last weekend was not a particularly good one for our club. there were 2 separate accidents resulting in 5 hospitalisations. luckily all but 1 were discharged on the same day, but some of the injuries will have people off the bikes for quite a while. there is a level of risk that we accept when we are riding our bikes. there are other vehicles, the weather and road conditions that may affect what happens to us. there are also other riders especially the ones within our own group. this is always a double edged sword. why? simply, riding in a group means that you can go further, faster and it gives it a whole different social experience. however, riding in a group also means that there as another 20 – 30 things that are outside of your control. speed, spacing and reactions are within your control, so use them to better your chances in a group. if you are not happy about the speed of the group, move to the back, or drop off to a different group. if you are not comfortable being close to an unsteady wheel, leave more space. if someone in front of you grabs a handful of brake, try not to do exactly the same. be aware of your exits and see if you can avoid hitting the other rider without slamming on the brakes. group riding is also a two-way street. your actions and reactions can easily have a ripple affect all the way to the back of the group. you might not be involved in an accident, but your sudden braking or swerving can bring riders down 5 – 10 places further down the line. be aware of what you are doing. be aware of what others are doing. be aware of what is happening outside the group (traffic, road conditions, wind conditions). and most of all, accept any constructive criticism if you are pulled up by someone for riding erratically. don’t be that person.
ride leader sponsor – january’s ride leader sponsor is spr member Gonzalo Ramirez, who owns Watch Zone a boutique watch repair and sales specialist. more info on the previous post.
rules of engagement – please read the previous post if you come out on any of our rides. it is up to all members to enforce these rules.
memberships – on the 31st of december a bunch of race memberships and some recreational memberships expired. overnight we lost in excess of 250 members. there are a bunch of reasons for you to become or renew your membership. see the previous post for more details. NOTE: the crashes that we had in the group last weekend highlight why it is important to renew now and not just wait till you are ready to race.
australia day crit –this aussie day fromm 7:30am we are holding the traditional crit at tech park. unlike the smashfest, registration is via the internet and must be paid for by sunday. same format as smashfest with grades for both men and women as well as a juniors race. some more info and links to rego can be found on the previous post. as usual, a few volunteers would be appreciated to help setup/packup.
spr crit champs – as part of the summer crit series, we will also run a spr crit championship. this will again be a points based system given to placings 1 through 10. “a” and “b” grade will be given a difficulty multiplier and a leaderboard will track progress. there are 7 races that we are putting on this year and the 5th race is on aussie day. your points for the best 5 races will be used in the final leaderboard. this allows you to have holidays, miss races and still be in the running. more details on the previous post.
uwct training – we have been getting quite a few riders out to the uwct training on sunday morning. i estimated that there was between 40 – 50 last weekend. as mentioned before, there was an accident on that ride when a rider who was on their own came off. please make sure that on top of all the food and water that you need, you also have adequate identification and ICE contact numbers on you. keeping in mind that you phone may not be accessible if you are in a crash. often on this ride, you may find yourself riding on your own, please look after yourself. gain, only a 20min regroup from when the first riders arrive, so make sure you check your clocks. more info on the uwct training ride can be found on the previous post.
bike and helmet stickers – we are doing another run of the bike/helmet stickers. the idea is that this will make it easy for everyone in spr to actually know who they are riding with rather than “that german guy on the black canyon bike”. the price has been slightly subsidised and you can purchase them via the spr shop. please be aware that these are for spr members only. last time we did this, some members were also purchasing for non-members, so we were subsidising them as well. see the previous post for more details.
ride for yarloop –after the devastating fires down south, a cycling group (the rove) is organising a charity ride to raise money for the victims. it is basically a 140km ride from mandurah station towards yarloop and return. due to the destruction in the area, the ride may not actually get all the way to yarloop, but your $50 entry fee will. there is also a link to donate to the cause without doing the ride. head to their website for rego and more info, and there has been an update posted on the westcycle facebook site with even more info from the organiser .
ride routes – due to a lack of interest, the wednesday kings park uci loops have been cancelled. there is a stock road interval ride leaving the raffles at 5:30am and this is open to all abilities. easy cruise out to stock road, hill repeats till 6:30am, then a return with coffee in applecross if you have time.
saturday 23rd 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 24th january
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special
ride starts at coode st carpark at 6:00am
uwct training – spr 2016 uwct training course
development group – coffee ride
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
short – wlsh weir 62.23km spr sunday
long – wlsh obs kal 90.32km spr sunday
monday 25th january
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 26th january (australia day)
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
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
fast/main groups – public hol 58.97km spr special
wednesday 27th january
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 28th 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 29th january
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am