Wobbles

I did a 4:34 in my first ever race from an O batch in 2001 on a borrowed bike. I was expecting a much better time on my 2nd Argus in 2009 with lots of training, a good seeding and a super duper carbon baby. I did 4:36!! Will I ever break 4 hours -despite doing Tour Durban in 3:15??

<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I had received so many positive reports on the 25km route and the organization of this race that I, despite my aversion to anything looking like a drop-off or single track, decided to try it out. I am glad I did as it was a stunning morning. It was a very well organised event and the route was everything that they said it was ? not too technical with a few little inclines and descents to keep one honest. The scenery was great and I did not know there were so many beautiful dams right on our doorstep!! I was a little concerned at the start as there was only one starting group and what looked like thousands of riders. Gary Flint controlled the start well and apologised for the large group as they had not expected so many entries. In hindsight, it was the best thing that ever happened!! In the few rides I have done you always get fast riders in every group. These riders are racing and they are very impatient with the slower riders ahead of them in the earlier batch as they soon catch them up and things become rather chaotic. In this instance the riders instinctively lined up according to their ability and it was the most pleasant MTB ride I have ever done. There was no pushing and shoving and the riders were very well behaved and the children were very well controlled by their parents. There were two well placed watering points and marshals were at all turning points and it was amazing to cross paths so often and so safely with riders doing the 10km and 45km routes and exchange comments!! The finishing line was well laid out and there was no congestion and it was great to receive one?s time so soon after finishing from Mr Price. Well done Jowett?s on a well organised event. Registration. This was my first experience with ROAG and I was eager to see how they performed. I had entered on-line and needed to collect my board and timing chip. There were two notices at the entrance ? one for late entries and one for pre-entries and timing chips. I, naturally, stood in the wrong queue as I misunderstood that timing chips actually meant that it was for those that had already collected their timing chip. The other queue, naturally, was much longer. The queue took about 20 minutes and then one had to go to another table to collect the chip and then yet to another table to collect the stickers for the board. These number stickers were very finicky and too much for someone without reading glasses and I had to be assisted. Fortunately there were a lot of polite helpers around that were very eager to assist. The whole registration process took 31 minutes. The beauty of it is now that I have my ROAG board and chip, I can now stand in the much shorter queue at the Toti 69er and the Illovo in Eston!! I am not sure what to do with the number board at the 69er as it is far too large to put on the front of my road bike?? Wobbles2009-07-10 12:27:44

I wish the two of you a good ride!

Of no!! I will pray for a full recovery - what a dastardly driver.

A report back. We had a meeting with Brett where we sorted out all our differences and misconceptions. In fact, we now fully support ROAG and appreciate what they are doing for cycling and will probably use them in our future races. It pays to communicate face to face!!

I lost 2kg last week - went for a circumcision.

Many thanks Brett for your quick and informative response. I wont be at Karkloof unfortunately as I find it too crowded on the 45km and I am not strong enough for the 75km. I prefer the Eston and Baynesfield rides with less riders!! I get tense when too many guys are breathing down my neck on single track!! Here is a response from the guy who I quouted in my last post: "Thanks for YOUR quick response.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Kindly pass my apologies on to ROAG regarding the extra charge for on-line entries. I still fail to see why it is not shown on the entry form. I understand now that it has nothing to do with ROAG. As far as the prizes are concerned, my point was that many riders are excluded as they do not stop at the refreshment stations. It is quite easy to put a sticker onto the back of medals. There is no waiting for numbers to be called out. Many races do this. My Juicy Lucy was good with only one crash next to the dam into the cows**t. Most enjoyable. Had my first (and last, I hope ) Road crash at the Tour Durban yesterday. Body and Bike a bit wrecked. Saw a white flash and opened my eyes with a very sore bum and kissing the tarmac.Could not finish as derailleur(is that the correct spelling?) ended up in the spokes. Still very tender today but no broken bones. All my own fault and I was on time for a P.B. at 80km. My co-rider finished in 3.16 so that would have been my time or thereabouts. Hope to see you at the Karkloof if the body mends in time."

Another comment received:- "With all the negative talk about ROAG I thought I would like to share with you a commemt I forwarded to their web-site. I also believe that they should show it as an additional charge to every entry on the entry form and not make on-line entries suffer.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> There seems to be a lot of negativity regarding ROAG however I believe that we need to give it a chance before we condemn. I have two comments. Being a pensioner I need to watch the pennies and object to the 7.5% bank charge. It is illegal for a vendor to recover the credit card charge from its client. Check it out! Secondly I do not think it is a good idea to hand out lucky prizes through the refreshment stations as those (like me) who do not stop or drink from these are automatically eliminated from participation. Good luck and make it work but not at the expense of the rider - rather the sponsor." Good luck with the Karkloof, ROAG - this will be a real test of your admin procedures!!! I sincerely hope there will be no long registration queus as all the glitches should have been ironed out by now?

Pity you can't test real bikes

Hi Everyone!! Sorry my computer has been down for a while, I have missed u guys so much!!! Well done to TimW on winning the debate. Democracy is great where we can express ourselves freely but it would be even nicer if it was conducted in a civilised way. I am saddened to see posts where members have to resort to gutter language to express themselves in an open forum like this but then I guess they have had limited education and their eloquence exceeds their intelligence by some way. I was expressing some comments received from members and these are not necessarily my own feelings, I was defending them and I have been and will be very wary of virtual clubs in golf who I consider parasites. Will ROAG be good for MTB? We will have to wait and see. Speaking of Juicy Lucy, here is a comment from one of our members:- "I did the Juicy Luicy on Sunday and it was so chaotic with riders having to register with ROAG that the main event started 1.5hrs later than advertised so instead of 9.00am it started @ 10.30am and the 18km started at 10.50am instead of 9.30am. One started off in batches where they stated you were seeded according to your riding abilities or alphabetical order of your surname!!! This was a joke because you had beginners and little kids starting in the A batch of the 18km and how can they possibly seed you when you have pre-entered for the 1st time on line with ROAG without knowing your abilities so what hog wash statement is that anyway. They were publicly announcing that they are planning to get involved in more events and stating one must be ROAG registered to get a result."<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> To show that other clubs are also concerned, here is an extract from the Maverick newsletter:- http://maverickcycles.createsend1.com/ti/27B8E944/header.gif 24 April 2009 http://maverickcycles.createsend1.com/ti/27B8E944/spacer.gif What's happening? KZN 23-27 April 2009 Event Feedback I have a gripe. I am saddened to see published articles threatening participants in MTB races. I am talking about ROAG and their threat to MTB riders that unless you register with ROAG, you will not get a time or a result. Please note, this is NOT applicable to Super Classics or any non-ROAG event - like ours. This threat goes against everything we as SA-MTB and KZN MBC have ever done over the past 5 years. What the committee has done was create an environment of participation and called on riders to license. Why is licensing required? 1. It forms the basis of revenue collection to keep our sport moving forward (just think of the recent World Cup) 2. It allows us to communicate with you the rider. None of this would be possible if the sport was run by independent individuals who are not prepared to share information. NB - licenses are required (if you have applied, your details will on the database so you are fine) There are severe problems in license card delivery - nationwide - but it is being addressed by Cycling SA) *************************************8 Beeing an extremely active club, which a lot of posters overlooked as you don't become one of the biggest clubs in KZN if you do nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!, we have been in contact with MTB KZN and Brett Austen Smith, one of the founders of ROAG. MTBKZN have responded as follows:- Yes, ROAG has created quite a stir amongst all involved in MTB and rumours have been doing the rounds. Firstly - ROAG CLUB and the ROAG administration system are two different issues. Club ROAG - is a virtual club formed mainly to allow riders who don't want anything from a club other than a conduit to obtaining a license - Riders who expect something in return from their choice of club will join a club who offers their requirements, like club rides, social evenings etc.... ROAG Administration System - is ultimately just a means to an end. The aim of this system is to accumulate as many rider names as possible to facilitate accurate data at events and thereby ensure that timing and results are correct and this is the reason why the event directors of the three biggest events in KZN got together to implement the system. Ultimately this system is an on-line system, like cyclelab or entry time, whereby the rider wanting to enter an event on-line would need to first register their personal information (at initial log-on) and thereafter enter events as and when needed without having to input the same information over and over again - this on-line system has moved one step further and created an environment where organizers can hire their services to run the registration process in total and then hand over the race entry information to the timing people - along with this these organizers have involved and obtained sponsored from Mr Price with regards to timing chips - these are Mr Price Timing chips and will only be used by organizers who wish to employ Mr Price Timing to time their events. KZNMTB did have reservations and a many meetings have been held with the key players to ensure that things are done fairly and change a few things, especially the strong wording in various articles and on their website. At the end of the day - they are supplying a service to the industry and it is up to organizers whether they want to use this administration system or not. Riders also have the choice to either take part in the event or not. Hope that clears up a few things for you. Cheers Dellah We have arranged a meeting with Brett early next month to discuss our concerns with ROAG. As I said earlier, the lack of communication, is one of the biggest problems we have these days and I feel strongly that CSA, MTBKZN amd ROAG should have communicated with the clubs BEFORE they were launched!! Have a good day and see you on the Road!! Wobbles2009-04-29 23:10:53

Exactly - well said!! In the golf world one cannot play competitions without a handicap. Handicaps are only issued to registered members of clubs. Golfers who did not support clubs did not like this and the Virtual Clubs were born. These Virtual Clubs piggy back on established clubs whose members pay subs to keep their golf courses in good nick. The SA Golf Union, in their greed, sanctioned these VC's and they blossomed because golfers were now paying a pittance to get an official handicap and could not give a damn about who would keep the clubs going. Today these clubs are floundering and I wonder what will happen to these VC's when there are no more courses to play?

Mutt Thanks for your most original and valuable insight which you lay out so articularly and politely. It is most appreciated. I will pass it on to all the other KZN clubs.

What drivel - pse read my posts properly.

Hi Tim Perhaps if you had communicated with the clubs as well it would have helped cast your body in a more favourable light. Here are some concerns from some of our members:- "Do you know what the story is with ROAG? I have either heard or read in their communications the following about them They create an environment where there is no motivation to join a club (you can get your licence through ROAG). In my opinion, this is bad for our club and for cycling in general. It has been shown that where clubs are strong, all sports grow. There are rumours that at least one of the organisers tried something similar in canoeing. The rumour was not complimentary! Personally, I find their approach threatening. The easy registration at races that they claim was all available to Cyclosport licenced riders at all the Classic MTB races for the last two years. To say ?No registration, no time?, or even worse, ?no registration, no race? is unacceptable." " I did know most of the info on their ?about? web site. It is a clever bit of marketing. I thought compulsory licencing with CSA would put all the necessary info on one data base (it worked pretty well for the last two seasons in the Classics). Instead, we have another data base. And their claim that it costs nothing has to be total garbage (these are businessmen who won?t be putting their own cash into supporting cycling). There has to be a cost, however carefully hidden.<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> I support licencing. I was a licenced athlete from 1965 until about six or seven years ago. It works well and strengthens the clubs, so it helps the sport. At this stage, I intend to avoid ROAG events and to encourage others to do the same. I may have a problem as I want to ride Hill2Hill, but will face that problem when we get closer to the time! (and hope they don?t block me)"

Are you ser ii uss ? I havent seen a single negative thing about ROAG. Do you have inside info you want to share with us ? I am Chairman of the 2nd biggest cycling club in KZN and clubs are concerned at the erosion of membership by this body and it will be high on the agenda of the next Cycling KZN committee meeting. Clubs are the lifeblood of the sport and just because of the current licensing fiasco we should not allow rogue bodies to undermine us!

Why then are a lot of cycling clubs up in arms about the concept?

Absolutely no contest!! One bad MTB fall = months of pain and suffering with broken bones A couple of road falls = a few roasties MTB is dangerous - I believe there is a European rider still in ICU in PMB after the World Cup!! Also - I heard that a guy I was at school with has been in Entabeni Hospital since December with spinal and brain injuries after crashing on a MTB down the Wild Coast.Wobbles2009-04-14 07:51:42

I was there on Sunday watching the DH - awesome!! It was very hot!!! They had some coke and fanta stalls at the bottom but did not see anything on the course. I suggest bring a rucksack stuffed with refreshments, a low chair to park on, a hat, sunblock and a stout pair of walking shoes. These is a Spur in the Cascades Centre some 200m away and I suggest we all meet there at an arranged time wearing something orange.

thanks Naas. You guys are without sympathy!! I phoned Jason to tell him about my poor sore hammy's and all he said was "Go and ride some more." !!

That is exactly what the LBS said!

Report back. Had my bike set up by Jason from Leighs cycles in Durban. He dropped my saddle and moved it back substantially. He also lowered my handle bars and adjusted my cleats. After a hard 80km on Sat no more quad pain and no more burning feet. However my hamstrings were very sore and I guess I will have to persevere!!

I also suffer from numb fingers and have been following all the advice on this thread - with limited success I might add. Even on short 20km rides I am getting sore. Last Wed I had my bike set up by Jason of Leighs cycles in Durban. He immediately picked up that I was riding with straight arms and said this would lead to sore hands and sore shoulders!! I rode 80km on Sat and 40km on Sunday with my arms bent like a pro - hey presto - no more sore hands!!!! Although I must say my neck is stiff