Tuesday, February 9, 2016

No Excuses Club Ride - Ride Report


No Excuses 
I think I am safe in saying that the inaugural BG "No Excuses" ride was a success." So those who "almost got there" on Sunday make sure you mark your calendar in advance for 6 March 16".Thank you to everyone who made the effort. We really hope you enjoyed yourself and it was great to catch up. 

It was great to catch up with old friends and a few new faces.  It was especially pleasing to see some riders out for the first time in a long time and the emergence of 2nd generation Bastardi's with some bringing out their kids (… well young men really). I have to admit I was a bit worried when I rounded the corner and saw 4 Bastardi but then spotted about a dozen more arriving from all points of the compass. My rough head count before we departed was 29 Bastardi but I think I missed a couple.

We got every single red light heading out of town and down to Port road. Michael R suggested that someone in the traffic control centre was having some end of shift fun. Once on Port road we sat on a comfortable pace chatting and catching up. It was great to hear  that distinctive whirring sound of massed bikes. 

Punctures
I suspect a few bikes hadn't seen the road in a while and we stopped for the first puncture about halfway down port road. Its was a chance to continue to chat and catch up. 

Outer Harbor Sprint
The group was all together as we came down Victoria Road toward the sprint. The pace was around the 43kph in the lead into the sprint. It really wasn't fast enough to break up the group and the result must have looked awesome as we had a lead out train on the left with the majority of the bunch stacked behind. The group really didn't break up until the sprint proper. The points went to 

  • Gatesy
  • Louis
  • Dan
  • Brian
For those who weren't there, it went something like this, just a bit more competitive.



West Lakes and KOM
While the Outer Harbor sprint looked good the other sprint points didn't have the room that Outer Harbor afforded. So as its always "safety first", it was decided we would increase the pace earlier for the next two sprints and make sure we spread out more. Hence I didn't see the sprints at West Lakes or the KOM.  I am informed that West Lakes was the same order as Outer Harbor.

Prang 
Unfortunately the day was marred by Tobias clipping the curb and falling heavily at West beach. Thankfully Man and Bike are unbroken, the same cant be said of skin and jersey. A speedy recovery Tobias.

AGM
Coffee was at Glenelg. The AGM was called to order by Geoff who has a whistle that made the entire Marina jump and a few ears bleed.  The minutes from the AGM are as follows 

  1. The general format of the Ride calendar is okay but there are some suggestions to be included
  2.  Multi-option hills rides  expanded to include the Meadows loop. Both the Southern loop and Hills options
  3. Mutli-option hills ride expanded to include a Hills traverse (Birdwood to Belair). This ride offers both shortcuts (Regroup at Woodside) and escape options 
  4. The Hallett Cove rides will swap to a Hallett Cove via Anzac Hwy route due to road works. This will be reconsidered if it proves too difficult or we really annoyed by the speed humps. Potentially swap for a Medium Hills
  5.  A beach time-trial will be included at the end of October and the start of March
  6. Our two target rides for this year are the TDU Challenge and the NCC Willunga pilgrimage. They fall one day after the other so some back to back rides are in order.
  7. Replace "The Climbs" with an epic that is less masochistic 
  8. I have some suggested rides for the rides for the "Paths" less traveled I will publish for comment
  9. A ride to Murray Bridge was suggested as a "Super Epic". The chair requested clarification on the Coffee stop in Murray Bridge as Nescafe Blend 43 at the roadhouse is unacceptable.  The ride was then referred to the coffee sub committee.
  10.  I will however map the Murray Bridge ride as a two group ride with a Lunch rather than a coffee stop and issue for comment as a super epic with a lunch stop is a great idea
  11. I will revise the ride guide when I get a chance and issue for comment
  12. Recruitment is encouraged. No dicks policy was endorsed.
  13. We will try to get the people targeting Amy's Gran Fondo in Lourne together for planning 



A great turn out





Coffee





AGM 




Punctures