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Too early for Munga 2018 discussions? Wondering if riders on past editions found a need for more than the 2.5L of water from the rules. I saw Jeannie Dreyer's mention of 4L in particular. Do others carry this much? 2.5L I can stash on bike, but 4L is heading towards Camelbak territory - which for longer events I prefer to ride without. MOD EDIT: See also here for advice: https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/179549-munga-2018-race-news/ https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/179021-munga-musings-from-a-novice-part-123/

I was about 3 mins off a PB, so I knew the few second between gun and initial mats wouldn't have made the difference. Honestly I wasn't that bothered anyway. I hadn't really trained for speed of late anyhow, and my HR on the day was all over the place - way higher than I could sustain. Plus it was a stunner of a day. But I was a tad surprised to see no adjustment in the official time though after the announcement and remember thinking some guys could be pissed to have missed out by that small gap.

Agreed. I've also called it half-wheeling more than a few times because that seems like a much better term to describe it. Maybe they should rename the original term

Don't mean to be picky - but do you mean "overlapping". If so, then agreed, yes, very dangerous. Half-wheeling is more of a social nicety in club rides when up front in pairs.

Normally CTCT is gun to mat timing. The announcers on at least one occasion said there was a neutral zone and timings would go from the first mat. I was a bit doubtful on this so I started mine on the gun as usual and stopped as I crossed the line. My GPS (Wahoo) came out exactly to the second the same as the official time. So it seems the announcer / neutral zone was rubbish and it was gun to mat as usual this year. Only a few seconds or a minute I guess, but anyone who missed a sub-Something by a small margin might be a bit annoyed. Stunning day and enjoyed the new start location - very glad the woes of registration did not spill over and the ride went off smoothly. Very sad for the 2 riders who passed away though, thoughts to their families.

Don't believe that was the case last year. I got a place as a non-PPA member, and pretty sure I heard of at least one PPA member who didn't get a place. Edit - but then I did of course miss out on all those other benefits of being a PPA member ....

Also sitting 2017 edition out. Broken collarbone and 8 broken ribs from this year's - and all because some stupid nob in our group decided it was so important to wave at her friend on Ladies Mile bridge she'd bring down half the bunch to do so, landing several of us (including her) in hospital. Missed out on a skiing holiday, and two rides later in the year with the time it took to recover. I'll be back some day - in a future year maybe - but not going to put my events next year at risk with a repeat incident. Will be sad to miss a year, but just don't want to go through the same drama again so soon.

Nice - should be an awesome event

More ground level support of cycling like this and I might actually re-join the PPA - nicely done

Munga Reloaded anyone?

So if you changed the currency sign - make it R1m and an entry of R5k or R10k per head. Would you then get enough local riders. Assume you'll attract foreigners later maybe when teh cult gets rolling, but for now target your home market.

I'd be there also at that sort of price range - not for this year's, timing of other events prevents that. But for a late 2015 or early to mid 2016 one you could count me in for around that sort of price.

You can't concede now - I still have popcorn left

If the reason for failure was economics and as an interviewer you avoid those tough Qs, then IMO you're not doing a very good job. The subject being inconvenient and embarassing is not a reason to avoid it, in fact it's the very role of you as interviewer. Take that away, and you have a worthless puff piece. If the event is to happen in future, and it seems many hope it will, the organizers have much tougher things to achieve than answer some hard Qs that are of interest to everyone.

Another Q: Of the entries received, how many were women? And, if that number was zero or low, was a mistake made in halving the target market before the event even started by not offering separate male and female prize pools? Around 1000 riders started LEL in 2013, I think 8% of those were women. But of the 200 that dropped out, none of them were women. So although women endurance athletes may be fewer than men, they are arguably tougher. Edit: oops 'halving' is clearly wrong, reducing the target market would be truer

It's clear the event interest is potentially there - otherwise we'd have taken our pizza and popcorn to another Hub thread. The Q is, can you fix the model for the event to an extent where that interest will turn into entries. Or does doing that completely break the concept of the event. I think we'll see the answer to that in 2015.

True. But with no chance of prize money, and questionable bragging rights, where's the motivation for non elite and non Pros to shell out $5k? Edit - BTW, all of my events are non-stop, so that aspect doesn't really change much for me

You managed to sum up my Q in one sentence!

Very decent of you to open that up to us Wyatt. Here's my, very personal postion. I am currently training for an endurance event next year - 1,200km on road. Not nearly as tough as Munga - in fact probably around the same level of effort as say an Epic, maybe even a shade less. If that goes well I have my sights set on bigger challenges - also on road. But to get ready for them, I need intermediate goals and challenges to help prepare. At 1,000km Munga could work - I'd equate that to maybe a 2,000km to 3,000km endurance road ride. The fact I don't have to go overseas for such an event makes it an ideal stage to get me there. But what's the motivation for me to enter - personally, unless you're racing with a chance to win, it isn't the toughest ride in the world in my view. So with no bragging rights, and no prize money potential, why would I pay $5k to do a long and potentially not that scenic or interesting ride? Answer that well and maybe I'd be a future customer. BTW - I did put much that same Q to Alex by email, and so far have not seen an answer to tempt me. I'm just one customer of course - maybe there is another target market and motivation for the 350 or so teams that can't possibly win this thing. OK - maybe you'll need to summarize that Q for a short radio slot!

I knew I should have ordered pizza ...

They always are. You collect $500k off people (assuming the 100 count is correct) and then cancel the event. If you really are serious that it will happen, you have serious answering to do

As an interviewer I hope you insist he back that up with facts, figures and dates. Anything less is a dis-service to those who have been let down by the cancellation. Now is not the time for a cozy chat - grill him hard for answers

If their plan was an 88% uptake from year 1 they were doomed before they even got going. That should have been their year 3 target, with enough backing and an investor who bought into the growth plan over those early years.

If they got as many as 100 it feels like cancelling could be a mistake to me. Any event is going to take a few years to build the following and aura that lures people in. 100 for a first one doesn't seem like a bad start - if you're in it for the long game to create a world-class event, then the 1st few years are likely to not make money as you build the brand. Very few business make a profit in their 1st year or two. You'd think any investor would understand that, and the need to actually stage the 1st one to get the whole machine rolling. Feels lightweight to just pull out