Nick Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 Yes, my 40km was also only 28km As was mine. I had a fun time while it lasted though. Only realised once I came over the last hill and saw the car park. Update: Here's the segment https://www.strava.com/segments/9442772
brucem76 Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 Interesting - compared my Strava map to the 40km route map on Advendurance - its not wrong in 1 or 2 places, but all over. I hit a water station at 18km, that we weren't meant to go anywhere close to. And I should have done 23km by there. Does anyone have the ability to overlay their strava route onto the published route? The 2 are different all over the place, not just a case of a few boards moved. Yet the boards still all connected to take us from start to finish...
WesselvdWalt Posted May 9, 2015 Author Posted May 9, 2015 Wessel, sorry for the messy situation! One contradiction - above you say you became aware of the problems when you did the route check, but on FB you say it only happened after the route check - would be worth clarifying which of these is correctHi Bruce, We have the head route marker checker who went out more than a half an hour before the riders to do a rolling check on a motorbike. He also opens gates, fixes anything that has moved or been ridden over etc. I was out on my way to position and setup the last waterpoint on the 70km. We started finding route markers that had been flattened or removed. We found allot of the boards, bunting and chalk removed leading to and from the last waterpoint. The route checker in front of the riders found the same, but also that markers were repositioned and boards directing people differently for kilometers. Usually this is something we can fix on the fly, but the scope of this was not rectifyable, and by that time it was about an hour later. One of the main problems was that the split boards were completely removed. We ended up placing someone there to direct people according to distance. While the rest of us were fixing as much as we can. This is possibly the worst situation a organiser can find themselves in.
milky4130 Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 Hey Wessel Thanks for offer of a free entry for the next event. This is a real pity it turned out like this today, a real shame & something out of your control. Now Only if Zuma can payback the money..... If you are double checking the route in the mornings let today serve as confirmation that it needs to be done at every other event in the future. Let's not take it for granted that the land owner gave permission to ride his land, buy in also needs to come from the community i.e. the farm workers & their kids who I believe messed with the route signage. Not sure whose responsibility this will be farmer or event organizer. Maybe drop flyers at all the homes since the route scooter will be passing their homes in the process of the route layout & at the same time give the kids a "sweetie or tjokalit or fruit" parents must only give it to them on the race day morning though so they are not hustling the riders for it. Well done for making good on this error for us the riders/customers. ????????????????
brucem76 Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 Thanks for the explanation - so it started to be picked up before the race started, but the extent only became clear after the start.
lerouc Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 Hi Bruce, We have the head route marker checker who went out more than a half an hour before the riders to do a rolling check on a motorbike. He also opens gates, fixes anything that has moved or been ridden over etc. I was out on my way to position and setup the last waterpoint on the 70km. We started finding route markers that had been flattened or removed. We found allot of the boards, bunting and chalk removed leading to and from the last waterpoint. The route checker in front of the riders found the same, but also that markers were repositioned and boards directing people differently for kilometers. Usually this is something we can fix on the fly, but the scope of this was not rectifyable, and by that time it was about an hour later. One of the main problems was that the split boards were completely removed. We ended up placing someone there to direct people according to distance. While the rest of us were fixing as much as we can. This is possibly the worst situation a organiser can find themselves in. And land owners bitching and moaning the day before...sal my nie verbaas as van hulle nie betrokke was nie. Het nie gebly vir die lucky draw nie, was net na 10 klaar en wou nie rond sit tot 13h nie. Bietjie teleurgesteld ook gewees, Ek kan die roetes (wel 90%) van hulle ry met my klub lidmaatskap en voel nou so bietjie af om R200 te betaal vir 28km... Ek blameer nie julle nie vriendelike staff (veral die dames by registrasie ) en van die beste water punt tafels met "GU"s en jelly babies en vrugte en en en
brucem76 Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 True - water table I hit at 18km (next to a dam I wasn't supposed to get anywhere close to?) was superb! One strange/random thing - an old guy standing with his bike and dog (not dressed for riding) at one point saying "enjoying riding on my farm? Don't steal any of my cattle!"
lerouc Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 True - water table I hit at 18km (next to a dam I wasn't supposed to get anywhere close to?) was superb! One strange/random thing - an old guy standing with his bike and dog (not dressed for riding) at one point saying "enjoying riding on my farm? Don't steal any of my cattle!"Wahahahahahaa
milky4130 Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 What will happen to results i.e. leading guys who had the bike vs 2nd or 3rd group riders
Oufy MTB (Roadie) Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 Real pity. finished with 55km on the clock. got lost twice (1 my fault for not looking). Otherwise everything else was great. The ST was absolutely lovely, I didnt make use of the waterpoints but they seem pretty well stocked. Going forward, consider using marshalls at strategic points to direct the riders. Make use of the locals
Donovan Le Cok Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 Well at least the race was aptly named the trail seeker. We sent the whole race seeking the trail.... The nice thing also was that there was a distance for everybody! You could do:72km68km60km56km48km40km35km28km or the 10km... amateur comedian here...
B20 Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 I also had a rotten day out, but I do not blame Wessel.Its a bitter pill to swallow & embarrassment for the sponsor when this happens. Especially the implication on the pro's.However, there is no such thing as bad publicity..... Maybe its time we ride the races on GPS instead of route markers. The route was nice, when I was on it, love the ST & climbs. I had two side wall punctures 7km in. Ran out of CO2 Bombs.Thanx to the guys that helped me, Mathew was one. I owe you a bomb mate. After I lost about 30 minutes with the repairs, I was most surprised to see Waylon Willcock passed me on the climb, then Eric with the A bunch in tow. That's when I realised something was up.Called the missus at the start and I abandoned the race as the front was going flat again. Wessel, where is my free entry. Haven't got my sms yet........
WrightJnr Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 I don't understand why events don't release GPX files a day before races. I'm not saying replace the markers (for now) but most guys ride with some sort of device. I'd love to load the file and run it during the race, I'd stick to the markers and when in doubt refer to GPS route.
Sidmouth Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 Those farm kids had a right laugh at us lot, they all got up early and enjoyed changing the signs, One question those 2 traffic officers about 18KM in, where they supposed to send us across the road or was sending us left the right way, my thinking was the start of the climb was across that tarred main road.
brucem76 Posted May 9, 2015 Posted May 9, 2015 I don't understand why events don't release GPX files a day before races. I'm not saying replace the markers (for now) but most guys ride with some sort of device. I'd love to load the file and run it during the race, I'd stick to the markers and when in doubt refer to GPS route.I would guess that if they then needed to make any last minute changes to the route, people following GPS guidance would cause even more confusion. I'd love to see distance marker boards on the route, like in running races. At least you'd then have advance warning that something's gone wrong. My first warning today was suddenly being presented with a finish line with only 70% of distance covered...
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