after the slight deviation from summer we had this week, it is good to see that the forecast is heading towards some nice weather again.  a very pleasant weekend is expected so lets make the most of it and head out riding.  there are a couple of events this weekend with the state crit titles at armadale on saturday and the great perth bike ride on sunday.  we are sure to have people in each so all the best to them.

as mentioned in the previous post, all the new kit has arrived and that includes the new trisuits.  there will be a distribution on saturday at the coffeeshop after the ride or by arrangement if needed.  there will also be a distribution of the new bottles and payment can be made for them on the day.  there are limited numbers of the bigger ones so to ensure you get what you want, send your order via email.

saturday ride will be a nice familiar one with the two groups heading along south street to canning vale.  the main group return via bannister road and the fast group head to nicholson.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 13 (canning vale reverse)

it’s been a while since we have been out to canning dam so i thought it would be a nice day to make the trip.  five climbs to tackle on this one so make sure you have your climbing legs on.  after the first one, the remainder are not too steep, but finishing up at over 100kms will mean that there will be some tired legs by the end.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 05 (carradine & canning dam)

a big weekend of bike riding happening starting friday night.  the tour de perth kicks off in northbridge with a criterium at 6:30pm and as shown before on a previous post, there will be a number of spr regulars racing.  there will even be a few spr jerseys on the circuit to so come along and cheer them on.

just after the saturday morning ride, take a spin over to kings park as the first real stage of the tour will do a number of circuits including mounts bay road.  the finish line is atop of the climb up spring and malcolm st so you will get a great view along there.

sunday is all around perry lake reserve, with the next stage in the morning around a circuit and a time trial in the afternoon.  both routes take in rebold hill and will be quite testing.  this is the time that the spr riders will need to hear your support.  at the same time there will be the festival of cycling in which we will have a tent.  there will be the latest batch of spr drink bottles on sale as well as a powertest to determine your power/weight ratio.  this will also be the day which i will be distributing the latest spr kit if you have ordered any. so come on down and support your club and the riders in the tour.  if you want to hang out at the tent and help out you are more then welcome to as well.

the saturday ride will take on ridgehill rd.  well actually the route has been changed now, so the fast group do ridgehill road and the main group skirt around it all together.  both groups head out towards guilford but the main group turn onto kalmunda road and then back along helena valley road and guilford road.  the fast group take the good old way past the rosehill gofl course then out along helena valley road to ridgehill.  home via kalamunda road and guilford road.  with only 4 1/2 kms difference between the two routes there is a good chance that there will be a catch.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 10 (ridge hill rd)

sunday will see a four climb wonder with the kahuna, peet, observatory and finally up to kalamunda for coffee.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 03 (kahuna & peet & patterson)

there is a couple of big weekends of racing lined up one after the other.  this week we have the track grand prix on sat night followed by the golden spokes road race on sunday.  the following weekend there is the tour de perth with some of our regular riders like brendan, steve, nicole, lisa, davina and bec all fronting up for this three stage event in the heart of perth.  this corresponds to a “festival of cycling” held at perry lakes while the tour is going on around it on sunday.  we will be manning a stall, so come along, watch the racing and check out the festival.  the weekend after is the state criterium champs at armadale on saturday and the great perthbike ride on sunday (for those of you that want to test your mettle against misplaced road signs and traffic cones).

however, closer to home (being south perth) we will be heading north on saturday morning.  scabs beach road with the group not splitting till we pass osborne park.  we will be traversing the city centre first, but we should stick together till the split.  the main group will take the usual way to scarborough while the fast group will head up ewen street.  both groups head down west coast hwy, but the fast group take a detour up the boulevard and back out oceanic.  home through dalkeith.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 05 (scarborough beach rd)

sundaywill see quite a few of us racing down at champion lakes for the golden spokes event.  for those that still want a hills ride, you will be looping around kalamunda and the observatory.  the test will be passing the coffee shop to head up kalamunda rd first.  the benefit will be that you can do your timed climb of mundaring weir rd as the third climb not the last climb.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 06 (welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd)

it’s november this weekend.  what happened to october???  it seems like only about 4 weeks ago that i was asking what happened to september.  christmas is coming soon and our christmas breakfast has been brought forward a week to the 12th dec.  make sure you mark it in your calendars as the final bash for the year.

as posted previously, the following weekend looks to be really busy.  the track gp on saturday and the golden spokes race on the sunday.  as i mentioned, if you can help out as a volunteer at the golden spokes, it would be appreciated.  just let me know asap and we can arrange a parking pass to get you car onto the island.

also, over the next week cadel evans will be in town and there will be stacks of book signings.  dymocks in garden city have one next friday at 1pm and there are a bunch of others. 

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 17 (leach vs south)

with some strong winds predicted again for saturday, i have decided to keep away from the escarpment which blew the crap out of us last week.  not saying that this week will be any better as i cannot control the weather…yet.  we will split after applecross and the main group will do leach, while the fast group will do south street.  last time we met up at the intersection at nicholson rd.  see how we go this week.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 02 (darlington & mundaring weir)

there is a masters race this weekend at chidlow for anyone that qualifies (over 35) but if not we will be doing a nice lap of darlington and mundaring weir.  4 climbs and only 85kms should mean that everyone is nice and strong for the timed climb up to kalamunda.

another couple of glorious days are predicted for the weekend so we expect big numbers for the ride again.  i was in such a hurry last week that i forgot about the novice ride.  luckily carol had it all under control so the five of them headed out together.  i will try to be on time this week as their numbers also go up with the nicer weather.

as we are expecting big numbers, we will split the group again to make sure we don’t hog too much of the road.  one of our new riders, josh, works for the traffic operations centre as part of main roads.  he said that if we get abused like the fast group did last week that we can give the licence plate number to him and they can deal with it.  something to think about as we seem to be coping a lot of abuse lately.

sunday will see perth hosting the world long course triathlon championships.  rachael is doing it as are a few others that i know.  comprising of a  3km swim/80km ride/20km run, if you have done a tri before you will understand what pain these guys put themselves through.  head down to langley park on sunday morning if you are not riding in the hills with us.  if not, then avoid the freeway south bound as it will be closed between hay st and canning hwy for the bike course as will mounts bay rd and riverside drive.

the 7th of november will see the track cycling grand prix being held at the speeddome.  a few of us have been to it the last couple of years and it is well worth it.  there are some big names form here and overseas coming out as it sits in between the manchester track world cup event and the melbourne event.  we will post some more info on it soon, but it is definitely a great night out especially if you haven’t been to the track before.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 12 (hale rd reverse)

these routes have been updated for the hale rd ride so if you have a garmin you will need to download the new tcx file.  basically the group will head out great eastern and split at ascot.  this week the main group will head straight out to kalamunda rd then home via hale and welshpool while the fast group go through guilford and get onto kalamunda rd via helena valley rd.  home the same way. 

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 18 (chook farm & observatory & gooseberry)

for all that loved the f_ckenberg last week we have the chookenberg this week.  this is the ride of the forgotten climbs, so if you haven’t done this one before expect a few different climbs.  after the success of the merchant tea house last week i think that it will be our new coffee stop in kalamunda.  even if there is no room, a take-away and a shady spot beats a 45 min wait any day.

ding ding ding.  summer is here (well almost) and daylight savings isn’t.  how awesome is it to not have to put on four layers of clothing to go riding in the morning.  how awesome is it to go riding at 5:30am in daylight rather than a small patch of headlight.  totally awesome.  as the kung-fu panda says “there is no charge for awesomeness….or attractiveness”

also in the awesome stakes is the fact that one hd has the herald sun tour televised on the same night as each stage was run.  check out the last few stages if you haven’t already.  cj sutton from garmin (who has come out on sunday rides with us before) is currently leading the men’s race while davina sprinted home for third in the women’s.  bec, anna and young sam are also in the women’s race. 

also, if you are after a jersey, knicks/bibs, skinsuit or trisuit you have till sunday night to put an order in.  i will be ringing cannibal on monday to set the order in motion.  this may be the only run of skinsuits/trisuits so don’t miss out…the mardi gras isn’t that far away.  scroll down a couple to posts to find more info.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 08 (benara rd)

with a strong north-easterly predicted i thought that we would tackle benara rd.  as the max of +30 degrees will always see us with bumper numbers for the saturday morning, the group will split.  the main group will do the normal route across at ascot and through guilford while the fast group will head out to midland and back through guilford.  both groups then return the same way along benara rd but both will face a strong breeze on the way out.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 09 (patterson & canns & urch)

well the german has returned and there is nothing he likes more than the f_ckenberg.  so that is where we are headed.  maxing out at 21% this little beauty will sort out the climbers from the sprinters but just don’t stop cause you may not get going again.  five climbs all up so expect to be tired by the end.  beautiful day predicted but not as hot as saturday.  bring lots of food and water as we don’t pass any servo’s till kalamunda.

a good turn out for cyclo-sportif last week and this finishes off the year for cyclo racing.  there are a couple more events in the regular road season and both are pretty flat so hopefully we can see a few more people wanting to step up to have a crack at racing. 

a good old saturday ride that sees the groups split nicely at risely with the main group heading to freo via leach while the fast group take south street.  home via cottesloe and dalkeith so we get a tailwind before coffee.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 09 (risley & cott)

a new route for sunday so make sure all you garmin-ites download the new file so you know where you are going.  this one passes the coffeeshop twice and starts the homeward descent early before turning back up welshpool rd.  it finishes with a nice surprise up gooseberry, just to make sure you know that you have been on the bike.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 20 (kalamunda & observatory & gooseberry)

a great turn out last weekend for the state team time trial.  we had just under 30% of the adult entries and the girls managed to come away with a bronze medal.  thanks to all that have added race reports.  it give everyone else and insight as to what a great day it was.  the breakfast was another success and thank-you once again to mark and joan for opening up their house to us. 

next weekend is the final cyclo-sportif of the year and it is another good chance for us to make an impression on the cycling scene.  look for the previous blog post on the event and if you are interested, put your name in the comments section.  yes there is a hill in the course, but it is a great chance to work together as a team and ther is always the final decent into town for the finish.

so onto this weekend.

saturday is predicted to be a nice (but cold) morning so i am expecting a few to come out and play.  as such we will split the group and do hale rd.  the fast group will also have to do ridge hill to shake things up a bit while the main group take kalamunda rd.  both groups return via guilford rd into the city.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 03 (hale rd)

sunday ride will be an old family favourite with a ride up greenmount and on through to parkerville.  return via mundaring weir rd means 4 climbs but with a few bonus ones to make things interesting.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 04 (greenmount & parkerville & mundaring weir)

public holiday this weekend and as such we will be running the normal public holiday ride.  hopefully it will be a fairly easy pace and everyone is welcome.

south perth rouleurs public holiday ride

some early reminders for next week.

the spring breakfast is next saturday the 19th and will be held at mark’s house in booragoon. there is a post belowso if you are coming let lisa know so we can organise catering.

the day after is the state team time trial.  we almost have 6 teams now but we need a few more people.  it is similar to a cyclo-sportifas you just race with your team-mates and you don’t even need fancy bars and bikes.  our aim is just to make our presence known to the cycling world and this is a good opportunity for us.  you need a RIDE, SPORT or recreational licence as a minimum as you can also get a day licence. 

there is a post below where you can register your interest and there is more details on the event.  so far we have 2 elite teams, a women’s team and almost 3 masters (+35) teams.  most of our guys are masters so if you want to ride, we can find a team for you.

so, now on with this weekend.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 05 (scarborough beach rd)

i have made a few changes to the scarborough beach road route.  the main group will do the normal route but there has been a change after we cross the causeway as we will head through the city instead of mounts bay road.  after that the normal scarb beach road and down westcoast hwy.  the fast group will stay with the main until just before the rolling hills on scarbs rd start.  they will take a slight detour and ride up ewen st before linking onto west coast hwy.  there will be another detour onto the boulevard and back out oceanic drv.  both these routes have changed, so if you have a garmin you will need to upload them again.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 10 (carradine & peet & observatory)

sunday will have a crack at 5 climbs.  heading down to mt nasura, up through roleystone and then kalamunda via the observatory and lawnbrook.  if you can make it that far you deserve a coffee.  just under 100km but some nice climbs to make it feel more like 200km.

it’s spring.  the buds are budding, the sprouts are sprouting and the roots….well they’re having a good time too.

unfortunately they are predicting a very wet spring.  while this is good for the garden and water supply it is bad for the brake pads and knicks.  as such with the forecast predicting showers for saturday, the group will not split, but we will revert back to the good old days and have specified fast sections withregroup points at the end.  these will be after cresswell hill, and herdsman lake.

south perth rouleurs saturday ride 14 (cresswell & herdsman)

UPDATE – this route has changed slightly.  make sure you upload the new tcx file if you have a garmin

sunday will keep us close to kalamunda with a looping circuit around the surrounding hills.  only 90kms all up but taking in 4 climbs means that there will be little respite between climbs.  we trialed the merchant tea house last sunday and the service was very prompt.  space may be a problem if the group is big, but we had a coffee and were home by just after 11:30.  we will see how it goes.

south perth rouleurs sunday ride 06 (welshpool & observatory & kalamunda rd)

there is a previous post about the state team time trial coming up on the 20th.  if you have a full racing licence (masters or elite) i encourage you to put your name down.  i will be pushing this event as it is a really good opportunity for us to present as a club.  four to a team of guys (three for girls) and it is only 42kms.  even if you don’t have a time trial bike or even aero bars, i recommend that you give it a go.  think of it like a short cyclo-sportif event.