bit short on words this week and having trouble thinking about anything to have a whinge about. life is always better on holidays.
national road race – come on down to the wembley hotel this sunday at 2pm to cheer on jonny as he sticks it to the pros in the national road race in ballarat. more info here.
good causes – midland club is raising money for a couple of good causes, including supporting one of our members. get behind them, more info here.
tom’s training – tom has offered to help out any of the ladies in the club that want to get a bit more out of their riding. more info here.
ride routes – not much to say about the ride routes this weekend. prevalent easterly, or south easterly winds will be dictating the ride routes this summer.
saturday 12th january
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 51.36km (sth lake)
sunday 13th january
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)
What is the average speed for the short sunday hills please.
Jason, somewhere between 26 and 30ish depending on the route. The group has regular re-groups after hills and will stick together on the ride to and from the hills.
Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions.
Cheers,
Stuart.
Thanks Stuart, I should be there tomorrow.
Lennie, look! It’s flat!
Do be very careful near the Nicholson Road roundabout to the Nicholson/Bannister junction. Major roadworks going on there. This morning lots of it was unsealed and very loose.
After being away from the SPR bunch rides for a while I would like to make a few comments on the Main 1 bunch ride today.
Firstly for the guys who normally ride with the fast group please remember that there is a broader spread of abilities in Main 1 than you might think. Today for example there were a few people stepping up from Main 2 and whilst they probably don’t expect to make it all the way around with the bunch it is not fair on them when the pace is on early.
Speaking of early pace both this week (Main 1 trailing the fast group) and last week (Two Main 1 groups) it seems people can’t resist the urge to chase the front leading down. Remember the reason the groups are split is to reduce our impact on the other road users. Plus a smaller group can be better organised/managed and hence hopefully safer.
On safety, why did those leading the group when we arrived at the Albany highway intersection choose to pull out in front of the traffic from the feeder lane? Your actions pissed of the motorists coming up from behind and split the group. A few seconds of waiting (sound familiar) would have had us enter the Albany highway as a group behind the traffic.
Kudos to Carlos who, I gather, consistently gives his time to act as the sheep dog for Main 1 towing those that get dropped back onto the tail of the group.
Something to aim for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JbqZCrqV_wE
Well done Chris on keeping the group in line when it was needed and for making some riders more aware. It was a large group in windy conditions but having someone there that was vocal with loud and clear advice kept the group together and moving smoothly.
Definitely credit is also owed to Carlos who spent the majority of his ride at the back of the group, quietly helping others, who were struggling at times to keep up.
I hope to see the couple of riders that were finding it tough to hold on around the Bibra Lake area, and may have been dropped, back again next week riding with Main 1 for another crack at it.
Another BIG thank you to Carlos from me… Very grateful for his wheel on Albany Highway as the effects of fighting the wind took it’s toll 🙂