HammerHed

From another email I received from SA-MTB they are talking about event organisers having to be licenced, and by doing this they can better control the standards of events. Sounds good to me.

Yeah, I can see some poor marshall trying to stop a group of angry MTBers from finishing. How would the Marshall know what the winners finishing time is anyway, radios? That will be a first.

After Sunday's debacle I fired off an email to Cycling SA as it was an SA-MTB sanctioned event, wanting clarity and offering feedback regarding the events of the day, I was pleasantly surprised to get an interested and supportive response. I personally find it encouraging to know that Cycling SA actually do take this seriously, and we need to engage with them more as stakeholders in our sport. See the reply below: Thank you for the e mail which was forwarded to me by Grevile Ruddock Director: MTB Cycling SA, regarding the above event. I have discussed the situation which was encountered on Sunday with the two SA MTB Race Commissaires who were in attendance, as well as the Race Organizers. There are a number of factors that caused this problem being:- 1. Pre entries for the event were some 450 riders and then line entries on the day totaled 350 riders ? for any organizer to plan around a possible 77% increase in riders is difficult. The answer here is not to have line entries only but this is not the MTB way as yet, as it is with road events. A 77% increase in entries means a possible 77% increase in water required. Organizers are however aware of the line entry problem and do make allowances for this but it is very much guess work. 2. We will now however consider applying a ratio of litres of water to number of riders which will be given to organizers and checked by the commissaires. I would expect a ratio of a minimum of about 500ml of water per rider = 400 litres of water for this particular event. 3. The temperature on the day was extremely high, making the intake of water far higher than normal. If you recall the Argus Cycle Tour ran out of water a few years ago and that was after many years of experience on staging this event and with their extensive logistics. Riders were pouring water over their heads to cool themselves down and this was not accounted for! 4. Many of the riders taking part in both the distances on Sunday were apparently inexperienced riders and were not fit enough or prepared enough and many did not carry water bottles or hydration packs and relied solely on the water tables for hydration. Riders need to take some responsibility for themselves as regards self sufficiency, which is the nature of mountainbiking. 5. The water table was placed in a position that it fed the 35km route twice as well as the 75km route twice. The 35km riders normally only have one water table on a short route and not two and with the high temperatures they consumed excessive amounts of water which left the tail enders of the 70km event short. 6. The crew manning the water point did not raise the alarm early enough to the fact that they were running out of water and this created a delay in getting additional replenishment water to them the second time. 7. Cut offs will need considered and imposed at all MTB events in that if a rider cannot complete a race in say double the winners time for that distance they are withdrawn from the course. Having riders taking excessive time is both hazardous to the riders but also means the marshals, medics, timing crews and officials are inconvenienced by riders who are not well enough prepared to take on an event. This problem is experienced across the country and we are reluctant to discourage riders from taking part in events but for their safety is matter will receive urgent attention. 8. Event organizers have a responsibility to provide a safe and well run events and SA MTB appoints race commissaires to monitor the safety and the fairness of the competition but situations like the weather, excessive heat, torrential rain, lightening and flooding can always influence the event and are difficult to plan around. Herewith comment form Simon Nash, one of the event organizers, regarding the incident:- ?I could add a number of other factors which contributed to the shortage of water on the day, but the bottom line is that we depended on the sponsor manning the water point to deliver the same level of service that they had in prior years. Unfortunately this was not the case and as event organisers, Kim and I must accept the ultimate responsibility for this. I am not going to insult anyone?s intelligence by making a series of excuses and I would like to thank Terence and Robert for assisting with a very difficult situation. We apologise to all participants who were affected by the water shortage and hope that the balance of the event organisation including the route made up in some small way for this botch up. As most of you are aware, I am not in this for the money, every cent we make goes back into development and it really saddens me that we allowed the event?s standards to slip on this critical issue. I hope that most entrants are going to remember the positives and trust us to get it right next time.? In conclusion we must apologize, as stated by Simon above and assure you that the incident experienced on Sunday has highlighted a number of shortcoming which will be addressed at the highest level at the SA Mountainbike Commission and addressed for future events.. Thank you Richard Durrant President Commissaire and Technical Commissioner SA Mountainbike Commission Cycling South Africa

Just been reading the SA-MTB Mountain Bike Commission "Riders and Race Organizers Guide 2008" to get clarity on the requirements of organisers of SA-MTB sanctioned events which the Johnsons cycle Works at Northern Farms yesterday was. 7. What would riders consider a successful event The following points are what participants would like to see at events. Whatever else the organizer may want to include, may result in their event being considered as a ?must do? future event by the riders. Adequate parking and security for vehicles. Availability of refreshment vendors at start/finish area. Prizes for all categories to 3rd place (where applicable, see 8 below) Sufficient watering points en route for participants. Lucky draw prizes. A well marked and presented course. So apart from the watering points a successful event. HammerHed2009-09-28 06:01:20

Yeah, so what did you do about it, just suck it up? That guy just did not give a Sh*t about the fact that he had poorly organised the race. He would not even get off his comfortable chair to discuss it. 1 water table, Please. What if you run out there is no backup, if you have 2 water tables and on runs out well you can make a plan. He did not even know that they had run out of water, I spoke to the guy handing out drinks at the finish and he said there was a whole stash of Fast Fuel they did not even use. The water table guy drove to a tap at the top of the next climb and filled his water bottles there but by the time he got back everyone had gone throgh on the second lap. How difficult it is to make sure there is enough water for everyone, that is like the most basic thing you have to do at any race. Also that was an MTBSA sanctioned event, meaning it has to comply to certain standards, which it clearly did not. I spoke to the Commissaire and he said he is putting that in his report that there was not enough water, but at the end of the day that means nothing, as next year they will probably be just as short sighted. I am going to lodge a formal complaint to MTBSA and take it further because this is just plain unacceptable. They glady took my money and then under delivered and still had the gall to argue with me about the water issue. Some words to describe the attitude of the organiser: Arrogant, Irresponsible, Indifferent, Negligent, Smug. It was very hot today maybe 29 degrees the guy I rode with was dying with no water, he blew big time, I shared what little water I had as well as gels and food and he limped home. There was not a tap to be found anywhere. Everyone I rode past took big strain because there was no water, what are the risks in riding in heat with no water, dehydration heat stroke etc. I am sorry but signing an indemnity does not absolve you from all responsibility, you cannot indemnify against negligence, if someone had had a health issue because of this the organisers were opening themselves for litigation, even though you signed an indemnity. I saw no medics at all at the race. So once again, take the money and run seemed to be the order of the day. I am not going to suck this up, that is why I spoke to the organiser and his utter indifference made me very angry indeed. He actually swore at me and said "Fu** off", sorry but this is not acceptable. HammerHed2009-09-27 15:44:12

Well I did this ride and guess what no water at the one water table on the70km route, what a joke. I spoke to the organiser and he was just plain indifferent to our complaint, and said he resented the fact that I called it irresponsible to not have water for everyone on such a hot and long ride. Doubt I will be back next year for this race.

The Stumpie is an awesome bike, you won't believe what an amazing ride it is.

Awesome!!

The Cannnibal Eddie Merckx!

Cos it's in Ireland!

Nice one, that looked like fun!

No it is here say from an editor of a bicycle magazine. Well then we can not dis Lance for that as until confirmed....he is still innocent. Then again, after 7 tour wins he should be able to demand what he want...he is famous after all... Maybe Contador can do the same in 5 years time? Dude I am not dissing him, merely stating what I have heard. Do you think Kevin can afford to pay Lance to do the Epic? Not sure they have huge financial resources they are not ASO Cycling. Do you think that Kevin can afford not to pay Lance to do the Epic? In my opinion he would be crazy to not have Lance do the Epic. Imagine the audience ratings for the Epic on TV if Lance does the Epic. Now that would be an awesome advertising opportunity for someone, they would make a lot more bucks from advertisers if Lance did the Epic. If I were that famous I would also want as much bucks as I can get to do the event.

No it is here say from an editor of a bicycle magazine.

From what I have heard he wants appearance money and 5 star hotels and chopper in to each stage. Might tax the resources of the Cape Epic organisers, although the visibility and interest he will bring to the event might outweigh the expense.

Not far from there is the highest point in Southern Africa Black Mountain 3400m, a beautiful drive in a 4x4. Now that would be a demon ride, Sani Pass and then to the top of Black Mountain and back to Sani. Beautiful up there.

I got a good deal on a CS600 with power meter on the Hub, for R3000. Now that offers a lot of features, but costs a bit more.

No Issues, I have a Spez with carbon seat stays and it works really well. There is not so much pressure on a seat stay, they are usually bonded very well to the frame.

I love smoking Roadies on my Epic, I climbed past 2 roadies on the pavement on my Epic the other day cruising past them and giving a polite "Morning!"as I flew past. They did a quick double take and then pretended to ignore me, although they chased me down over the crest and tried to attack on the downhill, I was having none of it. Ha ha ha!

The most important element of any training program is rest. For your body to adapt to the "cumulative training load" the only way you can recover is to rest. Periodisation is a concept the East Germans brought to sport, train hard fir 3 weeks rest for one week, train 10% harder for 3 weeks, rest for one week, train 10% harder again fr 3 weeks rest of one week, then train harder by 10 % rest one week etc. The rest weeks are not weeks of doing nothing by weeks that have a reduced workload, say 60 - 75% of the previous weeks workload at a reduced intensity. The boy adapts to the training in the rest week and you come back stronger for the start of the next 3 week session. Get the picture?

Only if you ride it hard. You will of course be ignoring your endurance if you do short hard track racing only. You till need to do long road rides to keep your endurance up.

Specialized Phenom SL looks hard as nails but is actually comfortable.

Only one choice here, the IDT for sure. Get yourself a CyClops Fluid2 IDT and start to build your power in the off season. By the time you get back on a bike you will be strong already. The spinning bikes and stationary bikes are not the same they don't have an exponential power / resistance curve and that is where this IDT is very powerful.

An AWESOME indoor trainer, I have used mine ro 2 years now and it offers a very smooth resistance. It is the best trainer out there because it has an exponential power curve, the harder you pedal the more the resistance is not as a straight line but as an exponential power curve, this mimics the natural resistance experienced when riding a bike from wind resistance and road resistance. The power you need to output to ride twice the speed is squared I believe, (my maths is terrible). You won't go wrong with this trainer.

Well done, that is an amazing ride. I did it 2 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.