Argus crashes

[Capricorn]

to the dude who splashed me with a whole bucket of water at the bottom of suikerbossie: THANK YOU. saved me from overheating big time.

must admit, it felt like my head was going to explode from the heat up that climb.

[scotty]

Looking at the results there were only 32 ladies in the Elite ladies group , that''s hardly enough to warrant a separate group. More bunches will increase start times, the later ones will be riding close to midday.

 

Accidents will happen, from reports of yesterday it happened in elite men, vets, seeded open, unseeded open.

Edited March 12, 2012 by scotty

['Dale]

I put the responsibility for the crash in the VB group staight on the shoulders of the orginizers, people are seeded into buches that they should not be in, and the bunches were to big, VB, VM and % all together, come on, do it like the 94.7 and split it 40 - 44, 45-49 etc, ladies own bunch, will make it safer and more enjoyable, the race yesterday was very negative and not hard so some of these guys where still their at the end, they then believe that they might actually be able to win, and guess what, not being used to being in tha situation leads to tired riders, trying to sprint, not holding their lines and wheels touching, COME ON TOUR ORGINISERS get it right, this for me is one of the most dangerous races every year due to this problem

 

Good post.

 

It is such an important event for cycling in SA as a whole.

 

Safety first!

[scotty]

Good post.

 

It is such an important event for cycling in SA as a whole.

 

Safety first!

I'm sure if you work something out where 35000 cyclists can be slotted into manageable sizable groups with decent gaps between and able to get off early enough so as to not start too late the org's would welcome it.

['Dale]

I'm sure if you work something out where 35000 cyclists can be slotted into manageable sizable groups with decent gaps between and able to get off early enough so as to not start too late the org's would welcome it.

 

There was a mere 3 minutes between groups yesterday.

[scotty]

There was a mere 3 minutes between groups yesterday.

3 Mins, so we reduce it to 2 then and have more batches, problem i see is if the batch behind catches the one in front there will be a %^&* big bunch, 3 mins is not ideal but its a compromise.

 

Suggestion is the %Ladies will also have their own as well with perhaps a max of 50 ladies. Where do you suggest the ladies get slotted, after the open men A, B, C ?? so that they are not caught. If they are caught (very possible) we can then moan about them being slow and having a tea party. I would also hate to be the CSA marshal that tries to ensure the ladies do not use the men to slip. Yesterday from watching the TV i could see no bunch that caught the Vets bunch with the ladies in.

['Dale]

3 Mins, so we reduce it to 2 then and have more batches, problem i see is if the batch behind catches the one in front there will be a %^&* big bunch, 3 mins is not ideal but its a compromise.

 

Suggestion is the %Ladies will also have their own as well with perhaps a max of 50 ladies. Where do you suggest the ladies get slotted, after the open men A, B, C ?? so that they are not caught. If they are caught (very possible) we can then moan about them being slow and having a tea party. I would also hate to be the CSA marshal that tries to ensure the ladies do not use the men to slip. Yesterday from watching the TV i could see no bunch that caught the Vets bunch with the ladies in.

 

I support a 50 ladies' bunch.

With no merging with any other groups with strict regulation of this rule.

 

It makes for fairer contestation amongst the Women, too.

[jroux]

Crazy D group! I counted 5 crashes, 3 within the first 3kms! Last one 200m from the end! Seems like people regard a fast time higher than their own lives, very sad!

[Red Zone]

Man there was some bad riding in the B group, I have never seen aggression like that in the Argus. Guys switching each other, surging into gaps, pushing others around and shouting at each other the whole way to Boyes Drive, where it seemed to calm down, probably because we dropped the idiots who need to ride like morons to keep in the Group, It is a miracle that we never saw more crashes in B, I only saw one on Smits, looked soft, but I thought the guys involved where going to whip out the handbags.

[Velouria]

200000000 near crshes in A group..

 

only saw one minor crash in the bunch at Millers Point.

 

Carbon and tar dont sound so good together......

 

Then you missed about 19999999999 crashes

 

1. UCT

2. Edinburgh drive

3. Blue Route

4. Boyes (at the bottom)

5. Past Simon's Town, going up to Smits

6. Fast section after Smits

7. Bottom of chappies

8. Just before Blues in Camps Bay

9. Famous left hander before circle onto Beach road in Sea Point

 

Granted - I do sat at the very back of the bunch, so I get a good view of all the action

[Ratty]

Two bad crashes going down towards Scarborough a few hundred metres from each other. Why can't people just ride sensibly down there, every year i see someone taken away in an Ambulanace. There was a guy taken away in an ambulance at both, hope they are ok.

 

We were stopped and had to walk past the first crash scene, think it was quite hectic (mostly cleared by the time I got there).

[The Search]

Talking on cellphones while cycling is dangerous. Taking pictures while cycling is dangerous. Climb of your bike when you want to do this.

 

Saw a tandem going down at the bottom of Chappies. The woman was out cold. Hope she is fine.

[Zu]

I'm not sure if it was a crash or what but when we were coming through Oceanview we were completely stopped by marshals as someone needed to be airlifted. Anybody know what happened there?

[Baster Brak]

Looking at the results there were only 32 ladies in the Elite ladies group , that''s hardly enough to warrant a separate group. More bunches will increase start times, the later ones will be riding close to midday.

 

Accidents will happen, from reports of yesterday it happened in elite men, vets, seeded open, unseeded open.

 

Their is a huge differance between racing ie Licenced VETs ,Elites Elite Ladies and riding for time, ie A B C bunch etc, coming to the line in a bunch that is racing is far more hectic and thus far more dangerous than a bunch coming in trying to beat 3hrs, no the orginisers allow people who never race to ride in the racing bunches, they survive to the end and when the sprint starts they are totally out of there depht, and that causes crashes, I see riders at he ARGUS that only rides VETS at the ARGUS and other than that they never do, yes yesterday the VETS pace was pissy, I had heavy legs and riders on MTB held on, so by all means the pace was easy, but when the sprint started these guys where caught out by the sudden kill or be killed attitude that surged into the bunch, and that causes the falls, the licenced VETS , Elites etc know what to expect and there are few crashes during the year, the argus however is more nerverecking than tiresome due to riders that should not be in the bunch being in the bunch. SO IF YOU DONT RACE LICENCED DURING THE YEAR DONT DO IT AT WORLD FUNRIDE CHAMPS, YOU MAKE IT DANGEROUS FOR ALL THE OTHER RIDERS BY DOING SO

[Spark]

I put the responsibility for the crash in the VB group staight on the shoulders of the orginizers, people are seeded into buches that they should not be in, and the bunches were to big, VB, VM and % all together, come on, do it like the 94.7 and split it 40 - 44, 45-49 etc, ladies own bunch, will make it safer and more enjoyable, the race yesterday was very negative and not hard so some of these guys where still their at the end, they then believe that they might actually be able to win, and guess what, not being used to being in tha situation leads to tired riders, trying to sprint, not holding their lines and wheels touching, COME ON TOUR ORGINISERS get it right, this for me is one of the most dangerous races every year due to this problem

I agree

I also rode VB and saw the crash right in front of me. Leave bunch sprinting to experienced sprinters.Their were a lot of people in that bunch without basic bunch riding skills.Smaller bunches will be safer

[scotty]

This puts us right back to the question, where must the organizers find the place to slot in the increased albeit smaller batches. Limit the entry down from 35000 ?, have the back end'rs start later ? Have riders qualify to enter (Comrades and 2 oceans) ?