[Event] Bestmed Tour Of Good Hope

[Funny Carp]

Thank you ASG and Best Med for supporting and staging an event for road enthusiasts.

The Tour of Good Hope was the toughest race I have ever undertaken, and I include MTB excursions in that, attracting a strong amateur field which made for safe, hard racing that was as hot as the Boland heat.

 

I suspect that being in such close proximity to the pro-athletes makes every amateur rider bring their A-game, translating to new depths of daily suffering on a demanding course. 

 

The venue, the pro-teams' vibe, goodie box, facilities and daily lunch made for a memorable few days away from normal life that will see me return in 2017.

 

My only request? Please do address the timing issue as it detracts significantly from

an otherwise fantastic event. I'll even bring my own bog-roll next time so that you need not worry about that minor detail.

[Skubarra]

 

One some days the times were not picked up (hardware), other the times were picked up but not registered against the right name (DB), others it was a factor of the data not getting from Mobii to the CSA tannies, others where the tannies did incorrect calculations because there was confusion about 4th rider across vs times of top 4 riders etc....

 

Weird that they struggle so much to sort this out, I remember we used mobii timing in the PPA league 2 years ago and from what I remembered it worked fine. Great Time do big mtb events like the Attakwas (along with mobii timing). They aren't exactly fly-by-nights so you wouldn't expect this mess from them.

[Patchelicious]

Weird that they struggle so much to sort this out, I remember we used mobii timing in the PPA league 2 years ago and from what I remembered it worked fine. Great Time do big mtb events like the Attakwas (along with mobii timing). They aren't exactly fly-by-nights so you wouldn't expect this mess from them.

Yeah... Its because it was a sequence of events that caused it....and not all ASG, Great Timing or CSA's fault, but rather a collective. Problem with collective fault is that nobody stands up and says "hey sorry man, we messed up, but we will sort it".

 

I was about two seconds away from grabbing Johnny's mic from him to tell people that Olives are bad for you, when he started saying that riders rode without chips.... ***! (both of our riders whos times didnt show up day 1 had chips, and their times showed on other days.)

 

This all started with with CSA not linking riders to chips because they wanted to "check" that each rider was licensed. The CSA tannies were very strict about it, so much so it was a joke amongst those who were waiting in line.

 

This caused a backlog and they started making mistakes, not linking riders to their Mobii chips, or doing it incorrectly, writing peoples names on little napkins and chappie papers.

 

Then some chips didn’t pick up.

 

This caused some riders to be considered DNFs.

 

Then not all the riders times got to the CSA tannies from Mobii.

 

Then the wrong method of GC time was used to calculate the over all times (4th vs top 4).

 

Then the wrong gun time was used for a Day 3.

 

So you can see multiple people are sitting with multiple sets of incorrect data, so their issue is multi dimensional, and a huge gemorse.

 

These are all symptons of lack of leadership.

 

Based on the magnitude of the mess, dont expect it to be sorted soon.

 

How to prevent this? Easy. Link the rider pre-Event to CSA and their REALIABLE chips, just like all other events.

 

Nobody has ever had a laptop open and made me show my CSA membership to get my race number for an open seeded event before. Not CSA Vets License, CSA Membership.... If there was an issue between CSA and ASG before event, thats what we call "NOT MY PROBLEM".

 

Ulitmately, ASG have not manned up here and said anything. I didnt once hear an ASG rep coming on as the Teams were about to start and apologise for the issues... not once. This is poor form.

 

On another note: One day somebody will answer me and tell me where my CSA membership money actaully goes too? Or where it is supposed to go too.

[Pure Savage]

Yeah... Its because it was a sequence of events that caused it....

 

It started with CSA not linking riders to chips because they wanted to "check" that each rider was licensed. The CSA tannies were very strict about it, so much so it was a joke amongst those who were waiting in line.

 

This caused a backlog and they started making mistakes, not linking riders to their Mobii chips, or doing it incorrectly.

 

Then some chips didn’t pick up.

 

This caused some riders to be considered DNFs.

 

Then not all the riders times got to the CSA tannies from Mobii.

 

Then the wrong method of GC time was used to calculate the over all times (4th vs top 4).

 

Then the wrong gun time was used for a Day 3.

 

So you can see multiple people are sitting with multiple sets of incorrect data, so their issue is multi dimensional, and a huge gemorse.

 

Dont expect it to be sorted soon.

 

How to prevent this? Easy. Link the rider pre-Event to CSA and their chips, just like all other events.

 

Nobody has ever had a laptop open and made me show my CSA membership to get my race number for an open seeded event before. Not CSA Vets License, CSA Membership....

 

One day somebody will answer me and tell me where my CSA membership money goes too?

 

Tannies, they need to get those CSA shirts printed

[Bianchisti]

What's the latest Patch man?

[Patchelicious]

What's the latest Patch man?

 

I built them a spreadsheet with the times on of the top few teams each day, just to give an indication of who placed where. That they can use as reference.

 

Some of their raw data was still wrong. EG: They put one of my guys back into the first day results, but gave him a time about 10 seconds too fast and made him the winner. Brendan was also missing from day 5 where he got a podium. I made manual corrections for these. Day 3 and 4 start times are still wrong, but this effects everybody so wont effect the GC.

 

Basically they used a gun time of 8am and not 8:40am on those days.

 

But from my calculations I am confident that the Team Comp guys podium is pretty set, and will be sorted.

My calculations are however done to the nearest 1/4 of a minute. But the GC is not close enough to worry about that.

 

They however have to vet each and every mail they are getting by running it through the video footage to make sure the people were actually there.

 

I dont have an update on how long it will still be before official results will be out

 

They have asked for some time, and I will pester them again tomorrow afternoon as that marks a week since the event finished.

[Meezo]

[daniele]

From the 29 of February until the 4th of March I have taken part of this incredible event: a road race around Franshoeuk and Paarl, right on the backyard of Cape Town, where hundreds of riders have been challenging each others for more than 600 Kms and 6500 mt of climbing, surrounded by the spectacular scenery and amazing roads of the Western Cape.

I will start reviewing the Tour of Good Hope 2016 by writing about the positive notes first: the scenery and the assistance from the road Rangers; they have been both incredible! The good weather, although very hot, has certainly helped in making sure everyone enjoyed their time during the race. Western Cape has given us her very best, everyone had an amazing time climbing the Du Toitskloof Pass, the Franshoeuk Pass or the many rolling hills around Paarl. The Time Trial on the second day was an adrenaline rush and loved every single stroke of the pedal. The grand finale which included the very steep climb to the Taal Monument in Paarl was the perfect ending to something quite close to an epic experience. For all of the above, I am thankful.

Unfortunately there are also negative notes which have spoiled what it should have be a unique experience for all the amateur riders who took part of this year edition.

I will start by sharing with you that I had also taken part of the 2015 edition, and therefore I was exposed to the poor level of organisation from ASG once before and forced to witness several shortfalls within the logistics and the timing recording. I thought this was probably due to their lack of experience (or care??) once before. However after receiving plenty of written apologies and promises of radical improvements and procedures changes throughout 2015, myself and the other 7 members of the Team  were genuinely convinced we were going to receive a completely different experience when we decided to sign up again for the 2016 edition.

How mistaken we were...... all the incredible confusion and the childish queuing system for the distribution of the race numbers and the Race Pack, the actual event timings and the poor, or the lack of, water stations that ruined last year edition happened last year, have sadly ALL occurred again.
The Welcome at the Paris Race Village was a shamble to say the least. Anyone who was there knows exactly what I am talking about. The disorganisation and chaos was unreal and pathetic at the same time. And just like last year I wasted approx. 3 hours in order to get my stuff, and just like last year I have missed again the Welcome dinner since I could not wait to get the hell out of that chaotic and stressful experience.
The CSA registration was a joke and riders were never advised of this last addition, or should we say last minute extra money collection. The lady at the counter was not only rude but also very unhelpful and had no idea of wha was going on.

Water stations were inadeguate and scarce. It is not possible that I must explain to a Race Organisation that when I ride for up to 180 Km I need plenty of refreshments and possibly something more than a warm bottle of water because " Sorry Sir but the ice is finished" or "One bottle only please as we do not have enough water"!!!!!!

I had friends flying from Italy specifically for this race and spent a considerable amount of money. I felt embarrassed for having convinced them to join me in this race. It's simply not possible that an organisation that moves hundreds of people and riders around the Boland region does not have a plan for when stage 3 finishes! Let me break it down for you, the arrival is on top of the Du Toitskloof Pass after 149 km race, including the neutral zone, and we were told to simply ride back to the Race Village for a crazy extra 30Km under a 40 degrees sun! Eventually we made it back to our B&B at 4:30pm after been riding a total of 179 Km no stop in crazy heat conditions.......!!!! How is possible that a shuttle service, either free or with a charge per bicycle, was not made available to those riders who have just finished one of the toughest stage of the Tour.....you do not need to be a Sky Rocket scientist to think of a simple solution like that, you just need to care for your CUSTOMERS rather than thinking what is convenience for yourself! Shame on you!

And then the final straw, the timing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just like last year, BTW, my 2015 timing is still wrong by 1:40 hrs regardless all the emails with promise about reviewing, etc....THE TIMING AGAIN?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU GOT TO BE JOKING???????? After all that happened last year, and after all the promises, the gifts, the discounts, etc, etc. YOU STILL MANAGE TO MESS IT UP SOOOO BADLY??????What is wrong with you and what is wrong with perhaps using RaceTec????? This country has an incredible tradition with regards of MTB/Road Competions too many to mention. WHY YOU SIMPLY CANNOT COPY AND PASTE WHAT OTHERS DO VERY WELL ALREADY ?? WHY YOU FEEL THE NEED TO RE-INVENT THE WHEEL AND FAILING EVERYTIME WHILE TRYING??????

ASG YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF FOR FALLING SHORT OF ALL THE PROMISES YOU MADE TO ME AND TO MANY OTHER RIDERS LIKE ME since last edition.
It comes without saying that I WILL NOT signup again to next year edition, that is if you even consider to try your luck again. I have expressed my sentiments to the General Manager of Rudy Project, both from Italy and SA, right after the arrival at the Taal Monument and they have also admitted that organisation was very poor and will study something to improve it. Simply stop wasting money in freebies, I do not need another Fleece or another pair of sunglasses, helmets, etc. I have all of that already. Just give me a proper Welcome Day, just like at the Cape Argus or Attakwas, or even 99er or Tour de PPA, and use RACETEC for the timing. that's all I ask for!

To conclude a small note to both Pinarello and Rudy Project: your Brands have been amazing in contributing, with your financial support, to this incredible race, thank you for that. At the same time I only wish to make you aware that both of your very important Brands have been associated with and negatively exposed to criticism by the very poor display of professionality of ASG. If I were wearing your shoes, considering how much money you have spent in support of the Tour of Good Hope, I would make sure to investigate or at least having an enquiry, on how those money were spent and why there are plenty of people like me so angry after directly contributing, with sweat and money, to this event. You may find out that your money were not well spent at all.

[samson99]

for thsoe of you that did the tour in the amateur/open groups, what was your training like?

Would 42 km commuting a day be sufficient with a long ride on the weekend with a few races thrown in?

Thanks 

[Patchelicious]

for thsoe of you that did the tour in the amateur/open groups, what was your training like?

Would 42 km commuting a day be sufficient with a long ride on the weekend with a few races thrown in?

Thanks 

If you do #hammer #savage intervals on those commutes, I dont see why not.

[samson99]

what would a typical interval include?

My commute has on average 300m climbing for the 21km route

[Patchelicious]

what would a typical interval include?

My commute has on average 300m climbing for the 21km route

No such thing as a typical interval.

 

There are lots of threads on training. Search for some.

 

But if you hammered it up ALL the hills to work and back, and rode 100km easy on the weekends, by this time next year you will not struggle with the ToGH. Edit: Racing it is a different story, and you would need a structured program or plan.

 

Now, I am about to get flamed for such a vague description, and shat on for using hammer too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hammer

[samson99]

thanks Patch.

Will do a search and see what i can include in my commute.

[Frosty]

Speaking of a hammer

 

http://canitbesaturdaynow.com/images/fpics/797/april_2_19___large.jpg

[Kom]

From the 29 of February until the 4th of March I have taken part of this  ...

I echo 100% of everything you said. This was my first tour and can honestly say i was shocked at how poor CSA and the timing was run. 5 aunties, 1 laptop at registration was a shock on an international level.

 

No Ice and water rationing at the stations, even worse.

 

Racetec do a superb job of timing, i used their new app for Cape Town Cycle Tour to track my wife and a few mates, it was awesome to be receiving notifications as and when they were crossing the various check points. How Racetec was not used for the TOGH is a mystery to me.

 

There is defintely two sides to the TOGH, i found the racepacks, routes etc quite attractive and will defintely enter for next year. I will continue to lobby about the items above though.

[HABA]

From the 29 of February until the 4th of March I have taken part of this incredible event: a road race around Franshoeuk and Paarl, right on the backyard of Cape Town, where hundreds of riders have been challenging each others for more than 600 Kms and 6500 mt of climbing, surrounded by the spectacular scenery and amazing roads of the Western Cape.

I will start reviewing the Tour of Good Hope 2016 by writing about the positive notes first: the scenery and the assistance from the road Rangers; they have been both incredible! The good weather, although very hot, has certainly helped in making sure everyone enjoyed their time during the race. Western Cape has given us her very best, everyone had an amazing time climbing the Du Toitskloof Pass, the Franshoeuk Pass or the many rolling hills around Paarl. The Time Trial on the second day was an adrenaline rush and loved every single stroke of the pedal. The grand finale which included the very steep climb to the Taal Monument in Paarl was the perfect ending to something quite close to an epic experience. For all of the above, I am thankful.

Unfortunately there are also negative notes which have spoiled what it should have be a unique experience for all the amateur riders who took part of this year edition.

I will start by sharing with you that I had also taken part of the 2015 edition, and therefore I was exposed to the poor level of organisation from ASG once before and forced to witness several shortfalls within the logistics and the timing recording. I thought this was probably due to their lack of experience (or care??) once before. However after receiving plenty of written apologies and promises of radical improvements and procedures changes throughout 2015, myself and the other 7 members of the Team  were genuinely convinced we were going to receive a completely different experience when we decided to sign up again for the 2016 edition.

How mistaken we were...... all the incredible confusion and the childish queuing system for the distribution of the race numbers and the Race Pack, the actual event timings and the poor, or the lack of, water stations that ruined last year edition happened last year, have sadly ALL occurred again.

The Welcome at the Paris Race Village was a shamble to say the least. Anyone who was there knows exactly what I am talking about. The disorganisation and chaos was unreal and pathetic at the same time. And just like last year I wasted approx. 3 hours in order to get my stuff, and just like last year I have missed again the Welcome dinner since I could not wait to get the hell out of that chaotic and stressful experience.

The CSA registration was a joke and riders were never advised of this last addition, or should we say last minute extra money collection. The lady at the counter was not only rude but also very unhelpful and had no idea of wha was going on.

Water stations were inadeguate and scarce. It is not possible that I must explain to a Race Organisation that when I ride for up to 180 Km I need plenty of refreshments and possibly something more than a warm bottle of water because " Sorry Sir but the ice is finished" or "One bottle only please as we do not have enough water"!!!!!!

I had friends flying from Italy specifically for this race and spent a considerable amount of money. I felt embarrassed for having convinced them to join me in this race. It's simply not possible that an organisation that moves hundreds of people and riders around the Boland region does not have a plan for when stage 3 finishes! Let me break it down for you, the arrival is on top of the Du Toitskloof Pass after 149 km race, including the neutral zone, and we were told to simply ride back to the Race Village for a crazy extra 30Km under a 40 degrees sun! Eventually we made it back to our B&B at 4:30pm after been riding a total of 179 Km no stop in crazy heat conditions.......!!!! How is possible that a shuttle service, either free or with a charge per bicycle, was not made available to those riders who have just finished one of the toughest stage of the Tour.....you do not need to be a Sky Rocket scientist to think of a simple solution like that, you just need to care for your CUSTOMERS rather than thinking what is convenience for yourself! Shame on you!

And then the final straw, the timing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just like last year, BTW, my 2015 timing is still wrong by 1:40 hrs regardless all the emails with promise about reviewing, etc....THE TIMING AGAIN?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU GOT TO BE JOKING???????? After all that happened last year, and after all the promises, the gifts, the discounts, etc, etc. YOU STILL MANAGE TO MESS IT UP SOOOO BADLY??????What is wrong with you and what is wrong with perhaps using RaceTec????? This country has an incredible tradition with regards of MTB/Road Competions too many to mention. WHY YOU SIMPLY CANNOT COPY AND PASTE WHAT OTHERS DO VERY WELL ALREADY ?? WHY YOU FEEL THE NEED TO RE-INVENT THE WHEEL AND FAILING EVERYTIME WHILE TRYING??????

ASG YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF FOR FALLING SHORT OF ALL THE PROMISES YOU MADE TO ME AND TO MANY OTHER RIDERS LIKE ME since last edition.

It comes without saying that I WILL NOT signup again to next year edition, that is if you even consider to try your luck again. I have expressed my sentiments to the General Manager of Rudy Project, both from Italy and SA, right after the arrival at the Taal Monument and they have also admitted that organisation was very poor and will study something to improve it. Simply stop wasting money in freebies, I do not need another Fleece or another pair of sunglasses, helmets, etc. I have all of that already. Just give me a proper Welcome Day, just like at the Cape Argus or Attakwas, or even 99er or Tour de PPA, and use RACETEC for the timing. that's all I ask for!

To conclude a small note to both Pinarello and Rudy Project: your Brands have been amazing in contributing, with your financial support, to this incredible race, thank you for that. At the same time I only wish to make you aware that both of your very important Brands have been associated with and negatively exposed to criticism by the very poor display of professionality of ASG. If I were wearing your shoes, considering how much money you have spent in support of the Tour of Good Hope, I would make sure to investigate or at least having an enquiry, on how those money were spent and why there are plenty of people like me so angry after directly contributing, with sweat and money, to this event. You may find out that your money were not well spent at all.

 

Groot Lem is that you?