Western Cape Road Cycling

[Pure Savage]

Was wondering what the actual state of road cycling was in the Western Cape, compared to the past.

 

There has been many a topic around it on the hub in the past but no actual data, so this weekend did some data mining and found some pretty interesting stuff. 

 

http://puresavage.co.za/2017/10/road-cycling-in-the-western-cape.html/

 

Long and short, road riding getting old, fast.

 

Let us know what you think can be done and if there are any other issues we missed?

 

 

[Kona Kula]

My observations, I have been in Cpt a year now. Previously JHB.

 

1. You have amazing mountain biking here

2. You have two federations competing for races

3. Your league system is strange

3a, In jhb you get a CSA racing licence and you can race in the groups. (Provided your seeding is good enough)

In Cpt you have to pay to join the league. So no one enters and the whole point is lost. From my experience leagues don't make for a great attendance, but they are your core of fanatical riders. If you dilute that there is no platform for the rest. (Others may disagree here)

 

So to clarify I ride both mtb and road. I raced VA in Jhb and have tried to do some league races here but kinda lost interest.

 

The winter series that WPCA was great and I would definitely do more of those. I was keen to do the PPA summer league, but I cant attend all the races and paying etc for a league that isn't well attended seems pointless.

 

So thats from the racing side, maybe others have a different view.

 

I have enjoyed the one or two races I have done so its not the races themselves that are the problem.

[Pure Savage]

My observations, I have been in Cpt a year now. Previously JHB.

 

1. You have amazing mountain biking here

2. You have two federations competing for races

3. Your league system is strange

3a, In jhb you get a CSA racing licence and you can race in the groups. (Provided your seeding is good enough)

In Cpt you have to pay to join the league. So no one enters and the whole point is lost. From my experience leagues don't make for a great attendance, but they are your core of fanatical riders. If you dilute that there is no platform for the rest. (Others may disagree here)

 

So to clarify I ride both mtb and road. I raced VA in Jhb and have tried to do some league races here but kinda lost interest.

 

The winter series that WPCA was great and I would definitely do more of those. I was keen to do the PPA summer league, but I cant attend all the races and paying etc for a league that isn't well attended seems pointless.

 

So thats from the racing side, maybe others have a different view.

 

I have enjoyed the one or two races I have done so its not the races themselves that are the problem.

Major reason that we did not sign up for league to be honest.

[Kona Kula]

Major reason that we did not sign up for league to be honest.

Its a problem. I would have rather done a WPCA summer league.

I don't want to bash PPA as they have there place and they do some things very well. Also there is another thread for that. But..they need to rethink the way they want to do their league.

[Karman de Lange]

Was wondering what the actual state of road cycling was in the Western Cape, compared to the past.

 

There has been many a topic around it on the hub in the past but no actual data, so this weekend did some data mining and found some pretty interesting stuff. 

 

http://puresavage.co.za/2017/10/road-cycling-in-the-western-cape.html/

 

Long and short, road riding getting old, fast.

 

Let us know what you think can be done and if there are any other issues we missed?

 

Number Entrants.JPG

 

 

I can give you some stats on certain big MTB events .... that graph is much worst. . about 20 - 40% reduction in attendance this year.

 

Not really sure why this is, maybe  many events and so many road and mtb events on same day?  or guys bikes broken and no money.. or taking up golf again ?

[mtgoat]

Cost and travel to ride to Stellies and the regurgitated routes of that area are my main reason for not taking part anymore. Lost a number of good races in the South that limited costs. Used to be able to ride to the start and be home for Sunday lunch, keeping the Mrs happy. 

 

Not sure if they have it anymore but you could buy a pre-entry booklet of vouchers for races at a discounted fee. Had five entries for PPA races of your choice EXCLUDING CTCT seeding events.

 

Edit: Was always part of a Christmas or birthday present

Edited October 2, 2017 by mtgoat

[Pure Savage]

Cost and travel to ride to Stellies and the regurgitated routes of that area are my main reason for not taking part anymore. Lost a number of good races in the South that limited costs. Used to be able to ride to the start and be home for Sunday lunch, keeping the Mrs happy. 

 

Not sure if they have it anymore but you could buy a pre-entry booklet of vouchers for races at a discounted fee. Had five entries for PPA races of your choice

I remember that, you also got one like that for a family, so you can just rock up hand over a card with all your names filled in and you got four stickers and it did not cost you the earth. 

 

I think there is a lot of competition for people's time now as well, from trail running to try athlone. 

[babse]

paying a fee for the league and 100% of race fee per race (250 is already very steep IMO) is a problem which has and will prevent many riders from entering the league...

[Pure Savage]

paying a fee for the league and 100% of race fee per race (250 is already very steep IMO) is a problem which has and will prevent many riders from entering the league...

What about the ladies, there were only 23 at the Sportif this weekend, that means 15% of the ladies that rode were from Savage. 

 

They are not bothered by the league. What needs to change to get them riding.

['Dale]

paying a fee for the league and 100% of race fee per race (250 is already very steep IMO) is a problem which has and will prevent many riders from entering the league...

This ☝????☝????☝????

How to make it financially appealing to enter League?

Currently no incentive to bleed from them eyeballs and ears

[devocean]

I feel that the league messes up the PPA races. The guys you usually race with are scattered all over league and alphabet soup so you're often riding with guys who'd usually be a group or two behind you in the usual seeding.

 

Also it's the same Paarl, Stellenbosch routes, with not enough climbing. Generally 100km race with one hill in the middle (apart from the picketberg race). Really missing the races over redhilll etc.

 

Perhaps being a lone ranger (not in a team) makes the racing less interesting. Driving 100km to go ride a mostly flat race and finish in the bunch feels like waste

[Dubber]

From my side there are two main things:

 

1: cost of events

2:  variety of events

 

And to elaborate a bit:

 

Costs:  using the 1 tonner as n example:  in 2012 the PPA early bird price was R150  (http://web.archive.org/web/20121001235656/http://www.pedalpower.org.za:80/?sp_events=ppa-one-tonner-2).  This year, 5 years later, I think the discounted price was R300?  So 100% increase in 5 years.  I realize costs have gone up, but I can guarantee my salary hasn't increased by 100% in 5 years.  So in real terms, this race (and I suspect all others) are costing more then they did.

 

Variety:  As mentioned above, what with the southern suburb races ( Rollercoaster, Ride for Sight, Cape Cobra etc) having been cancelled we end up with the Stellies/Paarl routes being rehashed.  These routes are my 'hood so I ride them all the time.

 

And one last one for good measure:  road safety.  I think any newbie will first go to MTB before going to the road based on the safety aspect - my opinion but could be wrong.

[Karman de Lange]

Im not sure costs is really such big factor, triathlons are ALOT more expensive (R1000+) an get large amount of entries..

 

I paid more on fuel this weekend doing the sportiff than entry fee, ok my car is touch heavy on fuel...

 

One thing i always hate about road events, there nothing todo or eat afterwords, so i get in car and go... Burgers and boerewors rolls dont go down very well after hard slog, I alwys end up with milkshake and maybe some pancakes after picking up the wife from home.

 

Maybe the shorter route thing will help, or add trail run for family todo, my wife will happely do 15km cycle or 5km run while i do longer distance, but she wont ever do 40km cycle or sit around again for 5 hours in hot car waiting (been there done that)

[Underachiever]

I grew up in the Cape many moons ago.

 

Moer but you guys can moan.  

 

In JHB we also have the same races, same routes, same potholes, same wind, same great scenery (sarcasm), same hills, same mine dumps. Year in and year out.  Attendances is not great, but not bad either.

 

I drove nearly 300 km this weekend to do 2 smaller races.

 

What is also the same? Good hard racing.

 

Are you guys getting soft of what?

[Butterbean]

I really think the cost complaint can't count. Your average roadie must be spending around 25k for bike and kit and so 1% to participate is really not bad.

 

Coming from Jhb, I haven't done a Cape Town road ride yet. First reason, I never know when or where they are! The advertising and hype is completely absent bar CTCT.

 

Secondly, PPA and CSA really need to get their **** together, because having to pay and belong to a whole **** ton of organizations gets a bit too much hassle. Id rather just have my enjoyable weekend rides on and off road.

 

Thirdly, and no offense, but I've found that the roadies in cape town are super snobbish and it really harshes the vibe of rides. There aren't really any big training groups and the clubs are extremely cliquey and it's very unfriendly when joining for a ride. This has to be fixed but honestly that's every aspect of Cape Town.

[dev null]

Too many events competing for the purse of the average rider. And let's be honest, most cycling enthusiasts have both a road bike and a MTB, so they are spreading their funds and then select a few favourite events to do for the year. We currently only have budget for one race per month.

 

As noted above, the attendance in MTB events have also gone down, except for some 'must do' events where the organisers goes out of their way to create a nice after race vibe (Fine Breede, etc).