KIT STORE IS OPEN AGAIN UNTIL 22 DECEMBER 2015

New kit is now available to order, but get in quick as orders close on 22 DECEMBER 2015.

We can also order from the full range of stuff, which means if you want socks, gloves, arm warmers, jackets, winter jerseys etc you can go for it. 

By following these step by step instructions you should have no problems ordering and paying for your order online.

If you've ordered before you can use your existing CS DIRECT account.

If you are ordering for the first time follow the basic steps below to place your CS DIRECT team order.

1. Surf to http://www.champ-sys.com.au/ 

2. Top right hand corner click LOGIN

3. You will be presented with a login page. Here you need to enter the username and password (both are "bast").

4. You will then be presented with a personal login page where you will be required to set up your own individual account.

5. Once this is done you will see the MY ACCOUNT page where your CS DIRECT TEAM order will be listed – simply click ORDER NOW

6. You will be presented with the MY CUSTOM ORDER PAGE. Here you can order the items you want for your team order. You will see the designs that have been set for your team. Simply select the item you are after, follow the order process, enter size and quantity just like

any other online store shopping cart. As you follow the process you will be asked to confirm your order – you can add more items or checkout.

7. Once you finish the order process you will be presented with the payment page. The only payment method accepted is credit card. You will also note at this stage that the CS DIRECT administration fee has been applied to your total. Once you confirm your payment an order summary will be emailed directly to you.

8. Delivery – Your order will be delivered 4‐6 weeks after your team CS DIRECT order is closed.

Your order will be individually packed and delivered with all your other team member orders

and freighted to me for distribution.

You’ll need to know what sizes you want, for each bit of kit.

Regarding sizing’s – jerseys, I have an XL Club Cut . As you probably already know, race cut jerseys are for grey hounds only - ie VERY F...ING TIGHT! Bib sizing is fairly standard.

Sunday Ride Is the Beach - not the TDU reconnaissance

This week was meant to be the TDU reconnaissance however after discussion its been decided that this is too early. We will give people some more time to prepare.

Hence we will now do the TDU reconnaissance on December the 20th. 

This meant swapping the Beach/ Hills sequence. So the rides up to Christmas are

29 November 2015		Outer Harbor via Port Rd		Hills
6 December 2015		Lobethal Loop		Hills
13 December 2015		Outer Harbor via Port Rd		Beach
20 December 2015		TDU Reconnaissance		Hills

We have also changed Hahndorf to the Lobethal loop. 

So Beach Ride this Sunday, meet 7:30 am in the City

Sunday Ride - Surf and Turf

This weeks ride is a Surf and Turf, it is not a long one so perfect if you haven't done much climbing lately

Route: City,Tower Hotel, Norton Summit, Ashton, Mt Lofty, Bike Track, Cross Road, 

Coffee at Glenelg

Originally it would have been Bower Road and return  via Henley beach road but with the square still under renovation we will stop for Coffee at Glenelg.

We will discuss return routes at coffee.

Meeting time:

• 7:30 am at the City
• 8:00 am at the Tower Hotel

Regroup at Scenic Hotel, Mt Lofty, Toll Gate 

Sorry no ride report this week.

Sunday Ride the Heritage round - Hahndorf

I don't know about you but I regularly get compliments on the design of the BG kit. Four or five on Amy's Ride alone this year. 

However this means the BG kit gets a hammering while a lot of us have a drawer full of cycling jersey that only see the light of day on non BG rides. This was discussed at length over Coffee last week so by popular acclaim we have declared this week the Heritage round. 

This weeks ride is Hahndorf via the Freeway

Meeting Times 

7:30 am in the City

8:00 am at the Tollgate (bottom of the freeway bike track)

8:30 am at the Bollards 

Coffee at Otto's bakery

Return options will be discussed over Coffee and Cake

If you are interested in a Beach Ride please go to the city and see if there are any like minded individuals,

Heritage Round Rules

• Wear a jersey other than the BG jersey that invokes interest, envy or humor, or preferably all three
• Wear some other item of BG kit e.g. knicks, gloves, bandanna if possible. We are still a club
• Points will be added for  being able to identity what the major sponsor actually does/makes and if they are still in business
• Points will be deducted for a TDU challenge Jersey (an exception will be made for the rare 2004/2005 jerseys with extra points if they fit)
• Points will be added for matching socks
• Millions of Points will be deducted for muffin tops 
• What the points means and what they are worth will be called at some random point on the road either by Brian or the road captain. Kinda like the sprints.

Sofie's Ride Report

This weekend we were back to the beach on a glorious day fro a ride. It was the ride where we celebrate the Chris and Alf becoming grandfathers on the same day as each other and both Granddaughters having very similar names Sofie for Alf and Sophie for Chris. Spooky!

As always Alf and Chris put on the coffee and cake. The attraction of free coffee and cake meant we had good turn out (13 by my count). Must have been a few psychics among us as I didn't even advertise free cake on the blog.  

This ride we also welcomed Brian back after his recuperation from a knee injury. He told us to remind him to take it easy which we did but he still was up there at the front. He has slowed down as he only manged fourth in the sprint but claims he didn't sprint!

Coffee at Esca was really pleasant and it was great to see such a good turn out.  We had a few much needed discussions about things we should do on rides going forward which I will endeavor to include.  

The beach rides are now getting people home around 11am so plenty of time for other Sunday activities

Not a sign I ever want to see on a bike going up, down is better.

Sunday Ride - Beach

All

I realized I made a mistake on the Sunday Ride Calendar and didn't reshuffle the Rides to take into account Amy's ride. As it would have been 3 Hills in a row and the TDU reconnaissance is approaching. So I have adjusted the ride schedule to bring the Beach ride forward. 

Hence Sundays Ride is the good old Outer Harbor loop. 

• Meet 7:30 am Hindmarsh Square in the City
• The usual sprint points
• Coffee at the Glenelg Marina (Esca) but the coffee committee will accept alternate suggestions

No ride report this week we can discuss Amy's Ride over Coffee.

Special mention Michael R who rode the 35km including O'Sullivans hill on a Mountain Bike with a trailer and his daughter Alice. Alice did say she would help dad by pedaling on the hills but I still think he deserves some Kudos. 

All correctly kitted out in BG colors and ready to roll.

All Michael needs is an air horn!!

Sundays Ride - Amy's Ride

Meet up details 

AMY's RIDE Meet in Hindmarsh Square to ride to Flinders University  @ 7.00am

• Please try to be not to be late as we will leave @ 7.10am sharp 
• We will ride at a steady pace to Flinders. Meet @ Flinders around 7:40.
• The "off" for Amy's Ride will be at 8:00am

If you want to ride straight there, meet at trees behind the goal posts on the oval, If all else fails look out for BG jerseys.

BG Beach Ride: Those not doing Amy's Ride but looking for a Sunday roll to the beach meet @ Hindmarsh 7:00am (yes its early, but you will be home early) and ride down to Flinders with the group and do a beach ride from there.

Return Trip From Amy's Ride 

I should also have a spare bike rack and seat available. First come, first served and you will have to wait for me to arrive.

Sunday Ride Report - The Epic

Sundays Ride was the Epic 100 km ride out to Meadows,

I started early expecting that most of the BG riders from the City and the Toll Gate would pass me on the way up to the bollards. It didn't work out that way as I met Graham at the bottom and Michael and Dan passed me on the way up. We gathered at the top and were joined by Neil and his pilot Derrick on the tandem, along with Daniel who has ridden with us a few times before.

More BG joined at the Bollards.  By 8:30 Twelve BG gathered at the bollards and after the standard 10 minute wait we set off. At that point none of the fast guys were there, hence we decided to regroup at Mylor and decide the route from there. In Brian's absence I was elected road captain, which might I say is not a role for the fat slow dude at the back.

The descent from Stirling and the Aldgate Valley road was fantastic, We couldn't have picked a better day for a ride in the hills. The new tandem has a serious set of disk brakes which makes them even quicker on the descents,  We hit Mylor and the consensus was to push on to Echunga. We stopped at Echunga mainly because I was about 5 minutes behind and we had to wait for me the to get there in order to make a decision and set a direction. Did I mention I am the fat slow dude at the back? This turned out to be good decision as while the group was regathering  David H, Andy T and Hugh arrived. They had only missed us by a few minutes. We pushed on to Meadows as it would have been the same distance back to Hahndorf.

There were lots of groups out and we arrived at Meadows just as a group of about 30 riders, mostly from "Snowy's", were leaving the Bakery. I recall from the shadowy mists of time when we were one of the few groups to venture that far out. We were a bit startled to see that there has been  a housing boom in Meadows since our last visit.

At this point the consensus was to do an out and back rather than the loop. The day was good so staying in the hills appealed and no one was keen on tackling the traffic on the southern loop. Return trip done at a good pace but after regrouping at Mylor, I relinquished my road captaincy and told the guys to ride ahead as it would take me a while to complete the climb. I took off up the Aldgate Rd expecting not to sight the group again. Instead, half way up Dan had a puncture and almost at the top of the climb the Tandem had a mechanical, so to my surprise I met the group again at the top of Aldgate Valley. Turns out that they might as well have waited for me.

PS: For the record I did do Ayers Hill rd without unclipping.

Sunday Ride - EPIC - The Meadows loop

Okay it's that time of the year, the first Epic ride of the season. We discussed this on Sunday and have decided to retain the EPIC but give both escape routes and a Slow Group option for those who haven't got a lot of kilometers in the legs. So please don't be put off and come out at least for the early stages of the loop if you feel your not up to the full journey.  Remember Amy's ride next week and there are a number of events coming up. Its now or never for getting some distance.

We are doing the Meadows loop in the clockwise (Mt Lofty first) direction. This allows a selection of escape routes of varying degrees of distance and difficulty. The anticlockwise direction doesn't work as well for escape routes.  

The full loop is mapped here and I suggest if you haven't ridden it before to download the map to either your GPS or phone . The first part is easy to follow but there are a few roads less traveled on the southerly return. 

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/896816431  94 km (from the city) 1338 m of ascent

Meeting Times 

7:30 am in the City

8:00 am at the Tollgate (bottom of the freeway bike track)

8:30 am at the Bollards 

Coffee at the Meadows bakery

Escape Routes 

I have plotted a set of escape routes (distance from city)

Escape Route 1: Bollards, Mt Lofty etc (for those who just want to say hi.)

Escape Route 2: Mylor out and back. 58 km 

Escape Route 3: River Road to Hahndorf and return 75 km

Escape Route 4: Echunga, Echunga Rd to Hahndorf, river Road home  82 km 

Escape Route 5: Meadows - Out and Back. Debatable if this is easier but I have included it as it sticks to the hills and avoids some of the pinches on the return loop. 

Groups 

As always this is numbers dependent but the rough plan is a fast and a slow group. If possible we will try to have a couple of fast guys act as sweepers to make sure no one is left behind.

Full Loop or out and back will be decided at Coffee depending on how people are feeling. 

PS: Warwick's bike was built by http://www.astirframes.com/

Sunday Ride report

   

Sunday was another excellent day for a ride especially one with a view of the sea. First up let me apologise to Dan, he rolled up at 8 am. I realised on Saturday night I hadn't sent out an email to back up the blog and make sure that the time shift was communicated. My bad.

We had 10 BG,s show up in the city (should have been 11). Of note was Hugh who actually had tanned legs after his Adelaide to Darwin headwind epic. Apparently it was only the last day they didn't have a headwind and about 14 people managed to complete the full distance. Warwick arrived with his replacement for the Green Machine. A titanium beauty built by a local frame builder http://www.astirframes.com/. As Brian already owns the Stealth Bomber I think this one is the Spy Plane. With Warwick's permission I have published the photo's below. Its a really clean elegant looking bike. 

The Ride to Hallett Cove was uneventful and we have a bit of a cycling group traffic jam with large groups leaving the city, crossing onto the southern expressway bike track and the Fat Boys and a others on the Cove Way. The good weather is here and the groups are out in force

The ride back was a bit more eventful we had just negotiated the double hairpin right hand turn at the end of the Cove Way when behind me I heard the unmistakable sound of body and bike hitting bitumen. Fortunately not a BG and not much damage. Mike Tilley rode up and turned around to ask if the rider was okay, he claimed to be and so we informed his mates as we passed. Mike was worried that it was his fault in the mass of bikes turning but much to his relief Warwick riding behind saw it happen. The guy  was riding sans cleats and just plain fell off when he hit a bit of gravel.

Coffee was at Esca, which is the default beach stop for the time being. We are informed that Evida is shut as a result of other issues the family that owns it are facing. So we need to decide a new beach Cafe.

Next week is the Epic, I have been asked to keep the Epic ride as we hitting that time of year with long distance rides coming up for a few group members. I will include several escape routes to make sure the ride is approachable for everyone. I will hit the maps and post it as soon as I can. This time I will remember to email.