Tag Archives: training

SPR Ride Leader Program – Call for Expressions of Interest

SPR’s training rides set us apart as a cycling Club; we are one of the few clubs in Australia that is not affiliated with a bike shop facilitating a broad range of opportunities for people to cycle in a group every day. Since its inception in 2009, a key feature of the feedback the Club receives is the need to improve the way our group rides are led. With more consistent, trained and visible ride leaders, the result will be safer, more enjoyable ride experiences for all.

To this end, the Club developed a ride leader development program, with the objectives of:

  1. developing SPR ride leaders’ knowledge and skills of both ride leadership and core cycling skills
  2. building the confidence of ride leaders to ensure ride consistency and enhanced decision making during group rides
  3. growing the pool of capable, confident ride leaders

We are now seeking Expressions of Interest from SPR members who would like to be part of our second public Ride Leader Development Program. The Program consists of three separate but related components:

  1. Theory: covers the core knowledge and skills required to be an effective ride leader for group rides across the Main, Transition and Development rides conducted by SPR (+/- 2hrs personal time)
  2. Skills Sessions: out on the bike, learning all about what it takes to be a good ride leader as well as having the opportunity to practice your skills and ideas in a “safe” environment. (3 x 2.5 hours sessions)
  3. Ride Leader Observations: This will involve you being the ride leader for up to three (3) separate SPR training rides with an observer to determine how you go about deploying your skills and knowledge in the “real world” environment. (2 – 3 ‘normal’ training rides, weekdays or weekends as required)

As a participant, you will get:

  1. New Skills: You will learn new skills and knowledge about cycling as well as ride leadership.
  2. Kudos: Be part of the “qualified” ride leader team out on the road.
  3. Stuff.Upon successful completion, Program participants will receive a custom SPR Ride Leader jersey to be worn whenever you are leading a SPR ride.
  4. On Going Development: Access to private discussion groups; coaching and skills development; ride-leader only events.

In return, once you have completed the Program, we will expect your commitment to the following:

  1. Lead a minimum of 2 rides* per month throughout the year
  2. Be a role model for ride behavior on ALL rides you participate in
  3. Assist in the recruitment and mentorship of future ride leaders
  4. Assist in training/observing people for their readiness to take on the role of Ride Leader.

*All prospective ride leaders should note that, from time to time, they will need be called on to lead rides of a lower skill &/or fitness level than their own. This means putting the interests of the Club and other riders before their own.

We are now seeking expressions of interest from SPR members who regularly ride with the Main 2, 3 & 4 as well as Transition groups. We currently have a good number of riders from the Main 1 cohort; we really need to boost our numbers further down the line. While the ability to ride at or above the level of the group you are leading is important, just as critical is the constructive attitude and sound communication skills that are brought to the role. Empathy, care and the ability to encourage others is essential to the success of the ride leader.

In the event we are over-subscribed, the T&D sub-committee will use the quality & content of the EOI’s as well as the need to balance the mix of ride leaders to select the required number of participants. Anyone who is not selected shouldn’t be discouraged; it’s a numbers thing (us) rather than a capability thing (you).

As part of your EOI, we’d like you to outline:

  1. what you hope to get out of being a SPR ride leader
  2. why you feel you will make a good contributor to ride leader team
  3. which SPR group you usually ride with (M2, M3, M4, T), and
  4. your statement of commitment to the role of ride leader in terms of time to complete the Program and to lead the requisite number of rides per month

We anticipate kicking the Program off on the 27th of October and completing it by mid-December.

If interested, please submit your EOI to development@southperthrouleurs.com.au  before 12 October 2018. If you have any questions about the Program before submitting your EOI, please send them through to development@southperthrouleurs.com.au and we will get back to you ASAP.

SPR Training and Development Sub-Committee

new (maybe old) training sessions

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after a very brief stint of “spin with kat”, we now have “spin with fynn” back up and running instead.  the night has changed to monday, but the venue is still the same.  bring your bike, trainer and running shoes…and any bad jokes.

  • monday 6:30pm under the narrows (south perth side) for 1hr of spin and perhaps a bit of a run.

as we make our way towards the end of the year, the focus is starting to head back towards next years UCI race.  as such we are reinstating the UCI wednesday morning ride.  this will conflict with the current ciao ride at 6:00am, but will cater for a different crowd.  ciao will be flat and fast, uci will be hilly and fast.

  • wednesday 5:30am under the narrows (city side) for 3 laps of the uci course in kings park.

as seen in a previous post, there is a main group ride (recovery ride) on thursday morning starting just after the fast ride.  this ride can also pick up any dropped riders from the fast ride as it will take the same course.

  • thursday 5:30am under the narrows (city side) for a lap of the river including cottesloe.

saturday morning early lap – expressions of interest

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after the success of the tuesday morning double, i am toying with the idea of setting up a 5:30am start under the narrows for those that want some extra km’s on saturday morning.  taking the same route as the tuesday morning ride, this will aim to finish at coode st before 7:00am where we can then kick off with the normal saturday morning rides.  no guarantee that i will be there every week, but just looking to see if it is worth setting up.  this way you can get an extra 50km’s without having to get home late.  comments please.

Fast Group Ride Report Saturday 17 July 2010

Training ride report by Jarrad.

The funny thing about this time of year inevitably means that, due to rain cold no light or whatever, peoples training regimes seem to go wanting. That’s not to say that i haven’t heard the odd “i haven’t been on the bike for XX many days/hours/seconds/weeks/years” during the summer months, but it seems a phrase oft stated when the weather turns sour. Either way, all excuses mean nought when you’re out on the road, and i appauded the 10 or so others who rolled out in the relatively nice weather for a good old fast group training ride.

Rolling out down to Shelley, the small group were happy to sit in with a few at the front pulling along at a brisk, but comfortable pace, and in no time, we were into the now traditional leg-warmer along Shelley. After a few confusing roll throughs, order was established, with El Prez, Capt Poser, Dannyboy, and two or so others (my memory for names is shocking) pulling the bunch along. After maybe 2 or 3 kilometres, the roll through was appearing to waver, and once the Flying Fynn made his way to the front, both he and the Captain, moved away from the remainder of the bunch, and onto the turnoff.

Regrouping, and now with warmed up legs, the group moved onto Leach Hwy, which is always a fun hitout through the rollers. The Flying Fynn and El Prez seemingly happy to work at the front for a while, a roll through was eventually established, with all happy to share the workload.

Perhaps symptomatic of the aforementioned lack of training, once the roads pointed upwards, the rolling stopped and the group moved in single file, alowing for maybe one or two to work at the front, however a few moments of respite was given due to traffic lights. Pulling away from a set of lights towards Wilagee, the group began to head up one of the more strenuous hills, and BANG! The all too familiar sound of bike bits breaking rang aloud. Fortunately it didn’t ring to the tune of ‘Carbon to asphalt’, more a high pitched twang. Stopping and surveying the damage, one of Dannyboys spokes decided it had enough from the ‘extreme torque’ applied at the front wheel, and so his ride was restricted to a meander.

  Rolling onwards, the unsympathetic group started to finally open up a little over the ‘lumps’ (cannot call them hills), and with the Flying Fynn heading up the group, Capt Poser decided enough of this tempo riding and decided to up the pace a little. With the bunch spread thinner than Peter Garrets hair across Leach Hwy, the Poser and friends decided that the original (i.e. forgot to turn) pln was too short, missing the turn and heading down to Freo. Due to both the confusion and  a near-death incident involving a Jeep, we regrouped and rolled on through Freo and back over the river. Pressing onwards, and perhaps (ever so slightly) upwards, the peloton was content to casually ride along Stirling Hwy, and up towards Mosman Park, however this was to change.

With Bec and El Prez leading the group along heading towards the water tower, The Flying Fynn took the opportunity to attack, taking Capt Poser and one or two others with him. By the time they reached the Water tower at Mosman Park, it was the two of them taking turns with Steve (I think that’s his name) hammering away to catch up.

As the three riders now descended back down along the waters edge, and begun the next climb, The Flying Fynn took off again, this time leaving his two echapee mates scrambling to keep up. Pushing back down to the highway, Fynn was held up by a red light, thus allowing the escape of three to reform. As the lights went green, a quick look over the shoulder revealed that the rest of the peloton was making its way to Stirling Hwy, but in vain, as the lights were to play against them today. The rest of the peloton weren’t to be seen by the front three until the coffee shop…

The three eschapees then rolled through the familiar territory of Claremont and Nedlands together, working quite well to keep the pace up, although The Flying Fynn and Steve were now showing better legs than the Captain. Descending down back to Stirling Hwy, an agreement was made not to ‘sprint’ as such, but to ride out to the finish.

Pressing on to Mounts Bay Rd, the three took turns at the front, with The Flying Fynn finally jetting off the front towards the end, with Steve in second, and Poser third, probably an accurate depiction of the pace levels of each of the three riders.

All up a decent ride, if a little on the slower side, but at least it didn’t rain and wasn’t too cold either.

Captain Poser.

tuesday and thursday training rides

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as the club develops we are finding that the training rides have needed to develop with it.  as the seasons change we are also finding we need to adapt a little more. 

as such the tuesday and thursday development group (novice) training rides have moved their starting point to under the narrows at 6:00am.  there may be other groups starting there as well, but if you see a big group of testosteroned filled angry looking riders, there is a pretty good chance that it is not our group.  look for the smaller group with a lot less testosterone.  the reason for the location change is that heading into winter, it is just too damn dark inside kings park.  there is little street lighting and the ones that they have on fraisers ave only seem to be on in the evening.  that coupled with the amount of branches etc that can be blown onto the road at night makes for an unsafe riding environment.  the group will be doing laps around the outside of kings park instead where it is double lane and well lit.

the main and fast groups on tuesday and thursday are also in need of a change.  these are the ones that start at 5:30 and will remain at this time.  at the moment, the thursday group works, because people know what to expect and deal with it accordingly.  the main group that follows the fast group should also head the same way through cott so that they can sweep up any of the riders that may fall off the back.  basically there doesn’t seem to be a transitional group that leaves from there now.  most of the riders have progressed to the main 2 group if not the main 1 group.  as such, the fast group will be fast, and the second group will be main 2 speed.  this allows any main 1 riders an opportunity to test themselves a bit with the faster group, but can be picked up if they get dropped.

tuesday, i want to run under the same format.  when we first started the tuesday ride, it was aimed towards the intermediate/main group.  nice and easy and just giving them a chance to get a weekday ride in.  we started with one or two riders and progressed from there (a couple of lonely rides by myself).  however, since then, it has grown quite a lot and as such a lot of the fast group riders now use that as an extra ride during the week.  i asked some people the last few rides whether we should split the group or not.  the consensus was not to split as it seemed to be going ok.  however, most of the people i asked were going ok.  it was the others that were spat out the back after the regroup point at mosman park that i am concerned about.  last tuesday i think we had about 8 or so off the back by the time we hit raffles.  that is pretty much a group in itself.

so, as i said, i would like to run the tuesday the same as the thursday.  both groups do the same course through mosman and peppy grove and the main starts 30 sec after the fast group.  expect the fast group to be fast and as such, this may mean that the main group is much bigger than the original 8 or so.  the group in general has been getting faster and faster.  we kept putting rules in place that kept getting broken.  first it was no attacks, then it was attack on mosman hill then regroup.  then it was no roll throughs, soon it became a standard to roll through on burke drive.  i have been getting comments over the last few weeks/months about the pace and lack of control, so lets just split the ride and see how we go.

you are on your own tomorrow as i am out with a cold, so decide whether you will split this week or give it a week.  feedback would be appreciated via the comments.

peter

new training rides

we have added a couple more training rides to the list on the front page.

saturday morning novice ride– we have been getting a few enquiries in to the level of skill needed to ride with the group and we recognise that since we don’t have a novice group, it is hard to develop new riders.  starting this saturday, a novice group will be leaving from the coode st carpark at 7:00am.  this group aims to develop group riding skills such as holding a wheel, braking, and rolling through.  if you know of someone that may be interested, let them know.  if they want any further information, they can send an email through.

tuesday morning training ride– as the thursday morning ride is often (always) a smashfest, we have decided to make a tuesday ride available to all, not just the fast group.  this ride will do the fairly standard loop of the river (dalkeith, mosman, pt walter, applecross) and will include a number of regroup points.  this will not be a fast pace affair and will just offer another training ride opportunity during the week.  starting at 5:30am under the narrows (city side) we would aim to be back in south perth by 7:00am so that those that need to, can head to work.  lights essential.

wednesday evening spin class– for those of you that are not aware, ryan has been leading a group for spin classes on a wednesday night for some time now.  originally part of the city tri-club training, it now seems that it is primarily the spr crew that are meeting for “spin with fynn”.  starting at 6:30pm under the narrows (south perth side) and going for an hour, there is also a run afterwards for those that still pretend to be triathletes.  you will need your own bike trainer.

Thursday Ride

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a few riders have been asking about the thursday ride the “a team ” do, and are interested in participating, however believe this may be beyond them. so for those looking for a solid hit out during the week spr presents “the b team thursday training ride”.

the “a” team average mid to high 30kms/h, the aim for the “b” team will be mid 30’s with a focus on rolling through. there will be working sections followed by recovery and no-one will be left behind.

with a 5:30am start under the north side of the narrows bridge the aim will be to be back at the canning bridge by 7 am.

the route will be the classic river loop (reverse of route 01, saturday rides) with the addition of a pass of the “col la majestic point” and the possibility of an extension down to mt henry which can be agreed on the day.

for those that have the time we will stop at atomic cafe for a morning constitutional post ride

your guide for this week will be

me (chris), please post a comment if you would like to join me. and don’t be afraid of a little wet weather.  5:30 is now dark thanks to daylight savings, so lights are essential.

thursday 2nd oct – spr training ride

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Ride report by Nick.

 

The misty rain cleared into heavy downpours so Nick took it easy around the roads to Christchurch, albeit with a quick dash to follow on the wheel of Nick who was responding to a rush of blood by Nick. At Christchurch the group all agreed with Nick, that maybe a change of route was called for, so a mad climb up to Eric Street ensued with Nick taking line honours before resting in the pack with Nick.

 

Port Beach Road saw the first rider stretched out into a fine pencil like moustache under the ongoing pressure of Nick on the front, who then exploded with a degree of skill not seen since Floyd Landis, the easing pace then allowed Nick to take the sprint points.

 

By this stage the heavens had opened up for the twentieth time, and Nick took shelter on the open road, although a slight tailwind with some horizontal rain made life easier to keep the relentless pace up to the last few metres along Burke Drive. Nick looked like he was down for the count but an inspection in the long hall of mirrors saw a recovery, not seen since Floyd Landis.

 

Majestic Point was the next testing point, after a determined effort by Nick to make a break, but thankfully Nick dragged him in to allow Nick to pip him on the last rise. Due to the horrid conditions and uncoordinated teamwork, Nick led the group back to South Perth.

other training – track

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so anyway, in my quest of being a better biker, i have started going to the velodrome on a tuesday night. it is a scary experience the first time you head out there, but there are people to help the novices along and pretty soon you are scooting along on the banking.

it is good to develop a proper spin to your cycling and also some sense of where you bike is sitting in the group (as you have no brakes and can’t stop pedalling). i seriously have not had to concentrate so much whilst riding for such a long time. oh yeah, and it’s fast. so fast that you are just a blur on the photo.

it is pretty cheap ($10 plus bike hire which i think is $5) and goes from 6pm to about 8pm.
you just need to bring a helmet and pedals/shoes..maybe some bike clothes unless you want to do the whole world naked cycling thing.

there are quite few people that turn up and it caters for all abilities so i encourage you all to turn up and have a go.
peter