Peeps, The time has has come to put your nominations in to travel up to Kalgoorlie to snare your part of $15,000 in prize money.
Remember you have to be in it to win it and as its a handicapp race anything is possible 🙂
MENZIES CLASSIC
ROAD RACE
And CRITERIUMS
MAY 30th-31st 2009
Kalgoorlie WA
http://www.kalgoorlie.com/cycleclub
or
Phone: 0418 945276 for more info
i have added a page that has live giro feed embedded in it. check it out.
peter
for those of you who want to watch the full length stages of this year’s Giro, for example to see the whole ride of Vogte like on stage 4, universal sports broadcasts the episodes live on the internet.
you can have a look at the istructions here: http://www.cyclingfans.com/
you could also subscribe to eurosport.com live tv for 4,90 euro for one month. unfortunately i don’t know if that works from Australia, but it might be worth a try…
enjoy…
jens
brief report by Julian
We had a 100% increase in turn out from the first ride with Emma, Jess and Sean joining Carol, Tracy and Libby who had returned from last week. Once again we bade the other groups farewell, did the introductions then headed out to Shelley Bridge, via Coode St, Mt Pleasant and Rossmoyne foreshore. The new riders had ridden in the main group at various times in past few months and were keen to be involved again in group rides.
The pace was up from the start with Carol on her new Pinnarello particularly enjoying it. The group was very relaxed and comfortable and were surprised to hear they were going a couple of km/hr quicker than last week. The force of the pack pushed everyone along and again there was much excitement when the big packs passed us along the foreshore.
We turned for home and started rolling after the Rossmoyne roundabout and held it together well for a couple of km, with everyone getting the hang of it. A bit more practice is needed on holding wheels and not cutting in too soon and these can be worked on no problem. The fork in the bike path at Canning Bridge was successfully negotiated this week and we even managed to pass a couple of riders on the bike bath on the way back up the river. Towards the narrows the pace picked up, another sign of the growing confidence in the group.
Arriving at the coffee shop at 8.31 am, everyone was pleased about not having to queue for coffee. It also meant I could sneak in an extra few km before heading up to Belmont for netball. Next week there might have to be a few extra km included in the ride. In keeping with the exponential rise in numbers, I expect to see 12 people in the group next week, with Peter pencilled in the lead them off.
We parted company with the F group somewhere along hale road before the Tonkin Hway lights.We then caught these lights, which then put us 500 metres behind the above group, then a car at the round about split us again, we then regrouped and saw a few more riders up ahead ,Paul, Wal, Anthony and a couple of others they had started their own group its called the playgroup.
We joined up and then at the Forrestfield shops Judd caught us or we caught him I not sure. Lisa went to the front and picked up the pace, we tried rolling thru on hale but he road and drivers made it unsafe we pushed on single file and some pairs.
Kalamunda rd we picked upsome more.
We started a rolling down to Abernathy rd then back to single file to the bypass. Greg and Marcus doing most of the work up front ,while this may be what they want to build up the strenght other riders must push on to the front to work harder. We all need to push ourselves that little bit more each time we ride. Its not a matter of giving someone elses 100 casino online % just yours.
Once onto Guildford road we moved along well, Wal was hanging in there no problem.
As we approached King William street we had dropped two for some reason ,Greg suggested we stop and wait but we decided to push on , I dropped back to find Lisa and one other were also waiting for the other two.
I dropped back to help them they drafted me for a while then past me and left me. I forgive but I never forget. Cycling Etiquette
was discussed at coffee.
I chased these two rascals hoping to insert a pump in at least one of their wheels. We were then passed by the first members of the fast group, straight past not a word was spoken WoW focused or what!I had heard about them but this was the first time I had seen them in full flight. I felt all giddy, I put my pump back in my jersey and went with them. No prisoners are taken with this little group.
We all got home with this part group.
The coffee shop was filled with tension, a certain rider had taken the sprint once again this would be the fourth time although the week before he was beaten by an outstanding effort by a rider much older than him. Words were exchanged I moved my kilo of rocky road to safer position on the table. Dave not naming anyone but if you need any electrical work, any chiropractic work or a anaesthetist try somewhere else for a few weeks.
Living the Dream
Nev.
report by peter.
about a year ago, i headed down to the coode st carpark wondering whether there will be any one down there wanting to go for a ride. i had decided to not lead the bikeshop rides but it was up to everyone to make their own choice of where they were riding. luckily for me, there were people wanting to ride and hence the south perth rouleurs came to fruition.
we decided to concentrate on our strengths, which was a good solid core of riders that had developed a strong group dynamic. people knew what we needed to do on our group rides and that we needed to cater for everyone in the group. we happily continued on our way and the group started to grow.
the website has also evolved and what was once a blog of my perspective has now become a proper site full of information and stories.
towards the end of the year the racing scene started to gain some prominence within the group. the highlight would have to be the joodalup race in december last year when we had about 15 or so riders entering various grades in the final race for the season. this became the catalyst for transforming the south perth rouleurs into a proper cycle club.
fast forward though the technical bits and we now have a constitution, committee and are affiliated with the sports governing body. our membership has been steadily growing and the last official count had us at around 40 members. a little over half of these have racing licences and half have recreational licences. we have started making our mark on some of the races on the perth calendar and sent a strong group away for a trip down to pemberton. we hope to continue to offer a bit more than just being a club that you give money to and want to offer support to all our riders.
and it is not just about racing. the group rides have now become training rides and the long standing saturday ride has now been split into three groups. this allows us to cater for all levels of riders without adversely affecting anyone’s enjoyment level. the sunday hills ride has also grown and we often get between 20 – 30 riders all willing to hurt themselves in the surrounding hills. there are also now three weekday training sessions giving people more opportunity to get some extra km’s in.
so, saturday afternoon gave us the opportunity to reflect on just how far we have come in the last year. a family lunch was held and it allowed the partners and kids of some of our riders to meet with the people that seem to dominate the saturday mornings of their lives. there was about 40 adults and about 20 kids in attendance and all enjoyed a nice casual atmosphere although it was sometimes punctuated by some french class or violin lesson.
lisa, kate and lorraine did a great job of organising everything and as we enjoyed the food the kids seemed to take over the playground. i didn’t realise there were that many kids in the group. maybe we could start to target junior riders as well. something to consider.
so after a year as the south perth rouleurs where do we see ourselves heading now. with up to 70 riders fronting up to a saturday ride, it is obvious that we are doing something right there and so we must keep on doing what we are doing. the inclusion of the novice ride will do a lot to help continue the development of the riders skill levels and i am looking at the rest of the group to assist in helping out by leading the novices every now and then. the racing side is progressing well and with a number of races coming up, i hope that we can attract a few more members by the way that we present our club. the development of a women’s racing team is something that we are also looking at and hopefully we can offer a pathway for those that want to take that next step.
by may 2010 it will be interesting to see how spr has changed after another year.
ride report by peter.
after a gastro induced sabbatical from the bike last week, i was keen to get some hard k’s in to try to “cram” before next weeks race. not ideal but i was running out of options. i have only entered 2 races so far this year and so my results have been a dnf and a dns. i got up early and did a lap of the river before 7 and turned up to find a mass of riders awaiting instructions. there would have been close to 70 or so there.
we were splitting into three groups again with julian taking the novice group, nev leading the main group and me trying to keep up with the fast group. the novice group was building on it’s success and there were now six riders heading out along the shelley course. it seems that they are getting used to it fairly quickly so we may have to extend the route for them a bit.
the ret of us were going to do hale road and split at the welshpool road end rather the kalamunda end. this gave the fast group a bit more time to stretch their legs and maybe a chance to make up the extra km’s difference between the two groups.
we started out alright, but just as we were climbing the small hill out of the causeway, lisa sped to the front to let us know that we had a flat tyre in the group. nowhere to stop, we kept going for a bit before pulling into a side street to keep out of traffic. we used to be able to regroup in bus stops, but 70 riders and bikes take up a bit more room. james a i headed back down the hill to find tony sitting in a bus shelter doing a quick change. pretty soon we were on our way again.
the pace was pretty good and we managed to avoid getting split too badly by the traffic lights. once we hit hale, we tried to get the groups split so that the fast group was ahead by the time we reached the lights at tonkin hwy. it went fairly well, but i think some of the main group became entangled in the fast group. this wasn’t the worse place for this to happen as if the pace was too much, the main group would soon come along and sweep them up.
the lights changed fast at tonkin as well and only the fast group managed to make their way through. however, the pace was pedestrian as the front of the large group had not heard that we were all on. i rode to the front and turned the speed on. pretty soon there were a few of us rotating through to keep the group going. mat, jerry, davina and myself did lots of turns up hale rd until we reached the kalamunda intersection.
once across, we headed towards ridgehill rd and this is where the group really splintered. as the road pitched up, the morning river lap took it’s toll and i couldn’t hold the pace as the fast boys attacked the hill. i set a tempo to the top and then tried to catch up on the descent. by the time we reached the bottom, i was in a small group with ian, lorriane and davina. there was a group just up the road with ryan, james, michael, judd and some others, plus there were about two more groups behind us.
we were not really effective in working together and came within about 50 metres of catching. i thought we could bridge and put in a big effort only to hear that “pop” noise as i pushed myself over the limit and went into the red. as i pulled off the front i just had to watch the other three head up the road.
i kept a tempo up but eventually got caught by a group of four from behind. we worked together and caught the other three as they were waiting at the lights in guilford. when we sat at the lights in bassendean the next group also caught us so that we had about 12-15 riders in the group now.
we started rolling through all the way back to perth, but new that there was no way that we would catch the front few. the lights along guildford rd also conspired against us, but from what i hear they conspired against all the groups today.
at the end of the day it was just a procession to the coffee shop with no real sprint, just a surge at the end. all up a good hit out, that had me still searching for some form.
This year’s Giro runs from the 9th to the 31st of May.
Highlights can be seen on SBS starting Sunday 10th May and will be aired daily at 7:10am (15min) and at around 11pm
(30min)
http://www.sbs.com.au/schedule/2009-05-10/SBS%20Perth
http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/
A rider to watch will be local cyclist Cameron Meyer who will attempt his first Grand Tour for the Garmin Slipstream
team!
17th May 2009, the breathtaking Ferguson Valley will be the backdrop to the Dardanup Open – an exhilarating championship race touring up, down and around the hills of the Southwest, just 15 minutes out of Bunbury.
All event information including
a course map is on the CWA website
Nominations close Weds 13th May 8.30am (AEST)
Let us know in the comments if you are coming!
Race pack to follow next week.
Thanks to Anna’s partner Brett… AKA “The Best Boyfriend in the World” apparently??? There are some more photos from From SPR’s day down in Collie
of photo!
he can't put his bike down!
