Tag Archives: survey

spr survey – general comments

a little while back we ran a survey and have since published the results in a previous post. quite a few of the questions had a space for comments.  in the interest of transparency all the comments from the survey will be listed below and i will attempt to answer them as best i can.  since the survey was anonymous, this is the only way that people can be responded to. on occasion, i may group a number of comments together and answer them together.  if you need further clarification on any of the replies, please feel free to send me and email and i can answer you personally.

As there were so many areas to add comments, we have broken it done into 5 main topic groups with posts around each – club & safety, kit, racing & volunteering, social and a final one where the general feedback on any topic was given.

If there are any other general comments that you would like to make in regards to the club and how it operates, please feel free to express yourself below!

Keep up the great work it’s an awesome club

I wonder if the club could sponsor a club coach/training programme subsidized for members. But still potentially fee based if necessary. Something for us newbie women to look at the 3 dams training etc if we aren’t that confident to go up in the hills with the Sunday rides. Like a more specific training for an event but probably with a leader. Just a thought. I’m finding myself looking/ investigating other training programmes for 3 dams training that offer a have a go approach so you don’t feel too threatened.

yep, fair call.  the dams ride is an event that many in our club do and many do for the first time as a challenge.  organising set training rides for dams preparation for newbies should not be that hard for the club to do.  usually, our biggest problem is finding the appropriate person to look after the group.

I think when passing a rider first person should indicate how many more are going to pass eg 15 riders

courtesy to other rides should not have to be a club driven mandate.  i agree that this helps and have done it myself in the past.  some riders start to freak out when a big group comes past.  letting them know how many more to come can certainly assist.

Happy with the way club is run

Very well run club thanks to the efforts of the committee. Keep it up!

I am only new to SPR but am thoroughly enjoying it. I only ride with the club on weekends, and every ride has been enjoyable.

Thanks for your great work club committee. The only concern I have is that this year the club concentrates on club racing, which is highlighted by many blog posts. I wonder what the recreational riders would like to have more from the club. I do not know what the stats is but this is something to be considered. I agree that you can keep everyone happy. Hopefully the survey helps the club to give directions of what the members expect from the club.

it’s not that we deliberately don’t post blogs on recreational rides, but cycle clubs predominately run race events and as such we are trying to assist other clubs in making their events successful.  there is also a bigger step for some people to take in order to start racing, so we try to assist as much as possible.  the other factor is the reduction in recreational events.  in the past there was the great perth bike ride, the freeway bike hike and a host of cyclo-sportif events throughout the year.  some have totally disappeared off the calendar and others have lost their shine over the years.  the club, however, does recognise that more than half of our membership has a recreational licence.  we need to allow for this and will be looking at our own events like the water tower challenge.  we are, however, more than happy for people to write a blog post on any event that they participate in.

No

Great club. Suffers only because of its success. Bigger numbers means more outlier events. I have mates who won’t ride with SPR because it’s “dangerous”. I tend to think that riding in groups is a great foundation for racing as you learn to position yourself and pre-empt the moves of those around you. Awareness is a great bike skill. Anyhow, kudos SPR and the people who make the club possible!

A huge thank you to all the committee members and volunteers. You all do an amazing job.

I might have to give up my SPR membership next year so that I can qualify/participate in some races which require a Victorian cycling club membership. If it wasn’t for that I’d be perfectly happy to keep representing SPR from afar.

Full credit to a well run club. I love the professional website and communications. And especially love the way the club is inclusive and welcomes new riders. Well done.

It’s a little bit hard to feel “in” as a rider in the club as I’m a development rider. I don’t know if there are others out there like me but perhaps a mentoring or buddy program and specific skill building rides might help newer riders develop quicker and keep coming along.

we did have a buddy/mentor program running a little while back, so maybe we look at reinvigorating that.  it paired up newbies with experienced riders and they rode with them at a few saturday rides.  skills building is also an area that we are looking into.

Committee, volunteers & ride leaders do a good job. like many organisations it falls to the few.

It is a great club, run excellently by volunteers. thank you to all those involved.

I am probably not the best of your members to provide good feed back. However, organisations like SPR are essential to the sport and I am willing to support in a limited way to assist. Thank you for your good work and all the best for the future.

Update your kit design and switch supplier.

comments on this are addressed in the kit feedback post. we don’t have a case to change either at the moment.

This club always aims to improve its riders and their knowledge whilst retaining a social friendly club.

Every weekend I am looking forward to cycling with my friends. Thank you for organizing!

The office-bearers and key members of SPR continue to do a great job and should be rightly proud of their efforts. Thank you!

Definitely the best club in WA.

As fairly new to cycling I would like to see the club run some bike maintenance classes, tyre changing oiling etc so that we could become more self sufficient and any other handy hints! there is a wealth of knowledge in the club, but is not passed on to the lower levels.

agreed, and it shouldn’t be that hard.  we can either come down early before the ride or at the coffee shop afterwards.  it doesn’t need to be a big song and dance about how to strip the bike down to the frame, just the basic things that people need to look out for.

It is great club. Vibrant and inspirational. Club seems to shy about making crashes/accidents know as the occur. Why? We could all learn from them – like a few weeks back a guy landed on his face caught out on a sudden stop in a bunch at an circle. Hope we are not hiding the facts!!

nope, nothing is being hidden.  the club vice president has been tracking all the accidents that either known members or anyone on club training rides has been involved in.  we were looking at doing up a post, but might just include it in the annual report that we put together for the agm.  does give us an idea of what we need to work on, i.e. skills sessions.

I’ve always been impressed by the friendly SPR atmosphere and the way the club mixes dedication to racing with cooperation on training rides. I haven’t had much social involvement since I always have to run home to do family stuff, but hope to make up for this in the future.

Thanks so much to you Pete & other committee members for putting your time into the club. I appreciate it a lot.

I am not an active member any more but I may change, happy that my membership supports the club.

Overall, SPR does a very good job.

Great club, thanks for looking at ways to make it even better!

I ride mainly socially but i think SPR is a great group as it encourages everyone to cycle

Reduce the big groups allowing a smoother and better organised ride.

this has been addressed in the club and safety feedback post.  yes we agree that sizes need to be manageable, but it is up to the riders to adhere to this.  this morning (thursday) 3 riders took off after the group had been split and rode with the group in front.

Great club keep it up

The Club has an excellent base, with loads of members and a big presence in WA with loads of experience. As the biggest club I would like to see our best do better in top competitions with greater team management. The Committee are very committed, but there’s very little change over the years. It’s not that the incumbents are doing a bad job, but new people bring new ideas and fresh approach so I think it should be mandatory the leadership positions have maximum terms.

our constitution has been written so that every position is vacated before the agm each year.  when the club was formed, there were many examples of mismanagement within some of the other clubs in wa.  we wanted to make sure that there was no individual or clique that could take control of the club and destroy all the hard work that has been put in.  saying that, we also make en effort to ensure that we get a good group of people that believe in what the club stands for and wants it to continue that way.  being on the committee is not a prerequisite to getting new ideas heard.  the committee are the ones that need to do the work to implement the new ideas.  if you have thoughts on what can change there is nothing stopping anyone from nominating for the committee or even a subcommittee.

keep doing what you are doing. Great club and definitely my cycling family

Great club and something to be proud of. Our kit is our identity and seeing a low % of kit wearers does not help.

Encouraging newbies with bike skills sessions.

yep, comments above and in the club and safety post.

I love this club, words can not express how much joining this club has changed my life for the better. I have made so many wonderful friends. And the support you gave me when I was battling cancer, I am forever grateful. Thankyou

It’s not that easy being green Having to spend each day the color of the leaves When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold

red and yellow.  you secretly want to be ironman, don’t you.

Thank you to the president and the committee and all other volunteer team members for your hard and great work you are doing day in day out. Well done ! Thank you

We NEED a structured program geared towards group skills & bike handling. We need to pay instructors to do this regardless of their sideline coaching businesses. Most of these people who would do this are loyal and active members of the club.

yep, skills sessions are being looked at as mentioned in the club and safety comments post.

Great club with great leaders. Really appreciate the time and effort put in by the committee. The ride leader program is a great initiative and an example of leadership provided by the club for the growth and safety of its members. Well done SPR.

The club is really well run as it is, comments and complaints are 99.9% of the time the result of those not members who don’t understand how the club operates and what is expected….which you can’t really control. As the clubs grows it is increasingly difficult to keep everyone under control and keep everyone safe so thank you for trying. Oh the only thing I would STRONGLY recommend is subsidised and coordinated first aid training for whomever in the club is interested in taking the course. Accidents on club rides happen and the more people who know how to give immediate first aid is really important. Even in racing, you could be the only person for kms who can help a fellow rider, it is wise to know how to offer assistance as who knows when help would be on the way. A few accidents this year, some very serious, where folks were lucky to have first aiders on hand to help them. Cheers!

as mentioned in the previous club and safety comments post, it will be discussed at the committee meeting.

Many thanks to everyone who contributes to making the club so awesome 🙂

I’d like SPR to partner with DonateLife WA to promote and collaborate around a popular community issue that is focused upon the gift of life

personally i am a bit believer in organ donation.  my family know that in the event of an accident, my bits are to go to someone that needs them.  i also encourage others to have that discussion with their loved ones as (unfortunately) you never know what can happen.  however, the club made a decision a while ago to not really partner with any particular entity.  we didn’t want to be seen as a bike shop ride, or coffee shop ride but wanted to be a cycle club.  although donatelife is a great cause, there are also a number of other great causes out there.  cancer for example, has affected a number of our members over the last few years. we could easily align with any number of charities but have looked to create our own identity to focus on our members.

I’m a new rec member (Oct 17)- only been to three rides so far. Keen for much more. SPR Riders have been helpful when I’ve asked for ‘where do I go’ for such and such ride.

You guys rock!

Committee do a great job 🙂 volunteers might feel more comfortable putting their hand up to help if there was a buddy training system

The club is run well.

I think the club has divided to different group for example only main fast. Riders only social within themselves and I felt is too Competitive among

a large inclusive club is always going to break into a number of groups as generally the people you ride with are the ones you socialise with. there is nothing stopping anyone from sitting with another group for coffee.  start up a conversation with someone you don’t know.  you already have a common interest so it is not really like tinder.  i don’t believe that the barriers that some people see between the groups are actually there.  we are talking about social groups here and you can’t force social groups.  the club can’t mandate that people must be more social to others, that is up to each of you.

great work, I really appreciate the network and friendship this club has.

No juniors in the club is something we should look at.

these things are a catch 22 situation.  it is hard to provide for juniors if we don’t have any, but they won’t turn up if we don’t provide for them.  it is an ongoing problem and something that has been looked at a number of times.  i think that it is still on the committee agenda as something that a few of us were meant to work on last year.  in progress.

Club is well run and has a good following in Perth. Happy to be a member.

I don’t think it is the place of the club to support national and international events at this stage. Perhaps once grass roots issues are addressed and a sustainable approach to club management can be reached, then this could be considered further. I think that the club should focus on members basic skills and domestic racing (if a member wishes) development and use excess funds to support this and the races the club puts on. I would be really proud of a club that promotes a skilful and positive community-focused bike rider. I am concerned that in some instances common sense is overlooked in managing situations, to the detriment of the club outcomes. In some instances, I feel that the communication is not as respectful as it could be, in particular for the recent ToMR group emails. I don’t believe that catering to the lowest common denominator is the way to be progressive and attract high caliber club contributors. If particular people are out of line, then appropriate communication should be directed to them personally and in a timely manner. This should not be avoided, and a club member with appropriate skills in this area should be utilised. Some of the language and tone I have witnessed on group rides, not for safety reasons, but for ego reasons, is not representative of a club that I want to be a part of. I know of riders that no longer ride with the club due to this unfortunately. I believe that some/all club positions should attach payment/club fees covered for ‘volunteer’ time to improve accountability and perhaps attract more candidates to the roles. I would like to see higher quality kit options available. Does the club have goals or targets for each year/2 years? Are these communicated to the club members? Thanks to those taking their time to review these responses, and considering our opinion.

wow a lot in there.  any financial contribution from the club is seriously discussed at the committee level before any commitment is made.  in certain instances, the club has supported individuals to help them pursue their goals both here and overseas.  in other instances, the club has not given financial support but has provided in-kind but organising and supporting fundraiser events.  on occasion the club has donated outside the club in areas where we feel we should be actively supporting the sport. none of those decisions are taken lightly and it usually involves a lot of animated discussion.

communication is probably the next important item in here.  how we communicate with each other can certainly have a lasting effect on how those parties react in the future.  in dangerous or frustrating circumstances people’s emotions often boil to the surface and this may not always have the best outcome. yes, i agree that ego’s should not get in the way of delivering a message and sometimes people should just “take a breath”. how we act forms peoples opinions of the club.  whether in kit on the road, as a ride leader within a group or in some designated organisational position within the club.  remember, you are talking to a person, that will have an equal reaction to your action.

goals and targets are not always something that we discuss outside of the 1 year period.  often there are longer term aspirations, but as with most volunteer organisations, it takes people to drive them along.  i feel that we may need to bring more structure to the governance of the club, not in the day to day running, but as to what is the vision, purpose and plan.  what are we trying to achieve in the long run.

Love how the club operates,

The number of members and happy faces, to me says you have a good thing going. Even though I am going back to recreational riding I do think others would like more opportunities / introduction to racing. Could this be offered as an alternative to group riding?

i don’t know if you have been in some of the faster groups, but they are races.  we tend to find that the best way to experience racing is to actually race.  even though some of the training rides we do are pretty solid, they are totally different to an actual race.  the biggest difference is the tactics.  fitness kind of determines which grade you ride in, but tactics determine whether you win or not.  the clubs main focus is the training rides, and this is where we have seen a lot of growth.  peel club, however, puts a lot of their effort into almost weekly club races.  these are low key, enter on the day graded races.  if you are interested in taking a step towards racing, get a few of your riding buddies together and head down to the next peel race.  we have used them in the past as development “races” for newbies and found that they are very well run and very welcoming to new riders.

Club kits and design black kits with just green writing ?? groups are good already just riders need to revisit rules instead of abusing other fellow friends for a mistake here and there.

although we put a lot of work into the ride leader program and what that means to the clubs safety, all riders should be looking out for each others safety.  as mentioned above in regards to communication, how that is delivered will determine the response.  on the flip-side, if you are being constantly told off for “making mistakes” people will get frustrated and their communication style may change a bit. as much as people hate being told off, people also hate having to constantly tell people off.  make sure that you take on board the “feedback” and make sure it is delivered in the appropriate manner.

Thank you to the committee for doing a sensational job with the club.

Mentors for new members so you aren’t turning up to rides alone and can be introduced to people.

so, most of the time people do email the club before turning up for the first time.  that way we can tell them how many riders to expect, what the different groups do and what we expect in regards to ride etiquette.  we always say “just ask anyone” when they arrive to point them in the right direction.  i know that it can be a little daunting at first as there are a lot of riders there, but once we split into the groups and the ride leaders give briefings, things seem to settle a bit.  what we are hoping is that when you find a new person in your group, you make the effort to help them out in both riding etiquette and also socially after the ride.

The administrators of the club are doing a terrific job, thank you.

The club is inclusive and has been an important part of my cycling journey! Thank you all for keeping it as good as it is!

Have been a member less than 1 year but very impressed with club, very well organised, friendly and welcoming crew and I get a lot out of enjoyment and fitness benefits out it, even though I just do the Thursday and Sunday group rides, so great work SPR team.

The club has honestly changed my life and I certainly appreciate all of the great people within it. 2017 has been an awesome year and hopefully 2018 is an even better one.

Peter Mah deserves all the credit he gets Race committee have been excellent 2017

I notice that there is always talk if developing women’s racing and engagement in cycling but when I have attended beginners cycling events there is no race briefing and I am not always sure of what I should be doing, simple things like where do I attach the chip, how do I read the results, maybe the club could hold a presentation/training day to explain the basics of racing

so the race committee is looking at organising a post saturday q&a on racing with some seasoned spr racing types.  hopefully this answers some of peoples questions.  at individual races though, if there are spr riders around and you have a questions, don’t be afraid to ask. i am pretty sure at any race event you could ask just about anyone anything and they will help you.  we all started somewhere.

Very proud to be a part of the SPR community!

I am so happy to be a member of this club. Committee does an exceptional job. The great thing is no politics. In fact the committee carries out its job without even seeming to. Brilliant.

My guess is that 50% of members don’t know who the committee members are or what they do

so there is the agm that everyone is invited to and that is where the committee gets elected.  we have a breakfast and everything.  pretty much anything that happens within the club happens because of the volunteer time put in by the committee and sub-committees.  anyway, there is a page on the blog that lists everyone.

Waiting for the quarterly cycle for club kit is a big long other than that the club is great

Wanted to see some hills rides on Saturday instead of all hills rides on Sunday. Also if could get the buffet breakie once a month either first week of the month or last week would be great.

due to people working or having other commitments like kids sports, the saturday ride is always around the 50km mark.  this allows people to get a good ride in and be finished before 9am.  some commitments start even earlier, so we started the earlybird ride for that reason.  as for the breakfasts, we used to have 4 per year, but that has been dropped to 2 per year.  having them to frequently meant that people didn’t see that value in them and didn’t attend.  even worse were those that didn’t pay, but still took food from the buffet. in the interest of both the club and dome, we now have  the agm breakfast and the xmas breakfast.

Overall a really well run club. Special thanks to president and committee for the hard work they put in.

Operates really well. I think because we all ride in close quarters and many race, some training in close quarter riding would be of great benefit to most.

The club has an excellent ethos on being inclusive and providing safe rides for everyone no matter their level. The committee, ride leaders, and majority of members believe strongly in this. On busy days numbers can be very high, including non members who can be less willing to follow the direction of ride leaders. I’m not suggesting calling numbers, however regular riders who aren’t members should be encouraged to join, and there needs to be a way to express to riders that they may not be welcome due to the way they ride. This can be difficult to do on the ride and if they don’t finish the ride and stay for coffee.

a lot of this is covered in the club and safety comments post.

A terrific club which is very inclusive of all abilities from the serious racer to the social rider

Well let’s see… I think the spr club structure is brilliant. I don’t ride with spr very often any more, hills ride… The odd Saturday ,spr Groups are just too big. I like being the quite organiser for stuff with the club , happy to help out when l can.

Keep up the good work!!!

Too many issues to list here but the ongoing problem of unsafe groups, ineffective ride leaders and no skill tearing system to prevent unskilled riders joining any group they wish need to be addressed.

so when we open ourselves up to the public, i expect that we will get a few comments like this.  not uncommon and there are comments in a similar vain in some of the other topics.  when i look at all the positive comments just in this post, i know that this isn’t the common belief within our groups.  basically, if you feel that the groups are that unsafe, with ineffective leaders and a raft of unaddressed issues, then maybe you should not be riding with us. we, the club, not just the committee work hard to make sure that we have safe, organised and inclusive rides every week.  if you have particular issues that you want addressed, i am more than happy for you to contact the club personally.  i do however, take umbrage to a generalisation that says that we have done nothing to keep riders safe.

 

so as a final overall comment, i would like to thank everyone that contributed to the survey this time around.  there is lots of feedback in there that the committee can use to make sure that the direction we are heading aligns to what the membership wants.  it is not all bad, and i thank you for any of the positive feedback that was given.  it is all important as it lets people know that we aren’t totally stuffing everything up and just spend hours trying to keep certain people happy.  stay safe.

spr survey – social comments

a little while back we ran a survey and have since published the results in a previous post. quite a few of the questions had a space for comments.  in the interest of transparency all the comments from the survey will be listed below and i will attempt to answer them as best i can.  since the survey was anonymous, this is the only way that people can be responded to. on occasion, i may group a number of comments together and answer them together.  if you need further clarification on any of the replies, please feel free to send me and email and i can answer you personally.

As there were so many areas to add comments, we have broken it done into 5 main topic groups with posts around each – club & safety, kit, racing & volunteering, social and a final one where the general feedback on any topic was given.

If SPR were to run cycling events for “participation” and “fun”, what should they be?

I’d leave this to the big event organisers (ie outsource)

Hill climbs. Track cycling.

Pub/Cafe Crawl. Cyclocross at a brewery. Stuff where we can hang out after the event or multiple races so you can race and watch a race as well.

Long haul supported country rides – with escort vehicles. Ie A perth to Beverley ride. Stay at the pub and then ride back to Perth via York. Or what about a climbers carpark challenge? Would be ?? awesome!

How about some fun events eg like the Giro de perth etc. once a year

Dirty Dozen 2 (I have a draft route PM me)

Hill climb challenge, obviously we don’t have anything as long but…http://www.keirachallenge.com.au/cycle-climb.html

ATTA run the best TT’s – don’t try to compete with ATTA

would like to see intermediate level participation team events,a group of us girls recently did tour of Gracetown, it would have been nice to see more SPR there and support or similar type rides.

Not really into it

HILL CLIMBS

100-150km rides also

Multiday event. TTT, ITT, road race. 3 stages, winners for each and overall GC.

The range of rides, races & events across the year is awesome as is

Do an “Every ride of the week” Challenge. Mon-Fri. In one day. (I’ve done it.)

time trials and team time trial events, these are popular at ToMR time and folks seem to have had a lot of fun doing it, builds camaraderie and would be something super different for SPR

Team things like relays also

Other events with others. I have took part in a few Perth integrated health events and very well. Organised and enjoyable. Riding is not not all about racing

night rides

Tour with SWCC – Joint Club ride through Ferguson Valley

Nah just organise races. They’re more fun

Needs to be something ‘different’ or unusual like the Water Tower challenge.

I am unlikely to do participation rides. However, historically the best rides for me were the UCI training rides at 600am on Sunday. It’s close to racing but still a club ride. Something similar to that would be great. It’s a nice start time in hot weather, home at a reasonable hour and still left time to attend a race later in the morning.

ATTA does time trials year round, but maybe there is space in the calendar for some team time trials, especially in the least up to ToMR

Night ride challenge

Tour of the Wheatbelt

a number of good suggestions in there.  i like the idea of a 2 day supported ride.  like most things, it does take a bit of organisation, but certainly something we can look into.  there is already work going on around a weekend training camp as well.

the joint club training ride also looks good.  there are lots of areas that we don’t explore because they are not close to us, but a short trip away in the car and we can find all sorts of new roads.  with some local guides, it makes it even easier.

the old ucwt training ride was a good hit out and very solid indeed.  we have been talking about revamping it as a once a month (replace the long hills) ride on a set course with only a regroup at the end.  still a work in progress.

the water tower challenge has definitely been identified as an event that we must put on again.  the back end of the year is too cramped full of events now, so we need to find a new home for it.  also on my list of things to do.

a night ride challenge is kind of almost running now.  we have been doing lots of nightowl rides which cut a lap of the river before the earlybird.  great time to ride as the weather is still nice and the roads are clear.  if you really want a night time challenge, have a look at delirium.  solo, duo or in a team of 6.  how many laps can you do in 24 hours. a real challenge but there are lots in the club that have taken it up previously.

Are you a member of any other cycling organisations?

No

ATTA

ATTA

Informal Group – Bike Force Myaree

ATTA

Track Cycling WA

Over 55s

Australian Time Trials Association WA

Cycling Australia

ATTA

AATA

Over 55 Cycling club

SPR

Meetup Group Cycling for Fun

BWA

CA, ATTA

Atta

atta is very popular and they run excellent time trial events.  there are no ego’s, you just go out and do your thing and check the website to see how you go.  they keep track of pb’s and all that, so you can track your progress.  you don’t even need a fancy tt bike as many people just go and do them on a roadie (or even penny farthing).  it is a great way to do more competitive riding without actually racing. we obviously missed them from the options to select other organisations which was a major oversight on our part.

Do you currently have bike insurance (damage &/or theft), who is it with?

Cyclecover Gold

velosure

Velosure

Covered with TA

Velosure

Bike sure

Through household insurance

JLT

CycleCover

ANZ home and contents

as in private / personal bike insurance

But probably need it.

Suncorp

Cycl

home insurance

Aami

CGU – home

Velosure

BWA

velosure

Velosure and RAC

Bruce Insurance, part of home contents

Cycling Australia

Rac

velosure

Gio

Youi

Velosure

RAC

HBF

AAMI

Part of our house insurance

Cycle Aus

AAMI

Velo

SGIO

Commonwealth

Cycling Australia

CA/Velosure

Velosure

BikeSure

Velosure

Velosure

Velosure

Velosure

Rac friend who races recommended to me as I can’t afford to replace my cafe racer

Home contents insurance

No Worries Bike Cover

Berkshire Hathaway (home contents insurer)

Velosure

Velosure

Velosure

Allianz via home insurance

Bikesure

Velosure

Velosure

Velosure

Insured as a portable item through home and contents, not specific bike insurance

Velosure

Bikesure

Velo

RAC

for those that aren’t insured, there are quite a few suggestions in there for who to contact.  cycling isn’t meant to be a contact sport, but there are so many variables outside of your control, that insurance is necessary to make sure you aren’t replacing a bike all the time.

What social activities would you like?

An event I have participated in the past was a ride that was followed by a B’fast BBQ, families were encouraged to attend with kids and partners on bikes. So shortened Sat ride, partners with kids all on bikes meeting. Short ride to follow then breakfast. It was mayhem but huge fun

“Garmin’s in the bowl”

thanks tinder-guy

Connect with other riding club like Perth integrated and participate with the riding events

Love it all. 10 yr birthday family event

we did do a family event early on in the clubs history, for those that remember.  discussions are underway as to what we do for the clubs 10 year anniversary.

 

spr survey – racing & volunteering comments

a little while back we ran a survey and have since published the results in a previous post. quite a few of the questions had a space for comments.  in the interest of transparency all the comments from the survey will be listed below and i will attempt to answer them as best i can.  since the survey was anonymous, this is the only way that people can be responded to. on occasion, i may group a number of comments together and answer them together.  if you need further clarification on any of the replies, please feel free to send me and email and i can answer you personally.

As there were so many areas to add comments, we have broken it done into 5 main topic groups with posts around each – club & safety, kit, racing & volunteering, social and a final one where the general feedback on any topic was given.

If you don’t race, are there barriers preventing you from racing?

Probably nervousness having never raced, skills may be not up to it

confidence, training opportunities for the novice racer. most training seems to be tailored around the faster/ more elite group(s)

Too old, too slow.

I’m between ‘not coming back’ and ‘loved it’.

My fat arse and refusal to diet.

Did TOMR might consider it again but not interested in individual racing.

Work weekends. Crit’s scare me witless. I’m fat.

Not race fit

I am not interested in crits they are just too dangerous. I especially don’t like the tech park circuit. Fear of a massive group stack I am not interested in but I think I might aim for TOMR again next year but its a big expense by the looks of it

Age, Family commitments and if I crash and/or injure myself I wouldn’t be able to work as I have a physical job.

experience at the moment. Which is also why i don’t attend more development rides. Would be great to have some rides for really new riders that work on skills as I development rides I’ve done faster than planned average and a bit overwhelming for a newer to group riding cyclist

Don’t train enough; some elitism exists. Not easy to jump from M2 to M1 etc. (M2.1 should be focused on progression to assisting riders, greater separation within group abilities (I appreciated this is not as simple as it sounds)

Getting to events

No barriers but am a much better rower than rider.

Not personally interested in racing road race or criterium events (which I don’t like/ not suited to me), but do compete in Time Trial, Track, MTB and CX events. Support RR and Crit events though and think SPR should too.

Age

time

Not worth it unless you train

Got nervous with rider behaviour on west coast masters C grade race.

Occasional racer when I get motivated.

I don’t feel I am Quick enough and am too old.

not competitive

I’m too old and my bike skills are crap! I would be a danger to myself and others if I raced. I am a competitive distance runner, and ride mainly for variety and also for the social interaction.

just fitness

Not interested in racing road, never have.

SPR members do not race like a team, it’;s all individuals. When racing against others like Midland they are well organised and use their strengths to win. SPR has many capabilities but they are not working together.

Age

Fear of another 50kph crash and broken bones has something to do with it.

time

Just do the occasional race at which there’s a strong SPR presence e.g. TOMR, Beverley. Have loved such events but that’s enough racing for me!

commitment, cant lose!

Too old

No, not within the control of the club

caveat: I have raced but find it too nerve wracking thus have moved onto TTs, don’t currently have the time to commit consistently to the times of day racing is set up but even if it was ….. would I race again … no idea

Me

Time and my partners interest in attending races

Raced karts for 15 years. Don’t feel the need anymore and getting too old. But I can see the motivation that racing would bring a rider.
Cost, self-organisation, uncertainty about safety.

Racing means a lot of training. I have time for training only on Sunday and it is not enough. Time is my limitation.

Only barriers I have hit whilst racing.

training time and a bike born after 1987

Time and still getting to know the club members

Looks a bit unsafe

Speed, lack of experience

Missing the option I really wanted. Tried it and may come back.

Expensive, doesn’t fit in with my schedule.

Haven’t had time to think about it with long working hours.

Money: Cost of licence Cost of entering races Being offered a new rider free race and not being refunded New to cycling racing: Not knowing what I’m doing Not knowing what category to race in. Not knowing anyone at races

Not racing at the moment due to illness.

I don’t yet have a race performance bike

Woudn’t say I love it, but will continue to do it

List of events available Question of am I good/fast enough

Have raced but currently not racing

time and commitment to train. Being able to try it in a safe environment. Apprehension and confidence to give it a go.

Would be good to have skills sessions

I may come back to racing but not currently a focus for me.

Occasionally raced – not convinced to pursue

Tried it & might come back

old, fat and unfit.  you would be surprised at how many people that are racing would describe themselves in the same way.  age, is not a problem as there are masters races that many of our members participate it.  it is not associated with cycling australia and our club membership will not enable you to ride, but it is still racing if you are interested.  fat and unfit are a couple of parameters that can be changed.  however, no time for training also rated quite highly and this will certainly effect the fat and unfit status.

we are not trying to push people into racing but just make sure that they are aware of the pathways that exist within the club that can certainly help take that next step.  if you enjoy riding hard on saturday morning and love to win the final “sprint”, then it is not much of a step to pin on a number.  most races will have other spr members in attendance, so if you are keen, but not sure, get in contact with the race committee and they will be able to help you out. the race committee  will do a post-saturday q&a in the next few weeks where you can chat and ask questions. any raving questions at all. watch for the blog post

Would you be prepared to volunteer for race duties and what would you be willing to do? (e.g.: line judging; marshall; registration; etc)

Registration, traffic mgt

Anything – marshall, follow car, etc

Rego

Whatever

No preference.

Marshall

registration,

Anything requested of me

Anything that doesn’t require prior experience. I have none.

Burn Peter Mah’s leg again, drive the wrong way at a course in Wanneroo, set up a feed station at the wrong place just out of Kalgoorlie, find ice in the middle of Bintan ETC

i have a permanent scar on my leg from your volunteering efforts.

Difficult due to family commitments and shift work

Registration

Marshall

only I’m interstate so really it’s a no

marshall, rego, offer my services as a physio/medico

Anything. I usually help out whenever in needed

Were ever needed, but shift pattern makes regular attendance difficult

Happy to do anything

Anything

Heavily committed to rowing including Australian Masters and coaching.

Anything

registration

Marshalling, Vehicle Support

Registration, set up/pack down

Any

Registration, marshalling, set up and pack up

all of the above

Anything

Marshall

What ever needs doing.

Any

All of above

Any required support activities

Marshall

whatever asked

anything required

Marshall

Anything

As needed

Quality control

marshal, registration

anything

setup/registration

Handing out water etc

no idea what’s needed!

Marshall, line judging

will assist in some way but also understand the time/effort that takes to run races.

Registration

Any

rego, marshall – when available

Depends on work. I work most weekends

Basic stuff

Rego

marshall

Registration, packing up.

Race Director

Driver

Whatever is needed

Anything required

MARSHALL, registration

what ever the club needs, fairly flexible

Registration

whatever

Something that I could do before/ after the race and still race or be able to send a family memever to volunteer on my behalf. If you volunteer you could get a cheaper race??

Registration,

Anything

Any of the above.

registration

But I find it very difficult to get away to help

Registration

Whatever is required and will fit with my training/racing schedule

Anything

Anything

Whatever

Timing system, marshall

Any role required.

Registration

Registration & marshalling

Anything

Marshall

Organising. But I’ll need help and direction as my first time doing this.

Driving, marshalling, registration

Line judge, registration

Marshals

Everything

Registrations

wow, that is a lot of people willing to help out.  unfortunately, being an anonymous survey, we can’t just list out your names onto a register.  we did ask for vollies last year and kept a list.  please respond to the spr green army volunteer call out blog post coming up soon!

Based on your experience as a ToMR racer in 2017, please tell us what could be done better to improve?

Might be good to try and get accommodation closer together to enable greater interaction amongst teams? ToMR volunteers were awesome – despite the Greenbushes wait (no doubt you’ll get plenty of feedback on that from others! 😀 )

Some miscommunication at the Green bushes finish left the mixed team out on their own.

Only 2 of the volunteers were poor. The rest were excellent!

Did not race with SPR for the TOMR, raced with the Unicorn Racing team

Could have resolved the Thursday evening issue quicker and more decisively. Shame there’s limited accommodation closer to Nannup.

Some volunteers excellent. But there were 2 that refused to ferry cars more than 1 direction on the Saturday which is the key day the volunteers were needed. That left others left to do silly kms to make up the shortfall and left them exhausted. This left 2 teams very delayed getting food and lifts. Especially bad for mixed team. The 2 vollies in question chose to assume that they only needed to assist their teams (or in 1 case only certain team members). I also am aware of an incident that lef racer who had even ingredients the crash left to attend an ambulance on her own having asked her teamsters and volunteer to please wait for her as she didn’t know where the SPR tent was and she was hurting and needed some help. They didn’t wait and when she came out the ambo none was there. I don’t think this person would do the event again.

generally people were pretty happy with the tomr race experience.  some firmer policy around a number of issues including volunteer duties have already been identified. communication here will be the key to ensure that everyone know what needs to happen and when.  however, remember, volunteers are volunteering their time and are unpaid, so don’t expect them to be everywhere and everything to you.

the accommodation is also an issue now that the race has moved to nannup.  initially we though that we could stay in busso as it is close, but the number of 5 bedroom houses was limited so we moved further along the coast.  we will take into account all the feedback we received when start to look into tomr 2018.

How would you improve the  “SPR racer experience” of the ToMR for future years?

Perhaps better accommodation for the volunteers.

Better organisation around volunteers transporting racers from one location to another.

I was lucky and my daughter experience was excellent

Perhaps more information about racing organised rides, training for the novices?

Can’t think of one fault! Amazing every year. It keeps getting better.

Sort out vehicle transfers before people decide to bugger off.

Locate more responsibility for planning & logistics at team level, while retaining higher-level decision making & coordination at official club level

I think it was pretty spot on

Keeping them in the lower categories is key to the experience being positive.

Depends on where the racing is held, as the travel time to the events each day prevent the teams getting together to socialise, which is a great reason to attend and get to know fellow SPR members.

Depends a lot on the race course. I know the point to point caused a lot of logistical headaches & a few extra volunteers would have helped share the load with driving. Also accomodation closer to the race would reduce driving time – happy to stay somewhere more basic

Harsher penalties for withdrawals. 😉

It was pretty good!! I was blown away with the experience. The logistics and the last day being back to back wasn’t the best but I don’t know how SPR could have influenced that. I was expecting more atmosphere at the event. People said the year before had more atmosphere. The heat took people by surprise. W1 has the right idea with ice in stockings. It would be good for the more elite teams to mentor those not as experience.

Allow tea,s to ,are their own accommodation arrangements. Give team a guideline for location, facilities etc.

be fitter and more prepared to race in the heat!

Let the team organise their own logistics, it became too much for the club to organise the transport of each team,

More direction around logistics: hiring a bus and trailer was an excellent decision and would have benefited other teams.

Need to find a way to stay closer to the event to reduce commute time. I appreciate this can be difficult.

Pro rider was allocate to a team who rode with her every race. Yet they also did a ride with the pro on Monday morning without inviting anyone else. They also arrived late to the BBQ which was one of the few times others got to talk to the pro. My team were rostered to bring the pro back one day but we were told last min that the w3 team had decided to do it. My team luckily got to spend time with her on the road as we happened to be the same division. I’d a team is allocated pro they should be mindful that the pro is paid for by the entire club

this is the first year that we have had the pro rider. overall, we think it was an excellent “plus” for the club, but we also know that we can improve. couple of points: one, the pro rider themselves made specific requests, and these influenced how we arranged things. two, the overall TOMR management had scheduled some things we did not initially know about, which reduced some opportunities for club members to interact.

Jore cars for those point to point races/ stages. Allow families to come down and stay with/ bear teams.

Subsidise cost if the event. More mini buses for transportation

again a few points raised around travel times and we will certainly look into that.  apparently tomr will remain around nannup for the next few years, so we should get used to having some form of travel as nannup cannot house all our riders.  being close to the ocean was certainly good after the race, but not totally necessary.  offline, i have also heard that the price of accommodation can be restrictive for some people.  the flip side is the quality of the housing often reflects that, so it is a trade off between being comfortable and well rested or paying  a bit less.  something that we can look at.

as always, there is lots of discussion leading up to the event around teams organising their own accommodation and allowing families, etc to come down.  the biggest problem here is that the teams keep changing right up to the final weeks.  people pull out or get injured etc and we need to shuffle rider around.  we can easily get into a situation where a certain house is booked, or spouse staying with and then riders all swap around.  all of a sudden someone is not happy with some aspect of it and it always falls back to the club to mediate.  that is why we now organise all accommodation for the riders and subsidies the volunteers.  i can’t see this changing in the near future, especially with the unprecedented number of withdrawls we had last year.  logistically last year was not easy, but both greg and jon (and eventually bryan) did an excellent job of pulling it all together.

Based on your experience as a ToMR volunteer in 2017, please tell us what could be done better to improve?

The communication was ok but would have found value in an early briefing session. This I think would have enabled me to plan work commitments more effectively to allow for an earlier arrival. Plus could have picked up a bigger loaded from Bryan etc.

Ive sent a separate email with constructive feedback.

Quality of accom was super, availability of accom was SHOCKING. 9 volunteers to 5 available beds Location of accom was fabulous next to beach & close to town centre but SHOCKING for race location. A lot of fuel was expended driving to Camp & then to race end & home. Wasn’t expecting that. There was a ‘racers’ pre tour meeting discussing the courses etc. It would’ve been helpful if some guidelines, team expectations were offered in a similar setting

Ok… I volunteered with TMR not with spr …I stayed at the hotel…I was grateful.

again distance of travel.  also some better communication for the volunteers so they know what they need to do on the day.  as a racer, however, i didn’t think that the volunteers at any stage did not know what they were doing.  we had pretty much everything we needed to get out and race and always had a coke at the finishline.

How would you improve the  “SPR volunteer experience” of the ToMR for future years?

Early briefing session Clear outline of expectations and requirements Perhaps information to the teams about what the volunteers could do, there was the odd expectation cropping up. In respect to the car shuttle – 2 volunteers withdrawing from doing more than one car shuttle on the Saturday was in my view the biggest contributing factor to one person having to do three shuttles. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances.

Less driving by being closer to race central. Ensure that all Volunteers contribute evenly, not just look after their group (when others are in dire need of attention). Equal access to guest pro riders.

All wear matching SPR green polo shirts 🙂

was pretty good as it was

I rated the accommodation based on staying with W3 team, there would not have been enough room staying at the volunteer’s house. I personally think it’s better for the volunteer to stay with the team.

Volunteers need to full understand their commitment to the event. ie 2 drivers only willing to do 1 car retreval trip on stage 2 leaving half of mixed team and me finish. Not really concerned form me but mixed team delayed approx 90min for recovery

Maybe if possible have houses closet together, volunteer to stay with their team, be responsible for all transportation of team

All teams have a volunteer Volunteer stays with assigned team Bus & trailer to accomodate team & bike from accom to base camp

It’s pretty good already , can’t fix it

houses closer, less driving, volunteers staying with the team.  all valid points and something that the logisitics team will look at.  any mention here and previously about bus and trailers really only applies if we have a point to point race.  a few years ago there were lots of point to point stages so we had to hire buses and trailers.  it did significantly add to the cost of the tour price and we avoid it if we can.

on a general comment about volunteers, everyone needs to remember that they are volunteers, not paid workers there to look after you.  please do not put unnecessarily high expectation on something that is being provided for free.

spr survey – kit comments

a little while back we ran a survey and have since published the results in a previous post. quite a few of the questions had a space for comments.  in the interest of transparency all the comments from the survey will be listed below and i will attempt to answer them as best i can.  since the survey was anonymous, this is the only way that people can be responded to. on occasion, i may group a number of comments together and answer them together.  if you need further clarification on any of the replies, please feel free to send me and email and i can answer you personally.

As there were so many areas to add comments, we have broken it done into 5 main topic groups with posts around each – club & safety, kit, racing & volunteering, social and a final one where the general feedback on any topic was given.

Are there any kit items currently not available through Cannibal that you would be likely to purchase?

Cycling cap?

Cap, long-fingered gloves

wider leg wider leg option bibs for female and better chamois (female),

Fur lined hand cuffs

um, probably not.

Cap

Cycling cap

Cycling cap

Cycling caps

Castelli or Rapha nicks

price is prohibitive

Bandana

bandana

More comfortable female knicks. More fitted jerseys that are not ultra light fabric, a few girls at TOMR made comment about this

Lingerie

the tinder guy again, sigh

jersey and bibs

Cannibal knicks are very uncomfortable

small sweat band

Tshirts & jumpers

The lightweight SPR socks that were a ‘one off’ circulation

yep, we can look at them again, but with a new design

Gillette with pockets

Caps

Cap

T-shirts with cool designs, yo

Lightweight bibknicks…current ones are rather thick and hot to ride in during the warmer months.

Skinsuit WITH pockets

Quality speed suit/skinsuit

Wind vest with pockets at the back. The women’s Knix are not comfortable. I am impressed it is Australian made though.

Making a kit that’s black so I can wear it with my bike road bike frame. To much green and white looks like I should be riding in a Mardi gras ??

what is wrong with the mardi gras???

Hoodie/jumper was good with previous supplier.

A Gabba style jersey nano flex arm warmers

Cannibal bib shorts the most uncomfortable I have ever worn.

Gabba

Jumper to wear to racung events in winter

Kids sizes

kids sizes are available in jerseys’s and bib knicks

so it seems a cycling cap is a popular want.  we have looked into it previously and it wasn’t high on the regular purchase list.  like the lycra socks, it may be a one off order that we can do with different designs each year or so.

gabba’s are being seriously looked into.  there were being looked into last year, but the 8+ week turn around time, plus time to leave the order open on our end, meant that by the time it arrived, winter would be over.  keep an eye out early autumn for more details.

Would you be likely to purchase club branded casual clothing?

No

SPR lingerie range

No

As a regular volunteer, i wouldn’t mind something like a vest that’s easy to throw over a t-shirt or shirt.

Zip jacket for ladies

no

If it was lingerie.

Sweatshirt/jumper – like a hoodie without the hood!

Collared shirt

Not interested

Dependent on how it looks

Mankini

long sleeve shirt

t shirt if is a quality cotton polo only, not made of synthetic material. I don’t like the quality of cannibal clothing.

Teaming up with locals like feathers and scales or pedal mafia making an affordable trendy kit would be cool ??

Left field idea, SPR wristband. Similar to a Livestrong band from back in the day.

Tie. I think I’m no serious, but its a thought

Depends on the material it is made of. Long sleeve t shirt

Lederhosen

Castelli bib shorts to go with the gabba please.

No

No

so both the comments about lingerie were from guys in their late 30’s or 40’s.  so there are a few guys that may like to “dress-up” after the ride.

some casual clothing like t-shirts and hoodie/jumpers for before/after rides looks to be popular, so we will look into that.

Overall, how satisfied are you with the SPR club kit, please tell us why.

Cannibal… says it all!

I stopped using the club bibs. They just did not last and only so many repairs you can do. Jerseys are fine.

Female specific would be better and perhaps more flattering

Too expensive for the quality. Can’t try it on

Pricey

Have some issues with the stitching and edging of the chamois

Shorts tend to wear out quickly. Jerseys are fine.

mainly sizing

I would pay more for higher quality kit. I think the kit should go back to two yearly updates. It’s nice to get refreshing new look.

comparable with other kits (made in Italy) for similar price they do not be on the same level as the kit is fading and loose stretch

I don’t find it comfortable for long rides and no longer use it as its too big

Do you have any feedback with regard to the ordering process?

All good

Excellent

Does a great job, and quarterly is sufficient for my needs

Easy and well supported by Club Kit Committee

It was a slick process – even when changing sizes

The wait is too long between orders

Easy

Ordering works fine, Andrew does a good job

Delivery not coming in time, further arrangements to collect have been difficult

there are three options for collecting your kit, at the coffee shop after a ride, pay for postage, organise with andrew to pick it up somewhere.  in each case andrew has to go out of his way to get your kit to you.  even after that we still have uncollected kit from many orders ago.  it is not that hard.  we are not a retailer, so you need to make allowances.  everyone, including andrew, are unpaid volunteers working to pull all this together.

so easy and it just works

Nothing to report.

wait times are too long would be willing to pay extra for quicker turnaround

anytime would be better

Unfortunately, the 3 ordering periods are too long between drinks. I realise having stock is not desired, but there would be more turn over and purchases if available sooner, especially when competitions occur and weather changes.

Lead-time seems long. Perhaps a Perth based supplier could shorten this.

Should be open to orders throughout the year, but appreciate the difficulty of this for the club

I would like more regular deliveries if possible. He process to order on line is fine.

cheer andrew

Bit of a delay until order arrives, but it’s a minor quibble and I wouldn’t say it’s an issue.

Easy.

The size chart and guide for jersey’s was far from accurate for me unfortunately.

Handy if there was some stock here to purchase if something happens to yours. Ie crash

Seems to work well. Thanks Andrew.

so we recently moved from 4 orders per year to 3 orders per year.  this is due to a couple of factors.  firstly, the decision a couple of years ago to move to a single design and not change it or have to update sponsors has meant that people don’t have to purchase that often.  this was deliberate for that exact reason. the order times are listed on the website, so people should be aware of when kit will be delivered.  as a non-for profit club, we cannot just purchase a whole swag of kit to onsell later.  we end up with too many odd sizes which never get used and have cost the club money.

there was also a comment in here and the previous question about going to a local supplier. contrary to what people think, there are not many suppliers in australia that don’t get everything done overseas, mostly in china.  this means that design changes, returns and shipping all has to factor in extra shipping time and costs.  cannibal designs in qld, prints onsite on material sourced from italy and then sends the garments to sydney to be sewn.  the relationship we have built up with cannibal over the years means that he cuts us some slack when it comes to orders, is easy to get things sent back and repaired if needed.  cost is also a very big part of this.  just looking online, a pedal mafia jersey is $169 and bibs are over $200.  we have a wide cross-section of riders in the club.  not everyone has a $250k a year job and so we need to provide a service that suits all.

Do you have any feedback with regards to fit or comfort of current kit items?

Still need my ASSOS knicks for longer rides – the chamois chafes a little 🙁

Padding seems to have changed in the menn’s nicks. Not as comfortable.Also they seem a little bigger than previous purchases so not as comfortable and more baggy around the backside.

Womens bibs are very uncomfortable. Bands on leg with printed fabric become very tight (with no give) the answer here is not to buy bigger size because then too big everywhere else. Maybe a a survey to see how many would be interested in slightly wider leg option. On speaking with quite a few other female members, the chamois is found to be very uncomfortable and a few women ive spoken with, like myself, will not wear the bib shorts because of this or do suffer soreness from wearing them

Knicks are a bit long in the body for petite female

Collar on Gilete is too wide. Gloves are rubbish. Seight gilete and gloves much better so a good example. In fact all my other (non Cannibal) kit is more comfortable but I guess you get what you pay for. I might feel more comfortable if it wasn’t so green.

Skinsuit material could be stretchier – practically bursting seams to get over shoulders but then not a snug fit over shoulders or arms once on. Also a lower cut neck style.

The cuffs on the legs of the knicks seem to loose there elasticity pretty quick, otherwise great products.

Everything I have purchased has been excellent

Bib seams are quite uncomfortable, jersey is better suited to the male form.

Standard fit and good comfort – kit is good.

Can’t try on so you pay a lot for something that doesn’t fit

Medium according to measurement chart too tight

As a short and skinny guy the Cannibal kit is the best fitting kit I’ve found.

Have some issues with the stitching and edging of the chamois

By far the best SPR kit quality so far.

would be good to have a couple of try on jerseys for first fit. Once size is established then next time you order this wont be an issue

Please upgrade the quality of the shamios in the bibs, the quality is not comfortable for women.

The chamois is overly thick and bulky. The skinsuit is not a great fit, the chamois is particularly bulky.

Nicks material catches when sweat soaked. Assos/ rapha won’t- seems to slide instead.

Female chamois needs more coverage at front. I have two pairs of knicks in the same size and fit very differently, one way too big for me.

Knicks are very uncomfortable

Chamois padding and the stitching integrity is poor

Sizing charts are always tricky for jerseys. Perhaps having some actual jerseys in each size so that people could get an understanding of size & fit might be useful. Akin to the store sock if you are trying in shoes.

the skinsuit material is very thick meaning it cannot be used in summer, a lighter more breathable fabric would mean this can be used year round, at the moment I am not investing in a short sleeved version as the material would likely be the same and still too hot for our summer TT conditions, this is a small order item so certainly understand if/why this could not be accommodated

Great fit and comfort. Maybe offer crash replacement.

there is crash replacement.  it is listed on our website here.

Women’s kit fits if you have big boobs and skinny legs – not so good the other way around.

The quality is in-line with what we pay for the kit…average price and average quality. I love the design but would prefer something a little more comfortable to ride in and would be happier to pay more for to get the desired outcome. The bibknicks and skin suit are made from rather thick fabric which makes it hot to ride in during the warmer months.

Jackets and vests are not true to size as per Cannibal sizing chart. Understanding Over layers need to be slightly larger, a “Profit” vest in Med measured a 107cm chest when listed on chart as 96 – 99cm. Item was returned, but was unhappy with response from Cannibal staff – not Glenn.

Bib knicks rear seam – really poorly positioned

Sizes on website are correct in fit if you know what I mean.

Very good.

It’s awesome, love it

Race jersey – you need to put on sunscreen.

Sizing chart inaccurate (too small)

My kit is starting to get a hole in it around the shami. It is 3 years old.

The material of the race jersey is very fragile

Great

The chamois could be better

Jersey are a bit long. Race cut especially should be shorter at the front.

Bib shorts are awful. Size guide for jersey’s misleading.

Skinsuit material is not very stretchy – not as snug a fit as other skinsuits I’ve owned

Race fit is one size smaller… so why not just label the sizes the same to avoid confusion

Some size differences between all 3 pairs of same wm sml shorts. Got a xs wm wind protector which was way too big. Measured it myself and came out as a men’s small. Im reluctant to order another as cannibal advised the correct size was sent

Huge difference between XS (super tight) & S (baggy/loose) Describe the cut / shape of the fit of the jersey

Big difference between XS & S jerseys Would like more explanation re ‘shape’ of jersey

so as a feedback to the supplier perspective, the main issues seem to be chamois, the women’s knicks (chamois, band, comfort) and the seams in the knicks.  these are all things that we can feed back to cannibal.  i suppose it depends on the number of complaints that they have in regards to this as to whether things change.  as mentioned before, we are trying to cover a huge range of people in the club and we know that one size does not fit all.  Good to see that there was some positive feedback as well as this is important when we combine the comments with the rankings.

a sizing kit also came up a few times.  we made a decision a while ago only to organise a sizing kit before the initial run when we moved back to cannibal.  from then on, we assumed that there should be enough jerseys within the club that people could ask to try on someone else’s.  we know that this is not ideal, but since we don’t have a physical shop, the sizing kit would need to reside at someone’s house and be brought out when someone needed to try things on.  for the committee, this is an extra burden that we didn’t think had enough upside.  generally a few conversations around the coffee shop and you can pretty much work out what size you should order.

material thickness of the bib knicks was also raised a few times.  the feeling was that the material is too thick and therefore too hot in summer.  there is definitely a trade off here.  thinner material wears quicker and loses it’s stretch.  one reason we moved away from champion systems was that the knicks had no longevity.  i went through 2 pairs in a year, while i still have a usable pair of cannibal knicks from before we used champs for 2 years.  for the number of days a year where the knicks may be perceived as too hot, i feel, is outweighed by the longevity and wear properties that mean that you don’t need to continually purchase new knicks every year.

Do you have any feedback with regard to the durability of kit items you own?

Broken jersey zip after less than 6 months use

They tend not to survive being dragged along Tarmac

The cannibal kit lasted forever last time, heaps better than the Champion Systems

Socks too thick and colour fades. Stitching on knicks has come loose. Have handstiched and ??.

The bibs just don’t last. least the last 6 I had I got only a few months the last pairs only days so I just stopped using them all together.

this is not normal and there seems to be a further issue here.  perhaps get in touch with the kit committee to discuss.

Good quality – equal of any other commercial or team brand

SPR kit is good value

The chamois in my bibshorts wasn’t sown in very well and is coming loose. I’d like a better quality zip on the jersey too.

we have had sturdier zips in the past and there are then issues with the jersey bunching when leaning forward.  the current zip is a good compromise without being too flimsy.

Durability has been good

Shorts wear out quickly (a year or so)

The stiching around the shamios needs extra sewing.

They have lasted well. The black on bibs is fading but there’s been many washes.

The aero jerseys sometimes the color mixes a little (i.e. black “bleeds” into white at the edges)

Comment ref nicks catching on seat when sweat soaker came with age.

I’ve had to sew up sections of my chamois that have come unstitched but I’ve had it since the first release so it’s going ok, just hadn’t lasted as long as my other branded knicks

Don’t hold up well in crashes. Need to investigate a lycra/kevlar blend.

stay upright

for the price not very durable in comparison with similar price range of European source

Strong fabric, less grazing in a crash

Stitching pulling around the chamois creating holes, despite the rest of the fabric still be fine.

Good durability

The inner seams on the bib-knicks are in a place that causes wear and tear. Every other kit manufacturer makes their Knicks with no inner-seam, which means that the friction of riding doesn’t cause seams to rub against the seat / the other leg. This impacts on the durability of the kit.

I’ve had to get the legs on both pairs of my bibknicks repaired a couple of times as the thread has broken and holes appeared along the seam lines. Admittedly this could possibly be because I usually go for a snug fit.

Extremely hard wearing. Still wearing original purchase and these get outings twice a week every week.

Quite durable

Not happy about chamois of previous knicks that became non functional

Excellent.

Seams around the chamois came apart only a few weeks after purchase.

The chamois

It probably explains why the bib shorts are awful but after many washes hoping the shorts would allow some give for my privates they remain as stiff and uncomfortable as the day I bought them.

so, i am not here to tell people how to “suck eggs”, but previous conversations with glenn  from cannibal about the seams around the chamois have generally related to exactly how you are putting the knicks on.  most people, when putting on any type of pants will put both legs in and then grab the waist and pull them up.  pretty standard practice around the world of pants.  however, with knicks and particularly with knicks that have a tight or very grippy leg band, all this does in put extra stretch on the fabric.  when the fabric over stretches, the point that will rip first will be where the seams has punched holes in it.  so if you grab the waist and try to get the chamois high enough to be snug, you are probably going to eventually tear your knicks.  what you need to do is put in one leg at a time and get the leg band in the right place first.  there should be a tell-tale tan-line indicating just how far to pull then up.  once both legs are in place, grab the waist and pull them over your bum then pull the bibs up over your shoulders.  this way nothing is over stretching and creating undue stress on the garment.

we will also feed back about the seams on the inside of the legs being a potential wear issue along the saddle.

spr survey – club & safety comments

a little while back we ran a survey and have since published the results in a previous post. quite a few of the questions had a space for comments.  in the interest of transparency all the comments from the survey will be listed below and i will attempt to answer them as best i can.  since the survey was anonymous, this is the only way that people can be responded to. on occasion, i may group a number of comments together and answer them together.  if you need further clarification on any of the replies, please feel free to send me and email and i can answer you personally.

As there were so many areas to add comments, we have broken it done into 5 main topic groups with posts around each – club & safety, kit, racing & volunteering, social and a final one where the general feedback on any topic was given.

How did you hear about and come to be part of SPR?

Former Perth resident now in Melbourne recommended the club

Significant Other convinced me to join

Colleague at work is member

I live in South Perth and saw the club rides going past often, decided to go along on a few rides and ended up joining the club on the riverloop

Suggested by friend

Saw gathering at Dome

Public holiday rides

Tinder

Interface with group ride while solo cycling

Dad

Word of mouth

Word of mouth

Rode with BikeForce Freo in the old days

Thru a Friend

Recommended by non SPR member

My son was riding with you.

Friends informed me of the hills rides

Friend who was a non member at the time.

I moved from Sydney to Perth. SPR was the closest and most active club I could find.

good to see that there are a few “word of mouth” recommendations out there.  that is probably the best advertisement that we can use for the club.  i also love the “dad” comment, as it sounds like “dad made me do it”. not sure about the “tinder” comment.  i know that spr has a twitter, instagram and facebook account, but not sure we had entered the world of online dating.

If non-member, what are the reasons for not joining as yet?

Moved overseas with work. Hope to come back soon.

Tri WA membership

Not sure, might actually be financial!

I just realised my membership is expired!

Think I’m the $25 one?

busy life

Simply need to renew (expired) memebership. Expired membership can easily creep-up on you, as their is no membership renewal prompt: the recreational membership runs 12 months from the last renewal and it’s easy to lose track on when you are required to do the renewal.

Financial insecurity with work

Waiting until I have to buy race licence

finding membership info is not simple

Member of another club

Expired membership

i totally understand that from a financial point of view a membership may not be a high priority.  however, it does give you a bit of insurance coverage, so if you do have an accident, it can save you from costing even more.  we usually get quite a few people waiting until they are about to do their first race of the year before renewing.  however, they are still training and still riding in groups, so the insurance issue is still applicable. as for how to join, there is a membership page on the blog and it till take you to the appropriate cycling australia page where it can all be done online.  just remember that spr’s official name is the south perth cycle club.

Why do you ride with SPR?

To develop as a cyclist as I move up SPR ride levels. Pathway to competitive cycling via the club.

I don’t ride with SPR

that is sad

Sunday hills rides work out well for me timing wise usually

Interested in meeting other people to ride with at a similar level and better

Tried several others, SPR has the goods.

Access to racing

Well organised and professional. Safe (usually).

Well organised training rides.

Racing in different places Bintan, Kal, Etc

Good routes & Good groups

Training, racing

Great ride routes, people and club ethos

I actually ride very little with SPR. My main group is Biuke Force Myaree. I have this year returned to masters rowing and will focus on that in the next few years. That said i still wish to ride and probably next year will compete in my 4th 5 Dams. Riding is a good supplement to my rowing program.

The club is so supportive on all levels

Variety of training / fitness challenge

Well organised and safety comes first

well organised

To do Stock road

Was close to home but now I’ve moved 🙁

you are welcome back anytime

well organised ride routes, good people

Vigorous racing group – incentive to improve

Friendly and diverse group. Good variety of rides.

Havent ridden with the club for a year

I quickly found an enormous respect for the club, the committee and the members. I’m proud to be part of the club.

found a group that is not competitive but wants to be challenged

Race cyclocross. Needed a club membership

Previously Power lifting and bulged a disc in my lower back,

Damn good bunch of people for the most part

Comrardery

Variety of club rides

Many & varied ride options (days, routes, speeds), excellent leadership on the road hence safety & general standards well looked after, great culture & vibe

It’s a lycra fetish

this is that tinder guy again, isn’t it

Can find suitable (similar) speed and distance.

Good training

Wanted a race license

Its fun and a close / supportive community to be a part of, most of my friends are SPR riders/members

It’s a much better workout than riding alone, and therefore many more endorphins 😀

Encouraged by friend

Good safe riding group

I don’t but am a member

Current group doesn’t ride enough

Firm rides

Lots of weekly options

I feel safer with a group to go to the hills

Daily group ride opportunities all week with the exception of Wednesdays. Most members of the club aren’t ‘dickheads’. The rides are generally safe and well lead.

great club!

dont ride much but like the club, its people and like to support a good cause

Pete is a legend

Husband rides with SPR

Easy start times. Varied rides, lots of ability groups

Fun group of people

Company of group rides / harder sessions than going solo

Pushes me to be a better, faster rider

Good bunch of people

Love green!

Safe. Organised. Mates.

Organised rides; Great club ethos; Lots of support;

Good to be pushed harder on rides

Keeping fit, training for races that I don’t enter

Best fast group in Perth

Challenging rides like Thursday and Saturday Fast Group rides and Sunday long hills.

Fast group ride

Fitness, training, it’s fun

Always had scheduled rides

Because out it’s an amazing group of people and supportive of people at all levels of cycling strength and ability

Motivation to keep up my riding

Ride with friends

To meet a group of people similar paced and also socialise

pretty wide and diverse bunch of reasons a to why people are riding with us.  i guess it matches the wide and diverse group of people that ride with us.  being inclusive is one of our cornerstones and we pride ourselves on catering for as many people as we can.

Based on your experience riding in SPR group rides, please provide comments as to why and what could be done better

I do ride often enough to provide an informed opinion. However, when I have ridden and based on my friends who do ride in your group the organisation is very good.

Never done weekday rides, as I assume they are too fast for me, would like to see rides for trannies level.

there are 2 rides on tuesday and thursday in kings park for the development/transitional level riders.  they do intervals around the park, so you don’t get dropped or lost.

Have less rules, push people to improve skills more and take more responsibility for their actions

i think that rules and ride leaders are what make the difference on our group rides.  if you ride in other groups that may run out of coffee shops etc, you will find that things may go okay when everything is fine, but as soon as that changes, there isn’t anyone to take responsibility for the group.  yes, people should be more responsible, but human nature tells us that they won’t always be the case, so we plan for it.

Ride leader did not look after ride member. Left a member to ride back on her own at Fremantle. Ride leader did not look out for riders. Did not even know riders have been dropped. Comments from ride leader they don’t like to lead transition

this is unacceptable and has been addressed.  all ride leaders are taught to look after the group and understand how the group dynamic is playing out. they need to be aware of what is happening in the group, but we realise that they can’t be everywhere at once. we also rely on our other riders to look after each other and make sure that everyone knows if someone is off the back.

Too many riders rate their ability too high and this leaves numbers wanting on Thursday rides. 1st 2 groups left narrows with no 3rd or 4th group

this is always the risk when we ask people to “self assess their abilities”. the thursday ride gives people the best idea of which group as it should be based on previous strava times.  however, it is also dependent on who turns up on the day. last week, for example there was a group 1, two group 2’s and enough to split group 3 into two groups as well.  we try to cater for everyone, but we are still relying on people turning up and people being in the correct group.

Would like to say I haven’t been riding lots of group ride lately so for the comments/ratings around ride leaders are how I remember them.

Depends on the day (who turns up, who is the leader). Regulars = smooth; race development riders from teams/other clubs = scrappy

this comes up quite a lot and i don’t actually believe that it causes all the issues that people raise.  yes we are quite open in allowing pretty much anyone to ride with us, and yes we have a level of expectation that goes along with that.  however, as a club ride, you as a club member need to actively “coach” people on what the expectations are on our rides.  this does not mean yelling at everyone, but often, if you kindly suggest something to someone, they will take it on board.  if not, then let a ride leader or committee member know and it can be dealt with.  the safety of the group is the most important thing to us, but everyone is involved in keeping it safe.

Lots of ‘being told off’ and aggressive interaction

no-one likes being told off, but similar to the comment above, if you are continuously being “told off” then maybe it is time for a little self-reflection.  in the heat of the moment, people can be a little aggressive, but this can be understandable if they feel that their safety is being threatened.  step back and look at the situation.  is there anything that could be done differently.

The club organisation it’s generally excellent, however there are often riders who don’t follow direction by organisers pre ride or ride leaders during ride.

we have a group etiquette page that outlines what we expect.  everyone that emails the club before they come out on their first ride gets sent the link.  maybe it is time for a refresher for some people.  these are club training rides organised by the club and fall under club rules.  in the past, the committee has been required to act if someone continues to flaunt these rules.  worse case is they are asked to not ride with us anymore.

Same problems of poor skills and no ranking type system to prevent poorly skilled riders joining any group they wish. These problems have been unaddressed for years

i think that last comment is a bit harsh and i kind of take offence to it.  over the years the club has developed from a single saturday morning ride to multiple groups. these groups allow us to split the riders as best we can on skill and fitness.  there is no ranking system but it has been looked at in the past.  what makes it hard is for someone to sit and assess a couple of hundred people before we can split them into groups.  we treat people as educated, responsible adults who are able to make their own choices about group selection etc – education and communication yes, but the idea of forcing or “preventing” people from joining particular groups is against the club’s ethos and values. to account for that we have installed ride leaders in as many groups as we can especially in the lower skilled groups to help develop people as quickly as possible.  skills are developed over time but also when given direction.  just blasting someone for not riding straight does not have the same affect as explaining to them why their actions are dangerous.  our ranking system is the multiple groups that we have that allows a pathway as riders develop.  it is only through time riding with others that people will improve and the ride leaders can also help suggest which group is most suitable.

Based on your experience riding in SPR group rides, please provide comments on our ride leaders as to why and what could be done better.

Wayne Allen was forced off the road by a car on a group ride, he was NOT at the back of the group (I have seen his footage). Only one person stopped. Wayne asked the ride leader for any footage, she said she would ask around, none was provided to him. The ride leader did not see the incident but did at the end of the ride ask if Wayne was ok. Wayne discussed (Did not raise his voice or swear (I would have)) with the ride leader how the ride could have been handled better. Rob Ramsden viewed the footage, didn’t provide a copy to Wayne, didn’t ask Wayne if he was ok. Rob accused Wayne of raising his voice, which he didn’t, Rob accused Wayne of calling the ride leader various things which again he didn’t (I have seen the footage of the conversation). Rob told Wayne that he was wrong, but could not say why other than he should not speak to the ride leader ‘like that’ although he could not define what ‘like that’ was. Further Wayne was upset and shocked that the ride leader, someone we both respect, was offended by his approaching her after the ride.

leaving this in here for transparency sake, but this has been discussed within the committee already.  there are two sides to each story and this is one side, although from a third hand and i do not believe that it went exactly as in these comments.

Depends on the ride leaders

Varies significantly from leader to leader

I do ride often enough to provide an informed opinion. However, when I have ridden and based on my friends who do ride in your group the organisation is very good.

Seems that ride leaders are not equipped to deal with crashes ie no first aid kits. This should be a basic requirement in the ride leader training. Also how many senior first aiders are there?

should ride leaders carry first aid kits???  a good question, but not sure that it would always be practical as how much can you fit into something the size of a water bottle.  as all of our saturday group rides happen within the perth metropolitan area, an ambulance is usually only a few minutes away.  should the ride leaders have first aid training??? possibly, but is that also placing a higher burden on them to be solely responsible for the group.  a couple of points to be discussed at the next committee meeting.

They should be training people in group rides how to be better. They should also make it lots of fun and encourage less experienced people to try new things like having a sprint or going off the front. these things are not reserved for just faster riders

thank God I have never been involved or witnessed any accident/incident so far during my Sunday rides.

Ride leader does not looking out for safety of the riders does not know if is single or double riding

sorry but you just made a generalisation that pretty much goes against the whole concept of what a ride leader is there for.  they are, however, human and will make mistakes or may assess  the risk of the situation differently to you. their view may be that in certain situations, riding two-abreast is safer for the group as it stops cars trying to squeeze past on tight roads.

I think most of the leaders are great. I think it is a little confusing at time why some of senior members get angry on the rides.

Been happy with ride leader JP, love him leading the group. Issue is probably new riders not reading all the rules and yelling when group splits due to too many red lights.

JP is the best

Sometimes it depends on who the ride leaders are

Varies. Some ride leaders excellent in every way. One or two don’t appear to say much

There is always variation between different ride leaders in how they manage a group, some handle different aspects better than others.

as an overall comment, our ride leaders are trained to look after the group.  they do an online theory component followed by sessions of skills development.  they are then assessed on a couple of rides by other ride leaders while on under normal saturday group riding conditions.  they are human, and people make decisions based on their own experience.  what you may see as a highly risky situation, may not be assessed the same by the ride leader.  they are also looking out for the whole group and trying to make assessments on how the group dynamic is playing out.  in this case you, the riders, add another 20-30 variables to the situation that already involves weather, traffic and road conditions.  if a ride leader is doing something clearly dangerous, then please let another ride leader or committee member know.  if however, you have an opinion that differs from the ride leader, please discuss it with them rather than bitch about them when you get back to the coffee shop.  the ride leaders are an integral part of the development of our club, but you must remember that they are volunteers giving up their time to assist in keeping the club safe.  the program is currently being looked at by the state association on how it can be standardised, accredited and rolled out to other clubs.  it is what makes our club what it is today.

Overall how safe do you feel on SPR ride and in your opinion and/or experience, what could be done to improve the overall safety of SPR rides?

Not often, but sometimes there are some riders whose level of proficiency isn’t quite as good as the rest of the group. Ride leaders and regular group members are good at giving feedback, however some core cycling skills development sessions would also assist in helping people develop, and therein making group rides even better.

Reduce the size of the group, insist on a certain standard of cycling etiquette for new people joining.

Riders keep left on downhills to allow room for those overtaking to come past on the right and then they move left when clear. Occasionally people are blocked and then tempted to go in to the right hand lane (eg Welshpool Rd) and it is hard to make sure it is clear when descending at speed.

More adherence to safety guidelines Consequences for unacceptable ride behaviour

Offering skills training with regards riding in a group, cornering, braking etc.

Larger groups try to run the lights and the last riders are running through reds. Not always stopping at stop signs

Go single file down Leighton Beach section to Port Beach, i always feel we bring adverse reactions from work traffic by taking up the lane and causing often quite dangerous overtaking.

Getting people to listen to and obey start of ride instructions. Keeping groups split to about 20 riders of similar abilities

Continue to reinforce importance of riding skills. Include safety/skills tips in weekly newsletter.

Keep group size small. Lot of communication on safe riding, especially wet roundabouts. More focus on people maintaining their bikes to a safe standard i.e. new grippy tyres, clean running gear etc. Education of cornering.

Chat less, concentrate more

Ride leaders should be able to stop the group and ask people to leave mid ride. Ride leaders should have the final say in who rides in which group. The problem is the riders egos.

I do not think the club can do more than what it has done so far. I think the members are spoilt with the club’s ride leaders.

It’s all about ride leaders. Strong vocal ride leaders impact on the group. A group without a leader is no group at all.

Enforce small group sizes and if riders are consistently creating an unsafe environment for others and unwilling to change them be asked not to attend SPR rides

As has been done recently, reducing/limiting group sizes. Ride leaders being more vocal

it’s mostly due to other road users, so quite difficult for SPR to do more

Random guest riders observing behaviors + more feedback from ride leaders to those whom seem not to understand many basics.

I don’t believe much can be done. There are cyclists amongst us who ‘just don’t get’ the importance of safety or care for others. they purely cycle for themselves – but want to ride in a group. My only area of concern is riding down through Cott and Burke drive on Thursday mornings when the centre median strips comes into play on roll throughs. When its windy – and cyclists stray from the line it makes it dangerous.

Not sure if possible – mainly unsafe feeling is a result of new / newish riders who are over confident or not ready to be riding where they are. Not so big an issue in the Trannies group as thats what its there for, but bigger issue in Main 3/4

Take a stronger line / action to remove / refuse those riders known to be unsafe or who ride illegally (break the SPR Ride Etiquette and/or Road Rules).

The smaller groups are excellent. SPR is very popular yet there is good organisation.

The club can only do so much through ride leadership, announcements, etc., and is doing what it can to keep the rides safe while staying inclusive. It is ultimately down to each individual rider. I think everyone is responsible for keeping the lines of communication open by welcoming new members, not making anyone feel excluded or isolated, and through this culture encouraging both positive and negative peer-to-peer feedback and education.

Provide more feedback to poor and unsafe riders
you can never be 100% safe

smaller groups, going single on bridges and narrow roads, avoiding bunching at circles, being more aware of what is happening behind – rear view mirrors!

I think the size of the groups is sometimes a hazard. Even with extra splitting there are often 20 people riding together in a single paceline. Ride leaders need to explain why splitting is important, and bang the drum about calls and signals at every opportunity.

Some more upfront expectations on the speed of the weekend rides. i.e. the Thursday EBR groups with set pace. The weekend main ride speeds vary and often half of main 1 should simply be left behind to rejoin main 2, but some ride leaders prefer to accommodate the slower speed and issues it causes.

I have found the groups a bit big in the past, I think in the interests of safe passing for cars that size should be limited to eight to ten riders. With the new passing laws leaning to the smaller groups is important in reducing car driver angst.

Keep groups to <20 riders. If you’re thinking about splitting the group, then split it.

Have a “safe rider of the month” award or some similar type of campaign focus. Public Holiday rides can get a bit sketchy, so maybe some extra emphasis there.

When I feel unsafe it is not the fault of the ride leaders or the other riders, like many cyclists I have experienced the inconsiderate and sometimes dangerous driving of Perth drivers

Reduce the size of the group with more leaders.

It’s a hazard of riding in groups where anybody can join. You don’t know the lowest level of skill and erratic riding occurs. This really never happens in fast group, the slower groups are worse

Encouraging a culture that calls people out for unsafe riding
Facilitate club only ride days/times

I sometimes feel unsafe around non SPR members that don’t normally ride with us.

More consistently ensuring that large groups are split, perhaps by having a set maximum number rather than ad hoc judgement calls.

Shoot the f**kers with flashing rear lights, rear lights on helmets, rear lights pointing upwards. And let the air out of the panzerwagons tyres.

Bigger emphasis on trying to ‘control’ those who don’t ride with the groups regularly

let all rider with a non SPR kit go as a group and have some practical code of conduct practices with a SPR group leader before they can join the “SPR kit groups”

Better calling is required and strictly single file on busy roads… Definitely not rolling on busy roads

it depends on the group. Main 3 and 4 show good discipline but Main 2 has some riders who jump lights, weave in and out

I don’t think you can make the rides any safer, but maybe provide advice to all of what to do in the event of an accident (person hurt and/or witness) and what support (if any) is available to the rider.

Being more willing to ban riders with multiple complaints against them. Sometimes a group ends up overtaking another group, this often gets a bit hairy. Not sure how this could be better managed, apart from an understanding that the front group will pull over where safe…

Divide groups further. 10-15 max.

Maybe, in the riders brief, specify as a heads up, what roads are best for single file

On ride communication : Make it clear that people need to call obstacles all the way down the group; whether to wait/regroup after a split later in the ride – lately mix of F2 – M1 riders has led to some confusion

Unsafe behaviours are mostly linked to the individuals. However, it would be better to remind all the riders not to speed in the downhills. I saw a lot of riders taking unreasonable risks especially when riding down Welshpool Road. It would be also worth reminding the riders that the bunch rides are not races. Competition is OK, but I would expect a bit of fairness in sharing the work in the climbs when small bunch of riders manage to ride at the same pace and reduce the risks in the downhills.

Promote bike handling skills

A continence of the strategies already in place (e.g. Ride Leaders, splitting into group of 20 – 30 riders, rider briefings, blogs reinforcing ride etiquette etc.).

Depending who is the ride leader

I think the rides are as safe as can be expected considering the rider numbers.

Ensure that groups are limited to 20 riders
Have the skill level of faster/stronger riders be improved through the club offering regular skills sessions by coaches.

Keep the groups small. Offer different times ie 15min between groups that are paced differently. There is a development group on Saturday- maybe there could be ones on a different days of the week. Short video clip of the way to ride in a group (I read the etiquette piece before joining). Some people don’t do the development ride but Carol was very good. Emphasis about being accountable for your actions but also considering your actions with in the group.

Only issue I’ve seen are randoms jumping on or joining half way through a ride. I ride main one and it’s good because people signal etc. Fast two on the odd occurrence I’ve seen not as much signals or warnings. Everyone just needs to remember to have fun and be patient

If men stopped cutting the ladies off. I swear some guys see I’m a female and they cut in front of me! People with time trial bars should not be allowed on rides or only allowed to sit off the back.
Put all riders through a safety/SPR information ride on their first ride. Irrespective of level of ability.
Briefings to include basic instructions such as making calls of hazards, using hand signals and not crossing/overlapping wheels

At times there are too many inexperienced riders that over estimate their abilities, hard to avoid in such an inclusive club.

Vocal, active ride leaders that keep the group organised and communicate effectively. Only a small problem that occasionally happens around the Fast 2 and Main 1 levels (especially when the leaders have to deal with quite strong riders full of ego), but is already actively dealt with.

People riding within their ability and not trying to tear groups apart.

Riding through red lights is a massive turnoff for me. Riders at the front of the bunch MUST anticipate that the lights might turn red before the last riders pass through the intersection. It is this very poor behaviour that I have experienced too many times that has led me to withdraw from doing saturday morning rides

The only reason I don’t give this top marks is that people ride with the group with no previous group experience and become a danger, particularly on saturdays

It is unsafe to ride bikes. However I feel safer with SPR than with any other group.

Better self-selection by riders (Saturday rides)

Better briefing at the start especially on road position half wheeling etc however unfortunately there are always morons but repeat offenders should be chatted to post ride and if they don’t improve made not welcome

Smaller group sizes, riders in the same group who are of a similar ability, experience of the riders

This is a very difficult one. In my experience small chain ring Tues is the most dangerous ride I do. It seems like every second ride I do there is a crash, thankfully usually only a single rider. Contributing factors seem to be poor handling of wet roads from sprinklers and riders still trying to push at 40 km an hour in the small chain ring which tends to make riders less smooth and more erratic. This ride seems to have the greatest variability in rider ability too. I think keeping group sizes lower is the only viable strategy. The group is split in two often but could be further split in my opinion to groups of 10 or so.

Enforce smaller group sizes more strictly

Sometimes the group sizes are too big, so splitting the groups into smaller sizes would help.

Safety much better since ride leader program. Most of safety issues are now due to riders in non club kit (not members?) who are potentially inexperienced group riders. This could be rectified by leader advising the ride to ride in novice and transitional fora few weeks before returning to a faster group. Where it’s an attitude issue and the person hasn’t responded to advice they should be asked not to return.

Always ride single file on single lane roads.

Due to the size of the club it attracts a lot of more occasional riders who ride in groups beyond their current fitness and experience.

Maintain splitting the group. 15-20 riders much more manageable than 30-40.

Occasionally unsafe due to non regular or non members not riding to conditions. Possibly the ride leaders could take into account the number of non members in a group and use that to influence overall speed of ride group and overall group size.

Ensuring group sizes stay small, ideally <20.

Smaller groups

I rode with SPR in 2014 and have started again in 2017. There was a noticeable improvement in the ride safety and organisation since I first rode with SPR. I still feel there are many things that could be done a lot better. Primarily making calls and developing a better protocols amongst riders on how to change lanes in multi-lane roads. I have seen this done very poorly. Other things include understanding when and where not to do a rolling paceline. I think in the slower groups pacelining should be minimised to certain flat sections of road, primarily to develop the skill. With mixed abilities it tends to string out the group and expose weaker riders with undulations. It also seems a but anti-social when it becomes the default mode of riding. I am surprised there doesn’t seem to be an etiquette for rolling off the front once a rider has taken a turn on the front. Pacelines seem to be the norm. Simple things like following wheels and understanding the ‘theory’ of bunch riding need to be explained better to riders who tend to surge forward and backward in the bunch and half-wheel. These are at least my experiences of the Main 2 and Main 3 groups.

wow, there is a lot of stuff in there and some reoccurring themes are definitely popping back up.  i will tackle each theme individually.

size of the group – we are the victim of our own success here.  as the club grows, we are finding that we need to split into more and more groups.  not just on saturday either, but we have seen splits on tues, thurs and sunday.  the biggest problem on saturday, is the number of ride leaders needed to look after the group.  the feedback suggested anything from 10 – 20 riders in a group.  personally, i think that around 20 is a good size as you can usually get through light changes and a roll through is not too long, but not too short.  ride leaders and committee members are actively splitting the groups before rides and we even had a post about it recently, explaining why we do it.  even so, time and time again, we see people head off with the group in front after a split has been formed.  there is this view that the front group is faster and i hate to be called slow.  well i hate to call an ambulance, but this may be the outcome if you don’t listen to the ride leaders.  you all know we split the groups for safety, everyone needs to help enforce it.

running red lights – this has always been a no no.  even before spr was formed, people seen running lights were chastised for their actions by the group in general.  most of the groups will call “split” when a group hits the lights and there should be some slowing in the front group. yes there should be some responsibility taken by the front of the group and if they are approaching a light that starts to change, back off and just stop.  even worse are those riders that go around a stopped rider to get through the lights.  everyone needs to be vocally active so people know what you are doing and can react accordingly.  remember, on saturday, there are lots of groups heading on the same route, so if you get split at the lights, you get to make a decision whether you chase hard or sit up and wait.

skills development – people seem to always blame “those other riders” that don’t have the skills to ride in the group.  sure there are always going to be people that are not at a particular level, but a lot of group riding skills are gained through experience.  experience and direction.  there is a lot that cannot be taught in a carpark setting and you really need to experience it yourself to understand it.  this is where the club as a whole comes into it. if you see someone doing something that you may find a little sketchy, just have a quiet word to them and help them understand what they were doing and how to align better with the rest of the group. if you take an aggressive stance, then they will take a defensive stance.  however, don’t just leave it up to the ride leader, the group’s safety is up to everyone in the group, so help out where you can.  there has been discussion at the committee level for running skills sessions.  these are more the fundamentals, which will help, but don’t replace firsthand experience of riding in a group.

outside (non-member) riders – again a bit of a victim of success.  we are an inclusive club which means that people want to come and ride with us.  we are fully aware that having more numbers is not necessarily a good thing, but it does offer us an opportunity to split the groups and not have 3 people on their own. as mentioned above, group riding skills take some time to develop, so lets remember what we were like when we first started riding.  also, are you sure that they are not members???  we have people in kit that have let their membership lapse and others that are members that have not got kit yet.  we have a responsibility to help develop people’s riding skills and get them to align to the ethos of our club.  don’t turn them away too soon.

banning riders – like most things in life, you are always going to meet those people that just don’t really want to conform to a standard.  whether it is unintentional or not, it does create friction within the club.  the committee has had to deal with a number of issues over the past year, but these have generally been the more serious offences.  if a rider does not take some friendly advice, then talk to the ride leader.  if they don’t listen to the ride leader, then it moves up to the committee and we can assess what action needs to be taken.  banning riders is a last resort and we try to coach them through first.

when to ride single file – as discussed in the ride leader comments, people’s idea of risk perception varies depending on their own experiences.  when planning a ride route there are a few things that i look for – condition of road (width, shoulder, islands, etc) and traffic density to name a few.  generally it is a trade-off between a double lane road where cars can get around versus the amount of traffic on that road in case someone gets dropped.  due to the nominal 50km constraint that we put on the saturday rides, finding our way back to the coffee shop may also require us to go on smaller, less busy roads.  again it is a trade-off as the smaller roads should also be less busy.  so when should we ride single file???  again it totally depends on the situation and even things like weather conditions, so i don’t think that we should be prescriptive about it.  for example, even with the ideal number of 20 riders, the 2.5kms of road between preston point road hill and petra st is not suitable for single file riding.  despite our protests, the council took out the shoulder and put in traffic calming devices every 50 metres or so.  this means that as a single file group, cars do not have enough time to get around the group before placing someone at risk trying to squeeze past the pinch point. in this case it is better to hold two-abreast and make the car wait.  is it annoying for the driver, probably, but it is safer for us in the long run.  much like group riding skills, experience plays a big part in deciding when to change from two-abreast into single file.  we are all human though, so people make mistakes and there is no right or wrong answer on this one.

survey feedback

surveywhen we ran our survey last year, there was a section right at the end to allow anyone to give some written feedback.  all the feedback was anonymous, so we couldn’t respond individually.  therefore it has all been aggregated into one document and i have replied to each one.  if you did give any feedback, search below to find the response.

it did take a long time to write all the responses, so there may be a bit of duplication in the answers.  if i have offended anyone with my responses (and i did get the committee to check them all first), then i apologise, but still stand by my response.

there are 51 pieces of feedback and each has a response, so grab a cup of coffee and start reading.  none of the feedback was edited, so spelling mistakes, grammar and crazy stuff was left in (except swear words).  there are a couple of common themes and these will be discussed at the next committee meeting.  any feedback on the responses to the feedback can be added to the comments or emailed to the club.

Is there are any other general comments that you would like to make in regards to the club on what the club can do differently, please feel free to express yourself below!

  1. Organise a course for ride leaders.
  • we are working on this. it has been on a number of committee member’s work lists for a while.  we recognise that there is a need there and are working towards getting it resolved.

 

  1. Have contact pages for members to contact other members for team events, such as the Watertower Challenge
  • we do have everyone’s contact details, but due to privacy concerns, we restrict who has access to this. there are a number of other forums that can be utilised to achieve the same result.  the blog forum or the 3 facebook pages that SPR have would be a good start.

 

  1. It’s hard to be all things to all riders but I really, really appreciate the diversity of opportunity in the club and the organisation that goes in behind the scenes and in the rides. Excellent job, and made easier if everybody chips in a bit but without the expectation that all members have to be at all things.
  • thanks for the feedback.

 

  1. I’ve not been riding so much this year but it’s great that the club is there doing its routine rides – so I have no excuse!
  • we are there every week, so whenever you are ready to join us, there will be a ride.

 

  1. Some talk on a number of Saturday rides about having SPR kit only groups. May seem a little exclusive, but in my experience the riders who frequently cause issues on Main 1 rides (not calling, not holding lines, not checking over shoulder, etc.) are those not in SPR kit. By having invested in membership then another $200+ on the kit, people generally take pride in their conduct on the rides as a representative of the club.
  • this matter has been discussed quite a few times within the committee. the end result is that we are an inclusive club and will continue to be so.  instead of excluding people, we should encourage them to adopt the culture that we have established within the club.  if riders continue to be dangerous, or do not accept criticism well, then let a committee member know and we can deal with it.  first stop should be that everyone is responsible for how all riders are acting within the group.  if you see something that makes the group uncomfortable, then speak up then and there rather than waiting for the coffee shop.

 

  1. It would be in the clubs best interest to try and distance itself from the minority if wanna be pro riders who are in m1 and above and don’t follow ride leaders direction, respect others, etc. if i wanted that kind of ride I would join ( some other ride) shop ride
  • as mentioned in the comment above, if you see behaviours that are considered dangerous to the overall safety of the group, speak up then and there.

 

  1. Smaller main one groups please. (20-25 max) even if that means 4 groups in summer. Keep up the great work!!
  • we have been working on splitting the main 1 group even more. lately there have been 3 groups on a saturday.  however, people still head off with the first group even if they have been split into the second or third.  often the third group has about 12 riders and the first has 35.  a bit of peer pressure needs to be applied when people go to jump groups in the carpark.  we split it for safety, not because we think that you are a slower/faster rider.

 

  1. I think an almost ‘pass grade’ should be offered to those moving up from Development through Trannies to Main 4, then 3 & onto 2, to ensure road rules, group riding skills, close proximity are adhered to for everyone’s safety
  • it would be great if we could test people for both skills and fitness so we know just where they will fit into our system. unfortunately, this is a very hard thing to grade and an even harder thing to enforce.  if anything, the club could develop a guide to what skills are seen as required and what level of fitness is needed to ride within each group.

 

  1. In awe of the commitment shown by el prez and the committee. Bask in the glory, team spr – you are exceptional people!
  • why thank-you. *blushes.

 

  1. Please consider an afternoon ride session during the week as all the weekly rides are so early! Other than that, happy to be a member of this club.
  • an afternoon ride would be great and I know that there are a number of people that would be interested in this. however, what we have found in the past is that if we try to force anything (time, day, etc) it doesn’t have any longevity.  these types of rides need to grow organically.  the way to do this is find a few people that can agree on a time and day (use the blog forum/facebook) an go for a ride.  do it often enough and other will hear about is and join you.  once it is established, then we can list it as a club ride.  you don’t have to wait for the committee to organise something if you see a need within the club.  we are all volunteers with jobs and families and these often dictate how much time we can commit to other activities.

 

  1. Road rule education. Some members lack basic road rules. If we can up skill people’s knowledge it will make them better road users on the bike and in the car.
  • the funny thing is, the majority of people that ride with us have licences to drive cars. the same road rules apply to bike riders, so people should actually know the rules.  what I think people often lack, is a spatial awareness when they are riding in a group.  there are other road users out there with us.  please make the effort to be aware what your impact is on their day.  frustrated drivers take risks and it is usually a risk that we bear, not them.

 

  1. The club is continuing to grow due to its great ethos, however there seems to now be a lot of ‘ring-ins’ on some training rides that are degrading the group.
  • this can be a problem for us, especially as a lot of these riders do not read the blog, but rather hear about the ride from their mates. on a positive note, people are hearing about our rides and wanting to come out on them.  however, the negative is what you have mentioned.  usually after an incident we have addressed the ride prior to starting to reiterate what is expected on a spr training ride.   as mentioned previously, if you see any behaviour that does not align to what our expectations are, then say something then and there.  even if you get a dirty look in return, it may be enough to make them think before they do it again.

 

  1. The very old chestnut of guys treating training rides as a race. I’ve had limited opportunity to ride this year. But, I find myself being more vocal about what’s acceptable behaviour on a group ride. The inclusive nature of the club is also a handicap, the mid week rides can get non member parasites that ride like f…wits and make us look bad as a collective.  For our “brand “, which is huge in WA cycling circles we need serious discussion regarding poor group ride etiquette.  As the club has matured, so to must our values and response to poor behaviour.
  • much the same as the comments above. be vocal, make people aware of what is expected.  at the end of the day it is for our own safety.

 

  1. I think the website is the real portal to sharing the culture and club activity. I’ve looked at a lot club websites and SPR’s is one of the better ones but I think it could be improved. Better and clearer links to routes/maps. Perhaps link the routes to the Strava so we can see the elevation and other info more readily. Many of the events/results and photos etc are also out of date or have taken very long to update. But like I said, it’s one of the better ones – good job Jordan!
  • there are a number of things that need to be updated and refreshed on the website. again, it is up to the volunteers to action this, so it becomes a game of priorities amongst family, work, training & club.  we use the garmin website as the map builder as it connects a lot better with the garmin devices when you want to upload.  we originally used mapmyride, but a very bad mapping experience through whiteman park forced the change.

 

  1. SPR/Peter Mah, does allot for cycling advocacy. Caters for those of all levels.  Hard to soldier all the groups effectively but the correct message is always getting put out there.
  • thank-you. trying to keep everyone happy is never going to happen.  we at least try to keep everyone satisfied.

 

  1. I noted Peter Mah’s comments on the blog this week regarding the lack of disciplined riding on an Thurs EBR ride. I believe that as the club has grown to 450 + members the standard of riding has deteriorated. This appears to be because there is no real accreditation system for new members except for the Novice /Development group. Other riders simply bomb into a group of their own choosing and can make it dangerous for other rides. I have witnessed this as a regular ride leader in Transition and M3 group particularly. Hope this helps.
  • as mentioned above. if you see any behaviour that does not align to what our expectations are, then say something then and there. even if you get a dirty look in return, it may be enough to make them think before they do it again.

 

  1. Distractions of life often get in the way. Am making a concerted effort to rebuild fitness, endurance and motivation this next year.
  • it is often a struggle to keep riding all year around. often you need to refocus and maybe take a step back to remember why you enjoy riding in the first place.  a good social bond is often what keeps you going when things get rough.  even if you don’t ride, come down to the coffee shop and catch up with everyone.  that connection maybe all you need to get back on the bike.  regardless, we will still be there when you decide to return.

 

  1. Explore opportunity for a clubhouse/donga. maybe where the container coffee shop was, south of narrows bridge, next to where the jet-skiis play. Or closer to current meeting spot, if that can be arranged.
  • facilities are something that almost every club in wa is lacking. there are numerous projects going on to try to get better infrastructure for us to race and train on.  this is usually in the form of a crit circuit as it provides a safe non-car environment. from a clubhouse perspective, I suppose the question is really “what would we do with a clubhouse?”  generally we have too many people to fit in a donga, and the Dome currently provides what we need from a catering point of view.  although the idea of a clubhouse is great, to make it work we probably need something the size of Dome on the foreshore in south perth.  any rich benefactors out there???

 

  1. We have a fantastic club and Pete you are an absolute legend. I think perhaps we could get more into developing juniors.     It would be good to have an introduction to cycling development course to give kids confidence and raise road awareness etc. Make it fun and let them meet other kids.    Then to build on that with some junior coaching and encouragement to develop.
  • juniors is on the plan for this year. we are hoping to have a holiday session running by mid-year to encourage kids to get on the bike.  hopefully this translates into more kids and a separate group on a saturday morning.

 

  1. Does the club only sponsor riders who race? I believe there are more riders who don’t race but are wearing a SPR jersey to participate in event like Sportif. It will be good if the club can sponsor/subsidized such event other than only race event.
  • spr doesn’t really sponsor any riders. we have offered support to certain riders that have had huge financial commitments to represent spr, but these are usually one off’s and not a regular sponsorship arrangement.  as a club we often organise the logistics for events like the tour of margs or kalgoorlie as these represent a large number of riders that will be racing in spr colours.  it is certainly easier than 30 individuals making their own arrangements.  none of those events offer any form of subsidy for the race entry though.  as for the sportif races, at swan valley in 2015 we had a number of riders in multiple teams.  we provided a bakery breakfast for everyone and paid for a photographer to come and take pictures of the event.  these have been available for you to download from the website since last year.

 

  1. Perhaps guide speed for rides and then keep to them. I have tried a couple of group rides and find the speed can vary allot. I don’t ride with the club anymore because of this reason.
  • speed within a group can vary dramatically from week to week depending on the course, weather and the riders involved. we publish, on our traning page,  a guide of what we think these groups should average, but it is really a rule of thumb.  for example, main 3 says that you should average 30km/hr for the ride.  we don’t expect that the group will stick strictly to this number, but rather ensure that all riders are taken care of.  if the group as a whole can go faster, then go faster.  if it is starting to break apart, then it needs to back off a bit.  again, it is being spatially aware of what is going on with the people around you.  if you are finding it too easy, then either get on the front to work into the wind, or drop to the back and help struggling riders get back on.  group riding is about riding in a group, so you need to understand the group dynamics, not just the individuals.

 

  1. A great club, well run, and one that I am proud to be a member of
  • glad that you are part of it.

 

  1. You guys are the best:)
  • we try our best.

 

  1. the m i like it easier to leave a note asking members  , if they are free to going during  week  free to ride in my area stirling as i work at night and are free later in the day
  • okay, I guess that we can say that via the blog and facebook pages, you can get in contact with other riders to see if they are available to ride when we don’t have a scheduled ride.  most of our rides cater for those that work during the week but have the weekend off.  we recognise that not everyone fits into that category, but we can’t provide a ride if there is not a recognised need. 

 

  1. its just about perfect
  • i am sure that it is not, but we do a lot of work to keep it running. I guess that the uwct training ride is a good example of that. we are up to iteration 3 to try to cater for the majority of people that are coming out on this ride.  even then I know (via strava) that we are leaving people behind (something our regular rides don’t do).  trying to be as inclusive as possible makes our job logistically hard, but we try.

 

  1. Keep up the good work – the best club in Perth
  • i think that we have the benefit of being a fairly young club and have managed to see what has worked at other clubs and what hasn’t. our growth focus has been around providing training rides and having a strong online presence. if anyone is looking for a ride, they generally use the web as a first port of call.  we are often on the first page of the search results.  and re recognise that not everyone wants to race, so we need to provide what people want.  in this case organised training rides and a social atmosphere.

 

  1. Have found the womens programs and development programs to be excellent. Love the SPR chicks fb page. A great way to connect with riders and get to know people. Great club – well done to the committee!
  • there has been a focus women members as we recognise that less than a quarter of our membership is female.  there has been a lot of great work done this past few years in getting more women to come out riding with us. and the spr chicks facebook page is just one way that we have been able to encourage women to take a further interest.  the free beginner sessions that have been run are also a great way to get women to take that first step.  our committees development officer, leigh, recognises that it took her quite a while to build up the courage to come riding the first time.  she has been using this as a focus when determining the best way to encourage more women to ride.

 

  1. Members make themselves visible I bet most people wouldnt know who is who. If they sit at the same table each week how do u know what we want. Volunteers for races (it the thought that counts) to be given vouchers and if such as Kalgoorlie that the volunteers costs are completely covered. spr is seemly one of the biggest clubs but how many races does it organise for the year( 4)if so why did they buy the computer chips? Currently our members race at others clubs peel puts on 38 club races and midland is another big one it feels wrong when you are signing on and they ask what our is doing.
  • i am guessing that this is in reference to committee members as opposed to just any member. i suppose most people will sit with the same people every week, but that shouldn’t stop anyone coming to see a committee member if they have an issue. we have a very open door policy, so if you have an issue go talk to someone or send the club an email.  don’t wait for someone to come to you. 
  • as for volunteers, we recognise that the ride leaders are an important part of keeping the club operating to the standards that we want to set. therefore we reward those that give up their time and their training to look after a group. with events like kalgoorlie and tour of margs, it is a big ask for someone to take time off work and head away for a few days without even riding their bike.  as such we generally pay for those peoples accommodation during the trip.  if you are referring to volunteers that help out at races, then that is just done because you want to keep the club operating and putting on events.  should we have to “pay” people to come down and help setup tents???  especially if they are heading down to race a bit later in the day anyway. so then what about me???  a typical crit event for me involves the following – print out paperwork and get equipment ready (2 hrs), go buy extra drinks for sale (1hr) pack car with tents etc (2hrs), get to race at least an hour early then stay behind to pack up (7hrs), get home and unpack the car (2hrs), go through paperwork, cash box, finishline video and results (2hrs).  there are things we do to keep the club running and provide services for our members,  things that we do because we are a non-profit volunteer organisation.  things that you should do not because you are getting rewarded financially, but because you think that it is the right thing to do to help the club.  after all, you are part of the club or you are not.
  • as for the computer chips, that was a cost neutral exercise. you may notice that you get charged an extra $5 for chip hire when you race.  this all goes back to the clubs to cover the annual hire fee.  we split the cost between 4 different clubs and we all share the usage of the system.  it is not just for our races, but also midland, rccc and northern beaches.
  • yes we only put a handful of races on each year, and yes they are mostly crits (7 crits this summer). one of the reasons that peel and midland put on so many races is that both those clubs have over 100 years of history behind them and have built up expertise in running regular races.  we have been here since 2008.  there is nothing stopping us building up that expertise and you are quite welcome to put up your hand and volunteer to learn how to negotiate the council/traffic management/police approval network that is all part of the logistics of running a race.  as pointed out above, putting on just the crits takes a lot of time and after a while, people burn out and don’t want to do it anymore.  I could not imagine putting on 38 events throughout the year.  especially since there are only 52 weekends, when do I get to race myself, or even spend time with the family.  we also recognise that over half our membership does not have a race licence, so that is why we put on events like the watertower challenge to cater for the non-competitive riders.  if it is so wrong that we don’t have more races, what are you doing about it as you are the club, not just the committee members.

 

  1. Cheers team. You guys do a great job and probably don’t get thanked enough, so thanks.
  • no, no.  thank-you for being part of it.

 

  1. Greater adherence to road rules as a group and as individuals – it is regularly (always) said on the blog / webpage, but regularly disregarded on the road. Otherwise – congratulations to the President, office bearers and all committee members on continuing fine efforts to run a great club. THANKS!
  • as mentioned above, don’t wait for the ride to finish and find a committee member. be vocal during the ride.  if people are not adhering to road rules then let them know straight away.  running red lights, going the wrong way through roundabouts, crossing to the wrong side of the road.  all these things we know are wrong, so let them know straight away.

 

  1. Safety is always an issue. Expectation that after lights, round abouts, single lanes (eg pul hol ride) the group slow till all on would reduce the “need” for people to ride dangerously eg run red lights. Weekday groups are often fast. Hard to get started again after lay off… In summer multiple groups would be good.
  • there is an expectation that after the group gets split at the lights that the front half should slow to allow the rest back on. however, depending on the group, this is not always the case during the entire ride.  it is usually expected that the last 10-15kms of a main 1 ride the pace would ramp up for the final push into town.  people need different things in their training so that is why we have so many groups on a saturday. some people cannot stick with the fast group, but still want to have a solid ride in main 1.  if the groups speed towards the end of the ride is too fast, then there are other options coming along the road to sweep you up.  as you have indicated by putting inverted commas around the word “need”, it is up to people to curb their own dangerous behaviour.  if the light is red, then you stop.  if you get split from the group, then you ride with the rest of the split.  if you are just hanging on the back you can’t complain about the pace if there are slower groups behind that you can be riding with.  usually splits that happen in the first half of the ride come back together as they are called.  towards the end, make sure you have good position.  there are no prizes or podium girls waiting at the coffee shop. what are you risking your own safety for???
  • lately there have been multiple groups on the thursday earlybird ride. with the numbers getting large over summer there has been a fast and two or sometimes 3 main groups to follow.  there is no guarantee that the 3rd main group is necessarily slower than the 1st.  if you are after a main 3 pace group, then it is something that needs to be organised.  we can advertise it as much as we want, but if there is no ground swell of people that will regularly ride in that group, then it doesn’t last.  if you get together a bunch of mates to add to the existing rides, then we can easily add another group to the weekday rides.

 

  1. Keep on doing what you’re doing
  • will do.

 

  1. A Cyclocross race/program will really suit SPR. Inclusive, family orientated, close to the city and fun. The cross scene throughout Australia is dominated by road clubs apart from WA, in WA it is run by a hand full of (mainly) MTB riders that just love racing cross. Be great to see a road club get behind and help develop it in WA
  • 2016 is predicted to be the year of cyclo-cross. there is already a calendar released and there are 8 rounds of races, plus a super cx event at the end of april. there are lots of people in the club that already race and you don’t need a special cx bike, just a mtb.  there are kids events as well and my boys had a go last year.  the club has already been in contact with the cyclo-cross organisers and we will assist them where we can.  you can race on either a mtba or ca licence and the events are relatively cheap.  plus there are beer hand-ups during the race (not for the kids).  if anything, it gives you a reason to buy another bike…

 

  1. Would like to see a stronger emphasis on racing. More posting of pics and race reports might let others know what’s going on. An SPR sponsored race might be a start.
  • spr in conjunction with rccc are putting on 7 criteriums this season, so we are sponsoring racing. if you are talking about road racing, then this is a lot more difficult both logistically and from an approvals perspective.  we would eventually like to head down that path, but we will need a lot more support from within the club to achieve it.  that may mean that you do not get to race because you are manning a rego desk or the like.
  • race reports are something that we used to do a lot more of. i would like to see them make another appearance as i think that other members like to hear what is going on.  it can also inspire people to take that next step if they see that someone else they are riding with on saturday is also racing.

 

  1. Well done. Keep going
  • thanks.

 

  1. You’re doing a great job guys keep it up! I do find that often the ride leaders don’t feel empowered enough to speak up and keep the group together… I think a training course for them would be ideal.
  • we are working on this. it has been on a number of committee member’s work lists for a while.  we recognise that there is a need there and are working towards getting it resolved.

 

  1. I’ve noticed that the club has taken on supporting women to join SPR. That is really nice except, I have noticed they have now created their own seperate Facebook page. I know that the guys try not to exclude the girls from anything, but the girls are beginning to run their own club, within the club. This includes race events away. Kind of like a womens only Fernwood gym. Perhaps that is just a failure of the guys to self organise events for blokes only, or alternatively we are being more inclusive of keeping everyone in all club websites, events, rides.    As I said I’ve started to notice a separate group forming, that doesn’t share within the whole of SPR.
  • as mentioned in previous comments above, we have less than a 25% female membership. providing a forum for women to communicate and ask questions without feeling like they are going to get sledged for asking a stupid question is important for building up confidence. it is a generalisation, but women often like to understand everything about an issue before they commit. men tend to jump in a make it up as they go.  I don’t think that having a separate facebook page is a threat to anyone’s manhood and I don’t think that there needs to be a “men’s only” facebook page to counter it.  the women’s only rides we do once a month are an open opportunity for women to get used to setting the pace and organising the group.  this is important if they are going to take that next step into racing where they will often be in smaller groups and have to organise themselves. 

 

  1. Sorry when it comes to giving a score I couldn’t workout if 1 was best and nine was worst. So I rated things 1 as low and 9 as high. Maybe next time it needs spelling out.
  • will do. next survey we will be specific on what is required. 

 

  1. How do we get SPR riders to wear their kit for all group rides that are on the SPR website. We are inclusive and we should be – but there is something about the club’s status and the associated statement that goes missing.  We want people to join and progress to purchasing the kit.  I think also that the feeling of belonging and inclusiveness is reinforced.  Maybe we start running ‘kit only rides’ to start the ball rolling (eg Saturday M1 split – first group is SPR kit only).  I think some general discussion around behaviours and expectations would also not go astray (possibly another survey :-))
  • i understand the frustration as it is usually seen that “the others” are the reason for most issues that we have in the group. the issue of other kits on our club rides has been discussed at the committee level a number of times from various standpoints.  what we generally come back to is that one of our cornerstones for the club is being “inclusive”.  this means that we don’t discriminate based on what people are wearing.  we did split the group a few years ago based on what kit people were wearing, but even then people still went with the first group. when we first started selling kit, the novelty of being in a new kit for a new club was all it took to get people to buy.  now, being in the spr kit is commonplace, so people now rock up in pedal mafia or rapha or ataquer to show a point of difference.  people like to stand out in a crowd and this is just human nature. there were lots of discussions when we decided to make the kit for members only. this has not adversely affected our memberships or kit sales but at the time we were afraid of losing people if we forced anything.  we need to make the spr kit relevant again without people being forced into wearing it.  i think that there is a lot more discussion to be had on this point.

 

  1. Formally split groups that are too big before the ride starts. Most riders know what their ability is and weather they need to go with the faster or slower group. Thanks to the committee for their hard work. It is very much appreciated.
  • we have been caught out by this before and now try to split ahead of time. a good example of this is the public holiday ride which now splits similar to the saturday rides to minimise our impact on the road.  however, if you have ever seen me split the main 1 group on saturday and seen how many people still leave with the first group no matter what i say.  we almost need to have 12 in the first group (expecting 30 to leave) and then split it out evenly after that.  no matter how we phrase it, people always think that the first group will be faster and they do not like to be referred to as slow.

 

  1. * Also wanted to say I like the Saturday group ride format with 7 am start and ~50 km rides. You don’t have to get up too early and you have plenty of energy left for the rest of the day. * Green is a cool colour.    * SPR is the only group ride that’s not a sausage fest.    * SPR is the only group ride where people swear in Chinese.
  • the 7am format works best when combining it with the earlybird.  100kms before breakfast and all in a group riding environment.  this is also why we do not change the start times during summer.  if we bring the 7am ride earlier, everything needs to come earlier.  it is easier that everyone knows it will be 7am all year around.  green, chinese sausage. love it.  I will have to work on my chinese swear words.  my dad speaks both mandarin and cantonese, so I am sure I can get some hints.

 

  1. More support for training rides for developing riders
  • there has been a lot of work done this past year on development rides. both leigh and carol run a number of rides all through the week targeting different level riders.  tuesday and thursday in kings park, wedensday up stock road and friday along shelley are weekday rides that are especially for the developing rider.

 

  1. I think more could be done on inclusion of new riders. There are a number of regular, experienced and connected riders at the club that could be used to ensure a bit more inclusion. The club can appear like a series of cliques which is unfortunate. From a safety point of view things are pretty good, however I bit more discipline in the ride leaders wouldn’t go amiss; some rides can be a bit chaotic- reinforcement of some group riding principles might be needed.
  • once upon a time, the quarterly breakfasts used to be held at my house. lorraine would do the catering and all the bikes would fit in my garage.  back then we pretty much knew everyone by name.  the club has grown significantly since then and as it grows, the culture can change with it.  gone are the days when i knew everyone as there are lots of people that i probably won’t have the opportunity to ride with.  this however, doesn’t mean that i can’t ride with them but it is all a matter of balance.  I had been spending quite a few rides with the development group on wednesday morning, as stock road was a good place for me to do my intervals.  through this, i got to know the names of a few people that I wouldn’t have otherwise.  however, this is not going to be for everyone, and everyone may get something different out of the club depending on their own needs.  there is nothing stopping any of you from sitting down at the “fast group” table after the saturday ride and asking them their advice about things.  as you have said, there is a lot of experience that you can tap into, but it works both ways.

 

  1. Seems to be a lot of presumptive questions & answers? Also seems to be a lot of questions about ladies & women. Is there a problem? I wouldn’t have thought so?
  • there is no problem. as previously mentioned, the club has less than 25% female membership and we would like to grow that as much as possible. cycling is clearly a male dominated sport, but what we offer allows an easy pathway into getting more women riding.  otherwise it could end up a green, chinese sausage ride (see feedback #41 comments above).

 

  1. I would vollunteer to lead a M2-4 group if training was offered. I would love to be a part of some organised races – like a regular Saturday hit out.  I feel this is necessary to provide the motivation to train, learn race craft and target the more serious races.  Eg I would like to participate in TOMR however don’t feel I have the experience needed.
  • ride leader training has been discussed numerous times above, so I won’t go into that. racing is often just a matter of giving it a go.  it is surprising how many times i hear people say that they are not ready to race, but every week smash everyone on the group rides.  we target a number of races during the year (pickering brook series) and this means that there will be a large number of spr riders in attendance.  use this opportunity to take that next step and pin on a number.  talk to any of the other riders that you know are racing and they can give you an idea about what grade to enter.  we did have a “race buddy” program running for a while, but it seemed to fade out a bit.  that was the intent, allow people to leverage off other more experienced riders so that you don’t feel isolated heading to your first race.  as for the tour of margs, for some of the women, they had only started racing at the start of the year and they had a really good time and gained a lot of experience.

 

  1. Some different scheduled rides – a summer time evening ride, like the older Wed night, single speed group ride, weekend or overnighter ride as examples.
  • open to ideas. we can easily do a one off ride and expect that there will be quite a few people that would want to attend.  regular rides often mean a change in people’s schedule, so it is hard to keep the momentum up.  if you have any ideas, feel free to email them through and we can work on something.  I like the idea of an overnighter ride.  all ride somewhere for a few hours.  stay overnight and have a good group meal.  get a support car to bring bags.  ride back to perth the next day. 

 

  1. Im really impressed by how well the club is run and the numbers of riders every weekend. Well done
  • we tried to keep it organised and predictable.

 

  1. Would be good to see/hear of more of the long term and/or fast riders getting involved with other Saturday morning riders, they sit with themselves and talk amongst themselves without much interaction with the “general” population, understand not everyone is interested in meeting more people but it might be more inclusive for others who are trying to become a part of the club. Looking forward to more SPR run racing AND TIME TRIALS please.  Women’s riding at the club has come a long way, keep it going. Keep in mind we are still in the minority and rides esp Sunday are a “boys club”. Perhaps 1 – 3 girls in a group of up to 20. Also, if there are rest breaks remember we can’t pee anywhere that you lot can 🙂
  • as discussed above, as the club has grown cliques will always form as like-minded people will always group together. there is nothing wrong with you plonking yourself down at the “fast group” table and striking up a conversation with someone.  they all started somewhere and so they may be able to give you advice.  not everyone is comfortable just mingling with a random group, so it really takes an effort to do. 
  • races have been discussed above. we are happy for people to put up there hand to help out.  time trials are so well run by the atta guys that it is hard to fathom matching what they do.  their races are so accessible to any rider, well organised and they also provide fruit cake.  hard to compete with that.
  • the long sunday hills ride has always had trouble attracting a large percentage of female riders. maybe people presume that it is hard and they don’t want to be left behind, or hold up the group.  more and more women have been heading out on that ride, though, so attitudes are changing.  we are aware of the rest breaks and that is also the reason why we don’t often do the hadrill road route as there are no facilities at the top of the hill for any one. most of the routes would pass a servo along the way, so if you need to stop make people aware and it can be organised.

 

  1. EBRs tend to be seen as a fast ride for fast riders only; Race mentoring is a good idea but needs more development; SPR has a general external reputation of rides not being particularly well managed, ie from a safety perspective. In practice it’s not so bad but there are often examples of poor practice.
  • the ebr rides should be generally around the main 1 pace. this covers the majority of the riders that will do both the ebr and main ride on saturday. it would be rare (but not impossible) that a main 3 rider would be contemplating the saturday double.  this is not to say that there cannot be a second group on any of the earlybird rides.  however, you need to get a group together and get a regular attendance before we can make it a sanctioned ride.  things often change and what was a popular or good idea once, may fade out in the future.  the tuesday earlybird used to be so big that we needed to split it multiple times.  now it is much smaller and the thursday ride is the one to be on.
  • race mentoring does need a bit more development. it has been discussed above.
  • i get worried when iI hear the we have a reputation out in the cycling community for being unsafe or poorly managed. we have a lot more systems and structure in place than almost any other ride in perth.  everyone knows in advance what the ride routes are and we provide leaders for the less experienced groups.  yes we have accidents, but we also have 8 – 9 groups heading out on a saturday morning.  just the sheer numbers means that statistically we are going to have more accidents. being inclusive also means that we will provide rides for those that aren’t as experienced. what we do have, however, is a system that is responsible for the actions of our riders.  if you go on a random coffee ride and someone is acting up, who do you talk to about it???  safety is a priority for us, but we also recognise that what we do carries some risk and a lot of that risk involves things that are outside of our control (vehicles, weather, other cyclists).  as mentioned many times previously, if someone’s behaviours are putting other peoples safety at risk, then speak up then and there.

 

  1. Love the club. Some issues I have heard around the traps and agree with are 1) ride leaders not respected which is not safe enough and 2) the fast group sneering as you arrive at the coffee shop is palpable and there is a growing problem with Elitism 3) too many riders in main 1due to skills creep? The definition of main 1 might be rejigged to split people up better
  • the ride leaders are basically giving up their time and own training to take out a group and impart some important knowledge on less experienced riders. if those riders do not take any advice on board and continue to ride in a way that we deem dangerous to others in the group, or want to give a mouthful back when they get told off for something, well they can go and ride with another club.  as long as the ride leader is being level in their approach and is trying to correct behaviour in the best interests of the groups safety, then we will totally support them in any argument.
  • i am not sure that what you describe as elitism is real or just perceived. the fast riders are always going to be sitting there when the other groups arrive.  to be totally honest, I don’t think half those riders would care enough about what time anyone else gets into the coffee shop let alone spend the energy to sneer. if anyone thinks that they are mentally working out how many minutes that they beat everyone else to coffee and therefore how much better they are, then i think this may say more about people’s insecurities as opposed to any real elitism. as we have mentioned in previous comments, you are more than welcome to go and sit next to the fast group riders when you get your coffee. they do have a wealth of experience that you can leverage off and you may find that some of them will actually talk back to you. 
  • main 1 is getting big. we will need to have a discussion about what to do with it. in the past, we have organised a “fast 2” group and this thinned out main 1 a bit.  however, we have had a large fast group and still need to break main 1 into 3 groups.  more discussion a the committee level is needed, but if you have any ideas, let us know.

 

  1. Stock kit so we can buy on demand.
  • this would be great, but there are a number of problems that we can see. firstly, it costs a lot to hold a bunch of stock.  just ask any shop owner.  we don’t really see the value in tying up funds in kit.  secondly, there is always an issue with what sizes to order and how many.  if you get it wrong and don’t order enough medium jerseys, but have lots of xl left over, you are constantly restocking some and not others.  it is a lot easier from the clubs perspective to just manufacturer what is required.  yes it takes some time, but the dates are usually published in advance, so if you don’t want your money tied up for too long, then you can order just before the final cutoff day.  that way you only need to wait the 6 weeks or so for it to be manufactured. 

club survey 2015

11023343_10154099958802907_2962318813650402301_oHave your say 2015

While the club is run by your Club Committee we are here to represent you – the club members. In order to do this we like to gather your thoughts on a few issues, some old, and some new. We’ll use this information to aid us in making the best decisions for the club and planning the best way forward. We can also use it to compare how the club’s demands have changed over time (this is our third survey).

The survey will be open until midnight Sunday 4th October. Once we’ve collated the results we’ll publish the summaries up for everyone to see.

So go on, have your say:

take the survey

spr survey results

you may have taken part of the online survey that we posted quite a few weeks ago, and we thank you for your feedback. some of you may be wondering just what we got out of it.  attached are the results for all to see.  as we are using this information to set the vision for the club and focus our efforts on what the members want, it is important that you guys see what everyone is saying.  there are no names on the feedback so all you comments are anonymous.

as usual, there are some extremes in the opinions, but what we were looking for were the consistent themes for us to focus on.  it was clear that a lot of people want us to continue doing what we are doing, but there are also a lot of things we could be doing better.  have a read and we appreciate any further feedback. (the inconsistency in the page numbers was not from us trying to hide certain results, but just taking out blank pages as well as 10 pages of postcodes)

SPR_Survey_2012

spr survey – what do you want from your club???

to work out what the club needs to do for it’s members, we have created a little survey to understand what you are after.  this is open to both members and those that ride with us and covers a lot of different aspects of what we do.

initially it is so we can develop a clear direction for the club since we cover such a wide variety of riders all with different goals.  we are also using this opportunity to understand what the club wants in relation to social activities, club kit, race events, etc.

please take the time to fill out the survey so that the committee can guide the club in the direction that that members want it to go.  the whole thing takes less than 10 minutes and is anonymous.  please be honest and add as much info/feedback as you can so that we can get a clearer idea of where the club needs to head.  the survey will be open for the next week or so.

Click here to take survey