carbon29er

The arrogance of the organisers is not taking into account forecasts of strong winds while keeping the start in a place known to accentuate the effect of strong wind. And then using those very same known problems as a valid excuse to cancel an event with 35,000 participants. I'm glad you find this pisspoor attitude to known problems acceptable. I don't.

Made easier by the refusal to move the start to a safe area out of a known wind tunnel where the design of the Civic Centre creates a vortex and amplifies the effect of the wind. I honestly don't think it was a hard decision at all. Once they worked out there would be no cost to them it was very easy.

My contention is that the start chute is in the wrong place. The organisers know this as 2009 experienced the same problems. And with the wind being a known factor from forecasts they were so arrogant they did NOTHING to eliminate this risk. So I can and will blame the organisers for not making changes that would have made the start safer. The only change we've seen at the start in a number of years is a new checking in system. Nothing that adds to safety.

The protests were not at Imizamo Yethu, they were on the other side of Chappies. Not related at all to the fires on Saturday that destroy hundreds if not thousands of homes and took many lives. I cried on Saturday morning when I saw those fires and explained to my over privileged children how the fire leads to the loss of all one's possessions. Unfortunately there are many more shack fires than we ever hear or read about that deserve our thoughts and action too. Do you know what the protests were about? Any list of demands before the place was trashed and roads blocked on Saturday night / Sunday morning? Now

Congratulations on an excellent first post. Both the idea I highlighted is what irritates me the most. They KNEW it would be windy. They KNOW what happened in 2009 with the wind AT THAT EXACT SPOT. Yet they did not give enough of a (place f word here) to change anything, instead using it as their get out of jail card and calling the race off.

Apart from the start the wind was not a valid reason. And the start was self inflicted as it is known to amplify the wind. The protest action was avoidable by the spooks at Intelligence actually doing some spooking rather than trying to find dirt on JZ's opponents, real or imagined. Did the protesters actually have any demands in the weeks or months prior to last night? The fire at Hout Bay did not go near the road that the route uses, it was on the other side of the mountain. My moan is that 2 of these reasons you list as valid reasons for the organisers to cancel the event with no thought of any compensation were ENTIRELY avoidable with proper planning, a functioning police intelligence service, proper security and an obligation to give us what we paid for. This is a massive and extremely profitable business. It is not a few mates getting together to organise a coffee ride. Maybe it's time the organisers are forced to have a plan B. Rather than plan B being a 47km ride or total cancellation. Why is there no insurance in place in the event of a cancellation?

Blind Freddy knows the wind was used as an excuse to avoid the issue of protesters and route changes brought about by those who are/were revolting.

Why take an insurance premium that costs money when you can just ignore consumer rights and tell them their refund is in the T&C? Cycling is really run by some good people. Worldwide it seems. Amashova and 94.7 are looking mighty attractive rather than the joke of an event the CTCT has become since it was rebranded from The Argus. Hopefully PnP and Momentum need to address this rather than tipping in piles of cash.

It's got absolutely nothing to do with gambling and being a sore loser. It is the lack of accountability and arrogance by the organisers that is offensive, the "We've got the cash now we really don't care, we'll use safety as the excuse" knowing full well that they had already sent out severe weather warning on Saturday, shortened the route on Sunday AND used the same wind tunnel for the start that caused problems in 2009. All while knowing the wind was going to be strong. As for entering every year if you lived in the Cape? We do. That does not mean we can be treated with no respect as we are local. Even without travelling there is still significant cost. Not all of it financial. Is it worth entering next year? I really don't think it is but my kids would be disappointed to miss out again after missing out this year.

I'm always careful. Except when faced with the possibility of exiting double figures on a descent. I have no idea how the sprinters in the peloton hit the hundreds on the big mountain descents. Aerodynamically efficient?

Jens the denialist? No thanks. I always liked Andy even if Bjarne changed his blood weekly. Does this event accept bikes with disc brakes? After the non event in Cape Town today a road trip might be in order. Straight past the One Hundred and Aaaaaaaattttyyyy on to the Midlands.

I think riders would then have been able to make a choice. Go home and get supported or ride and have fun. As it turns out the decision was made for us without any consideration of our particular needs. See, the thing is, Bellairs does what suits him. Not the cyclist. We are seen as an annoyance that have to be tolerated while he jets around the world attending WACE meetings and events.

As I'm as slow typing as I am on a bike I think it was caught in the purge you ran as I hit Post.

Not only did I waste months training for this event and pay for 3 entries so I could do a double lap with my daughter but then the mods decide that my time is no longer important and delete my well reasoned and documented post about the PR statement by Bellairs. Do I rewrite it or do I just say that I think both actions are completely wrong. Deleting a whole thread AND ignoring the loss of life in a fire but using the cancellation of the CTCT as PR exercise for donations to that particular community. Two observations is passing: Letting protesters "win" by diverting then cancelling the race opens a MASSIVE opportunity nationwide to destroy these sorts of events.Using a fire as a PR exercise when the fire was a day before the event but ignoring the hundreds of fires that occur annually with no support from the CTCT smacks of opportunism by the organisers.Did any journalists ask why the race start remained in a high wind area that is the Civic Centre wind tunnel when the forecast 10 days ago forecast today's wind?

I see you are taking extra food for Man with no Name's riders too....

Always good to have a long stare at a white bib boy until he gets uncomfortable and asks what you are looking at. Best retort? Just seeing how huge you are to see if it is true that you have to be REALLY big to wear those bibs.

Apart from the fact it was the day after my 18th birthday. Mid April those days. I think I got to bed at about 3am, got woken at 5am and got dropped at the Castle in time for 7am start. Still drunk I'm sure. Only seeding was the pros on the front line, the rest of us just bunched where we could. 1119 finishers but it seemed more when at the back of the start chute. That was where I started with my lifelong achievement of missing subs by seconds. I did 4:00:45. Which if I look back at Froome's 1st few Argee, is that the correct plural for multiple?, I could have gone on and won the TDF by now as he was way higher than that. I beat my neighbour the late Sir Charles Mordaunt Milner who named the team medal at the DC some years later. So I won that bet. Goodness he was SO old when I was 17. Biggest memory was how backward in development the whole area south of Muizenberg was. Suikerbossie was lined with huge gum trees, no shoulder, the pavements were dirt and it hurt even in those days. There was no wind, the stretch from Cape Point to Ocean View was the 1st time I had ridden there and boy, was it great. Energy drink? Game was it, mixed you own and hoped for the best. One bottle and not many water stops. Suikerbossie had about 100 people watching. My grandmother bought me a big furry sheepskin saddle cover, I used it. Rugby shorts, no chamois and a t-shirt. We've become such poseurs since then. Worst part? 1980 is not on my palmares. But 1985 and 1986 have not been credited to me either so I am officially on number 9 and 10 tomorrow. Although I have ridden 2 without a chip/time and 2004 when I took a genuine 7:30 I was so unfit.

Shout if you don't come good. I'm sure we can find you a bed.

1980 at the Castle, gun went and we rolled after about 10 minutes. Finished in Camps Bay. No helmet, just a cap. And tekkies.

What is second prize?

How often is a race advertised at x distance and it turns out different? Happens all the time, unfortunately.

Try put the bead you have got onto the wheel in the centre of the rim rather than up against the side, this buys a few mm that helps when stretching the last bit on. And put the tube in the tyre before you get it on the wheel but push it deep into the tyre, clear of the bead so when you use tyres levers you don't affect the tube. Once you have them in, inflate the tyre to about 30psi and go around the wheel pinching the tyre to make sure the tube is clear of the bead.

Hahaha, you were one the whining about the expo. Not me. I merely invited you to not enter the CTCT next year and save yourself the annoyance of HAVING to go to the expo.

I'll look out for you on the second lap. Around Ocean View I reckon. Number? We'll be 2 tandems in saving some rhino white shirt. Of course I'll have my pink helmet. So shout.

Mamil made me so with his moaning about the expo. Or my testosterone patch is conflicting with the kenakort corticosteroids.