Tag Archives: routes

New Look Thursdays

As the Club continues to evolve we need to ensure that our training rides remain safe, relevant, consistent and predictable.

We recently introduced the “Fast Too” group to cater for riders wanting to ride a little faster than the main group, which has worked well up until now. What has become clear, however, is that a further separation of the groups is required to keep the size manageable and safe as well as to achieve an overall consistent pace for each group.

From this Thursday, we will break the groups into categories based on the SPR Thursday (Gairloch) Strava segment (https://www.strava.com/segments/5958997) as follows:

Group 1 – Less than 54:00mins

Group 2 – 54:00 to 59:00mins

Group 3 – 59:00 to 1:03mins

Group 4 – Greater than 1:03mins

We will target group sizes of between 18 and 20 riders so that any ‘towing’ effect is significantly reduced; this means that there will be a greater incentive for everyone to contribute more evenly and improve rolling through on fairly narrow roads. Smaller groups will also be better placed to manage occasional splits at roundabouts, pedestrian crossings and traffic lights (ie: short periods of light-pedaling).

Ride leaders have been asked to encourage riders in their groups at the commencement of each ride to be more controlled, so that a steady ‘training mode’ roll-through along Mounts Bay Rd is established; we wish to promote full group co-operation at a manageable speed before the first hill after Steve’s in Nedlands. Ride leaders have also been asked to support adjusting the pace on the return journey depending on the capacity of the whole group.

For this to work, what we need from all riders is the following:

  1. Review your last 3-6 months on the SPR Thursday (Gairloch) Strava segment (https://www.strava.com/segments/5958997) and find out which group is for you based on current fitness
  2. Review the new Thursday Ride Start Map  to know where your group will be leaving from
  3. If there is the need to break riders into 2 groups of the same category (that’s why we need you to wait in the right spot!), please respect the call of the Ride Leaders when they are dividing the groups. Remember, the ride will be at the same speed whether you go in the first or second group
  4. Send a link to this post to everyone you know who rides with SPR on Thursday’s but may not read the blog or Facebook page
  5. Ride for the “group” not just yourself; take your turn on the front but don’t try and pull the legs off other riders; you can still ride hard and keep the group intact
  6. Some groups may not have a designated ride leader, so help out by talking to each other and reinforcing the aim(s) of the ride

If everyone chooses the right group it will help us to achieve the goal of keeping the group together for the whole lap. Please note, we are not saying you HAVE to go in the group that your Strava time suggests for you; this is simply a guide. Some weeks you will feel stronger and want to have a go and hang on; other weeks you will want to take it a little easier. All we ask is that you respect the overall purpose & intended segment time of the group you select and ride accordingly.

ride routes 18th – 24th february

it is kind of hard to make out, but there are about 60 riders in the picture.  this wasn’t even the maximum as more turned up after i took the photo.  so this has become a pretty typical thursday morning earlybird ride.  5:30 in the morning and so many people are already out of bed and doing exercise.  there were 3 groups today, but there has already been discussions on the fact that we may need to split that again.  however, the thursday ride wasn’t always like this.  it actually started as a training ride for those of us that were training to do cyclo-spotifs.  back in the early days of spr (or even pre-spr) we didn’t do much racing and cyclo-sportifs were a good way to get into it.  the idea was that this ride gave us long uninterrupted sections for us to practice rolling throughs in teams of 9.  i have no idea how this changed into what it is today, but over the years, we picked up more riders and now many non-spr riders use it as a hard thursday hit out.  it is however, a club training ride and as such we are trying to make sure that it caters for many different levels.  it is still meant to be a nice hard ride, but we also need to maintain a high level of safety and group sizes play an important role in this.

ride leader sponsor – there is no ride leader sponsor for this month.  if you have a business that you think would benefit from advertising on our blog/facebook/emails then get in contact with the club.  all money goes towards providing vouchers for the ride leaders who give their time to ensure that the group is riding to our standard.

tips and tricks – it is still summertime, so i didn’t think that i would have to write about this, but this is how to deal with your gear after riding in a midweek downpour.  firstly, most people only have one pair of road shoes, so the priority is to get them dry as soon as possible.  pull the inner sole out and hang it up, then grab some newspaper and totally stuff the entire shoes.  this means balling it up tightly and shoving it all the way to the end of the toe.  the more contact the paper has with the material, the more moisture it will suck out of your shoes.  however, this will make your shoes smell like wet newspaper, so some febreeze afterwards is a good idea.  if you put it in as soon as you get home, they will probably be dry by the evening.  as the mid week ride usually doesn’t give you much time for a complete bike clean, you need to concentrate on the parts that will rust/wear the most.  basically the drivetrain.  when you get home, grab a rag and run it over the whole chain.  it will get very dirty, but you need to get as much of the moisture and grit off as you can.  once dry, apply some lube to stop it from rusting.  i have seen rust appear on a chain within half a day of riding in the rain.  usually i am very fastidious with my chain cleaning, but for a midweek quickie, i may just spray it with some wd-40.  after it has been lubed, give it another rub down with a rag.  oil on the outside of your chain just attracts sand (which perth is built on) which will increase the wear on your drivetrain.  for the rest of the bike, i may just wait till it drys and then brush the sand off.  you are now ready for the next earlybird in the rain.

saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning.  please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate.  this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts.  see the previous post for more details.

renae’s race – a regular to the summer criterium calendar, this year we are starting to make some changes to the format of renae’s race. this is the only women’s focused race in the state and we are moving towards it being a fully women’s only event.  this year there is only 1 men’s support race kicking the event off.  it is hoped that numbers allow us to have no men’s support race at all next year.  however, to do this, we need more women to enter this event.  there are 4 grades where there will be independent races (no sharing with other races) as well as a free “come and try” event.  there are a lot of women that ride in our saturday group that would easily be able to race in “d” grade.  check the previous post for more details as links to registration.  help support this event to make sure it grows bigger in the future.  entries close midnight tonight.

thursday training ride – there has been a bit of a discussion lately about the size of the groups for the thursday earlybird.  we think that we have come up with a good way of splitting the groups, but we need you to be honest about your own abilities.  we will be posting some detailed instructions soon, but in the meantime have a look at the strava segment for the ride so you know where you sit.

ride routes – a nice weekend of weather expected so we will need all hands on deck for the saturday ride.  please have a look at the marshalling map so people know where they are meant to meet for their group.  this makes it easier for the ride leaders to give you important instructions.

saturday 18th february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans abernethy 39.96km spr saturday

fast & main groups – maddington 51.87km spr saturday

sunday 19th february

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – coffee ride

short – grnmt goose 65.22km spr sunday

long – grnmt prk mnd wr 93.71km spr sunday

monday 20th february

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

south stock 33.76km spr monday

tuesday 21st february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)

ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

wednesday 22nd february

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

interval training – stock road repeats

thursday 23rd february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm

spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)

ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

friday 24th february

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday training/recovery ride

ride routes 11th – 17th february

if you are new to spr and are a female rider did you know that we have our own spr chicks facebook site.  i don’t get to see what is on it as i don’t have the right qualifications, but you can.  this site lets you know what activities are going on in the club as well as helps to organise some friends to attend events with you.  renae’s race is on next weekend and i am sure that most of the girls in the picture will be racing.  if you want to give it a go, then catch up with one of them at the next ride, or start a conversation on the spr chicks facebook page.  we can guarantee that you will be well supported by the club if you do.

ride leader sponsor – there is no ride leader sponsor for this month.  if you have a business that you think would benefit from advertising on our blog/facebook/emails then get in contact with the club.  all money goes towards providing vouchers for the ride leaders who give their time to ensure that the group is riding to our standard.

tips and tricks – how often have you changed gears on the front and manged to drop the chain.  this happens one of two ways.  firstly when you change from the big to the small and the chain ends up next to the frame, or when you change from small to big and it ends up next to your pedal.  the first thing most people do is stop, get off their bike and use their hand to put it back on the chainring.  if you have momentum (i.e. it didn’t happen going up a hill) then there may not be any reason to get off your bike and even worse, get your hands dirty.  what you need to do is move the gear lever back towards the way it was before the chain came off but remember to keep rotating the cranks.  initially there will be no resistance under your pedals, but soon the chainring will bite and grab the chain.  the tricky bit is the speed of shifting and the speed of pedalling.  if you shift too quickly, then the chain will jam in your deraileur.  if you shift too slow then you will spin until you run out of forward momentum.  also if you pedal too quickly the ring will not manage to grab the chain, to slow and…well you need to experiment with this one.  at the end of the day there are many times that i have dropped my chain during a group ride and it just meant that i missed 4-5 pedal strokes, but did not lose contact with the group.  however, if your chain is regularly coming off, then get your gear limits looked at, or your chain and chainrings may need to be replaced.  the basic rule of thumb is 5,000kms for a chain and cluster and 10,000kms for front chain rings.  best if things are all changed at the same time as they mesh a lot better.

saturday start locations – we have revamped the group start locations on saturday morning.  please have a look at the map so you know where your group will congregate.  this makes it easier for ride leaders to give you a briefing before the ride starts.  see the previous post for more details.

renae’s race – a regular to the summer criterium calendar, this year we are starting to make some changes to the format of renae’s race. this is the only women’s focused race in the state and we are moving towards it being a fully women’s only event.  this year there is only 1 men’s support race kicking the event off.  it is hoped that numbers allow us to have no men’s support race at all next year.  however, to do this, we need more women to enter this event.  there are 4 grades where there will be independent races (no sharing with other races) as well as a free “come and try” event.  there are a lot of women that ride in our saturday group that would easily be able to race in “d” grade.  check the previous post for more details as links to registration.  help support this event to make sure it grows bigger in the future.

ride routes – there is only a slight chance of rain on saturday morning.  after the thur/fri downpours, this should mean that it is relatively dry….hopefully.  however, if it is a bit damp, please be careful and ride to conditions.  this is especially on round-abouts as they are notoriously slippery in the wet.  we had a rider slide out this morning on the main ride as they went in too hot to the final round-about.

saturday 11th february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans shelley 40.59km spr saturday

fast & main groups – south st 51.23km spr saturday

sunday 12th february

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – coffee ride

short – khna weir 72.23km spr sunday

long – can mills peet obs 90.30km spr sunday

monday 13th february

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

south stock 33.76km spr monday

tuesday 14th february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)

ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

wednesday 15th february

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

interval training – stock road repeats

thursday 16th february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm

spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)

ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

friday 17th february

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday training/recovery ride

saturday start locations

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as the club continues to grow and the sun continues to shine, we are getting more and more people attending the saturday morning ride.  we now regularly get about 150 riders and split into 8-9 groups.  the introduction of the ride leader training has formalised how we run the saturday morning groups and there has been a lot of positive feedback around the black jerseys.

however, the shining sun also bring out a lot of other people that want to enjoy the swan river.  as such, there has been a lot more cars and boat trailers filling up the carpark early making it hard for us to organise groups.

to assist in splitting the groups up and staying away from the majority of traffic movements within the carpark, we have developed a new marshalling plan.  this allows us to slowly funnel riders out and gives us more control over splitting group sizes.  it centralises the individual giving the ride briefing and also places the groups in departing order.

please have a look at the map below and when you get there on saturday, position yourself in the area of the group you wish to ride in.  the ride leaders will then come to that area to split if necessary and brief that group before heading out.

 

ride routes 4th – 10th february

so school holidays have finished but don’t let that stop you from taking the kids out on the bike.  the heritage trail is a great place to ride as the dirt is easy and the gradients are not steep.  there are places to see and ice creams to be bought at parkerville store.  let the next generation of spr riders experience the freedom of riding your bike.  you never know that some of their youthful joy may rub off on you and you remember why you started riding in the first place.

ride leader sponsor – there is no ride leader sponsor for this month.  if you have a business that you think would benefit from advertising on our blog/facebook/emails then get in contact with the club.  all money goes towards providing vouchers for the ride leaders who give their time to ensure that the group is riding to our standard.

tips and tricks – when you are riding by yourself, one of the most frustrating things is sitting at a set of traffic lights and watching every other direction get green except you.  understanding how lights are triggered will help you get around this without having to mount the pavement and pretend to be a pedestrian.  as you approach the intersection you will see a number of cut marks in the road surface.  these are the induction loops that are used to sense when a vehicle is waiting.  contrary to some people beliefs, these do not sense the weight of a car, so jumping up and down on your bike will not help.  what they do is sense a change in frequency to the electromagnetic field over the coil of wire.  this is caused by a conductive material being placed above it (i.e. the steel in the bottom of a car).  so firstly, what you need to do is stop your bike on top of the loop.  if you ride around it, it will never know you are there.  there should be enough metal in your cluster and spokes to set it off, but with the new fangled carbon and alloy bikes, there is less and less conductive material.  what you can do is lean you bike to one side to give the loop more metal (chain, rings, cluster) to detect.

ride routes – looks like some nice weather this weekend with southerly winds blowing instead of easterly’s.  take advantage of it and train your little legs off.

saturday 4th february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans reverse river 40.58km spr saturday

fast & main groups – south lake 51.99km spr saturday

sunday 5th february

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – coffee ride

short – brktn weir 82.89km spr sunday

long – carr peet obs 97.72km spr sunday

monday 6th february

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

south stock 33.76km spr monday

tuesday 7th february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)

ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

wednesday 8th february

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

interval training – stock road repeats

thursday 9th february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm

spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)

ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

friday 10th february

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday training/recovery ride

ride routes 28th jan – 3rd feb

so it is now safe to get back onto facebook as the barrage of tour down under posts have ceased.  the club had a very good and visible presence in adelaide and we even saw some screen captures of ritchie porte soloing past a large contingent of club members.  by all accounts it was an awesome with lots of hills, pro-spotting and local racing involved.  there was even a sagan wheelie competition winner.

ride leader sponsor – the ride leader sponsor for january is Stadium Triathlon Club.  perth’s largest triathlon club caters for athletes of all abilities and has training programs to suit all goal.

ride etiquette – on the sunday long hills last week there was an incident that i found a little disturbing.  one of the stronger riders was stung by multiple bees and quickly pulled off the front of the group in obvious distress.  people asked if he was okay and he responded “no”.  however, no-one actually stopped to see if he was alright.  it was a passing motorist that actually stopped to render assistance.  the rider lost vision in one eye for a period of time and this is from someone that isn’t allergic.  now we are not sure if people didn’t stop because he is considered one of the stronger riders and therefore could look after himself.  however, this was not just a case of getting a flat tyre and could have resulted in something much much worse.  these are club group rides and we should be there to look out for everyone in the group.  this happened towards that base of the climb where there would be a regroup at the top.  if you took 10 sec to slow and see if they were alright, you would have caught up quickly.

tips and tricks – i realise that there are always new riders joining the group and also people that are new to cycling.  what we would like to do here is just give a few little helpful hints that people may not know about.  so the first thing is personal hygiene.  not to say that you are stinky, and i know that you would wash your kit after every ride.  however, how often do you wash your helmet and your helmet pads.  these little suckers soak up so much sweat, especially during a summer ride.  often people just let it dry and wear it next time.  you will see salt crystals forming on the straps, but you will not see the bacteria in the inside pads.  giving the whole thing a hose out after every couple of rides is quick to do and will mean that your helmets lasts longer.

ride routes – the “beasterly” winds that make summer unbearable on the bike are back.  as such, we will get an awesome tailwind along benara rd to get us home.  coffee awaits.

saturday 28th january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans benara 39.90km spr saturday

fast & main groups – benara rd 50.76km spr saturday

sunday 29th january

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – coffee ride

short – wlsh weir 62.23km spr sunday

long – wlsh weir kal 101.71km spr sunday

monday 30th january

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

south stock 33.76km spr monday

tuesday 31st january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)

ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

wednesday 1st february

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

interval training – stock road repeats

thursday 2nd february

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm

spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)

ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

friday 3rd february

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday training/recovery ride

ride routes 21st – 27th january

so i am still on holidays and as such i totally forgot what day it was.  a trip to ikea this evening meant that it wasn’t till we were driving home after 8pm that i realised that i still hadn’t done the ride routes. so, ride routes done. there has been a significant change to how we run our rides this past year and the ride leader program is responsible for that.  the members that wear the black jerseys are the ones that you need to look to for guidance and instruction.  please give them your full attention and take on board any advice/instructions they are giving you.  not just for your own safety, but also for those around you.

ride leader sponsor – the ride leader sponsor for january is Stadium Triathlon Club.  perth’s largest triathlon club caters for athletes of all abilities and has training programs to suit all goal.

 

ride routes – with seemingly half the club away at tdu, not sure what to expect for numbers this weekend. we may need to call on reinforcements for ride leaders if we don’t have enough.

saturday 21st january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans shelley 40.59km spr saturday

fast & main groups – hale rd reverse 51.37km spr saturday

sunday 22nd january

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – coffee ride

short – kal goose 67.63km spr sunday

long – haddrill rd 98.55km spr sunday

monday 23rd january

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

south stock 33.76km spr monday

tuesday 24th january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

wednesday 25th january

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

interval training – stock road repeats

thursday 26th january – aussie day

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm

spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

fast and main – public hol 58.97km spr special

friday 27th january

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday training/recovery ride

ride routes 14th – 20th january

commitment.  in patrick’s very short cycling career he has gone from a newbie rider (albeit very strong) to racing for spr, to racing for a team and now racing at a national level.  the individual time trial in buninyong last weekend hosted the cream of the crop of australian cyclists. there is nowhere to hide in the time trial and it easily shows who has it and who doesn’t.  however, as a first outing, patrick did very well coming in 16th overall.  when racing against people like rohan dennis and luke durbridge, you are always going to be up against it, and it clearly shows the difference between the pro’s and those that also hold down a 9-5 job.  it is the commitment to training, however, that gets you to where you need to go.

ride leader sponsor – the ride leader sponsor for january is Stadium Triathlon Club.  perth’s largest triathlon club caters for athletes of all abilities and has training programs to suit all goal.

overtaking and ride etiquette – i received an email that other day from another ride group highlighting a few incidents that have involved our members.  the main issues seems to be ones that we need to discuss on a reoccurring basis.  firstly, when over taking a slower group, please make sure that you are well clear before you cut back in.  be aware that the riders that you are overtaking will suddenly get a draft and may increase their speed a bit.  best bet is for the whole group to stay clear for 2-3 bike lengths before pulling back in.  also, be smart about how you overtake.  if it is a large group, make sure that you go single file as the risk of hitting traffic islands or oncoming traffic increases the longer it takes to get around.  secondly, when the group ride goes up stock road and other climbs you need to stick to your own side of the road.  i know that you are such a great climber that you need to get past all these other slooow people, but you need to do it in a safe manner.  there is no “king of the mountains” jersey for you at the top, so don’t take unnecessary risks.  you don’t need to go 4 wide up a hill and have people facing oncoming traffic, just overtake when it is safe.

ride leader program – final chance for any expressions of interest to any members that want to be trained up as ride leaders.  places are limited, and if we get more than we need there will be another course run later in the year.  see the previous post for more details.

ride routes – a hot weekend ahead.  be prepared.  know the routes so you don’t have to ride further than you need to.

saturday 14th january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans abernethy 39.96km spr saturday

fast & main groups – ridgehill rd 49.58km spr saturday

sunday 15th january

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – coffee ride

short – grnmt goose 65.22km spr sunday

long – grnmt prk mnd wr 93.71km spr sunday

monday 16th january

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

south stock 33.76km spr monday

tuesday 17th january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

wednesday 18th january

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

interval training – stock road repeats

thursday 19th january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm

spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

friday 20th january

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday training/recovery ride

ride routes 7th – 13th january

triathlete fish. great swim, ordinary bike, not much of a run.

it has been pretty quiet around xmas this year.  lots of riding and there has been people out everywhere, but not much actually going on.  it has been great.  many people had the xmas/new years week off and managed to crack out their strava festive 500.  some pretty big numbers out there but it was when i sorted it by club that i got the biggest surprise.  JJ cracked 1500kms in the week!  i am guessing that there was a fault in the aggregation of k’s as she pretty much doubled elar’s feeble 845kms.  however, massive props to club treasurer daniel harvey as he hit 765kms after a pretty hard year on (mostly off) the bike.  challenges are a great way to stay motivated if you do not have any short term goals, like racing.  but challenges can come in all sorts of forms.  kilometres and ascent are just two metrics that strava use, but setting your own pb on a segment or making sure that you stay 2 sec in front of your mate on the leaderboard are also good motivators.  you can also challenge yourself to be a ride leader this year…

ride leader sponsor – the ride leader sponsor for january is Stadium Triathlon Club.  perth’s largest triathlon club caters for athletes of all abilities and has training programs to suit all goal.

which-way-to-gowhere are we riding today – please have a quick look at this post as there is some important safety info about why we publish ride routes before the weekend.

ride leader program – expressions of interest are now open for our first round of ride leader training.  after the success of the pilot program, we are now looking for more people to step up and be trained so that they can lead a group.  see the previous post for more details.

untitled-7licences/memberships – we now have 317 members so we didn’t quite lose the 150+ that was predicted.  it is still a fair way off the 435 that we finished the year with, so there are quite a few people out there riding without any insurance.  this means that if you have a crash on a group ride, or even by yourself, there is nothing covering you for out of pocket expenses.  see the previous post for more details.

ride routes – no public holidays this week and back to normal for most people. some mild weather predicted for saturday so we should see a few more new years resolutioners out with us.  make sure you give any new comers as much support as possible so that the new years res becomes a lifestyle change for the better.

saturday 7th january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans mosman 40.39km spr saturday

fast & main groups – shelley & mosman 50.14km spr saturday

sunday 8th january

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – coffee ride

short – brktn weir 82.89km spr sunday

long – f’berg urch obs 96.16km spr sunday

monday 9th january

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

south stock 33.76km spr monday

tuesday 10th january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

wednesday 11th january

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

interval training – stock road repeats

thursday 12th january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm

spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

friday 13th january

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday training/recovery ride

ride routes 31st dec – 6th jan

Car vs Cyclist on High Road in Riverton. Major Crash in attendence.
30/03/15
Picture : Lincoln Baker/WA News.

happy new year.  even though we don’t start the new year till next week, i want to get the year off to a good start.  not necessarily a positive message of just how great cycling can be, but rather getting people into the correct frame of mind so that we all make it through 2017 unscathed.  some of you may not know that our own claire tyrrell is a journalist with the west and recently wrote an article about the introduction of safe passing laws in other states.  now wa is not going to introduce the laws, but has instead opted for an education program to make people aware of the current law.  road safety minister liza harvey said it was an offence for drivers to drive too close to cyclists, but the definition of a “safe distance” was up to police.  so, what we need to do as cyclists, is not take anything for granted.  some of the feedback that claire received after the article was published was generally along the lines of what we expected. “the roads are for cars”, “you don’t pay rego” and “if you get hit, then it is your own fault”.  charming, i know.  there seems to be no recognition that a person on a bike is actually a person.  so what can we do???  well ride smart.  be spatially aware.  don’t put yourself in dangerous situations no matter how “right” you are.  being spatially aware is the most important point as it allows you to make decisions before it becomes dangerous.  an example of this is coming into a roundabout, don’t wait till the last moment to check the traffic behind you and try to claim some space.  keep checking as you approach it and when there is a break, take the lane so cars don’t try to squeeze you into the gutter.  i know that this takes a lot of the responsibility away from the drivers but the recent case where it was determined that the death of a cyclist was not the drivers fault, or the cyclists fault shows that drivers are not likely to cop much of a punishment anyway.  stay safe by starting off safe.

ride leader sponsor – the dr7ride leader sponsor for december is Dr7 Physiotherapy and Podiatry. Located within Dr7 Medical Centre in Yokine, their experienced physios, podiatrists and massage therapists provide a wide range of services and treatments to help optimise your health and well-being.

which-way-to-gowhere are we riding today – please have a quick look at this post as there is some important safety info about why we publish ride routes before the weekend.

blazing-sungroup ride summer start times – there have been a few request lately in regards to starting some of the rides earlier over summer.  this comes up every year and so we will give the same answer.  no.  the rides are at a set time so that there is consistency throughout the entire year.  we have people that come and go over the year and we would like to make sure that everyone know what time the rides leave.  also over the weekend, there are lots of people that do the earlybird as well as the main ride.  if we bring the main ride forward to 6am, then we need to bring the earlybird forward to 4:30am. the other complication is we would need to determine when the rides are summer time starts and when they change back.  anyway, the formula has worked well so far and no-one has needed to be hospitalised for heat exhaustion.  just be aware of the predicted weather conditions and plan accordingly.

ride leader program – expressions of interest are now open for our first round of ride leader training.  after the success of the pilot program, we are now looking for more people to step up and be trained so that they can lead a group.  see the previous post for more details.

untitled-7licences/memberships – as of last week we have 435 financial members.  in 2 days time we will lose 168 as people come to the end of their membership.  the majority of those will be race licences that expire on the 31st dec.  however, regardless of whether you are racing or not, having an expired licence means that you have no insurance.  this means that if you have a crash on a group ride, or even by yourself, there is nothing covering you for out of pocket expenses.  also, it disappoints me when our membership dips below 300.  see the previous post for more details.

ride routes – as we continue our run of public holidays, be aware that there may be a bit of extra glass on the roads on monday morning.  some people just can’t be trusted and this is why we can’t have nice things.

saturday 31st december

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional – trans canning vale 42.34km spr saturday

fast & main groups – maddington 51.87km spr saturday

sunday 1st january – new years day

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

development group – coffee ride

short – wlsh weir 62.23km spr sunday

long – wlsh obs kal 90.32km spr sunday

monday 2nd january – public holiday

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

south stock 33.76km spr monday

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

fast and main – public hol 58.97km spr special

tuesday 3rd january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

wednesday 4th january

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

interval training – stock road repeats

thursday 5th january

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm

spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)

ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am

development group – interval training kings park

friday 6th january

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday training/recovery ride