BrettAS

Encourage the race organisers to use ROAG. they only charge R20 per late entry!!

definately!!! but please dont try and justify a R3000 entry fee!

I know they are going to have actual kit at the next few MTB races in KZN for people to try for size. if you arent able to make it, give them a shout on info@roag.co.za and i am sure they will give you szing detail.

Go to the ROAG website, LOGON, click on the Kit icon on the mome page. this takes you direct to the "purchase" page. click on the drop down menu at the bottom of the page and you can see ALL the kit you want. if you click on the small picture, it will enlarge so you see a full screen picture of the kit. they have everything - shirts - mens and ladies; shorts, bib shorts, kiddies stuff and you can get your own name and ROAG number on the pockets. Very cool!!!

Have you seen the new ROAG cycling kit on their website?? looks really cool!!

Part of the problem is that it is virtually impossible to identify road cyclists as opposed to motor vehicles. if each bicyle had a visible permanent number on it, that number could be reported, together with a photo to CSA? and that cyclist disciplined. obviously we need a set of "road usage rules" for cyclists that both cyclists and motorists are aware of. for instance "is it legal to ride 2 abreast?"

Hey Maddox. sorry, no route maps. how do i find out more about riding in the Eselfontein area??

wouldnt you be pissed off if a guy who cheated starts in a better batch than you at the next race??

I dont have a problem with people entering one distance and doing a shorter race. there are many good reasons to do this. the MUD at Eston was definately one of them. everybody is also welcome to the medals, beers etc, because after all you ahve paid for them just like the guys who actually entered the shorter race. the problem comes when riders dont tell anybody!! riders who enter 60 and only do 40 and then dont tell anybody are all getting better results, possibly prizes and very contentiously - better seedings!! technically, these people should be DQ'd (or DNF if you want to be kind). yes you can put timing mats at the split, but this is soemtimes a logistical problem and it increases cost! at Eston we couldnt get satelite reception at the finish because of the weather. imagine what it was like at the bottom of the hill in the trees. the simplest way is for thos people NOT TO CROSS THE TIMING MATS!! its really not that hard!!

Riders starting one race and then changing their minds and doing a shorter race is becoming a REAL problem!! effectively this is CHEATING, or am i over reacting?? personally, i understand if somebody gets to a certain point and then doesnt feel good etc and decides to do a shorter race (you never get people doing the longer race!!). but then if you do this, make sure you dont cross the finish line. maybe people are unaware of the timing and results chaos this causes when people finish a race they are not entered into. then on top of it all, people STILL COLLECT A PRIZE FOR A RACE THEY HAVE NOT FINISHED. that is shocking form!! how can we stop this??

at the moment the ROAG seeding is an average of ALL the ROAG (only)events you have done. if you go to www.roag.co.za , login and go to your MY ROAG, you can look at the seeding index. we will be changing the calculation before Eston to be an average of the BEST 3 ROAG events. This will then be ongoing, and the index will be revised after each event. in the next month or so, we should have access to other event organisers data. we are hoping to tie up a relationship in the near future. this will mean ROAG data will be shared with other organisations and we will have data from Gauteng and other places as well. remember the ROAG index is NOT a ranking. there may be some people ahead or behind you that have acquired their index from shorter or longer distances. hope this helps.

so it seems. thanks for the encouragement.

Toti 69er was our first ROAD experience. what a shambles!! despite loud assurances that ROADIES are organised, we were unpleasantly surprised. what we learned was that we have to take a more "active" role in determining the procedure for registration at road races. At Golovane, the power cuts really put massive pressure on the whole registration process. what people cant seem to understand is that ROAG is responsible for ADMIN ONLY!! it is the EVENT ORGANISERS reponsibility to ensure there is power, backup power, venue etc. ROAG just does the work. we are finding is that people are relying more and more on ROAG to solve ALL their problems. riders are asking the ROAG ladies milions of questions at registration thereby delaying the whole process. the girls are there JUST to take entries and hand out stickers. not tell you how much single track there is on the course or where the toilets are etc! Riders are also falling into bad habits. they leave / lose / forget timing chips and number boards and then argue when ROAG asks them to pay for a replacement. RE ISSUING boards and chips adds unnceccesary time. because of the automated process now, riders are arriving later and later at registration. in the old days, riders arrived at least an hour before the start. now we are finding 70-80% of riders are arriving half an hour before registration closes. the solution is to have more ROAG girls at registration, but this costs money! if we increase the number of ROAG personnell, the rider will be paying ultimately. so, the best solution is for everybody to bring their brains to registration, make sure they have ALL their equipment, and to arrive early.

You must remeber Golovane is an exception here in KZN. the event is aimed at a specific market with an excellent meal and a live band thrown in. look at their entry fee last year? the event organisers response will be interesting. the Toti 69er is purely a case of trying to cover costs as far as i know. i personally attended the event this weekend, and i have never seen so many "officials" at an event - ever! apparently some or most? of them are paid to "enforce" the rules. its apparently one of the reasons why road racing is so expensive. according to the organisers, ROAG has been brought in to try and bring the cost of holding a Road race DOWN. Trust me, ROAG doesnt make money out of administering an event.