94.7 MTB Race bottle necks

[RocknRolla]

I have only ever done this race on a motorbike. where else will you get a chance to haul ass on the recce ride like you are breaking out of leewkop...while riding through leeuwkop.

 

The standing in line on a perfectly rideable section is not my scene.

[DirtyFrank]

With an event of this size one would think the trail would be better planned, and more effort put into seeding. If racetec think that their road seeding will work to host their MTB events, then they sadly mistaken. In my opinion, if you paying a premium price to enter a premium event, then the organizors need to deliver a premium product. In MTBing one accepts that there will be bottlenecks and some hike a bike sections, but waiting over an hour to cover a small section of trail is just not acceptable.

 

And the race com who stands and shouts the odds at the start should find another sport like maybe chess or something!!! he is always carrying on about the rules, how he will rip off your GoPro if it's on your body and DQ you if you cheat. Well one only has to look at the final results to see tha amount of people who cut the 55 for 30. if these guys were turned by the marshals then they should have taken their numbers and removed their official times. A proper race Com. would have insisted these people DNF'd.

 

In my cat the 1st place rider posted a time of 2:16:05 starting A6, check out his time for 2010 - 4:02:53 and 4:10:59 for 2009 for 5km shorter route. not that i care much, it's merely an observation.

 

1st placed female in a time of 2:12:31 starting in A3 beating Robyn De Groot by 2sec, with a 2012 time of 3:51:46 and best of all she rides in 40 - 49 age class

 

I know these results mean nothing to average joe and the actual winners got their rightfull place on the podiums, but they are the official posted results of a CSA sanctioned event, who once again are not doing their job properly, no wonder they are the laughing stock of our sporting bodies.

 

Next year i'll stick to NISSAN & USN series with SAseeding, they not perfect, but they know their stuff and far out perform 94.7 anyday.

 

This is not a race. Its a ride, that`s it. unless you are a contender or start in A1 you may as well treat it as a training ride. I think a lot of riders were so fed up with the bottlenecks that they simply took the quick fork to the beer tent, the timing results are simply an accident of these diversions and should not be taken seriously or used for seeding purposes. My Polar reckons i did 55,9km with 735m ascent at an average of 15,9km per hour, the last 20km were tough for me but at least i got in one training ride for the road race. My bike is going to the road race as i parked it, It will get oil on the chain and some more air in the tyres. See you on on the road, Lets go scare some roadies!

[flat29]

I did enjoy the RIDE sorry that you all had to pay money to find out that every year you will have to wait 20 min - hour. As I said before, this is not a mtb race If you think you are a seriaaas mtb rider then join us on 22 - 23 Feb 2014 at Sabie for the 75km. This will show you what is a mtb RACE that will eat you for breakfast and only spit out your o-ring

 

hat, door bye

Edited November 12, 2013 by flat29

[Honkdonk]

What the other bloke said - it started out as a add on to the main event.

It has now grown in size that is an event on its own, and either it gets treated as a family fun day ride with a few pro/elite groups thrown in at the front for pro value or it moves venues and becomes its own fully fledged stamp its mark on the annual calendar event. That will then disassociate it from the main race - new venue, additional venue hire, logistic etc etc so that comes with its own challenges which then makes it a business decision. I would bet that right now if they look at the admin - amount of entries vs whining sods, then the amount of entries and therefore the revenue generated wins hands down.

The main race is also not without its challenges either as the finish venue will only be a viable option for maybe another year, so when that change happens we will see which way this goes

[Spinsei]

This is not a race. Its a ride, that`s it. unless you are a contender or start in A1 you may as well treat it as a training ride. I think a lot of riders were so fed up with the bottlenecks that they simply took the quick fork to the beer tent, the timing results are simply an accident of these diversions and should not be taken seriously or used for seeding purposes. My Polar reckons i did 55,9km with 735m ascent at an average of 15,9km per hour, the last 20km were tough for me but at least i got in one training ride for the road race. My bike is going to the road race as i parked it, It will get oil on the chain and some more air in the tyres. See you on on the road, Lets go scare some roadies!

I disagree. Look at the facts. They are advertising a RACE. They are timing it. You HAVE to buy a timing chip. They advertise they are doing seeding. They KNOW there are 7000 people. You know there are 7000 people doing it, so you're not expecting hugely technical single track, you know what's coming, you're getting jeep track. Fair enough.

 

So, 6900 people know they have no chance at a podium. But as in my case, they gauge their performance on beating last years time or against ur mates or Strava or whatever it is. Just because ur not a top contender doesn't mean time is not important. More than a 5 min bottleneck screws up your race.

 

Now, answer me this. If you were chief organizer of a 7000 field race, would you have included that single track? Of course you wouldn't. You're not an idiot.

[Spinsei]

What the other bloke said - it started out as a add on to the main event.

It has now grown in size that is an event on its own, and either it gets treated as a family fun day ride with a few pro/elite groups thrown in at the front for pro value or it moves venues and becomes its own fully fledged stamp its mark on the annual calendar event. That will then disassociate it from the main race - new venue, additional venue hire, logistic etc etc so that comes with its own challenges which then makes it a business decision. I would bet that right now if they look at the admin - amount of entries vs whining sods, then the amount of entries and therefore the revenue generated wins hands down.

The main race is also not without its challenges either as the finish venue will only be a viable option for maybe another year, so when that change happens we will see which way this goes

 

Venue is fine, route is fine (bit boring, but ok) the ONLY thing they need to do is cut out the single track technical bits. And when there are so many noobs, u have to to be aware that a big curb is a potential bottleneck.

[DirtyFrank]

I disagree. Look at the facts. They are advertising a RACE. They are timing it. You HAVE to buy a timing chip. They advertise they are doing seeding. They KNOW there are 7000 people. You know there are 7000 people doing it, so you're not expecting hugely technical single track, you know what's coming, you're getting jeep track. Fair enough.

 

So, 6900 people know they have no chance at a podium. But as in my case, they gauge their performance on beating last years time or against ur mates or Strava or whatever it is. Just because ur not a top contender doesn't mean time is not important. More than a 5 min bottleneck screws up your race.

 

Now, answer me this. If you were chief organizer of a 7000 field race, would you have included that single track? Of course you wouldn't. You're not an idiot.

 

You`re right.( although my waife would probably disagree on the `idiot` thing ) I would not log any seeding for anyone but the first 250 and I would not include the technical singletrack. In terms of the entry fee i think the planning and organization of this race with the road closures etc involved probably add a lot and i'd like to think that the balance goes to charity as is the intention of this race.

It`s a `race`in name only as that is the selling point to convince the average weekend joe that he is a competitor rather than just another rider. The cause is still good though.( I hope!)

Edited November 12, 2013 by DirtyFrank

[1tuff0]

Just saw on facebook that some 55km riders were stopped due to bottlenecks and told to do 33 odd km....not good!! But after riding the course today there was only one place that caused bottle necks the rest was open and fast flowing. Not sure what the solution is bar smaller batches based on sas seedlings.

 

I was in batch A7 and got stuck for 2hours in bottle necks.

 

Was stopped (by rude stuff) and could not complete my 55km was miff about it.

 

I was part of the dream riders team (charity) but sad to say I will never do a 94.7 race again

[flyluis]

Same thing every year......

[Danger Dassie]

Ya the route needs to be adressed, as well as the number of entries and seeding.

Who knows, maybe have three or four sections of singletrack through the same section if it's possible. Would give a whole new dimension as well as alleviating the issue.

 

It's difficult with 7000 riders, but therein lies the problem. There simply cannot be bottlenecks lasting upto two hours, it balls up the whole seeding and more importantly the spirit of riding.

That's not a race, ride or an event, it's a lemming run.

 

Still, it's the same issue year on year, so by now anyone entering should be aware of it and make peace with it.

[igknot]

Limit the entries.

 

You cant have every thinng.

 

You cant have single track and thousands of people.

[Hennie VR]

Hahahaha. You guys still going on about the bottle necks. Damm, it must have been hectic.

Seems it was a lucky miss for me.

[Cav']

Hahahaha. You guys still going on about the bottle necks. Damm, it must have been hectic.

Seems it was a lucky miss for me.

It was TOS boet

[Wayne Potgieter]

I also experienced a bottle neck on Sunday.

[dillon]

my ride around groenkloef was blitz, everyone else was standing in a bottleneck

 

Trailseeker is already to many people for my liking, so 7000 people, no thanks

[dillon]

so how much did you guys pay to stand around in the sun with no beer for 2 hours............