the dreaded sickness has descended upon our house and i have had two days off this week. fortunately, i have not been sick, but the rest of the family has been suffering through temperatures of 40 deg so i have been home playing nurse. my cycling is almost back to the level it was 2 years ago and i am pretty happy with it. strava records from 2011 are being broken and i am finally keeping up with the fast group. it is pretty much guaranteed that i will be struck down at any moment.
ride leaders – there are only 2 ride leader signed up for this weekend. the club needs you to step up. put your name down here.
odd socks day – tomorrow (4th) is odd socks day. mental illness is so prevalent in australia that statistics indicate around one in two of us will experience a mental illness in our lifetime, and one in five of us will experience a mental illness in any year. odd socks day…because anyone can have an odd day, is a light-hearted approach to reminding people that anyone, at any time, can have an odd day. stigma can have a devastating impact on the lives of people with mental illness and their families, friends and carers. it’s still one of the greatest barriers to people seeking help and recovery. there are people i know within the club that do suffer from mental illness, so support this cause as much as you can. if not at work, the friday earlybird ride would be a good place to start. any of you guys that wear the bright fluro 4shaw socks, this can be an opportunity to show off your vast collection.
spr survey – let us know what you like or don’t like about the club. this guides the committee in making it’s decisions without having to keep asking you all the time. (there should have been a question about bottle colours). head to the survey monkey site via the previous post. survey closes this weekend.
spr drink bottles – orders are open for the new drink bottles and will be closed on the 20th october. get your orders in. more info here.
breakfast – club breakfast is on next weekend after the saturday ride. you need to put your name into the comments of the previous post so we know how much to cater for.
armadale duathlon – for those that like to bookend their ride with a run, the armadale duathlon is on in october, as per the previous post. spr is looking at having a presence at this event, so if you are interested, sign up and let us know via the blog comments.
ladies ride – 5:30am monday morning under the narrows cityside. ladies ride around the river. low key ride to encourage more girls to come riding.
kids ride – usually we have a kids ride on the first saturday of the month. there will not be one this month for two reasons. firstly there is the breakfast after the saturday ride, and secondly we haven’t really been getting many down to it. if i get any feedback that this ride is wanted, we can put it on again.
south perth council elections – our own rob ramsden is up for election in the ward of moresby. if you are in this area, vote for him so we can get a bit of representation at the local government level. see the previous post.
nutrition survey – funnily enough, one of the results from our club survey is the average age of our members. since we have quite a few over the age of 40, someone from the university of griffith has a survey for further research in sports nutrition for older adults. if you are over 40 and do regular exercise, take the time to fill in this survey.
bali cycling – heading to bali??? there are options for cycling. see the previous post for more details.
beginners skills course – new to riding and want to upskill before heading out with a group??? there is a beginners course being held mid october to help you out. more info on the previous post.
state team time trial championships – teams of 4 (men) or 3 (women) competing to get a state title. put your name down on the previous post if interested.
state senior graded road championships – as per the previous post, we are co-hosting this event at the start of november. let us know if you are available to help out during the day, setting up, line judging, refreshment selling, lead/support car driving. or even let us know if you are racing.
spr watertower challenge – it’s on again and we already have a couple of teams registered. go to the event page for more info. download the flyer and email it to all your cycling friends. this is not just for spr members but open to the general public.
ride routes – just a bit of feedback from the public holiday ride this last week. there were a few of the regular and quite experienced riders that were trying to control and split the group for safety reasons. these were strong riders that were trying to slow the group down while some inexperienced riders were riding past them to get to the front group. the public holiday ride is not split based on fast, main 1 etc so the front group is not the fastest and guess what, you aren’t that good. it wasn’t until someone actually lost it and yelled at the group that people started to listen. we split the group for safety reasons. bigger groups get split at the lights (so people try to get through), have more trouble rolling though, and are more susceptible to have accidents. when someone is taking control of a group, give them your respect and listen to them or step up yourself and help out.
saturday 5th october
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 – rebold & cottesloe 50.91km spr saturday
sunday 6th october
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
short – khna weir 72.23km spr sunday
long – khna can mills 94.55km spr sunday
one of the things from the blog last week was how important our club’s ride leaders are; these are the people who volunteer to take responsibility for the group they are leading. their role is to ensure that the ride is safe, fun and inclusive. they do this by managing the pace of the group, managing regroup points as well as ensuring everyone knows what’s expected before heading out on the ride. we respect that everyone comes to ride with us for different reasons, so with a few simple guidelines and active support out on the road, everyone should have a great time. demonstrating how important our ride leaders are is captured in the weekly blog’s feedback comment from ivan (aka pricklymoses) regarding last week’s main 2 ride leaders, carlos and meg: “m2 ride with carlos and megan today was an absolute pleasure. everybody was clear what was expected of them, pace was moderated to be just right with an acceptable average of 30.5 and the two leaders were real active looking after their charges. well done guys!” as i mentioned last week, a bit of positive feedback will go a long way – how will you deliver yours? 
