UPDATE on Cathi : For everyone’s information: I have just spoken with Cathi. She is in hospital in PAU, southern France after having a cycle crash on Monday 16th July in the Pyrenees. She has multiple injuries including a number of fractures in her upper body, concussion and other matters. She is in pain but thankfully none of the injuries are life-threatening. Medical tests are still being done (scans etc) to determine if / when she can be moved. It could be some time before it can be determined when and how she will be able to return to Australia. She is now aware of what has happened (concussion etc) and is very appreciative of everyone’s wishes, but is shocked and scared by her predicament. She is receiving very good care and has had excellent support from friends who are there. Please give her support and encouragement in the days and weeks to come. It may be a long trip back.
  • 20th july –  Cathi is doing well. She understands what happened now, is reasonably mobile for someone with her injuries and sleeping better etc. Her lung injuries are healing well but she is still in pain. I have confirmed today that Allianz Medical Assistance are planning to repatriate Cathi to Australia, hopefully within the next 7 days. The exact way they do that  is still subject to ongoing medical assessment and may be on a stretcher with nurses etc. I am going to France tomorrow to support Cathi and assist with the recovery operation. We hope to have her home by 31st July at the latest and will update you as I can.
  • 25th july – Medical review, including assessment by French spinal surgeon to be completed soon, hopefully today (Wednesday). Spinal injury is apparently worse than first thought. Other injuries – abrasions, concussion, shoulder fractures, lungs etc are healing slowly but positively. All that can be done to ensure the very best quality medical treatment and repatriation to Australia is being done. All your support and encouragement is vital and well received. No date for movement set yet.
  • 26th july – Got confirmation today that Cathi Dixon will be air ambulance lifted to Paris to receive better care than is available in the small regional city of PAU. She is likely to go to the prestigious American Hospital in paris’ inner west suburbs. This is good news. Unfortunately this may be delayed yet again due to availability of the necessary specialist surgeons at the Paris end.
  • 27th july –  Cathi Dixon is feeling a lot more confident that she will get well looked after. The staff at the American Hospital have all been very good, and have helped make her comfortable. She has been fully immobilised pending the decision on surgery. She has some tough decisions to make in the next 24hrs. Your continued support is really helping her.
  • 28th july – Cathi Dixon has had CT and MRI scans in the past two days at the lovely American Hospital in western Paris. She will see the surgeon, Professor Clemenceau tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon to decide what will be the best course of action. It will hopefully be spinal stabilisation surgery then a quick recovery before repatriation to Australia.
  • 2nd aug – Spinal surgery appears to have gone well this afternoon. She is out of recovery and in an Orthopedics ward, still off her face on morphine and sleeping well. She has enough metal implanted in her to set the airport scanner off at 50 paces…… but hopefully it has done the job to make her safe from further injury and one big step towards getting back to Perth and a “normal” life (whatever that is !!). The next couple of weeks will be long and painful but I am confident she will be well cared for in Paris. Then it’s the long trip home ….
  • 8th aug – DAY 25 (Day 6 Post Op) Cathi Dixon is recovering gradually. The surgeon and other doctor are both happy with her progress. She is walking / shuffling around now and has been out in the hospital garden in a wheel chair for the first time. AHHHH ! The healing powers of Parisian air in summer ! The staple sutres were removed yesterday and the other injuries (shoulder, ribs, concussion etc) are also progressing well. Latest estimate is that she should be Fit To Fly back to Australia on Monday 13th August (Day 30). I am leaving Paris late tonight for Australia and Mountaineering in Kosciousko National Park. Cathi will have a Private Nurse to assist her from tomorrow. Many thanks to everyone who has helped me while I have been here. Cathi still needs your love and support and is looking forward to seeing you all back in Australia.

masters state champs – held in conjunction with the pickering brook race series, the masters state champs will be on this sunday.  bit more info here.

cyclo-sportif – a couple of teams registered for this weekends cyclo at toodyay.  good luck to those that are participating.  bit more info here.

men’s night out – see the previous post here.  come along to go-karting to farewell paul o before he heads off to KL for a while.

owen – this saturday is owen’s last ride before he heads off to melbourne.  owen has done a lot of work to promote and look after the transitional type rides and was an important part of getting a transitional ride on tues/thurs morning.  he himself has come a long way in his fitness on the bike over the last year and we hope that he finds a good group to ride with when he moves.  make sure you take the time on saturday to say farewell and thank him for his efforts.

ride routes – quite a few different events on this sunday so many of the normal ride leaders may not be in attendance.  make sure you know what ride route as you may be required to step up and take control.

saturday 11th august

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 50.47km (hale rd reverse)

saturday hills – spr sunday 85.81km (darlington & mundaring weir)

sunday 12th august

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)

masters state championships

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this coming weekend the state masters championships will be held in conjunction with the pickering brook race series.  expressions of interest were low for the masters men 1-3 category so it will be run with the b grade race and the masters women’s race will be with the c grade race.  the masters men 4-7 category will have it’s own separate race.

now this is short notice and not the most ideal situation for a state championship, but if we want more events held for the masters category, then we need to support it as much as possible.  for those that haven’t ridden the course before, it is not too hilly and will suit most of our riders.

the cost is only $20 for those in the masters which is pretty cheap for a race, so i encourage you to have a go.  entries close midnight tuesday night.

for more info see the flyer and the registration page.

Only the resilient…

pinjarra classic – b grade (photo essay)

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i didn’t have the best race and was dropped at about the 15km point when my heart rate hit 188bpm.  did a lot of chasing and picked up a number of people along the way.  andy decided to take a mis-timed nature break and never got back on the group and so worked with me to keep the race going.  by dwellingup we had about 6 riders and had another group of about 8 in sight.  we caught up with them and found it contained smak and carlos, so we all worked together to bring it home.  after the hills, the return route followed the same roads as the team time trial and that brought back some bad, bad memories.  the flat finish came down to a sprint for 20th place (probably) but carlos and i rolled in behind it.

more photos (a lot more professional) can be found at the tony lendrum photography website.

ride routes 4th & 5th august

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super light weight race wheels

tried my best to get this post out before 7:00pm so that stuart would not have to endure home and away, but i am running a bit late.  there is quite a bit on this weekend, so have a look at the training rides below and pray like buggery that the weather holds out.  the forecast is for the wet weather to continue but as usual, occasional showers rather than constant rain.  i don’t know what is more frustrating, not being able to ride, or being teased with snippets of sunlight followed by pouring rain.

pinjarra classic – we have a few riders heading down to pinjarra on sunday to compete in the pinjarra classic.  this is one for the hills riders so mr bonner will be doing 2 laps with the a graders.

masters state champs – not ideal, but the masters state champs will be held next weekend in conjunction with the pickering brook race series.  we will put a post up later, but we are hoping to get a few spr riders out to make it a bit of a race.

focus group – this weekend is the first weekend of the month, so the focus group ride will be on again.  this is now open to kids (under 10) as it is a nice ride along the bike path to the causeway and back.  get your kids involved and come along as it also helps us out taking the therapy focus kids out.

men’s night out – see the previous post here.  come along to go-karting to farewell paul o before he heads off to KL for a while.

ride routes – lots of different rides on this weekend, but as usual, they will be dependent on the weather.  i have programmed in the river ride for saturday as if it is wet, we often combine a lot of the groups together.  if it is ok, it is the fortnightly main 3 hills ride and we also have the focus group.  make sure you know the ride route on sunday as a few people will be away at the pinjarra race.

saturday 4th august

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 50.97km (river ride)

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

main 3 hills – spr sunday 52.25 (welshpool)

ride starts next to boadshed cafe at 9:30am

focus group – along bike path to causeway and return

sunday 5th august

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) (follow long course to bottom of goose)

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

ride routes 28th & 29th july

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how cold???

so….it has been a bit cold lately.  officially (in perth city) wednesday dropped to a low of 0.4 deg with an apparent temp of -1.5 deg.  a bit further south towards jandakot, it was even colder with most of the night sitting in the zero – negative range.  on the bike it has been an experience.  i start off with my fingers freezing and my toes ok, and finish the ride the other way around.  it also takes longer to get dressed in the morning so i am always worried about missing the start of the ride.  layers upon layers to try to stay warm but the chill seems to stay with me for the first half of the day.  i even thought about bringing a doona to work just to stay warm.  the days have been nice though, but i am stuck in an office till the sun is just about to set so i don’t get to take advantage of it.

charity ride – this sunday there is a charity ride on from Frasers to raise money and awareness of cerebral palsy.  have a look at the previous posts for more information Cerebral Palsy “Big Wheelie Challenge”

pinjarra classic – the Pinjarra Classic is on next weekend with racing across a number of grades.  this is a hilly classic so made for those that do the sunday hills ride.  a number of spr riders will be competing, so come give it a go as you will not be alone.

ride routes – not much to say about the routes this week.  come and ride them.  try to stay warm by riding in a pack rather than on your own.  much like penguins do (but the ones on the outside sometimes die).

saturday 28th july

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 50.98km (benara rd)

saturday hills – spr sunday 100.45km (darlington & mundaring)

sunday 29th july

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 survey results

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you may have taken part of the online survey that we posted quite a few weeks ago, and we thank you for your feedback. some of you may be wondering just what we got out of it.  attached are the results for all to see.  as we are using this information to set the vision for the club and focus our efforts on what the members want, it is important that you guys see what everyone is saying.  there are no names on the feedback so all you comments are anonymous.

as usual, there are some extremes in the opinions, but what we were looking for were the consistent themes for us to focus on.  it was clear that a lot of people want us to continue doing what we are doing, but there are also a lot of things we could be doing better.  have a read and we appreciate any further feedback. (the inconsistency in the page numbers was not from us trying to hide certain results, but just taking out blank pages as well as 10 pages of postcodes)

SPR_Survey_2012

tour tipping – the final stage

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well the tour has been run and won so we can all look forward to a bit of a sleep in…until the olympics.  the complete domination of the sky team robots kind of took all the fun out of the event but there were some good moments from some of the minor teams.

in the tipping comp, team “C’est la Vie” took the wiggo approach and completely dominated the final week.  once he had a gap it would have taken a breakaway win to pull him back.  on GC he finished the tour a full 15min clear of his next rival.

General Classification Team Name Time Gap
1 3 days 15:26:42 C’est la Vie
2 3 days 15:42:17 Sempre Veloce 0:15:35
3 3 days 15:45:34 Team RunBMC 0:18:52

in the sprint competition, team “Darkside” maintained a healthy lead until the final week when (i think) a missed tip cost him the lead.  he was only trailing by 4 points heading into the final stage and in an attempt to jump clear he tipped against “the cav” and actually fell to 3rd spot over all.  team “C’est la Vie” cleaned up again.

Sprinters Points Team Name
1 449 pts C’est la Vie
2 417 pts Team RunBMC
3 416 pts Darkside

the mountains points are always a hard one to pick as the rider that usually gains the most points in a stage is not the winner, but part of a breakaway.  for most of the tour, this comp hovered around the low single digits for points until a flurry of activity in the pyrenees.  “Plan G” managed to stay that one solitary point ahead to take the victory.  with 3rd place tied on 35 points, the count back showed that “festina lente” received more points from HC climbs then team “C’est la Vie”

Mountain Points Team Name
1 41 pts Plan G
2 40 pts Get the Edge
3 35 pts festina lente
4 35 pts C’est la Vie

stage wins seem straight forward but are actually hard to pick.  this is evident by the number of times that the stage points hit a jackpot.  in the first week there was always someone picking one of the main sprinters.  in the subsequent weeks picking the breakaway was hard as even in the mountains, there was no guarantee that the gc riders would catch them before the finish.  at the end of the day the winner didn’t even pick the most stage wins, but picked the one that counted.  stage 13 when the points had hit a jackpot of 40 and were split between the top two placegetters.

Team Name Stage Wins
1 Pantini Hill Powder 31.8
2 Team RunBMC 30.2
3 Get the Edge 16.8

now there are prizes for the top three in all categories, but unfortunately, i don’t have them all right now.  i forgot to get them off anna before she took off to france, so will get them sorted out when she returns.  there are lights, carbon handlebars and track pumps in the prize pool.

thanks to all that participated this year.  25 teams meant that we raised a further $500 towards the uci fundraiser to help get the spr reps over to south africa.