ride routes 15th – 21st december

so there was an accident this morning during the earlybird ride.  single rider, no vehicles involved, bad enough that an ambulance was called.  we often talk about the risks of running red lights and the dangers involved when you are trying to get back on a group.  it is not only red lights where that danger exists.  as many of you know, the picture above is the short cut behind the port beach road sprint.  if you have been dropped, you can take this shortcut and often get back on before the stirling bridge.  the road was changed a few years ago to make it bikes only that can access that road from the northern end.  the bike lane is, however, narrow and has quite a sharp bend in it.  when you are dropped you are often riding much harder than you will like. when that happens, you may misjudge things like speed and handling.  sometimes that combinations means that we have to call an ambulance.  always ride within your limits.  always be aware of the situation around you, whether it is other vehicles or the condition of the road you are on.  what surprised me more were how many other bikes still came in hot to that corner even when we were indicating to them to slow down.  they slowed pretty quick when they realised that they would head on with an ambulance.

ride leader sponsor –the ride leader sponsor for December is Get Your Visa a migration agency based in Perth since 2012.  Whether you are looking at an employee to sponsor, or having a relative joining you or any migration matters, Get Your Visa is there to help.

summer criteriums – summer means a return to short course racing and this weekend there are a number of events that you can choose.  peel and west coast masters both have a crit on as does rccc at bayswater.  to try to encourage more women’s participation, our own davina summers will be riding as a mentor in the women’s c/d race at bayswater.  if you are looking at giving crit racing a go, this is a great opportunity to get active coaching during a race.  a short circuit means that you are never far from the action and if you do get dropped from the group, it is not like you have to ride 100kms on your own.  check out the links above for each race.

shared path extension freo line – there is a group that is trying to get the department of transport to extend the bike lane along teh freo line from grant st to freo itself.  although we don’t use paths for our training rides, many of us commute and paths like this are important to ensure that we get to our destination safely.  please take the time to fill in the survey so that more pressure is applied to get these things done (it takes about 30 sec)

spr christmas drinks – our christmas drinks this year will be held this sunday 16th december at the Empire bar in Rivervale.  this is an “out of lycra” event that you can bring your partner to without them getting embarrassed because you are still in cycling gear.  more info on the previous post where you can order tickets.

christmas club ride –our end of year breakfast and awards will be held (as usual) on the last saturday before christmas.  this year it is pretty close as it will be on the 22nd december.  held at Dome after the main ride, there will be an end of year wrap up of stories and awards along with the usual buffet breakfast from Dome.

spr award nominations – Each year SPR recognise some of the cyclists and participants who help to support the club or inspire others with their cycling achievements. There are multiple awards this year, four of which will be based on the information provided in this survey and one on the SPR Facebook page. Presentations of the awards will take place at the Christmas breakfast on Saturday 22 December 2018. There will also be a prize awarded at the breakfast for the best dressed rider/bike on the Christmas ride, so don’t forget to dress up your bike and yourself. Other awards will also be given at the Christmas breakfast. You can nominate up to two people for each award. If you could provide some background as to why the person is being nominated, even if they are not the final award recipient, they will still have the opportunity to read the collated comments. Note this survey is fully anonymous. This survey will be open until midnight Wednesday 19 December 2018. Thank you for participating in our survey. Your feedback is important.

save the date – on the 6th of april next year we will be celebrating our 10 years of being an affiliated club.  the group came together in 2008, but officially we became an incorporated, affiliated club in 2009.  help us celebrate this occasion.  hopefully many “founding members” will be in attendance to see how the club has evolved over the years.

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.

spr junior juniors – after a bit of a trial last week, we will be starting our junior juniors (also known as – juniors fast 2).  this will be for the under 10’s as last week the outschoorn kids headed into kings park before finishing at dome with everyone else.  they will meet at the coode st carpark at 7am with every other group and will follow a similar route to kings park as the “juniors fast 1”.  the number of loops/etc will depend on who is in attendance.  as with all our junior rides, a parent or guardian needs to be in attendance.

spr juniors – juniors is getting bigger.  more kids, more hill climbs, more pancakes and more bacon.  seriously, pancakes with bacon seems to be the food of choice.  anyway, summer is coming so suns out, sons out (daughters welcome too).

from the ride coordinator – It’s well and truly into the silly season. The number of inattentive drivers is likely to be higher than normal (which is bad enough), driving after drinking at work christmas parties, rushing to get all their shopping done, whatever the reason, it can make it more hazardous out on the road. This time last year I watched a drunk driver bounce his car off the concrete barriers in the Tonkin Hwy roadworks and still keep on driving. Keep safe as a cyclist, pay attention as a motorist.

saturday 15th december

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

junior juniors (under 10 with parent) – kings park juniors 23.72km spr saturday

juniors (10 – 15 yrs with parent) – kings park juniors 23.72km spr saturday

development group –  novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday

transitional 1/2 – trans reverse river 40.58km spr saturday

fast/main – shelley & mosman 50.14km spr saturday

sunday 16th december

ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am

early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special

ride start at coode st carpark at 6:00am

development group – coffee ride – Summer Sundays at Six am (Dec to Feb)

all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – goose kal 63.41km spr sunday

long – kal chook obs 89.74km spr sunday

monday 17th december

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

south stock 33.76km spr monday

tuesday 18th december

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 19th december

ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am

interval training – stock road repeats

thursday 20th december

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 21st december

ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am

spr friday 42.01km (shelley)

friday training/recovery ride