Group communication 29 January 2010

Happy New Year to all Tarbabies, past, present and future.
 
A Steering group recently met to “freshen up” the Tarbabies. We looked at our current structure, culture, safety, development, ride routes and events and after considerable brain storming, have made a number of changes to many of these. This communication is important as it highlights many of these changes which will affect the way we conduct our rides in future.
 
Culture & Structure
Onslow Tarbabies continues to be an entirely voluntary organisation comprising around 350 in the Yahoo e-mail group. We have no formal structure or organisation (so how did this message come about you might ask?). Our focus continues to be on fitness, fun and safety with a strong community and social emphasis. We will continue to foster developing new riders and returning riders with our Development Squad running from the New Year until June when the riders will be incorporated into the standard groups.          
 
Traditionally, our rides have been structured to build preparedness for the Taupo Cycle Challenge at the end of November. However many of our riders are motivated by other criteria from social networking to using our rides as part of their race training.
 
Safety
Probably the most serious component of our ethos. We have a large number of riders who join us with vastly different riding abilities.
 
New riders are welcome to join us although we insist on just a few requirements:

  1. New riders must be competent at riding their bikes – we are not geared to teach you how to ride and operate your bike
  2. you must be conversant with the Tarbabies rules and ethos

  3. Please do not attempt to lead a group until a Leader has cleared you. This is purely so that we can be sure you are competent to perform this important role and also understand the culture within the small groups. 
  • All riders participating in Tarbaby rides must be conversant with our ethos and safety. Therefore in future they will not be re-iterated at pre-ride briefings other than any areas which have been seen to be lax in recent rides. Briefings will welcome new riders and assign them to groups, highlight the previous points, describe the route and any specific route risks.
     
  • Groups will be smaller in future – no more than 12. We would like to encourage participants to mix with different groups in order to get to know more people. NO LESS than two riders should stop and assist another rider suffering punctures or mechanicals, although if your group is small it may be preferable for the all of you to stop. Don’t ride with the group if your tyres are worn or full of broken glass – you will potentially cause inconvenience to other riders and
     
  • Groups and riders will be classified (most riders can self classify) as A, B, C, D or E grades - probably with numerous sub-grades – i.e. B2, B3 to cope with numbers. Group leaders may ask you to go up or drop back to another group in the interests of keeping a cohesive ride together. You are perfectly free to drop back a group of your own volition but a group leader must be satisfied that you are proficient enough to move up a grade.
     
  • Riders participating in Sunday group rides will make every possible effort to make it to the pre-ride briefing and bunch sorting. If you cannot make it in time and want to join once the ride is under way, no group should exceed 12 once you have joined on. You should also check with the group Leader at the time.
     
  • Another round of group leader instruction evenings will be arranged by Peter Garty by early March.
     
  • Due to dwindling participation in the Individual time trials, the frequency of these will diminish. However the Team Time trials will continue although there is concern that this is run on an inherently dangerous course, but we have considered that the enjoyment had by all during these events was on balance worth the risk
     
  • Alan Moss will run a series of Criteriums on a new residential (empty industrial estate) road off Alexandra road around the back of the Trentham Military camp. Many of you on last Sundays ride will have ridden around it and you’ll see that it is ideal for Crits’. Criteriums are a great way of building intensity and although you experience a world of pain during the ride, the satisfaction on completion is immense.

 
Ride Routes
The steering group has put together a number of exciting new rides and events to change the landscape somewhat. You will be hearing more about these soon but in brief a revised schedule will include the following:

  1. No more Titahi Bay rides since everyone used to get lost
  2. a lot less “around the bays” rides
  3. Korokoro makes a comeback after being off limits due to road works for some time. It will be used as a precursor to rides on to Moonshine,  Whitemans Valley and Eastbourne (reasonably safe ride now across from Kennedy-Good bridge to Eastern Hutt /Gracefield or via Petone) also good for Development squad and old blokes.
  4. We anticipate using Whitemans Valley a lot more as it offers quiet country roads with a variety of ride options
  5. Whenua Tapu, Plimmerton will be incorporated into the schedule
  6. There may be deviations circuiting east and west of Tawa main road
  7. There will be new ride variations around central Wellington – these involve plenty of hills!!!
  8. a new northern circuit taking in Newlands and Grenada
  9. In extreme weather, hardy souls can take on Makara and the five fingers which are the roads, (all cul-de-sacs) leading off the main road you are familiar with.
  10. To change the social scenery somewhat we will occasionally start rides from Pauatahanui, finishing at one of the cafes back there. The occasional ride start in Featherston might also be seen however groups would also leave Khandallah in the usual manner.
  11. Mid-winter rides in July and August will be shorter with more hill work being included.

 Overall, we hope that these measures will help to re-invigorate the rides, make them safer and more enjoyable. Remember that we are the sum of all of our parts, so the more everyone contributes, the more enjoyable your experience will be. We are always keen to hear your suggestions but please don’t direct them to the group as we don’t want to clutter everyones e-mail systems.