“PPCC Communication”
October 2021
Hi all….Welcome to the October 2021 edition of the PPCC Communication.
September 2021:
Spring has ‘sprung’ and with it a mixture of weather conditions and the ‘dreaded’ magpie breeding season. Fortunately most ride days have been quite pleasant with mild morning temperatures with the occasional mornings around 3 – 4C. It’s quite funny to see the riding attire changes each ride to match the conditions. The magpies…..A number of helmets with ‘cable ties’ attached but the magpie threat hasn’t been that bad.
Good numbers out for both the rides and coffee with a lot of discussion lately about rider behaviour and safety around the stop signs both at Bungama and Georges Corner. Bungama stop sign has the most concerns with differing views on whether to ‘stay up’ in the slip lane or ‘get down’ on to the highway as soon as possible. Then differing views on whose role it is to let the ‘bunch’ know what to do at the intersection. We have ‘ride leaders’ that have been ‘elected’ at our last AGM to let us know what we should be doing and on most rides, our club captain (and ride leader) is present and assumes that role. Concerns about who calls the group over at the slip lane…..is it a rider at the front or the ‘tail end Charlie’?
Discussion has got us nowhere with still differing views!
My view for what it’s worth…..The slip lane was introduced to get you off the stop sign onto the highway (giving way to traffic coming from Warnertown direction) and you cannot leave the slip lane until you pass the solid white line and then leave the lane only if there is no traffic coming from behind. If you were driving your car through this stop sign you would leave the stop sign, turn onto the slip lane, check your rear vision and side mirrors (and look over your shoulder) and then indicate and cross onto the highway if safe to do so. On the bike we don’t have indicators but we can look over our shoulder and the tail end rider as nominated by the ride leader will tell the group when to cross over. The key word is the ‘group’! Not ‘go for it on your own’ and have the group strung out like ‘Browns cows’ with traffic having to get around cyclists spread out along the highway. The tail end rider has a clear view of the traffic behind and can communicate to the group and by hand with any vehicle that may have followed us through into the slip lane.
I think there needs to be more discussion but perhaps at a ‘Management committee’ level where a clear direction can be agreed to and communicated to all as a club rule.
The safety concern is now being dealt with in the last week by changing the ride routes so that the 2 stop signs are eliminated. We still have Gary’s group and a ‘faster’ group (which leaves at 8:50am from Gary’s) but now Gary’s group does one lap of Abattoirs/Waits Road/Railway Terrace/Harris Road/Magor Road to Wauchope’s Road back to Pirie via Railway Terrace. Approximately 36km in duration. The faster group have opted to do two laps of Abattoirs Road. Around 45km in duration. For those that want to increase their km’s, there is the option to go Broughton Road/Airport Road/Senate Road to finish off before coffee.
Ride routes are changing with each ride so it is important to roll up and start in front of Gary’s so you know what direction the ride is going to be.
Club Colours:
‘Black Chrome’ has come back to me with designs in Blue/yellow and Green/Yellow and although we have agreed on the designs, the shades of green, blue and yellow is under discussion. I called into ‘Black Chrome’ last week and enquired about a colour chart (on material) that I could bring home to show the guys. This was done and colour shades were agreed to. ‘Black Chrome’ has now sent the colours to their designers to do ‘mock ups’ of each combination for both Knicks and tops for us to decide on either the green/yellow or blue yellow combination. Stay tuned, hopefully the design work isn’t far away.
PPCC AGM:
It’s getting close to that time of the year again where we have our AGM. Generally in November as our ‘year’ finishes on the 1st November. As per our constitution, you will be informed of the date as per the terms of the constitution in respect to time of notification. Remember, all positions will be declared vacant so here is your opportunity to hold a position and be involved in the ‘running’ of the PPCC.
At this stage, our secretary has lodged permits with the SA Health Department to allow him back into SA for November so it looks like the AGM will be after the 19th November…perhaps the last week of November. To be advised to all as per our constitution.
Did you know?
I was reading the current edition of the RAA magazine (5/10/2021) and came across an interesting article on ‘6 of Australia’s weirdest road rules’ and one in particular caught my attention……..
5. Keep at least one hand on the handlebars:
Where: South Australia
You may have noticed when the winner of a professional cycling race crosses the line, they take both hands off the handlebars and raise their fists in joy. While that’s fine for the pros on the circuit, it’s not recommended off the track.
If you’re riding a bicycle, you must always keep at least one hand on the handlebars. If you don’t, here in SA you could receive a $62 fine and a $92 Victims of Crime Levy. “I guess we all know that!!!!”
And then I found another under the article called ‘3 ways you can lose your licence without even driving’……..
Breaking rules on a bicycle:
Cyclists can get demerit points for a range of infringements.
Riding more than 1.5m apart while next to another cyclist on the road is a no-no – so is riding alongside more than one other cyclist. Both these offences can result in 3 demerit points and a range of fines.
Cyclists can also be fined and get demerit points for riding a bicycle while under the influence. If convicted, you’ll be fined up to $500 and will accrue up to 6 demerit points on your driver’s licence or learner’s permit.
(Jeremy Rochow, SA motor – The RAA Magazine, 5th October 2021)
Have your say:
This is your newsletter as well so email your article to me and I will add it to the monthly newsletters and our web site.
Ie: Coming events, cycling news articles, items for sale/wanted etc. Please email me anything you would like to contribute’. 
Be safe, consider others and enjoy your riding.
Cheers,
Brenton
0417823057
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