so, lately i have been doing some cross-training on a tuesday and thursday mornings. i struggled with the decision to do this as the 2 rides on these days are the most popular and therefore often need the most direction. i thought that being popular, there will be enough “old hands” along on the ride to keep it all together. the stories i am hearing back are not really filling me with confidence. a couple of weeks ago there was a crash on the thursday fast ride. now the crash was half way back so the front guys were not directly involved, but half the group just kept on riding. i am sure that you can hear the sound of metal and carbon on the pavement and call up the road to stop. our group stops whenever there is an accident. it is not a race, you do not win points, we stop to make sure that there are not serious injuries. even worse in the guy that caused the crash, didn’t actually crash himself and also didn’t stop. it is not just the thursday fast ride either. i have heard (and seen strava/facebook comments) that the tuesday small chain ring ride is getting smashed apart. we have talked many a time about doing a fast group on tuesday and the consensus is that people would rather do an easier ride. well this is also being smashed apart to the detriment of riders that are being shelled out the back. there are fast sections and regroup points on that ride. save your ego for those bits and keep the group together the rest of the time. the reason our rides have continued to attract new people are the fact that they are organised, safe, friendly and inclusive. that means YOU also have to be organised, safe, friendly and inclusive. we do have enough “old hands” on our regular rides. be vocal and let people know when things are getting out of control, especially those people that don’t read the blog and are not members, but still come on our rides.
club agm and breakfast – our club agm will be held on the 16th march after the saturday morning ride. to assist in getting numbers to the agm, we will also be having our quarterly breakfast. check the previous post here and make sure you put your name in the comments so we know how many to cater for.
giro d’perth – a different type of event to help get your family involved in cycling. more info here.
next kit order – kit orders open this weekend and close midnight, 10th march. watch the blog for further details.
ride routes – lots and lots of rides on this weekend. kids ride is on so make sure you get your kids down to the boatshed for a 9:30am ride. uci at 6:00am plus one at 7:00am that will meet up with the earlier ride.
saturday 2nd march
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – spr earlybird ride
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 6:00am
uci training – spr saturday (uci perry lakes)
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)
transitional – spr saturday 39.04km (benara rd)
fast & main groups – spr saturday 50.04km (hale & ridge hill)
uci training – spr saturday (uci perry lakes)
ride starts behind boatshed cafe (coode st carpark) at 9:30am
focus kids group – ride along bike path to causeway and return (7kms)
sunday 3rd march
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 63.49km (gooseberry & kalamuda)
long – spr sunday 100.45km (darlington & mundaring)
monday 4th march
ride starts under the narrows (south perth side) at 5:30am
early lap – spr monday 33.72km (south & freo)
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
trans & main group – spr public holiday 59.35km (shelley & freo)
😮 didn’t stop for a crash!! That’s terrible *shakes head… On a cheery note the slow Tuesday and Thursdays are going great!! Good chats, fast bits, regroups 🙂 love it
Aaah. Rumours and stories.
Always better than the truth.
I wasn’t even on that ride so I can’t be the “old hand” you mentioned.
Yeah but I have seen the voodoo dolls in your back pockets
After spending a couple of weeks with the Development and Transitional groups I have a few observations. The most obvious one is that SPR need more of the experienced members of the club to help out with these groups and pass their cycling experience on to the newcomers. There are more and more people joining the club and if we can provide them with the right guidance from the get-go then when they start riding in your Fast/Main1/Main2 rides we will all be that much better and safer for it.
A couple of us will be heading out into the hills at 6am on Monday morning from Coode St. I was thinking about doing the 3 dams route as a training ride for 5 dams. Is anyone interested in coming along? It will be 150km so bring whatever food or drinks that you require. Regroups & water stops as required.
This could be a possibility for me. I’ll need to check with She Who Must Be Obeyed first though.
Richard, just back from 150+km hills ride today so won’t be doubling up tomorrow now.
I’m interested in this but I cant do the full ride. I’ll do up to Mundaring weir and then go back home.
Hi Richard.
I’m interested in joining you if that’s ok. I’ve been a member for a while but don’t do many of the SPR group rides so I don’t think we have met.
I’d be happy to just cruise and get it done, and have breaks as per consensus as well.
Regards,
David
Ok see you at 6
Hi Richard,
Apologies for late notice, but I need to pull out of the 3dams ride. Just got back from the pemberton classic and I need to do a shorter ride in the morning.
Have a good ride.
Cheers
David
Well put, Pete. How anyone can cause a crash and not stop to aid those less fortunate is beyond comprehension! Perhaps a friendly reminder to each of the groups, prior to departing, is in order?
Safe riding to all.
Any thoughts of splitting the Public Ride up into more bite-sized manageable pieces.
I have ridden with and be involved with SPR since it’s founding and as such have immense loyalty and pride in out group. However, an incident in this morning’s 2nd Main 1 group ride has left me dumbfounded as to the ethos and mentality of at least one of our riders!!!
After turning into James St at the Woodbridge Tavern and getting onto Guildford Rd the group began to get back into formation and pick up speed. I moved up to fill a gap and was 2nd wheel on the outside. The rider in front of me then surged and pulled out and rolled over to the inside. Assuming we were rolling through I moved up the outside, but as he had taken off so hard, I struggled to get past him. I will happily admit here that I am not at my fittest and not always as strong as other Main 1 riders. Stuck at the front on the outside I decided my best course of action was to ask him to ease up a little. He looked at me and retorted “This is not Main 2 you know!”. Surprised, I said that I just wanted to roll across and get off the outside. His reply… “NO, I’m NOT going to ease up!”
I don’t know who you are, and If I had seen you at coffee I would have taken this up with you face to face… YOUR ATTITUDE SUCKS!!! You do not belong in SPR if you think that consideration to other riders and group mentality comes second place to how fast you can go on a Saturday ride!
PS To the 1st Main 1 group… Since when do we NOT regroup after Ridgehill Rd???
Whinge over now 🙁
such an appalling attitude from a so called spr “member”. If I find out who the culprit is, I will have a few words to say to him myself! a real shame considering friday’s morning ride was pretty much “text book” with everyone staying together and strong riders like Jason doing a great job of helping out those who were struggling. It would be appreciated if riders would note the regroup points on each ride and use them for that purpose!
Hi Lorraine
Firstly I just wanted to apologise if I’ve come over a bit abrupt yesterday. Its not my intention to offend anyone in our club and I will try my best to be more courteous in the future.
Secondly I’m surprised by the harsh reaction given the nature of the incident. In basic terms what happened was –
1. You asked me to ease up
2. I responded by confirming this was a main 1 ride in case you thought it was main 2.
3. You then said something that I couldn’t make out
4. I confirmed that I had no intention of easing up
That was it. No big deal. Yet somehow my attitude sucks. I’m confused.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I am 100% in favour of following club etiquette. Today’s incident occurred at the start of one of the fast sections of the ride and to quote Pete’s comment in his Thursday post regarding the Tuesday ride –
“there are fast sections and regroup points on that ride. save your ego for those bits and keep the group together the rest of the time”.
I have no problem keeping the group together the rest of the time. As a matter of fact, today I was the first to pullover for the ridgehill rd re-group. You might recall Lorraine that shortly before our incident, I was slowing the front of the group down to allow a break to catch up prior to increasing the pace at the start of James St/Guildford rd. In your post you claim that –
“The rider in front of me then surged and pulled out and rolled over to the inside”
Surged?? I was doing less than 45 on flat road with a tail wind in a fast section of the ride. Guildford rd is comparable to other fast sections of our rides, e.g. Burke Drive, Benara Rd, Victoria Ave etc. This is why I was shocked when you asked me to ease up. If we were riding a slow section, I promise you that I most certainly would have slowed down. Not that I was going fast anyway!
Something to consider – if someone is intent on riding particularly fast, what’s the harm in letting that person ride off from the front? In our example, you could have set your preferred pace and the riders in the group could then make a choice between (a) following you or (b) chasing some crazy guy up the road. No need for any nasty posts and Lennie is spared from cracking the whip 🙂
I’m caught between a rock & a hard place with group cycles at the moment because if I ride with the fast group, I usually get dropped. On the other hand, I ride with main 1 and people tell me to slow down. What do I do? If anyone out there can offer a suggestion – I’m all ears. I’m more than happy to ride in an alternate group to main 1 if that is what the club would prefer. I really enjoy riding with SPR and would very much like to keep the peace.
FYI Lorraine (& Lennie), I’ll be going to Public holiday ride tomorrow. Look for me near the front along Shelley and Dalkieth :). More than happy to have a chat.
Cheers
Craig
Well Craig it seems you have a different point of view so we will have to agree to differ…
As others have said, at that point we were riding as a GROUP and it was not an area generally considered to be a fast segment.
I was finding it hard going on the front… I asked for some consideration… You looked me in the eye, flatly refused and hung me out to dry.
In my opinion it was not an attitude that I think reflects the ethos of SPR.
I wasn’t there! I didn’t do it!
Lotsa luv,
main2 craigd
I wasn’t there! I didn’t do it!
Lotsa luv,
main2 craigd
are you sure?? (shaking finger ..)
I was in bed matey!
Hahahaha the “other” Craig 🙂 I will vouch that u are a delightful cycling companion 🙂
I’m sitting here with a box of tissues so I’ll comment from the sidelines this weekend (I have a cold):
Craig Denham – If you are getting dropped by Fast group and you don’t like it, you need to do your own training to handle the intensity – riding with Main1 is not going to make you that (much) stronger rider. Learn to love getting dropped – it’s part of fast cycling – there’s always someone faster than you.
So when you ride with Main1 treat it as an endurance ride by doing the Early Bird before it, and doing work at the front on both rides – I guarantee you that will dull your “need for speed” during Main1. And please ride with the group when in a group.
btw IMHO Guildford Rd is not a “fast” segment with a regroup. It’s full of traffic lights and many cars. Yes, it’s often a fast ride home with a tailwind and flat terrain – but it’s not Shelley, Burke Drive or Victoria Avenue.
—
From what I’ve seen the past few months – the urge to be “Fast” also means people forget to show due care for other riders by not slowing down, not stopping after an accident, dropping off the back to help people who are struggling, not slowing down after a traffic light. This is not the type of leadership and behaviour that SPR has been about. Now that the club is a lot bigger we need a different approach to maintain the culture that is the identity of the club, and what has made us the largest club in WA.
For those who think all the rules don’t agree with their idea of the cycling (counter) culture. They are there for everyones safety. If you don’t want to play by the rules – go ride with someone else – plenty of other rides in Perth. You won’t be missed.
The most important thing after enjoying today’s ride is being able to do it again tomorrow.
IMHO fast bit should start after the bridge on guildford road and should not be through the single lane shopping area opposite the guildford train station – two lanes going down to one and lots of people crossing the road doesn’t make for safety.
I support regroup at bottom of Ridge Hill Rd (col de lennie) and checking that we are all together at Woodbridge tavern before cracking on when we get over the Guildford bridge.
Hey Wongy – hope you’re feeling better. A million thanks for summarising these points for Craig so succinctly. Guidelines surrounding Main One etiquette have been blogged again and again – you think they would have sunk in for everyone by now!! If anyone is intent on smashing up a group, do it in the UCI laps or the Fast Group – that’s what those particular groups are there for. Otherwise, use your strength to help others – or failing that, save if for race day. These are group training rides, NOT races. Here endeth Sunday’s sermon
Amen. Let’s see if the flock were paying attention tomorrow.
If it works, there’s a position vacant at the Vatican for ya Lennie
Hmm, tough one here..
I think there needs to be a differentiation between main 1a and main 1b.. Main 1a may go a little faster than main 1b so if you consider yourself one of the weaker riders in main 1, maybe hang back in main 1b, if you are one of the people who do fast group and get dropped and don’t feel like being put in the hurt locker and getting dropped, hang out with main 1a (but don’t be a hero either and flex your glutes too much (a little is always appreciated at the right times though I am sure.. Sounds like Craig believed Guildford was one of those times))..
Anyway, play nice and be safe folks.. Look forward to playing with you all soon.. 🙂
Cheers for the advice Andrew. I think I’ll have a crack at the fast group from now on.
Once again, apologies to Lorraine – I owe you a coffee sometime