WR 1.0 Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I was in CL till my front wheel (tubby) went bang around 37km. I waited for a while till the sweep arrived and then joined 2 guys from A who had spokes broken in a crash earlier. We also picked up a lady who was full of praise for the medics after calling the emergency number. She felt nauseous and said the guys arrived within 5 mins of her calling.
Frosty Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 Although I really enjoyed the race until I crashed... I think it was my last Macsteel race. Started in the DL group and the bunch got massive really quickly. Saw some CL riders in there as well. Long story short... The guy riding in front of me clipped the handlebars of his neighbor at 40km mark and a lot of the DL group riders was part of an awful crash. Lost the group so decided to finish the race riding solo but my arm got 8 stiches and I'm one very sore lady today. But thanx for a well organised race! Can't complain about that.Sorry to hear about your crash - wishing you a speedy recovery and hopefully back on the bike soon. If you really feel you don't want to ride this race again, we'd like to get you involved in helping us - you'll see a completely different view of cycle events when on the other side.
Frosty Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 I was in CL till my front wheel (tubby) went bang around 37km. I waited for a while till the sweep arrived and then joined 2 guys from A who had spokes broken in a crash earlier. We also picked up a lady who was full of praise for the medics after calling the emergency number. She felt nauseous and said the guys arrived within 5 mins of her calling.If a race does not have Helivac and Road Rangers as part of the support team, then I would think twice about doing the race. These guys were jacked! Hard luck with the wheel
Wyatt Earp Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Just went for a run, the legs confirmed that yesterday was a toughie .
Stiggy Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 How come the 65km did not have a medal ceremony or prize money? You guys did last year, why not this year?
Bianchisti Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I didn't think the C bunch was all that bad. There was a few moments but not more so than usual. We caught the alphabet soup up ahead as well. None of that is in any way different to most other races. At one point I had to grab a handful of brake as the guys in front came to a near standstil for goodness knows what reason. All that happening on a pedestrian crossing (painted white surface) and my rear wheel came around splashing energy drink all over my right leg sending me sideways.
W@nna-BE Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I have been really nervous and stressed about a fall so close to the epic with a couple of friends falling at a few races during the past couple of weeks and especially after the R4S and the madness and close calls after we caught VC. So the plan was get to the front before the first left turn and stay in the front out of the manic bunches. It hurt alot in front but paid off with no accidents in sight and a 6th place finish in B
Frosty Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 How come the 65km did not have a medal ceremony or prize money? You guys did last year, why not this year?There were prizes: U14/16 girls and boysU14 boys65Km Open65Km MTB specific group I was the unlucky person nominated to hand out the prizes, because our Race Director was called out to sort out a problem with the EMPD and the opening of the R23 north to traffic. We're not obliged to pay any prizes for non-licensed categories, but we do anyway.
Frosty Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 I have been really nervous and stressed about a fall so close to the epic with a couple of friends falling at a few races during the past couple of weeks and especially after the R4S and the madness and close calls after we caught VC. So the plan was get to the front before the first left turn and stay in the front out of the manic bunches. It hurt alot in front but paid off with no accidents in sight and a 6th place finish in BYou talking about the VC being caught on R4S?
Frosty Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 Organising Committee hat comes off, and this is my own personal comment(sorry if you're offended, it's not directed at anyone, only my experience from being more involved with the seeding and taking queries at number collection): Complaints about the seeding is a problem, not only here but in many races. Incorrect seeding places you in the wrong group, as well as the inability to ride in a bunch (holding your line, overlapping wheels, braking suddenly) contributes to crashes - and of course outside conditions (the road surface and weather conditions). The road conditions yesterday were not that bad, even though there were sections deemed dangerous. The licensed cyclists in general are not affected by the seeding, although you do get people that BUY a licence that want an earlier start time. I'm not saying there aren't crashes in the licensed bunches - there are - but it's back to the basics (holding your line, overlapping wheels, not concentrating, etc., etc.). If you have a query about the seeding for this event, you can contact me directly (PM) with your phone number, and I'll call you to explain exactly how it was done. I know how Cycle Events seed other events - this event used them before, but they got too expensive and a change was made - not my call, but it happened. Groups were smaller, because final entries were down by 15% (compared to 2014) - mainly in the 103Km event (the rest were on par compared to previous years). The only organisation that can fix this is Cycling South Africa, or CGC (for us Vaalies) - and it needs to be raised by the masses (the fun riders) as a concern. We can't have all events in one basket, otherwise the monopoly will control the prices of events. For me, the race times belong the cyclists, they've paid for the service through their entry fee and it should be available to be used by any organiser to use for seeding purposes. There needs to be one seeding calculation that is used by all, and needs to be realistic in relation to the route, weather conditions and so much more. If only there was a calculation for wheel suckers, then this wouldn't be necessary. My 2c worth as a fellow cyclist, and has nothing to do with my representation on the organising committee.
W@nna-BE Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 You talking about the VC being caught on R4S?Yes B batch caught VC and the group was huge
Stiggy Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 What time were the prizes for 65km? What were the prizes? Stayed there from 12 and didnt hear anything about prizes.........
Frosty Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 Yes B batch caught VC and the group was huge One year, when that race still had 5-year age groups, the VC (40-44) caught the VB (35-39) at the top of the steps, you can imagine 200+ cyclists riding down the steps all the way to Kareekloof with a crosswind from the left (gutters galore on the opposite side of the road) - worst licensed race I've done, in terms of missing out of an opportunity to get into the break (using the VC's pace to get away with about 20-30 guys).
Frosty Posted February 23, 2015 Author Posted February 23, 2015 What time were the prizes for 65km? What were the prizes? Stayed there from 12 and didnt hear anything about prizes.........I don't remember the exact time, but it was just before the lucky draw started.What group were you in, and what was you race position? Cash for the Open/MTB groups, and vouchers for the youth categories. I was back at the finish line at 12:25, because I remember calling in to race HQ complaining that the EMPD officers had abandoned their post outside Carnival City - that was when the robot (traffic light) took over and the flow was so much better.
Escapee.. Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Although I really enjoyed the race until I crashed... I think it was my last Macsteel race. Started in the DL group and the bunch got massive really quickly. Saw some CL riders in there as well. Long story short... The guy riding in front of me clipped the handlebars of his neighbor at 40km mark and a lot of the DL group riders was part of an awful crash. Lost the group so decided to finish the race riding solo but my arm got 8 stiches and I'm one very sore lady today. But thanx for a well organised race! Can't complain about that. Sorry to hear about your fall, why was it your last Macsteel Race? Ouch, sorry to hear, real hard lines.Where in DL did this happen ?I know we caught some CL guys quick but I was under the impression the bunch had split numerous times . Yip, when we turned left towards Suikerbosrand (+-30km mark), I looked back and the bulk of the bunch was gone. That following 10km we picked up a lot of CL riders but most of them dropped off again because of the pace upfront
Wyatt Earp Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Sorry to hear about your fall, why was it your last Macsteel Race? Yip, when we turned left towards Suikerbosrand (+-30km mark), I looked back and the bulk of the bunch was gone. That following 10km we picked up a lot of CL riders but most of them dropped off again because of the pace upfront Were we still there ?I can't believe I missed you .
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.