so i am assuming that pretty much everyone saw that we are part of a new advertising campaign for getting cyclists off the road. i know i saw it, as it got sent to me so many times. firstly, i am not going to discuss the actual situation as it is a snapshot in time. it doesn’t explain what people were doing before or after the photo was taken, how long the cars had been inconvenienced or anything. what i want to say is that we partake in a high risk activity and to minimise that risk, you need to be spatially aware. if you are a rider that just looks at the wheel in front of you, then you need to wake up. group riding relies on riders looking out for each other and transferring messages throughout the group. if you notice that cars are banking up behind, then make the call to tighten up. whether we are legally allowed to ride a particular way or not is irrelevant. what is relevant is that drivers who get annoyed do stupid things and put your life at risk.
secondly, the actual campaign that the picture is being used in is just more of the online trolling that we really should not partake in or help in distribute. laws get changed to protect people’s safety. i.e. the 1m rule applies to cars passing bikes, not to bikes passing cars stopped at lights. why, because the cars are not at risk when being passed by a bike. laws do not get changed just because someone feels that they are being inconvenienced. if that was the case, people that walk slow would not be allowed in shopping centres.
ride leader sponsor – the ride leader sponsor for april is Melody Wheels who are a multiple return sponsor for the club. they are a wheel building specialists in the same way as one might distinguish a medical specialist from a gp. they do precision wheel building and wheel repairs, and that’s the only thing they do.
2017 annual report – prior to the agm held last weekend, we released our 2017 annual report. please take the time to have a look so you can see all the good work that was done last year. there are lots of people in the club that have contributed many hours of effort in providing events and services to the rouleurs community and they deserve to be recognised.
which ride for me – after the changes that the club introduced over the last couple of weeks, we have had another look at our guide for choosing the ride group for you to ride in. this concentrates primarily on the transitional through to main 3 rides, but still makes some very good points that all out riders should remember. see the previous post for all the details.
spr volunteer register – are you rocking up every saturday thinking, “wow, there must be a lot of behind the scenes organisation that goes into this”. well you are correct, but you can also be part of it. we are putting together a register of volunteers that we can call upon to help out with events, etc. check out the previous post and put your name forward to help out.
the ring criterium series –summer is done, the march equinox has come, and crit racing has finished for the season. and what a season it has been. the ring summer crit series finished up last sunday with the leederville round. the series itself was another success story, and whilst numbers were higher in some rounds compared to others, the overall patronage of the series was strong. check out the wrap up from an spr perspective in the previous post.
crawley road safety improvements – the city of perth is looking at options for the stretch of road that we ride on during the sat, sun, tue and thurs earlybird rides. they are looking at restricting access and putting in speedhumps as well as options for bike paths along the river. please take the time to let them knowthat we, along with other big packs, regularly ride that stretch of road and they need to make sure pack cyclists are taken into account. the last thing we need is more traffic furniture to dodge.
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.
ride routes – with the mornings getting colder and darker, make sure you rug up and can be seen. my rear light died halfway through the ride this morning, so make sure you charge up your devices.
saturday 14th april
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 1/2 – trans canning vale 42.34km spr saturday
fast/main – south st 51.23km spr saturday
sunday 15th april
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 – coffee ride
short – khna weir 72.23km spr sunday
long – can mills peet obs 90.30km spr sunday
monday 16th april
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 17th april
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 18th april
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
interval training – stock road repeats
thursday 19th april
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
see previous post for ride groups
spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)
ride starts frasers ave at 5:45am
development group – interval training kings park
friday 20th april
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am