[Event] GP Koning Roller Coaster League & Funride 2014

['Dale]

 

 

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.

 

The only bunch in question is, according to Twitterbird, is CAT 1. No other.

 

Unless you are implying concerns within CAT 2.

Hope not.

Edited February 3, 2014 by ' Dale

[BMCfan]

can anyone name and shame? this is unacceptable!

 

according to racetec CAT1 finished in a bunch sprint. that means they were caught even with doing shortcut! HAHAHAHAAAAAA. WTF are they doing there!!!!!!!

[Sworks20]

The only bunch in question is, according to Twitterbird, is CAT 1. No other.

 

Unless you are implying concerns within CAT 2.

Hope not.

 

What are you talking about? Im not implying anything about Cat 2, the guys that rode away on Oukaaps ride away from everyone every weekend and had a comm following them so they couldnt cheat.

 

Im saying that not just cause they Cat 1 is it wrong to cheat Im saying in any cat or group its wrong to cheat and cut the course.

 

Pay attention 'Dale this isnt high grade math here.

['Dale]

 

 

What are you talking about? Im not implying anything about Cat 2, the guys that rode away on Oukaaps ride away from everyone every weekend and had a comm following them so they couldnt cheat.

 

Im saying that not just cause they Cat 1 is it wrong to cheat Im saying in any cat or group its wrong to cheat and cut the course.

 

Pay attention 'Dale this isnt high grade math here.

 

Just checking and not making any assumptions.

The intent of your post is clearer now.

 

[Thomo]

 

1. I actually witnessed the cyclist being hit by the taxi at the Sun Valley intersection. His bike appeared to be a total right-off and while he was alive lying on the centre island, he would probably end his day in hospital..That being said, it appeared as though the only marshal at this intersection was some civilian with a red flag. I do really hope and pray that he makes a speedy recovery.

 

 

I didn't participate yesterday but cycled through this intersection @ about 7:00

It was clearly an accident just waiting to happen.!

Probably the largest/busiest intersection on the route, and it was managed by "a civilian with red flag" just merely directing cyclists.

Traffic proceeded as per normal reacting to the lights, while cyclists of course went through the red light assuming they had right of way. (which perhaps they shouldn't have assumed)

[SL7]

Maybe the guys didn't know the route. Could be an honest mistake.

 

The route description was not very clear imo

[SL7]

I don't understand the comment about "what are they doing there".

 

In Cat 3, there are about 10 guys that are excellent climbers, and perhaps another 10 that have Hoffman legs. The other 40 guys are inbetweeners.

 

I'm an inbetweener and I try my best to stay with the climbers when they attack (it's so much fun).

 

I haven't had an opportunity to make a break close to the end of a race to try and take it from the sprinters but that's my plan!

 

Secrets out

 

 

 

 

['Dale]

I don't understand the comment about "what are they doing there".

 

In Cat 3, there are about 10 guys that are excellent climbers, and perhaps another 10 that have Hoffman legs. The other 40 guys are inbetweeners.

 

I'm an inbetweener and I try my best to stay with the climbers when they attack (it's so much fun).

 

I haven't had an opportunity to make a break close to the end of a race to try and take it from the sprinters but that's my plan!

 

Secrets out

 

Saw you roll back to the start every early on as I passed in the first alphabet bunch, aVenge... You're all right?

[SL7]

All good. Just didn't feel 100%. Thanks for asking. You find racing hoops yet? Got myself Token tubbies. Awesome set weighs in at 1080grams.

['Dale]

All good. Just didn't feel 100%. Thanks for asking. You find racing hoops yet? Got myself Token tubbies. Awesome set weighs in at 1080grams.

 

Cool.

Got some Mavic Ultimates - pretty awesome hoops.

 

*hi jack off*

[cronje.fourie]

Afternoon guys/girls

 

Just read through the comments from everyone who rode yesterday. Thanks for taking the time to post these, as organizer of the event I take your feedback seriously and would like to address these issues on a point by point basis.

 

Marshals

Based on feedback I received from the marshaling convenor, traffic department and riders I can only agree that they were pathetic. As a charity organization we've always opted to use community projects to provide marshaling as a means of providing work opportunities. This year we were contacted by a young gent from the community who offered us his services and promised us professional & experienced marshals. Clearly this was not the case. Suffice to say we won't be using his services again and for that matter we won't be using community projects again period.

 

Traffic Officers

I've heard from a number of people that the traffic officials left their posts earlier than they should, or in some cases were not at key intersections. How this happened I don't know yet. We are in the process of lodging a formal complaint with the department in order to get answers to this question.

 

Coka-a-Cola

Coka-a-cola provides the drinks at the end of the race as a free service. So unfortunately we as organizer do not have control over the number of cups per rider. With regards to those folks who commented on cups with barely any coke in them, I can say that I visited the table early in the morning and noticed the same thing. I spoke to the manager of the table who told me they simply half fill them to keep the cups from being blown away and will top them up with cold coke once riders arrive. Those "empty" cups may just be a case of the pourers being overwhelmed by large rider groups and riders taking cups which aren't actually fully poured yet. Seems like a simple case of miss communication, I will however alert Coke to this to prevent it in the future.

 

Toilets

Sorry you folks had to walk so far in your time of dire-need It was not our original plan to have the loos way at the back. Unfortunately club management told us at the last moment that we are not allowed to place the loos on the field close to the riders and we had to make do with the "option" we were given.

 

OKW

The "late" start is causing congestion on OKW and I've been told by traffic that running an event over OKW next year is looking less-and-less likely. We will however try our best to keep our event on this beautiful route, this includes pushing for a 5:45/6:00 start next year.

 

Again, thank you to everyone for taking the time to comment on the issues you had. If you didn't meet me yesterday that's a shame, but you may have as both myself and some of my team were walking around and chatting with riders to find out what you thought and where you think we can improve.

 

As you know we do this for charity and if you don't like our race charity loses out in the end.

 

Thanks for all the feedback, we take it very seriously and, like you, would like to be able to host an event in the S-Suburbs again.

 

I hope you'll give us another chance next year.

[usxorf]

 

Timelapse of my ride from A-C, moviemaking device ran out of stored electricity just outside of Simons Town. Anyone interested in any of the stills (12mp) can pm me.

[nuge]

Afternoon guys/girls

 

Just read through the comments from everyone who rode yesterday. Thanks for taking the time to post these, as organizer of the event I take your feedback seriously and would like to address these issues on a point by point basis.

 

Marshals

Based on feedback I received from the marshaling convenor, traffic department and riders I can only agree that they were pathetic. As a charity organization we've always opted to use community projects to provide marshaling as a means of providing work opportunities. This year we were contacted by a young gent from the community who offered us his services and promised us professional & experienced marshals. Clearly this was not the case. Suffice to say we won't be using his services again and for that matter we won't be using community projects again period.

 

Traffic Officers

I've heard from a number of people that the traffic officials left their posts earlier than they should, or in some cases were not at key intersections. How this happened I don't know yet. We are in the process of lodging a formal complaint with the department in order to get answers to this question.

 

Coka-a-Cola

Coka-a-cola provides the drinks at the end of the race as a free service. So unfortunately we as organizer do not have control over the number of cups per rider. With regards to those folks who commented on cups with barely any coke in them, I can say that I visited the table early in the morning and noticed the same thing. I spoke to the manager of the table who told me they simply half fill them to keep the cups from being blown away and will top them up with cold coke once riders arrive. Those "empty" cups may just be a case of the pourers being overwhelmed by large rider groups and riders taking cups which aren't actually fully poured yet. Seems like a simple case of miss communication, I will however alert Coke to this to prevent it in the future.

 

Toilets

Sorry you folks had to walk so far in your time of dire-need It was not our original plan to have the loos way at the back. Unfortunately club management told us at the last moment that we are not allowed to place the loos on the field close to the riders and we had to make do with the "option" we were given.

 

OKW

The "late" start is causing congestion on OKW and I've been told by traffic that running an event over OKW next year is looking less-and-less likely. We will however try our best to keep our event on this beautiful route, this includes pushing for a 5:45/6:00 start next year.

 

Again, thank you to everyone for taking the time to comment on the issues you had. If you didn't meet me yesterday that's a shame, but you may have as both myself and some of my team were walking around and chatting with riders to find out what you thought and where you think we can improve.

 

As you know we do this for charity and if you don't like our race charity loses out in the end.

 

Thanks for all the feedback, we take it very seriously and, like you, would like to be able to host an event in the S-Suburbs again.

 

I hope you'll give us another chance next year.

 

Fantastic response, thank you sir! Great to see a race organiser take it on the chin and promise to make good! (clicks strava "kudos" button).

 

Btw 06h00 is fine (most of the northern suburbs races start this early, so no bias there).

[Thor Buttox]

Afternoon guys/girls

 

Just read through the comments from everyone who rode yesterday. Thanks for taking the time to post these, as organizer of the event I take your feedback seriously and would like to address these issues on a point by point basis.

 

Marshals

Based on feedback I received from the marshaling convenor, traffic department and riders I can only agree that they were pathetic. As a charity organization we've always opted to use community projects to provide marshaling as a means of providing work opportunities. This year we were contacted by a young gent from the community who offered us his services and promised us professional & experienced marshals. Clearly this was not the case. Suffice to say we won't be using his services again and for that matter we won't be using community projects again period.

 

Traffic Officers

I've heard from a number of people that the traffic officials left their posts earlier than they should, or in some cases were not at key intersections. How this happened I don't know yet. We are in the process of lodging a formal complaint with the department in order to get answers to this question.

 

Coka-a-Cola

Coka-a-cola provides the drinks at the end of the race as a free service. So unfortunately we as organizer do not have control over the number of cups per rider. With regards to those folks who commented on cups with barely any coke in them, I can say that I visited the table early in the morning and noticed the same thing. I spoke to the manager of the table who told me they simply half fill them to keep the cups from being blown away and will top them up with cold coke once riders arrive. Those "empty" cups may just be a case of the pourers being overwhelmed by large rider groups and riders taking cups which aren't actually fully poured yet. Seems like a simple case of miss communication, I will however alert Coke to this to prevent it in the future.

 

Toilets

Sorry you folks had to walk so far in your time of dire-need It was not our original plan to have the loos way at the back. Unfortunately club management told us at the last moment that we are not allowed to place the loos on the field close to the riders and we had to make do with the "option" we were given.

 

OKW

The "late" start is causing congestion on OKW and I've been told by traffic that running an event over OKW next year is looking less-and-less likely. We will however try our best to keep our event on this beautiful route, this includes pushing for a 5:45/6:00 start next year.

 

Again, thank you to everyone for taking the time to comment on the issues you had. If you didn't meet me yesterday that's a shame, but you may have as both myself and some of my team were walking around and chatting with riders to find out what you thought and where you think we can improve.

 

As you know we do this for charity and if you don't like our race charity loses out in the end.

 

Thanks for all the feedback, we take it very seriously and, like you, would like to be able to host an event in the S-Suburbs again.

 

I hope you'll give us another chance next year.

Great response, Fourie, thank you. I'll be there... as will 95% of the people here if the safety issue is addressed, I'm sure. And 6am is perfect!

[mikkelz]

What a great response!

[DJR]

Hi Fourie Cronje

 

You have my respect for your very frank response. With an approach like yours mountains can be moved. I'll give you another chance next year.