Trans Baviaans 2021

[Help.Me.]

What do you guys think ? Will this still go ahead? With IM and Epic being postponed there must be huge pressure on the organizers now.

I for one cannot see this event taking place. There is a huge surge of Covid in all the areas, there will also be a massive rise in the figures come end Jan 2021 after every man and his dog visited the Eastern Cape during the holiday period....this is so sad.

[wessie12]

I for one cannot see this event taking place. There is a huge surge of Covid in all the areas, there will also be a massive rise in the figures come end Jan 2021 after every man and his dog visited the Eastern Cape during the holiday period....this is so sad.

I agree , o well it what it is. I am not holding my breath. Looking forward to nice holiday braai`s and beer now.

Edited December 10, 2020 by wessie12

[pedal menace]

The TB Facebook page seems to give a slightly different view - that it will go ahead no matter what. Reasons given seem to be cost already incurred for the Jan event. That had quite a few people upset as it does give a perception of money/profits over health/sanity. I am sure that it is not the case but still.....

People are also upset that the entries for the Aug 2021 event opened before a definitive decision is made on the Jan 2021 event. In essence - should Jan 2021 end up being cancelled - and Aug 2021 already sold out in terms of entries - what is Plan B for the Jan 2021 entries? Listen,  this is still a fantastic event and I will never ever criticize the Eco Bound Team - they do tremendous work. But these are different times that requires difficult decisions to be made. I for one am glad it is not up to me. But the way things are going now - I cannot see it going ahead. If they decide otherwise and forge ahead - a lot of people will not pitch and lose a significant amount of money in the process. 

I have also mailed them to get some insight and options for cyclists opting for health over the event - and the answer was also - we are going ahead and should you decide not to pitch for any reason it will be my loss. Those are the rules I guess! 

Edited December 10, 2020 by pedal menace

[TyronLab]

If they space out the start and don't have a bunch start I see the Trans as being dangerous health wise, well, for the 90% not racing and just riding to the finish. What I'm concerned about though is making the trip down to PE, and being told hard lockdown has started and I'm stuck away from my family in JHB.

 

It sucks as my training's been going well, but the greater good and health of the society has to prevail.

[Wil6]

If they space out the start and don't have a bunch start I see the Trans as being dangerous health wise, well, for the 90% not racing and just riding to the finish. What I'm concerned about though is making the trip down to PE, and being told hard lockdown has started and I'm stuck away from my family in JHB.

 

It sucks as my training's been going well, but the greater good and health of the society has to prevail.

No hard lockdown can keep you away from your family. Get in a car and drive back. No person will stop you

[BJH]

My two cents worth is that the communication has from the event organisers have been pretty average.  Having had a quick look at the comms from the event organisers on the FB page it's clear that they are not 100% on how to deal (a) with the restrictions and (b) heat.

 

They talk about changing start times to an even earlier slot - I get that but then how will that work?  We are all taking leave just to get there and an earlier slot (say 10pm the Friday night) potentially means yet another day of leave.

 

They also talk about utilising the existing streams and adding extra food and drink to waterpoints in the event of a hot day.  That does not inspire confidence.  The organisers have never previously had to deal with heat related issues and they are not exactly addressing this in their comms so far.

 

Anyway I'll continue to train and I guess make a call a couple of weeks before if government doesn't make the call for us...

[Zawillow]

If they space out the start and don't have a bunch start I see the Trans as being dangerous health wise, well, for the 90% not racing and just riding to the finish. What I'm concerned about though is making the trip down to PE, and being told hard lockdown has started and I'm stuck away from my family in JHB.

 

It sucks as my training's been going well, but the greater good and health of the society has to prevail.

 

I've got the same issue, as one of the slower teams I'm worried we're not going to be able to finish and make it back to PE before the lockdown at 10pm. IF we start at 5am we effectively have to finish by 9pm (time to pack up and race through to PE) it effectively gives us 16 hours for the ride, which at our pace, leaves little room for mechanicals or a slower pace due to the heat etc. I don't like the idea that I'm going to have to watch the clock the whole way through the race - sure to take some of the fun out of it (particularly when suffering up MAC in the middle of the day).  

 

It would be interesting to know more or less how much of the field usually take longer than 16 hours to finish, but I wouldn't be surprised if its at least a third of more - all of those teams are going to have issues if they're looking at getting back to PE.

 

With the festive season coming I also think there is a strong possibility of the lockdown rules being expanded further down the garden route which would impact Jeffery's. 

 

As much as I'd love to do a TB in summer and actually get to experience the views in the kloof I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't push the event out to Aug, but I suppose that ship has sailed. 

[Cookie88]

I managed to get 36One under the belt in November which this was meant to be a preparation ride for... Given the situation now it was fortunate to get a big event under the belt in 2020, I'll keep training - different challenge to keep yourself honest over the festive period and if anything, stay away from those mine pies 

[JohanDiv]

I've got the same issue, as one of the slower teams I'm worried we're not going to be able to finish and make it back to PE before the lockdown at 10pm. IF we start at 5am we effectively have to finish by 9pm (time to pack up and race through to PE) it effectively gives us 16 hours for the ride, which at our pace, leaves little room for mechanicals or a slower pace due to the heat etc. I don't like the idea that I'm going to have to watch the clock the whole way through the race - sure to take some of the fun out of it (particularly when suffering up MAC in the middle of the day).  

 

It would be interesting to know more or less how much of the field usually take longer than 16 hours to finish, but I wouldn't be surprised if its at least a third of more - all of those teams are going to have issues if they're looking at getting back to PE.

 

With the festive season coming I also think there is a strong possibility of the lockdown rules being expanded further down the garden route which would impact Jeffery's. 

 

As much as I'd love to do a TB in summer and actually get to experience the views in the kloof I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't push the event out to Aug, but I suppose that ship has sailed. 

 

I did exactly that calcs last week based on 16hrs of riding to get back to PE in time.

Last year just under 100 teams finished over 16 hours.(+- 300 riders)

 

They will have to make the cut-off points even earlier to get all the riders back to the finish line before say 21:00, taking into account that some people still need to drive to PE before 22:00 (Not sure if an hour is enough for that).

 

Large sweeping trucks picking up 300+ riders WILL NEVER WORK! There goes the social distancing for one. And smaller bakkies picking up 300+ rider will be absolute chaos.

 

Based on this, I think the Jan TB will not go ahead in the end.

Edited December 10, 2020 by JohanDiv

[pedal menace]

I do agree that their level of communication is sub par. This is the one time where over communication is something we would not mind. Reality is that i) this is a difficult situation, ii) they have incurred incredible cost to get us to this point and iii) have a passion for the sport and would like to see it go ahead. This is however one time where passion should not take priority. I am sure there is a large number of people that will tell me to shut up and let the event go on - we do not care. There are however an equally amount of people that have not made final arrangements, are about to go on holiday and would like to know if they need to train 2/3/4/5/6/7 times a week in preparation for the Jan event. Make a final call - rather sooner than later. Looking at Vleisboek - everyone is asking for proper comms and simply get generic answers back. Again in their defense - this is a TOUGH situation. The future of the event may just depend on it going ahead - who knows. But make a call - ASAP! Just keep us up to dat - nothing more nothing less

[RobertWhitehead]

I am sitting on the side watching the situation quite closely with this one. I have an entry lined up which includes accommodation close to Willowmore but I don't want to buy the entry only to loose the money again  . 

 

I am going to wait until the very last minute before making a call. I think the organizers are trying their utmost best to make sure that everyone is accommodated in some way shape or form. The one thing counting in its favor I guess is the fact that Willowmore is so small. The other thing counting against it however is the fact that we'll be riding into essentially a hot spot. If only Zuma was still in charge we would then take a shower and everything would be sorted    

[DMJ]

TB is not the same as Epic or IM.

 

It is not a comparison that one should make in order to reason that TB will also cancel.

 

Epic, for example, involves international athletes flying in, large race villages over almost 2 weeks etc.

 

TB is 1 day and involves a crowd only on the start line. Other than that, everything else is manageable. Many other events have gone ahead recently, with no issues.

 

In my view the event should go ahead as planned, unless the Govt prohibits it.

 

There are those with gripes as there always will be. Suck it up. Times are tough.

 

I have entered the Repeat and plan to be on the start line on 30 Jan.

 

Looking forward to it.

[DieselnDust]

What do you guys think ? Will this still go ahead? With IM and Epic being postponed there must be huge pressure on the organizers now.

 

 

much easier to maintain social distancing in the TrBav than the Epic or IM since you spread the competitors out over a great distance. However I think there will be political pressure that will have a bigger influence on the event then good old sensible practises.

[ChrisF]

much easier to maintain social distancing in the TrBav than the Epic or IM since you spread the competitors out over a great distance. However I think there will be political pressure that will have a bigger influence on the event then good old sensible practises.

 

Jip .... the next two months is going to be "interesting" ....  There are so many options to make this ride work.....

 

 

IF, big if, ... IF we follow the typical second wave patterns, and holiday behaviour may well work towards this, then the numbers by end January may be "grim" .... by which time we may well see "knee jerk reactions" ......

 

 

O-well, truly hope I a wrong !!

 

 

 

Please stay safe out there, and HOPE you get to enjoy a memorable TB 

[wessie12]

much easier to maintain social distancing in the TrBav than the Epic or IM since you spread the competitors out over a great distance. However I think there will be political pressure that will have a bigger influence on the event then good old sensible practises.

Really holding thumbs, organizers seem confident that it will go ahead and our team really worked hard with only heat training to be done over the Dec holiday. Spoke to the lady of our guests house in Willomore and she said they really need the TB in town to kickstart the year after a difficult time. The fact that the August event opened also means that we cannot roll over our accommodation as it is already booked by August riders.

[RobertWhitehead]

I read this morning that some metros may be facing some harder restrictions. This includes NMB. If they face more restrictions then I doubt that the Baviaans will be able to go ahead without some significant changes.