it’s all about the numbers.  1 month till christmas.  9 days till the spr christmas breakfast.  2 weeks till the last road race of the year.  4 days till our first crit.  1 sponsor to go to finalise the new kit.  200 members by the end of 2010. 

club crits – we are joining forces with the roues chaudes club to host a number of crits at technology park.  starting this sundayand then pretty much one per month until march.  we are running “a” thru to “d” grade, so if you want to have a go at racing, then come along to this.  the course is short so if you get dropped, then it is not like you have to ride ages to get back to the start.  there will be stacks of spr people down there for support, so we can help you out if it is your first time racing.  if you have a racing licence then it is just $10 entry.  if not then you will need to buy a day licence.  all cash on the day so you don’t need to pre register.  a bit more info can be found here.  we are providing volunteers for this event, so we need some more to get it going.  very basic thing like traffic management or line judging and you can “job share” if you want to race as well.  add your name to the comments if you are going to help out.  if we don’t get enough, we may start to volunteer people.  also, if people have a spare jersey, put your name  on it and bring it down so we can make sure all the spr people are in the club colours.  this is our first one of these so lets make it work.

christmas breakfast – we now have enough volunteers, so we now need to know if you are coming.  add your name to the comments if you are coming along on dec 4th.  food, drink, raffle prizes,

movember – less that a week to go. if you don’t donate, i will keep the sleazy mo for another month.   donate to the cause.

memberships – as you may have seen on an earlier post, we have started an earlybird drive to get people to either join or renew their licence.  prizes to be won so do it now.  thanks to shaw at netplus microcomputers.

ride routes – last week i put up a post to show where the different groups need to congregate before the rides.  i was told that it looked like a “go line” from a mine site where all the haul trucks park up before starting for the day.  probably not far off it, but at least you aren’t the size of a 2 story house with tyres that cost over $40,000 each.  anyway, the north island is the one closest to the river (considering we are in south perth which is south of the river) as some people were confused last week.  no sunday hills ride organised this week as the club crits are on.

saturday 27th movember – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

juniors – spr saturday 22.11km juniors (mt pleasant)

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional 1 & 2 – spr saturday 41.73km (canning vale reverse)

fast, main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 50.47km (hale rd reverse)

sunday 28th movember – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

no organised rides on due to club crits

new toys for me this week.  after a couple of months of no bike computer, i am finally back to knowing how fast i am going…or not.  i also now can see my heart rate, cadence and power.  actually i can see about 10 things per page on the new garmin, which is way too much to take in at a glance while you are trying to hold a wheel.  what these data-less months have given me is a misaligned perception of speed.  this morning’s training ride was on mounts bay road doing what i thought was around 35kph but it turned out to be touching 50kph.  as we crossed a couple of rises near cott, i thought we were on about 20kph but it turned out to be 30kph.  not sure if this just means that i am fitter, or i just have a skewed sense of reality.  probably the latter.

track grand prix – a great night out to see some great track riders doing great things.  it’s great.  come along and support lisa and davina on the track against an international field.  more info here.

great perth bike ride – this sunday. if you aren’t doing it, avoid the river ride if you are heading out.  there are some crits held on riverside drive after the bike ride if you are looking for a race. 

christmas breakfast – we now have enough volunteers, so we now need to know if you are coming.  add your name to the commentsif you are coming along on dec 4th.

movember – there are 5 of us looking like used car salesmen at the moment.  i personally have gone for the sleazy pool boy look – “i am here to clean the pool”.   donate to the cause.

memberships – as you may have seen on an earlier post, we have started an earlybird drive to get people to either join or renew their licence.  prizes to be won so do it now.  thanks to shaw at netplus microcomputers.

ride routes – splitting the groups before we kick off seems to have worked the last few weeks.  as such i will post a map showing where the different groups need to congregate before we set off, so we save a bit of time beforehand. 

saturday 20th movember – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

juniors – spr saturday 22.11km juniors (mt pleasant)

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional 1 & 2 – spr saturday 40.72km (mosman park)

fast, main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 50.47km (south st)

sunday 21th movember – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 82.79km (brookton & weir rd)

long – spr sunday 94.64km (kahuna & canning mills)

so much work, so little time.  work/life balance also gets skewed as there is also the bike/family balance that also need to be dealt with on the life side.  then there is the training/work balance that needs to be metered so that you don’t fall asleep at work (i yawn a lot all day).  so really its the work/training/family/sleep balance that seems to dominate my life.  trying to catch up on training induced lack of sleep is also hard when someone (looking at you daniel) starts crying at 4am so you don’t really get back to sleep by the time the alarm goes off at 5am….anyway.  i am tired.

movember – there are 5 of us looking like sleazy used car salesmen at the moment.  donate to the cause or you will make me depressed.

memberships – as you may have seen on an earlier post, we have started an earlybird drive to get people to either join or renew their licence.  prizes to be won so do it now.  thanks to shaw at netplus microcomputers.

upcoming events – state crit titles are on in armadale this weekend.  great perth bike ride on the 21st.  challenge for some to complete, challenge for others to dodge the carnage.  our friends at the rccc are running some crits on the same day alongside the event, so those who want to race rather than mix it with the general public can also do so.  christmas breakfast on the 4th dec. not that close to christmas, but just trying to capture everyone while they are still here.  we will need 3 volunteers to help out on the day.

crits – the rccc (which is another club, by the way) and spr are combining together to run a crit series over summer.  we will be needing volunteers for these events and part of being a member is to also give back to the club.  this means you may be randomly selected to help out at some of these events.

ride routes – listed below.  thanks to mark h for volunteering last week.  add to the comments if you wish to volunteer to help lead a ride.  this does exempt you from the random volunteering at events like the crits and breakfasts.  also, read toby’s post about group control.  the ride leaders are there for the safety of the group as a whole.  listen to them.  or even better, volunteer to lead a group so you too can feel the frustration of trying to keep everyone happy.

saturday 13th november – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

juniors – spr saturday 22.11km juniors (mt pleasant)

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional 1 & 2 – spr saturday 40.86km (rebold hill)

fast, main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 50.04km (hale & ridge hill)

sunday 14th november – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 70.93km (kahuna)

long – spr sunday 92.56km (carradine & peet)

november kicked off with a bang.  torrential rain in melbourne and 36 degrees here.  there was a race that stopped a nation and the betting agencies were run off their feet.  it made me wonder if cycling was more heavily bet on, would it increase it’s popularity.  keiren racing in japan is a big business and it basically attracts crowds like a horse race.  betting is all part of the event and the riders are treated like stars.  in europe, they run 6 day events at the track and there is live bands and hours of entertainment.  here, track racing is relegated to the suburbs and road racing is sent well out of town.  i don’t think we can ever be as popular as footy and cricket, but a higher profile for some of our events wouldn’t hurt.  the track gpis coming up soon and if you haven’t been to one before, it is well worth the admission.  a whole bunch of international riders come along and you will see racing at a whole different level.

movember –there are four of us currently growing the bad porn star mo for an spr team for movember.  here is a link to the movember page where you can donate to the cause.  if you don’t donate, i will leave the mo on for another month.

tuesday training ride –well the mob has spoken.  a split is needed, but we will need to play it by ear for a few weeks till we get it right.  this coming week we will use the odds and evens approach.  either house numbers or birthdays.  i will make it up on the day.  normal tuesday group rules will still apply, so keep it together and regroup when needed.

ride routes –so after the feedback from the blog, we have trans 1 & 2 doing the same distance again.  this is what the group wants so i am all for making the group happy.  fast/main will be doing the river route in preparation for those that are doing the great perth bike ride in a few weeks.  mike has put a call out for juniors this weekend, so see how we go for numbers.  he is a teacher and so has all the working withchildren checks and is an athletics coach, but i think you need to still supervise your kids initially until you are both satisfied that they can cope in the group.  i also don’t want to burden mike as he is theonly qualified person to be able to do it week after week.  we will see how it goes.  also, if you are keen to help out leading a group, add your name to the comments.  leon and jordan did it last week and it was really appreciated.

saturday 6th november – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

juniors – spr saturday 22.11km juniors (mt pleasant)

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional 1 & 2 – spr saturday 41.73km (canning vale reverse)

fast, main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 50.97km (river ride)

sunday 7th november – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 61.14km (welshpool & weir rd)  following long course out to the hills

long – spr sunday 101.86km (welshpool & mundaring & kalamunda)

so after a week of hot days, it finally rains for the thursday morning ride.  only 2 of us turned up but blair opted for mount st repeats, while i set off on a lap of the river.  stupid headwinds and then a torrential downpour that pretty much soaked me to the core made for an interesting ride.  however, i wasn’t the only one out there, but i was probably the youngest.  all the battle weary older gentlemen were out riding in the rain as if weather conditions didn’t really matter anymore.  reports are that it may have been our last lot of rain for a while and already the prediction is for 35 deg next wednesday.  time to hang up the arm warmers and slop on the sunscreen.

cwa agm –if you are a member, you will have already received an invite to the cycling wa agm.  this is open to all members and will give you an insight into how political the whole club thing can be.  during the actual agm, only club reps can vote, but there is a members forum afterwards were you can raise any issues.

memberships – the online system is up and running again and there has already been a good flow of new members coming in.  if you are already a member of another club and wish to join us for 2011, then you will need to fill in a transfer form before you renew your licence.  this can be found here and needs to be signed by both the old and new clubs.

ride routes –  further to the post during the week, another comment has been on the starting time.  as we are spending so much time trying to get the groups organised, we are starting later and later.  from now on, i will not be doing a morning spiel unless there is something critical to report on.  instead i will put any important info into this blog post.  this week sees the official formation of transitional 2 group which will do a slightly shorter route than t1.  main 2 is back again this week and if main 1 is too big, it will be arbitrarily split.  more groups means more leaders.  thanks to leon and jordan for volunteering this week, but we need more to step up before is start putting forward names from the membership list.  each week, volunteer yourself via the comments under the ride routes.  you will not have to do it often and newer riders will benefit from your experience.

saturday 30th october – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

juniors – spr saturday 22.11km juniors (mt pleasant)

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional 1 – spr saturday 42.94km (freo & cott)

transitional 2 – spr saturday 36.05km (leach & shelley)

fast, main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 50.98km (benara rd)

sunday 31st october – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 70.93km (kahuna)

long – spr sunday 87.72km (kahuna & peet & patterson)

this has been the longest week of my life and it still hasn’t finished.  still managing to slip a few rides in, but i have no idea how.  work is just insane at the moment and it doesn’t look like it will ease up.  christmas is just 9 weeks away so next thing you know you will be worrying about what to buy me.  anyway, that is easy.  get yourself an spr membership and that will make me happy.  if you do get one now, it covers you for the whole of next year as well.  awesome value as you effectively get 14 months worth.  for a recreational licence at $86, that equates to $1.43 per week.  not bad considering this will allow you to get any of the member benefits that we have available.

golden spokes – registration is still open till midnight tonight.  there are 3 grades of racing and 4 distances of a participation event.  all you need is a recreational licence and you can get a day licence to race.  the participation events only need a rec licence.  there is also a teams participation event where you get to “race” cyclo-style against other teams.  spr will be hosting this event so there will be stacks of our members down there.  if you haven’t signed up yet, then this is a good opportunity to have a go.

ride routes – we have a couple of issues that need addressing in both the main and transitional groups.  basically they are both getting too large to handle.  the main group last week was massive as there were only 5 people in main 2.  with the team time trial on as well, there were less people riding in the fast group and this bolstered the main group as well.  now the transitional group is also suffering from too many riders.  the pack was split last week, but the main problem with the transitional group is the spread of abilities makes it hard to keep everyone together.  the way that the novice and transitional groups should work is that riders need to progress through into the faster groups.  the transitional group should not be getting any faster as these people should be moving into main 2.  with only 5 riders in main 2, the pace was not on and any of the faster transitional riders would have been capable of holding on.

so what are we going to do???

the ideal size group for the main group is 25 riders.  this is big enough to roll through, and big enough to let you hide if you are suffering, and small enough to not get continually split at the lights.  for the transitional group, the ideal size is about 12.  as these riders are learning about group riding, a bigger group can be a bit daunting.  so, what we need to do before the ride starts is break into groups in the car park.  this will take a bit of organising, so please bear with us while we get it sorted and listen to instructions.  it is not the intention to split the main group into abilities, but rather have the stronger riders look after the weaker ones.  think of this as a slightly bigger cyclo-sportif.  the transitional group will need to split based on ability and we will look into having a trans 1 and trans 2 group.

here is our ride etiquette guide.  you all should be familiar with it BEFORE you come out with us.  this includes riders that have been in the group a long time.  the first points are important in the way that we operate our training rides and how people should behave.  your safety and the safety of the people riding with you should be your first priority.

saturday 23rd october – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

juniors – spr saturday 22.11km juniors (mt pleasant)

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 41.73km (canning vale reverse)

fast, main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 51.36km (sth lake)

sunday 24th october – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 61.14km (welshpool & weir rd)

long – spr sunday 90.23km (welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd)

wow, i can’t think of any social commentary to add here.  i have been flat out at work lately (and those that know me will understand that this is not normal) and so haven’t really had time to think.  i could talk about the weather…but we all know that summer is coming.  oh, i am glad that daylight savings isn’t on.  it was almost light when we start the week-day rides now.  i hate being kept in the dark all year round.  another few weeks and you won’t even need your lights at all.

state team time trial –we have 5 spr teams entered and some of the girls are spr riders too.  the course is dead flat but prone to a bit of wind.  will post the race pack soon.

golden spokes – there is a post here.  add your name to the comments if you are planning on racing so we can get an idea of how many people we have attending.

spr memberships – the online facility is back up and running, however, there is an error in the cost of the recreational licence.  actually it is too cheap ($77 instead of $86).  although it seems like you will get a discount if you join up before they rectify the problem, you will actually be short changing the club as the missing amount it part of the club fee.  all the racing licences are the correct amounts so if you need a licence to race the golden spokes then you should be right to get one.

ride routes – after only a few showed up to ride in the rain last sunday, i have planned the same routes this week.  the 5 of us that tackled the hills did a different route that kept it close to kalamunda.  make sure you check the map closely as many of the regulars will be racing in pinjarra at the state team time trial.

saturday 16th october – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

juniors – spr saturday 22.11km juniors (mt pleasant)

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 40.86km (rebold hill)

fast, main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 48.74km (ridge hill rd)

sunday 17th october – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 70.93km (kahuna)

long – spr sunday 101.29km (roleystone & observatory)

so it looks like summer may be back early this year.  we are not even out of september and it was 28 degrees today.  that is almost 30 which is almost hot.  the mornings are still a bit brisk, but i am expecting that we will start to see an increase in the numbers again.  the development group had 12 last week after the last couple of months where there was one or none turning up.

the format of the fast with a main chaser seems to work ok so we will stick with that for now.  there seems to be enough of a gap created that they aren’t right up each other for the whole ride.  it is a safety net really for those that want to have a crack at stepping up to the next group.  however, it does rely on you knowing the ride route.  it is always posted so it is up to everyone to know where your group is going that day.

spr accessories – still have a few packages left for people to pick up.  email me to arrange a time and place.

bumper stickers – we are now into the second round of voting as there were a few suggestions that needed to be closed out.  have a look here and vote on what design you would like.  they all have the cyclist on them, but just variations on lettering and background.  votes have been very close so far with only a few separating all four designs.  poll closes after the weekend.  this design will form the basis of most of our promotional material, so not just bumper stickers, but also banners, flags and flyer’s.

world championships tipping – coming.  hopefully up and running buy this weekend.  you have to pick a rider in every race (men’s women’s & U23 in both the tt and road race) and the top finishing riders accumulate points that go towards your total.  all entry goes into the prize kitty.

golden spokes volunteers – we are involved in running our first race this year and so we need volunteers to help out with the golden spokes race at champion lakes.  there has already been a post put out about it here.  however, we really need some volunteers to help us out.  there are not a lot of jobs to do, but it would be quite embarrassing if a club of our size can not even field 10 people to help run an event.  you don’t need to be specially trained in anything and mostly we need line judges so you just write down people’s numbers as they cross the finish.  so get involved and add your name to the comments on the previous post.

state team time trial – we are putting together teams now for the state team time trial in mid october.  this is a race and so you need a full racing licence.  teams of 4 guys in open or masters (over 35) or 3 women.  this is a lot like a cyclo-sportif as you ride with the people you know and you all have to stick together.  put your name down hereis you are interested.  you don’t need a fancy tt bike to be able to play.

ride routes – nothing outstanding here except don’t forget as it is a public holiday, we will be running our normal public holiday ride route.  moderate pace with regroups.

saturday 25th september – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

juniors – spr saturday 22.12km (juniors mt pleasant)

development group – spr saturday 35.48km (novice shelley)

transitional – spr saturday 41.18km (reverse river ride)

fast, main 1 & 2 – spr saturday 49.38km (tv stations)

sunday 26th september – all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am

short – spr sunday 82.79km (brookton & weir rd)

long – spr sunday 101.68km (carradine & canning dam)

monday 27th september – ride starts at coode st carpark at 7:00am

main 1  – spr public holiday 59.35km (shelley & freo)