Skubarra

I guess in theory 1A? Although most years your odds for a sub-3 is much better in the "aggressive surges" racing groups...

Just for more context - here is Yolande's grand winnings at this weekends Dryland event I wonder how much is left after deducting the bribe to SAIDS and paying the bills of her drug suppliers 😉

Well she is/was banned from the Epic so she can't really blamed for avoiding that can she? I have seen her win/podium in many non-Dryland events so I think the Dryland angle you have doesn't quite hold water. Also Dryland cannot protect her from SAIDS even if they wanted to, how would that even work in practice? Would they employ bouncers to keep SAIDS away from her at events? On your second point - are you a medical doctor, do you know exactly what her heart condition is? Since when does any form of heart condition mean you can't race anymore? I can go on but let me stop here, I don't know if she is doping or not, but I found her excuse in that incident plausible. What is obvious to me is keyboard warriors general hate of dopers being channeled onto her. In my biased view her doing so well at 50 is more an indication of the lack of competition in womens cycling on long distance marathon events in SA than her performing on some unobtainable exceptional level that can only be explained by drugs.

So turns out the road between Calvinia and the Tankwa Padstal was perfectly fine. The headwinds though were brutal. Early morning the first 60kms were easy going but after 7h00 the wind started picking up and from then on you had to work for every km into a raging headwind. Groups splintered into smaller groups and later that morning many riders were struggling along solo or in pairs. Katbakkies was ok, turning west at least you didn't have to fight the wind up the climb, but after hours of headwinds many just didn't have the matches left to ride it. Saw a few top 20 finishers walking sections of it, I assume it was the same for most of the riders further down the field. After the Katbakkies section the road turned south again and again you had to fight the wind to the finish for every kilometer. If I read the results right little more than half the field finished the event, I suspect if every year is as tough as 2023 this race will not be around for the longterm (like the Trans Karoo that died to soon...).

I would assume that at this point they would get at least their entries for free (or heavily discounted) - given that their participation is now part of the marketing for the ACE.

Looking at those pics a special good luck to the peeps riding gravel bikes

Too late for me now... Will tell you on Monday whether your buddy lied or not.. I also see a nice headwind predicted for Saturday, at least the heat wont be so bad. But I expect a very different race to last year.. Edit - not sure which roads your colleague took but normally the road for the race is in a better condition than the other Tankwa roads. The roads around the national park and towards the pass to Middelpos are horrific at the best of times.

Wow - well done @bleedToWin !

A friend of mine was cycling with his wife when they were attacked by armed assailants . The attackers initially focused on his wife which gave him a chance to pull out his Byrna, when the attackers saw the Byrna they left his wife and ran away. But as you mentioned - at that point he didn't want to risk shooting at them in case they realise this is not a real gun and decide to make a second attempt. He has since replaced his Byrna with a real gun.

Early years were the time of "cycling is the new golf", we bitched about it on the hub but corporates bought team entries and sent clients/staff to ride together for a week. Afternoons after doing 130km of racing in 40 degrees heat lowly me had to get back to the office to get some work done while the bigwigs had massages, wine tours and early restaurant dinners 😄. But I didn't mind, any day on the bike is better than a day the in the office. But you are right, unlikely that we will see those days again...

Imagine doing a DC-like event over 5 days, its the whole team format that hooked me. Riding with a team on tough, long routes over 4 days + a team time trial. Early events were some of the best experiences I have ever had on a road bike. Tons of warstories, team plans that went haywire on mountain passes & suffering to get the 4th rider over the line in a good time. Then nice lunches with free beers afterwards to finish off. The format really had a lot going for it, I'm very disappointed it couldn't quite catch on. If they can turn things around I'll be back but the current scaled down format just not that appealing to me.

Surely if they can move it for Lionel Richie they can also move it for Ramadan? If a different date gets you more entrants why not? Edit - that said, 2016 turned out to be a disaster weather-wise and had to be canceled so maybe don't mess with the tradition! 🤣

True - last year they didn't have the usual issues that popped up in previous versions.

Economics probably the biggest part - early years the event attracted a number of corporates, there was a decent social/corporate team competition going (similar vibe to DC) but over time this declined and disappeared. Related to that the loss of a big headline sponsor meant the offering to riders was downscaled, intially lunch and drinks were included every day, venue used to be a snazzy wine farm & other bells & whistles that disappeared. Routes (this year is a bit of a step up again) but in the past riders did Franschoek, Du Toits 2x and Bains (2x = different side, different day), this eventually morphed into the boring round-Paardeberg funride routes for most days. And then finally there are regularly the "little" things that go wrong (like the timing on the 1st event), every year its a case of almost getting it right but not quite

Sadly my perception is that the exact opposite has been happening the past few years. But this event/timeslot has so much potential so you never know...

ok - that would make sense, then it becomes a case of who you know if you want to ride elites (would also explain why that hubber with a zero index had to specifically request to get into $)

Easy for me to say but I wouldn't get too stressed about it at this point.... I know there is always a second seeding run a week out of the event which I assume is to also finalise the racing groups. I would wait for that to be done before I start worrying. Is CSA not also involved in the management of the $ group which makes things a bit complicated? Think that is why the organisers are so disinterested in your issue at this stage, but can't see this not being sorted before the race.

Just curious - do you know many people that are already seeded in $? It seems to me that the $ might not be sorted out yet? And if this is the situation for you I am sure there are a number of strong riders unhappy not to be seeded in $ I remember a few years back there was a hubber with a seeding index of zero and a racing license that also wasn't initially seeded in $, obviously there were a lot of angst on the CTCT thread but in the end he had it easily sorted at registration.

The one is your cycle tour seeding and the one is your racetec seeding - related but they do adjustments on your cycle tour seeding The cycle tour seeding is what you want to look at if you want to know your cycle tour starting group

Well - I finished a few seconds after $'s winner in the 99er which is a clear as daylight indication that the route was too easy and the field too weak... So they are not screwing you they are helping you by keeping the useless wheelsuckers like me out of $ at the CTCT 🤣

Have you tried this link? http://seeding.cycletour.co.za/findme.aspx?ss=2&eid=2023

Oh - I see it now on my seeding list as well! I wonder if Finish Time & Racetec have some kind of information share arrangement. What I have seen recent years is that the CTCT organisers also use non-official seeding events with a small penalty for CTCT seeding, so they might very well use that if its your best result.

I saw by chance this morning that the Herald Cycle Tour in PE which always happens close to your race and up until now used Racetec as a timing company dropped Racetec and is not an official seeding event for the CTCT anymore... (94.7/RideJoburg also not a Racetec/CTCT seeding event anymore) I would prefer you keep on using Racetec but I think you guys (in theory at least) have more leverage than in the past...

Congrats on an event that was clearly well organised Nicholas, I think it shows in the comments & feedback. Keep up the good work. My suggestions - I think you should put pressure on Racetec/Cycle Tour to make your event an official seeding event for the same year's CTCT, making it a seeding event only for the following year's CTCT makes it meaningless for a large portion of the riders. Especially if you as the organiser have to jump through certain hoops to make it an official seeding event. As mentioned, try to bring Vissershok back if possible, but if you can keep the Kalbaskraal section. It is a nice variation on every other Northern Suburb race that goes past or around Paardeberg. and then I never thought I would say this but I miss the finish on top of Odendaal - is it not an option to finish at that big open field next to the Spar? (few 100m on from the old finish)

For me personally - after more of a decade of cycling I managed to get into a DC team with people of similar abilities & goals. Just would have never happened with my usual cycling buddies. More options for weekend rides, now I know more peeps with similar ability that are options to ride with Our club linked to a shop so I get a decent discount on smaller cycling purchases. The CSA requirement to belong to a club. Discounts on races & occasional free kit Belonging to a formal club not for everybody but worked out quite well for me.