Argus 2014-Lessons Learned

[NeoOne]

Anyone who rode the P&P Argus tour yesterday with an opinion on what worked and especially what DIDN'T! Please feel free to state your gripes and wins here and we'll forward it to Supreme Chancellor Zille to fix or at least consider for next year.

 

As my first Argus I was luckily with old-hands who showed me the way to go, so preparation, timing, parking and loading into the chute was pretty smooth sailing. It did help that I arrived early. All I had to do was look out for the Standard Bank building, as per map and get to H-group (and freeze) and wait.

 

There are a few things I would do differently;

 

Start procedure-

• deploy much more staff to check the 5 "required to race" items (chip, numbers on h/bars; on brake cable;on shirt, a helmet, race card)
  
• have more access points for riders to get to their respective groups
  
• add more lighting at the start holding areas
  
• supply more toilets and refuse bins at start area
  
• potentially add paid lock-up storage at start line
  
• deploy marshals inside the chutes to stop late-comers from pushing past riders who arrived on time, to secure better start position
  
• on windy and even non-windy days, add some sort of windbreak on exit of the start line (just past the buildings), to prevent cyclists getting blown off their bikes 30 seconds into the race
  

Timing of groups releases-

• Accept LESS entrants and charge a nominal amount more to recover that loss of income and THEN release the different groups further apart i.e. the current short intervals between groups are causing bottle-necks from Muizenberg through till halfway up Smitswinkel and the concertina effect on the Atlantic seaboard is potentially dangerous. Our group caught the G-group on the Blue Route and were caught by the head of F-group and even some flyers from J-group at Muizenberg because of the slow-and-go after Blue Route
  

Race timing(racetec)

• I had a noticeable discrepancy in my recorded time and official time of 3mins. I personally started my Polar RCX 5 -20 seconds after the starters gun and stopped it about 30 seconds after crossing the line, so maybe consider having a second timing supplier ( and NO it doesnt auto stop- also I didnt stop or get off once, so bugs in system??? No?
  

General observations

• The commentator at the finish line offering drinks could have more than one joke-something to do with “switching the wind off next year”
  
• More beer tents!
  
• Complimentary massages closer to the finish line
  
• More signage directing people to the Cyclelab and other VIP areas
  
• Not to play that “Suikerbossie” song at foot of Suikerbossie climb
  
• Deploy a person with a warning flag on final turn before Beach Road stretch to the finish line. I nearly overcooked it there, going in too hot and that would have been a long run carrying my bike
  

In spite of the wind, the race was a big success and an absolute pleasure to ride and more especially pleasurable to finish. I can’t wait for next year and will start training for sub 3 from tomorrow. Promise!

 

If you really want to know i did it in 03:36:06

Edited March 10, 2014 by NeoOne

[jcza]

Too much reading - my lesson learnt.

 

Pack another set of wheels.

[Johny Bravo]

That I am much more talented on a mtb than a road bike. Next year I will do it on my 29er with knobblies.

[Brent]

Start:

 

Only gripe I had was that my start card was not punched at the initial check which I only found out needed to be done when I tried to enter my start chute.

 

The portable urinals were a great idea for the start !!!

 

Timing:

 

My Cateye time was within a 10th of a second compared to the Racetec timing...perhaps the problem lies with the OP's equipment

 

Last years timing was also almost spot on

 

Group release:

 

Since I start lower down the order, I cannot comment about the start times of the earlier groups. What I did notice is that bunches from my group [R] pretty much stayed together all the way until just past Simonstown when the wind effected separations between bunches.

 

I do however think that 1 minute time gaps for start groups isnt the most ideal especially for the more hard core riders.

 

 

Having now completed my 19th Argus, I can certainly say that the event and its organisers get a 99.99 out of 100 for their efforts and I will certainly be back next year.

 

Well done to the Cycle Tour team, the PPA, city of Cape Town, the sponsors, the marshals, the supporters and everone else involved in this event :clap: :clap:

 

the seeding of riders still however comes into question when some riders land up in the upper to mid level alphabet soup seedings with clearly no visible means of getting such good seedings...especialy when looking at their previous 12 months results for other rides on Racetec

Edited March 10, 2014 by Btus

[jkoorts]

Don't buy stuff from the expo to eat or drink for the race if you never tried it before.

['Dale]

CONTINUE

The zones for rubbish to go into

1 min between bunches A-F

Tuk-tuk service from Grand Parade

Edited March 10, 2014 by ' Dale

[jkoorts]

the seeding of riders still however comes into question when some riders land up in the upper to mid level alphabet soup seedings with clearly no visible means of getting such good seedings when looking at their other results on Racetec

 

Like this guy?

 

http://results.racetec.co.za/results_by_person.aspx?PID=536047&HL=1

 

He does not do timed races but seems to get great Argus seeding.

 

HTF does that work?

[Ant_I_R_Legend]

Hello, does anyone know the actual elevation gain for the Argus? Strava is giving some seriously conflicting results ranging from 1,278m - 2,566m

 

Cheers!

[Starvin' Marvin]

Aunty Helen doesn't control the Argus surprisingly enough, Dave Bellairs would be the man to talk to surely?

[Johny Bravo]

Like this guy?

 

http://results.racet...PID=536047&HL=1

 

He does not do timed races but seems to get great Argus seeding.

 

HTF does that work?

Thats not right. Being so slow is the cause of many accidents.

[Sportsworld.co.za]

A couple of guys in the club found this out the hard way:

 

DO NOT sit behind MTB's in a road race. They did, and when the 29ers went over what to them was obviously a small blip in the road, 3 of the guys behind them all punctured one after the other on their road bikes.

[jkoorts]

Thats not right. Being so slow is the cause of many accidents.

 

quite possibly he caused accidents even 30 minutes behind him because of the butterfly effect

Edited March 10, 2014 by jkoorts

[DaviM]

Great race!

I would like to see more "chuck zones" like at Smits nothing worse than a pocket full of opened gu's when you know there is one more deep down in there!

[jkoorts]

These 3 (the last 3 finishers of C) colluded together via some backdoor process. Maybe they're PPA officials.

 

http://results.racetec.co.za/results_by_person.aspx?PID=536046&HL=1

http://results.racetec.co.za/results_by_person.aspx?PID=536047&HL=1

http://results.racetec.co.za/results_by_person.aspx?PID=561585&HL=1

 

Who's gonna make k@k about this?

[braailegend]

To much reading... I like pictures diagrams and graphs

[Spoke101]

Like this guy?

 

http://results.racet...PID=536047&HL=1

 

He does not do timed races but seems to get great Argus seeding.

 

HTF does that work?

How do you finish 245th out of 241 riders in your batch?