Tour of Good Hope 2016 ....what a missed chance!

[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 Tour de Boland 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.

[Meezo]

its not yet friday, so don't think this deserves its own thread...

 

post away here

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/148948-event-bestmed-tour-of-good-hope/