947 Ride Joburg

[peetwindhoek]

16 minutes ago, FondTF2 said:

The pic that Emma posted on her FB page and her write up is clear as mud. Honestly anyone in that situation would of done exactly the same. I really feel for her and quiet honestly think she got screwed over.

The top pic is the cone position when she hit the track. Bottom is when the lead men went through. 

Makes one wonder if the cone perhaps became dislodged in the time between and someone replaced it in the incorrect spot...

This seems the most plausible. Freaken hard lines for Emma! She even looked left in the video as to think that is the way. Just an unfortunate event where the "non-cone" was probably placed back incorrectly. When we came past there was a marshal just at the corner before the one in the image.

[Jbr]

Yoh ! I'd be so mad !!

[The Ouzo]

23 minutes ago, FondTF2 said:

The pic that Emma posted on her FB page and her write up is clear as mud. Honestly anyone in that situation would of done exactly the same. I really feel for her and quiet honestly think she got screwed over.

The top pic is the cone position when she hit the track. Bottom is when the lead men went through. 

Makes one wonder if the cone perhaps became dislodged in the time between and someone replaced it in the incorrect spot...

what I'm seeing is that I only lost 17 min to the elite mens in the first half of the race.......... but a further 53 min for the second half

[Comrade J]

To all of those saying its Emma's fault etc, read the rules etc, did any bother to read the organisers fine print, they reserve the right to change the route at any time, so when the organiser’s car makes a different turn, you must follow it, I can just imagine if the route had been changed, at the last minute, and Emma went LEFT, the same people will hang her out to dry, and say why did not follow the lead car!!!!

Remember last week in the MTB race, we were told it only smells like sewage, but  it is not sewage. BS!!!!!

[The Ouzo]

how many entries did they have this year ? How many people actually started ?

I'm seeing on FinishTime they are showing only around 9500 finishers (it was at 8500 yesterday afternoon though)

[Frosty]

31 minutes ago, FondTF2 said:

The pic that Emma posted on her FB page and her write up is clear as mud. Honestly anyone in that situation would of done exactly the same. I really feel for her and quiet honestly think she got screwed over.

The top pic is the cone position when she hit the track. Bottom is when the lead men went through. 

Makes one wonder if the cone perhaps became dislodged in the time between and someone replaced it in the incorrect spot...

That “sign” was not there when we (VD) went through. I’m OCD when it comes to noticing things like this, because of positioning cones/barriers on “my” event. I tend to spot missing details, like the unmarked expansion joint getting back into the M1 at Carr Street. One of the ladies had a serious crash there. I saw it an knew to lift the front wheel going over the joint.

[Frosty]

4 minutes ago, ouzo said:

how many entries did they have this year ? How many people actually started ?

I'm seeing on FinishTime they are showing only around 9500 finishers (it was at 8500 yesterday afternoon though)

Unofficially, I heard 11,500 from someone who works on the “green light” medics. Jonny Koen said 13k.

[The Ouzo]

3 minutes ago, Frosty said:

That “sign” was not there when we (VD) went through. I’m OCD when it comes to noticing things like this, because of positioning cones/barriers on “my” event. I tend to spot missing details, like the unmarked expansion joint getting back into the M1 at Carr Street. One of the ladies had a serious crash there. I saw it an knew to lift the front wheel going over the joint.

they eventually covered that joint, but were warning people approaching

[Li Mu Bai]

Sad as it was for Emma, If she goes "off route" it is soley her fault. One cannot blindly follow the lead car, imagine if the driver needed a pist stop or his Waze stops functioning, or there is no space for the vehicle. Same happened years ago on Paris Roubaix.

When she got to that taped off area, she should have noted the mistake and that something was amiss, and retraced her route back. Crossing the taped barrier was the second error.

I cannot imagine what the hell that cone was doing blocking the correct route? Somebody trying to be funny or sabotage her route? Didnt the elite men pass through there before the women? bizzare.

 

[GaryvdM]

25 minutes ago, Frosty said:

That “sign” was not there when we (VD) went through. I’m OCD when it comes to noticing things like this, because of positioning cones/barriers on “my” event. I tend to spot missing details, like the unmarked expansion joint getting back into the M1 at Carr Street. One of the ladies had a serious crash there. I saw it an knew to lift the front wheel going over the joint.

That was defiantly an oops. P.S. By the time I went through there (started group I), there was evidence that a number of people came down there, and they had a rubber mat over it, but it was only 2m wide, so we had a bit of a zig-zag. Better than lots more people coming down.

When you see situations like this, you realize that organizing an event like this must require so much attention to detail in so many different areas!

[GaryvdM]

There is defiantly some blame to be put on the lead vehicle driver. If that's your job, then you should be sufficiently familiar with the route that if you encounter a situation like a cone blown by the wind into the incorrect location, that you should know it's wrong.

[BouncingBrain]

The few extra km from the previous routes, made it just that extra bit more difficult to achieve target times. 

 

First part of the race nice and fast to get a rythm going only to watch the avg dwindle with all those hills after halfway.

 

Overall, with less number of participants the organisation went well. 

 

Seeding riders should definitely be checked up on though. 

I'd also really like to look at the batch results as we could do with the old racetec results.

[Frosty]

53 minutes ago, GaryvdM said:

There is defiantly some blame to be put on the lead vehicle driver. If that's your job, then you should be sufficiently familiar with the route that if you encounter a situation like a cone blown by the wind into the incorrect location, that you should know it's wrong.

And it’s not as if this is the first time around Kyalami (have been riding this way since 2018); it’s just earlier on the route compared to before.

 

[MudLark]

3 hours ago, DirtyFrank said:

 quiet chuffed with a 3:43 on my 13 year old 26" Trance, knobblies, last weeks mud and all.

I should flippin' hope so. I would hate to try and keep up with you on a decent road bike!!

[Frosty]

1 hour ago, BouncingBrain said:

The few extra km from the previous routes, made it just that extra bit more difficult to achieve target times. 

 

First part of the race nice and fast to get a rythm going only to watch the avg dwindle with all those hills after halfway.

 

Overall, with less number of participants the organisation went well. 

 

Seeding riders should definitely be checked up on though. 

I'd also really like to look at the batch results as we could do with the old racetec results.

Another thing is the marking of potholes, man hole covers and other potential hazards. Many organisers will mark the hazard and not the road leading up to the hazard.

The problem is that riders at the front of a bunch won’t see it until the last few seconds. By the time they say anything (if they do), the first third are already over it. That could lead to lost bottles, or wobbles by unsuspecting riders, and then someone inevitably goes down as a result. 

['Dale]

How unfortunate for Emma Pallant. It is incredibly hard to win a bike race and, with her courageous long-range attack, she was well suited to stay away with her steady state capabilities. A top spot on a podium can unlock the prize money in the short-term and, more importantly, long-term opportunities and sponsorships. Above all else, professional athletes dream daily about the big audacious moments in racing while they put their body on the line in training. 

Tough stuff. ????

Edited November 22, 2021 by 'Dale