Argus 2014-Lessons Learned

[@Rabubi]

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

This was my first Argus, and I was blown away (not only by the gale force wind) by how extremely well organised the event was. I made sure I read the material that I was sent, and found it easy to get to my gate in time. My only gripe is that the beer tent closed too early.

[Sean1]

This was my 4th Argus and i really enjoyed it. Wish I had the same form in prior years when the conditions were perfect!

 

Tips for the race organisers:

 

Signboards leading cyclists from the roads to the start chutes. There was some confusion next to the Std bank building. Riders backtracking and get conflicting directions from marshals about where to enter from.

 

Potholes and trenches on the route. Get that super efficient city to get the route really flat and skinny tyre friendly prior to the Argus. I was surprised at times riding in D batch, and having caught other riders before Smits, at the size of the potholes. No warning from riders you hit potholes, or have to hop them. Inexperienced riders jump on the brakes and this causes bunch braking and possibly crashes!

 

Potholes is an easy repair? Misty Cliffs had some rough spots as well.

 

Luckily there were no freshly dug road repairs like last year!! Thanks for that.

 

Make the batches a little bigger and make the gaps 2 to 3 minutes. Would save us from all coming together before Smits.

 

Otherwise what can I say!

 

Had a ball this year. I had great climbing legs and thoroughly enjoyed the racing at the front of D batch. all this rush against a very sunny windy CT. The friendliest, cleanest city in SA.

 

Loved the race and meeting fellow riders who urged us to go hard for a sub 3 up Suikerbossie and who shake hands at the finish after a thrilling ride.

 

The hub also allows you to revisit aspects long after the race!! Top marks for sharing all of you.

 

PS just missed the sub by 101secs. Back next year.

[Pusher]

@ Pure XTC. I agree. I have seen some real stupid bunch riding in some of the Jhb races.Total disregard for oncoming traffic and generally couldn't give a rats ass to the other rider around them.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Pusher

[Blue Monster]

The problem with these big events is that they bring out everyone. Local road races in Gauteng have between 600 and 3000 entries. I am sure it is the same in the other regions.

This means that most of the riders at the big events don't race often if at all.

We all need to be patient with the guys that don't race often, and accept that they will naturally have a lower seeding than most.

If you are a racer, race more often, improve your seeding, and race with fellow racers.

Don't only race once a year, start in a lower "fun" batch, and then complain that your fellow competitors don't know how to bunch ride/race.

I am competitive by nature, and started at the back end of the alphabet soup for my first race last year. I trained hard and did as many races as possible. I can also hold my own in a bunch. This all gave me a F start for Argus 2014.

Had I not been sick, I would have had a blast. Possibly come in under 3:15 for my first Argus.

I have learned a lot, am doing more races this year, to get a better 94.7 seeding, which will all lead to an even better 2015 Argus seeding.

Bottom line "If you are a racer, race as often as possible, if you are a fun rider, enjoy the atmosphere"

[Gustav1]

Well said Blue Monster

[Tubehunter]

The problem with these big events is that they bring out everyone. Local road races in Gauteng have between 600 and 3000 entries. I am sure it is the same in the other regions.

This means that most of the riders at the big events don't race often if at all.

We all need to be patient with the guys that don't race often, and accept that they will naturally have a lower seeding than most.

If you are a racer, race more often, improve your seeding, and race with fellow racers.

Don't only race once a year, start in a lower "fun" batch, and then complain that your fellow competitors don't know how to bunch ride/race.

I am competitive by nature, and started at the back end of the alphabet soup for my first race last year. I trained hard and did as many races as possible. I can also hold my own in a bunch. This all gave me a F start for Argus 2014.

Had I not been sick, I would have had a blast. Possibly come in under 3:15 for my first Argus.

I have learned a lot, am doing more races this year, to get a better 94.7 seeding, which will all lead to an even better 2015 Argus seeding.

Bottom line "If you are a racer, race as often as possible, if you are a fun rider, enjoy the atmosphere"

 

Doubt many of the people are too concerned about the bunch riding skills once you get into the double alphabet letters. Surprisingly it's the bunch riding skills of some of the riders right up in the front bunches. Generalising now, but most likely chaps who are really strong cyclists who mostly do triathlons or something similar where their exposure to group riding is really minimal, do a seeding event somewhere with a fantastic time and then end up at the sharp end of the field. These are the real dangers to the groups as the front guys ride tight and expect that everyone who is there has some form of bunch riding etiquette, which is more often seriously lacking and REALLY evident when everyone starts jostling to be in the top 10% of the group.

 

Rode in D group 7 plus years ago and coming over Hospital Bend into the fast section where the N2 and the M3 split some chap decides to go left of the bollards and chase down the outside of the these to make up some position in the group. Yep you guessed it, when he eventually got to the bottom of the hill and had to change his option from heading to the airport to get back on the route towards UCT he was going too fast to cut back in safely, but gave it a bash anyway and managed to hit the side of a bollard with his right pedal sending it tumbling across the road in front of the group. He's suddenly snaking at 60plus km\h and slowing down to get back in control, whilst you hear that dreaded sound of bikes and riders going down at pace behind you. (Didn't see him again or manage to get his number.) This one incident has made me that loud mouth in the group who shouts at riders overtaking on the left in high speed sections especially when they give no warning. You will know who they are quite simply because they will pull this stunt and then when they squeeze into a non existent gap, causing wheels to overlap, at plus 60 kays they'll reach down for their bottle and we all know where that ends up....

[TALUS]

I freely admit I am a bang gat. I doubt that many people make a getaway on the downs. I am big and can mostly free faster than a lot of guys - I often sit on the brakes to keep my position. My point is : Why chase by on the downhills - you look like a dick on the next uphill when the peloton rolls over you.

[g4mb1t]

To me the whole thing was excellently executed. Thank you to everyone who was involved.

 

Lessons Leaned: Have a good time and enjoy, leave the serious stuff to those who started before 8.

[Skubarra]

Doubt many of the people are too concerned about the bunch riding skills once you get into the double alphabet letters. Surprisingly it's the bunch riding skills of some of the riders right up in the front bunches. Generalising now, but most likely chaps who are really strong cyclists who mostly do triathlons or something similar where their exposure to group riding is really minimal, do a seeding event somewhere with a fantastic time and then end up at the sharp end of the field. These are the real dangers to the groups as the front guys ride tight and expect that everyone who is there has some form of bunch riding etiquette, which is more often seriously lacking and REALLY evident when everyone starts jostling to be in the top 10% of the group.

 

Rode in D group 7 plus years ago and coming over Hospital Bend into the fast section where the N2 and the M3 split some chap decides to go left of the bollards and chase down the outside of the these to make up some position in the group. Yep you guessed it, when he eventually got to the bottom of the hill and had to change his option from heading to the airport to get back on the route towards UCT he was going too fast to cut back in safely, but gave it a bash anyway and managed to hit the side of a bollard with his right pedal sending it tumbling across the road in front of the group. He's suddenly snaking at 60plus km\h and slowing down to get back in control, whilst you hear that dreaded sound of bikes and riders going down at pace behind you. (Didn't see him again or manage to get his number.) This one incident has made me that loud mouth in the group who shouts at riders overtaking on the left in high speed sections especially when they give no warning. You will know who they are quite simply because they will pull this stunt and then when they squeeze into a non existent gap, causing wheels to overlap, at plus 60 kays they'll reach down for their bottle and we all know where that ends up....

 

Agree. The irony for me about people pulling these crazy crap on Hospital bend and the Paradise road downhill is that the group won't split before Smitswinkel anyway so there is very little to be gained by taking these kind of risks in the first 5km of the race.

[flymango]

Forgot to mention: another key lesson learnt was that many riders in the lower groups enjoy wearing underwear under their lycra.

[bobbie]

I got a very "late" start in comparison to my previous 7 to 7h30 starts (no racing snake I know) and only got going at 8h30.

 

Even though this was my 12th Argus I was told that because it was my daughter's very first one I got "10 penalty points". Wasn't going to argue with the tense lady at registration and we duly started at that time.

 

However, my gripe certainly was trying to get into our batch, TT. As our start pen was at the back, we had to try and and get through various groups of cyclists in order to get to it. This is not easy with single bike but with a tandem it's a whole different ball game all together. You cannot pick it up or expect the little one to do so. Not many riders were willing to give us a gap (and yes we were on time as per all the instructions). Most of these cyclists were batched in groups after us yet no one wanted to move. Ego ego ego....

 

Eventually a lady with mtb took control and just barged ahead and said "follow me", uttered a 'few words of 'wisdom' to these cyclists and they started to give us a gap.

 

Definitely hope they will sort this one out. Other than that, another amazing journey with my daughter!

Edited March 17, 2014 by bobbie

[Bigmig1]

The argus seeding system is worse than the duckworth lewis System in Cricket.

 

They really need guidance on the seeding process.

 

When u try to explain to the race office that they can take the average speed of your last 13 races they just ignore your request.

 

"No,we look at your last race and if u have not raced for 5 months we penalise you."

 

Living in the country side we hardly race,but train mostly on the road.Now we get penalised for not racing..

[bobbie]

The argus seeding system is worse than the duckworth lewis System in Cricket.

 

They really need guidance on the seeding process.

 

When u try to explain to the race office that they can take the average speed of your last 13 races they just ignore your request.

 

"No,we look at your last race and if u have not raced for 5 months we penalise you."

 

Living in the country side we hardly race,but train mostly on the road.Now we get penalised for not racing..

 

 

yup and it's a crazy excuse as I know someone who only cycles Argus. Rode last year, didn't cycle in any event thereafter, entered Argus, and got a 7h30 start....

 

crazy!

[Skubarra]

 

When u try to explain to the race office that they can take the average speed of your last 13 races they just ignore your request.

 

 

Huh??? I don't blame them for ignoring your request!

 

My advice, rather than trying to convince the organisers to change the system to something that would suit you. Take the effort to figure out how the seeding works (The seeding on PPA website is a good start), plan your cycling year properly then it's easy to get the seeding you feel you deserve.

[Pure Savage]

The argus seeding system is worse than the duckworth lewis System in Cricket.

 

They really need guidance on the seeding process.

 

When u try to explain to the race office that they can take the average speed of your last 13 races they just ignore your request.

 

"No,we look at your last race and if u have not raced for 5 months we penalise you."

 

Living in the country side we hardly race,but train mostly on the road.Now we get penalised for not racing..

 

 

 

The new seeding is bar far more accurate. By looking at the spread of finishers from the groups, much closer spread than in previous years. You cannot take 13 argus's into account, no way of telling fitness.

 

Just unfortunate for your situation.

[GLuvsMtb]

 

 

 

The new seeding is bar far more accurate. By looking at the spread of finishers from the groups, much closer spread than in previous years. You cannot take 13 argus's into account, no way of telling fitness.

 

Just unfortunate for your situation.

Here is an interesting graph on finishing times for this year.