PPA AGM: 2015-09-30

[rpedro]

This bunch of clowns seem to have one singular agenda, and that seems to part us with our hard earned cash. I really cannot see the point of this organization. Perhaps because there is no point.

 

Did you go vote for change?

[Bloukrans]

Cant remember much of what was said - had to much red wine with the "PPA" snacks!

 

I'm of the view that you stick to the agenda when you post or distribute it.

 

At least, I got my Argus entry as a PPA member

[Pure Savage]

Was Liezel V, a PPA trustee in attendance???

[Bloukrans]

Was Liezel V, a PPA trustee in attendance???

Yip - was staring at her the whole time

[velomonatiCT]

I think that all this squabbling amongst cyclists is why we should abolish this committee nonsense and just have a cycling KING instead

 

maybe STRAVAAA can decide who ...

[Icycling]

i attended - steve hayward asked if the election of office bearers be moved from nr 8 on the agenda forward to nr 3 , which was after his chairmans report. when this was objected to he asked for a vote. the reason he gave was that we did not have to wait around after the meeting to get the results.

when this was objected to he asked the floor to vote - the majority voted in favour of moving the election of office bearers forward. when more objections arose he just fell back on 'but the floor wants it to be moved'. no Steve you wanted it to be moved. then he didn't want to read his chairmans report because it had been handed out - again in my mind to rush the election of office bearers. but there weren't sufficient copies to be handed out to all of the attendees- so again the floor had to vote and the majority voted for him to read it out.

after we voted - a lot of people left straight away.

while the votes were being counted about 12 cyclists arrived from Killarney - and there was a request for them to vote - this was turned down by steve hayward - someone said if you want to vote you must be in time - its bad manners - its also bad manners to leave a meeting en masse when its barely started like those lot who had just voted.

btw - there was no independent person or auditor to count the votes - the PPA staff counted them and a few people from the audience (very staunch PPA members) - very above board.

all in all - the meeting left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

Having attend the meeting last night although now back in The Netherlands - the countries of bicycles. These are my comments.

 

1. If the chairman was not unconstitutional to propose a different formate to how the meeting should place with regards to voting (vote tapering), he certainly was morally and ethically incorrect even more so considering he was one EXCO up for re-election. I was the only person re-premanded in the meeting when raising that point for a 2nd or 3rd time. May Karma take it course.

 

2. The "rent a crowded" who did come and vote but left directly after (have a feeling mainly from mountain bike back ground), I wonder how many of them did this so, so they could go and rider there bicycles? I know for sure the ones who arrived late (some under obligations to there sponsors to be at killarney - oh those sponsor / companies that pump money in cycling) but after voting were riding their bicycles - kind of what PPA is meant to be about - right? I think even the new CEO said something about bums on bikes.

 

3. Sometimes I wonder if recreational or commuter cyclist think the "racing snakes" do all their training indoors? I believe most spend there cycling time on the road and more hours on the road than the avg. Joe. My point here is cycle safety / stay wider of the rider is as important if not more important to these riders - I don't believe any off us (racing snakes) would complain if the roads were safer. You may find a lot of these "racing snakes" do I a lot of training while commuting to work - I did when I did not work from home. On a personnel level when I am not under obligations to sponsors I choose to ride as Graham Ward called it - that cycle (road) race in March - in a jersey support the stay wider of the rider / cyclist stay alive at 1.5m, this require myself to get permission prior to the event from the CSA commissars (you may recall the TDF and LA riding different jerseys on the last last stage the one year and the fines UCI imposed), which I am happy to do as its for a Great Cause!!!

 

4. Getting Back to Graham Wards comments about the cycle race (road) in March which generate over 8 million this past year for PPA, at no point did anyone of the committee choose to differ with this comment about it been a race - he made mention of it as been a race at least twice. I thus assume the committee now accept it to be a race. In the past they would have thrown there arms in the air if any body referred to the then Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay cycle tour as a race. So one can assume the Cape Town Cycle tour is called a race (given the last minute negotiation with CSA earlier this years so the 'Pro" could ride - remember that?), maybe even PPA has accepted it to be a road race!

 

5. The road league races which showed a profit in 2014 (apparently due to private sponsorship) were dropped in 2015, Why? No sponsor? Why did the committee not get one? When / if the Cape Town cycle tour race looses their sponsor one would hope PPA would try and host the event (for as long as possible) given the fact the income it's received from the event over the years and PPA been a non profit association - I think the members would appreciate this. The same should have been applied to the leagues which also provided income for PPA in 2014 - well that's just an opinion share by others.

 

6. At the end of the meeting a few of us were asked to be part of a league sub committee - Janet Moss asked who on the EXCO committee will be in charge of league - to which the answer was the CEO - was the question not heard correctly? The CEO I believe come from a mountain bike background and apparently by his own admission can make coffee. I don't need to waist my time.

 

Roadie - you may have let yourselves down last night. The healthy bank balance of PPA /PPA trust comes from road riding - not mountain biking - but from what I can see less and less is been put back into road riding. Somebody made mention that The EXCO should LEAD with idea instead of this project funding providing the ideas. In the past the EXCO did. The EXCO created road events / funrides, which then meant people could be members of the 1000km or 2000km even a 10 000Km club (I am a member of that), league racing and should I be brave enough to mention the Giro del Capo! Now a JHB company ASG is hosting a similar event to the Giro in the Western Cape - PPA are not even capable of looking after our own backyard - yet PPA is trying to branch out into other parts of RSA! The Chairmans report suggested the road funrider were increasing - then why no 2000km club? Why need to have hill climb events to seed people - were there not enough events this past year - how dare one speak the truth?

[raptor-22]

2 factions - one that see the benefit of having the investment fund and want it to build to a point where a higher spend on cycling is possible without sacrificing future income, one that wants it spent on road cycling NOW and cannot see the longer term need for a solid investment base, which places less emphasis on the need for continual sales and subs to provide income.

 

 

I think you've nailed it here.

 

Characters like the individual who ranted above about racing keep offering a false dawn on road racing. Fact is that's its just become too expensive to stage as many road events as there was in the past. Municipalities are charging a small fortune for the service disruption that cycling events cause. PPA funds directed into MTB has been well spent and the ROI here has promoted MTBing and shifted the road fun ride load to off road where the inconvenience factor is reduced. this doesn't mean a reduction in entry fee since off road events bring other logistical challenges like increased medical back up costs, associated increased insurance costs etc.

 

While I agree that the PPA EXCO needs new people at the head (mostly because new thinking doesn't come from people with too much history in a position), It also needs to ensure it gets the right people into those positions. We don't need more people making noises in the wrong direction.

[rpedro]

Anybody know what the vote count was? :-) Would make for interesting reading

[velomonatiCT]

committee - a group of people who think they are better than you at whatever you do ,think they are smarter than everyone and mean to prove it by telling everyone else what they think is best ,while representing everyone elses interests by furthering their own

 

nuff said .....

[City Cycling Athletic Club]

Anybody know what the vote count was? :-) Would make for interesting reading

 

 

i would love to see it as well - the election gets moved fwd by an hour , then the vote counters are selected by the chairman to count the votes behind closed doors.

[raptor-22]

Seriously?!!

[Icycling]

I think you've nailed it here.

 

Characters like the individual who ranted above about racing keep offering a false dawn on road racing. Fact is that's its just become too expensive to stage as many road events as there was in the past. Municipalities are charging a small fortune for the service disruption that cycling events cause. PPA funds directed into MTB has been well spent and the ROI here has promoted MTBing and shifted the road fun ride load to off road where the inconvenience factor is reduced. this doesn't mean a reduction in entry fee since off road events bring other logistical challenges like increased medical back up costs, associated increased insurance costs etc.

 

 

 

While I agree that the PPA EXCO needs new people at the head (mostly because new thinking doesn't come from people with too much history in a position), It also needs to ensure it gets the right people into those positions. We don't need more people making noises in the wrong direction.

Nobody has stated hosting road ride is either cheap or easy. In terms of cost well the entry has also gone up considerably over the years.

 

Hosting MTB event also costs - how much has PPA invested in trails - which discipline of the sport was the money earned off? Then to have these trails to be used by Private organizer for the profit of private persons / companies. ABSA Cape Epic 2015 in what condition were the trail round UCT left once they had done the prologue - who rehabilitated them and at what cost and too whom? I don't have any of the answers I only ask the question - I basically know very little about MTB riding. I have been riding on the road and track for 33 years and although I have had a MTB bike since about 1992 - it still looks quite new!

 

The runners / hikers / dog walker / house riders no doubt also feel MTB riders are an inconvenience - that's no excuse if its legal / permission granted be it on the road or mountain!

 

Why don't PPA creat some MTB events which also generate large sums of cash and then use this cash for MTB riding / building trails etc? There seem to be enough private MTB events on the calendar who make money from MTB events.

 

The Cape Town Cycle tour money should be used for road biking, be it commuting / social riding / cycle awareness / road funrides / races which have also according to last nights 2014 financials also contributed to PPA coffers. If road cycling is all in good shape and their still fund from the Cycle tour - by all means use he excess for other disciplines - rather than an investment trust! Likewise membership fees for PPA hopefully cover the expenses of running the office.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Ah. So it's an "us vs them" as well as a "use the money now" thing

 

PPA is for all. Why can't they decide where the funds go? Why must "road money" be dedicated to road cycling? 

[DJR]

So, the BIG QUESTION: Who are on the new committee? List of names please.

[City Cycling Athletic Club]

Steve Hayward 

Dave Bellarirs

Anne Harrison

Rens Reseman or somthing 

my memory fails me on the other 2

[i24]

Ranting ... eish!

 

But back to the AGM. I was there. It was interesting. Clearly the elephant in the room that nobody quite knows how to deal with, is the proceeds from the Cycle Tour. This is about R12m per year. Half goes to Rotary who's mandate is to make it available to the needy. The other half, R6m odd, goes to the PPA, who's mandate is to spend it on cycling.

 

Before we start arguing about the width of one's bicycle tyres, we need to step back and appreciate where this windfall actually comes from. The Cycle Tour closes off one of the most pristine cycling routes in the world, pavement to pavement, 110km long, for an entire day. The attraction of riding this route is enough to entice 35000 cyclists to pay R470 each to ride it, year after year. On top of this, sponsors are happy to contribute lots more to participate in the celebration.

 

But the real cost of the event has got nothing to do with cycling. On that day the entire peninsular from Cape Town to Cape Point is closed down. Thousands of businesses and many hundreds of thousands of residents are effected. Entire towns are closed off to the rest of the world. Some residents cannot get their cars into or out of their property for the best part of 24 hours. These folk get no compensation at all. If we had to pay the real cost for the use of this route, it would cost a LOT more to ride.

 

So how do we cyclists get away with this, year after year? Fortunately the Cycle Tour is seen as a "Good Thing" by the general public. The Cycle Tour Trust (which has very close ties to the PPA) has perfected the management of this event. It is a huge success. Everybody loves a winner, including most of the population of the Peninsular. Good PR and a generous financial surplus that get puts to "good use" is part of the formula.

 

Which leads us back to the windfall. This has to be seen to be used in a manner which meets the approval of those who accommodate us every March. The PPA has inherited this task. They cannot use it to feed the hungry or repair shacks after a fire - that is in Rotary's mandate. PPA's mandate is to spend their tranche on CYCLING. I suspect that a review of past projects that PPA has sponsored would show that they have been effective. Ones I can think of - like the boardwalk in Lower Tokai - are hugely successful (I believe PPA contributed towards this). But the money is coming in faster than it is going out. It has to be utilized, on cycling, in a manner which can be seen to be "good".

 

Personally, the idea of giving away money does not come naturally to me... 

 

I suspect being good at organizing an event like the Cycle Tour does not predispose one to being a good philanthropist. Getting a full time CEO on board seems like a excellent idea. At least projects no longer have to rely on "available volunteer time" to make progress. I hope some of those voices in the room last night can provide the inspiration, energy and guidance to complete this mandate.

 

Before you get too carried away with dreams, R6m does not actually go very far once you start spending it. If you put a team of 20 riders on cycles, kit them out and send them on an international tour, you could spend a quarter of it. (That's without paying for the coach).

 

But back to the ranting. Nobody wants to see their money spent on anybody with a negative attitude...