Dri

Every weekend I ride that road, and without fail there are guys in sports cars or motorbikes zipping up and down at crazy speeds in the early hours of the morning. Same thing even at chappies (although less frequent). Almost never see a traffic cop on that stretch of road. Just 1 car sitting there monitoring till the afternoon would help so much. You head over to suikerbossie and suddenly you see 2-3 traffic officers sitting with speeding cameras. It doesn't help they put someone there now for the next week and then forget about it, it needs to be a consistent thing.

Entered. Plan for next year is to not join the racing groups, and do a solo TT from the back groups. Less crash risk, more sleep, less drama? Yes please

Saw a big crash near the front in & just before chappies. Some guy surged forward and hit a dip, lost his balance and took out the rider next to him. Few more riders smashed into them. Never seen someone's head smack into the road so hard at 60 km/h

- Twitchy $ group. Felt like at least 1/3 of the group had no business being there, maybe due to not enough actual elites showing up and people being towed in previous races - 2 ebikers casually in the group. $19 on an sworks creo from the looks of it, can’t remember the other - no neutralized start made things frantic from my perspective and a crash nearly happened in the first 2km - race was organised really well and didn’t envy the marshals trying to keep us all inside the white line, thank you for trying to keep things safe 👍👍

First time doing one tonner, so I took a more conservative approach in group B - came through in ~4:45 . Garmin says I averaged ~190 watts (normalized 220) lol, shows how little you have to do if you draft well (assuming you can keep up on the climbs, which took around ~320 watts average for 10-15 minutes up hellshoogte and botmans)

Was a surgy race in the % group. Crosswinds were wreaking havoc and people weren't shy to push you out of the echelon Not happy about the ~5 minutes of neutralization we had to go through. Based on the times, I don't think AL/BL/CL were neutralized which is annoying for seeding reasons IMO $ should start 10 - 15 minutes before everyone else, then you don't need to worry about any potential neutralization. There were times where the group had no idea if we were going straight, left, right. The bike marshall would turn 90 degrees at the last second and if you tried to look at the person holding one of the red flags, they were basically dancing, left right up down no idea. Very confusing if you were in front at the time 😂 Side note: Noticed a 3-4 riders in % that had no race number or timing board, but joined the race anyway - which sucks for the organisers and everyone else who paid. Probably quite a common thing. All in all happy and had fun 👍 thanks to the organisers.

If anyone is looking for the route for their head unit, I found this https://ridewithgps.com/routes/52684480

I find the whole cycling snobbery and anti snobbery (is that a term?) pretty weird. People who look down on people with more budget builds are equally as tiring as people who look down on people who spend a lot of money on their hobbies. If you can afford a 400k colnago, ride once a week and that's what you want then go for it 👍

Great turnout today and everything was well organised imo. Any race reports?

Top of mind for low hanging fruit: 1. Their instagram "tourdeworcestercyclerace" hasn't been updated since last year. I actually sent a DM 2 months ago to ask if the race was going ahead. Only got a reply last week, so they definitely have access to the account. 2. Make sure the event is included in the most popular event calendars. Entry ninja, PPA, Bikehub, Cycling sa. I don't know the process on how to actually get your event on there but I cant imagine it being difficult (stand to be corrected) 3. Ask event sponsors to post about the event on their pages on all platforms (instagram/facebook/idk) . They have; "worcester tourism", "coca cola", "myriad events" , "afrimat" , "manic cycles" . (I have not checked each one to confirm they aren't advertising it) 4. Make a strava event. Post about it in the various cycling strava groups we have in the western cape. Then once the basics are covered (things that may cost money): 1. Ask PPA / Or other non event sponsors with more popular facebook / instagram groups to make a post for you advertising your race. I don't see why they wouldn't do that since its a good thing for the cycling scene. 2. Instagram or facebook ads 3. Ask social media content creators around cape town / the western cape to share your posts or make reels about it. 4. They have all the previous years email addresses - send out some advertisement mails saying the event is going ahead in 2025, explain the route / price and how to enter. I'm sure some of the above aren't always feasible, but there are probably people who work with the event that can come up with better ideas than me.

Here is a link to some information and route profiles for anyone struggling to find https://www.wpcycling.com/event/afrimat-tour-de-worcester-2025/?instance_id=2673

Why are these races so poorly advertised? Every time I ask someone on the road if they're doing this race they ask, tour de what?

I hear you. What do you think the event could have done differently to get more entries? Or do you think their target audience is just too small here

I was thinking about it. - Quite pricey if you didn't buy the early bird. ~R6000 is hard to stomach for most unless you're In a privileged position. - You then still need to pay for your own accomodation at each town. Could be another few thousand depending on standards. - You need to take leave for the Thursday and Friday. For the average person who enjoys racing and perhaps only earns a middle class income. The above would be hard to justify imo. Though the multi day gravel events seem to be better attended and have the same barriers of entry? Maybe the event seemed a bit intimidating if you weren't part of a team (hypothetical)

See this was cancelled due to teams pulling out 🥲? Wonder what the reason for that was. Bit of a mess for anyone that had already booked accommodation.

I feel so many of these incidents can be avoided if people just stayed calm, were kinder to each other and applied some simple rules. We don't need to have massive crashes 5km into every race - Avoid overlapping wheels. - I feel this is the one that is lacking the most. Communicate to the people around if you think they don't see you. "Hey I'm on your right/left". Also if you see the pace dropping significantly or something happening up ahead, signal it to the people behind you. It helps everyone. - Climb incoming or descent flattening out causing the speed to drop? don't sit 1mm from the guy infront's wheel and be suprised when you collide. There is often a chain reaction in these larger groups and having a bit more space, gives everyone more time to react. - Own your mistakes, deescalate the situation. - Be predictable

Only got 2 cable ties. Used it for the timing board at the back. Will bring the paper board with tomorrow and they can hopefully sort it out if its mandatory. Wrapping it with tape seems ugly 💅

Agree, there were a few that kept trying to pull away like the one guy in a black trek but I think he also joined in the 'I give up' mood towards the end.

What could have been for B batch

Weird race in B batch Girl swerving all over the place from the start, starts slowly pushing me off into gravel. I put my hand on her shoulder to let her know im on her left and to leave some room. Tells me 'dont ever touch me again ' - 10 minutes later shes screaming hysterically while getting dropped on a climb. Some full white kit zeus looking guy doing S maneuvars off the front with his phone out taking a video of himself. A german guy (i think) trying to breakaway and drafting the moto All in all 7/10 🤣

& group for me, doing ppa next weekend but doubt that will move me anywhere higher. Goal is sub 3 for first argus 🙏

I find it too funny when people bypass the seeding rules and then proceed to get dropped in the first 30 minutes

Saw that girl too. I was in front at the time, saw 3 people in the distance. Eventually we get closer and its 2 % men and her with a B bib. I thought 'wtf since when? ' She clearly started in the wrong batch

Great race organisation, thanks to the marshals and all involved. Well behaved A bunch for the most part. Pity about the crash in the % group. Saw a few ladies with bloody elbows sitting on the road as we passed through

What index gets you into elites vs vets vs A?