ride report by peter.

rain.  every time we schedule in a breakfast it decides to rain.  even the christmas ride in december was held in a absolute downpour.  well this was scheduled for the middle of winter, only one day before the shortest day of the year, so cold and wet was expected.  the forecast was for strong winds and showers.  they were predicting over 10mm so the house was set up accordingly.  there were towels on the floor, towels on the couches and a basket for wet socks by the door.

on checking the radar first thing in the morning, i was pleased to see that even though there were showers, they were very sporadic and quite light.  this meant that it would be a hit-n-miss situation where we would either come through unscathed or be dumped upon.  the rain and clouds had one benefit though as the morning wasn’t as cold as the previous few days.

we still had a decent turnout despite the weather and there were over 40 riders waiting at the carpark as i rolled in late…again.  at least i had an excuse this morning as there were some last minute preparations before our house was invaded.

being a breakfast ride, we were sticking together to make it a bit more social.  no splitting meant that we needed to be a bit more careful especially on the hills along stock and south streets.  however, we rolled out nicely in one big group with three novices braving the weather to do their course separately.

the trip was quite uneventful along canning but the hill leading to stock did manage to break things up a bit.  i hung back to keep an eye on scott who was making the step up from the novice group today.  up over the hill and we were a way off the back off the group.  i had a chat to dr paul and he said that he would look after scott and probably take a shortcut to get home.

i chased to catch up with the main group and found that it had been split at the leach hwy lights.  the “escapees” weren’t pushing hard though and by the time we hit south street we were all together.  a few struggled with the hills, but by the time we turned onto banister the group was pretty much intact.

i went to the front to sing out some instructions to let them know the we would be going hard along banister rd but would regroup afterwards.

ryan and brendan were close to the front and started the pace up.  neil manning from the plan b team was out with us today and as the current state open road champion, he was going to give them a run for their money.  i was drifting back though the group to make sure that everyone knew what was going on.

once i reached the back, i then started pacing up and jumping between groups to make my way forward again.  there were a few strong groups caught up at the back and i used them as much as possible.  working with stu and some others we managed to almost get back onto the what was left of the main group.  unfortunately i ran out of legs by this point and had to sit up and cruise in the last couple of hundred metres.

along nicholson rd the pace slowed significantly but there were some riders who definitely struggled with the pace and were still making their way back.  by the time we reached albany hwy the group was all together again.  this made for a nice cruise the rest of the way along manning rd and up into como ready for breakfast where dr paul and scott where also just turning up.  at the end of the day we never really encountered any rain but the wet roads made for some soggy socks.

with bikes in the garage and socks in the washing machine, it was inside to see what gastronomic delights lorriane had provided this time.  some people had the smart idea of parking their car near my place so that they could quickly get change after the ride and not have to stand around in wet knicks.  others skipped the ride altogether but still turned up for the breakfast.  it was all about socialisation after all.

there were a few announcements and we had a quick general meeting to vote on some minor constitution changes before moving onto the all important raffle draw.  with some extra prizes donated by cycling wa and perth integrated health clinic, we had quite a few to go around.

mike b took out the major prize of a torque wrench and drink bottle, while russell, yas, brendan, sandra, brett, stu and ???(i will check later) grabbed the minor prizes.  thanks to ben and aiden for drawing the raffle tickets.  ben has improved his number recognition in the last 3 months, so didn’t say that every ticket was “nummer four”.

so after another bike weigh-in (no sneaky surprises), the winter breakfast was over until springtime.  thanks to kate, jody, brett and rob for their help and, as always, thanks to lorriane for donating her time and energy to provide such a excellent breakfast.

ride report by peter

well a slightly busy evening as we needed to get the house ready for the onslaught of lycra that was to descend in the morning.  moving tables and chairs, finding an esky, um…actually that was about it as lorriane was doing everything else.  i went to move the cars out of the garage and found sharon waiting on the drive way.  pretty soon jerry and melvyn also rocked up so that they would not have to ride all the way home after a belly full of brownies.

officially the sun was not going to rise till 7:20am but what is known as “civil twilight” meant that it would be light at 6:56am.  lots of time to spare before the start of the ride.  being a breakfast ride, the course was going to be a bit shorter than normal.  however, since we had close to 70 riders on the line, we decided to split the group and try to make it more manageable.  we would all head down canning hwy towards freo before the fast group would swing off to attadale while the main group would continue on to stock rd.  after stock they would head back along south st and up banister.  eventually jump onto albany hwy before heading to my place via manning rd.  the fast group would take burke drive before heading up the stock rd hill behind the pt walter golf course.  we would then chase the main group down and then add extra kms once they turned off onto banister.  i envisaged that we would catch the main group on the early parts of south st and would need to split again at banister. 

we got away to a fairly standard start with the group split a few times at the lights.  the pace was pretty sedate and everyone was just chatting away and cruising along.  once we hit north lake rd, the fast group needed to get into the right lane to do a turn while the main group was headed straight.  as the two groups were intermingled amongst each other, this got pretty messy and traffic would have been confused (pissed off) that the bike were now taking up both lanes.  we eventually got it sorted and headed off on our respective ways. 

a slight easing of the pace allowed the pack back together as the  fast group headed along burke drive.  it is amazing the number of other riders that use that stretch of road as we must have passed 6-7 groups heading the other way.  we rolled through till stock road and tackled the hill.  as usual, it split the group up lots, but by the time we reached the top, the pace slowed significantly and allowed everyone back on before we crossed canning hwy. 

we tried to roll through again, but lights, hills and traffic made it hard to find a consistent pace although it was anything but sedate.  we soon reached south st and i was surprised that we had not even caught a glimpse of the main group.  i thought that we may have seen them cresting the first hill on south street, but they were not to be seen.  either, they had to stop on canning for an incident, or whoever was running that group was doing an excellent job.  i was hoping for the latter.

we continued to roll through and the traffic was now not an issue as the road was three lanes wide.  the hills made life difficult for some and the roll through continued with just the front half of the pack.  as we continued along south st i was beginning to worry that something had happened to the main group.  we eventually caught sight of a couple of lonesome riders that had fallen off the back so we knew we were on the right track. 

as the day was progressing, i made the decision not to take the fast group along the second split point and rather, if caught them, just do banister rd with the main group instead.  at the multiple lights around roe hwy, we finally caught up to the main group.  i shouted some instructions so that the fast group can safely get passed the main group and heard a “no worries” from beside me.  i look across to the small truck that was in the next lane and there is this big grin from the guy in the passenger seat.  i tell him he can drive in front of us as he would make a good draft.  “then slam on the brakes” he exclaims.  a bit nasty, but it was all a bit of fun.

we took off at the lights and like a well oiled machine, the main group merged into a single file on the left, while the fast group became the single file on the right.  as right overtook left, the roll through upped the pace to allow the fast group to start to break away.  unfortunately the lights allowed everyone to merge back together and this fact may have made it hard for some of the riders at the back.

the usual suspects forced the pace along the rest of banister and the combination of roll throughs and attacks kept the pace high.  a final push by ryan and a few others blew things apart once nicholson rd was in sight, but the group was still quite substantial by then.  i jumped to the front and rode with michael for a bit to set a slow even pace.  i then pulled over to the side to make sure that we had everyone. there were a few struggling groups, but people like mike and nev were leading them back to the main group as quick as they could.  once we hit albany hwy, there were only a handful off the back and we caught up at the next light change.

i made my way to the front to find that dan and jules had taken off and lisa had chased them down.  they were somewhere up the road and the comment was made that we hoped they knew where to turn.  too bad so sad if they didn’t want to play with the group.  there was a split at the lights again and i waited for that group so they knew where to turn.  the lights at leech allowed a complete regroup and we gently cruised along manning road.  at some stage we saw a couple of bikes milling around an intersection looking quite lost.  it was out trio of escapees and i am guessing that they were not sure whether they should have turned or not.

i allowed one more sprint once we turned past curtain uni and half the group took advantage of it.  some others, like myself, were content to sit in and take the last few k’s into home easy.

there was a lot of milling around at the front of the house as some people were not staying for the breakfast and were having a quick chat.  a couple had arrived early but lorraine, mel, jody and kate pretty much had everything under control.  ben was there to greet everyone with his spr t-shirt on and pretty soon the garage was full of bikes and the house was full of lycra.  the girls had outdone themselves again and there was plenty of food and coffee/hot choc for all.

the raffle was drawn by ben who kept the crowd entertained with his smashing of one of the chocolate prizes.  he also kept everyone on their toes by announcing the winning raffle ticket number – “nummer for” um no ben, that’s number 21.  i feel sorry for the person that had ticket number 4 as he announced it for more than half the draws. 

we signed up a couple more members for the club and jody will let us know when the online facility is available.  the bike weigh in presented some interesting results and i saw my bike slip further down the leaderboard as more weighed in at the low 7kg mark.  brendan topped the day with his bh weighing in at 6.72kg with tubulars on.  this toppled mike t’s uci legal 6.80kg with his tubular zipps but neither came close to darren’s uber light bike.

all up a very successful breakfast.  our next social event will be the family day to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of forming spr.  there are a couple of races in between that i hope we can get a good turn out to and show off our spr colours.  especially as we are now an official club.

breakfast report/annual report by peter.

well our third group breakfast and this one was to be combined with our christmas ride, which is always the last saturday before christmas day.  we would usually do a slower circuit around the city and then have a longer than usual coffee at the belltower.  this year, however, we were doing a proper spr, lorraine catered breakfast.  legendary stuff.  now the first breakfast was in winter time and you kind of expect there to be rain.  the next one was in spring, so you may get a shower. but for me to wake to the sound of rain dripping along the downpipe in the middle of december was just typical.  we have a guaranteed drought breaker if we just scheduled in more spr breakfasts.  if wasn’t too bad though and the road was hardly wet. 

unlike the other breakfasts, this one was to be held at jerry’s house in city beach.  as son #2 was actually due the day before the breakfast, it was always going to be a stretch to think that a horde of sweaty cyclists could descend on our house.  as previously reported, #2 had arrived and kate timed her discharge from mercy hospital in time for attendance to the breakfast.  i however, would be on son #1 duties and would not be actually riding with the group.  it didn’t stop me from riding though.

so with half a santa suit (hat, beard & jacket) and ben on the mountain bike, we set off to the usually starting point.  as more a more people turned up, it was good to see that most had gone to the effort of decorating themselves or their bike.  there was tinsel everywhere.  i set the group on it’s way and headed off on a more direct route to city beach.  for a change it was good to hear the toot of a car horn as lots of people honked and waved to ben and i as we came up past kings park and along hay street.  we usually get a bit of attention with the seat on the front of the bike, but the santa suit must have turned us from target of aggression to spectacle of delight.  it may be our new kit for next year.  a full santa suit.  imagine 50 santa’s sprinting along mounts bay road on a saturday morning.  or even full elvis sequin suits.  that would be cool.

anyway, all was fine until we skirted around bold hill and it started to rain again.  i stopped and popped a rain jacket on ben to keep him relatively dry, but by the time i got to jerry’s a bedraggled and waterlogged santa was i.

lorraine had everything under control and she had a few extra helpers on board as well.  i thank those ladies for their time and effort and i especially thank them as it has meant that it was something extra that i didn’t have to worry about.  the food was being laid out and lorraine had outdone herself once again.  there was all kind of delicacy ready to be sampled and it was just waiting for the horde to descend.  i just stayed out of the way as best i could, and tried to stop ben destroying jerry’s house.

the waterlogged crew finally arrived and filled the house with christmas cheer.  socks were quickly escorted to the quick wash cycle and tumble dry as we had discussed, oh too late after the last breakfast.  who would have thought we would have needed it in summer.

after all had gorged themselves on the wonderful spread, lorraine brought out a cake for bec who decided to celebrate her birthday with us today.  i took the opportunity to keep the group together and present some gifts for each person in the group.  instead of a raffle this time, i managed to scrape together enough funds from various sources (pbk and google mainly) to get everyone a south perth rouleurs hat.  if you had ordered any kit (jersey at the minimum), then you would receive a hat.  i do have some extras though, so if you want to buy any for you kids, supporters, etc, then let me know.  lorriane was also given a well deserved gift for her tireless (get it, it was tyres) efforts within the group and jerry’s wife tanya received some flowers for allowing us to destroy her house.

the presentations didn’t finish there, as unbeknownst to me, jerry and lorraine had some surprises as well.  jerry made a few presentations for some of the more memorable moments of the year.  mark schneider received some bandaids for sampling the most tarmac this year, melvyn a spare tube for obvious reasons, ryan some bike wash for having the dirtiest bike and mark decastro some gu for being a wheel sucker.  lorriane also received a giro sprinters jersey for her outstanding effort last sunday where she took out the “b” grade women’s race at the joondalup classic.

but the fun didn’t stop there and it was my turn to be surprised as a special order had been placed with cannibal and a yellow spr jersey had been made up with my name on the back.  now i am not sure whether this denotes, team leader, protected rider, or just makes it easier for me to be targeted, but i certainly appreciate it, and the effort in getting something made.  the presents didn’t stop there, as i also received a plaque which read –

“in recognition of your outstanding contribution and commitment to the south perth rouleurs”. this will have to go “straight in the pool room” with my two masters medals this year.  in recognition of the family sacrifices that have been made in keeping the group together, kate and ben also received some gifts.

it seems strange writing this from two different perspectives.  one as the receiver of a gift but also as part of the group that has given it, i feel compelled to try to explain the reasons behind it.  i really appreciate the efforts that people have made in regards to the group and supporting the group dynamic.  it hasn’t even been a full year and already we have a very strong core of cyclists that can only be referred to as regulars if not stalwarts of spr.  the turn out for the joondalup classic was nothing short of outstanding and when mark conveyed his story about the surprise from some other riders on how many or us there were, i can say it made me smile.  just getting the name out there has been an important thing to me and getting people to recognise who we are and more importantly, what type of group we are. 

i can remember the apprehension i felt the first saturday that we met at coode street and the fear that i would be the only person to turn up.  the saturday rides this year have been growing and i appreciate the effort that people show towards helping other riders or even working together when the ride gets too fast for them.  i also appreciate the restraint that some of the fast boys have shown in keeping the ride together until the designated sprint sections. 

the sunday ride has been a great success with the numbers regularly sitting around the 15-20 mark even though everybody knows it is going to be a hard day.  the supportiveness of the group has allowed this ride to grow as well and we are often getting new riders coming out to play. 

lately a couple of people have commented on the group dynamic and what it means to them.  the word “community” has been used but even more so the word “family” was also thrown around.  the plaque recognises my efforts in guiding the group, but i do it all for you guys cause you are my cycling family and i wish to see that feeling continue. 

even before spr existed, one sunday coffee stop i was commenting on how we would eventually be moving back to victoria to be closer to family.  dr carl straight away said “but we are your family”.  it is for this reason i have worked to keep this group together and it is the reason that the group works so well together. 

so have a great christmas and new years and i hope to see you out on the bike soon.