bleedToWin

That's a recipe for riders illegally riding under someone else's entry... Better to charge a substitution admin fee and keep things above board IMO.

We (Wine Lands Mixed) caught the Hit Squad early and they immediately sat slip. PCH caught us but came over our paceline and sat up so we tried overtaking again or at least sharing the road. Wasn't really working so we opted to sit 20m behind them. This worked for a good long while until after Tradouw descent where we had a mechanical to a key rider. The whole time we had Hit Squad in our slip. After the mechanical we were able to ride freely until feedzone 1. Halfway towards feedzone 2 we had 3 teams in our wake and got caught by Savage with 4 teams in their wake. As others have said, the event format makes this unavoidable. Mixed teams have to apply their power at specific areas in the race in order to not burn their ladies. Overtaking was not an option. Dropping off simply resulted in us needing to pass teams dropping from Savage on the climbs and then they latch on to us to reform the mass on the descent. It was impossible to get anything going. Should we have given up our race? I don't like this aspect of the race. As lame as it is it is allowed in the rules, but it certainly was not a loophole exploited by us intentionally. I do understand that others will feel differently about how things played out. Last year I was in a mens team and our seeding resulted in us never getting caught by a stronger team so we had a clean ride for 9th. I was proud of that one, and I am proud of this one too... The womens category is these days able to run without interference and the mens too. Perhaps if not possible for the mixed category (and in light of the winners nearly coming 2nd in overall!) it would be best to only have two competitive categories... 🤷‍♂️

Everyone focused on DC maybe?

Well, now with Paarl Cycle Tour cancelled this weekend just became free for all the roadies.

@MyriadEventsSA Is it not time to step into the void? Drop the silly winter league idea. Cycling is a summer sport and we are looking at a 7 week period with no road races slap bang in the middle of summer while all of us are fit!

Maar Wynand weet klaar alles... /s I agree and am trying to do the most with my limited influence via my team and club. Let's in parallel hope that when the incompetent organisers fail that others can take their spot and hopefully be open to input and getting the basics right.

Their strategy consisted off: Self professing to be the new Burger-Sanlam Early bird entry discount if you enter before 15 December 2022 (50 weeks before the race) Listing the event on the MyActive Events calendar

https://paarlcycletour2023.myactive.co.za/CaptureDetails/Home.aspx

Netwerk24 Paarl Cycle Tour Cancelled 17 days before the event due to low number of entries. Zero marketing done for the event. Am I wrong that 80% of entries are normally received in the 24h before entries close? I'm on a 40-rider squad that normally have about 25 entrants for every road race. We only have 3 riders that have already entered, so for us it's over 90% in the "yes I'm doing it, but still have to enter" camp...

Looks like a reasonable composition, but very expensive.

At One Tonner the poor parking, lack of PA system to communicate with those in and around the start area, and poor vibe at the finish area are all valid points to complain about without being labelled a snowflake. It felt like no-one involved in the planning had ever participated in a road bike event. The difficulties were predictable, making it even more frustrating. A large reason for participating in these events is the mass start with riders of similar ability and half the field were denied that, reducing it to a club ride with marshals and water points.

Amazing. Incredible. Unbelievable almost...

That being said, Durbie Dash results have also been loaded on Racetec results page, so maybe there is still hope.

No idea, just thinking that the PPA seeding is built on the racetec system which is now defunct, so not sure anyone is maintaining the seeding at all...

Looking for OP...

ITT: people picking single examples from two groups to prove their own narrative. 🙄

Road works on Wemmershoek leading back into Paarl. Luckily they will magically finish the years long project in the next few days, because the new One Tonner route also uses that road to get back to Paarl / Wellington side... /s

I hope you guys bring a ladies team so that the category can have some meaningful competition!

Where are you looking for it?

In terms of social media race reports event photos loose most of their value once the next race has happened...

Well said.

Okay, you then missed out on an opportunity to practice team riding in the wind on partially protected roads. DC always ends in the wind! 😉 No one says you have to get off your bike after an event finishes either?

Probably, but I remember on Tour du Cap stage 1 how the valley near Tulbagh and the approach to Bain's really accelerated the wind into crazy cross wind levels. Near Hermon and on the top of Bain's it was chilled that day. Given how it was pumping on Bain's and in Hermon yesterday I don't know how bad that 45km stretch would have been...

I think you guys missed out on what turned out to be a really fun race.

If your weekend riding is the one you want to focus on and where you get most joy then do one gym session early in the week only.