Recent WATCAC Rides

Ok, is it just me, or has it rained EVERY SUNDAY over winter? Once again rides were cancelled due to bad weather, including the October Rec Ride and around half of the Club Rides. However moving the November Rec Ride forward by a couple of weeks seemed to please almost everyone and we had a fantastic turnout of 7 (SEVEN!!) tandems and 5 singles, for a ride from Vic Park to Mt Henry Bridge and return. That’s 19 people that descended on Gelare in South Perth for coffee and banana bread.

Amazingly we managed to start the ride all together and on time, and we even finished all together even though some chose to do the loop around Canning and Mt Henry bridges clockwise while others went in an anti-clockwise direction.

See below for details on the Christmas/AGM ride. Hope to see you out there.

Other Rides
In other rides Hab, Haylee and Paul completed the Around the Bay in a Day ride in Melbourne – an awesome 210km. All their preparation paid off handsomely to the point that they all confessed to enjoying riding over 200km in one day.

Closer to home Dee and Jennifer participated in The Ocean Ride for MS, from Fremantle to Hillarys on another wet Sunday. This year the ride started on The Esplanade in Fremantle which made the start of the ride a lot easier, without having to negotiate the corners, train line and chicanes at South Beach. The 30km option isn’t much further than the regular Rec Rides and it is relatively flat. Why not think about giving it a go next year?

As part of the Ride to Work celebrations Hab and Adriana gave a presentation on WATCAC at the QEII Ride to Work Breakfast.

Mountain Bikes

As you know, WATCAC, with the help of a Lottery West Grant, added two mountain bike tandems to our fleet this year. In order to provide the best (safest) experience of mountain biking, several members gave up a Sunday to take part in a mountain bike clinic – some of our pilots on their own bikes and others trying out the new tandems. Paul M organised the clinic with Jason and Mark from Rock and Roll Mountain Biking and from all accounts they did a fabulous job.

Adriana said “Jason and Mark were very knowledgeable and very respectful of the group, particularly towards Greg and me. It was a great experience as I wasn’t sure what to expect and how the mountain bike tandems would handle. The bikes were great, definitely a very different motion and so much harder than riding a road tandem.”

And Haylee, who participated on her mountain bike added “What a great morning. I’ve added skills to my mountain biking rather than just riding and trying not to stack it!”

Those who participated are still grinning. Thanks must go to Paul for all the planning and work he put into the clinic. Stay tuned for further details. There will be more.

WA Deaf-Blind Camp
Once again WATCAC were invited to help out at the WA Deaf-Blind Camp. Once again we were happy to help and blown away by the courage and determination shown by those who chose to sign up for the tandem riding activity.

Ten volunteers showed up at Ern Halliday Recreation Camp early on a Sunday morning to introduce ten very keen people to cycling. The main problem was that we only had 8 tandems. After a brief introduction and basic instructions from Hab, translated into signing by many more volunteers, they were all off, cycling along the Hillary’s coastline on a beautiful, sunny day. Most of the WATCAC volunteers went out twice to make sure that everyone got a go.

The morning went by all too quickly but everyone left with smiling faces and we may have even recruited a new member or two. Anything is possible on a bike.

Member News
Beau recently accompanied some of the deaf-blind guys that we’ve met at the Senses events on two hikes on the Bibbulmun Track. The first was a three day walk from Balingup to Donnelly River, the second was planned to be a 3 day walk from Pemberton to Northcliffe but was unfortunately cut short due to an illness in our party.

He reported that the “walking was fun and they are a good bunch of people. Near Donnelly River the track ran near the Munda Biddi for a while. Whilst I enjoyed the walking, I couldn’t help thinking that a mountain bike would be faster and more fun! I’ve put that one on my list.”

For Your Diary
Please keep the morning of Sunday 14th December free for our final ride of the year and AGM. We will be departing from George Burnett Park on Manning Rd, Karawara at 9:30am sharp for a mystery ride, returning by 11:00 for complimentary coffee and cake and a few formalities. It would be great to beat November’s record of 19 riders.

AGM – Committee Positions Open
WATCAC doesn’t run without a dedicated group of volunteers, some of whom have given many years of service and are due a break. If you are able to give a few hours a month to help co-ordinate rides and keep the wheels turning please consider nominating for a committee position. Any of the current (and past) committee members would be happy to talk to you about what’s involved.

Running Late?
As a courtesy to other riders, who all have full weekends and may need to be back home by midday to feed the hamsters and bottle their home brew, please arrive to rides before the scheduled departure time. In fact, plan to get there 15 mins early so that you have time to adjust the bike to fit, put on your helmet and pump up the tyres.

If for any reason you find yourself behind schedule please contact someone in the group to let them know. Thanks.

Happy and Safe Pedalling

Jennifer