Skubarra

Some other big races as well, seem to recall national road championships as well but I am not going to dig in the archives now to find the names 🤣.

You can look on the PPA website what your seeding index is and how it was calculated. The seeding system not perfect but it works fairly well. Your old 99er result would not help much for the next year, they apply penalties to events that happened longer than 6 months ago.

Mine is also lower than I expected, but possibly entries were high and the field could be stronger than usual. Past few years the 99er date clashed with nationals & some other big races, this year only Tankwa?

About 2km more or less

Parking problematic in Durbanville. If you don't mind parking a bit further away then the parking garage in Village Square or even the DVille centre should be safe options.

My guess is sometime today, unless something went wrong with the seeding process. Timing by finishtime, so you will get a temp chip at registration.

Man I hated that app, found it to be very intrusive. Don't want to know every time one of my family members strays a few meters from the house. Maybe there are some settings I misssed to make it less annoying but was just easier to delete it.

Miss the part where he is calling them out, just asking for alternatives? I see nothing wrong with that.

Surely you deserve a medal for all the planning & effort that went into beating the system, dispose of your timing chip, make your way back and get back onto the route, find your partner and then get that second finish?

Sure - only problem is the barriers over the last few kms are deliberately quite big to keep people out (and I assume cyclist in). So its not just for quietly sliding off the side, you will have to physically climb over big barriers with your bike in full view of the marshals, crowds and loads of finishing cyclists.

Personally I would avoid the N1, its just stupid busy. Would not be fun even with a back-up vehicle behind you. Problem with area north of the N1 is that you run out of tar roads unless you go far north over Williston/Calvinia and then come down the west coast. If its tar only I would suggest take the N9 south of Colesberg and go through the upper eastern cape and klein karoo (willowmore, oudshoorn) - should be more guest house options that side as well. and a bit more scenic as well.

Just to note the road between Loxton and Sutherland is not tarred (unless it happened very recently) Also the N12, I am sure its better than the N1 but my gut feel also not ideal for cycling given trucks and relatively high traffic, might help if you have a support vehicle driving behind you. Maybe someone on here has attempted it. To add - you dont have to end in Worcester, Bainskloof, Franschoek or Nuwekloof can get you over the mountains

Probably the easiest would be over Kloofnek back to Camps Bay. Have never heard of anyone getting in trouble for this but in theory organisers might not react too kindly to someone crossing the line twice with the same timing chip, if you can take it off before you get onto the route for the second time that would be the safest option. Disclaimer - you know what you are planning is against the rules and (again in theory but maybe not so much in the real world) can get you disqualified from the event in future...

Think the main issue with the previous system is that it was expensive to set up and use. Racetec was much more expensive than other timing companies and losing out on a lot of business. Also the database software behind the system was very outdated and again would have been expensive to rebuild, hence the decision to go with finishtime rather than rebuilding the whole racetec business. But yes, agree 100% Can't say I have seen any improvement other than that initial results are available quicker.

New seedings should be done by early next week at the latest (in time for the 99er seeding) Unless the system is now broken...

https://results.finishtime.co.za/results.aspx?CId=35&RId=4364 Screenshot (before I get accused of drawing conclusions on anecdotes 🔥🔥)

The results are updated with the starting group info. I see Group C had a lekker coffee ride, slower than the winners of D, F & G.... 😘

Agree - not a fan of the new route. But I guess the fact that its easier makes it more attractive to the more social riders.

Anecdotal, eish. Going to have to agree to disagree on this before we bore hubbers to death. If the bad weather trend turns around I am happy to change my mind on entering early.

Around the Pot is in the middle of the rain season and has a been affected by rain multiple times in the past, I don't quite get why stating there there is a risk of a mud fest is so controversial for you? Yes I am ignoring the covid years because I cannot comment on the weather of events that never happened. 2018 I was there, muddy & wet conditions initially but got better later as the sun came out. I might lose out on an entry or have to pay extra if I leave entering very late, no problem with that.

100% what I am planning to do 👍

Yeah thanks for the stats lesson 👍, this is what I based my opinion on 2023 - Cancelled because of storms 2022 - Mudfest 2021 - COVID so ignore 2020 - COVID so ignore 2019 - Mud 2018 - OKish - some mud after heavy rains during the week 2017 - Decent weather afaik

I am keen to do this event again, although I don't think I am far from wrong if I say in the last few years just every single RTP edition was a mud fest due to rain during the week or on the day (ignoring the cancelled one that caused this thread). Purely based on that I am quite happy to wait it out until I have a good idea of what the weather predictions are and then do a last minute substitution or late entry. Think a few people will do that, which is just the risk the organisers will have to live with when using that timeslot.

Respect your decision to boycott the event but this is harsh. A forecast is just that, a prediction, the organisers & you will only know the actual weather on the day of the event. And even then you don't know exactly how it will unfold on the day. What would happen if the organiser cancel few days before the event and weather turns out fine? Also costs are not incurred just on the day of the event, whether the organiser cancels a week before or on the day will make very little difference re costs. As @Danger Dassie pointed out the reality is that we as participants take on some of the risk that events can get cancelled, that is true for all events not just RTP. Only way to completely avoid it is to stop entering events.

David Bellairs, from cycle tour?