Danger Dassie

Which venues would those be? I think any venue will not have a risk of petty crime, and have done. There have been plenty of successful events at Soccer City and Nasrec with good security. The issues people have raised are with the lack of quality from the service provider, so any other venue with the same security provider will see a similar lack of quality. It's not just security, one has to consider logistics and access, the North/Midrand has seen too much densification to make it practical. Worse in fact, Waterfall was a nightmare and parking your car was even more vulnerable.

If you don't bother to contact the organiser, you're in no position to make statements on whether they care or not. Many of the people within the organisers are actually cyclists and actively enjoy sports and the outdoors. They also have friends and family partaking, the race director himself is a former SA Champ and rides plenty, he's also subject to all the issues we are. The organisers are acutely aware AFAIK as a number of people have been making their complaints heard. Although the more they hear about issues the better they can be sorted out. Also as long as people use it as an opportunity to put forward a constructive complaint and not as a conduit to vent.

We were at our usual spot near the top of Jan Smuts. In general people seemed better prepared and the biggest factor was the heat. Quite amazing to see the houding among many people who otherwise wouldn't get a second glance from most regular riders.

Any posters here get in touch with the organisers?

No, you need to be a ‘pre authorised’ guest or part of an event.

All true, and there are a number of nuances in the way a lot of it works and unfolds. At the end of the day, the responsibility to not be a **** rests with the individual.

For sure, there’s been some snarky remarks in some of the comments, but nothing like some of the international forums/article comments. Particularly UK centric. There’s an ugly element in the world in general where some people take joy in getting personal in putting a person down when they fall, particularly if they’re accomplished in an area. But not all criticism/disagreement is based around that.

Well that’s not, smart ……. 🥁

On point from Dave Rome. Nuff zed.

Indeed, the suspension package alone would cost pretty much the same on its own.

https://www.cyclingsa.com/cycling-south-africa-forges-a-three-year-partnership-with-midvaal-municipality-for-national-championships/?fbclid=IwAR3RDnmq0CbuQUUZQVBNaJeNaDnrECopC8pRn-eSlsEv-y232LW928yiioU_aem_AV42KpEtOLqk2iIQ_dSkKzwtt5ZBe6o3XfwKo-YM7zCy-unxRIBQsxzbNWQ-FR-WWdo “The consideration includes incorporating the scenic beauty and challenging terrain of Suikerbosrand Nature” I think there will be some criticism of this, some of it maybe fair. But at the same time under rating the good sense in this decision from CSA. The area represents exceptional potential for cycling, particularly the reserve. Road, gravel, MTB. Looking forward to what this may bring. I’ve ridden the area extensively on MTB, gravel and road. In particular the reserve loop, which I’ve long felt is an under appreciated resource offering higher value towards outdoor tourism, conservation and altitude training.

https://escapecollective.com/the-secret-rider-too-much-ado-about-froome/

She’s still a looker 🥰 https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/dual-suspension-bikes/682786/titan-cypher-elite-120-carbon

Spring should still be fine, plenty tension there. Regular grease should do the job. I use a marine grease from Herchelles, no issues.

What are you talking about? There are hardly ever any issues regarding crime at the event. It’s the run up beforehand we see a spike in incidents, also given how close we are to silly season.

Unfortunately nothing for now, hopefully by the new year.

How are Bottelary and Pniel areas now?

Correct

Ugandan Jordan Schleck (Team Amani) also on the Lifetime Grand Prix roster for 2024.

Bit of self promotion - Sadly time has come to move the beloved steed on -https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/dual-suspension-bikes/682786/titan-cypher-elite-120-carbon

Social media is by far one of the most effective methods and tools to create comms. The problem is that it gets misused and/or there’s a complete misunderstanding on how to use it. ‘Curated’ content is not communicative, nor telling a story. But really, in the broader issue of the OP topics, media isn’t the issue. Costs have soared, so people have less disposable income to drop on events. Events have margins cut to the bone and need to prioritise budget areas.

Social media/media isn't the problem, the problem is how it's utilised and managed. As far as the original question goes on events "Are organisers dropping the ball or do we expect too much" It's relatively simple, the answer is both. However, to view this in context, we're also in the fortunate space where we have a large calendar of events and in general we've been pretty spoilt with events in SA. So a sense of expectation (sometimes entitlement) has developed, the flipside of this is that some people perhaps have lost the whole meaning behind events. Both as organisers and participants. I know someone that flat out refused to attend an event because of the goody bag, nevermind that it was a great moment to catch up with friends and celebrate. How does the saying go, grey men in grey suits who know the price of everything but not the value of anything?

Sigh…. They grow up so quickly

@Tim Brink went through a stage as one of those recumbent types. Pretty sure he can help fill you in as well