Cape Town Cycle Tour 2021

[Pure Savage]

22 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Just goes to show that the average joes, hackers and bodgers mean way more to the tour than the pseudo pro amateur wannabees.

That also indicates a lot of non finishers... 

Had a friend that started in the last group. It was tiny. Think a lot of the 6 hours plus crew did not enter. Maybe its normally a new years resolution, but there were very few people at the back.

[KingZA]

2 hours ago, Skubarra said:

Was lucky to start in @ bunch (didn't finish with them though ????). We were only about 70 riders. What a pleasure to do the 1st 10K of the CTCT not smelling burning rubber, panicked braking and generally fearing for your life in a chaotic bunch with too much testosterone and too little common sense - despite not having a a particular good "race" on the day that is the one big positive that stood out for me.

Selfishly I would not mind if they limit the number of entrants every year to be below 20K and have smaller & manageable bunches, would make for a far more enjoyable experience for all participants.

 

I was also in this group. Although it was nice not having to fight for position and stress about people riding badly I felt that the group was too small. How can we compete with the likes of 1A when it's 61 people vs 239 people? Just make the groups more equal in size.

Otherwise, such an epic day out on the bike. I felt really grateful to be riding it this year and more so than ever I had an appreciation for the marshals and volunteers that go out of their way to let us ride this incredible event.

[Pure Savage]

10 minutes ago, KingZA said:

 

I was also in this group. Although it was nice not having to fight for position and stress about people riding badly I felt that the group was too small. How can we compete with the likes of 1A when it's 61 people vs 239 people? Just make the groups more equal in size.

Otherwise, such an epic day out on the bike. I felt really grateful to be riding it this year and more so than ever I had an appreciation for the marshals and volunteers that go out of their way to let us ride this incredible event.

Ummm just ride faster, then 1A wont catch you!! 1A was only 93 people after Smits

[HdB]

20 minutes ago, Pure Savage said:

Ummm just ride faster, then 1A wont catch you!! 1A was only 93 people after Smits

Sheesh 1A started fast... I was aware I was less fit than last year, but to be off the back before Hospital Bend was interesting. The upside was that Hospital Bend was far less stressful.

[devongrovers@gmail.com]

I rode a 6h15(chain snapped & mended then link replaced). but i dont think, I've ever had that much in 6hours on my bike. 

I met so many new riders, Guys flying in from Jozi who decided to do it on fri, to riding with a rasta, to riding with a deep house music fanatic, to a dude, who brought samoosas, to a lady on a specialised mtb bike up red hill n after showing them camel rock, and the two blue bottle liquor legends who laughed with me from constantia, till the end. Julle is f*kken tye

What an absolute experience.

Thanks to the support from the tour, the drinks were cold, the physios was helpful, the ambulances were readily avail. and no fatalities.

Once the sun came out, i knew, the work was cut out for me.

I got my first medal.I absolutely am 2 minds about chasing a time, after the full gees experience and laughing with new guys n singing staying alive in chapsman to teach the new guys about staying constant with cadence up.

See you all in March.

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by devongrovers@gmail.com

[MORNE]

1 hour ago, Jewbacca said:

I sort of think that a LOT of the issues at the start were due to the cyclists. 

Guys in the 7s, 8s, 9s all arriving hours early (despite being asked to roll in 10 minutes before the allocated time), clogging up all the choke points, trying to sneak into groups WAY before their allocated start etc....

I'm not saying that the system was flawless or the marshalls were faultless, but if people had just followed instructions and not been typical (as the world sees them) cyclists, things would have been a lot easier to manage.

On top of this, it didn't really matter. What a day! 2E or 3E, the sub3 probably wasn't going to happen, so the half sized field, amazing conditions and general radness of the event made all the minor gripes and moans seem pointless

Provably where the 6000 missing entries are. All DQ’d for starting before they were supposed to lol

[dev null]

40 minutes ago, MORNE said:

Provably where the 6000 missing entries are. All DQ’d for starting before they were supposed to lol

Yes. There were lots who started way before their time.

[ChrisF]

2 hours ago, Pure Savage said:

Interesting, if you see the start groups these people were in, did a lot better than the groups ahead of them. 

I thought eBikes were going to be like old ballies jamming around making the climbs easier. This is a little crazy. 

5A and 6C, 37km/h average... How many people did they pass with their broomstick handlebars? 

I think the only solution is having the eBike finish at the top of Signal Hill.  

 

Sadly this type of behaviour, i.e. derestricted motors, multi battery swop outs etc, of a few "e-racers" are going to spoil it for the rest of us that want to enjoy these rides (at regular speeds and possibly with two batteries)

 

I can see that ebiker may well be starting way way back to completely remove their effect from any race results ....

 

 

always the few spoiling it for the rest .....

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, KingZA said:

 

I was also in this group. Although it was nice not having to fight for position and stress about people riding badly I felt that the group was too small. How can we compete with the likes of 1A when it's 61 people vs 239 people? Just make the groups more equal in size.

Otherwise, such an epic day out on the bike. I felt really grateful to be riding it this year and more so than ever I had an appreciation for the marshals and volunteers that go out of their way to let us ride this incredible event.

Good point, the group could have been a bit bigger and still would have been safe. Not sure if the size of the group had something to do with covid regulations?

That said, riding in the racing vets/masters its not really unusual to be caught by the youngsters in the first "non-racing" group. My fastest CTCT times have been from 1A,1B not the age racing groups.

[Sammajoor]

Who did the timekeeping this year?

[Quagga]

3 hours ago, Pure Savage said:

Interesting, if you see the start groups these people were in, did a lot better than the groups ahead of them. 

I thought eBikes were going to be like old ballies jamming around making the climbs easier. This is a little crazy. 

5A and 6C, 37km/h average... How many people did they pass with their broomstick handlebars? 

I think the only solution is having the eBike finish at the top of Signal Hill.  

I did not like this e-bike thing

E-bike should start first and get out the way, not very funny when they come pass you close on a hill doing double your speed and close enough to feel their wind.

It has "unfortunately" given way too much speed to people who dont normally ride and hence has no idea on some road riding "unwritten rules"

I am for e-bikes giving more people access to the  CTCT but darn, can they just educate themselfs a tiny bit on overtaking not come past so close.

[Yyyy]

3 hours ago, i24 said:

The fastest e-bike is nearly faster than the winner! I am not sure if that is what the tour is about.

For my money, the simplest and most effective way of controlling e-bikes, is to limit the weight of the batteries:

• Set a max kg limit for all batteries, including spares and swaps to be used during the tour.
• All batteries and spare batteries to be carried at the start. No swaps with outside parties or other competitors nor re-charging permitted on the route.
• Have scrutineering at the Expo. Weigh all the batteries and put a signed sticker/seal on each battery together with the competitors number. (You don't even need to look at the e-bikes).
• All batteries to be shown at the start, with seals. If you have a battery in your e-bike at any stage of the race that does not have your seal on it, you get penalized.

This will work until the likes new battery technologies become commercially viable. No need to try and police the legality of controller software.

(Many of the e-bike riders who passed me were wearing heavy back packs ????)

I had a lekker ride yesterday. Perfect weather, lovely view, I did not see any crashes or riders getting medical attention, and unlike last year, the e-bikes did not interfere with my ride. ????

 

with the number of people on ebikes growing, i dont think this will be a long term practical solution.

to have the man power to inspect the bikes whether at registration or on race day is impractical. This goes for all races (MTB and Road)

Also ebikes are starting to look very much like normal bikes so policing it is going to be difficult.

Dont know what the solution would be going forward....

[dev null]

4 minutes ago, YaseenEnos said:

with the number of people on ebikes growing, i dont think this will be a long term practical solution.

to have the man power to inspect the bikes whether at registration or on race day is impractical. This goes for all races (MTB and Road)

Also ebikes are starting to look very much like normal bikes so policing it is going to be difficult.

Dont know what the solution would be going forward....

Yes. I can see my seeding getting me to a later start every year with all these e-bike racers seeded in front of me.

[babse]

1 hour ago, KingZA said:

 

I was also in this group. Although it was nice not having to fight for position and stress about people riding badly I felt that the group was too small. How can we compete with the likes of 1A when it's 61 people vs 239 people? Just make the groups more equal in size.

Otherwise, such an epic day out on the bike. I felt really grateful to be riding it this year and more so than ever I had an appreciation for the marshals and volunteers that go out of their way to let us ride this incredible event.

Anything from 1A down is non racing groups so does it even matter how fast they go compared to said vets group who is attacking and marking attacks... I think the smaller racing bunches are good for racing (not time) however they need to start with a decent gap to non racing bunches.

[Scary Rider]

5 hours ago, FootballingCyclist said:

I was also in 1E, and then, I wasn't. I joked about being solo from the Holiday Inn already and yep, that's what happened. Caught a bunch on the descent, was too far back and behind the wrong group of guys so on the drag up past UCT we were off the back again. Dropped on Edinborough Drive as expected, Chased back along the M3 but the gap kept growing, latched onto a nice group toward the end with the Savage lad on the KTM and red shoes in front who I assumed started in 1F, stayed all the way up till the drag up to Simons Town Golf Course where I was dropped as my matches had all been spent STILL trying to catch 1E, proceeded to get dropped again up Smits, then got a bunch and worked nicely toward the drag till the OV turn off where I was off and then even further off up the Ocean View hill, latched onto another bunch all the way from the police station till the drag before Chappies where I was off AGAIN (some proper dummys in the bunch along Kommetjie road dodging a beacon and then going back to the middle just to have to dodger another and another, it's like they never wanted to learn), Solo slowly up chappies, solo descent and then drag toward Suikers, Stopped on the top flat section before Suikers starts at my folks for some ice cold water and refreshments, Mom gave me a few more gels, limped up Suikers, pulled a nice bunch all the way down till 12 apostles to reach another bunch, got dropped again on the drag out of Camps Bay and limped him, cramp threatening from Misty Cliffs already and then on just about every gradient above 0.01%. Incident free day with only 1 guy i saw taking a tumble, going UP Suikers literally right infront of the camera guys, I think he was trying to show off hahaha.

Anyway, #10 completed, In a better time than I had assumed considering very little to no training, a last minute entry and probably 13kgs heavier than last year, Got my 2 medals, Stoked.

Also finished my tenth. The part about cramping when the gradient is anything more than 0.01% is definitely the chirp of the day!

[SURFER]

Are all the results out?  cannot find mine