94.7 MTB Race bottle necks

[Strand]

omg, its the same each year. I dont know why people bother with this event.

 

That’s the nature of doing business in SA. Dissatisfied customer? Who cares? There will always be some idiot who will fill that empty seat. This event will continue for as long as there are new mtb’ers.

[Wayne Potgieter]

all this talk of MTB being the new golf...

 

How come my golf course is always still fully booked...didnt those okes get the memo?

[Kritzie]

As jy nie wil hoor nie dan moet jy voel!!

[Rudi Pollard]

I did it for the first time this year and it went a lot better than expected regarding the bottlenecks. I started in batch A2 in the 55km and had minimum delays on route.

 

I did however see a queue of probably 1km on the 30km route as I was finishing.

 

The simple fact is that wherever you get 7000 MTB'ers out on the same route you are looking for trouble. It takes 1 or two people to dismount for a bottleneck to start.

 

I entered for the fun of it. I like the vibe at bigger events, and I enjoyed my day out. I expected a lot worse bottlenecks so I was pleasantly surprised.

 

The only downside of the day is my crash 9km into the race on the cement track. Lost quite a bit of skin...

[Skubarra]

Us mtb'ers are really no better than lemmings.

 

Organisers only need to slap the name of a newspaper or a radiostation on the title of a mediocre mtb race and we will flock to it in our 1000s, year after year, complain & cry our hearts out on thehub, and be back the next year.

 

Don't blame the organisers, blame yourself for going, none of the complaints above are new.

[Reden]

The seeding system sucks.

 

I inquired about a better seeding and sent out all the details via e-mail.

Was told they do not use the SAS seeding as it is not their timing system.

Was also told "Do not phone us. We will phone you".

Did this race cause the last one was still the very old route.

Wont make this mistake again.

 

Must say the event planning was well done and the marshals out on the route was good.

Water points could have done with more ice as it is not nice to drink hot coke.

 

The actual 55km was good except the crooked seeding that caused bottlenecks.

[Strand]

Ja, the seeding sucked. Guys with pt shorts and north star tekkies started in A2/3.

[Sp!ke]

If MTB is the new golf does that mean we can cut some single trail and put some golf courses to a real use?

[FrankGuy]

I was in A7 and was caught in the bottleneck it took us 1 hr45 min to do 2 km!! The worst thing was that they cut us and we only did 38 km for something we could do nothing about ... Worst race I have ever done never again!!!!

 

[CAAD4]

Ja, the seeding sucked. Guys with pt shorts and north star tekkies started in A2/3.

 

And if he was in the group before you, it's probably because that fashionable chap either rides more than you do, or faster than you do.

 

PT pant and tekkies could be the way he commutes to the factory every day...

[MTB_wannabe]

Very , very true statement that.

Everyone goes on about how the sport is growing, this however is not the case.

+1

[madmarc]

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.

[Stretched@Birth]

Six pages vindicating my decision to stay at home...

[TALUS]

Nobody outside the first 50 should see this as a race. It is really more of an sideshow to the roadrace. I agree that the price doesnt reflect this and therefore every entrant has the right to complain. What is getting lost is that there were many marshals on route, well marked route, well stocked watertables and a non-technical route. Basically a fun family day out. If you want to do racing you should be seeded A1/2 or do other races like Voriberg (low numbers and challenging). I see it as a vibe thing leading up to the roadrace (and my time normally gives a good clue to what I can expect on the road). I would be very frustrated if I had to wait around standing like that, so not taking a dig at those guys and girls - just saying it aint gonna change soon due to the commercial nature of the event. The hardcore riders know that and most stay away. A few noobs like myself go there for something diferent to the normal warm-up ride.

Each unto his own.

Edited November 11, 2013 by TALUS

[steve61]

I'm glad I went on my own 80km jaunt around Giloolies, Serengetti, Bapsfontein etc ...was great!!

[RichieT]

Northern Farm was a treat! No lemmings to deal with...