Austin

Browsing Supercycling webpage entries. Awsome to see Bela-Bela moving toward a proper race profile and distance. Lets hope the teams support this and race it properly! The rest of the races on there still suck in general--- big time....

Bruce, you see the picture quite correctly. So, benefits and rights differ too as in Rugby? The Pro Rugby player doesnt pay to go play the game in centre field, etc Solution- You can watch the last 50k of the pro's if they ride 150km on a circuit right by the social course. Like many of the difficult to reach sports- media is your crowd. After event sales by the organisers. Again, as I said in my previous post- Comes down to taking things the likes of Bruce have mentioned and working on solutions for them. Adress at the root. Let see if this goes to 100 pages or to action( meeting with chairperson or tea party...)

Most forums are like meetings without a strong chairperson- goes nowhere and just goes on forever without resolution. And like in any meeting- disect the goal/problem to the root of cause. Here it is easy- Organisers need to be set rules in which they organise the Sporting part of their event( the true money making part if they were smart). Cycling SA need to do this in pro-active not re-active manner. When setting up new guidelines they can either do it by throwing list of requirements or by assisting in implementing them...( you decide which of these two will be best beneficial for the future) If done properly, no organiser that doesnt want to comply should be allowed into the sport, no matter how nice the goodie bag. They will then just not be seeing the big picture to grow even bigger

The root of the problem is the way we licence and register a race to be classed sporting, not recreational. These "recreational" events get sold as sporting event for more exposure at cheaper prices to media, so the racing part is important to them, even though the numbers are less. If it is just recreation, it doesnt get published in the papers or on sport programs, you then pay Kwela or someone to come cover it. Organisers can benefit hugely form the front end, just have to be "taught" again how. If the event runs in a certain set of rules that encourage best sporting pratice and spectacle, then organisers will see the benefits and am sure they will also change as they stand a chance of making even more money. The "other" bit of organisers who are really in it for the Sporting aspect will then also see the return of proper racing( Note, I said racing not cyclists as we do have proper cyclists, just not giving them the place to show it and develop it)

Sorry Dirt Girl..you are right..meant most organisers in RSA

Bored Girl- Prize ceremonies in most countries happen right next to the line, just after the race, where the spectators are. Most races have a very active post race media campaign to not just advertise before, but the results too. That is the real incentive for sponsors.

Einstein, you are clearly connected to all of this and if so, have already received a mial from me and can take it up with me, no problem at all. Its easy to sow disinformation with half information, bit it does not aid the cause or is not constructive. Rather take it up with me. There are only three races in which "selected" teams ride- Trofeo Karlsberg, GP Patton and World Champs with the latter being the only one in which riders recieve colours. From the start everyone was informed that they if they are not in a program already, they must find themselves in one of the programs already in place in Europe. Because the riders are from different clubs, the teams would be entered as South African teams so to be able to accomodate the riders from other clubs in the already established programs. Therefore many of these races are in fact the races of private parties making place for riders from other clubs to join them in their race, sometimes displacing their own riders from these races, sometimes keeping some of their own club riders in it( as it was origionally the race of that club). Some of the races have been added as an extra burden on their own programs to help youngsters ride more UCI races. To choose to race criteriums before an International Tour was not a must and own choice to do something like that before a big UCI race. Other youngsters have been doing three 4 day tours week after week and going quite okay. The races in question are that of a private party and not of Cycling SA and remain the choice of that party. The late changes come mostly as a fact that one rider finally got his passport and being added to the schedule to also offer him a chance, again in the private partie's capacity and right. We can go further into the explanations given to me at first about the non-participation, but this is not the place and I am not going to drag riders into this and not here. As the races you seem to be referring to are races destined for my own teams' invitation that I am sharing with other clubs, please feel free to take it up with me.

hermida, absalon, stander, sauser, .. Well done, Burry! Austin2009-04-11 06:59:59

Hi All Crazy G, I am not sure what made you so angry and why you started by presumably saying I could have told them to do so and then stress the importance of the word in the sentence. So if I add presumably in every accusation, then I can retract in an instant too? Cool to know. To this moment I still have not judged you because I still do not know you nor have I sat down and chatted with you to form opion. To form opion of me or the riders on competition basis only is a BIG mistake( as you should know with your resume that things differ from the race to real life) Next time I am in your area or you are in mine, lets have a coffee and chat. Then if you still dont like me, well tough, then we differ of opion and rightly so as we are all entitled to do so. These laaities have all chosen the hard way and have to live as if they will have to go to Europe one day and look after themselves for food, transport, etc. It is not just a training program. So I have utmost respect for what they do. Not many youngsters do that, Especially Europeans do not face this as they can cycle and have a normal life, not having to spend extended times away from family. So whatever they decide or choose to do on the bike runs deeper than just two random laaities in the same club. I believe you are probably a good oke, but with a different opion. I would not realy know as I have not sat down and chatted to you. Hope I can expect the same coutesy from you.... Riders...time to leave this topic and just enjoy your well deserved time off!

mm' date=' like Jaco Venter who was 2nd at Jnr SA's road with team mate winning and now he is kicking has own ass because he won the TT overall, in a good caring team and on his way to race in Switzerland this weekend. Stefano is in the same steup and will be well on his way to much greater things soon... [/quote'] Please you just say that cos you probabely made the call. Kids shouldn't give away titles, he might never win one again and he will so regret that. One crash one nasty virus and its over and no title, no one remembers 2nd unless your name is Poulidor. I didn't give mine away I came badly prepared, came second at kilo nationals once. Realized I could actually one, realized even my category national record was possible. I went for it the yeiar after, they canned nationals. Soon after that my kidneys packed up my liver packed up. I will probably never be able to take a title again because of that I missed my shot(as i missed some before). I think this is very sad at least make em sprint each one side of the road from 1 k or 500m to go. actually, I didnt. ( o, no wait.. I did give one or both of them a waterbottle from the side while they both were still in the bunch, maybe there is where they got the idea from me...since I could predict that they would just ride away later)They talked amoung themselves in the break. But no stress.. I am used to the Hub of misconceptions, allegations and all the rest... Maybe this, maybe that wont change squat. The team rode a very good race and it is only with teamwork and close trust like that that they stand any chance when racing abroad. I am proud and happy of the way they are riding against huge odds and numbers in every race. Austin2009-03-13 23:43:04