buckstopper

Linnega Carel is a great guy. He lent my daughter a set of Mavic Cosmics for SAs on her coach's request and he'd never met either me or her before. Tells you something about the man....

Of the two 94.7 is the racer's race, the numbers in the Vets categories tell you that. The race also caters for the junior, u16 and vet ladies. The open bunches aren't as big in the Argus. The big crash in the C group in 2005 on the blue route cured me, fast 19 yearolds (who don't know bunch etiquette) on mountainbikes racing against the top ladies. Argus would probably be great as a funride, views etc. But getting stopped for an hour while they land a helicopter is not great fun either, and the debacle at the finish...... One more thing is the arrogance of the organisers, that only if other race organisers use winningtime can they be considered as a seeding event. The events are then graded on difficulty and a formula applied. When Hyper 2 Hyper was a seeding event the formula they used to adjust your index would require a winning time of just over 1h50! Thats way over 50 kmh. I believe as an event it's peaked already. Done 5 lost the t shirts

And what if the 1kg is all muscle and improves my power to weight ratio? I don't think you can make a sweeping statement like 1.25% extra for 1kg

The proper thing to do of course. If the selectors succeed then they're the right guys for the job. If they fail, they should tender their resignations which is also the proper thing to do.

Point taken. Ag sorry........ Was just trying to be constructive...... Carinus needs to step up and drive this thing, (is he not a paid employee and head honcho) or is this not part of his mandate. If not his, then whose. Let's hear...

Agreed. One (naively perhaps) would want to believe that a) The talent has been earmarked b) Informed of the opportunity and of trial events in good time (6 months) c) The very best talent at the top of their game is selected.... If an SA Champ quits the day she learns she is not included which also happens to be a month before the event, it calls into question the intention or lack thereof by the CSA/selectors If the riders fail (badly) because they are either a) not up to the challenge or b) not prepared it is for the selectors to face the music. Let the games begin........lets see the results.....

If winning SA's means nothing howcome there were about 1000 entries in Bloem, where competitors peaked for and rode their hearts out (Cherise, Ronel, Malcolm, David G, Arran, and many age cat riders including Mclean gave it all). It meant something to them. At least CSA (Lawrence) is writing newsletters communicating intentions. If they don't deliver the egg will be on his face. What did the old guard ever tell us?

I don't believe World's is a true climber's race. At that level a climb is much longer and if you look at the detailed profile these are not long climbs. I believe a power cyclist like Ronel could power up the short steep climbs comparitively well. SA's showed this in both the men's and women's race. I would also have given serious consideration for Cherise to ride, subject to her being 18 and her form (a month after junior worlds). And for the TT what about our best chance there... Cashandra was selected for Vets but could still out TT any of the Elites. The selection of Anriette, is I believe, a mistake. Her overseas results bear out my point. At Lost City (although I did not witness the race) it looked like another tea party which suits her down to the ground. Their time was 10 minutes slower than the U16 boys! Unfortunately Ronel was not there as I believe the race would have unfolded differently. I am not happy to just go and ride my bicycle and leave the Nero to fiddle while Rome burns..... I have a personal interest in the future of (particularly) women's cycling in SA. One of my favourite gripes is the lack of time these demigods give our top athletes to prepare for such an event, and then feel that "their budget" has been wasted. I don't believe they really want them to succeed in events like this overseas. One of the problems with cycling in SA is that the same people who run cycling for the licenced fraternity also run a fun ride out of which they do very well. What they regard as the interests of SA cycling includes the racing fraternity to the extent that they are represented in numerical terms at their fun ride. I believe they are moving forward, but too slowly.

You obviously haven't heard of the Eric Von Enter. An event for u10 to jun, more geared towards developing talent. Fields are often bigger than SA's and include Team TT, road race, Hillclimb TT and Crit. Kids want to race too, and compete against their peers, fun rides are not the place for that. Yes provinces outside CG/GN do tend to do their own thing and are more pro-active in kids racing (below U16) than CG/GN where it's all about the Elites/Vets. The junior and U16's get categories because of numbers but there is very little encouragement for the girls.

If the people/person going to junior world roads have/has been announced, where has it been published? If not, why not? We have a month till worlds and no selection has been announced. How can athletes properly ensure they peak right if selected at the last minute. Last year of all the junior men and women only Cherise did well. (6th and 7th). Most of the men selected were conveniently in Europe already but didn't cut it. The Aussies invite applications well in advance and cyclists are selected and informed way before the time. Look how well they're doing..... What we need is for CSA to formulate plans, make them known, then determine what budget is required and then get the cycling community to chip in by adding levies to race entry fees. It's the only realistic way to fund our progress - by cyclists for cyclists. Forget about the govt until we're achieving they won't come on board. As for a CSA Academy, we'd love one but it's a long way off. The Youth Academies/Teams do a great job and these are the riders coming through, thanks to sponsors such as Mr Price, HI Q, Tekton et al.

Check out their website www.cyclingsa.com for Lawrence whittaker's letter after the CSA Congress and details regarding establishment of commissions. I'm not saying I agree with an arbitrary imposition of a cumbersome system that sucks up funds it generates to administer. CSA gets diddly squat from the govt and not enough from the races. Somebody's got to pay and hey, you want nice roads, pay the toll...........

I believe that an improved levy system or "pay as you ride" would be a workable compromise. By imposing a levy of, say R10 per entry, some to CSA, some to the relevant Province, would mean that a funrider who does 2 races a year pays less than one who does 10. The CSA is short of funds to implement its plans to put SA cycling where it belongs, the current contribution/levy of R2 odd is just not enough.