Statement regarding cancellation of the 40th Cape Town Cycle Tour from David Bellairs

[bclark]

For those that missed it:

https://omny.fm/shows/the-john-maytham-show/cycle-tour

[Shebeen]

Two things.

 

One.

If we had started somewhere else other than the wind tunnel, Sunday's ride would still have been cancelled. Making out like the wind in town was why they cancelled the ride is silly. They cancelled the ride because of the dangerous wind conditions on the entire route, in conjunction with the other risk factors that came onto the horizon.

 

We have (optimistically) maybe 500 people looking at this thread and the other CT ride thread. Multiply that by a factor of say 5 as folk who can handle their bikes in windy conditions. 2500 riders. Ok, lets double that , so 5000 riders. (fetching sompompie) That is 16% of potential starters. So lets say 20%. The other 80 are weekend warriors and fair weather riders and a mix inbetween. They did learn from 2009 that conditions on the road were horrendous and the majority  of riders would have been at risk. Calling off the ride under these conditions was the correct thing to  do. Calling off the ride because of windy conditions only at the start, maybe not so valid. The fact remains, conditions all over the course were terrible. 

 

Two.

While peddling around this morning, I put myself in the shoes of a shack dweller. Someone who has nothing, and try as hard as I can to get a job, there are non. And those jobs I do get I am treated like dirt and abused. All the time I go to meetings and here about how great things are going to become. I ask for help and I hear help is coming. I ask again. It is coming. I ask again and I ask again. Ask again. Ask again.

 

I ask again. Government meets with me, and ask for time. So we wait ........... so I ask again. I am trying to get a job. Some people are trying to help, but it is not so easy. So I ask again. I ask again. I ask again. And ask again. Now I am gatvol. Someone needs to listen.

 

Lets stop this ride. It is so huge and so big and so important maybe someone will listen and help us. So we do and it works, well sort of cause they cancelled it because of the wind. So they cancel the ride for ever. So what, my life as a shack dweller is still hard and it is still hard to get a job and it is still hard to improve the chances my children have of getting out this hell.

 

And so I went through the various list of people who are/were affected. Charities, service providers, government, hotels etc. And the answer to the problem was not so easy to come by. So I peddled home, had a shower, stuck my head in the sand hoping someone braver and smarter than me was trying to solve the mess our wonderful predecessors left us.

I dunno about that one.

 

I did the whole "route", it was windy in sunny cove/glencairn but not that gusty straight off the sea.

 

Gusty going down chappies, was obviously a bit hairy each time you went round the corner and the wind came down a valley. BUT there was a massive crowd from one of our multinational organisations - these guys had come as a group of 40, and all had rental bikes. i'm guessing the range of skills was quite wide among them. they had ridden from town to top of chappies and were on their way back. i didn't see any wiping out.

 

oudekraal was also a bit gusty, but cars more of an issue than wind.

 

how about that merge, mod?!

[NotSoBigBen]

'preferential entries next year for those that have picked up their race packs this year'

[Slowbee]

how about that merge, mod?!

eish the merge might have me hung drawn quartered faster than the CTCT being called off in windy conditions

 

While you and I might have been fine Sunday, at least 50% of the starters would not have been fine. Those back markers would have been in danger on the route, no matter what. Fair weather riders and nothing wrong with that.

[Blackheart]

It's encouraging to see so many well reasoned posts (well most are..) around such complex social issues. So many points to consider.

As a long time HB resident, I have lived with people who have have lives devastated by fire, employees, work colleagues and friends, (non of whom breed like anything other than human beings) and have experienced first hand how traumatic it is.

I have rebuilt homes, sometimes with my own hands, sometimes by paying for it to be done - in order to spread more cash around.

 

I don't claim any special insight, but unless you have been doing all your training indoors, there's a pretty good chance that you've already ridden past a great number of people to whom your bicycle is a years worth of food,or clothes, or school fees (or all of those things, if you are pseudo wealthy) and have elicited some feeling of resentment. If it takes the cancellation of a push bike race to open your eyes, then more power to it.

 

Let's not forget though, that the cancellation had nothing to do with the devastation in IY, it was a combination of 3 risk elements which individually might have been handleable, but together were not.

[dev null]

'preferential entries next year for those that have picked up their race packs this year'

 

This is all I was asking for. And maybe a change to the start to exclude going under the civic centre. Losing the R2000 for entries for the family I can live with.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Moridin

[urbanroyal]

This is all I was asking for. And maybe a change to the start to exclude going under the civic centre. Losing the R2000 for entries for the family I can live with.

I was wondering about the start as well....maybe in Christian Barnard. ..just a thought..????

[Tubehunter]

Two things.

 

....Snipped...

 

See we are thinking similar too! (Too many threads about this now!)

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/166893-ct-cycle-tour-suggestion-to-change-to-1st-weekend-of-april/?p=3086041

[djvr]

I'm not going to comment whether the right call was made or not or what the reason for the call was.  To me the whole CTCT trip was a disappointment due to protest actions.  It started for us Vaalies on Friday morning when the roads were blocked off and many people missed their flights due to protests. Then on Sunday morning we got a sms informing us about the shortened rout due to protest action.  In my opinion these protesters have established a new way of attracting attention and this will happen more on major events unless some sort of action is taken to prevent this.  Will I again spend all this money to do this race, at the moment not. Mayby in a few months time I might feel different but not now.

[BigDL]

I'm not going to comment whether the right call was made or not or what the reason for the call was. To me the whole CTCT trip was a disappointment due to protest actions. It started for us Vaalies on Friday morning when the roads were blocked off and many people missed their flights due to protests. Then on Sunday morning we got a sms informing us about the shortened rout due to protest action. In my opinion these protesters have established a new way of attracting attention and this will happen more on major events unless some sort of action is taken to prevent this. Will I again spend all this money to do this race, at the moment not. Mayby in a few months time I might feel different but not now.

Prevent through stopping the protests or prevent through addressing some of the reasons for the protests??

[Vetplant]

Your boss walks in, tells you that in 5 months time you will be evaluated on a specific aspect alongside your peers.

 

You make effort to find time before work and after to spend time on this aspect, you even neglect your friends and family to improve yourself.

 

The big day arrives, you are kitted out along with your peers. The butterflies of anticipation has you close to nausea, but you feel that the assessment is within your means, you should make it.

 

Boss walks in, tells you: "never mind, we cancelled the evaluation"... All that preparation, all for nothing.

 

That is the best analogy for the emotions I went through on Sunday morning. All the months of preparation, and with one statement from the an announcer, the event is unceremoniously no longer taking place.

 

I understand the various reasons for this cancellation and sympathise with all the issues raised.

 

At the same time I find it very unlikely that I will enter this race any time soon without major changes from the organisers. This is not to punish them with a boycott. It is simply because of all the arrangements needed to attend this event. If the Satellite Classic was to be cancelled due to three major unforseen circumstances coming together I wouldn't even blink, as it is 30 min from my home, no problem.

 

I really want to do my first CTCT, and thought that 2017 would be the year, but alas it was not the one. Hopefully it will come some time soon.

[Mlayne]

The only complaint I have is that it is disingenuous to use the wind as an excuse AFTER starting 4 batches of the race in the EXACT place where the wind is the strongest in central Cape Town knowing that the forecasts were for strong wind all week.

 

Particularly after the experience in 2009 where the start was the problem.

 

I have not once used any of the terms inept, incompetent or useless. I used arrogant. And I used it purely because of the lack of action around taking precautions at the start.

 

Did the wind really increase in strength over the forecasts in the time between the Elites being in the chute before 6:15 and the time of the cancellation at 6:38? Or were they genuinely surprised that the wind accelerates through the Civic Centre like it does, despite using it as a start point for a number of years?

 

Not once have I criticised the organisers ability to run a brilliant race. I have questioned using the wind at the start as THE excuse when it should not have surprised them.

 

There is no option of me running the cycle tour next year. The organisers are extremely possessive and take no heed of advice or input from lay people. So I'm afraid you won't be joining a GRAND cycle tour as you so sarcastically put it.

 

You de realise of course that Albert Einstein said "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

 

The wind blows. We start the cycle tour in the same place every year.

[Mlayne]

Did you ride in 2009? Do you remember coming down chappies or Victoria road from Llandudno where people were blown off their bikes? So clearly the start was not the only problem. So stop harping on the start only when there were clearly other areas with winds >50km/h and more dangerous with a cliff face. Or do you believe that 35000 cyclists all have immaculate control downhill with gale force winds

Edited March 13, 2017 by mlayne

[Mlayne]

More people than just the elites ride this race

Edited March 13, 2017 by mlayne

[DIPSLICK]

Do not post,,,do not post

[The Black Eagle]

Couldn't the Event be on a Saturday.

Sunday set aside as alternative

 

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