[Event] Cape Town Cycle Tour 2018

[Li Mu Bai]

snip snip

 

I would like to see:

- Internal safety campaigns

- Illustrative "bunch skills" leaflets and articles in every cycling publication and purchase of a bike

- Traffic calming at any Long Downhill stretches

- Smaller bunches

 

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Some efforts are made in the CTCT magazine everyone is given at registration with riding tips and do's and dont's, but I dont think everybody reads the useful info.

947 has introduced the "lap around Kyalami" which slowed the super fast decent down Kyalami hill. Definitely a safety upgrade to that portion of the race.

Smaller bunches is always difficult, especially with 26000-30000 participants. 2 minute bunch gaps doesn't really work, and the later bunches are huge when it would be better making them smaller. The organizers want to be off the road as soon as possible, so limiting entries would be the obvious option it seems.

[Pure Savage]

I found that in the $ bunch the local okes were much better to sit behind than some of the up country pro’s. I know it’s a pro race but taking a pee just as you get on the M3 is poor planning. Then there was the pro going back to the cars up Smit’s, are you high you bollard?

 

3 pro riders ended their ride in ocean view when the yellow lane turned into a pavement and they were shooting up the yellow lane.

 

Besides that, it was a lekker day watching the sunrise over Kalk bay chilling with mates with a helicopter following us.

 

Great end to a week pretending to be a pro.

 

 

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[bleedToWin]

For his punishment he was left on the front for a little longer than necessary, everytime he got to the front.

How do you leave someone in front? The way that a working echelon / paceline operates is for the front rider to peal off, NEVER for anyone to come from the back to relieve him.

 

Sorry to pick on you, but lack of understanding on this minute but critical fact is why we so often struggle to get things organised in bigger bunches. Riders sitting in front for kilometers on end and complaining that nobody wants to work. If the front rider peals off then the rest can roll through and do some work.

[Pure Savage]

 

A few hubbers in shot.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Pure Savage

[eddy]

"Passing on your right"

 

is VERY different to

 

"HOLD YOUR #$#%# LINE !!!!"

 

Just saying...

And because we all had our name on our backs, a polite "on your left, Sally" or "passing on your right, Steve" works even better.

[Stoffies1]

Anyone have an update of the guys that crashed in Smits 1D group, really hope you guys are ok. Crazy fast decent....

[Cat2forLife]

How do you leave someone in front? The way that a working echelon / paceline operates is for the front rider to peal off, NEVER for anyone to come from the back to relieve him.

 

Sorry to pick on you, but lack of understanding on this minute but critical fact is why we so often struggle to get things organised in bigger bunches. Riders sitting in front for kilometers on end and complaining that nobody wants to work. If the front rider peals off then the rest can roll through and do some work.

 

Very romantic idea, but many times the bunch will just slow down right with you when you try to peel off. But you are right, that is how it's supposed to work. It also prevents the surging that occurs when one rider has to come from the back and pass the rider in front.

[Pure Savage]

You have to assume that only 1/10 riders know how To ride in a group. The local road rides only get around 1000/3000 riders per event. So the other 28000 don’t ride in groups often, so watch out [emoji12]

 

 

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[bleedToWin]

Very romantic idea, but many times the bunch will just slow down right with you when you try to peel off. But you are right, that is how it's supposed to work. It also prevents the surging that occurs when one rider has to come from the back and pass the rider in front.

Yeah the struggle is real. I usually then attempt to specifically address the idiot sitting in the paceline and not rolling through for a stint up front when the one he was following tries to peal off. 150m wont kill you. I don't mind wheelsuckers, just go sit further back and let those that want to work do so effectively. That way we all get a faster ride.

[Spinnekop]

Having ridden many, many, many of these mass events and CTCT in particular ranging from times of 2:40 to 5 hours, one thing stood out as a sore thumb......(And this could be said of any sport involving speed. rollerblading, F1, MotoGp, bobsleigh, warra warra etc etc)

 

It is not the speed that causes the accident.  

Lack of skill and experience is what it boils down to.  

 

Front bunch or bunch at the back.  Doesn't matter.

 

If the riders are not skilled, a crash is going to happen.  Be it in a timed event or a club ride or two friends training each morning.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Spinnekop

[dannygirl]

Great to ride the CTCT again and best weather for at least 13 years... About

bad riding. Around 5A there was a group of about 6 or 7/8 guys in similar yellow jerseys with TDF, Dubai in bold that really rode badly. They would bomb past left, right and centre and then stop both sides of the road to wait for slow buddies and then pull off and do it all again. This happened several times...

 

Also noticed them.  In our start group, a guy on a fatbike was going for podium - from 4J.  He literally pushed and shoved his way to the very front in the start shute, and then swerved his way through to Smitswinkel, where I thankfully lost him.  This after several people pointing out that he was a danger to others...to be met by expletives and a patronising 'why don't you just enjoy the view'.

 

I'm pretty sure though that he didn't ride under his own number - I won't name any names, but 'Willem', nobody that have done more than 10 tours could possibly ride this badly?  

 

On that note, is there a mechanism to report suspected cheats?  I know this is a 'fun ride', but it irks me no end to see people get away with it...  Came across two young ladies cycling sedately on the left just after cresting Smits - now they were wearing 7B and 6G numbers respectively.  At that stage only a few of the faster 5 riders have passed us.  I mean - we were about 2 hours in, and were passing two riders from a group that started 1 hour 27 minutes after us?  

[bleedToWin]

Also noticed them.  In our start group, a guy on a fatbike was going for podium - from 4J.  He literally pushed and shoved his way to the very front in the start shute, and then swerved his way through to Smitswinkel, where I thankfully lost him.  This after several people pointing out that he was a danger to others...to be met by expletives and a patronising 'why don't you just enjoy the view'.

 

I'm pretty sure though that he didn't ride under his own number - I won't name any names, but 'Willem', nobody that have done more than 10 tours could possibly ride this badly?  

 

On that note, is there a mechanism to report suspected cheats?  I know this is a 'fun ride', but it irks me no end to see people get away with it...  Came across two young ladies cycling sedately on the left just after cresting Smits - now they were wearing 7B and 6G numbers respectively.  At that stage only a few of the faster 5 riders have passed us.  I mean - we were about 2 hours in, and were passing two riders from a group that started 1 hour 27 minutes after us?  

 

If they didn't cross the mats at the start line they wont get a result. I don't really see how they could have cheated and still crossed every mat en route, so don't worry about it.

[Wannabe]

How do you leave someone in front? The way that a working echelon / paceline operates is for the front rider to peal off, NEVER for anyone to come from the back to relieve him.

 

Sorry to pick on you, but lack of understanding on this minute but critical fact is why we so often struggle to get things organised in bigger bunches. Riders sitting in front for kilometers on end and complaining that nobody wants to work. If the front rider peals off then the rest can roll through and do some work.

 

Easy, you just don't roll through, as per paceline ethics, when he is at the front. Once he starts to visibly struggle, you leave him there for a few seconds more, before you roll through. The rest of the guys then follow the proper paceline ethics rolling through and taking their few seconds at the front, till he is at the front again. Rinse and repeat, till he pops or go sit at the back.

 

Next time he joins a paceline from the back, he will think twice before barking snide instructions. 

[Skubarra]

Very romantic idea, but many times the bunch will just slow down right with you when you try to peel off. But you are right, that is how it's supposed to work. It also prevents the surging that occurs when one rider has to come from the back and pass the rider in front.

 

If the bunch slow down with me when I'm up front I just slow down even more, pull over and wave until someone gets gatvol and pass me - if you work yourself to a standstill at the front of a lazy bunch it is your own stupidity and you can't blame anyone else

[Li Mu Bai]

 

On that note, is there a mechanism to report suspected cheats?  I know this is a 'fun ride', but it irks me no end to see people get away with it...  Came across two young ladies cycling sedately on the left just after cresting Smits - now they were wearing 7B and 6G numbers respectively.  At that stage only a few of the faster 5 riders have passed us.  I mean - we were about 2 hours in, and were passing two riders from a group that started 1 hour 27 minutes after us?  

They might have started in a group ahead of you, riding with friends, and not caring that moving forward in start batches would get them disqualified.

[Rouxenator]

I recall there was a shorter route for ladies? the 76km? Maybe they were part of that.