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Early Notice – Busselton Half (2 May)

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This is just an early note to all who are travelling down to the Busselton Half Ironman on the 2nd of May. Indications are that there are a fair number of the SPR family heading South for this fantastic ‘end of tri season’ event.

Bike Course Familirisation
We’ll be doing a bike course familiarisation ride for anyone who’d like to come along (competitors & supporters) on Friday 1st prior to athlete registration. We’ll aim for an average speed of 25 – 30 km/h so all are welcome.

We’ll meet at the car park behind the Loose Goose Café (the ‘original’ transition area) ready to leave by 3:00pm. We’ll be able to do a full loop of the 30km course and be back in plenty of time for registration.

Contact on the day will be mobile: 0430 162 291

Supporters
It also appears that there will be a number of spectators down there watching the event, cheering their loved ones and others on throughout the morning. It would be great to arange a central spot for all the SPR crew to be during the ride and run. This is a little more difficult to arrange, so perhaps if people could email me (below) in the first instance, I can set up a group list and communicte with everyone closer to the day.

robert.ramsden2@three.com.au

We can then arrange a time/place for everyone to meet and finalise anything before heading South.

On the day!
In the absence of SPR Tri Suit’s, don’t forget to wear your SPR running hat so we can cheer each other along on the day. Make sure you save some energy for The Meltdown Party – should be a big one with so many of us down there too!

Bit windy out, but no excuses for the lame.

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Not cornering, this was straight line handling into a small breeze
Not cornering, this was straight line handling into a small breeze (courtesy of teamposeur.org)

 

A candid narrative on how to fail to achieve objectives – by Nick.

 

 20km ITT at Champion Lakes, or as it seems to be known around here a bit, Chump-ion Lakes. 

 

 Declan and I withstood the taunts to fly the flag for SPR. With two hard core individuals out of 84 the circuit was awash with the green machines and big engines that are representative of SPR. Pity that flying the flag meant that it also almost blew away. Not the first time Seabreeze.com was ominously “on the money” with the forecast looking good for extreme kite-surfing conditions.

 

 So….5km of reliably wind blown bike path around a man-made lake for people in lycra rowing boats. How hard can it be for fellow lycra clad individuals to bash around on some bikes? (and not kite surf)

 

 Wheel selection played a key part of the day, discs and deep dish seemed to hold peril with 35km/h plus side gusts and a narrow path. My own selection of almost normal wheels seemed to pay dividends, a 50mm carbon tub on the back wheel pretending to help me.

 

 20km and the lure of cracking 40km/h again was the main motivating factor for the day but the slightly technical curves on the south-west leg, and gusts threatening to derail me heading north east were obstacles that everyone (except me) managed to overcome.

 

 This time I have the objective, and the tools to meet these except my legs. Motivating music on the head phones. A wind trainer to warm up. Next time I’ll do the wind trainer up so the bike doesn’t collapse under my weight.

 

 So with sweat on my brow, and 20 seconds to spare, the first of four laps felt great. At least until I had to steer on aero bars…..whoa. …slight wind gusts. And then up over and around again. As always the ability to think disappeared out the back end.

 

 So no crashes, unless you count the two people blown into the bushes, no punctures. Bit of cake at the end, and a cheap can of soft drink. And mindless reassessment of the time I could have done without the wind. 

 

Winners –  Luke Durbridge  25:31min 47km/h average, and missing the record by 2s            

Bella King –   30:05min 39.9km/h and new women’s record

Declan – 37:31min (32km/h ave)  PB (first try at this course actually)                                                   

Nick  –  30:36 min   (39.2km/h ave) PB (same excuse)

saturday 28th mar – risely & cott

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ride report by peter.

 

the last day of daylight savings for ever… maybe, depending on how the vote goes in may… or whether the government changes it’s mind and does another trial… again.  so anyway, it was dark, but we get to wind the clocks back tonight, so have a good think about it before you go to bed.  especially if you are coming on the hills ride tomorrow.  don’t be early.

i did a quick head count (as best i could in the dark) and we were definitely down on numbers this morning.  i guesstimated that we had about 40 riders so we would still split the group as i didn’t fancy leaving a trail of destruction through the southern suburbs.  we rolled out and stayed together as a group for the first 10 kms.  during this time, lorraine got a puncture and lisa and kim stopped to help her.  there was no call out to the group so at the front we didn’t even know it had happened and merrily continued on our way.  apparently after two attempts the girls did a different lap of the river and beat us to coffee.

a nice even pace all the way to the top of risely before the group split pretty evenly with the main group heading right at leach and the fast group going left.  our brief journey along leach was extended as we tried to turn onto murdoch drive and were left sitting at the lights for about 5 min.  when we did actually start moving again the pace up murdoch was quite pedestrian as even when jerry had to stop to fix his wheel alignment, it didn’t take much to draft him back to the pack.  by the time we reached south st i estimated that the 6km difference between the groups was more like 8 or 9 by now.  no chance of catching the prey now.

south st was definitely a different kettle of fish as the pace picked up from the start.  we were rolling through as best we could but this was made difficult with the undulating terrain as some people were already struggling with the pace.  a number of light changes allowed the group to stay relatively together so by the time we reached hampton rd, we had lost very few. 

a quick dash through the back of freo before we were off again along port beach rd.  with a bit of a tailwind along this stretch and marine terrace, the pace picked up substantially.  by the time we were halfway along cottesloe, the group had splintered significantly.  it was good to see jonny back with us in proper bike shoes as injuries have kept him out of the game for a while now.  i remember when he used to smash us on the rides, so the last year or so must have been very frustrating for him.  anyway, he was keeping up quite well today.

the group managed to squeeze back together in a couple of places, but the lights when crossing stirling hwy allowed the majority back on before the final push through dalkeith.  the pace picked up as normal and a few guys kept moving forward to keep the pace high.  on the tight left hander into jutland parade, kimbo and i managed to get a bit of a break.  not really meaning too, but when he told me we had a gap, we did our best to maintain it.  swapping out a few turns we kept ahead, but it was always going to be a matter of time before the train ran us down. 

we jumped on board as it went by, but i was now a little down in reserves and when the surge went on that last hill, i didn’t have the legs to keep up with the front.  fortunately for me, quite a few didn’t have the legs and the group was spread all along the road back to mounts bay.  the lights as usual allowed the regroup so that we had a decent size heading into the final sprint. 

i knew that we were going to be heading into a bit of a cross/head wind for the final push, so i was hoping that we could get a nice roll through happening.  it went to single file almost instantly but a couple of us started to roll through.  i followed michael’s wheel and dropped into the front position.  i took a glance to the right and confirmed my suspicions.  no-one else was rolling.  bastards.  fine.  i set a pace and was going to see if i could hold it to the end.  i managed to keep the pace high enough that no-one was coming around due to me holding them up, but by the time the brewery parking sign came up, i was starting to fade.  i was waiting for the jump to happen and i didn’t have to wait long.  once the brewery carpark was in sight, ryan took off with a couple of others on his wheel.  i sat up then as there was nothing more i could do.  one by one the rest of the group peeled off my wheel and took off after the sprint kings.  i managed to drag my super-domestique arse back to the coffee shop.

on other matters we have an advert in the southern gazette (community newspaper) this tuesday so that in a months time we can apply for incorporation of the club.  then we can apply for some grants so we can start to develop the club more. 

we may be doing another run of kit very soon as there is starting to be a bit of a need to have more jerseys available.  for those that are racing, it may pay to make sure you have a spare kit as ryan, stu, james, lisa and lorraine have found, racing can actually be dangerous and not always through any fault of your own.  if you are new to the group and want to “blend in” a bit better or want to feel like you are part of it, jump on board now as i am not sure when we will be ordering again.  go to the spr team kit page on the website and have a look at what we have.  send an email through and i will compile a list and order when we have enough.  this may mean that we get jerseys now and knicks a bit later.  if you want armwarmers or anything else, also put them on the list.  i will just keep it on the list until we can secure an order.

on other kit business, we are soon to be looking at spr team socks which should not be too hard to get.  as part of the winter kit we will get matching knee warmers through cannibal and i may also look into printed wind jackets.  from other suppliers i am chasing up printed gloves, shoe covers (lycra and cold weather) and those short peak cycling caps.  pretty soon we will have everything covered in little green hexagons. 

oddly enough i also found a place that sells no-name carbon road frames with a minimum order of 10 pieces.  quality would be similar to those mcmurdo bikes you see at glenn parker as they would come from a similar place and then just get painted.  a team bike would not really be that hard to organise.  anyway, i may be getting ahead of myself a bit now.

reminder reminder reminder

just a reminder that you only have till the end of march to transfer clubs at the reduced price of $15. after this time it will cost $55.
for those that have transferred i have found out from cycling wa that even though you paid a club fee to the previous club, you must also pay one to south perth or you are not a financial member. this is especially important to those on the committee as it is in our constitution that you must be a fully paid member.  i will be chasing money very soon.

ride routes 28th & 29th mar

we haven’t finished a ride on mounts bay rd for a while now as the winds have not been favourable.  well they are still not favourable, but they shouldn’t be too strong this saturday so we will have a crack at it.  the group will split again and the main group will take leach hwy, while the fast group will tackle south st.  about 5kms difference between the two routes so we will see what happens.

sunday will hit darlington and mundaring weir so people can try to improve their hill climb time.  sorry i have not had time to write up last sunday’s ride, but the week has been very busy.

the winter arm warmers that needed to be reprinted have arrived, so if you ordered them, get in contact with me to organise a time to collect.

the peter clark memorial race is on next weekend.  there is already talk of a decent group signing up for it.  entries need to be in by tuesday next week.  for more info see below.  it is a fairly flat course and there are various grades, so if you want to give it a go, there will be other spr riders around for support.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 09 (risley & cott)

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 14 (darlington & mundaring)

Freeway Bike Hike

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by Jonny

Well luckily we all survived the carnage on Sunday and made it to Joondalup unhurt. Not sure if I will do it next year as it was a bit of fiasco at times. We got up at 4.30am as Lennie had arranged to meet Lisa at 5.15am outside QV1 in order to get the first train. I moaned all week as I am not a fan of early starts but I was warned the trains get very busy and if you are not there early you will not get on. At 5.50am the first train came but was packed to the rafters. We managed to squeeze Lisa on as she was doing the race but we decided to wait for the next one. We managed to get on this but again it was very busy. I think everyone had the clever idea of driving to Joondalup, parking there then getting the empty train south. When we got to Kwianna it must have only been about 4’C, definitely the coldest morning of the year so far and I was not too upset that we missed the first train. I also joined the biggest toilet queue ever; 10 toilets divided by 8000 doesn’t really work. Eventually we got to the back of A-group but when we started it was a long long way to the front and already it had split into many smaller groups. I played domestique and helped Lennie stay with the bunch. About 5km to the finish there was a big crash with about 20 bikes and bodies spread across the road. Lennie was also very close to ending up in another one and narrowly missed it. She was quite shaken up and just rode slowly to the finish after that. I got a bit carried away at the end and had a gap on the group we were with at the top of the off ramp – I managed to then hold off the chasing pack of about a hundred riders but boy did it hurt ! Before the last 5km things were going quite well and we did comment about how it was not as hectic as previous years. Five minutes later lennie had bodies flying in the air next to her ! Great to see many other South Perth Jerseys and congratulations to the SPR racers on there results. Next year….hrmmmh maybe not.

Freeway Bike Ride – any survivor stories

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Putting a call out to all SPR riders who braved the Freeway Bike Ride, just to check if you saw any of the carnage on the tarmac. Or at least to ensure you still have all your bits. I know of two major injuries, if you include the one on Inside Cover.

For journalistic integrity I’d love to even the ledger (not heath) with the Great Bike Ride’s safety emphasis.

Nick

sunday 22nd mar – welshpool & observatory & kalamunda

ride report by peter.

 

welcome to the last daylight savings sunday hills ride.  on my way to the carpark i missed a call from ryan.  it seems that he and jerry were both having trouble getting to the start today because the freeway was closed for some damn bike ride.  those inconsiderate bastards, taking up our roads.  as we sat around for a while waiting for them to arrive, stu realised how cold it was and took off home to grab his vest.  i knew that we had a couple of people waiting for us on the way and didn’t want to delay the start too much.  jerry and ryan fronted up so we took off sans stu.  he had the bike setup as a time trial bike, so i was sure that he could catch up.

we headed towards orong rd, which is not a usual route for us, as it would take us straight to the welshpool rd climb.  there were about 20 riders all up with a couple of new faces.  a young guy named sam was looking for a sunday ride so bella and sam (girl) had invited him along.  he had a talent identification jersey on so it would be interesting to see how he went today. 

we lucked out as we turned onto orong rd as a group of 4 guys managed to turn in front of us.  they all had local team jerseys on and looked like they could be “a” graders so we caught up to them and let them draft us all the way along to the climb.  on the way we picked up mark and sharon who were waiting on the flats before the climb started.  stu had rang up to see where we were but had still not caught up to us yet.  it looked like he would miss out on the fun.

the hill started and our 4 escorts were not in a fighting mood, so we had to go around.  i am always wary of passing a rider who you don’t know as they could come and smash you later on the hill.  these guys didn’t seem too worried though.  as the memory fades from a long week at work, i cannot remember exactly who did what, but i got to the front at one stage to set the pace.  i wanted to see how the young bloke went and the answer is – very well. 

it all became too much for me and i fell off the pace allowing ryan, sam, mike and a couple of others to head up the road.  i think that mat was in the group too, but eventually fell back from the pace.  by the time we reached the lesmurdie rd intersection the three front guys had a decent gap on mat, lindsay and myself, who were chasing hard. 

chasing mountain goats in mountain country is never going to work and i was sure that we weren’t going to catch them.  i started to concentrate on the other 2 as we were still in the points and i wanted to maximise mine.  another attack a bit later on was too much for mat and this left lindsay and i to fight it out for 4th and 5th.  local knowledge goes a long way and i managed to jump at the right time to stay ahead of lindsay for the points.

ryan was too much for sam and mike and they finished in that order.

ryan – 10, sam – 7, mike -5, peter – 3, lindsay – 1.

 

i got to the top and found that i had a text message from sharon.  she said not to wait for her as she would find her own way to coffee.  not a chance.  if she had enough energy to write a text, she was not trying hard enough.  we waited to make sure she did the next hill.

 

i am running a week behind, so i will fast track the rest of this blog.

 

observatory climb i got blown out and sat up to make sure everyone got the turn right.

ryan – 10, sam – 7, stu – 5, mike – 3, lindsay – 1.

 

rolled back around and did the mundaring weir rd climb to kalamunda.  it wasn’t the last climbs so i was looking for some pb’s on the hill climb times.  it didn’t disappoint.

ryan – 10, stu – 7, sam – 5, lindsay – 3, peter – 1.

stu 7:29, ryan 7:31, sam 7:36, lindsay 7:51, peter 7:52, mike 7:58, jerry 8:12, mark 8:31, julian 8:34, dan 9:03, paul o 9:22.

 

down the zig zag and back up kalamunda rd.  a few went straight to coffee and the girls went down kalamunda and back up again.

ryan – 10, sam – 7, stu – 5, mike – 3, peter – 1.

 

it’s been a busy week so sorry for the delay.  not really used to this whole work thing after so long on holidays.

saturday 21st mar – autumn breakfast

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ride report by peter

 

well a slightly busy evening as we needed to get the house ready for the onslaught of lycra that was to descend in the morning.  moving tables and chairs, finding an esky, um…actually that was about it as lorriane was doing everything else.  i went to move the cars out of the garage and found sharon waiting on the drive way.  pretty soon jerry and melvyn also rocked up so that they would not have to ride all the way home after a belly full of brownies.

img_4827officially the sun was not going to rise till 7:20am but what is known as “civil twilight” meant that it would be light at 6:56am.  lots of time to spare before the start of the ride.  being a breakfast ride, the course was going to be a bit shorter than normal.  however, since we had close to 70 riders on the line, we decided to split the group and try to make it more manageable.  we would all head down canning hwy towards freo before the fast group would swing off to attadale while the main group would continue on to stock rd.  after stock they would head back along south st and up banister.  eventually jump onto albany hwy before heading to my place via manning rd.  the fast group would take burke drive before heading up the stock rd hill behind the pt walter golf course.  we would then chase the main group down and then add extra kms once they turned off onto banister.  i envisaged that we would catch the main group on the early parts of south st and would need to split again at banister. 

we got away to a fairly standard start with the group split a few times at the lights.  the pace was pretty sedate and everyone was just chatting away and cruising along.  once we hit north lake rd, the fast group needed to get into the right lane to do a turn while the main group was headed straight.  as the two groups were intermingled amongst each other, this got pretty messy and traffic would have been confused (pissed off) that the bike were now taking up both lanes.  we eventually got it sorted and headed off on our respective ways. 

a slight easing of the pace allowed the pack back together as the  fast group headed along burke drive.  it is amazing the number of other riders that use that stretch of road as we must have passed 6-7 groups heading the other way.  we rolled through till stock road and tackled the hill.  as usual, it split the group up lots, but by the time we reached the top, the pace slowed significantly and allowed everyone back on before we crossed canning hwy. 

we tried to roll through again, but lights, hills and traffic made it hard to find a consistent pace although it was anything but sedate.  we soon reached south st and i was surprised that we had not even caught a glimpse of the main group.  i thought that we may have seen them cresting the first hill on south street, but they were not to be seen.  either, they had to stop on canning for an incident, or whoever was running that group was doing an excellent job.  i was hoping for the latter.

img_4832we continued to roll through and the traffic was now not an issue as the road was three lanes wide.  the hills made life difficult for some and the roll through continued with just the front half of the pack.  as we continued along south st i was beginning to worry that something had happened to the main group.  we eventually caught sight of a couple of lonesome riders that had fallen off the back so we knew we were on the right track. 

as the day was progressing, i made the decision not to take the fast group along the second split point and rather, if caught them, just do banister rd with the main group instead.  at the multiple lights around roe hwy, we finally caught up to the main group.  i shouted some instructions so that the fast group can safely get passed the main group and heard a “no worries” from beside me.  i look across to the small truck that was in the next lane and there is this big grin from the guy in the passenger seat.  i tell him he can drive in front of us as he would make a good draft.  “then slam on the brakes” he exclaims.  a bit nasty, but it was all a bit of fun.

we took off at the lights and like a well oiled machine, the main group merged into a single file on the left, while the fast group became the single file on the right.  as right overtook left, the roll through upped the pace to allow the fast group to start to break away.  unfortunately the lights allowed everyone to merge back together and this fact may have made it hard for some of the riders at the back.

the usual suspects forced the pace along the rest of banister and the combination of roll throughs and attacks kept the pace high.  a final push by ryan and a few others blew things apart once nicholson rd was in sight, but the group was still quite substantial by then.  i jumped to the front and rode with michael for a bit to set a slow even pace.  i then pulled over to the side to make sure that we had everyone. there were a few struggling groups, but people like mike and nev were leading them back to the main group as quick as they could.  once we hit albany hwy, there were only a handful off the back and we caught up at the next light change.

i made my way to the front to find that dan and jules had taken off and lisa had chased them down.  they were somewhere up the road and the comment was made that we hoped they knew where to turn.  too bad so sad if they didn’t want to play with the group.  there was a split at the lights again and i waited for that group so they knew where to turn.  the lights at leech allowed a complete regroup and we gently cruised along manning road.  at some stage we saw a couple of bikes milling around an intersection looking quite lost.  it was out trio of escapees and i am guessing that they were not sure whether they should have turned or not.

i allowed one more sprint once we turned past curtain uni and half the group took advantage of it.  some others, like myself, were content to sit in and take the last few k’s into home easy.

yes, my garage always looks like this
yes, my garage always looks like this

there was a lot of milling around at the front of the house as some people were not staying for the breakfast and were having a quick chat.  a couple had arrived early but lorraine, mel, jody and kate pretty much had everything under control.  ben was there to greet everyone with his spr t-shirt on and pretty soon the garage was full of bikes and the house was full of lycra.  the girls had outdone themselves again and there was plenty of food and coffee/hot choc for all.

the raffle was drawn by ben who kept the crowd entertained with his smashing of one of the chocolate prizes.  he also kept everyone on their toes by announcing the winning raffle ticket number – “nummer for” um no ben, that’s number 21.  i feel sorry for the person that had ticket number 4 as he announced it for more than half the draws. 

we signed up a couple more members for the club and jody will let us know when the online facility is available.  the bike weigh in presented some interesting results and i saw my bike slip further down the leaderboard as more weighed in at the low 7kg mark.  brendan topped the day with his bh weighing in at 6.72kg with tubulars on.  this toppled mike t’s uci legal 6.80kg with his tubular zipps but neither came close to darren’s uber light bike.

all up a very successful breakfast.  our next social event will be the family day to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of forming spr.  there are a couple of races in between that i hope we can get a good turn out to and show off our spr colours.  especially as we are now an official club.