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[Event] GP Koning Roller Coaster League & Funride 2014


cronje.fourie

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I started with P group and we left after 7:30am - this is far too late for the volume of traffic out and about on a Sunday morning. It meant we got Fishhoek mid-morning, where I was very nearly hit by 1 car and had to swerve to miss another 2. Don't even get me started on the pedestrians - common sense, anyone?!

 

Everyone in the latter groups was so strung out by then, it really was every man (er, woman!) for himself (herself), which I've never experienced in the Paarl / Durbs / Stellies rides (only Eikestad Heritage ride, but that was a complete train smash).

 

Completely agree that the marshaling left a lot to be desired - at one intersection a car was waved directly into my path! - but hope that the organisers and PPA view all this feedback as constructive and don't stop racing in this area completely as it's both beautiful and valuable Argus training :-)

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I started with P group and we left after 7:30am - this is far too late for the volume of traffic out and about on a Sunday morning. It meant we got Fishhoek mid-morning, where I was very nearly hit by 1 car and had to swerve to miss another 2. Don't even get me started on the pedestrians - common sense, anyone?!

 

Everyone in the latter groups was so strung out by then, it really was every man (er, woman!) for himself (herself), which I've never experienced in the Paarl / Durbs / Stellies rides (only Eikestad Heritage ride, but that was a complete train smash).

 

Completely agree that the marshaling left a lot to be desired - at one intersection a car was waved directly into my path! - but hope that the organisers and PPA view all this feedback as constructive and don't stop racing in this area completely as it's both beautiful and valuable Argus training :-)

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Normally everyone bitched like homo's about the goodie bag they never got or wasn't up to their standard, then is turned out everyone races for a medal which again, was never up to par, now it seems that has changed to 2 cups of coke.

 

Safety I agree is 1 thing and the most important but really Hubbers get a life about the others please. Its a cup of coke not Lance Armstrongs old medical supplies.

 

Surely if you know you are going to limit the supply of a sponsored beverage at the end of a ride, offering water as an option would be a good one. Having register a temp of 31 at the end of the ride is this unreasonable?

Edited by DuncanCT
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Surely if you know you are going to limit the supply of a sponsored beverage at the end of a ride, offering water as an option would be a good one. Having register a temp of 31 at the end of the ride is this unreasonable?

totally reasonable considering the entry fee and *** marshalling. Sworks is being a idiot.

 

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Jeez, my heart goes out to the poor organisers. R28 000 for marshalls? That's horrendous, especially as entry fees netted them in the region of at least R250 000.

 

How on earth these poor organisers manage to put on any kind of race with that paltry amount of money is beyond me.

 

The exact same concerns were raised by many others (myself included) a few weeks ago after the Journey for Sight race. The only difference was that this time the pathetic marshalling resulted in severe injuries.

 

All of these complaints about only half a cup of Coke at the end for each cyclist are also unnecessary. I'm sure there must have been at least 40-50ml in there. Don't you moaners realise that it's not the organisers' job to provide you with hydration? Be thankful you got anything at all, ingrates.

Edited by sluiper
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saw this tweet..

 

WP & Boland Cycling@CyclingRSA10h

Disappointed in the news riders taking short cuts in the @PedalPowerPPA race today, Guys be honest and play fair.

 

Anyone knows what happened?

 

Interesting! I'll bet it was before Kommetjie... there was a guy from 'M' riding with us (first half of 'H') just after Kommetjie/Slangkop Road.

 

Up until that point, I think I may have seen one or two 'I' riders, but that was it. Quite easy to take the Slangkop turn-off instead of going straight. Especially with yesterday's lack of marshalling.

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Interesting! I'll bet it was before Kommetjie... there was a guy from 'M' riding with us (first half of 'H') just after Kommetjie/Slangkop Road.

 

Up until that point, I think I may have seen one or two 'I' riders, but that was it. Quite easy to take the Slangkop turn-off instead of going straight. Especially with yesterday's lack of marshalling.

 

Or skip Boyes and go on straight for some major gain.

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saw this tweet..

 

WP & Boland Cycling@CyclingRSA10h

Disappointed in the news riders taking short cuts in the @PedalPowerPPA race today, Guys be honest and play fair.

 

Anyone knows what happened?

Interesting! I'll bet it was before Kommetjie... there was a guy from 'M' riding with us (first half of 'H') just after Kommetjie/Slangkop Road.

 

Up until that point, I think I may have seen one or two 'I' riders, but that was it. Quite easy to take the Slangkop turn-off instead of going straight. Especially with yesterday's lack of marshalling.

Poor marshalling would be my guess...

Another was Boyes drive turn towards Westlake, dude standing there with a flag waving frantically, dumb as a mute... no signage. Saw 2 cyclists turn there, marshall didn't say a thing.

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Rode (or lets say started early) with the league riders and had a very uneventful ride with regards to the traffic (compared to the other people on this thread at least). So its disappointing to see the problems others had as I really enjoyed the route, was my first race in the southern suburbs and so nice to do something that doesn't involve riding past Paardeberg.

 

My suggestion would be to do the race earlier in the year, start an hour earlier, maybe limit the numbers?

 

With regards to the coke, yes its stupid but I find it hard to get all worked up about something like that.

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That is why I prefer not racing in the S-Suburbs. It is dangerous plain and simple, PPA can be partly blamed but I do understand that they get pressure to host a race in that area, the S-Sub is not suitable for cycle races and to host a race there you are looking for trouble. Even if PPA had proper marshal's there is so many other dangerous factors that could come into play.

 

Sad part is the routes are awesome but, we as cyclists can moan as much as we like but if there is no full road closure you can forget a safe ride.

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Poor marshalling would be my guess...

Another was Boyes drive turn towards Westlake, dude standing there with a flag waving frantically, dumb as a mute... no signage. Saw 2 cyclists turn there, marshall didn't say a thing.

 

Another tweet implied it was CAT1 league riders who cheated, so I think it wasn't all bad marshalling

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Another tweet implied it was CAT1 league riders who cheated, so I think it wasn't all bad marshalling

 

Oh no

That would be horrific for the reputation of the CAT 1 bunch

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Oh no

That would be horrific for the reputation of the CAT 1 bunch

 

It would be no different to any other bunch cheating with regards to cutting the route. There are riders who race Cat 1 that should never be there. I was in the 2nd bunch or chase group in Cat 2 after the front bunch of about 8 guys were never seen again half way up Oukaaps and we were picking up Cat 1 riders at the top of Oukaaps.

 

The reputation for anyone cutting the route is horrific not just Cat 1.

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That is why I prefer not racing in the S-Suburbs. It is dangerous plain and simple, PPA can be partly blamed but I do understand that they get pressure to host a race in that area, the S-Sub is not suitable for cycle races and to host a race there you are looking for trouble. Even if PPA had proper marshal's there is so many other dangerous factors that could come into play.

 

Sad part is the routes are awesome but, we as cyclists can moan as much as we like but if there is no full road closure you can forget a safe ride.

 

While I agree to a point with you I dont agree that its not suitable to hold events in the SS. They have been holding them for years and due to 1 bad marshalling event you cannot blame every race or stigmatise that area for races.

 

Many, many races have been run successfully in the SS and the Journey event at the beginning of the year is proof of that.

 

Also, you can only ride Paardeberg so many times in a season!

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While I agree to a point with you I dont agree that its not suitable to hold events in the SS. They have been holding them for years and due to 1 bad marshalling event you cannot blame every race or stigmatise that area for races.

 

Many, many races have been run successfully in the SS and the Journey event at the beginning of the year is proof of that.

 

Also, you can only ride Paardeberg so many times in a season!

 

Agree...just saying that SS not suitable for cycle races (my opinion :blush: ). Front few bunches OK, but if you look at the chaos from middle to back of race...scary!

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