lucmccann

I'm coming up from Cape Town and will be looking for some guys to do a ride with on Thursday or Friday morning to help me acclimatize to the altitude before the race. Anybody interested in a 60 - 80km ride around 30km/h average? I'll be in the south but willing to travel a bit if necessary...

I'm in for 23rd Wannabe.

Yeah that was definitely a bummer, lost loads of momentum at one point.

Really enjoyed this ride today! Got dropped at the top of Bothmas by the big boys in AL but cruised the rest of it with a decent bunch of guys and a lady... 3h 14m...I'll take that most days of the week!

If you ask any of the guys that did One Tonner, they will tell you that there can be a fair share of wind...but you'll survive

not sure what you are saying in the above 2 lines... but ok, cool, you've had the last word, thanks for your input. Enjoy your weekend

Yes I had my rant. Yes I got a response from CTG, which I thanked them for. Yes, i'm doing what I was always going to do by sending MY side of the story along with THEIR side of the story to the PPA which i've said on numerous occasions now. If I wasn't such a nice guy I might have sent only my side of the story to the PPA. Nobody in any previous posts brought any racial connotations forward before you, including the use of "monkey court" and "whities". Further more, saying this thread was always about race is complete BS! I was born outside of South Africa in 1988, so have absolutely no recollection of ever being in a time of prejudice, and I started this thread. I felt this thread had reached a point of being resolved when you opened a whole new (unrelated) can of worms. I feel you may have some deep-rooted unresolved issues of another kind that make you feel the need to act out in this manner, feel free to PM me if you would like any recommendations as to persons to speak to about this. Any other specific issues with specific persons on this thread please feel free to PM them, I think we have covered all that needed to be covered on this thread. Matt, please close this thread when you get a chance.

Bring spare shorts this time Berry...

Oh the lovely Bothmas...fun times for all!

I'm in! Also glad to see you lot are in. Tell me, that climb in the middle...what road is that?

Enjoy the ride Berry, can't make it tomorrow unfortunately. Tankman, a couple of us are doing a coastal ride on Sunday morning if you want to join? from Camps Bay

If you have anything else you need clarity on feel free to ask, or please read above.

Morning guys, Been a bit busy the last few days to visit this thread as often as I would like. Unfortunately, because of the short notice I wasn't able to attend the meeting that evening, i'm an independent digital marketing consultant so evenings are normally when the most crucial aspects of projects need to be handled. (EDIT: I had less than 4 hours from receiving the notice of the meeting to reschedule my evenings business, prepare for this meeting, as well as travel the almost 50kms...unfortunately my paying clients would come first.) I am very happy that the meeting went ahead and the issues were raised and appreciate their feedback, however a little disappointed that no responsibility for any of the instances mentioned in this thread was taken. As the Cape Town Giants are a development club that receive funding from the PPA I will be providing the information I have collated from various people and providing it to them, I will CC Cape Town Giants in all communication. It will be up to PPA if they wish to handle this in any further way. I started this thread just to bring my personal experiences forward to everyone. Dale, a little disappointed you feel that way considering we've met and had several conversations after rides. I hope all future dealings with this club are of a positive nature.

Uuuggghhh...this bugs me because I cycle this road at least 3/4 times a week on my own, normally find it safer than the R304 between Cloetesville and Kayamandi. EDIT: Also with Polkadraai in such a k@k state it really limits the options of getting into Stellies for a ride!

How i know this is a simple Google search...every year PPA releases who they will be providing assistance to, it will be in the clubs best interest to keep a positive image. Nothing political or any other reasoning behind my post, i saw stuff i was unhappy about at the ride and wanted to bring it to other cyclists attention as well as the attention of the club in case they weren't already aware of the actions of their members. Im not linked to any other club or association and the hubbers who know me personally will be able to vouch for this. Simply enjoy my sport and would like the best for it

Considering that year on year they receive funding and support from the PPA for cycling development, it would certainly be in their best interest to resolve this tactfully and with some sort of action plan on how to mend the poor image the club holds.

So i just got a call from the Chairman of the Cape Town Giants cycling club inviting me to attend a meeting where they will be discussing the incident mentioned, if anybody has any further factual information about incidents or specific persons involved please send it on to me and i will present it to them. I'll also let everyone know how it went and how they plan to address it.

I like the idea and would be happy to contribute to it... my query is how do "we" decide who the funds go to and when? Who makes that call?

also having worked a bit in service delivery 1 week for a response to an email complaint is absolutely shocking and would do nothing to improve the image of the club!

By posting here before contacting the club themselves I was providing a base for others who may have been affected by the clubs actions in any other way to bring their point across. As you have probably seen there have been other instances, I have also received a PM from a former member giving me his thoughts on the club and why he eventually chose to leave them. I have now got a better point to bring across to the clubs attention as well as feel I have done my duty to warn fellow cyclists about potential dangers.

It was a group lower down because i started in M and they caught us near the end.

I'd love to hear their side of the story, which is why i started this thread, in the hope they would see it and provide their input. As far as full road closures go...well that just isn't logistically possible for every race...especially the smaller ones like this was. Many rides that are a lot bigger than this was don't have full road closures and also don't have these sort of issues...it was just a matter of no accord being shown by their riders and egos that are alot bigger than they should be.

You can also try using the custom/semi-custom feature on www.velotex.co.za

I think i'll be doing that... might just point them towards this thread to try get a public response as to how they'll handle it.

So going into this ride I had decided to drop down to M to do "domestique" duties for a less fit mate of mine. Considering the near 700kms i'd already done this past week I was more than happy to push him up the climbs, pull him on the flats and stop to help others that had punctured. I was having an awesome, slow training ride and met loads of great people. That was until around 3kms to go where a couple of us were greeted with an out-of-tone chant of "GET LEFT!", we took up single file and hugged the tiniest bit of tar on the left-hand side, giving the entire lane to the bunch coming through...but, to my disappoint, instead of being passed smoothly I was given a strong elbow to the back by 1 of the Cape Town Giants riders, resulting in me riding a few metres in the gravel and luckily staying on my bike, I figured it was an honest mistake so i'd leave it. But it seemed I was wrong, over the next 2kms one of the Cape Town Giants riders dropped a water bottle and instead of warning the others in the bunch, about this potentially very dangerous obstacle, him and one of his Cape Town Giants mates had a nice little chuckle about it. There was also an elbow to a guy on a MTB in these dying kms, ending with him not so gracefully meeting with the gravel gutter off the side of the road. (hope you're alright dude?) I decided then that I wasn't too happy with all of this, so I went to the front of the bunch and told one of the Cape Town Giants riders to get his group to calm down and ride with a little more respect, to which I got the response "Jy, if you can't handle it then don't ride in a peloton!" I personally felt it was more of a group of a$$h@les than a peloton but, considering we were about to hit the last "bump", decided to take his advice anyway and dropped them faster than a college girls delicates. So basically Cape Town Giants, if you are going to be that aggressive and that much of a deck on a bike, you need to be able to back it up...or just be a bit friendlier and then others will probably return the favour. Happy Monday All! P.S. I'm glad you didn't ruin my ride, but you might have ruined others'.