Seeding races for 94.7 cycle challenge

[Jay_B]

Hang on for dear life for 20km then cruise home in the bunch

 

Think otherway round, cruise with bunch for first half and then hang on for dear life from Meyerton back to the finish. This time of the year the wind direction means from Meyerton all the way to the finish is one stiff head wind non stop. I saw some bunches last year even kakking off to keep it moving.

[jcza]

Think otherway round, cruise with bunch for first half and then hang on for dear life from Meyerton back to the finish. This time of the year the wind direction means from Meyerton all the way to the finish is one stiff head wind non stop. I saw some bunches last year even kakking off to keep it moving.

Its the bump near Walkerville that's the problem. Must be honest I can't remember wind from last year. Was most likely hiding somewhere in the bunch

[AngryAustrian]

Does anyone know who takes care of seeding? Is it pedalpower?

[Skubarra]

Does anyone know who takes care of seeding? Is it pedalpower?

 

Yes and yes

[AngryAustrian]

Yes and yes

 

Thanks, that leads me to my next question. I've just had a look at my seeding on the website and besides the fact that they have listed the Lost City twice and used it both times for the calculation, where the heck do they suck that beta index from???

 

0.78 for Lost City is just nonsense, no way that was an easy race. Yes it's flat but more then half of it was single file into the wind/crosswind. That's compared to 1.08 for the Dis-chem and 0.91 for the Fast One both of which were easy in my opinion. I would much rather have a couple of hills and freewheel down the other side than non stop effort on a windy flat.

[dirtrider]

Don't they use the winning time of a race to calculate the index ?

[Harryn]

Its the bump near Walkerville that's the problem. Must be honest I can't remember wind from last year. Was most likely hiding somewhere in the bunch

 

I will never forget that wind for as long as I live. I suffered like a pig.

[AngryAustrian]

Beta is supposed to be the difficulty rating, the lower the Beta the easier the race.supposedly. From the site:

 

Formula to calculate an index for a result is:

((((Time / Winner) – 1) / Beta) x 100) + Penalty

Where [Time] is your time for the event,

[Winner] is the time of the winner (sometimes adjusted)

[beta] is a number that indicates the difficulty of the conditions where more than 1 means windy or hilly and less means flat or calm

[Penalty] is a number that gets added to the index usually for the time that has passed since the event (more than 5 months old)

[Weighting] is the percentage of your total index made up by that particular ride

[Jay_B]

Where do you guys check your seeding index?

 

Ive been wondering with regards to seeding for 94.7, do you have to just finish a seeding event, like Rand Water inorder to get a seeding and start in a seeded group? or even if you finish the Rand water 110km could you still end up starting in the unseeded group at almost lunch time?

[Skubarra]

where the heck do they suck that beta index from???

 

0.78 for Lost City is just nonsense, no way that was an easy race.

 

Yep, the Beta is one of the big mysteries of PPA - they attempt to explain it on their website, theoretically they also take into account terrain, quality of field etc. I have also often found the Beta to be very different from my experience of the race. Sometimes it works in your favour as well which is why I try to do a few races for seeding and not rely just on one.

[jcza]

Where do you guys check your seeding index?

 

Ive been wondering with regards to seeding for 94.7, do you have to just finish a seeding event, like Rand Water inorder to get a seeding and start in a seeded group? or even if you finish the Rand water 110km could you still end up starting in the unseeded group at almost lunch time?

Pedalpower

[AngryAustrian]

Where do you guys check your seeding index?

 

Ive been wondering with regards to seeding for 94.7, do you have to just finish a seeding event, like Rand Water inorder to get a seeding and start in a seeded group? or even if you finish the Rand water 110km could you still end up starting in the unseeded group at almost lunch time?

 

pedalpower.org.za

 

Last year I only had the 66k Lost City and a disgusting time in the 110k Rand Water to count towards my seeding and (after a re-seeding request) managed to start in L. Not a great group to start in and no bunch to speak of but at lest it wasn't too late...around 8h30 if I remember

[Jay_B]

pedalpower.org.za

 

Last year I only had the 66k Lost City and a disgusting time in the 110k Rand Water to count towards my seeding and (after a re-seeding request) managed to start in L. Not a great group to start in and no bunch to speak of but at lest it wasn't too late...around 8h30 if I remember

 

Thanks alot... I havent done any races this year but my fitness levels are up there to be able to do a +- 3 hour ride, my concerns are also with the group i start in. Have 3 races lined up so hopefully that will lift my seeding significantly if i can have some good rides.

[AngryAustrian]

Have 3 races lined up so hopefully that will lift my seeding significantly if i can have some good rides.

 

Only races that still count are D2D & Rand Water

[Jay_B]

Only races that still count are D2D & Rand Water

 

Yup i know but I see the Midvaal 100 is now timed by racetec as well so I am hoping I can put in a query and beg and plead for it to count in my favour as well. That is my regular weekend cycle route so it could really help me.

Worth a shot anyway

[Blue Monster]

Thanks, that leads me to my next question. I've just had a look at my seeding on the website and besides the fact that they have listed the Lost City twice and used it both times for the calculation, where the heck do they suck that beta index from???

 

0.78 for Lost City is just nonsense, no way that was an easy race. Yes it's flat but more then half of it was single file into the wind/crosswind. That's compared to 1.08 for the Dis-chem and 0.91 for the Fast One both of which were easy in my opinion. I would much rather have a couple of hills and freewheel down the other side than non stop effort on a windy flat.

The beta is even lower than last year, even though I think that this years wind was much worse.

The A batch time was 10 min slower than last year, and still a lower beta.

I will have to do well in the D2D and RFV to get a decent start for 94.7.

My Lost City index will not help me at all.