I for one was very disappointed with them cancelling the stage, I felt robbed. Considering I then drove to Tokai and had a great ride. Yesterday I was fuming with the decision and i'm still not happy with the outcome. I took the time today to call Micheal from Stillwater Sports and he was happy to take my call. We spoke at length about the situation and he had some very good points, he did have some others the were not so good. He did seem to genuinely feel they made the right decision and ultimately they flourish or flounder on these decisions. He engaged me on the various points that were contentious. I will be submitting a letter to him and the committee for consideration and he will return further comment on those points. The things that disappoint me still are things such as: The weather was not a surprise, the forecast had been out for over a week. They had the opportunity to get a contingency plan in place. Route wise, even if it had been on district road all the way in. Trails getting damaged or medics access is not relevant. Other races can and do. Rider preparedness: The cold and wet. If you go to a stage race as a rider be prepared for bad weather. so an excuse of being cold or wet or hypothermia just does not cut the mustard. Nobody is forced to ride. Organizers Choices: They seemed to call it off to easily, the decision not to continue to delay till the weather cleared which they acknowledged was a few hours later. It seems they took the easy decision for an organisational stand point. I will concede that people have flights to catch etc, but for those that want to ride there should have been an option to ride. I had to catch a flight to JHB. It came across to me as, race off we are out of here. Justifying the decision because there were cheers in the tent and some top riders saying they got away with one. Those that did not want to ride never had to ride and had already handed in their number boards, did this influence the decision? Nobody forces the anybody to get on the bike a peddle. I can understand why Pro riders that are not racing did not want to be out in the cold for several hours at a speed way below tempo riding risking getting sick, but that is their choice. If I had started booing, throwing naartjies etc would that have been appropriate? Hiding behind rider safety and liabilities and indemnities is a soft defense. They should of had an alternative for those that had paid the cash for a 3 stage race and were prepared to ride. I look forward to the response from Stillwater and the organizers. I mentioned to Micheal that the pre race admin such as late entries, re-seeding etc was some of the best I have experienced in any sporting event and the trails we rode for 2 days are some of the best and they do deserve a lot of credit for that.
