#squad

Tour of Margaret River official event website:  http://tourofmargaretriver.com/

UPDATED: 23/10/2017

Here is the SPR Squad from which the Team Manager and Race Committee will be selecting graded teams:

Scheduled dates for Team Time Trial practice sessions are :

Saturday 26 August
Saturday 16 September
Saturday 7 October
Saturday 21 October
Saturday 28 October
Thursday 2 November
Saturday 4 November

Each group will set off after the main group doing the normal Saturday route. Faster groups will go first. These sessions get more regular as November approaches. Unless otherwise communicated they will take place regardless of the weather – it could well be raining in Nannup in November. Each team will be on your own for these rides.

UPDATED 25/10/2017:

Well you asked for the extra night’s accommodation on Thursday and we booked it all – now it’s time to pay. The cost is $100. Go to the spr shop and pay before October 30 please. There is a button. This is your final payment.

If you haven’t already done so can you please email me a pic of the back of your race licence. That way I can go and get all your numbers and timing chips at rego.

An excellent night on Monday going over the course. When Paul George talked about struggling up Day 2 remember he had a 28 on the back and a mid compact on the front and he is very strong. If you have 53/39 on the front you might need a 30 at least on the back. I know Shane White is going 32 and having to put some special fitting on to accommodate it.

We have also allocated a volunteer to each team to help :

Mike Madsen – Mixed
Jon – W1
Michelle Bonner – W3
Ginny Donley – W2
Bryan Thurstan and Michael Bonner – M1 & M2

These are the people you will give your Sunday lunches to. Who will try and help you with transport and the logistics of it all as much as they can so work with them.

UPDATED 22/10/2017:

We have decided to book the Thursday night accommodation to make it easier for you on the first morning. It will cost you an extra $100. Please make sure you have paid all the money owing. We will be adding an extra button in the SPR shop so please go there in the next couple of days and pay the extra $100. This was the wish of the majority. I’m sorry we’ve taken a while to decide to do this but we’ve been a bit busy with Beverley. We are not booking the volunteers house for an extra night so you might have a collie staying in your house for a night.

Don’t forget Monday night 23rd October at Dome at 6.30pm for a discussion on tactics and what to expect.

From what I hear training is going very well. There were some exhausted and happy faces at Dome today. Great to see the bonding.

I shall be sending out the house allocations over the weekend.

UPDATED 12/10/2017:

Well it’ll soon be here.

We are still short one male racer so if anyone you know is keen then please ask them to get in touch.

We have organised a bit of a catchup on Monday 23 October at 6.30pm at Dome in the city to go through the courses and discuss some tactics. Hope to see you all there – remember you can eat and drink while the presentation goes on. We’ll be talking about things like how you’ll need at least a 28 on your rear cassette for the climbing on Stage 2.

We are in contact with the TOMR organisers to try and push the start time back on Friday. Or at the very least for SPR riders to go off last at around 11.30. This should do away with the need to book all the houses for an extra night. The SPR general committee is not keen given the slowness of participants to pay up on time. Oh and speaking of paying up on time the final payment is now due and can be paid at the SPR shop on the website. This must be paid by Friday 20 October or your spot will be forfeited.

Fortunately the teams seem to be settling down. Get to know your bunch – your strengths and weaknesses. It is probably worth appointing a road captain who can keep you all in line. Please make a decision and let me know who it is for each team. Remember you need to get five riders to the line on the first time trial but only four riders times count on the last day. Who are you going to put on the front, work hard then drop on those days ? Start working with your teams on food and who is going to cook what when. Remember Sunday night is a joint barbecue at one of the houses. I’ll let you know the houses in the next week or so.

Good luck with all those racing the Beverley this weekend – or cxing or being heroic. It is a fantastic accomplishment by our Race Committee chair Greg Murray. Thank you also to all the volunteers. At the very least we’ll all get to see the lovely Sarah Smith for the weekend.

I have been asked if a 3 day pass is acceptable. According to the website it is. But it might be worth thinking about an annual membership so you can do more races.

Keep up the hard work.

UPDATED 01/10/2017:

Well it will be here before we know it.

Just so you all know there is a very thorough process to decide who goes in what team. We have looked at Strava times, recent race results, SPR involvement and seen how you all ride on SPR rides recently. It’s been a complicated process but our aim is to match riders up with people of similar abilities.

The general consensus seems to be that everyone wants to stay Thursday night. We will go ahead and book the houses for Thursday night. It will cost each of you an extra $100. This will be added onto your last payment. If you have any violent objection to this please email me back today and we may be able to get away with booking one house less for that night.

So far two of you have expressed an interest in a massage Friday and Saturday night. If anyone else is interested please let me know otherwise I will organise massages for just the two.

We will have plenty of vehicles and drivers so if you want there should be capacity to give you a lift back to Nannup on Day 2. The alternative is a leisurely 50k cruise back. Have a think about what you would like to do.

We will organise later this month a detailed evening briefing of each of the segments including some tactics you might like to consider. I’ll book a venue and let you know timing on this soon. It will also be a good chance for all of us to get together socially prior to the event.

As far as we know there are 15 women’s teams this year at TOMR. This may affect your strategy particularly for the first days racing. I have posted all timing for the event on the fb page. Please have a read if you haven’t already.

If you haven’t already paid your second round of money please do so asap. (Hover over the d to get it to work)  We have a list of people who want to join and if your moneys are not being paid your spot will be offered to one of these.

Remember, you are either racing or volunteering at The Beverley. Those who have been in touch no need to do so again. We have your emails thank you.

We have TTT practice coming up this weekend. It will be on a different route to the normal SPR ride. Route will be revealed on the Thursday SPR email. Be organised. Go hard.

UPDATED 24/09/2017:

UPDATED 9/09/2017:

Getting closer all the time. Hope you are all on track with your training.

UPDATED 23/08/2017:

Well our first team time trial practise is this Saturday. So come along as normal before 7am and find your team mates. The teams will start after the Main bunch with the fastest teams going off first. Then do the normal SPR route for this Saturday. Do it with your bunch and try not to get tangled up with other SPR riders. But do it with your team mates – roll around/paceline/work together. Go as fast as you all can whilst holding your group together. For some groups this is going to be easier than others. If you have a slower rider then maybe they don’t roll maybe they sit on the back and the rest of you tow them. Work out what’s best for your bunch. The All Powerful Race Committee has done their best to match up riders of similar speeds. However if you feel you are really not matched then flick me an email here or a message on fb and we’ll have a look at it. If you see riders in your group planning on doing the normal bunch ride then drag them out and tell them they must time trial. With 40% of the racing in this format it is vital you get as much practise as possible.

Obviously not everyone in your team will be there Saturday. Some are away on work, some are racing at The Worlds in Albi, others are not getting married in Ireland, some are injured, still others have TT races and other bike commitments. Lots of people have been in touch and explained their situations. Don’t worry. Work with the group you have. Get used to riding with each other. Talk. If you are the only member of your team present I will allocate you to another team on the morning.

Jessica Gammon is giving a talk on nutrition on Monday 28 August at 7pm at The Old Vic Hotel in Subiaco. $7 entry.

Jessica Gammon BHSc (Nat) BE (Hons) BSc is a degree qualified naturopath with a special interest in nutrition for endurance sport.

This SPR presentation focuses on the principles of sports nutrition for enhanced performance in cycling. Good nutrition is necessary for the optimum functioning of the body and adaptation to the stresses of training. The presentation will include:

• Nutritional requirements of endurance athletes
• Fuelling prior to training
• Fuelling during training
• Recovery after training
• Hydration
• Fuelling for competition
• Common problems in athletes including fatigue and immune dysfunction

Please try and make it. It has been organised just for your benefit. Other members of the club are also welcome.

Collie Donnybrook was a fantastic turnout for SPR TOMR riders. For some it was a baptism of fire. For others a successful day out with Stuart Gee winning second place. Sadly Peter Wilshaw had a crash and is unsure whether he will join us at TOMR. Good to see you all there. Hope you all got a Coke. Sadly the van didn’t quite make it there on the day but it’s being fixed as we speak. Please have a think about the York weekend on 2 and 3 September – you can now sign up for just one day if you want. It is not a handicap race like Collie but a graded race so you will race against riders at your pace.

Sadly they have changed the course for the Peel Classic so it is not the race it once was. Up to you if you do this one. I think I will go and race Masters. Then there is The Beverley on 14 September which you are either racing at or volunteering at.

See you all Saturday.

UPDATED: 6/07/2017

Here’s your reminder. It’s time to pony up. We are requiring a $100 deposit from all nominees to get the ball rolling on the ToMR costs.

Whilst we are in the process of finalising the costs per rider, we are looking at around about $660 per person.

There is a new item in the SPR Shop here named ToMR 2017 Initial Deposit.

A reminder of the conditions – deposits will be refundable ONLY under the following conditions:

• you are not selected in the SPR teams – we are gathering an SPR Squad from which teams will finally be selected; or
• you withdraw from the SPR Squad prior to team selection, at this time due to be done August 31st.

If after August 31st you withdraw, the refund will ONLY be made if a replacement racer is successfully installed in your place. If there are no reserves available from the squad at that time, it is your responsibility to locate a replacement.

Remember – SPR is spending the Club’s money in order to pay deposits on the accommodation and pay full Race Registration costs. All payments due from the racers are recovery of that spend.

The deposit is due by midnight, Thursday 6th July. Any issues in getting payments through please email in reply and advise.

UPDATED: 22/06/2017

The Tour of Margaret River is an annual, raced over four stages and three days, 9th to 12th November 2017, in the iconic South West region of WA. SPR has been represented at ToMR since…… forever. ToMR is in a Pro Race-like environment with a bigger-than-ever-before “Pro-Register”, where current top level and retired legendary pro riders are amongst the teams. Speak with the
SPRouleurs who have raced it previously, or read here, here,  here, here, here or here and you’ll hear how this is one of the best run events going around. So much fun, and if I haven’t mentioned it before, last year we rode with Marianne Vos. The one and only. True story.

This year the ToMR Village is based in a new location – the town of Nannup for the duration of the three days of racing. Teams of six riders, racing four stages, different formats and different courses to previous years:

• Stage 1 42km Team Time Trial sees a start and finish in Nannup. The teams are seeded for subsequent stages, recorded at the 5th team rider crossing the line – tactics count, as you cannot drop (or sacrifice) your team mates.
• Stage 2 50km Road Race doesn’t let up, following the start of last year’s stage 3 from Nannup to Greenbushes. It’s a hilly course with 2 significant climbs (and needing a ride or a car shuttle back).
• Stage 3 71km of hills is a tough start to the day, out of Nannup via Kirup to Balingup.
• Stage 4, backing up on Day3 is a 42km Team Time Trial from Balingup to Nannup alongside the Blackwood River.

As with previous years, SPR is staying in self-contained team houses of a generous size and based in Dunsborough where we can locate all the teams near each other – this is an SPR Club outing, after all.  This year we are running a package-only arrangement inclusive of accommodation and race registration, expected to be around $650.

Your expressions of interest will be formed into an “SPR Squad”, with graded teams to be nominated dependant on form and speed down the line – graded by the *APRC and the SPR ToMR Team Manager. Standby.

*All Powerful Race Committee